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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Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 43 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 50. Rain is in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese
37 degrees here in the Catskills going up to 54.
APR Nov 4 2018
Elated that Cora’s return puts PR in the headlines
On a depressing note, wrote about white supremacists infiltrating US college campuses for my Sunday piece at orange – praying we can take the house so this can be addressed
Every creepy crawly slimey thing is slithering out from under their rocks – energized by having a white supremacist in the White House and the backing of the racist Republican Party which is now able to let their freak flag fly high. It was not shocking to me, by the way, that Florida State University – which covered up for rapist Jameis Winston because winning football games was more important than decency – ignored the assault charges leveled against the MRA that shot and killed women at the yoga place. The institutions that protect the “boys will be boys” culture need to be burned to the ground (is that too harsh?).
Winning back the House will restore oversight and accountability. I was glad to see that smart Democrats are now toning it down about talk of impeachment. It was a distraction in 2006, it is a distraction in 2018. Impeachment without being able to remove is a meaningless gesture and a waste of time. We have a lot of important things we can do.
As early as 11/9/2016 our Chancellor had to issue a statement about (white male) students hassling/threatening BIPOC students – and especially Muslim students. The white supremacists were already there. They just wanted the OK to act like the evil jerks they are. That election gave it to them.
On a totally different and I hope nicer note, since I’m back working even if only part time, I’m also back to trying to get you hired for a guest lecture visit down here. Holding the Good Thought. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Sunday morning, Moosekind! It’s a glorious, sunny morning here in Ashburn, with a current temp. of 34, going up to 56 F. I woke up at exactly 6 a.m. standard time, feeling perfect! Wide awake after a decent, sleeping pill-free night, I took the dog out and the newspaper in.
Big mistake: The Washington Poop is full of it this morning, absolutely unreadable by anyone of normal intelligence. According to it, the Democrats have “a slight chance” of “wrestling control of the House” (wrestling? Is Election Day an athletic event, then? Excuse me while I check the sports page) from the Rethugs. Then there’s a long, long section in which four trumpenadas are interviewed for every single Democratic voter. I have better things to do with my time than read such pronouncements as, “The more the press criticizes him, the more Ah like him.”
There is no cure for terminal stupidity except death. That will happen in due course because the stupids won’t have health care. I’m such a bitch that I feel like walking up to everyone who still smokes cigarettes and saying, “Thank you for smoking, honey. When you die eight years earlier than everyone else, I’ll get all the Social Security you’ve paid into during your entire working life.”
For the rest of the day I’m going to concentrate on pleasant things. The electric broom, I ordered has arrived. After I use it on the few noncarpeted floors in our flat, I can mop said floors. (Haven’t done that since we moved in!) I’ve also got two writing projects, NaNoWriMo and the article for the AP quarterly, to work on.
I didn’t write my quota yesterday because we finally went out for our long-deferred anniversary dinner. It was a nice meal but there was too much food and it was too rich. I’m a simple soul who prefers plain cooking. Charred octopus and quail fillets with a balsamic and red wine reduction are simply out of my league. Dearly Beloved was still too full this morning to eat a proper breakfast! He had a waffle instead.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and let’s try to do soul-enhancing activities rather than think about Thing.
Hmm, “wrestling control of the House”? I suspect they meant “wresting control of the House” but were too illiterate to understand the difference. Or too lazy to google it.
For myself, I was irritated that someone (AP maybe?) was interviewing Trump suburban voters who are conflicted about voting for Democrats because the economy is doing very nicely. Bullshit. They are simply people who refused to give President Obama credit for the economy because they hated him and are attributing the current economy to Republican policies. They will never ever put decency over party and they can all rot. I haz spoken.
They’re already rotten. Otherwise they wouldn’t be Rs.
You haz spoken truth!
“Wresting” versus “wrestling”—the first people to get fired when things go downhill are the marketing people. Then the proofreaders and editors get fired. BIG, big mistake.
They should never fire the proofreaders! Just because it passes a spellcheck does not mean that the chosen word is the correct one or is used properly in context. Our local newspaper is especially bad at this. I have also seen them abruptly end a story because it would not fit into the designated space and they are too lazy to rework the paragraphs to make it all fit. Perhaps they think “oh, well, this is just going to become birdcage liner, we only need to be 90% accurate!” I fear that we are raising a generation of people who don’t care about The Words. :(
Watching the news & the marathon (yes, there are people who actually watch marathons — really hoping Shalane Flanagan can repeat). Today: church & groceries. I made a big batch of tea yesterday, and only need to thaw out 4 days of lunch because we have our holiday luncheon Thursday.
There is special music at church today for All Saint’s — the Faure Requiem. Our choir rocks. I’m posting a pop song for today’s music, before church since I’m sure that will be amazing: California (no end to love).
