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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– Page One of Comments is HERE
– Page Two of Comments is HERE
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 63 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79 and a heat index of 90. Chance of thunderstorms today and tomorrow and then we cool down considerably with daytime highs in the low 70s.
Good news in my Twitter feed this morning: the Federal Appeals Court has allowed states to intervene in the court case that had been keeping the CSR payments to the insurance companies alive. The Trump administration had considered dropping its defense which would have killed the CSRs and the individual insurance market. Without the CSRs, premiums would go up 20% giving Republicans a chance to keep the “Obamacare is slavery!” meme alive. With the CSRs, we are seeing 2018 increases averaging in the single digits and in many cases coming down. Thank the goddess for the courts!
I am seriously annoyed, by the way, about the orange shitgibbon calling the White House a “dump”. He can go back to his gilded glitzy gross penthouse any time. A Republican who I follow (she is only wrong 60% of the time, not 100%) had this to say:
See all y’all later!
1.97 miles — soooo close. 81 freaking degrees, at 5:30 am. POTUS says the White House is a dump. When you are trash, trash is what you see. So tired; both from the political stuff & the 4:30 waking up. Playing happy bouncy U2 — You’re The Best Thing About Me
Good Woden’s Day morning to another hottie! It’s 69 F. here in NoVa, going up to 87 F. with a chance of thunderstorms. Still dragging from my cold and its more unpleasant manifestations.
Much progress was made yesterday on cleaning the garage but more remains to be done. Even our tenant helped. Dearly and I must have a serious discussion about what we really need to keep.
Jan, I also am annoyed by Thing referring to the White House as “a dump.” In what way is it a dump? The toilets aren’t gold-plated? How totally lacking in sensibility and culture is this piece of Manhattan trash.
More worries about North Korea, and in the intermissions of worrying about that, there’s vote suppression and climate change. What I’d like to do is crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head. What I will do is carry on.
Wishing all a good day.
65 at dawn and not much higher now, foggy and overcast – hoping that will burn off soon and give me some productive sunlight. Only got 4.5 KWHs yesterday which isn’t quite enough to run the house even with the A/C off (which is it). Still, the system is working so I’ll at least relatively happy.
I expect nothing but lies and insults from the psychopath in the White House so I actually don’t pay attention to anything he says. Give me something to call my bloody congresscritters on so they at least can’t say “nobody called us against it” and I’ll get on it. I’ve got too much on my plate to worry about the mouth diarrhea of pvl45 (or the berners for that matter). On my fundraisers my “urgents” are taken care of, but they’ll be right back on the “urgent” list in 3 weeks if we don’t deal with the original issue (which in several cases is getting a vehicle – fixed or replaced). Sort of like the ACA repeal – we dealt with the urgent but if we can’t resolve some problems (like getting permanent CSRs) we’ll be right back at urgent soon. sigh.
Gotta get some work done. Still got stuff from yesterday I either need more information to do or was interrupted to often to get to. sigh. Did hand in my official retirement letter though. One more step in the process. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Bfitz, so thrilled for you, handing in your retirement letter!
There is nothing more wonderful than retirement, says One Who Knows.
Less than half the year remains! :)
{{{Diana}}}
Good morning, 60 and cloudy in Bellingham. Wildfires are burning in BC so the skies are hazy with smoke.
I’m taking all three grand girls to lunch and shopping for some school clothes today. They are ages 9, 10 and 15 yrs old now and each of them has their own fit and taste needs clothing must meet so I hope we can stay cooperative and have fun!
Danny Westneat, at the Seattle Times……
Hoping for a leftist revolution in Tuesday’s vote? Not so fast
We do have to be careful about this, princesspat:
People want their lives to suck less and local politicians need to address local needs and state needs and then national needs. State legislative victories help build up a firewall against the federal government’s intent to destroy all that is good (gawd, after 8 years of the Obama Administration, it hurt to type that) but people need to run on a positive vision. We can say “we are better than this ham-fisted vulgar talking yam” but then we have to pivot back to “here’s what we can do here in Washington State to make people’s lives better”.
One of the things that irritated me about Hillary Clinton’s campaign was the slogan “Love Trumps Hate”. Signs with your opponent’s name on them are never good, in my opinion, regardless of the message; it gives them too much power over that message. If she had been running against Ted Cruz and said “Love Trumps Hate”, that would have been different. Anyway, that election is over, we are still hoping that love trumps Republican hate but despite the moral strength of our message – and the incredible power of 2017 activism and resistance – we have to do it from a position of political weakness. Every election win will help build a winning mentality and then a winning coalition and then some stops on the legislative steamroller.
The orange shitgibbon matched his all-time low in the Gallup poll – 36% was the previous low point back on 3/26. If he goes below 30%, it will be difficult for Republicans to govern and, we hope, difficult for them to win elections.
Good Thor’s Day morning, Meese, and I hope Thor does throw a few thunderbolts and rain our way today. Currently it’s 68 F., going up to 87 F. in NoVa, with fair skies.
