Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Feb. 11th through Feb. 17th

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!

 


 

32 Comments

  1. Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    Morning low of 12 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 21. Partly cloudy skies with a chance of flurries.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Good Sunday Morning Meese
    36 degrees here in Saugerties NY – and raining – going up to 38.
    Glad to see this


    Have been disgusted by the attacks from the so-called left against her.

    I sure as hell didn’t expect to see this as the future – when I was younger

    Just shows how much work we have to do
    Hoping this Vox piece gets more traction

    Off to get more coffee, scan the news again and get prepared for Sunday Kos
    For those of an artistic bent – talking about black artists in Puerto Rico – for Black History month

    • I saw that Puerto Rico was getting some money from the just approved disaster relief and that it includes Medicaid help and a couple of billion for repairing the power grid. I imagine that is not close to enough but it is better than nothing.

      I am not shocked that white supremacists are running for political office in the Trump Era and won’t be shocked when many of them get elected. I just hope that we can keep local media’s feet to the fire and make sure that people know exactly who they are voting for.

      • This was the NY Times take

        Puerto Rico, along with the United States Virgin Islands, certainly has reason to cheer: The deal includes $4.8 billion to replenish dwindling Medicaid funds, $2 billion to restore the shredded power grid and $9 billion for housing and urban development projects.
        But the funding falls tens of billions of dollars short of what Puerto Rico says it needs to come back from the devastating storm. In November, Puerto Rico estimated it would need $94.4 billion to rebuild the island after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, and make its infrastructure more resilient to future natural disasters.
        Puerto Rico wanted $17 billion for the power grid alone — $15 billion more than what the Senate set aside. By comparison, Florida’s citrus industry is receiving $2.3 billion to recover from Hurricane Irma

        Yeah – PR is getting some money – to patch and not rebuild sustainable energy.

  3. You can really tell that the era of “diplomatic solutions” is over when all the pundits are angry about the Koreas talking to each other. What I find shocking is the number of left-leaning pundits who are trying to trash the discussions between North and South. Yes, I get the the ruling party in North Korea is awful and that they treat their citizens badly but I am not sure what is gained by refusing to shake hands with Kim Yo Jong, Kim Jong Un’s sister, and refusing to stand when the host country’s delegation enters the stadium because it includes 11 North Korean athletes and 320 cheerleaders. It makes us look stupid and petty.

    I have been reading about it because I was confused about why so many people got so angry so quickly. Korea has been two countries for 65 years but share a common language, a common race, and a common history – and probably there are families separated by the border. South Korea has a Minister of Unification whose portfolio is to facilitate ways that the two countries can work together. The United States should be glad when people talk instead of shoot at each other. If it was just the Republicans, I could see it as a need to gin up war but some of the people angry are people who used to work in the Obama Administration – the same administration that worked with Iran to have sanctions lifted as a way to appeal to the youth of the country, that the United States was not the Satan and that working within a global economy brings benefits for everyone. Shouldn’t they be making the same point to the young people of North Korea? I have a few more articles up in tabs – maybe something will make sense after I read about it but I really don’t get how North Korea and South Korea talking is bad. If it is because they think that South Korea will get “duped” that is insulting, to say the least.

    • Looking forward to what you figure out.
      the people who live directly under the threat of N. Korea should be the ones we look to on policy…imho.

      • Exactly! Certainly the people in the north being oppressed won’t be allowed to speak out honestly but how is it our business to try to block conversations between these two countries?

        From an NPR article:

        Are these Winter Games having the effect South Korea had hoped, in thawing relations with the north? Will Kim continue her role as a conduit between the two countries, outside of the headline-grabbing language of threats — and beyond the photo-op diplomacy of this weekend? It’s too early to tell (although skeptics are already shaking their heads at all of the above).

        A bit on South Korean President Moon who is the son of North Korean refugees:

        Moon has always harbored dreams of rapprochement, even as the missiles flew during his first months in office and he was forced to take a hard line during a deepening standoff featuring the South, his American ally and his northern neighbors.

