Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Jan. 29th through Feb. 4th

January 28, 2017 JanF Community 390

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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81 Comments

  1. Morning guys!

    15 degrees in Chicago (heatwave compared to how Chicago winters can be) and one more Outstanding Jobs report to close out the best presidency of my lifetime in Barack Obama!

    Also interesting to see that nearly half of Americans think Dt Is moving too fast. I think the problem will be is he’s too slow or unwilling to learn from his mistakes.

    2018 can shape up to be good for dems… just gotta be there to capitalize on it.

    Happy friday guys!

    • There are going to be a few elections this year, as well. Some House seats opening up in Georgia and Washington State for tRump cabinet appointments and the critically important Virginia gubernatorial election. Virginia’s Republican-led state legislature has some awful things queued up waiting for a Republican governor’s signature.

      But 2018 could be huge. I am focusing on it being like 2006 – when people were finally fed up with George W. Bush and gave Democrats Congress. Dream big – and work our asses off!

      • KS has a possible pick up, too – again a The Donald appointment would leave an open seat in a purplish district. bigjac over at DK has been talking about that one.

        • That’s right, I forgot about Pompeo. Kansas is going to be interesting. They kicked out a bunch of radical Republican legislators in the November election because of the disastrous Brownback administration – turns out that “starving the beast” wipes out school districts and every bit of good government. It wasn’t that long ago that Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat, was governor there so there is hope. Even if we don’t get a Democrat in that seat, maybe we can get someone not bat-guano insane.

      • Cool! Shot lysis a message on his Twitter account. Haven’t posted since 11/10… hopefully the reachout works.

      • http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/election-results-2010/exit-poll/#obama

        This a comparison of the 10 midterms to the 2006 midterms. 2006, we had the throw everyone out mentality and got the Senate and the house back. When dems show up, we win.

        The party has a midterm intensity problem… kinda like coasting midway through a semester, grades falloff and then buckling down for finals to pull through. Our focus has to be sharp all the time.

        • The turnout chart is all you need to see:

          I live in one of the states that was killed off by the low turnout midterm of 2010. Republicans took over, created new gerrymandered districts – plus passed voter suppression laws – and through two successive cycles have locked in an unassailable majority. :(

        • My only concern: isn’t the playing field supposed to be tilted against us in 2018? That might make it harder to make/keep gains. Then again, outrage can change a lot of projections…

    • Morning, reese.

      Yep, “2018 can shape up to be good for dems… just gotta be there to capitalize on it.”

      Stay focused, organize and do our parts, stay alive, show up – and 2018 could be good for dems.

  2. 27 in Fayettevile, AR heading for 40 and sunny again. Sunshine generates power – via solar panels and in our hearts.

    Village Meeses we need to set up a rotation for writing daily posts – and also a time for regular posting – any volunteers and suggestions for time?

    I need to get some work done – I do get paid for that – and check my community needs people at DK. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses new and old. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Playing around in the dashboard… I can put the post on timer so…. I got Thursday am again if that’s ok with you.

      • Sounds wonderful. I figure we should start with one a day, like we did with HNV, and then add as needed. The only reason we ended up with 3 a day over there was we were hitting 250+ comments within 4 hours and folks’ mobile devices couldn’t load.

    • Some great diary writers have landed here; I’m looking forward to reading you again!

    • Jan F- it looks even though I’m logged in at the top of the page I had to login again to comment. Is that the correct procedure?

      • No, Mvgal. You should be able to comment without doing that. The Moose is very skittish and every once in a while kicks me out. This morning I had to go and clear ALL my website history before it would let me back in to comment and so on.

        I have Safari, which the Moose doesn’t like much.

        Jan may have a fix for you when she finishes work for the day.

        Sorry you’re having trouble, it happens to me at least once a month!

      • Diana is right. WordPress gets skittish and will occasionally throw you off the system. Sometimes you can log back in without a hassle but other times you have to clear cookies or cache. It did not use to be such a big problem; I am pretty sure it is because there are so many WordPress sites out there now that the cookies storing the passwords from the different sites get confused. I have the problem, too, and I think it is because I have other WordPress sites that I am logged into all day besides the moose.