Hubby and I have a meeting today, after which we’ll carry on with cleaning the garage. I’ll be picking up Mr. Preschooler from day care after tea as his father has to work late and his mother is still in New York. We are now planning the celebration for Dearly Beloved’s 87th birthday a week from this Sunday, and taking care to make it as work-free as possible.
The political situation is like a nagging toothache: one keeps hoping it’ll be over soon but it goes on and on. Now Tom Cotton, the chinless wonder who wrote a letter to a foreign enemy decrying Obama’s sanctions, is sponsoring a particularly hateful immigration bill. May the curse of Oliver Cromwell fall upon him, etc., etc. All we can do is go on from day to day. Next month my child care responsibilities should greatly decrease, so I’ll be able to volunteer for my local candidate’s campaign.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
I caught part of the Twittering over Herman Goering Miller’s press conference and was not surprised to later find that Traitor Tom Cotton was part of that abomination. Why are white supremacists so certain that their gene pool is great? Do they not have a mirror??!? I was more surprised to see the Senator from Georgia as one of the co-sponsors. Georgia agriculture is getting devastated by the crackdown on undocumented immigrants and their crops are rotting in the field. Cutting immigration in half will help fill those gaps? I hope that the bill has no chance to make it through Congress. What a terrible thing Republicanism is!
Traitor Cotton is a Christo-Fascist and an End-Timer – anything to bring about Armageddon to force the 2nd Coming is on the agenda. I personally wouldn’t want to try and force a god – especially a violent vengeful god – to do anything but that’s just me. And Rs basically don’t believe manual labor/menial work is done by people – it’s magic. brownies and fairies do it and the folks asking to be paid for doing it are just lazy liars trying to steal money out of their pockets. (Like ol’ herbert hoover who ordered that he never see a servant – gardeners hid behind bushes and maids in closets when he walked through. See. magic.)
Yikes, bfitz, I didn’t know that about Hoover! What a loathsome specimen he was!
Yes he was – charged the Red Cross for borrowing some federal road equipment to help with a major flood in 1930 or 31 – (while FDR responded to a major flood in 1937 by not only calling out the military but by sending all the nearby WPA and CCC units WITH their equipment). Loathsome is a good word for him – and all the rest of the Rs.
Only 1.3 miles this morning. My legs asked for a break so I stopped at 30 minutes. Icky, sticky 77 degrees. I’m going to do a Walk diary. Will take all the brain power I’ve got. I did a lip synch video for the Walk, going to use it.
and done: http://motleymoose.net/2017/08/03/7502/aids-walk-austin-we-get-to-carry-each-other/
Got it!!
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is a muggy 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 73. It is raining lightly now and thunderstorms are expected throughout the day and into the evening. The next few days are expected to be cooler; I sure hope they are also less humid!
I am late to the check-in as a storm woke me up at 3:10 and I said “to heck with it”, turned off my coffee pot startup and my alarm and slept in. It felt good.
Yesterday, the horrors unleashed by the Republican Party and their standardbearer continued unabated. The Senate is thinking about leaving town early – good riddance! – and the vulgar talking yam will be leaving the “dump” and going to his gilded golf club for two weeks. Now he is calling Golf Magazine “fake news” because he would never have said that the White House is a dump. At least he did not try to pawn it off as a joke as his spokeliars were saying it was. The man has no sense of humor and does not tell jokes – behind every one of his words, scrambled as they may be – is the intent to cut and disparage and belittle.
See all y’alls later!
65 at dawn and so far a bright clear day. Not sure what the high will be but I hope the sunshine lasts and generates some electricity before the projected rain (read – water elsewhere but clouds here) shows up. Got 18.4 KWHs yesterday, m-t-d is 23.9 – a slow start to August.
While the Rs in the Senate can probably get away with such an incredibly stupid as well as nasty and evil plan for immigration, hopefully there are enough Rs in the house who know just who is doing that cultivating and harvesting in any state that produces fruits and veggies. The row-crop states don’t know/pay attention because a lot of that work is mechanized (don’t get me started on multi-ton, million dollar paid-for-with-farm-subsidies- pieces of equipment that are destroying the tilth, eroding the land, and putting precious topsoil into the air and water). Meanwhile on the fundraiser front – Maureen’s car fund target was met – but finding something drive-able for the amount she estimated is going to interesting. Hold the Good Thought on that, please. Getting a working car is the only way she will ever get off the community needs list. About to add an urgent (jan4insight’s mortgage) just when i’d hoped I could get to the “important but not urgent” folks who’ve been on the list so long (including a fundraiser for Vetwife’s local veteran’s help non-profit). sigh. We will do what we can do.
Gotta get to work. Bridget brighten the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Thursday – coming up for air from writing – going to dive back in – my hot water heater is broke – sigh, Luckily we have shower in the barn/studio – but am annoyed at expense of new heater and instillation
Byeeeeeeeeeeee
Yikes, bfitz, I didn’t know that about Hoover! What a loathsome specimen he was!
