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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– Page One of Comments is HERE!
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
Headed out the door – just saw this
Good morning, Moosekind! It must have rained a little during the night because when I went out to get the paper the pavements were still wet. Now it looks as if it’s clearing off and the streets are drying. Current temp. is 51 F. on this cloudy morning in NoVa, going up to 71 F. later.
M’daughter in Austin posted on FB that she’s so riled by the crimes of Thing and the Rethugs that she can’t keep silent. She stated that she’s so upset all the time that she swears more and no longer wants to be around people who support unfettered gun ownership or other Rethug policies. One of her (now ex- ) friends has already called her a Communist. She further remarked that she’s going to express her views openly, come hell or high water, and doesn’t care which of her relatives she alienates.
I think that pretty much expresses my own feelings. There’s a family reunion in Corpus Christi in June, but as Daughter won’t be there, I can’t be there either, for reasons of logistics. I was willing to overlook the views of the Trumpanzee relatives (after all, it might be the last time we ever see each other—we’re all getting old), but it’s not to be. At least, not this year. Not everyone in our family supports Thing, let me hasten to add, there are at least five of us who have formed our own little group on FB.
So that’s my story for today. Wishing a good day to all!
Already had the (sort of unbelievable) high of 72 today, it’s 65 now and slowly dropping – won’t get to the 30s until after midnight but that’s where it’s heading. Overcast. Had some rain already today and ‘spozed to get more off and on. Lots of wind. I hope it clears off as the temps drop but I doubt it. Forecast for tomorrow is a lot colder but just as rainy. Only got 2.4 KWHs yesterday – the m-t-d is 140. If we don’t get some sunshine even 200 for the month will out of reach.
The kids are being attacked by the Nazis and their propaganda outlets which we all knew would happen. That’s pretty much why I’ve said from the get-go to give the kid point but we need to guard their backs and flanks. There are folks who talk about kids having short attention span and figuring this will “blow over” – but kids don’t have a short attention span about anything they want and these kids want an assault weapons ban at the very least. So. We guard their backs and flanks – and keep up with them because they’re moving fast and may get faster as we get closer to election time.
Need to listen to the Diane Nash videos DoReMI put in her Village diary and tour the internets. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 27 and cloudy in Bellingham. Looks like my inner clock is waking me up later every day. Oh well, it doesn’t really matter but old habits tell me I’m very late starting my day!
Time to find some coffee. Take care everyone.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 28. Mostly sunny skies in the forecast. The one day of warm air missed us completely!
In Wisconsin, the Supreme Court race was 44% for the Republican and 54% for the combined Democrats. NOW if we can convince the berners that they should vote for the “imperfect” woman candidate even though their guy lost, we can win a Supreme Court seat. There will be no sexy races on the ballot in April – just school boards, county supervisors, referendums and judicial races – so turnout will be low. In each of the last two years we had a chance to take a Republican seat and start draining the swamp but not enough people cared. I am hoping that things are different now.
With the Parkland students in the gallery, the Florida legislature voted against taking up legislation banning assault weapons. Not even the ban itself, just to talk about it! I hope the list of people voting against it goes viral and that candidates for the Florida House throw their hats in the ring. It will be NRA money versus the will of the people. I am not going to count us out this time. The NRA usually goes dark after a mass shooting but this time they are pushing back hard. We can only hope that it is the last flailings as it goes down to defeat on this issue. At some point, what people want has to win.
A Democratic woman in Kentucky won her seat back in a special election. She beat the Republican by 36 points in a Trump+49 district. Kentucky! Feel the wave.
See all y’all later!
Great news from KY!
The loser is claiming her 36 point loss was because of “voter fraud” – because, of course, when Republicans lose it is “fraud” and when Republicans win it is “the will of the people.” Maybe “people going to voting places and being turned away” is because the voter suppression laws passed by Kentucky require white people to have ids as well as black people! They have not figured out a way around that gotcha yet but I am sure they are working on it.
Wednesday Meese
52 here in Saugerties NY going up to 73 then back in the freezer tomorrow.
Writing today -am featuring children’s books – which I’ve never done.
Glad to see Eric Holder is continuing to work on, speak out about voter suppression and census
Ok, so yesterday was sandals & capris weather — it was 70 as I drove in to work. This morning, it’s 46. The weather guy said that the cold front was so sharp (I forget what word he used) that at 2 am it was 70something in south Austin but 50something on the north side. Wow. Getting colder & rainy all day. I’m leaving early to go visit Min, then an eye doc appointment. I was so productive yesterday afternoon: got my car inspected, paid my car tag & I voted. It was the first day of early voting & I wanted to get it out of the way — and also to not get campaign calls.
best tweet ever:
Excellent!
Good morning, Moosekind! It’s a lovely fair day in NoVa, although we must have had a wee-hour shower, because the roads are wet. Currently we have a temperature of 59 F. and we’re expecting a high of 74 F. later. Salad with chicken for dinner tonight!
