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?
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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.
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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 43 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 46. Rain is in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good morning Meese
37 and cloudy up here in the Catskills.
Hubby is on the road today to a gig in Maryland – am hoping he and the other musicians don’t run into any trouble.
Today is the anniversary of the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood terror last year – my morning topic at Orange.
I keep seeing reminders of all the things we are going to need to protect over the next 4 years and it is depressing. Protecting Planned Parenthood and a woman’s right to choose has to be high on the list.
Something I can only say here: this & the other acts of terror against PP & other providers of women’s health – this is why I will never, ever forgive Bernie Sanders for denouncing PP as “establishment”. They were literally under attack. Not just awful (costly to fight) legislation – but literal attack with guns. And it’s every day. The people who open clinics have to check for IEDs. People who work at them have to check their cars for car bombs. Their kids are harassed at school.
I hate Sanders. He didn’t contribute to this event, but he helped build hatred of Planned Parenthood & every violent incident after is at least partly on him.
The moral superiority of the purity voters is poised to do real damage to people, our planet, and the everything we hold dear.
Found on the Internet:
Lest we forget: Anniversary of domestic terror at Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs
Safe Travels to your husband. {{{Denise}}}
Beans are cooking, I’ll make quinoa & vegetables later. Watching the news, it is ridiculously warm — sandals again. I’ll either walk this afternoon or finally watch all those Walking Dead episodes I have recorded.
Good morning, 42 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. Despite my best efforts reading the news still makes me mad/sad, especially articles like this one, at the Seattle Times. While it is good to be prepared, I hope doing so doesn’t normalize the yam’s evil rhetoric.
Mexican consul hits road to calm Trump postelection fears in Washington state
And how sad an explanation of his rhetoric is needed…..
Donald Trump’s many ‘isms,’ explained
I keep hoping to wake up with less outrage and more grim acceptance but apparently I’m not there yet. Oh well, with T Day over and Christmas coming I’ve got lots of lists to keep me busy. Today I’ll focus doing the laundry.
I am going to focus on the dark moon (tomorrow, in advance of the new moon) to banish the bad things swirling around us and start building protections. The dark moon energy is personified in the crone which I embrace as a wise but cranky old woman. It will fall to us to protect the earth and her people – as it always has.
I am still taking in a lot of information and have not finished sorting out what the election results mean. At some point we will have to accept them and then decide how we use them to find a path forward. There were some positive things – four new women in the Senate reflecting the diversity of our party – white, Latina, Asian, Black. A majority of the popular vote suggests that our issues were not out of sync with voters. Things to build on, things to jettison, things to consider .. then act on.
Thank you – focus on Grandmother Moon protecting or at least hiding from harm all her grandchildren. {{{Jan}}}
40s I think as the sky lightened up – very overcast unfortunately but it does keep the temps from dropping like a rock overnight. 50 now and probably not going to get much warmer. Got my household chores done – including hanging the laundry on racks in front of the wood stove. Charlie’s mad as I usually let the kittehs out while I’m hanging clothes and he was looking forward to it. :) Just “bottled” the Mexican rice and refried bean soup I’ll be eating for lunch next week. Baked spice muffins for breakfasts and coffee breaks. Moving a little slower than usual, that’s why I’m late. Probably depression. Oh well. The soup is good and so are the muffins (just had one with my 2nd mug of coffee.)
Just one more bad result of this election – from the big picture to the individual issue – fundraising has dried up. Aji and Wings will be spending another winter in the tin can. I’m just hoping we/they can get the windows and doors in and the external plastering. The house is designed for passive solar with wood stove assist. If the exterior is finished they can camp out there when storm winds cause power failures. And yes, this is directly caused by the results of the election. I’m not going to blame Bernie because I don’t think he ever had any control over the Alt Left, but I most certainly do blame the Alt Left.
Meanwhile, I need to get over to GOS – check in on the Village diaries, read Denise’s diary, and re-read my Street Prophets diary to make sure there’s nothing egregious in it. :) Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meese. Monday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Rain off and on most of the day. The lashing rain kept me from getting a good night’s sleep and then when the dog stirred, I was up for good.