        I updated the FAQ: How to Log In with some troubleshooting tips that might help.

  5. Good morning, Meese. It’s a brisk 19 degrees this afternoon and blustery, so the pilot light on the furnace at work keeps going out. Who knew that my job description would include Chief-Furnace-Lighter, but since the alternative is freezing, I’ll take on that additional role. Super busy at work today, but I wanted to pop in and say hello.

    • I bet you’re a kick-ass Chief-Furnace-Lighter. Tell your boss you deserve “I might get blown up” hazard pay.

  6. Good morning, 28 and snowing in Bellingham. It’s pretty now, but I’m hoping for rain by this afternoon. We live on a hill and can manage slippery snow when we have to but I can stay put this morning, so I will.

    Interesting court proceeding in Seattle today……

    Challenge to Trump immigration ban from Washington attorney general to be heard Friday

    A federal judge in Seattle on Friday will consider Washington state’s challenge to the constitutionality of President Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration.

    Attorney General Bob Ferguson is seeking a national restraining order to halt enforcement of Trump’s Jan. 27 action, which indefinitely blocks entry to the United States for Syrian refugees and temporarily suspends entry to citizens of seven majority-Muslim nations.

    U.S. District Judge James Robart is scheduled to hear arguments — and possibly rule — on the restraining order at a 2:30 p.m. hearing.

    • Good luck to Attorney General Ferguson! Your state is being horribly damaged by this ill-thought out edict from the Giant Toddler.

    • {{{basket}}} – but you will soon. We’re experimenting with doing posts now. Philly and DoReMI have each done one already and we’re putting together a schedule. So very glad you decided to come, too

  8. It’s funny to read how really truly cold it is everywhere else & we’re “cold” here in Austin because it won’t even hit 50 today. But — Wednesday it was in the 80s. So — sandals & short sleeves day before yesterday, I really do need my hoodie today because maybe 50.

  9. Good afternoon. Cold and rainy here in Seattle. Contrary to what people think it doesn’t really rain like this very much. Seattle is just very dewy nearly year around. My skin has never been better.. So. Yuck!

    Been rough lately, feeling overwhelmed emotionally and when you add in losing my cat, getting a really bad cold, the kid not sleeping through the nght for a month now, I haven’t been able to do much resisting.

    I did get some postcards. This weekend I will sit down and try doing some. :).

    • Cold, snow and sleet in Bellingham today and I’m feeling the tRump blues too. Good to know you are living in the PNW! It will be primrose weather soon.

    • You’ve had a rough patch for sure. I hope the little one starts sleeping through the night so that you all can get good rest.

  10. Hello all. Have been back in Belfast all week, so just getting around to this. Will see you all in the trenches soon.

    • I’d love to go to Ireland one day. Been to Scotland, which was beautiful; I’d imagine Ireland is as well.

      • I lived in Scotland for the first four years of my marriage, courtesy the USN. It was hard to begrudge my husband’s career after a start like that.

    • So glad you decided to join us. We’re just getting started, learning how to do posts, and so forth. Working on getting a schedule together and all that. Many of us are dual posting – but we will definitely have a Village presence here, no matter what happens elsewhere.

  11. Good evening; glad it’s Friday. Home putting my feet up for now; will have to find something for dinner once my husband gets home. Back to seasonal temps for now; not sure how long it’ll last though.

    • {{{Avilyn}}} – also glad it’s Friday and isn’t it nice to be “home” – here where all the angst and anger can be focus at the real target – the Rs. Although I need to get over to DK and work on tomorrow’s Street Prophets. Not sure my efforts have put a single dollar in anybody’s fundraising account, but I’ll keep trying until I’m told to stop (by somebody I’m willing to pay attention to).

      • {{{{{bfitz}}}}}

        You’ve helped, both those that need help and those of us who don’t (right now), and may be in a position to do something. You get the word out. Well done, Ma’am.

        • {{{inkaudlay}}} – I can do that – and yes, I used to say the same thing you just said to me to Tricia when she was upset she couldn’t do more. Need to listen to myself, don’t I? :::chuckle::: Thank you.