Wrote a letter to the teacher at Stoneman Douglas high school to give to her students when they return to school. In it I suggested a chant for them to use next month when they march on Washington:
Hey, hey, NRA
How many kids did you kill today?
Those of us who are old enough will remember the young people chanting “Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today?” when they marched against the war in Viet Nam.
Well, now the story can be told: Barky Manor has been sold. Our realtor called me yesterday as I was walking into the grocery store to tell me we can now start packing. I’ve kept this under the radar as it would have been too utterly humiliating if our house hadn’t sold this time around. However, it’s a different story this time: we put the house on the market 1 February and on 3 February we had two offers! We accepted the better of the two. We’ll be moving on 16 March. Several factors are working in our favor: interest rates are on the rise, inventory is extremely tight in our neighborhood, and people want to move into their new houses before school starts.
We’ll be sad to leave but this is too much house for two elderly people and a dog. It’s time to let a young family move in. In fact, their realtor emailed our realtor that her clients were “looking for precisely such a house.”
Workmen are here to start the 50-page list of repairs the home inspector came up with. You’d think the house was a slum instead of a pretty nice 4 and 3 with hardwood floors! :)
Wishing all a good day.
Congratulations! I know how much of a relief selling a house is especially when you have been “ready to move” for a while. Can you tell us yet where you are going? Did you get into a retirement community?
Thank you, Jan! Indeed we did. We’re moving to Ashby Ponds, a retirement community in the neighboring county of Loudoun. After 46 years in Fairfax County it’ll be weird not to live here!
Ashby Ponds is so large that it’s a voting precinct in its own right. As soon as we’re settled I’m going to join the Democratic Club. Our new place is teeny-weeny: 1 bedroom and den, 1 and 1/2 baths, living-dining, kitchen, and a screened porch. Our apartment looks out on woods, which is nice. We’re down the hall from the restaurant and pub, which is also nice! Our poor doggy is in for some changes, though. We can’t just let him out the back any more. But there are walkways and a dog park, so he’ll get used to it.
Congratulations Diana! So good to know you’ll be living comfortably, where you want to be. RonK and I know the time is coming for us to do the same, but for now we’re living smaller in our big old house and trying to get it ready to sell when the time comes.
Thanks, princesspat. It’s a long slog getting ready. If I were you I’d start now, clearing out one closet or cupboard at a time. I even hired a declutterer to help us get the house ready for the photographer. She worked only a few hours, but it really made a difference.
{{{Diana}}} – congratulations! I guess the time is just right. Enjoy your new living situation. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Thank you, bfitz, sweetie!
Congratulations on your fast sale and pending move! My daughter and SIL are in the process of prepping their house for sale; it should be on the market sometime in April. In their case, they want to sell because they want to be closer to my daughter’s work and the bus line that SIL catches for work. The market in their area is insane; people are making offers on homes the minute they come up online, without even having seen the place in person. So while they are planning to sell, they also know it’s likely they’ll be moving into an apartment rather than buying another home. They have no desire to get into a bidding war over a new house, just to find themselves underwater when the overheated market subsides.
We have the same kind of market here, DoReMI, for whatever reason. I don’t know quite what it is all about – interest rates are low but not insanely so, the job market is good but nothing different than it has been for the past 4-5 years. The only thing I can figure is that it must be pent up demand. I am likely to stay here now for at least 2 years so I have to hope that the market is still good in 2020. I have no interest in buying another house – I have a headful of gray hairs worrying about the timing of buying and selling houses (twice carrying two mortgages while between houses) and have been underwater, once for about 10 years. With the tax law changes, interest deductions and property tax deductions will disappear and all that will be left are the bills! No thank you! I will live longer without the headaches of home ownership.
I’ve never seen anything like it, but it sure smells like a bubble to me…and bubbles=trouble. My daughter had a friend who put their house on the market and received an offer above list within two hours. They (the sellers) figured they must have started way too low, so they countered with an even higher number. The buyers agreed. I’m still gobsmacked over that one.
{{{DoReMI}}} – yup, a bubble. Even the vague smell of Rs rolling back protections is enough to start the bubble going. Hopefully your family can sell before it bursts. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Very sensible of your daughter and SIL, DoReMI! I wish them luck. :)
27 windchill 19 says the weather station. Can’t be quite that cold here as the bird water is still water and the streets are wet but not slick. Don’t know how much rain we got yesterday and overnight but it had to be at least an inch and probably more based on what’s running in the culverts (and the bucket on my porch – my porch roof leaks). Still very gray and overcast with a better than 50% chance of more rain about lunch time. Hope it clears off after that. The last 2 days combined were only 5 KWHs – the m-t-d is 143.4 – and we’ve only got 8 days (counting today) left in the month.
