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, 55 and partly sunny in Bellingham. I’m slow and sleepy this morning so I’m avoiding the news and easing into my day. I’m getting restless with so much quiet time but the Microsoft Ultimate Word Game collection is keeping me entertained.
Time for coffee. Take care everyone.
Are those games part of Windows 10 or something online? I don’t play games on my computer because when I am done working for the day, I do not want to keep sitting at my computer – that is what makes me tired! I generally retire to my couch to play games on my phone or my Kindle and sometimes it turns into a nap!
The games are part of W 10, so I play on my laptop which is small and lightweight. A connection to x box is there but I just ignore it. I play solitaire on my phone but I need a bigger screen for the word games so I can see what I’m doing. And yes, it’s easy to play and nap!
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 57 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 66. Sunny skies are in the forecast. We never got the rain here – or if we did it was very quiet! – but the front definitely came through.
I am glad I did not call Ron Freaking Johnson yesterday. He held a “never give up” telephone town hall about the Graham-Cassidy-Heller-FreakingJohnson bill being pulled and one of the questions was about Puerto Rico. He said that the response from the White House has been “great” and sends his “hopes and prayers”. Fk your hopes and prayers, they need potable water!! Half the country has no drinking water and people are going to die from that. >_<
Alabama Senate race, holy mackeral. If tRump was a test of party over country that the Republicans and their party failed, they have another chance. Any decent person who votes to put Roy Moore into the United States Senate should be ashamed of themselves. Of course, this is the state that elected and re-elected Klansman Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III to the Senate so they really have no history of doing the right thing. The contrast between the Republican candidate and the Democratic candidate could not be more stark: Moore represents everything awful about the modern Republican Party and Doug Jones represents the best of the Democratic Party – an intelligent man who fought for Civil Rights. I predict that there will be a lot of money spent on this seat.
See all y’all later!
Been up all night and am getting ready to put up another PR diary. We are going to try to flood the rec list at Dkos today.
If y’all can – rec every diary you see dealing with the crisis – since far too many Americans have not got a clue that PR is American.
I don’t have an account any longer but I will retweet what I see and spread the word.
Merci Jan
San Juan’s Mayor: “I don’t have time to write a frickin’ memo!”
That woman is amazing – she has had me in tears
It’s up
Shared, tipped, rec’d.
Thanks Sis!
Good morning. My Goddess, Thing is a liar-braggart-fiend with his claims of “doing a terrific job” in PR! Sister Dee, I’ll definitely rec every PR diary today. The hospital ship Comfort will take five days to get to Puerto Rico from Norfolk, VA—why? I thought modern ships were fast. It takes five days to cross from New York to London, as far as I know, and isn’t that a greater distance? I’m a bit foggy on geography.
Today we have been in our house for 41 years. This staggers me, as it’s more than eight times as long as I’ve lived anywhere else, and our previous residence in Falls Church (five years) was also a record. Growing up as I did in a peripatetic Army family, I got used to moving on all the time. Didn’t like it, but I got used to it.
Oh, weather. Another boiling September day with no rain. Currently 70 F., going up to 87 F. The hot, rainless days mean we have no fall colors. The leaves simply turn brown, whisper “I’m done,” and drop off. Very minor problem, however, compared to the suffering others are going through.
Promising myself that this afternoon I’ll put the corrections into my book, then get it ready to send to the publisher.
Wishing a good day to all and please, Goddess, HELP for Puerto Rico!
Comments in Doc Dawg’s diary about the Comfort explain the why it takes so long – I know zero about ships
I am in my current house for the longest of any house in my entire lifetime – the previous record was 5. Staying put was a conscious decision to not move while my daughter was in K-12. Next year we will be done with secondary education and I am looking forward to selling and downsizing out of house maintenance. If it turns out that my daughter has a big family and would have wished for her childhood home to host parties for her, we will have to build new traditions that involve restaurants and other people’s houses! I don’t want to own anything again. I had trouble selling every one of my houses except the one I bought in the late 1970s and that was because I had a special mortgage rate I could pass on during a time of high interest rates. I worry that when I want to sell this house next year the market will have turned sour again. :(
I’m glad word is finally getting out about Puerto Rico, sad & angry it took so long. Yesterday one of the hospitals ran out of fuel for their generator, and people in intensive care died. Americans died in an American hospital in the 21st century because our government has become a Hobbesian nightmare. In happier thoughts, I get to pick up Katy Tur’s book at the library this evening, and it says Hillary’s book is “in transit” so it might be there, too. Heard this song at the concert MSNBC played on Saturday, never heard of the singer, but it is beautiful & had me sobbing:
But there’s a hope that’s waiting for you in the dark
You should know you’re beautiful just the way you are
And you don’t have to change a thing, the world could change its heart
No scars to your beautiful, we’re stars and we’re beautiful
Sadly there will be more deaths – so many older people who retired to PR after working long years here on the mainland. And others who never left – their kids are here
Your country on teapartyism. I still grapple with trying to understand how an ideology built on the premise that everyone is on their own and only the rich deserve to live can be so popular.
