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 (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). 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, it’s 44 with a high of 53 today. We had some nice rain showers last night and early this morning, with a winter storm predicted to come in on Wednesday and intensify overnight. The Sierras, Siskiyous and other mountains will get a fair amount of snow and travel may be difficult, but here in Folsom we’ll probably just end up with some ponding rain. Which has its own problems when people forget how to drive in rain.
{{HUGS}} to all and especially to bfitz, Denise, DoReMI and Diana. ❤️
{{{basket}}} – drive carefully please. Hope the mountains do get a fair amount of snow. So very many good things depend on snowpack in the mountains. You staying safe, warm, and dry however is also important. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Missed this I’m sorry to say, but good morning right back and thanks, basket!
Good afternoon, Meesefolk. Weather update: same ol’, same ol’. I did warn you…
I have another interview scheduled for this week while I still haven’t heard anything further from previous interviews beyond “still under consideration.” If this is a test of patience, I’m probably failing. I need to get some more applications completed and submitted today, but I really just want to take a nap (and may do so, because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well take advantage of that). I stayed up way too late last night; I was reading in bed, which usually results in sleepiness after less than a chapter. But I’ve been reading Michael Twitty’s The Cooking Gene; it’s so unlike anything I’ve ever read before, but I’m finding it engrossing and compelling…but maybe reading until 2am is not optimal particularly when the pups are wanting out at 6am.
I don’t think I’m going to watch the debates tonight, although I’ll probably follow on Twitter enough to see if BS and EW remain besties and unite against Uncle Joe or if they tear into each other. I saw Michael Bennet on Rachel (or Lawrence?) last night and was reminded that he is still in the race. Every time I hear him speak, I’m reminded that he is actually rather compelling in a white bread sort of way. He’s not a rhetorician; he’s not going to win hearts and minds with his great ideas or greater intellect. But there’s something fundamentally decent about him that is very appealing. I haven’t quite decided if my reaction is just because he is the anti-tRump, or if there’s some depth there that I’ve missed in all the sound and fury from the loud and oblivious. If we didn’t have a zillion other Whitey McWhite guys sucking the oxygen out of the room, he might have gained some traction. I do know that I will be watching him to learn more about the quietest candidate ever. He’s one that I would like to see go further nationally at some point. But I need to gauge if those positive first impressions would survive a closer look.
Good day to and for all!
This! “I really just want to take a nap (and may do so, because if I’m going to be unemployed, I might as well take advantage of that)” The problem is that it is not likely a restful sleep because it is accompanied by anxiety! :)
Michael Bennet made a passionate speech once denouncing the psychopath in the Oval Office and it went viral. He saw the outpouring of love and thought it meant nationwide popularity that would propel him into the White House. That is one of the problems with social media – what looks BIG at the time is not enduring. BIG, FAMOUS then everyone moves on to the next thing, often minutes later! Then you still feel BIG but are simply last hour’s news. I have a friend in Colorado and she likes Michael Bennet as a senator from a purple state that can lean red but was surprised that he chose to go national. Last year, though, was the year of the “ordinary white guys thinking that they could be president” and Bennet fits the meme.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 23 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 32. Light snow then isolated flurries today. Tomorrow will be clear but then we are expecting a big storm – over 6 inches of snow – Friday afternoon into Saturday.
I did not watch or follow Twitter on the debates – I will find a trusted source later this morning and read about it. I was fascinated – and horrified – by the early evening Parnas document dump. They stalked and, from the looks of it, planned to “disappear” our ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch. JHC!! That Pompeo was fine with the Giuliani mob running foreign policy for the United States should embarrass him. One wonders if his declining to run for Kansas Senate has a lot to do with the shoes being dropped on a daily basis.
The House today will select impeachment managers and vote to send the articles of impeachment to the Senate. Some Republican Senators are hinting that they will allow witnesses but my money is on them folding like cheap suits. They will not vote to dismiss outright but they will follow their leader as he drives their careers and what’s left of their integrity into the ditch. Please proceed, Republicans, please proceed.