I am not looking at the news today because every day – hell, every hour! – brings a new horror related to what our country has done to itself. The part that worries me the most is that was avoidable, we had a template for suckitude with George W. Bush. The incoming administration is GWB on steroids and America is being sucked into a vortex of reality TV the audience trapped and unable to escape. It is impacting my sense of well-being and my sleep. I am going back into post-election mode and will partake lightly of news stories. I thought I was ready but it is too soon.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Moosekind. It’s 26 F. in NoVa under overcast skies, going up to 55 F. today. Four-letter word is expected soon, but I forget when Now that I don’t watch the news I don’t get any weather.
Jan, I hear you about its being too soon to look at the news. We can’t spend our entire lives in a state of depression. For now I’m going to focus on what I need to do for December, which includes—gasp—a great many social events.
As well, I need to be writing my Christmas newsletter. I email it because the postage overseas and even here is becoming formidable. And as my aunt pointed out to me some time ago, such things as birthday cards are kept around for a couple of days and then trashed. So why not just send email greetings?
Then of course, there’s other writing, like correspondence with friends, as well as a batch of poems to read from my friend the poet. He’s desolate that I don’t get on FB any more. I must say I’m enjoying the free time!
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond. I expect people who saw the French Revolution coming felt much the same as we do. “It’s coming, so let’s enjoy life while we can.”
This is what I discovered last night: “We can’t spend our entire lives in a state of depression.” I found it grinding me down and really for no purpose, I can’t change it. There will be a lot of stress related illnesses coming out of this – another reason to fight tooth and nail to keep our healthcare.
President Obama warned everyone – “democracy is on the ballot!” That people did not believe him has to cause him a lot of sadness.
Cooked yesterday, didn’t walk. It’s unbelievably warm — literally wearing something I could wear in July. But we might have a light freeze by the end of the week (not in town, but we’ll get the upper 30s which is plenty cold).
So, now that Dear Leader himself says there’s fraud, maybe we can audit the vote? Not holding my breath. I started listening to Christmas music in the car, but I still have U2 playing in my head.
50 at what passed for dawn – rain, which we need, since about 3 am (why yes, I was awake to hear it – what’s your point? heh) but supposed to clear off this afternoon and head for mid 60s. I had something like 100 emails to deal with – fortunately only half of them work related – and am about half way through. I don’t think any of us will “settle down” until the tsunami actually hits and we see how much good our prep work is doing and what we can do next. I haven’t paid attention to the Media for over 16 years. I get my weather reports online.
Grandmother Moon is the hunted’s moon. She’s got a lot of people to hide for the next several years. sigh. Gotta get back to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Oh, dear Goddess, bfitz, hope you can get some sleep tonight. You are quite weighed down at present with writing responsibilities. Cheering for you here in Northern Virginia!
Hey – my sleep is better than another’s usually is. Writing Street Prophets twice a week and encouraging the Villagers isn’t exactly a heavy schedule – I’m so new at being a “regular” I keep being afraid I’ll forget. Especially since my schedule for SP just got changed from Th & Sun to W (starting next week) and Sat. :) Mostly kind of upset finding out about PDNC – so reminded me of the situation with my mother, doctors not paying any attention to what a woman says about her health until it’s too effen late to do much about it.
Sleep cycles are supposedly around 90 minutes. This week, I seem to be waking up after every one. Sigh. And wow was my stomach unhappy this morning.
Good morning, 42 and still dark in Bellingham. I expect another cloudy day so when the rain lets up I want to put white lights on the patio trees. Time to counter the darkness!
My sewing room project is inching along…..working around family events and moving things as we go has made for slow progress but that’s the best we can do. The new baseboards ( to match the ones in the rest of the house) are nearly complete and it is worth the extra time as the room looks much more finished. I hope we can install the new curtains by the end of this week.
