Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: March 27th through April 2nd

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings posts give the Moose, old and new, a place to visit and share words about the weather, life, the world at large and the small parts of Moosylvania that we each inhabit.

Welcomings will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

40 Comments

  1. Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    It is 40 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 49. Rain is in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Good morning Meese – It’s Ēostre
    Took a look at an old post –
    Pagan Roots of Easter

    Today is also Sarah Vaughn’s Birthday

    Now that most of the caucus states are out of the way, we have to settle in for the biggies – NY,Pa and CA.

    Am focusing on Senate races today at orange – and the Democratic women who are in them.

    Senate Majority PAC (formed to fight the Koch Bros influence) is going after Kelly Ayotte in NH with a new ad

    • Sanders’ team has plans to ratchet up the attacks to deal a crushing blow to Secretary Clinton in her home state. Since NY is a closed primary and only Democrats can vote in it, he has an uphill battle. His biggest support comes from independents, many of whom have never voted for a Democrat and never will in a general election. But that won’t stop him from trying to do maximum damage to the likely Democratic Party nominee!

      Sanders plans an aggressive push in New York, modeled after his come-from-behind victory a few weeks ago in Michigan. He intends to barnstorm the state as if he were running for governor. His advisers, spoiling for a brawl, have commissioned polls to show which contrasts with Clinton — from Wall Street to fracking — could do the most damage to her at home.

      He is increasing his attacks on Hillary and the Obama coalition and, in particular, black voters who he thinks are stupid – some of his supporters were suggesting that the olds are duped by Hillary as well and one said it is because we are all wealthy and were not harmed by the 2008 financial crisis and don’t “get” it. JHC!! I really don’t understand how the idea of attacking and dissing the Democratic Party’s most reliable voters became a campaign strategy. But really, [badword] him and his advisors.

      • Well – it ain’t gonna happen – and registration for the primary is closed (last Friday) – and registration for party change closed October 9th, 2015. That keeps a bunch of Indies and Greens out.

        • Good. It is beyond foolish to have open primaries. Democrats should be allowed to choose who they want as their standard bearer. At least we have Super Delegates as a way to keep the party from being completely hijacked by people who are not stakeholders.

          Hillary is coming to Wisconsin but she should not get her hopes up. We have an open primary and lots of berning. I have had to temporarily mute dozens of Wisconsin Tweeters so that my stream is not polluted. If I see one more Birdie Tweet, I might puke. I thought this was a nice rebuttal:

          Ha!!!

          • The bird stuff is beyond aggravation – I had to laugh though – someone pointed out that in a lot of cultures around the world a bird flying into your house symbolizes “the end”.

    • Dee’s post on the GOS: Here are the Democratic women seeking Senate seats in 2016

      Democrats—many of whom are female—are staging an assault on the Senate to increase our ranks in that august, predominantly male body, and to aid in the battle to tip the scales back toward sanity. As Women’s History Month comes to a close, let’s help these candidates make herstory.

  3. Slept in — and mostly actually slept. I don’t need to cook today, so I may ride my bike this afternoon. Watching what may become a right-wing riot in Brussels.

    I have a pretty dress to wear for Easter service — blue & purple flowers, sleeveless so I’ll need a sweater. My pretty purple shoes. (they are the highest heels I own, maybe 2 inches, hard for me to walk in, but “pretty purple”) Might wear a hat, might not. If so, it’s green straw.

  4. Good morning, 46 and cloudy in Bellingham. We’re having Easter brunch with our oldest son this morning, dessert and a visit with our youngest son and his family this afternoon, and enjoying iPhone fun with our daughters and their families. A year ago today our son was in the emergency room and today, after brunch, he plans to be in his kayak. Given this long year of BCH (blood clot hell), we have so much to be thankful for.

    So time to set the table, frost the carrot cake, make a fruit platter, and tell my creaky knees to behave or else!

  5. Morning all – Happy Easter to those who celebrate it! Cloudy and warm here – I think we’re done with cool weather at this point.