Well, I have procrastinated long enough, time to get back to work.
See all y’all later!
Warm, rainy morning — record warm overnight low of 70, and it’ll get up to 80 this afternoon. Very light rain, not enough to break the drought. I am worried about how long & hot summer will be. Looking at Australia, hoping that’s not Texas’ future. Maybe I’m just crabby because I’m back at work. I’ll listen to Discotheque, maybe that will cheer me up. This song seems to be fluffy & well, disco-y, but it’s actually deep.
Good Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind, and a misty, moisty morning it is, too. The screens of the screened porched are spattered with rain drops and there’s mist everywhere under an overcast sky. Dearly Beloved, who was the first to get up this morning, reports that it had rained but was not still raining when he took the dog out.
My Social arrived today. It’s a tiny bit more each month than last year’s portion. I had awful problems trying to visit a website that harbors one of my IRAs. I wanted to see if there were any 1099-Rs yet. Couldn’t get in, although the last time I visited there was no problem at all. The username and password are the same, so whatinell gives? I can’t even call them this morning as I have to visit my friend at Greenspring.
Since New Year’s Day I have been assailed by a tremendous lassitude that makes me not want to do anything but read and sleep. Is this old age making itself felt? I also feel very disinclined to work. It might be nothing but a reaction to the intense run-up to Christmas, when I was so worried about getting everything right and frantically cleaning the place. Oh, well, that’s enough about my little First World problems.
Didn’t watch the vanilla ice cream debate, will go look for news of it in a minute. Driving to Greenspring and back and visiting my friend will take up most of the day.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a perfectly frightful day to the fools on the Hill and the Resident in the White House.
Happy Wednesday Meese.
Didn’t watch the debate – did look at a live blog on twitter. Once again, no Puerto Rico discussion.
Sigh.
Gray and mist/moisty again this morning in Fay., AR. Sun did come out yesterday around lunch time and stayed out long enough to generate 6 KWHs (m-t-d 73) which was nice. Helpful to the mood. No idea whether or not it’ll do it again today. I hope so. The rain isn’t expected to move in until late tomorrow afternoon. Maybe. Every bit of sunshine helps. So does every bit of rain. Cycles that balance result in abundance for all. Cycles that don’t…don’t.
Didn’t watch the debate. Wouldn’t have even if Kamala had been there. The damned things are nothing but ratings-generating shows and have nothing to do with a candidate’s plans or ability to govern. I’ve seen a few really good roundtables and a couple of OK pseudo town halls but I don’t do debates. That said, lily-white after what we started with? nope. Holding the Good Thought/Channeling the Good Energy at all levels, from friends like Aji and Amelia to global/environmental/political levels. It’s all I can do right now. My bits of money are going where they’re going and there isn’t any more. My time I’d give but I’m not geographically close enough to my friends to help that way, like Diana I can’t do marches any longer, and the Dem HQ hasn’t opened yet. It’ll have to be enough. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 23, cloudy, and about 6″ of snow in Bellingham. It’s very quiet, indoors and out, but from the looks of tracks critters were busy in the garden last night.
I had good intentions yesterday, but napping and reading was all I accomplished. Then the mobster/tRump news happened and got my attention until I went to bed and pulled the covers over my head. Regardless of what happens with impeachment may the House Dems please remain a functioning branch of our imperiled Democracy.
Best wishes to all on this snowy day.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 10 degrees in Madison (feels like -5) with an expected daytime high of 23. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Holey moley Lev Parnas! I don’t know how his credibility will hold up – he is, after all, a criminal – but if anyone was looking for collaboration that Giuliani was orchestrating the ratfking of the 2020 election, there it is. It should embarrass every Republican Senator that they appear willing to ignore that evidence, calling it “last minute.” Well, yes, dumbkopfs, Article 2 is “Obstruction of Congress” – the House was blocked from speaking with anyone in the administration who could collaborate the testimony of the witnesses who had agreed to testify. Susan Collins is digging herself a hole – I hope she finds it a cozy place to spend her time as the “Former Senator from Maine.”
