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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It got cold overnight — shoes & long sleeves today. I thought about a sweater. I didn’t walk yesterday, really should have. Will try leaving work early today to get one in.
I got one donation yesterday, so that’s good. I need to get the auction thing set up so I can get rid of some action figures & get donations that way.
I’ve been listening to Christmas music in the car, but U2’s Ultraviolet is stuck in my head — the guitar is just so pretty.
Jan:
No access serves them bloody well right.
Just wish it would cause enough trouble to break up the “media monopoly” Molly Ivins warned us about in the early 1990s. Hold the Good Thought. {{{Diana}}}
32 at daybreak heading for 48 and sunny for this last day of November. There’s no way I can catch up with Nov 2015 production (199 KWHs), but I’m at 176 KWHs right now so should get around 182 total if today is like yesterday. Maybe 183 if I’m lucky.
Yesterday afternoon (pacific time) Lin went in for the exploratory. Was in surgery about 4 hours. They kept her overnight – she felt well enough by 9 pm (pacific) to get online and post a comment to our group kosmail: “In hospital. Recovery nurse told me when coming out of anesthesia it took five docs to restrain me ,yelling I can,t breathe. I remember. After they gave me mask oxygen all ok.” Goddess, she’s a Warrior Woman. We don’t expect results until Friday. Then we’ll know whether or not there’s a “further protocol” – i.e. a anything left to try. Focusing on sending her Energy – just plain Energy for her shaping.
Tired of living in panic-fear mode. We’ll survive The Donald or we won’t and I’ll deal with stuff when it actually happens. I’m giving the Evil Ones too much of my energy and I need to be giving it to other people and situations. Goddess knows there are many in need of it.
Got work to do. I actually do get paid to be here. So I’d best get to it. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
if you need some good news, to see a thread of optimism:
https://twitter.com/Spacekatgal/status/803967713081171968
Good morning, 47 and pouring rain in Bellingham, and ready or not Christmas is upon us. I do enjoy using Spode’s old fashioned Christmas Tree dishes for the month of December so I’ll start with putting the blue and white teapot away and bringing out the Christmas one. Small pleasures matter, and I hope some seasonal cheer will help lighten our gloomy election angst mood.
U.S. Rep. DelBene bill would prohibit religious registry
Good idea for Suzan DelBene to make those who support a Muslim registry to expose themselves. It will, of course, never be brought to a vote but maybe it will inspire people in the media to ask Congress members how they would vote on such a bill and report that. HAHAHAHA!! I suggested that the media do something to hold elected officials accountable!! Silly me!!!
I saw a Tweet this morning that perfectly describes the unseriousness of the media’s fact checking operation:
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 39. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast but the rain appears to have moved on. We never got any snow.
Don’t miss RonK’s post – “Restoration of Wild Habitat at Maple Creek Reach“. Thanks, RonK!
Congratulations to Nancy Pelosi on being re-elected as House Minority Leader. There is nothing wrong with our party – our presidential candidate got over 65 million votes, we picked up 6 seats in the House in a Republican gerrymandered country and picked up precious seats in the Senate plus added 3 women of color. And we won by embracing diversity, celebrating women and people of color, vowing to protect abortion rights and human rights – and working people. About 100,000 old white guys spread out over three states being unable to pull the lever to elect a woman president was the difference. That is not a shellacking. If Tim Ryan and his ilk think that going after the aggrieved white male vote is the path to victory, he needs to get his head out of his ass and look around. Our House leadership team reflects America 2016 not America 1950.
Nancy Pelosi’s resume includes successfully turning the last Republican attempt to destroy senior citizens’ safety net into a resounding wave of blue in 2006. She is the perfect point person for the pushback against Medicare voucherization and preserving as much as possible of the Affordable Care Act. It turns out that dismantling the ACA is not as easy as it sounded as Republican Senators start looking at how it will impact their individual states. Ryan wants to repeal without a replacement saying “we need to get Obamacare relief to families as fast as possible“. Good lord! No families suffer because of the ACA – they will suffer without the ACA. Words simply have no meaning any longer.
See all y’all later!!
Good morning Meese
46 going up to 53 here.
Today is our the campus teach-in at 12:30
I’ll let you know what happened – after I get back!
