Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Nov. 26th through Dec. 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.


 
 


– Page One of Comments is here.
 
– Page Two of Comments is here.

 
 

41 Comments

  1. Friday Meese
    36 here in Saugerties NY going up to 47.

    I agree with this woman

    Daily Reminder

    • The damage from the tax cut bill will be widespread and severe. It is just for the donor class and underscores who the Republican Congress works for – not the 60% who want the tax bill to fail but the people who donated $18 million to the men on the Senate Finance committee over the past 6 years.

  2. Hi, Denise! Glad to see I’m not the only one awake much too early. It’s dark outside of course, but I can just make out that last night’s rain is drying on the street and driveway. It’s 43 F. in NoVa, going up to 54 F. today.

    What’d you think of all the empty seats at the Christmas Tree Lighting? LOL! My family occupied four of them. Will be interested to hear how it went. The traffic was much lighter than forecasted.

    Have posted a “feel good” Yule story under “Just Grazin'” in the hope of cheering people up. We’ve had such an onslaught of bad news lately. “Yule Tide” is one of my favorites of all the stories I’ve written. I enjoyed leading a Circle in bygone days.

    Will check back later to see how everyone’s doing.

    • I saw that tree lighting ceremony reported on Twitter. There is nothing “delightful” or “warm and fuzzy” about the present occupant of the White House so it is not surprising no one wants to be part of holiday cheer sponsored by and involving him. He is only a few days removed from forcing Navajo Code Talkers to stand under the painting of Andrew Jackson and listen to him insult someone with a racial slur. It is just so damn sad. I used to hear “Ceremony from the White House” and immediately click over to the White House web site to watch or read about it. Now I cringe and wonder what new grossness will be visited upon America.

    • I laughed – I’m sure that the Orange lunatic is not happy about being laughed at – again.

  3. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. Sunny this morning and clouding up this afternoon.

    I am glad I took a wait and see approach towards upgrading the Moose to WordPress version 4.9. Lo and behold, yesterday afternoon a dot release 4.9.1 was being pushed and the site auto updated to 4.8.4 indicating that a bug fix was rolled out. Ha! Don’t try to convince an old IT person that the newest is the best – the newest is the untested!

    I was “watching” the #RepublicanTaxScam process unfolding yesterday on Twitter and it should be a huge embarrassment for everyone involved. They essentially had to try to rewrite the tax code for a multi-trillion dollar economy on a cocktail napkin – in real time – after their own analysis from JCT projected a $1 trillion deficit even using the bullcrap “dynamic scoring”. The votes resume at 11am this morning. I wish they would just kill this thing – it is adding unneeded stress. I am looking forward to the calendar flipping to 2018 – 2017 is all pointy and jarring to the eyes and brain.

    A San Francisco jury weighed the evidence and found that a man demonized by the right-wing press and the white nationalist president* was not guilty of the crime he was charged with. It was a victory for the rule of law and I hope the Steinle family can finally find some peace. Their tragedy was politicized and used by some of the most deplorable people in our country to promote racism and hatred of The Other. I can’t imagine how awful that must feel.

    My stack of projects is still as tall as it was yesterday so I best get to it.

    See all y’all later!

    • Michael Gerson, a conservative columnist who’s always finding fault with The Occupant, says that Thing’s “administration” has cut the funding for the Global AIDS Initiative. Typical! Anything that helps others instead of enriching himself is not to be entertained for a moment.

      Wish karma would get Thing SOON, dammit!

      • Yes – there are drastic cuts to USAID in the works – Orange Shithead doesn’t give a damn about global health – hell – he doesn’t care about the health of our citizens

      • Today is the 1st day to register for next spring’s AIDS Ride. I do the little bit I can.