I have zero interest in the Sanders v Warren he-said-she-said story – it is clickbait and essentially irrelevant. The left-of-the-left can tear themselves to shreds for all I care. We will have a nominee who will run on the possible not the scare-the-seniors crap that the socialist wing of the party is running on. That Elizabeth Warren appears to be pleading with an angry Bernie Sanders in all the photos I have seen is the worst optic ever. Women don’t need permission to exist from men and she is showing herself to be weak when the evidence calls for someone who will go right at tRump. The Marquette Poll was just released and showed Biden ahead with the Democrats but Biden and Trump essentially tied. They lurve them some hate here in Wisconsin. :( It will all hinge on voter turnout – goddess help us if people stay home again.
See all y’all later!
This is the image – from Reuters:
Thursday Meese. 40 here in the Catskills going up to 42.
The pig in the WH continues to play sick games with Puerto Rico
So I’m trying to figure this out – Puerto Rico has to suspend its $15 an hour minimum wage in order to get the aid? So that means, essentially, the aid is not released, it is still on hold until the Puerto Rico government agrees to the extortion. Merde!
My Democratic club meeting last night was packed, maybe biggest attendance of the year. Our endorsement meeting on the 26th will be crazy. And then there was Rachel’s interview with Parnas. I hope he has bodyguards. There’s a Women’s March on Saturday, then MLK Day on Monday. Just, so much going on.
So standing in the steady throng of restless hope
You don’t feel like an outcast anymore
And something deep inside of you has wakened up
And you know that nothing’s gonna be the same again
(Empress by Snow Patrol)
one of the science fiction authors I follow has totally nailed what Trump meant by “drain the swamp”:
Good morning, 31 and cloudy and still dark in Bellingham. More snow is forecast for today, but with the warmer temps it shouldn’t last long. Keeping my joints warm and rested has been wise, but I’m feeling very home bound so I may try to venture out today. The schools are closed so our grand girls are having fun sledding and just being outdoors in the snow.
Time to find some coffee and try to wake up. My best wishes to all on this winter morning.
It’s right at freezing in Fay., AR – “feels like” 25 – and overcast. Not as overcast as yesterday morning but still overcast. sigh. We did get 5 KWHs yesterday bringing it to 78.6 for the month. Maybe we’ll get as much today. Maybe we won’t. Rain moving in this evening. and projected all day tomorrow. My son will be over shortly to bring me back my car. After I visit the bank and do various bits of grocery shopping I’ll probably give it back to him. This really isn’t motorcycle weather.
The mess is getting messier day by day. It’s not that I have “normalized” any of this. I haven’t. I know it’s as wrong as it’s evil. But I’m already doing what I can about it and while it’s not normal, normal life still must be dealt with. As long as there is food to buy and money to buy it with, normal grocery shopping needs to be done. As long as there is food in the house and the means to cook it, cooking needs to be done. As long as there is water in the house, cleaning & bathing needs to be done. Basically as long as there is work to do and the means of doing it, it needs to be – and will be – done. That’s not normalizing, it’s surviving. So we do.
Maintaing is good for some folks. Not so good for others since no progress when you have a time crunch means things are actually getting worse. Holding the Good Thought/Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it. As close as Amelia & Aji, as far as the global environmental situation, and all points in between. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 1 degree in Madison with an expected daytime high of 25. Winter storm expected this afternoon.
I did not watch the start of the Senate’s show trial and do not plan to watch any of it. Why bother? The Republicans will continue to subvert the Constitution in service to their party, a process started in 2009 when Mitch McConnell announced that he would use every trick he had to deny Barack Obama any success and culminating with his stealing a Supreme Court seat from the people who voted to re-elect President Obama in 2012. The press will be useless, the pundits irritating, and the outcome pre-determined. I hope that Democrats running against Republican Senators this year are gathering sound-bites for their campaign ads and plan to use them brutally. We will not survive as a nation if we only have one party that treats their oath of office seriously.