Because Americans – especially the Libertarian/TP type Americans – don’t see themselves as working people, they see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires.
clouds but no rain moved in yesterday afternoon and are still with us. just over 8 KWHs yesterday and m-t-d is 374. With the clouds the temps didn’t drop as low as predicted – only to 66 – and the high is supposed to be 76. Predicted overnight is 56 which means clearing off which I seriously hopes happens.
Evil Ones being evil while boasting about how good their evil is – appalling but not surprising. Finally the Navy has been allowed to do their job. 5 days late – people have died, more people will die – best i can say is that fewer people will die than if the Navy had had to wait until the 2nd week in October. So USNS Comfort at sea and heading for PR is good but tinged with anger and sadness. (And good news about Taddeo and hopeful news about AL – I’ll take it.)
Very good news on the fundraiser front – a wonderful kossack apparently blew out the savings account and covered most of my critically urgent stuff. Urgent and important still there but I (and they) can breathe a sigh of relief on the critical stuff. I need to do a lot of updating, but it’s good updating today. :)
Need to get to the Villages and then get to work – part of the university site was down yesterday so I’ve got stuff piled up. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 55 and partly sunny in Bellingham. Another slow and sleepy morning, and the news is still alarming so I’m listening to music and avoiding reality. I am going to do some more book/magazine sorting and donating today. My work collection of British design magazines are to good to recycle and are somewhat timeless to read but they need a new home so I’ll take them to the library.
Ron is doing most of our daily cooking now and he prefers to find recipes on line so our cookbooks and cooking magazines need to be edited as well.
Hope it’s a good day for all.
Afternoon meese! I had apparently been spamming too much (or some how the moose thought my comments were spam?!) but after a brief chat with JanF on Twitter it seems to be better now. W00t!
{{{basket}}} – welcome back to Moosylvania. moar {{{HUGS}}}
That was definitely bizarre! We use a WordPress Plugin to monitor for spam and for some reason your “Yay!!” got sent to the spam folder. It is probably more likely that it did not object to “Yay!!” but to something with your email address (maybe it got erroneously put on a spammer list at some point). It appears that by telling the system it was Not Spam, that allowed you to post after that.
By the way, the spam folder for a blog is a frightening place filled with Russian bots, porn links, and crazy people! I am glad basket is not longer stuck in there – I don’t want to go back!!
Thank you Jan!!
I found one more trapped comment from back on September 12th and released it. It was a reply to Diana’s comment in the Book Release post. I “Fierced” it so it would not feel lonely!!
I can’t go back any further than that because the site clears older spam so it does not accumulate. I will keep an eye on it going forward.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 45 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Sunny this morning with increasing cloudiness this afternoon.
Lead stories yesterday on two of the three broadcast networks were on the crisis in Puerto Rico. I have been reading about the Jones Act and it appears to be almost like a special tax on island states/colonies like Hawaii and Puerto Rico:
Maybe this will be an opportunity to repeal it but it certainly needs to be suspended to rush aid to Puerto Rico.
Tax “reform”! I am looking forward to see how many third rails Republicans grab onto in order to pass their $5 trillion tax cut. Social Security? Medicare? Mortgage interest deductions? Sadly, one proposed change – to eliminate the deduction for being blind – is not a third rail but will be gleefully embraced by the soulless creatures in the Republican Party. The bottom line is that most Americans making less than $40,000 per year will see their taxes go up and every American making more than $1 million will see their taxes go down.
Busy morning here, see all y’all later!
Good morning, Meese. It seems to be fair here in NoVa, with a current temp. of 73 F. and a predicted high of 77 F. It’s supposed to be windy and cooler today. If only we could get some rain with it.
Feeling very depressed about Puerto Rico and the suffering there. Now Prez F*ckdoodle has forbidden any member of Congress to visit the island! And it seems that even though food, water, and medicine have been offloaded, there is no one to drive it where it’s needed, nor are there are any roads to drive on. Uh, aren’t there things called helicopters?
Hoping hard for better news about PR and the rest of the Caribbean today.
End of September & I’m still wearing capris & sandals. Earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes…. Someone said this is like when you’re playing one of those sims games & are tired of it & just throw all the disasters at once to destroy it. Ok, I need to drink more tea & get out of this low mood. Playing happy music from my boys.
Jones Act rules waived just now! Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló requested it last night.
Thank Goddess!
Wonderful news! But I hope to heaven the military is getting their distribution guys and equipment in there to get the supplies where they need to go ASAP! (Wonder if the tweet WYgalinCali sent out for me had anything to do with it? LOL – I think it only got 12 RTs so not likely. heh).
Hey Meese – just popping in for a sec – my keyboard broke last night and I am late finishing up my Sunday writing – deadline noon – bbl
57 just before dawn and still in the 60s. overcast but no rain again today. sigh. got just over 6 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 380 – 3 days left in the month to try an reach 400. Blasted rash is back on my face. I’m hoping it doesn’t reach my eyes this time. I have absolutely no idea what is causing this, what the heck I am reacting to – i haven’t let anything in the backyard (besides wherever’s in the air of course) touch my face in weeks and I wash my hands as soon as I get back inside from filling the bird feeding station.