  4. Walked 1.06 miles — but with 6 bouts of 30 seconds of running! Woohoo, me! The album is finally out, and while the song about Aleppo is still stabbing me in the heart & making me love it, Love Is Bigger Than Anything In It’s Way has me just….. I’m crying because it’s so beautiful (& also way too many songs on this album sound like goodbye songs – full lyrics here, tell me I’m wrong). But this:

    Write a world where we can belong
    to each other and sing it like no other

  5. 36 at dawn with a chilly wind heading for 60 and overcast at the moment. We did get the 180 KWHs m-t-d for November so W00T!!! – off to a slow start for December but it’s early yet, both in the day and in the month. But only 3 more weeks until Yule which happens to also be my last day at work. Not going to say of work because i’ll find something. It won’t be what I thought it was going to be – my “work” at DK (and i am still very concerned about the folks I was helping there) – but i will find something. The Love has to go someplace. (What? you didn’t think I loved helping people at work? what i didn’t like about work was the ever-increasing and contorted rules that made it harder and harder to do.)

    Welp, we survived another day and the Evil Ones couldn’t get the votes for their Evil bill. Office was empty for a few minutes so I called my senators’ DC offices this time. Staffers answered at both offices and took my messages. Boozman’s DC staffer was friendlier than Cotton’s DC staffer. Why am I not surprised? We shall see if we can Resist, block, and push back this particular omnibus of evil far enough that they give up on it for the time being. (Yes I know they’ll keep trying.) Someone at another Village said he didn’t think they’d get the votes because every bribe they threw in to get one senator in the yes column would piss off an already yes senator and move him into the no column. I devoutly hope he is right.

    Gotta get to work. November Leave, hung-up travel, move some money around from one cost center to another, track down some paperwork that seems to have gone astray – normal stuff but still needs to be done. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • So if Cotton moves to CIA, does his Senate seat have to go to a special election or does whoever your governor appoints finish his term through 2020? If there is a special election, are there any Democrats with half a chance? I saw someone named Beebe floated but I am too lazy to google. :)

      • If Cotton goes to the CIA (goddess help us) Hutchinson will appoint whoever he pleases to serve until the next regularly scheduled election. The person elected fulfills Cotton’s term (2020) at which point the seat is up for election again for a full term. I hadn’t heard anything about Beebe running for it but he was our last Dem governor and was fairly popular – went his two term-limited terms. He’s about a quarter-turn short of being a blue dog but he might have a chance if he wants to give it a shot. We and the world would be a lot safer if mad king donald chose Boozman instead of Cotton – which is why, of course, he won’t.

        • Since the next statewide general election is November 2018, that means there would be an election for the rest of his term next year. I wonder if the chance to serve for 2 years will be enough to entice someone to run? It will cost a bundle of money.

          Once the details of the #RepublicanTaxScam are widely known, there may not be any safe Republican states. I hope that Beebe at least thinks about it. I don’t care if we put a Blue Dog in there – someone who caucuses with the Democrats is good enough to take the committees back.

          • You never know with the Rs. I mean the base of the Rs. They don’t seem to care if they get hurt as long as “those people” do. And they can always be convinced that whatever ills fall their way is the Dems fault. There are plenty of RW donors in AR to get somebody in for 2 years since it means they’ll have incumbent status when they run again in 2020.

            I devoutly hope Beebe does consider it. He’s got a chance and at the moment I can’t think of anyone else who does. And I’m with you on the Blue Dogs – they are Dems and count towards getting the leadership back. That’s good enough for me at this point in time.

    • Bfitz, one more month! {{{Hugs}}}

      You’ll love retirement, even if it takes a different form from what you originally envisioned. They say when Goddess closes one door She opens another.

      Your light shines so brightly that it will illuminate your path. Blessings.

  6. Good morning, meese. 42ish at the moment, but should be a projected high of 59 today. Got a little bit more of sleep although still not quite enough.

  7. Good morning, 44 and raining in Bellingham. Our anniversary overnight was very nice, and we were minutes from home so no travel weariness today. It was good to turn the news off and just be together.

    Between the horrid “tax” bill and Flynn’s court appearance today’s news will be intense but I’m going to the pool this morning and then to my sewing room so”ll pay attention in small doses. I knew sewing the black banding around all the blocks and making all the seams connect horizontally, vertically, and diagonally would challenge my sewing skills, and it has! If I can keep my focus I’ll finish the narrow banding today and then the rest will be much easier.

    Happy Dec to all!

    • I have not yet decided how to process the Flynn news and will set it aside. It does not make the Republicans less willing to destroy our government and less willing to allow tRump to destroy the world. So really it is meaningless.