I have a short window to get the days work done, hit the road and get back before the snow starts accumulating so all I have time for is a quick “hi – bye”.
See all y’all later!
Friday Meese. We are back to more winter normal temps here in the Catskills. 17 degrees, going up to 27.
Happy Birthday to FLOTUS
Lovely! I’m just about to read her autobiography for the book club. I did start it right after I bought it, but nonfiction and I are not big pals.
Puerto Rico
Thank Goddess the funds are to be released, and hope they’ll go where they’ll do the most good.
I did really well at the gym last night — made it to 11 repeats! (walk 90 seconds, run 30). Motivation to get to 12: next song up in the playlist was City of Blinding Lights, the song that makes me feel like I can do anything. I love how it soars.
Watched part 2 of the Parnas interview. Sad that so many people are just denying that Trump & the Trumpistas did/are doing anything wrong. Giggled at the Rick Perry part — people on Twitter were asking how they roped him into their scheme. 1. He thought he was getting into the cool kids club, so he just did what they said. 2. He’s not bright enough to ask if this was legal or not, or to wonder if he’s maybe gonna be left holding the bag. That thing where he got his pals lucrative contracts — I bet he’ll be the first one to go to jail.
Oops!
Good Friday morning, Moosekind! Never made it here yesterday, my schedule was so packed. Today will be the same. I need to hurry up and devour my porridge because I have to leave here shortly after 9.
Horrible, bitter wind here, although we have fair skies and 29 F. It will go up to 36 F. today. Tomorrow’s weather will be our version of Nasty Vetter—snow, sleet, freezing rain, and then rain.
My youngest niece wrote on Facebook that Melbourne, Australia, has had some good rain in the last few days, which has helped. Their February is our August, so they still have horrendous weeks of heat ahead.
My child-tending gig has fallen through for this evening, so I’ll be home. Good. Tomorrow I have to have my picture taken. The Resident Advisory Council member who participates in the Communications Committee meetings has decided to interview me for the “Women Who Made a Difference” article. Our photographer is going to undergo cataract surgery early next week so she wants to get all the photos taken before that happens.
Feeling thrilled that Virginia passed the ERA—although I’m not sure what difference it makes at this point—and I agree with Jan that the Senate trial will not be a rewarding spectacle. I’d rather get odd bits of news here and there. Never did find out who “won” the debate the other night.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!
It’s a hair above freezing “feels like” 25 and raining in Fay., AR. PV system went back to night mode during the heaviest rain (thus far) but is back to trickling a bit. Nothing to what I’m using of course but something. Rain was supposed to have started yesterday around sundown but didn’t actually until around 8 CST this morning. It’s supposed to last all day. sigh. Our m-t-d is 82.9 which pretty much says not only is 200 for the month out of the question but getting to 175 is iffy. double sigh.
I’m not going to gratify ripoff artists, cheaters, grafters, and basically deplorably evil people by watching them play their deplorably evil games. It’s bad enough I know they’re doing it. Worse to have friends who need help – and wouldn’t if the programs we should have in place were in place and know they were prevented from being put in place over the course of the last several decades by the same Party and many of the same people, not all of whom are members of that Party, who are working to destroy what little safety net and education system we have left. Basically making their evil white male supremacist dogma appear to be right by destroying or preventing every helping thing that would allow most minorities and disabled folks to be “productive” members of society. And give them the excuse they want for the concentration camps and genocide they’re working to/have already started to implement. There was a reason why Hitler was astonished when Britain and later the U.S. declared war against him instead of become part of the Axis coalition.
Holding the Good Thought for everybody. Need coffee. Well, as soon as Cloud gets off my lap. Which will be soon whether he likes it or not as I need to get the peanut butter cranberry muffins out of the oven shortly. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}