        Now, with an invitation to meet the North’s dictator in Pyongyang, personally delivered on the sidelines of the Pyeongchang Olympics by that dictator’s sister during the first-ever peacetime visit to the South by a member of the North Korean ruling family, Moon may be on the brink of a legacy-defining moment. If he’s not actually forging peace, he’s at least putting himself in a position to make a serious assault on the notion.

        “Dizzying” is how one South Korean newspaper described the diplomatic typhoon swirling over the Korean Peninsula, with all the big players seemingly wanting different things and Moon, at times, the only calm in the storm.

        The son of North Korean refugees and a leading advocate of a previous liberal government’s “Sunshine Policy” of engagement with the North, Moon has spent his career — a lifetime, really — waiting for this chance. The question now is whether he can persuade the North Koreans, his own people and Washington to back his play.

        And Pence, the posturing putzhead:

        Pence spent the days leading up to the games warning that the North was trying to “hijack the message and imagery of the Olympic Games” with its “propaganda.” But the North was still welcomed with open arms to what South Korean President Moon Jae-in called “Olympic games of peace” and the U.S. appeared to be the one left out in the cold.

        Moon was all smiles Saturday as he greeted Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and Kim Yong Nam, the country’s 90-year-old nominal head of state, for lunch at the presidential residence. Kim Yo Jong offered an invitation from her brother for Moon to visit the North, in the strongest sign yet of an expanding diplomatic opening opposed by the U.S.

        Pence said Friday that the U.S. would oppose talks between the two Koreas until the North agreed to open negotiations on ending its nuclear program, and he was silent Saturday on the news of the invitation.

        I think everyone in our country should butt out and see what happens. Our history of “success” in rearranging geography and insinuating our values on other countries is mixed at best.

  4. Wow it got cold overnight — there’s even ice in some areas. Visited Min yesterday but she was asleep. MIT has given her daughter a diploma & it’s in her room where she can look at it.

    I only rode a little bit yesterday. I felt tired & the cold front hit, it just wasn’t a good morning. I need to ride more during the week. Definitely not riding to work tomorrow, though. Morning temps in the 30s, no thanks.

    In case you’re not on twitter, I posted a thank you video to my donors yesterday:
    <blockquoteclass=”twitter-tweet” data-lang=”en”>

    Thanks to everyone who donated to #HCRA2018 – I'm at 34% of my goal! pic.twitter.com/Yvi8mF56lJ

    — Becky (@beckythecyclist) February 10, 2018

    • Congrats – sry have not been able to give – the little but I have has gone to PR – will do next time

      • That’s ok – I know you’re giving to another good cause. I just wanted to show off my goofy video.

  5. Good morning, 32 and partly sunny in Bellingham. W enjoyed our family yesterday……flowers, dogs, grand kids, tasty food all help the birthdays go down!

    I have a flat of primroses waiting to plant, so creating small spring gardens in a few pots will be my fun today.

    Best Sunday wishes to all.

  6. 19 and overcast with a thin coating of ice on everything here – the bird suet is frozen so hard that only the woodpeckers are managing to eat it. The rest of the birds are stuck with the sunflower seeds I put out. :) I was right about yesterday’s production – 1.5 KWHs and the m-t-d is 79 with this morning’s driblet. 300 for the month is pretty much out of the question and if this keeps up we might not even make 200 – but as long as I can product 150-180 I’ll cover my use for the month (just won’t be banking any against the summer’s A/C draw).

    I’m tired. Partly the cold and partly just not being able to do much about the firehose of R Evil that keeps coming at us. I pretty much know the candidates I’ll be supporting in Nov (one of them has a primary so I’m hoping for the best on her – but I’ll vote for the Dem no matter what) but we really won’t get to work on Nov until after the primaries in May. I’m trying to not let myself get drawn into the 2020 presidential race twitter fights while still supporting (liking & RTing) tweets of my friends – we need to concentrate on 2018. That “blue wave” isn’t going to happen by itself and thinking the Rs’ being evil will do the job is, well, let’s just say a strategy that has never played out in real life. So. I’ll do what I can which isn’t much – and will probably get my energy back when 1) the sun comes out again & 2) we get close enough to Nov that the Dem Central Committee opens a campaign office.