      The Republicans are now saying they have 50 votes for the tax bill so it looks like a done deal. Next phase is to hope that the bill coming out of committee is so awful that it fails in either the House or the Senate. But we will hang these votes around the necks of every Republican office holder in 2018.

  8. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 50. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    I did a quick scan of Twitter this morning and saw that the tax scam, filled with gifts for the donor class, passed the Senate. Anyone watching it go down on Twitter would realize that this is a heist, shifting tax dollars from working people to the super wealthy. The test now is whether the 2 year long campaign to discredit all news sources as #FakeNews will make it impossible for the American people to get the facts. Senate Republicans just handed a gift to endangered Democratic Senators with the optics of a 479 page tax bill that they would not let anyone read before voting on and which included scribbled-on and crossed out pages. We have to do everything we can to make sure that the conference bill based on this monstrosity does not survive a final vote.

    The Democratic Party Weekly Address is Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California talking about the #MeToo movement. This is a timely reminder because the story of sexual assault and harassment can easily get buried under the avalanche of news. Matt Lauer was fired about 10 news cycles ago even though it was this past week. I will probably not get the post put together until later today or tomorrow morning because I really need to get some work done this morning.

    Today I am going to rebuild my to-do list from the scraps of paper that got stacked up after being gone a week. Plus, December means prepping for year end accounting and making sure there are no tax surprises.

    See all y’all later!

  9. Good Saturn’s Day morning, Moosekind, although you may well ask what’s good about it. The Senate passed that monstrous tax scam last night. Had hoped to wake up to better news. On the other hand, Flynn flipped like a pancake yesterday, which may bring doom to the damned. Let’s hope all this Russiagate stuff doesn’t fizzle out like Fitzmas, years ago. Remember how excited we were about that?

    It’s a very cold morning in NoVa, with frost whitening the rooftops, the car tops, and the grass. Current temperature is 28 F., going up to 51 F. later.

    Today will be very busy as I have to make the Christmas pudding and then let it sit ripening alcoholically until the day. Will also make pumpkin muffins with dried cranberries and sliced almonds for a welcome basket I’m putting together for the new neighbors next door.

    The contractor is starting work on the garage this morning and says it will be done in three days. In addition to cooking I have to sort through the photographs strewn all over the ground floor of our house. Then tonight I’m child tending not only the original two children but two extra children thrown in at the last minute! I demanded extra money for this. It’s going to be a wearying evening unless they actually go to sleep. I’m tending from 7 p.m. until midnight.

    Wishing all a good day…don’t like what I’m hearing about this country’s descent into fascism.

      • Wish you could be here to share it, Sis! As the book says, “Cold hard sauce on hot soft pudding—too enticing to resist.” Hard sauce consists of sifted confectioner’s sugar blended with butter and brandy, then chilled before serving.

        Everyone loves it when I set the pudding on fire and “bear it proudly” (a la Dickens) to the Christmas table. We always turn out the lights so everyone can see the blue flames.

    • I did not get my expected Fitzmas gift – seeing Karl Rove perp walked. Some guy most of us never heard of, and certainly didn’t care about, got convicted of lying to the FBI. You would think by now that they would know that is a crime.

  10. Saturday Meese

    27 degrees here in Saugerties NY – going up to 45.

    Well – it’s clear that we have to do massive mobilization to boot Rs out of office. What I worry about is what I call the stupid pseudo left cannibals – who are determined to spend their time attacking Democrats – due to their privilege – rather than expending that energy doing GOTV and developing strategies to get rid of Rs.

    Frankly – after watching that crew attack Joy Reid – and their past attacks against Kamala Harris, Maxine Waters etc – I’ve had it.

    Grrrrrr.

    I’m going to work as hard as I can here at home to get rid of our local R congresscritter John Faso.

    Will continue to advocate for Puerto Rico.

  11. Slept in, hit snooze a couple of times. Joy Reid should be totally on fire this morning between the Flynn news & the much-accursed tax bill. Got to thaw out food for next week (ugh, I have to cook next weekend). go to the bank, visit my friend…oh yeah, and exercise.