And now that RonK has had a rest he will finish digging the planting holes for the new trees so they will be planted this week. I have a deep burgundy pot reserved to make a tall twig and greens arrangement for the top of the back entrance stairs so I may work on that today. I have the curly willow and red twig dogwood branches, I’ll cut the Alaska cedar branches from the big tree at my son’s house, I’ve saved a pine cone branch from last year, some tall branches from the laurel hedge are needing to be clipped, and The Garden Spot has tree trimming branches and evergreen huckleberry bundles in stock now. I love the look of mixed greens with some ivy and holly branches mixed in.
Being in the garden and listening to winter choral music is a solace, Holly and The Ivy
Good morning, meese! Tuesday ….
It is 43 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Busy day today! Stay out of trouble, meeses!!
Good morning Meese
Sorry to miss yesterday –
In case you didn’t see Aji’s powerful diary raising funds for Linda (Patriot News Daily Clearinghouse)
A Lake for Lin: A Community Fundraiser for an Eco-Warrior In the Fight of Her Life
Check it out. More are on the way – I’m doing one for Thursday early evening – since I have campus-teach in that afternoon
Denise, is it at all possible to send a money order? It was YouCaring that got me into such trouble in August and I’m still feeling the repercussions of that four months later.
I’ve closed my PayPal account, so can’t use that.
Would like to help, though. Poor Lin, what a blow!
I’ll check with the group about a snail-mail address, then email it to you. {{{Diana}}}
Thank you, bfitz!
I used pay pal – sure there are other options – I see bfitz is checking
Sad, indeed. I also heard that Aji and Wings are not going to get enough in donations to finish their house before winter. :(
No they’re not – Aji being Aji has more or less shrugged it off, doesn’t like it but says they’ve done it 6 years, they can do 7, and is putting all of her energy into helping Lin. I’m still hoping we have/can raise enough to get the windows paid for and installed – that way they’ll at least have a relatively warm place to camp out if the power goes out and there’s no heat in the tin can at all.
Good morning, Moosekind. It’s 47 F. here in NoVa, allegedly going up to 64 F. later. It appears to be sprinkling a bit. The “heavy rain” called for yesterday has so far failed to materialize, as usual.
So now it’s three weeks after the Awful Event. I still cannot bear to have that name pronounced in my hearing. For now, all I can do is focus on my own little patch.
Patriot News Daily Clearinghouse will be constantly in my thoughts today. Hope it will be a good day for all at the Pond and beyond.
I threw together a diary about the Children’s Shelter (it’s a rehash of a previous one). Of course, there’s a U2 video — it’s a Christmas song that makes me cry. Like, really cry. I FB’d & tweeted, but if y’all could share it, too, I’d appreciate it
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/11/29/1605126/-for-GivingTuesday-please-donate-to-the-Austin-Children-s-Shelter?_=2016-11-29T05:25:51.222-08:00
Has anyone seen Geordie?? I need to discuss the Tom Price to HHS with her and what something Price said about Medicare Phaseout really means. It is time to start organizing and I want to do a post on the status as a jumping off point.
Haven’t seen her, but just kosmailed her.
Haven’t seen her, Jan. I’m worried that I offended her, so I apologized in last week’s thread. It was not my intention at all to imply her knowledge of Social Security is incorrect; was just trying to convey that the government is now in an unusual situation and there’s no telling what they’ll do.
Sigh. Suppose I could have phrased it better. I’m not panicking about SS, but I do feel considerable concern.
They are talking about passing the Medicare Phaseout in the summer. I wonder if they are hoping to just outlast our outrage?
What is worse is that they are talking about repealing the ACA (which they can do with reconciliation) and then “replacing” it at some point in the future (which requires a bill to pass Congress). That is the worst possible outcome because once it is gone, people will be desperate and our representative will be forced to accept whatever crumbs they give us.
I will have to go without insurance and hope that a catastrophic medical event does not bankrupt me and take my house. What a nightmare!
Dear Goddess! Jan, it used to be that professional associations, such as the Washington Independent Writers’ Association, offered insurance to its members. I don’t know whether such groups still do. Might it be worth looking into?
I am going to guess that no one offers any kind of health insurance like that any longer. And I am not a member of any professional organizations!