  12. Good morning Meese – it’s Saturday.

    17 degrees here in the Catskills – got up 3 times during the night to check on my pipes – and make sure they aren’t freezing.

    A mix of tweets to share
    James Baldwin has been one of my heroes for decades – I hope people will get a chance to see this new film

    For those of you who follow Samantha Bee this should be awesome

    Democrats on my thumbs-up list:

    • Great stuff! I am glad that there will be an alternative to the crapfest White House Correspondent’s Dinner. It should have been cancelled forever after they showed a clip of George W. Bush looking for weapons of mass destruction under his desk in the Oval Office. Ha, not. Millions of lives were lost, entire countries destroyed, and global chaos unleashed by his lies leading to the Iraq War. To see people laughing at that was sickening. tRump’s puppetmaster Bannon said that the press is the enemy – they should give him an echo chamber to speak his lies in and stay home or go to Samantha Bee’s event.

    • I just checked the Minneapolis/St Paul area to see where ‘I’m Not Your Negro’ is showing. Looks like one theater in downtown MPLS is having a limited run this week. Working on my ‘life schedule’ to get there.

  13. Good morning, meese! Saturday …

    It is 7 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Cloudy with occasional sunshine is in the forecast. We are gaining 3 to 4 minutes of sunlight each day – I can see it in the evenings when it is still light at 5:30.

    Good news out of Washington State as the attorney general convinced the federal judge to put a temporary restraining order on the Republican’s president’s Muslim ban. A breaking news email overnight said that airlines are respecting it – I hope that DHS employees will as well.

    We survived another week of what my friend bubbanomics calls the Turd Reich. I am hoping that the vulgar talking yam uses his weekend in Mar-a-Lago as quiet time – I am pretty sick of hearing, hour by hour, each new way he and the Unified Republican Government plan to destroy everything we hold dear. Sure! Let’s roll back all the financial protections put in place after the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression! What could possibly go wrong?

    I will be putting up the weekly “Fighting Back” post shortly. CSPAN tells me that the Weekly Democratic Address won’t be posted until 5:25pm CDT so I will put up a clip from Nancy Pelosi’s CNN town hall and a few statements she made on the Republican Party’s defenestration of America. I will try to get back online to post the Weekly Address video later.

    Welcomings Note: I usually publish the Week-long Welcomings post on Saturday evening so that I can sleep in Sunday morning if I choose to. So if you see a post dated Feb. 5th, you are not in a time warp!

    Admin Note: New users “basket” and “nakedirish” were added and “Batch” was added to the Authors list. If there is anyone who needs to be “Author”ized, let me know here. I added those who had asked in their first comment and went from that since I don’t know who wrote diaries at the Orange Village!

    See all y’alls later!

    • Good morning, Meese.

      It’s 19 with a high of 35 here today. Woot!

      Looking forward to the “Fighting Back” post, JanF.

    • Good morning! Your 7 degrees makes the 20 degree temperature we have here in Rochester seem almost tropical!

      Could I be added as an author? I don’t think I could handle being a weekly author for the Village, but in the “other place” I occasionally wrote diaries, and would like to be able to contribute an essay here now and then, if that is possible. Thank you!

  14. Up for workout. Coach & I planned a route that, if I start feeling bad, I’m a reasonable distance from my car, and if not, I can still do 10 miles. We’ll see how it goes. 47 degrees, so yes I’m wearing a hoodie. I’m a Texan, that’s cold to me. Got dvr set to record AM Joy. She rocked last night subbing for Chris Hayes.

    • Heffens! – we the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party need to make sure that never comes true. Mother Liberty is being battered – serious domestic violence here – but she’s still alive. And working on how to fight back.