  12. 48 apparently just after midnight and stayed that way until dawn, 55 now heading for 68 and sunny which is nice. Got only 4.4 KWHs yesterday so slow start to the month – as with November, 200 is possible but takes a lot of sunny days to do it. As long as I get 180 again I’ll be happy – and content with 150. I have gotten some serious blessings lately. One of the DK Village folks sent me an Instant Pot which I’m still reading my way through the instructions and maintenance booklet on but looks like once I’ve gotten used to thinking that way (rather than using the gas range like I’ve done since I was about 10) it will be a very handy way to cook some stuff. And the Village folks at all sites pooled together to pay for and one of the Village folks actually designed and made a quilt for me. I got it yesterday and it went on my bed immediately. It’s got stylized cats on it. :) So very much blessed – even more by the Love these represent. And a couple of the folks at DK I’ve been worried about have gotten jobs. Not out of the woods yet but almost and can definitely see the clear road from where they now are. Many, many blessings.

    Many things the Rs are doing aren’t exactly legal but they aren’t exactly illegal either. The constitution doesn’t spell out the method by which a budget bill is reviewed or even if it is reviewed. It only spells out the process of starting and passing it. Everything else is rules, customs, and legislation that can be reversed by a group having the majority and the determination to go scorched earth. Which the Rs are at the moment. They are putting their faith in voter suppression and fraud to hold the Power they are so abusing – and the RW consortium they are obeying also having control of the media. We still have the ability short of real revolution – something the Extreme Left clamors for because 1) they are pretty protected from what that means and 2) they don’t really know what that means – to get Power back. At least long enough to repair the damage. We won’t get it long enough to make real progress unless/until we manage to break up that media consortium – but getting it back for any length of time will save lives.

    I’ve got some running around to do. Finished my grocery shopping of course but need to get gasoline, visit the Post Office, return a library book, get my new glasses adjusted, and make a small pet store run (Cloud’s shredded the last of his cardboard pads and will start on the furniture again if I don’t get him a new one). I’ll check back this afternoon or evening. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Good morning, 43 and cloudy in Bellingham. tRump angst kept me awake last night so I’m slow and sleepy this morning. I want to bring Christmas to the porches and patio today so I’d best find my coffee and get started.

    The front porch will have a wreath on the door, lights on the potted tree, and a winter greens arrangement on the twig table. The back porch is more involved, with a tall faux arrangement of branches, holly, greens and white chrysanthemums, a small lighted tree, and the outdoor pots filled with greens and red twigs. We also put white lights in the cedar trees around the patio, colored lights on the potted yew tree, and hang a large faux wreath with colored lights on the garden trellis. It’s dark here by 4:00 pm now so the outdoor lights are seasonal cheer for the long evenings. Sounds like a lot of work when I write it down!

    • {{{princesspat}}} – it also sounds beautiful when you write it down. moar {{{HUGS}}} always Healing Energy

  14. Good morning meese. Currently about 51 with a high of 56. Spent most of yesterday evening unpacking boxes from my move 3 years ago and got to the point where my kitchen is mostly unpacked. Now the problem is I have too many dishes/cooking utensils for one person who doesn’t even cook consistently!!! Well, I’m sure I’ll figure something out.

    Hope everyone has a good day. {{HUGS}}

    • {{{basket}}} – Glad you finally got unpacked and is re-gifting a viable option? If you really have no use for them whatsoever – not even folks coming over for the holidays or stuff like that – give them away. Useful things should go where they can be useful. moar {{{HUGS}}} and also Healing Energy.

      • {{bfitz}} I hadn’t thought about regifting it, had originally planned on either keeping it for some unspecified future use or actually using it.

        There are still lots more boxes (especially books) to go through. LOL

        • I hauled multiple sets of dishes, flatware, and appliances I didn’t use around for years and multiple moves. After a while it finally dawned on me that regifting was a win-win-win. The useful items I wasn’t using could get used, people who needed them got them, and I wasn’t having to find room to store (or move) them any longer. :)

          Books, now that’s another issue. I still have shelves of books I no longer read. Of course part of that is not all of them are in particularly good condition any longer. Paper ages and most of them weren’t new when I got them. (Actually some of them are older than I am. A few of them are older than my mother would be if she were still here.) So good luck on that. moar {{{HUGS}}} and lots more Healing Energy. And skritches to Belle.

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