I will have to hope that they will make available some kind of cheap insurance that people can buy for catastrophic coverage and hope we stay healthy and don’t wipe out my retirement savings to stay alive. Years ago I was unable to get health insurance because of a medical condition and the State of Wisconsin offered something called HIRSP, a high-risk insurance pool that was incredibly expensive. But if they repeal the ACA, and don’t have anything in place, people won’t just fall through the cracks – they will be tossed into a chasm.
I am waiting for the insurance industry and the hospitals to weigh in on this. For better or worse, the ACA was crafted in a way that the multi-billion dollar health insurance industry was not shut down. To the extent that they want to keep making money insuring people’s health, losing 20 million customers gives them a stake in it. And the hospitals that saw their profits improve by not having as many uninsured showing up in their ERs probably want to have a say. My guess is that they are holding fire until they see the contours of the repeal and the extent of the replace. Or maybe the CEOs are happy be getting their new tax cut and to hell with the rest of it.
talk to her in WoW – will let her know.
Great. She only seems to be at GOS to read your Sunday diaries at this point. {{{Denise}}
40 going to 60 and sunny so far today – temps dropping like a rock as soon as the sun goes down though. Lin’s situation is bringing up bad memories – Trish and Mom, hell even my cat Scotty – I’m having to fight through to be any kind of helpful. Working on it.
Other than some phone calls and post cards (that I haven’t had a chance to get yet), about the only thing I can think of is focus on asking everybody from Grandmother Moon to Basement Cat to hide us from the predators so recently let loose.
Gotta get to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham. We got the trees planted yesterday, and I clipped the ivy growing over the rock wall and by the back steps and then I was done. So the winter greens arrangement is still in the thinking about it stage. It was good to be outdoors and I felt better……then I read around the internets and watched the evening news and got mad/sad/overwhelmed again.
I need to tend to my desk today, and Ron and I will go to lunch or dinner to note our anniversary. Amazing we have been married for 49 years!
Congratulations, princesspat! It was 49 years for us on October 21.
Are we—gasp—getting old or something?
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 41. The forecast calls for cloudy skies this morning and showers and mixed precipitation later in the day.
Nothing much new in the news. The Yaministration will be filled with billionaires and anti-government extremists. Ironically, the ultimate insider pick for transportation secretary, Mrs. Mitch McConnell, is the only one with any cabinet level experience and may be able to keep the trains running on time.
See all y’all later!
Good morning Meese
Fog, fog, fog here in the Catskills this morning.
Have writing to do this morning – so will pop in and out.
Not even spending time on the news.
Seeya later.
Good morning, Meese. It’s raining here today, beautiful, twice-blessed rain! We’re supposed to have fog too, but of course that’s something else the meteorologists got wrong. Current temp. is 55 F., on the way to 71 F. later today. Possibly the tiny Christmas trees I planted in the front porch pots will grow.
Lots to do. After a quick breakfast and so forth I must go to the post office to mail a money order to Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse. She’s in California, so it won’t arrive until next Monday or Tuesday.
Darling Niece is coming for coffee, then I’ll be having a long-delayed mani and pedi. The magic ointment cleared up my face to the point that it no longer looks like hamburger. With makeup on, it’s hard to tell anything had happened to me. My hand is taking longer to heal, but looks a lot better than it did.
Miss Pink Cheeks decorated what she could reach of the 3-ft. tree we perched on top of the TV cart (now a tea cupboard) in the family room. We’ll have to finish doing the rest.
Even three weeks later I’m still not over the shock. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond.
I saw a Tweet yesterday that said “it’s only been three weeks”. Good lord, it seems like a lifetime ago in spent outrage and angst! I hope that it is not as bad as we expect it to be and that the institutions that President Obama has such faith in hold up. It is somewhat troubling to hear that there may be no press secretary and no White House press corps because it is considered an anachronism. The press did this to themselves by making the election coverage all horse race and emails and click-bait. I am not sure that there is a way to repair the damage done to the concept of “truth”, really.
Today I have to get the last November things done as we head into December and will stay away from news again except to copy some links into Pocket to read later.