    Last night’s Bernie sweep does not concern me at all – I think Hillary basically conceded these three races to him, as she has such a huge delegate lead, his pickups last night barely matter at all. What does concern me is his and his advisors’ continuing scorched earth campaign against Hillary in future races – they really don’t care at all about either the Democratic Party or possibly losing to Trump in the fall. Disgusting.

    Did you see the clip of Bernie telling his wife not to stand next to him on the stage last night? Man, that’s a bad look – crabby old guy yelling at his wife. You can’t really hear him well in this clip I’m linking, but he did say “Don’t stand there” and waved her off. Not. good.



    Have a great day everyone – and On Wisconsin! Hillary may not win there, but I think she can keep it a bit closer.

    • I just noticed that Al predicts it will be a very close race in Wisconsin. I hope so!!

  6. Happy Easter to those who celebrate it. I’m in the “Easter? What is this Easter you speak of?” camp myself but as long as all the sacrifices are symbolic I don’t diss anybody’s special days. It’s 44 at the moment and very overcast. Sprinking. Might make it to our predicted 50, might not.

    Forgot to leave the butter out last night so did nut butter muffins again this week (almond, cinnamon, and vanilla using part coconut flour). Made soup with the leftovers – well, half the leftovers – of my dinner with my son Friday. Although truth to tell, my soups have more veggies than any other category of ingredients – this one was 10 oz leftover chicken breast, 2 lb mixed veggies, the leftover Pad Thai that probably would have been 2 oz dry noodles, maybe, 1 qt stock, and 2 T cornstarch and it made 10 1-cup servings. Didn’t feel like cooking anything else so luckily I found a pound of sliced ham in the freezer left from New Year’s. Have now finished all my Sunday chores except putting the clothes and I’ll have to wait until they dry for that – some time just before I go to bed since they are drying in front of the fire this week.

    When I logged off DK last night there was a slight chance Hillary would do well – not win, but meet her target – in Hawaii but I see that didn’t happen. Well, White America hasn’t paid any attention to what Native Hawaiians wanted for well over 100 years. Why should yesterday be any different? (Don’t answer that. I really do know why.) I’d actually congratulate the Bernie people if I dared go into any of their diaries. I’ll have to let Hillary’s congratulations to Bernie cover it. Not particularly worried about the end result – she’s still got more pledged delegates ahead of Bernie than she was ever behind Barack Obama.

    Hope everybody’s day and week are good – and if you can’t reach the heights of good, then at least better. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Good Sunday morning, Meese, and Happy Easter, Eostre, or Ishtar, whichever you celebrate. It’s 53 F. under dismal gray skies here in NoVa, going up to a whopping 57 F. later.

    We brought up the children as atheists but naturally celebrated all the fun stuff, with the result that our elder son, at age 45, still expects to receive an Easter basket full of little surprises. His wife good-naturedly provides him with one, despite being brought up in a different religious tradition—baking hamantaschen is more her line (and they’re delicious, too.)

    We’re going out to Easter dinner at Elder Son’s house and afterwards will spend a quiet evening at home.

    Peeped at GOS–oh, dear Goddess, the place is on fire with desire for Bernie! They can have him, certainly hope we won’t. Will keep a low profile over there until such time as we get news from primaries. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

  8. Good morning, meese! Monday …

    It is 39 degrees in Madison on its way up to 53. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    It seems like every presidential election cycle, we tell people “this election is the most important election in your lifetime”. Interestingly enough, the most recent one where that wasn’t said (that I remember) was 2000 – and it turns out that that one was critically important (maybe that was a wake-up call about the danger of a rogue presidency?) When I see Trump’s comments about nuclear arsenals for Japan and South Korea, for war with China to “keep them on their toes”, for the kind of presidency that would dismantle human rights protections here and abroad, it is obvious that 2016 is easily the most important presidential election in my lifetime. John Kerry has been visiting with world leaders who are concerned, as well they should be:

    Kerry said that everywhere he goes, every leader he meets asks about what is happening in America.

