Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Feb. 26th through Mar. 4th

February 25, 2017 JanF Community 145

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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52 Comments

  1. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. Cloudy this morning giving way to sunny skies the rest of the day.

    The news rollercoaster never stops, does it? You think you have safely moved into the next news cycle without losing any limbs and, whomp, it hits again. John Dean has some advice for the current administration:

    @JohnWDean
    Hey Donald, a tip: Cover-ups don’t get easier as they proceed. Russia tie leaks drown your joint session speech in less than 24 hrs.

    The only question now is whether Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell are willing to look the other way in order to get the Republican agenda implemented. Tuesday night “my gawd, look how presidential the orange shitgibbon is!”, Thursday morning damage control. Fingers crossed that the damage reaches Jeff Sessions, the most dangerous member of tRump’s cabinet.

    In the meantime, the ACA repeal and replace plan in the House is being kept in a secure reading room where House members can go and view the dead thing text of the bill but not take notes! This from the party who decried that the ACA was created in a secret back room and crammed down American’s throats, which is, of course, a bald-faced lie. It was passed without a single Republican vote because Republicans hate when sick people have a chance to get well.

    See all y’all later!

  2. Good morning Meese
    We’ve got high wind warnings here in the Catskills – 45 degrees and rain.
    Glad to see there will be a demonstration today:

    • I am still trying to catch up on the news. I went to bed with the breaking news that the Obama Administration had made sure that evidence of the Russian connection to the tRump campaign had been preserved and woke up with the headline that the Attorney General was involved. He will never resign, of course, and the Republican Congress would never impeach him but maybe the Republican Unified Government can be so damaged that they are unable to implement their plans to finish shredding the safety net and rolling back the Civil Rights era human rights gains.

  3. Good morning, Moosekind! Sunny but very windy this morning in NoVa, currently 46 F., going up to 58 F. later.

    No, Jan, it never stops. The news just keeps getting worse. It seems unlikely that Sessions will resign of his own accord, nor will he bow to pressure from the Dems.

    Still busy in my little patch, trying to get things done. Hope everyone will have a good day!

  4. Good morning dear Meese!

    MPLS/St Paul weather: 19 and ‘feels like’ 9; high of 38.

    The steady drip, drip, drip of Russia/45* goings on seems to be very well orchestrated. I hope it brings the current administration plus the republican party down in flames. Keep the revelations coming dear spooks!

    • Also, once again, we can say, “thanks, Obama!” (for taking measures to preserve evidence of 45*/Russian collusion).

    • I guess it is okay to lie to a fellow Senator in a Senate hearing because “Senate Comity”. This splatters back on Mitch McConnell who would brook no disrespect for his fellow Senator during the debate over the confirmation vote. One of these days I would like to see IOKIYAR replaced by WGACA (What Goes Around Comes Around).

  6. Claire McCaskill makes an important point

  7. 28 just before dawn, heading for 60 and sunny again. Got 16 KWHs yesterday. Yes! That’s at least starting the month off right. Chiropractor said i’d pulled a muscle which then pulled out my pelvic alignment and the two were exacerbating each other. She adjusted my pelvis – so far, so good as in definitely less pain – and said the soft issue just has to heal itself. Going back tomorrow to see if the adjustment is holding.

    Anybody who believes much of anything coming out of the mouths of the R administration – whether or not under oath – hasn’t been paying attention. They told us who they were and what they were going to do before they were elected. I took Hillary’s – and Maya Angelou’s – advice. I believed them the first time. So I’m working on my community needs stuff (and making sure there is a Village diary at DK) as my part of the Resistance right now. And keeping in touch with my local Dem party committee. Right now it’s mostly fundraising which I can’t help with but I’m keeping an eye on my replacement on the Quorum Court. That young man (OK, in his 40s) has some potential. I can see him going either for the executive slot at the County or to Little Rock in the legislature – or both – in the next 10 years or so.

    Soloing today. Need to get to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

      • {{{{bfitz}}} Glad you’re getting realigned and on the road to healing!

        I’ve noticed your reports about KWHs. You must be harvesting sunshine :) What constitutes a good KWH harvest each day? How much do you use? Very cool!

        • I’ve got a 4K solar generation system on my roof. (Other people save up for boats or RVs or… LOL) The harvest of course depends on time of year as well as weather. In December 5 is a good day and 7 is great. In July 20 is a good day and 25 is fantastic. And of course a dark storm can take me down to 1 or 2 any time of year – or even none for a really dark one (or a couple of inches of snow on the panels even followed by a sunny day – til the snow comes off by itself since I can’t get up there to remove it). My use ranges from 4 a day during late Spring or early Fall when I’m not using H/VAC or a lot of lights to 15 a day in the mid- to late Summer when I’m running the A/C a bunch.