Hoping some students show up!
It got cold! Heavy sweater & a scarf for my still-wet hair. Brrr. Not much in the way of thinking. It’s World AIDS Day, so I’ll post Invisible (a song U2 specifically did as an AIDS benefit), though my brain is really playing Ordinary Love — just a gorgeous song, and the words…
We can’t fall any further if, we can’t feel ordinary love.
And we cannot reach any higher, if we can’t deal with ordinary love.
Good morning, Meese! It’s a beautiful morning here in NoVa after the rain, with blue skies and sunshine. Current temp. is 48 F., going up to 60 F. I really enjoyed listening to the “iced gusts…rave and beat” against the house last night. First time in eight or nine months that I’ve heard heavy rain.
World AIDS Day and guess what: some schoolboys in Sydney, NSW, have synthesized the main ingredient in Daraprim, the price of which was jacked up 1,000 times by Martin Shrekli, the bastard. The boys reproduced it for about $20. Only in America can a pill that costs $10 in civilized countries cost $750. Here’s the linky: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-38153254
Half-Pence, our VP-elect, is unavailable to take the post of Secretary of Health, so his clone is going to be nominated. Tom Price opposes every single health benefit that improves the lives of women, including contraception and abortion. Welcome to the Republic of Gilead, Meese!
The depressing thing is there’s nothing we can do about it.
See you later!
thanks for that link! FB’d & tweeted.
If we take back Congress, there is a lot we can do. Without Congress, we have the power of the courts. There are rule changes that HHS can issue but they still have to comply with the law … and if they don’t, we sue to block them.
Right now we have to slow walk the nomination process. I saw that the Republican Congress, which comes into session on January 3rd, wants to have a bunch of bills ready to put on the next president’s desk and also to have some of the confirmation hearings done. I am not sure how that works – wouldn’t one have to be inaugurated first before one could nominate? There is still plenty that could go wrong with this election outcome.
Hands off my ACA!!
There will be a political price to pay for repealing this law outright and a political price to pay for not repealing it. I wonder if “people will die if it is repealed” enters the equation for Republicans.
I’m starting feel a bit calmer re my families health insurance. Everyone’s coverage should stay the same for 2017.
Whatcom County residents sign up for insurance amid uncertainty over fate of Obamacare
Thank Goddess, princesspat!
Every news account I am reading says that the ACA will definitely still be in place for the 2017 plan year. The latest draft legislation from the House says a 2 year phase-out. I am very relieved as that may only mean a small gap between ACA phaseout and Medicare. If we can take back Congress in 2018, there is still a chance I won’t have to go without health insurance.
Trending on Twitter: #TrumpsChumps and #BasketOfGullibles
Good morning, 37, raining, and still dark in Bellingham. I wonder how much longer my still blooming begonias will last? Seems odd to have blooming begonias and evergreen wreaths on the porches at the same time.
My sewing room project is muddling along, but yesterday was frustrating, as I had forgotten how many floor tiles were cracked and missing. The tiles are old and we didn’t have enough spares to completely replace everything so we made sure the edges look as they should and used the older and off color ones for the area that will be under the rug. Now the last of the baseboards can be installed and painted.
So today will be more of the same…..bringing Christmas to the house and helping in the basement as I can.
24 going to 56 today and sunny which is a good start on a new month of electricity production. I topped Nov 2016 at 182.9 KWHs, 16.9 less than Nov 2015. This has been a cloudy year. Physically as well as in a bunch of other ways.
Working on staying centered. I cannot of my own energy do a heck of a lot, no matter how much I wish to. If I stay centered and concentrate on being a channel of Energy much more will get done than I can personally do. Hard to narrow the focus through – there are so many places and people needing Good Energy right now. But Hurricane Donald is still offshore and while there are some effects (hate activities), we not only have some time left to prepare (and even hope, while we don’t stop working, that a miracle will occur and it won’t make landfall) but we’ve got time to tend to immediate needs like Lin’s health and Aji’s windows.