    “They cannot believe it. I think it is fair to say that they’re shocked. They don’t know where it’s taking the United States of America,” Kerry said in an interview on the Sunday CBS news show “Face The Nation.”

    “It upsets people’s sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability, and to some degree I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they’re posed to me, it’s clear to me that what’s happening is an embarrassment to our country.”

    It is! But more embarrassing would be giving Trumpism a foothold. It is a deadly disease to the body politic, it needs to be isolated then left to die for lack of oxygen.

    Today, Secretary Clinton will be in Madison to give a speech at UW-Madison regarding the Supreme Court vacancy and Sen. Charles “Duh” Grassley. I am trying to find out if it is going to be livestreamed – nothing on CSPAN’s schedule so far.

    See all y’all later!

  9. Good rainy Moonday, Moosekind! The rain actually seems to be letting up a bit, and the weather persons claim it will be windy and sunny this afternoon. It’s 48 F. under gray skies in NoVa, going up to 65 F.—or so they say.

    Oh, Gawd, our local rag, the WaPo, has a front-page, above-the-fold story about Hillary’s email problem! Never mind that Colin and Condi and Jawn did exactly the same thing she did: oh, no, if it involves Hillary, it’s got to be resurrected over and over again, like a zombie. Turning to the editorial page, ol’ Howie Gutman mansplains how there’s “no enthusiasm” for Hillary, that people merely tolerate her. There are no lengths to which even supposedly liberal men will go in order to quash a woman whose brain capacity exceeds their own by 100 percent.

    There! Whew. We had a lovely time at Easter dinner yesterday at Elder Son’s house. Mr. Newbaby, after recovering from his initial shock at seeing three strangers in his house, laughed all the way through dinner, showing four little white teefies. His father kept making funny faces at him. However, the lovely rich food disagreed with Dearly Beloved and me, with the result that we had a very bad night and will simply take it easy today.

    Will spend this lovely wet morning (thank you, Goddess) doing laundry and working on m’granddaughter’s birthday story. Already have the four scenes mapped out. Onward and upward!

    • I read about 3 pages of that WaPo article and realized that it was simply another hit piece. These breathless “exposés” that rehash the same old same old and present “new” information copy/pasted from right-wing blogs are just intended to keep the “Hillary is a damaged candidate” meme front and center. Meh.

      The idea that 147 FBI agents have been assigned to this case is not even credible. If there is a kernel of truth to it, it would probably be that 147 different FBI agents were involved at one point in the information gathering process over the last 18 months as part of their regular jobs. WaPo should be ashamed of themselves.

  10. Another restless night. Lots of dreams. I watched 4 episodes of Walking Dead yesterday, but none of my dreams were zombie-related. (actually the zombies aren’t the worst danger in the apocalypse, people are by far worse)

    and I checked twitter & saw the best thing ever:

    Avocado ‏@RealAvocadoFact

    there is nothing wrong with you; you’re doing your best in a game rigged against you, probably not enough people and fruit tell you that

    so happy Monday everyone — and you should follow the avocado if you’re on Twitter, much wisdom there — further examples:
    Avocado ‏@RealAvocadoFact Mar 1

    the response to this has already been…avocado will tell you a trick it uses

    Avocado ‏@RealAvocadoFact Mar 1

    you can listen for the messages that wear you down, then say the opposite to yourself, and see what happens
    Avocado ‏@RealAvocadoFact Mar 1

    and if you already feel good, you can listen for the messages that wear down the other people you see, and try telling them other messages

  11. Happy Monday Meeses – 29 at dawn, 33 now, heading for 65 and sunny which is nice. Yesterday it never crested 50 and was cloudy and damp but no real rain all day long. Inside, between my baking and the wood stove going, the den was 75 :)

    Not sure what the day is going to bring. Classes are back in session. The Chair is out til Wednesday. I hope I’ve gotten everything dealt with for Priority Registration which starts next Monday. Or at least I find out what I haven’t gotten dealt with before next Monday so I can get it done. Got some “end of quarter” budget stuff to do. Hope I get a chance to take a long lunch and get my hair cut, I’m a week overdo.