          This is AR, so I can’t sell it back to the utility – but I can “bank it” for up to 15 months, so those late Spring and early Fall months I’m not using much but I’m generating 300-400 KWHs a month I’m banking 100-200 KWHs against the high use of Summer and the low production of Winter. To be on the grid (for nights, etc) I have to pay the maintenance fee of $8.76 per month but that’s all I’ve paid in over 2 years. :)

          • Thanks, Jan – and since i don’t have pictures I never did go back (ask you to help be go back) with a 3rd update. My original PV system was 2.5K, but in April 2015 I upgrade to a 4K system (added 6 more panels). The 2.5K system wasn’t quite big enough for dealing with a couple of cloudy months in a row. I made a present of over 100 KWHs to SWEPCO last November but on the other hand not going to pay them for electricity again.

          • That’s excellent, bfitz. When we got the new roof a month ago I went so far as to request a “solar” roof, whatever that means—it’s white—in the hope we’d save money. As for getting a solar array—well, I don’t know that the HOA would let us do that. And even if it would, I don’t think we’d get a decent ROA at our ages.

            But I’m glad you’re saving money and the environment!

          • I’m probably never going to get “payback” – as in I won’t live long enough to save as much as it cost – but not only am I generating clean energy, I’ve pretty much locked my monthly “electric bill” to the $8.76 a month maintenance charge for being hooked to the grid. And that will help me to live comfortably on my Social Security when i retire at the end of this year. :)

  8. Good morning, 41 and raining in Bellingham. I slept better last night knowing that some daylight is finally shinning on Jeff Sessions. However he is just one of the players in the Russian/tRump plan to invalidate our democracy so lets hope there’s more to come.

    The Gravity Is Strong

    We’ve all heard the old saw: It’s never the crime, it’s the cover-up. This is almost never true. Covering scandals for any length of time is enough to tell you that. People are generally able to make judgments about how much trouble they’re in. We think the ‘cover up’ is worse than the crime because it’s actually very seldom that the full scope of the actual crime is ever known. The cover up works better than you think. The other reason the cover up is a logical response is that it usually works. You only find out about it when it doesn’t. So it’s a good bet.

    Astronomers can’t see black holes directly. They map them by their event horizon and their effect on nearby stars and stellar matter. We can’t see yet what’s at the center of the Trump/Russia black hole. But we can tell a lot about its magnitude by the scope of the event horizon and the degree of its gravitational pull, which is immense.

  9. Good evening, meese! Been a while since I’ve had a chance to check in; the firewall at work has been extra grumpy lately so it’s a pain to get on. We had 70+ weather earlier in the week; and tomorrow is a 40% chance of snow. Crazy weather thanks to climate change.

    Stressed with work, but have been watching a fun kitten cam most of the week to help keep my spirits up. Hope everyone is well. {{{{{hugs}}}}}

  12. FYI Jan – the log in has gotten weird again – I’m logged out daily – log in again and then try to post and am logged back out. After several tries (3 to 5) – I can then post.

    • That is not good! A week or so ago, I was having awful problems – losing my login 3 or 4 times in an hour and having to log back in. Lately (knock on wood!) things have gotten better. But I do lose the login at least 3 or 4 times a week.

      Is the problem from your home computer or from other devices? If I recall, you use Windows 7 and FireFox. That is my environment also but I never update FireFox unless forced to so there may be some new cookie handling there. Let me rev up the WordPress tech googles and see if there is something I can do to make the login more reliable.

      • Couldn’t get back on to answer you Jan (on Firefox) Am now on Chrome – which seems to have worked.

  13. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 18 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 25. Sunny skies today will give way to overnight flurries. Where’s my spring!!??

    I have been thinking about the Sessions thing and I think that people will have a difficult time getting worked up about “talking to Russians”. First, many don’t mind that tRump won therefore don’t care if the Russians helped. Second, “Russian interference” has been turned into “Democrats pouting over the election results” and is now stuck in people’s reptilian brains that way. But people do understand perjury and can be made to care that the Attorney General, the chief law enforcement officer in the country, flat out lied to Congress. The recusal is useless – it needs a special prosecutor. But more than that, the end goal, for us, has to be Sessions’ ouster. It is difficult to pick a place where the most damage will be done by the Republican administration but the only check on the Justice Department is in Congressional committees run by Republicans.