Gotta get to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Propane Jane is severely displeased about the HHS pick, read this severe storm
https://twitter.com/docrocktex26/status/804303618774016003
There is so much awfulness it is hard to keep up with it. People lose sight of the fact that these are mainstream Republicans – they are extreme when compared to the rest of America. I wish that a certain 74 year old man had spent time educating the young people he had engaged that there really is a difference between the two national political parties. The sweet song from the Pied Piper of Burlington of “we will just have a revolution” lured the young people to the edge of the ocean where they will likely all be drowned.
Good morning, meese. Friday …
It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of …36! Sunny skies expected this morning and into the afternoon.
I was following reaction to the yam’s “Thank You” tour on Twitter last night and saw that it turned into a “F$%# You” tour reprising the worst of the campaign but with the added kicker of it being run by the person who will be in charge of the largest military in the world and whose tiny hands can sign legislation that can destroy the lives of millions of people. And the press is not helping as they breathlessly cover His Pettiness as if he is capable of demonstrating even the tiniest understanding of the job he was “elected” to do.
The latest on the ACA front is that Republicans will “Repeal and Delay” – repeal now and kick the can down the road for 3 years (conveniently, after the midterms) where everyone will magically come together on an ACA replacement before the multi-billion dollar health insurance industry collapses and millions are left without health care. Right. Just like the awful-for-the-defense-industry sequester was going to force the Republicans to come to the bargaining table. The Republicans can do this without Democratic votes via reconciliation so unless 4 Republican Senators think this is a bad idea, it will pass. The sad thing is that the Republicans know that what they are planning is likely to destroy the insurance industry and are looking at ways to cushion the blow. Not to cushion the blow to the insured but to cushion the blow to the money grubbers in the insurance industry. You know, when people vote because they hate, they are blinded to the damage they are doing to themselves. This is Trumpism:
See all y’all later!
That Tweet by Mary was a reply to a Tweet stream by Joy Ann Reid about what Trumpism really is. Here is a Tweet from the middle:
Good morning Meese
The teach-in yesterday went very well – the room that we booked was full – some students had to sit on the floor.
It was interesting to see how surprised they all were about the distinction between “voting for Democrats” and being “an active member of the Party”
They never considered “the Party” as an entity – only one had ever been to a party meeting.
That is part of the problem – the party is not “them” but “us” and we can all contribute our ideas and energy towards making the party what we want it to be. It is easy to rail against The Democratic Party when it is presented as some monolith that is working to subvert your hopes and dreams by “settling” for a candidate who is not 100% what you want.
In some ways our success over the past 8 years – the Obama Administration was an amazing ground breaking change – lulled people into forgetting the hard work that went into that. The time in the wilderness, the Bush/Cheney years of wars and torture and financial distress were quickly forgotten. It is a lesson learned the hard way that nothing is permanent, winning a battle does not mean we won the war.
The fight over abortion rights is a perfect example of that. Roe v Wade was not the end of the story but the beginning of a religious and political movement to undermine and then repeal it. There is no laurel resting and we need to find a way to convince young people that winning one election is just a step on the path. I hope they don’t get discouraged by this setback; I know I would not be the person to pump them up because right now I am teetering on the brink of despair about the future. Please keep reporting on this!
Warmer than yesterday, but still cool enough for long sleeves & shoes. Supposed to start raining later — and rain all weekend. Tomorrow morning when my training group meets, it’s supposed to be 50 & raining. Yay.
Brain is finally playing Christmas music at me. This morning I was listening to the Chieftains’ Bells of Dublin in the car & that’s what it’s playing at me now.
My lefty talk radio station changed its format to music and I can’t listen to my NPR station any longer now that they give white nationalists the same standing as regular political commentators. So I started listening to the local classical music station and now they switched to xmas carols! If it were just instrumentals, it would be okay but it is choirs so there is no getting around the christianist bent. :(
Exactly. I can’t listen to the radio at all, even the music stations. I’m still too agitated.
In my mind, I give so-called “Christian” hymns a Pagan interpretation. My favorite Christmas song, “The Holly and the Ivy,” contains this line:
Having seen bare winter trees on bare hills against the backdrop of the rising of a red sun on a winter morning, I can never think of this song as anything but Pagan. Also, the holly and the ivy have important symbolism in the Pagan religion.
Feel the same about other songs, such as “Carol of the Bells.” The best Yule Solstice music I’ve ever listened to is “This Winter’s Night” by Mothertongue. I play it over and over in December. It contains some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard.