  16. Today is Rosa Parks’ birthday.

    Too often young people are only taught about her sitting down on a bus because she was tired.
    This is the real story.

    photo Rosa Parks_zpsk5ifi71f.jpg

    The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks

    The national narrative on Parks is that of a reluctant champion of civil rights whose single action was refusing to move to the back of the bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Historian Theoharis offers a complex portrait of a forceful, determined woman who had long been active before the boycott she inspired and who had an even longer career in civil rights afterward. The image of a quiet seamstress who undermined Jim Crow minimizes Parks’ stature as an activist and obscures continued injustice and inequality, Theoharis argues. Drawing on a decade of research, the historian chronicles Parks’ personal journey to resistance, her work in the South challenging segregation and promoting voter registration, and her continued efforts in Detroit to address racial restrictions that had ostensibly been resolved by civil rights legislation. Theoharis details the cost of the bus boycott to Parks and her family, including decades of death threats; her strong admiration for radical black activists; and the controversies that continue to surround the disposition of her archival material as factions fight to claim rights to her iconic image

    • Thanks, Denise! It’s about time someone wrote a book like that. We only get the bare minimum about African-American movers and shakers from the so-called mainstream media.

    • {{{Denise}}} – and Happy Birthday, Ms. Parks. America likes single-event history. It makes for heroes you can’t live up to so why try. And for getting depressed and giving up if your “single-event” doesn’t automatically and magically make change happen immediately. Many Americans parrot the “we’re in it for the long haul” without knowing what a “long haul” is.

  17. Good morning, Meese old and new! Brilliantly sunny here in NoVa, 17 F. now, going up to 38 F. later. On Tuesday the daytime high will be 60 F. Welcome to global warming!

    Feeling absolutely overwhelmed by all I have to do, to the point where I’m getting very little done. On top of everything else (preparing tax return, prepping for Brownie leadership meeting, novel writing, exercise, activism, and so on), my hearing aids are coming apart and I need to renew my driver’s license. Wondering how I ever managed to have a full-time job and get through the normal chores of life. Well, I didn’t have local grandchildren in those days.

    Hoping for a good day for all at the Pond and beyond, and remember, spring is on the way!

    • {{{Diana}}} – stop, breathe, and make a list of what you need to do. And check things off as you do them. That way you know the scope of what you need to do AND see the progress as you make it.

  18. Hi Meeses – upper 20s right now and so overcast I’m not going nowhere for a bit. So I’m now trying to do all my online stuff to make room for the running around I usually do before I get online. (Makes sense, right? LOL) Makes me wish I had 6 of me, though. I’ve got 5 tabs open working back and forth – and I need to do my taxes some time or other today or tomorrow. The refund I expect (but won’t be sure of until I actually do the taxes) should cover most of the car repairs.

    The Light is returning along with the light – a good day is 10 KWHs or more and the total for the month is over 25 KWHs already whereas in December a good day was 6 KWHs and I didn’t generate quite 150 for the entire month. As to the Light part, we are not reeling back any longer. Yes, the hits keep coming but we’re already starting to mobilize and fight back. 11/9/16 was our 12/7/1941 moment and we’re still getting that “6 months run wild” plan the Japanese were following – but just like in early 1942 we were regrouping, mobilizing, and starting to build both defense and offense – we’re doing the same now. I don’t know when we’ll hit our “Midway” battle that turned the course of the Pacific war, but I know we’ll get there.

    Meanwhile – got to work on Street Prophets (shell is easy to put up, updates take time), make sure I’ve got all my paperwork together to work on the taxes, and get out sometime or other today just to drive the car around and make sure the “fix” is actually holding. Bright the day and wind to thy wings, Meeses Old and New. {{{HUGS}}}

    • So many POC it’s blinding. I do actually see 2 women. There’s not very many of us in this country, so that’s about right. ;o)

    • Note the subtle variation, ahem I mean diversity, in suit color – black, navy, charcoal, and even a pinstripe. And in shirts as well – I see at least one blue shirt in the sea of white. To quote Arte Johnson on Laugh-In, “Verrrry Interesting. But not funny.”

    • (Rudely) Well, “senior staffers,” whoopee shee-ut, as we used to say in Tejas.

      Thanks for the tweet, Jan! Doesn’t it make you wanna hurl something?

  20. Good morning, 33, snow, rain and sleet in Bellingham. My sewing room carpet caper continues on……if 3x’s a charm and they were able to get the work done, and if it’s delivered today, we may be able to install it and start putting the room back together again. It will be easier for me to continue the fabric edit/donate task when I can just work in the room.

    So nice to have a long list of possibilities to chose from today……time for a second cup of coffee while I ponder my choices!

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