I posted my pictures at the end of last week’s diary, it you want to see them. Or so you want me to re-post them here?
Faure Requiem is very special music, very beautiful. I hope that it sinks in and soothes all the stressful “nigglies” for you. {{{HUGS}}}
Yeah, I said in a Facebook post that this will be the hardest All Saint’s for me since the year my mom died.
I’m not on FB so didn’t see that but moar {{{HUGS}}} and Healing Energy.
It’s so very good to be back on real time/god’s time/standard time. Our bodies and spirits cycle with the sun. DST is like having a cylinder misfiring, a thorn in one paw, a rock in your shoe. So nice to get that out! 46 “feels like” 36 and overcast. The rain that was supposed to go all day seems to have finished up before daybreak but the clouds haven’t cleared off. I hope they do for multiple reasons. Got 7.4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 18.8 – which is on track for 180 for the month. So. With electricity generation as with elections, we do what we can and await results. One last day of staffing Dem HQ. Tomorrow is the last day of early voting. Tuesday comes a’ pace. Hopes, fears, somewhere in between. We shall see what we shall see. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning meese. 56 with high of 58 and rain predicted. Today’s the last day of this holiday, and I’m looking forward to lunch with a dear friend before heading to the airport in the evening.
{{{basket}}} – enjoy your lunch with your friend and safe travels home. ❤❤❤
Good morning, 54 and raining in Bellingham. My inner clock seems in sync with the time this morning……hope it stays that way! I’ve got a quiet morning planned and then some fun this afternoon. I’m going to see the Nutcracker movie with our grand girls, their mom, and her mom and sister.
The movie doesn’t have great reviews but it will still be fun, and a distraction from my TMJ misery is needed. The pain is easing,but I still can’t chew, so no pop corn for me!
Best Sunday wishes to all.
Healing Energy & enjoy the movie. {{{HUGS}}}
Capt. Sullenberger’s interview on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show was so full of heart and true patriotism – the kind that says “we can do better, we really have to do better” – it made me feel good watching it, I hope you enjoy it, too:
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 41 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. Cloudy this morning with afternoon showers in the forecast.
I am still adjusting to standard time and woke up at 2:15am unable to get back to sleep. This time change isn’t as bad as the one in the spring (which can literally kill you!) but it does throw me off. I feel sorry for our pets, staring at us longingly, wondering why we are starving them! We usually relent and feed the dog a little earlier to ease her into the new time-darkness reality.
I found myself reading Twitter and wanting to retweet an outrage (for example, outrage at the terrible things that the orange vomitsack is saying at his rallies – or the federal crimes that Brian Kemp, the Georgia Secretary of State, is committing that will go completely unpunished) but then I stopped myself. Today and tomorrow are for encouragement – people GOTV, people doorknocking and people excited about voting. Spread the word, fill our bandwagon with people who are seeing the power of voting and push it over the finish line. My biggest concern is that when we get close but can’t quite win in some of the marquee matchups that people will get discouraged. I am hoping that we pick up GA-06 because that would be a great story – Ossoff got very close in the special election and the organization built for that race spawned more candidates for more races and a lot of help for the Democratic challenger, Lucy McBath, who is within the margin of error. It is difficult to make this point in 2018 America where the long-game is lost in the history books that most people don’t read and don’t care about. Getting close should make us redouble our efforts, not bum us out. We need to be sure to point that out.
My prediction – we take the House with enough cushion so that Nancy Pelosi can be elected Speaker (and the people who won their seats saying that they would not vote for her can vote for Jim Jordan, I guess) and we pick up a net one Senate seat and force a 50-50 tie where we only have to pick off one worried 2020 Republican Senator as a firewall. My wish would be for 48 House seats and two net Senate seats and the majority – and then kick Chuck Schumer to the curb and elect a woman as Senate Majority leader. A Congress run by women would be the Republican Party’s worse nightmare.
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese. 39 going up to 47 with rain here in the Catskills.
Goddess – can’t wait for it to be Wednesday.
I was looking at the moon phases last night to find some inspiration for the elections.
Tomorrow is the last waning crescent and then Wednesday we begin the New Moon phase at 10:03am (my time). All of our energy, down to the last sliver, will be put into getting out the vote, getting to the polls and voting. Then, Wednesday morning, when the votes are all banked, we start anew – the waxing of our returning majority. The new moon will no longer have to be used to hide the marginalized and those harmed by Republican policies, we can begin letting our light shine with less fear.
Beautifully said, Jan.
And so it is. Blessed Be.
It was a little chilly for sandals this morning, but this evening, it’ll be 80 & sunny. I wish it was already Wednesday morning, the anticipation is killing me. I really hope that Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way.