That is why I can handle the instrumentals. Many years ago a pagan friend put words to all the popular holiday songs and we sang them that way at gatherings. When I hear the song (without the words) I can put those words to them! I love the melodies of many of them – they are so cheerful and uplifting – but the words of the religions which have such a history of repression and intolerance cannot be part of my enjoyment.
I know that not all Christians are awful and that in many ways their religion was perverted by the haters but it is difficult to get past some of it.
Since for “protective coloring” my mother had us all identifying as Christians (grew up in Houston, TX in the 1950s & 60s) for years I dealt with a “not all Christians” attitude. While it’s still true that it isn’t all Christians – I’ll give you Hillary Clinton as an example of who and what I grew up thinking Christians were – I finally came to the conclusion that whether or not it was all Christians there were enough and I wasn’t one of them. And right now I have trouble listening to any human voices – only listening to instrumental anything.
I’m particular about my Christmas music. Love U2’s Christmas songs, of course – but they aren’t particularly religious. I Believe In Father Christmas is lefty ideological & secular. One of my faves from the Chieftains album is Rebel Jesus which is also lefty/secular — about how our selfish materialistic society & celebration is not what that rebellious man was talking about.
I love Carol of the Bells & the Peanuts tune – both decidedly secular, Oi To The World – which has the lines:
If God came down on Christmas Day
I know exactly what He’d say
He’d say “Oi to the punks and Oi to the skins-
But Oi to the world and everybody wins!”
So technically “religious” but definitely not the conventional message.
Good morning! It’s 40 F. at 9 a.m. on this fair morning in NoVa. The blueness of the sky is covered by a veil of white cirrus cloud. Expected high today will be 51 F.
Have just been tasked with a surprise child care gig, so will have to scramble to readjust my weekend plans. I console myself with the idea that one day Miss Pink Cheeks will think Grandma is too boring to spend time with, so I’d better see a lot of her while I can. Anyway, we have to pick her up from school and she’ll be spending the night, so I’ll have to get something she’ll actually like for dinner.
Sigh. At least having her here will take my mind off The Awfulness. I know it’s weak-minded of me, but I just can’t stand the thought of any activism just now, nor can I deal with the news except peripherally.
Wishing a good day to all!
Your activism can wait a few weeks. Everything that happens between now and January 3rd is simply posturing and getting worked up about it does none of us any good. Our Congressional leadership is in place and for Nancy Pelosi this is not her first rodeo. I still don’t trust Chuck Schumer – after he declared that President Obama “wasted” his political capital on health care for poor and working class people instead of middle class issues, I have doubts about his commitment to the things that I find important. But he is a wheeler and a dealer and maybe he has a plan. He did say that he was going to use Price’s HHS hearing as a way to showcase the worst of Ryan Republicanism. I am not sure when the people who voted to deny themselves health care will come down from the sugar-high of electing a guy who reflects their values – whiteness and maleness. I hope it is in time to call their representatives and register their complaints about killing the ACA and Medicare.
Good morning, 46, still dark and raining in Bellingham. Despite my efforts election misery isn’t easing and I feel like I’m just going through the motions of preparing for Christmas. Sorry to be so gloomy.
The Obama family is inspiring, lovely photos……
The Obamas Light Their Last Christmas Tree As The First Family
A tender song from Over The Rhine…..
Another Christmas
Take care everyone.
Triple whammy, princesspat:
– The loss of the Obamas
– The loss of a President Hillary Clinton
– The election of the vulgar talking yam to go with Republican majorities in Congress
I think the first was going to be difficult enough but coupled with the next two makes it nearly unbearable.
31 at dawn, heading for 60 and sunny again. Of course sunny apparently means 6 KWHs for the day – at least that’s what I got yesterday. (Did have some clouds in the afternoon and of course that oak tree still has it’s leaves…)
Very hit and run everywhere today as I keep getting interrupted with work. So I’ll just be thankful I have a job and deal with the hit and run as best I can. I know we’ve passed moon dark, but I’m still focusing on asking Grandmother Moon to hide and/or heal as appropriate – everybody and everything from individuals like PDNC to the world itself. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}