    What few minutes to myself I manage to get will be spent either here or in the HNV diary at GOS until the Pootie diary hits in the afternoon. Hope the day is good for everybody. {{{HUGS}}}

    • When I went to the GOS to read Dee’s piece on Sunday, out of curiousity I peeked at the wreck list. The only non-Bernie diary there was the HNV diary. Yikes!! The zombie path to the nomination is now the undead!!!

      • It really is. The same couple of hundred Bernie zealots keep posting and reccing each other’s diaries and blow out the rec list most of the time. I understand the Pootie diary yesterday evening managed to hit the wreck list for a short period of time – but basically I’ve had my wreck list collapsed for months now and collapsed the rest of the side bar over a week ago. I go into DK and click directly on my comments icon – once I’ve checked to see if I need to respond to anybody, I go to my stream. That’s it. I’m following the folks who do the HNV diaries and Dee. I’m in the Peeps community so I use that to find the Pootie diary. That is a sad state of affairs over there. Kos is going to have to get personally involved in the clean up. He apparently thought he could put out a deadline and remind them of the DBAD rules regarding Dem candidates, then let the help desk folks deal with it – but equally apparently some of the help desk people are Bernie supporters who don’t seem to notice when their team is BAD. Sigh.

        It was starting to creep into the Pootie Diaries – nothing nasty, just pictures of Hillary with Socks and Buddy, Bernie and the bird (animal related, right?) and one yesterday about how the B v H rivalry was stirring the animals to run beside a picture of a black cat stumping for some city election – so Marti finally reminded everyone of Tricia’s rules. I’m hoping it will take. Losing that safe space is not only a bad thing for everybody who depends on it, it’s like losing Tricia all over again.

  12. Good morning, 41 and partly sunny in Bellingham. After the family left yesterday afternoon I found my couch blankie and napped for hours, and then I went to bed and slept late this morning :::yawn::: I feel quite rested, so I hope the feeling lasts after my time at the pool this morning.

    We attended the primary caucus on Saturday morning, and while I knew our HRC votes would be in the minority they were made regardless. The room was full of friends and neighbors, so it was good to see people but I much prefer my votes to be private and more inclusive than the caucus system allows. My positive take however was that the room (the new gym at the local elementary school) was full of Dem’s sharing common values and an overall positive message.

    • “Democrats sharing common values”. Amen.

      Someone last night Tweeted out a link to Hillary Clinton’s concession speech in 2008 in the hope that we will see something from Bernie Sanders when his path to the nomination is blocked.

      Hillary Clinton, June 2008:

      “… when I started this race, I intended to win back the White House and make sure we have a president who puts our country back on the path to peace, prosperity and progress. And that’s exactly what we’re going to do, by ensuring that Barack Obama walks through the doors of the Oval Office on January 20, 2009.

      Now, I understand that we all know this has been a tough fight, but the Democratic party is a family. And now it’s time to restore the ties that bind us together and to come together around the ideals we share, the values we cherish, and the country we love.”

      I fear that the bells of “Hillary is corrupt” and “All political parties are corrupt” and “Bernie or Bust” cannot be unrung and that we won’t get any kind of unity speech from Senator Sanders. And that will be a shame. I think this speech by Hillary went a long way towards taking the wind out of the sails of the PUMAs and rendering them a non-factor in the 2008 general election.

  13. Morning all (still barely morning) – coolish and a bit cloudy here, but we got quite a bit of much needed rain over the weekend, and I’m not complaining at all.