Finally a bit of good news politically – except this shouldn’t be political – that the Jones Act has been waived and the miliary has been unleashed to do their good work in Puerto Rico. Nobody knows more about how to supply an island under gawdawful conditions than the Navy. Nobody knows more about getting supplies to “forward posts” than the military (Navy’s high on that list, too – remember the Sea Bees). This is where the military shines – using that hard-won knowledge and experience to help people recover from disasters.
Still have some of the energy from yesterday’s community needs being met which is very good. Worried about MaureenMower – she hasn’t checked in since the Caturdai diary and isn’t answering the phone – I’ve left voicemails. Not sure what to do next. Still have a bunch – like 12 – on the full community needs list and know of another who may have to go back on (joys of living on the edge – anything can push you over) – but the critically urgents other than Maureen have been dealt with and so are no longer critically urgent. So I, we, take a breath and a bit of a rest, then get back to focusing on clearing the Channel of Good so the flow is increased and can get to those in need.
Soloing this morning which means lots of interruptions this morning. I’ve got stuff on my desk from Monday I still haven’t managed to do for one reason or another and I need to get back to trying on that. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 50 and sunny in Bellingham today. Our grand girls care for themselves before and after school now so we don’t see them as often. But Ava has early release and a school assignment she wants to share so Ron will take her on a photography adventure this afternoon. Between soccer, ballet, school, drivers ed, and life they are busy girls!
My challenge for today is to stay pleasant while keeping my leg elevated. I’ve been very grouchy :(
Good morning Meese
Jones Act is bring waived for “10 days” – which will not do much of anything
Almost every bit of the building materials needed will have to be imported – also food – the Jones Act significantly increases costs
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 64. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
We can’t let the White House declare “Mission Accomplished” in Puerto Rico based on addressing one issue (the Jones Act). The only thing they seem to fully staff is the cadre of lying liars they put in front of cameras to make outrageous claims about what the shitgibbon has done. Puerto Rico will need ships bringing materials for rebuilding well past the 10 day waiver period. One general on the ground does not mean that order has been restored and goods and services are getting to the people who need them. The FEMA guy says he is not satisfied, the acting head of DHS says it is going very well and the shitgibbon says it is tremendous and he is getting great compliments for his response from the governor! Well of course, doodiehead! Unlike me, the governor is not going to call you a doodiehead – he needs you and he knows you are a small child needing praise for your poopies. Sheesh.
The tax cut bill is an exercise in futility, another bone tossed to the donor class that has no hope of passing. Raising taxes on middle income earners to give tax breaks to Trump’s grifting cabinet is not going to fly(!). People need to point out the losers in the tax cut bill rather than the winners because the Republicans will claim we have “class envy”. We knew that Republicans would favor the wealthy but usually they leave some scraps for middle-income taxpayers. Not this time! And the biggest hits will come in California and New York and other states with high state taxes (which will no longer be deductible). California and New York Republicans who vote to raise taxes on their constituents to promote their ideology will not fare well. They can lie about the dollar effects of the various ACA repeals they voted for but the tax bill is pretty much you pay more or you pay less. If the Republican Party wants to gift us all the Republican seats in blue states, we will take them.
See all y’all later!
Am watching reports from all over the island – not just San Juan – not good news.
So tired of the lies.
Jones Act has to be abolished. It not only affects Puerto Rico – negative for Hawaii, Alaska and Guam as well
good to see democrats speaking out
John McCain is on a vendetta against the Jones Act. It reminds me of how Congress is trying to destroy the U.S. Postal Service – and their strong union – by requiring that they fund their pension plan 50 years into the future. The Jones Act still being enforced on U.S. Territories and island states is punitive, pure and simple. It is no wonder they can’t unbury from their fiscal nightmare when they are paying a surcharge for everything shipped to their island. I am surprised that Hawaii has not pitched a fit over it!
Good morning, Meese, and thank Goddess it’s Friday. (Even retirees appreciate weekends.) Currently it’s 50 F. here in NoVa on a fair morning, going up to 73 F. today. It’s noticeably cooler, thankfully. The heat was really getting to me because our tenant, originally from Hyderabad, keeps turning down the air conditioning.
If this morning’s WaPo is to be believed, some help is getting to Puerto Rico but none at all to Vieques, from what I gather. The lack of an emergency plan and coordinated response is horrendous! And the Jones Act, as Jan points out above, has only been waived for 10 days. The WaPo also says that McCain wants the Jones Act rescinded and wrote a letter to that effect.
Still feeling deeply moved by learning more about Deshaun, the football player who donated his paycheck to three women careteria workers, and by the WaPo’s front-page story on Tiffany Wright, who started from an unpromising beginning and is now clerk to Sonia Sotomayor. I can’t remember when I’ve read such an inspiring story. I’m going to cut it out and keep it as I don’t have online access to the Post.
Busy day ahead, as Elder Son and family are coming over for spaghetti tonight and Miss Pink Cheeks wants to stay the night with us. Wishing all a good day and better help for Puerto Rico, Vieques, and the rest of the Caribbean!