    Gonna do my tour of the internets – especially reading Denise’s diary – and maybe see about more coffee. It’s so gray out that it’s being a “not enough caffeine in the world” day. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Monday morning
    Still dark here in Saugerties – I love the quiet in the early hours. 39 degrees which is where the temp will stay all day.

    Got a call from newpioneer (Bobby) in Puerto Rico – before I went to sleep – he told me the power was out in San Juan. sheesh – poor PR can’t catch a break

    • Thank goodness there were no injuries! The first I saw of it was the “keep our firefighters in your prayers”. Then more information started coming in. For some reason, Begnaud had fallen off my follows list and I didn’t realize it until someone tweeted that into my stream.

      Hurricane Maria has shined a bright light on the terrible policies that past Congresses and administrations have visited upon Puerto Rico. It will be an issue in the next presidential election as a matter to deal with when we have the power to do something proactive instead of just reactive. I would like to see statehood but it is not my call. At minimum we need to look at – and address – how the island has been pillaged by private industry.

      • Pillaging the island by private industry is why we took Puerto Rico in the first place. Feature not a bug.

  8. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 0 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 16. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    The Trump Budget will be released today to a collective yawn from Congress. His infrastructure plan is dead on arrival – no one thinks that $200 billion coated in $1.3 billion in tax “incentives” to private businesses is a solution to anything. As Rep. Peter DeFazio said “Trump’s plan is embarrassingly small.” He did not add, but should have, “to match his tiny tiny hands.”

    The Senate will debate immigration this week and pass a bill that will be ignored in the House of Representatives – because they can! And because they are monsters. One of the proposals released last night is the Cotton-Cornyn bill – I don’t even have to go into any details, the name alone is enough to tell you how awful it is. The way I see it, there are 60 votes for a clean DACA – the McCain-Carper bill. But before they bring that up for a vote, the Republicans need to create some ethnic cleansing sound bites for their re-election ads so it will be pretty ugly. There will not be 60 votes for a bill that uses the term “chain migration” and which requires DREAMers to sign self-deportation papers in order to get protections. No one, literally no one, knows what Trump will decide to do. He could support the Senate bill – if it shows LOVE! – and have Ryan bring it up in the House. He could strangle it in its cradle. This is a terrible way for the country to be run and a terrible thing to do to the DACA recipients.

    See all y’all later!

  9. Good Moon Day, Meese. There’s a thick coating of gray clouds overhead, and it obviously rained last night, judging from the traces remaining on the street. We’re expecting more rain today. Current temp. in NoVa is 52 F., going up to 61 F. Very un-February-like.

    Have still ANOTHER dental appointment this morning. This is to ascertain whether to keep the tooth or replace it with a crown. It’s all getting old really fast.

    That’s awful about PR losing what little electrical power it has. When will things ever go right for PR? Princesspat, that sounds like a fun birthday celebration.

    Time to make the early morning tea and feed the dog. See you later!

  10. Apparently we had a freezing thunderstorm yesterday. I didn’t hear it but they were talking about it on the news this morning. I did see some ice pellets when I was getting in my car running errands. It is cold enough this morning for sweater, coat, hat, gloves, scarf…. But at least there’s supposed to be sun. I got a very large ($250!!) donation yesterday & now I’m up to 46% of my goal raised! Yay! I have to think of another good song for a thank you video. Reading through all the songs in the discography section of u2.com. What’s that you say? There are other musical acts to choose from? Go on with ye.

  11. 19 and clear today – so at least cheerier and generating more electricity than the last 2 days even if not warmer. Got 2.6 KWHs yesterday – the weekend total was just over 4 – and the m-t-d is 81.5 with this morning’s driblet. If it stays sunny and clear we should get over 90 by the end of the day.