    Been surfing my twitter feed and HNV this morning before coming here – the new California poll shows a smaller lead for Hillary than I would like, 45-37, but what it means to me is that even if Sanders closes the gap, he won’t get the pile of delegates he would need there. Also, 8 in 10 Sanders supporters in California would vote for Clinton in a race against Trump – I have to believe that reflects the nationwide feelings of Bernie supporters, no matter what the zealots at GOS say.

    anotherdemocrat, I started watching The Walking Dead this weekend on Netflix, got through the first season, and I see why it is so popular! Once I got over being grossed out by the zombies, I was pretty hooked. It’s kind of like Lost, with zombies and no beach – it’s of course the personal stories that keep you coming back.

    For anyone who likes British crime dramas and strong female characters, I highly recommend “Happy Valley”, available on Netflix – really well done. They’ve done 2 seasons, and might do a 3rd – I very much enjoyed both seasons.

    ok, off to get stuff done, have a great day everyone!

    • My California peeps think it will be about a 5 point win for Hillary. I don’t think it will much matter … Bernie’s supposed “path” assumes a 5 point win for him in New York which is not going to happen in a Democrats-only primary. It also assumes a 15 point win in Wisconsin. That will not happen either. If the Republicans had a nominee, maybe, but they will not get many crossover “independents” voting in the open Democratic Party primary. Wisconsin is being set up as the Alamo for the Republican establishment with Ted Cruz reprising the role of Davy Crockett. This pits the out-state Trump vote against the suburbs of Milwaukee and no one will sit this one out. They are predicting a 40% turnout which is pretty high for a presidential primary. Usually by the time it gets to us, the campaigns are over … or at least the die is cast. The Marquette Poll, coming out on Wednesday, will tell us more.

      • As a Texan by birth I have no problem with Wisconsin – or anywhere else – being the R’s Alamo. After a 6-day siege in which 100 men held off the Mexican Army, the siege was broken and every man “put to the sword” – including not only Davy Crockett of Tennessee but Jim Bowie of Louisiana who was in sick bay and the last man killed. And their bodies were burned rather than “buried decent”. Admittedly the siege slowed down the Mexican army enough that Sam Houston’s army was prepared to meet it at San Jacinto 6 weeks later, but it they are seeing themselves as Sam Houston’s Texicans they’re even more deluded than I thought.

        • I have no idea what they see themselves as. I just know that the Alamo ended up with all the “heroes” dead and that hardly seems inspiring to me.

          • Americans in general and Texans in particular are big on revenge. Whether it’s “Remember the Alamo” or “Remember the Maine” or “Remember Pearl Harbor” doesn’t matter, they’re all rallying cries to go out and get revenge.

    • I always tell people it isn’t about zombies. The zombies are the situation. It’s about people when the world has fallen apart. Once you get to the farmhouse, let me know — I have a question for you.

  14. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 35 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 59. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. Yesterday I spent some time on the deck soaking in the sun and it sounds like I can do that today as well.

    I watched the Hillary Clinton speech on SCOTUS and Republican extremism in Madison live off a local news feed. She was speaking to a pretty small group of mostly lawyers and law students at the UW and that is a forum she excels in (she is not a big crowd big venue person). I was once again impressed by the depth and breadth of her knowledge. If I can find a video, I will post it. Oh by the way, that lack of enthusiasm as it relates to Hillary Clinton? Actually, no:

    Hillary Clinton’s supporters are more enthusiastic than Sen. Bernie Sanders’ supporters, 54% vs. 44%.

    Ha!!

    President Obama delivered the keynote address at the Toner Prize Ceremony and I am storing the video here so I can watch it later (help yourself!). I did not watch it live because I missed the start but, based on Tweeted clips, it apparently included a scathing rebuke to “journalists” who chase the sound bite rather than provide real journalism.

    I may post this when I get the transcript because in my mind the media is complicit in the dumbing down of our electorate and the both-sides-do-it gives Republicans permission to totally go off the cliff and still be given a free pass by the press.

    The winner of the Toner Prize, by the way, was Alec MacGillis of ProPublica a brilliant journalist who I first discovered when he worked for The New Republic before its implosion. Well deserved honor.

    See all y’all later!!