    Every day brings another reminder that the 2016 election boiled down to America not wanting a woman president. It wasn’t about emails or Russia – the unqualified man was chosen over the qualified woman. My biggest fear is that it means Democrats will decide that we can’t risk running a woman again. But just like Democratic congresscritters being afraid to run on the Affordable Care Act in 2014 led to huge losses, that would be a big mistake. The glass ceiling was not shattered but the Overton Window has been moved. The best candidate for 2020 may not be a woman but we shouldn’t be afraid to consider all candidates.

    See all y’all later.

  14. It’s cold again (by Texas standards) 43 this morning with a high only in the 60s. Had to wear long sleeves & a jacket. My diary yesterday got some notice — and even a donation from Twitter from someone who I don’t recognize. I really should pump up my bike’s tires & ride some this weekend; see if I’m in good enough shape to ride to work. What with the AIDS Ride & all. It’s only 4 miles, but hilly — and riding home is more uphill.

    Earworm has a story. I had a Hozier song playing in my head. But then I opened FB & Twitter, and saw that it’s the 20th birthday of Pop, so now I have Discotheque playing in my head. A very underappreciated album. Has some brilliant songs, with lyrics….. Just read the ones to Playboy Mansion. And the song playing in my head is also deeper than you’d think.

  16. Good morning, Meese! When I went out to pick up the paper before 7 this morning, there was a dusting of snow like sifted powdered sugar lying on the roofs and tops of cars. The sun has melted it now, but it’s still chilly: 31 F. now, going up to 41 F. later. We’re in for a chilly weekend too, so I’m glad that Miss Pink Cheeks and I will be staffing the cookie booth only for an hour on Sunday.

    We’re supposed to be getting my car back today. Some dear but dishonest soul sideswiped me in the parking lot at the gym, leaving scrapes and bruises on the front fender. We’re paying the $1,000-plus ourselves. From now on I’ll park as far away as possible in a pull-out spot.

    Wondering dreamily if the stone thrown into the Trumpian swamp will result in the ripples becoming wider and wider until finally not only Sessions, but the whole rest of the gang, including Paulie and McTurtle, will be taken down. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

    Got to get on with my day—hope it’s a good day for all at the Pond and Beyond!

    • {{Diana}} sorry about the car & expense! You should ask if the gym had security cameras — they’re really common in parking lots nowadays. Identify the person & ask for reimbursement.

    • Really horrid when people do something like that – and don’t leave a note to take responsibility!

  17. Good morning, dear Meese.

    MPLS/St Paul weather: Some digit I didn’t notice because the “feels like’ is 4. Warming up though!

  18. Hi Everyone,

    I’ve been hiding from the news for awhile. I know I shoulddn’t, but I get so depressed….

    What brought me back with a shock, was opening my emails and seeing that one of our local Jewish cemeteries, here in Rochester NY, was vandalized Wednesday. I know it’s a cliche, but I really didn’t think it would happen here. That is the cemetery where some of my friends’ parents and aunts and uncles are buried.

    What upset me almost as much is that my sons seemed so little concerned. They pointed out there was no graffiti, so it is not absolutely clear that it was antisemitism. I pointed out the national context, and asked them how they would feel if their grandmother’s grave had been desecrated.

    I know this is just one small thing in a week of much greater dangers and horrors, but it has shaken me up.

    • So sorry about what happened in Rochester – many young people – don’t “get” how dangerous this is.

      • I sort of understand my sons’ reactions. So much of what is going on seems unreal to them–heck, it seems unreal to me!

        By the way, I love the picture and story of the two friends you posted above. We need more smiles!

  19. 34 at dawn heading for 60 and sunny again. Got 15.75 KWHs yesterday. The month is starting off quite nicely in that respect. Going back to the chiropractor today to make sure the adjustment is holding. It feels like it is. Otherwise things are perking along as normal as normal gets these days.

    Doing my community needs mostly as my part of the Resistance. Not sure who or where but some – jerkwads – have said nasty things about Aji asking for help in places where she can see it. Effwits seem to think that a) the government provides housing for people on the reservations and b) it’s possible to get a bank mortgage to build on land the bank can’t foreclose on. Of course she’s very upset about it, as if she didn’t have enough trouble with the building setbacks and enough pain with her auto-immune stuff kicking up. So. After I curse a bit, I bring my mind back to my own Spiritual faith (what you send out you get back multiplied) and get back to work on community needs.

    Got to get to work. Well, got to track down a couple of people who have information I need before I can get to work, then get to work. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  20. Good morning/afternoon, 46 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’m hoping I can find my focus on something other than tRump worries and anger today…..I’m exhausted! If some simple sewing and listening to music doesn’t engage my mind I’ll see what a visit to the bookstore will do.

    Rhiannon Giddens new cd is both sad and lovely listening…….

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