    Holding the Good Thought for the Dreamers & the folks in Puerto Rico. And getting Congress back so we can stop or at least slow down the Evil. Need to call my congresscritters – but you know how hopeless that feels when you know Tom Cotton is one of my senators. sigh. Evil Ones being Evil – this one and many others in the name of god. Well, if that’s what their god says, they serve an evil god. I saw a hat that said “Make America GOOD Again” – nice thought but then you have to define good and that’s a whole different ballgame. But we will resist and block and push back – and do as much good as we can, wherever we can, to whoever we can, for as long as we can. That’s what we do.

    Gonna tour the internets and then get some house stuff done. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  12. Good morning, 32 and sunny in Bellingham. It’s calm and clear outside my window now, but a cold noisy wind was blowing in the night. Doesn’t take much to wake me up lately.

    I just watched President and Mrs Obama present their Smithsonian portraits :::sigh::: How I miss them being part of our daily lives!

    Time to hobble to the pool. The nasty flue and my arthritic knees really didn’t like each other so hopefully being in the warm water will help.

    Take care everyone.

  13. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 7 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 27. Cloudy this morning then sunny this afternoon. We will get a couple of above freezing days tomorrow and Thursday – shorts weather!

    The Trump budget is what would happen if you had interns from the Heritage Foundation and ALEC given the project “come up with a budget that will kill the most vulnerable people while maximizing the anger and outrage of libruls.” Turning food stamps into a box of food (which no one knows how it will be delivered – states have “flexibility”), axing PBS, slashing educational programs, environmental protection programs, pretty much every good government program that does not have a locked in appropriation. It is dead on arrival but it will make great campaign ads for our candidates in the fall. Mick Mulvaney admitted that it is not a serious budget but is a “messaging” document. Message=Republicans Suck. Received!

    People should laugh and move on to the most important thing happening in Washington – the “debate” over the DACA protections. It appears that Democrats giving up their leverage and keeping their powder dry will result in another Merrick Garland moment – we have the moral outrage (and a permanent disaster for our country) that is probably not going to win any votes. If Congress could not muster the political courage to use the only bargaining chip they had to save those 800,000 DACA recipients and the tens of thousand more family members, they are not going to be able to run on saving them later. I feel like we are giving up on this generation of young undocumented immigrants in the hope we can convince a few million people to abandon the politics of ethnic cleansing and win the presidency in 2020. Fk the berners and everyone who voted for third party candidates for taking away our veto pen and executive order authority.

    See all y’all later!

  14. Tuesday Meese
    20 degrees here in Saugerties NY – going up to 35.

    Looking at news at PR evacuees here

    What is very disturbing is what FEMA deems “habitable”
    So if your home in PR has a tarp for a roof – or if you have a generator (which can’t be run 24/7 – or your water is still undrinkable – that’s okay by FEMA

    • Good morning, Meese. Sunny and frosty here in NoVa, with a current temperature of 30 F. this morning, going up to 39 F. later. Mediterranean Seafood Soup with hot rolls for dinner tonight, I think. Hot soup on a cold night is great.

      Just tried to get into this site on my tablet but it would not accept my sign-in or password. The sign-in and password are exactly what I use to get here on the Mac, BTW. I’ll never understand computers.

      The only song I’d really like to hear is “Make the World Go Away,” but we can’t do that, of course. I think with all o f us, our outrage organs are on the verge of giving out.

      Gym this morning, so I must leave here in less than an hour. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

      • Cookies and cache. Sometimes I am just connected from my phone and other times I have to log in – in most cases it “remembers” my login codes, I just have to click LOGIN.

        Each device is different, each operating system is different. My belief is that they will never get it to be foolproof because it is a moving target. For example, Google released new standards for security web sites that are rolling through in phases. The first deadline is March 1st and people are “fixing” their web sites and browsers accordingly. The next deadline is sometime in the summer so there will be another round of changes.

        I guess it is good that they think about security but the constantly shifting sands make it hard on people who just want to log in!!

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