Good gray morning, Moosekind! It’s raining heavily here. I’m supposed to go on a bus tour of Ashburn, a town of which I know nothing, at 9:30. I wish they’d postpone this thing, as the rain and gloom will make it difficult to enjoy the little expedition. All I’ve seen of Ashburn so far are ugly, sprawling server farms and ugly, sprawling shopping malls. Why can’t architects and developers be in love with beauty, for a change? Why does everything have to be ugly?
Anyway, I’m behind as usual with my writing. The little family came to tea yesterday and we had a good talk. Younger Son and DIL are meeting with the new school administration about Miss Pink Cheeks this morning. Mr. Paw Patrol will be allowed to attend the same school as she, despite the fact the new house is in a different school district. The nearest school does not have a full-day AAP program, which both Younger Son and DIL want for Miss Pink Cheeks. I believe they cherish the hope that Miss PC will get into the local magnet school, Thomas Jefferson High.
Will keep this mercifully short while I go off to get ready. I have a training meeting at 3 p.m. to find out what I may or may not wear to pass out sample Democratic ballots tomorrow. Have a feeling I’ll be told not to wear my “Blue Wave” badge or blue clothes.
Wishing everyone a good day!
You should wear your “Hands off my Medicare, you greedy Republican granny-killers!” t-shirt!!
Ashburn must be a place that has possible Democrats as a person whose canvassing activities I was following was dispatched there yesterday to help Kaine and Wexton. She had been scheduled to go somewhere else and was diverted.
I think she wrote an orange diary about it, “noweasels” is her user name.
There is a lot of excitement in your Congressional district. Retiring Barbara Comstock is particularly satisfying, I suspect.
LOL! On the tour this morning for every huge “Elect Barbara Comstock” sign I saw two smaller signs cheekily placed in front that read, “Dump Comstock.”
Good morning meese. 57 going up to 77 in Folsom, with clear skies. The rain in Seattle was a welcome break and I still think of it fondly. Had a good chat over coffee with my friend yesterday and came away with positive plans of action for my new living situation instead of being mired in depression and other feelings.
49 feels like 42 overcast and drizzling. I managed to get from the car to the office without getting more than a few raindrops on me but others have not been so lucky. Got a hair under 4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 22.8 which is under what we need to be on track to reach 180 for Nov. Today is likely to be the same or less – but if the freeze expected later this week convinces the oak to drop her leaves we’ll actually get more production on sunny days and might make it. As with the election tomorrow, we shall see what we shall see. I know what I worked for/am working for, praying for, Channeling Energy for. I know what I fear. Staying away from the OMGHOF – getting freaked out does nothing but get me too upset to Channel Energy. My political money has gone to some specific candidates – the rest to helping people I know eat or stay living indoors. Not that I’m contributing much but “stone soup” and all that. We are the Village it takes. Holding you all in my heart. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 49 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’ve got coffee in hand and ice on my TMJ joint, wondering if I should go to the pool or not. Incremental improvement is welcome, but so slow!
The Nutcracker movie was campy fun yesterday, despite the poor reviews. When the Disney costume and prop designers go all out it’s a sight to see!
Best wishes to all on this pre election Monday.
I did a quick scan of your comment at first, and I read “ice cream” on your TMJ joint. I think I like my first reading better than my second reading. I hope you feel better soon!
Good morning, Meesefolk; 46 this morning with a high of 56 expected…and rain, because that’s apparently what we’re going to get for the foreseeable future. One of the advantages of spending the weekend in OH was that I actually got to see the sun. It does exist!
The weekend was fun, if busy. We didn’t get as much accomplished as we hoped, but more than an actual realistic expectation would have predicted. We got Round One of the their good dishes unpacked and put in the china cabinet (I’ve been keeping them at my house, so there is more to come); some curtains from the curtain stash put up, while others were up, then down, because none of us liked them; a list of immediate needs made, then purchased, using a Target gift card I had been given almost a year ago (I never shop at Target, so it was nice to see it used, even for mundane things like shower curtain rings and a new shower curtain liner); and a lesson in furniture restoring for the Kiddo, so she can do some of her other pieces herself. While she was working on cleaning furniture, I planted about 100 daffodil bulbs in the back and hyacinths near their front entryway.
With the leaves having started to fall and sunshine, I was also able to do a more thorough assessment of their backyard than I had the first time I saw the house (when it was pouring rain). It was sobering. The potential is amazing, but task one is going to be English ivy eradication, which is neither easy or fast. But there are a number of trees that have already been killed by the stuff and quite a few that are threatened. Next spring, saving the threatened trees is going to be imperative, and I warned The Kiddo that she has some very hard-working weekends ahead of her. (I’m sure I’ll get enlisted for at least a few of those!) I’m not sure what possessed someone to plant ivy in a woodland area, and I was definitely not thinking warm fuzzy thoughts about them as I started to realize the extent of the work ahead.