Good news from the federal courts this week: two of these laws shot down.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 68. Cloudy skies with a chance of showers but right now it is heavenly to have a cool breeze coming through my window. Unless the humidity gets too high we should be able to go without air conditioning today.
We can breathe for a while! The Senate has adjourned early and won’t be back until September 5th. So there will be no legislative shenanigans for the next 32 days. They set up pro-forma sessions for every third day – to gavel in the Senate then gavel it closed – so that the orange trashheap can’t make recess appointments. And he will be away at one of his gross gilded gated golfcourses and the People’s House will get a break from him.
Grand juries! Empaneled (or impaneled)!!
See all y’all later!
Friday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY President Barack Obama
He will always be my president.
And mine!
And srsly many happy returns of the day!
This is so disturbing
Missouri is awful. I lived there during my school years and many of my relatives still live there. It is difficult to visit and listen to the way people talk about black people (and Muslims) – I can’t imagine what it would feel like to live there as a black person.
Have bad memories associated both with St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri. I’ll gladly continue not to go there.
Took a day off from walking, my legs felt tired. And the 30 extra minutes of sleep was nice. Got some good comments & donations in the diary yesterday. And the kick off party was nice. Hope today is manageable at work, Fridays can be super busy.
64 at dawn, not quite supposed to get to 80 (which I’ll believe if we make it though the day without getting to 80), rain squall last evening knocked out power for a couple of minutes and took my PV down again. However I’m not bothering with my installer – I called the other company the technician works for (small business, wife runs the office side of the business) and she answered the phone at 7:30 pm – said “the guys” were on their way home from a job in OK and would try to get out first thing in the morning. I love their “customer service” – now we’ll see if I’m up and running any sooner.
Glad to have the breather. I’ve got enough stress with the folks needing fundraisers. Right now my “urgent” has a mortgage and a car repair and my “important” has Lowes or HD cards for Aji and anotherdemocrat’s AIDS walk. But there are 7 more not quite as urgent but need help on my big list. sigh
Gotta get to work. Will check in on the Villages first but I’ve got some Travel to input before folks leave next week and I’ve got to track down 4 of our new grad assistants to get their new hire paperwork done so I can put them in the system before the new semester starts. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
{{{bfitz}}}}
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} – you’re doing the walking/running – I’m just telling people about it. :)
Good morning, Moosekind, and a beautiful Freya’s day it is in Northern VA. It’s 72 F. now, on its way to 87 F. Today’s thunderstorms won’t show up until 8 p.m., supposedly. Yesterday we had three in succession that dumped enough rain even to satisfy Ms. Whiner of 2017 (moi).
Mr. Toddler came in an hour earlier than expected today, so I’m way behind. I’m going to take him to the library, so we can practice using our Indoor Voices, then to Trader Joe’s.
It is so heartening that Mueller has empaneled the Grand Jury that I’ve quite perked up. Perhaps we’ll see the end of the Trumpster Fire within 18 months. Perhaps even less time! I’m so glad the evil Rethug Senate is in “recess.” I hope their constits raise holy hell.
Hoping that everyone at the Pond and Beyond will have a good day!
Good morning, 66 and very hazy in Bellingham. The forest fires in BC and on Chuckanut Mt are filling the air with smoke so an air quality warning is in effect. The Chuckanut fire should be contained in a few days so that should help clear the air.
My family drove to Seattle yesterday to see The Terracotta Warriors exhibit at the Science Center and I had a needed legs up rest day. The news of the day kept me on edge but it seems the tide has turned with the tRump investigation.
What We Can Expect From Mueller’s Grand Jury
useful phrase these days:
Good Saturday Meese
headed to my women’s gathering today – though the weather is going to ruin part of it since we have major thunderstorms in the forecast for the early part of the day – and that will put a cramp in our time gathered around the pool.
I hope it clears up later.
The tech problems at DKos yesterday put a cramp in posting to Black Kos. I spent more time than usual on twitter as a result. I’m glad to see more and more people pushing back early against the anarchist assholes who are targeting anyone not in the Bernie camp.
Was thinking about the Federal Grand Jury in DC – and trying to get info on the demographic makeup – though I suspected it would like like DC – which is a good thing.
Had my suspicions confirmed in a backhanded way by Alan Dershowitz who hates that there will be too many blacks and Democrats. HAH!
check the replies to this tweet – made me smile
I caught an article on Buzzfeed (I think) about the Grand Jury makeup and when I saw it was quoting Dershowitz, my skeptihackles went up. It is pretty insulting to suggest that black people – and/or Democrats – on a grand jury will ignore the rule of law and reflexively vote to indict just because they don’t like the orange garbage scow. I expect them to look at the facts and evidence and make a determination based on that.
I am glad to have Twitter as a way to scan and then dig into the news. I enjoy watching the skirmishes at arms length with the ability to mute for a while when it gets too rambunctious. And the different points of view make it a more interesting read than just one web site can give. It does take more work, though, to sort through the relevant things than when an editor is curating it.