  15. Good Tuesday morn Meese – spring break is over (sigh) Headed back to school today.
    Running late – so hugs to all!

  16. I wrote an AIDS diary in orange. Having trouble copying & pasting, I’ll try again later. But it’s all about being happy & positive. I used Road to Shambala (“everyone is helpful, everyone is kind”) and U2’s Beautiful Day. Hopefully it’ll spread some positive vibes.

  17. Good morning, Meese! It’s fair and sunny, although chilly this 29th of March—47 F. in NoVa, going up to 59 F. later today.

    Felt immensely cheered when I saw THIS from a “millennial” on Facebook—have you seen it?

    http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/3/26/honest-and-unmerciful-an-open-letter-to-matt-taibbi-of-rolling-stone-magazine

    Is my granddaughter a “millennial”? She was born in April 1994. If she’d been born in the year 2000 she wouldn’t be old enough to vote or have a full-time job, so I’m not sure what “millennial” means in this context.

    Agree whole-heartedly that GOS is still a mess. Very careful about what I read or see over there. Today I’m going on with writing granddaughter’s story. Feel a LOT better than yesterday! For one thing, I had a decent night’s sleep. Will be SO glad when our woman wraps up the nomination.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

    • Here is a pretty good rebuttal to the “dishonesty” bs that is being peddled by the BS campaign. Kevin Drum: Hillary Clinton Is Fundamentally Honest and Trustworthy.

      [T]here’s one issue where I suspect that age really does trip up millennials: the widespread belief that Hillary isn’t trustworthy. It’s easy to understand why they might think this. After all, Hillary has been surrounded by a miasma of scandal for decades—and even if you vaguely know that a lot of the allegations against her weren’t fair, well, where there’s smoke there’s fire. …

      But many of us who lived through this stuff have exactly the opposite view. Not only do we know there’s almost literally nothing to any of these “scandals,” we also know exactly how they were deliberately and cynically manufactured at every step along the way. We were there, watching it happen in real time. So not only do we believe Hillary is basically honest, but the buzzwords actively piss us off. Every time we hear a young progressive kinda sorta suggest that Hillary can’t be trusted, we want to strangle someone. It’s the ultimate proof of how the right wing’s big lie about the Clintons has successfully poisoned not just the electorate in general, but even the progressive movement itself.

      I wish that Bernie had kept his promise about running a positive campaign. I guess even the most pure, when they see the brass ring dangling just out of reach, are tempted to grab a handful of right-wing monkey poop to fling at their opponent.

    • ok, I copied the text & have tried multiple times to paste…. nothing happens… I’ll try again at lunch

  18. 44 heading to 70 this sunny Tuesday in Fay., AR – got over 21 KWHs yesterday for a monthly total of just under 375. If today is close to as good as yesterday, then even with the rain/overcast we’re expecting tomorrow I should crest 400 for the month. Maybe it’ll give me the personal energy to deal with the crud on my desk.

    Jan I hope you can find a video of her speech – I only heard about it after it was over. Diana that was a wonderful rant – I just wish I thought it would “go viral” but like most things dealing with Hillary it’s too detailed for the twitter generation to read through. Anotherdemocrat thanks for posting the link – I went over to read and rec but don’t have any spare cash right now.

    Blessings on all the Meeses. Have a lovely day. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Gets louder but very static-y about 3 minutes in – it gets better but I’m still only about 6 minutes in and don’t know how good (or not) it will eventually get. :)

      • Sound quality finally stabilized for the last half of the speech – I got a pop-up saying I had to log in that I couldn’t get rid of (no, I didn’t log in) but the audio continued to the end of the speech. And my basic reaction is Wow! That woman knows her stuff and presents it well – and she wasn’t seeking votes for herself but for the Dem Party. (As in, yes, she mentioned she’s running and she’d like their vote, but she was going to keep working on this for them whatever they decided – and then went on with a very clear case for why the Supreme Court matters, why they should be contacting their Senator and telling him to do his job, and why they should vote Dem all down the line.) Just Wow!

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