Good day to and for all!
Please, could you send your rain to CA? We will make good use of it, I promise.
Second that thought.
I would send it to both of you if I could. This is not “normal” fall weather, and I’m not supposed to be tired of the grey and damp until March going into April. At this point, I’d welcome snow!
I did the last of my canvassing on Saturday. I am so nervous about the election and the news is trying it’s best to give a nervous breakdown I ended up listening to 2 books from Audible.
That’s the best thing to do for now, MVgal. We really won’t know much until about 8 p.m., so rest, distract yourself, and prepare for a long night.
Well Election Day is finally here. Our polls open at 6AM so hubby and I are heading out to vote straight D in a few minutes.
Will be interesting to see how many other early birds will be there.
47 going up to 56 here with rain – which I don’t think is going to set us back.
If it were snowing that would be more of a problem but rain and 50s should not keep people from the polls. I am watching NY-19 intently. I am hoping that people are not believing the Republican lies and being influenced by the demagoguery. Your CD went blue in the last midterm wave year (2006) and had 4 years of John Hall.
We were redistricted in 2012. We used to be represented by one of the most progressive congressmen – Maurice Hinchey
His wife and daughter have championed Delgado.
Can’t believe how packed the polling station was when the doors opened this morning. The parking lot at the firehouse was full. Have never seen it like that for a midterm.
p.s. New York needs to drag themselves into the 21st century – heck the 20th century! – and institute early voting or no-excuse-needed absentee ballots. Every election cycle we worry about the solid blue northeast not being able to get to the polls. It should be embarrassing that Texas has more accommodating election access than New York!!
We’ve been trying. It will all depend on Democrats getting the majority in the state senate
You mean a fully functioning majority, of course. They have had the majority for years but the IDC Democrats caucused with the Republicans and gave them the power to block legislation. A lot of those guys lost primaries – New Yorkers were fed up with their bull – so the chances of good government improved. Now you have to wait and see if Cuomo’s primary campaign epiphany was just for show or if he will make good on his promise to govern like a Democrat. There is some concern that he welcomed the IDC gridlock because it let him off the hook.
Good morning, meese! Tuesday, midterm election day 2018 …
It is 45 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 46. Cloudy and showers this morning, clearing up late in the afternoon. I hope it does not deter voting!! Dane County had record high early-vote totals for a midterm which should keep the lines down.
Fingers and toes crossed. From what I saw, no one is taking anything for granted and the public opinion polling results are close enough to get people to the polls. I don’t have a lot of confidence that people will remember how they were lulled into complacency in 2016 – a lot of people in that election did not remember that a third party candidate helped elect George W. Bush in 2000 which led to 9/11, the Iraq War, the Global Financial Meltdown and the Great Recession. We seem to have an enormous capacity to resist what history is trying to teach us.
Today I will ignore the public opinion polls, focus on sending energy on the GOTVers, and get caught up on projects. Tonight, when the voting is done, I will find a non-obnoxious TV station to watch and settle in for what I hope is an evening of good news. It is difficult to say what I am most excited about but the possibility of flipping 9 or 10 governors red to blue is very high on my list – right after taking back the House and giving the gavel back to Madame Speaker.
See all y’all later!
Haven’t figgered out where I’ll watch the returns. I hate so many of the people who are the talking heads on tv – I may just follow twitter and/or Dkos live blogs.
I am boycotting cable news because they are literally destroying our democracy with their “both sidesism”. I have not watched MSNBC since it became the Bernie Channel in 2016 and CNN deserves to be shunned for their $2 billion in-kind donation to Donald Trump’s campaign in 2016 – and their continued wall-to-wall coverage of his political rallies in 2018. I think that PBS used to do election night coverage – I will look that up. Most likely I will follow on Twitter, maybe set up a “list” with a few good follows and use that. I will definitely have the Wisconsin voting site up in a tab and maybe the AP site which is what most news sources use to “call” races. I am hate watching some races in Virginia, New Jersey and Iowa and will be closely monitoring Nevada and Arizona where the Senate majority will likely be decided. There is a lot going on!
Moi aussi, Dee. Pundit obnoxiousness on top of tender nerves is not a good combination,
I’m wavering between my congressional candidate’s watch party and my couch.
Just sent election day info to my HR dept. I hope everyone voted early, but just in case. So, 12 hours to go. Hopefully, we’ll get early vote totals right after 7.
I really love the speech from The Great Dictator at the beginning of Head Full of Dreams.
and the song has a good message, too