Every time it looks like the “blue wave” energy might be slowing down, something kicks it up again. The FL idjits voting to not even discuss banning assault weapons while the kids were watching just goosed it up again. basket sent me an email late last night (just saw it this morning) – he saw a tweet that said the Moms Demand meetings usually have about 20 people but last night had nearly 300. (I’m supporting a Moms Demand member, Nicole Clowney, in the primary for my open state rep slot in May – need to see if she can use a volunteer for something other than phones.)
Gonna go wander the internets for a bit then, low as I am on firewood, I may start one early today and snuggle up with a book. It’s just that kind of a day. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Enjoy your day, bfitz!
Good morning, 26 and sunny in Bellingham. It’s cold outside, but I’m going to the pool regardless. My creaky knees need to move in the comfort of the warm water.
Take care everyone.
Thursday Meese
42 here and temp is going down not up.
Watching this – pass the tissues
Pass the tissues, indeed! At first I thought it was a pop song and then when I realized it was a song they wrote – wow. Just wow. I like these kids, Dee!
I went looking for the lyrics. Here are some of them:
Played it for my hubby this morn as he walked out the door – had to pass him two tissues.
As a musician he was also impressed by the maturity of the voices – composition – of the members of a HS glee club
The lead singer has a very special voice and makes the song.
But really – they had a week to put this together and practice! Amazing.
Really – tears at the words, admiration at the presentation and that they wrote it themselves. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 36. Mostly cloudy skies with freezing rain in the forecast for tonight.
I did not watch either the shitgibbon’s staged event in the White House or CNN’s town hall but I followed both on Twitter. I was looking at clips from the White House event and was very sad for the man who said he would only be able to visit his daughter in the cemetery. Then I found out that his “solution” is more barricades and armed guards and then I felt very sad for the deluded state he is in. We cannot turn our schools into fortresses and arm our teachers. It is bad enough that kids and teachers are doing armed shooter drills weekly – having cops patrol the halls with weapons would add a level of anxiety that would make it very difficult to learn in. Our area has had 6 false reports that has shut down at least 2 high schools. I am not sure how we move past this but hearing that the NRA will NOT release their bought and paid-for politicians from their blood oath makes the path forward a bit clearer. No politician getting NRA money should get a single vote. Period. Seeing that the strongest NRA supporters are the Senators who we got close to defeating in 2016 (and who now won’t have to face voters until 2022) makes that election even more heartbreaking, if such a thing were possible. We will have to take the majority to neutralize their power.
Pennsylvania Republicans are plenty unhappy about the new map and have asked Alito to smack them with a rolled up newspaper again! I am certain he will oblige leaving them with the only recourse to be impeaching their state Supreme Court. I hope that voters in Pennsylvania “reward” them for their assault on their commonwealth’s rule of law by kicking the whiners out.
Team USA Women’s Hockey won the gold for the first time since 1998! It happened in dramatic fashion going all the way to a shootout. I have it DVRed (it started at 10:10 Central – way past my bedtime) and will watch the highlights later today.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Moosekind, and a gray Thor’s Day it is here in NoVa. We’re supposed to be getting rain but right now it’s dry. Current temp. is 56 F., going up to 65 F. later.
Had a child-tending job after school yesterday, so when the mom came home I broke the news to her that we’re moving. She was a bit taken aback. Poor thing, it’s going to be hard for her to find the after-school care she wants. I can drive the boys to their practices after school, if necessary, but a teen-aged girl wouldn’t be able to. Why does our society make life so hard for working mothers?
Gym at 9 this morning—it’s the last early-morning gym, so must eat breakfast and get ready.
Wishing a good day to all!
Really cold this morning — cold enough for a coat, hat & gloves. And there are thunderstorms in the area. Crazy weather. Min was sleepy yesterday so I didn’t stay long. I was thinking this morning that she’s held on longer than they thought she would, but that’s what she’s done all along. Most people diagnosed with glioblastoma are gone within a year, she lasted 4. Today’s song has no significance at all, it’s from U2’s BBC special & I clicked on it because the still is of Adam. He really is very handsome.
34 heading for 50 & sunny at the moment but supposed to cloud up again this afternoon and bring us some “wintry mix” – since we only got 1.5 KWHs yesterday, just barely at 145 for the month with this morning’s driblet, I’m not particularly happy about that. Rain at night is good. It helps me sleep which is also good. Clouds blocking the sunshine to my solar panels is not so good, snow on them is worse (since they’re on my roof and I can’t brush it off, I have to wait until it melts). We still have 7 days including today so it’s still very possible to get to 200 for the month.
Didn’t pay any attention to mad king donald’s “event” – did see some tweets and comments about his cheat sheet reminding him to say he cared. snort. Didn’t follow the Town Hall either although I did follow it a bit via tweets that showed up in Squirrel. Rubio gets the faint credit that is more damning of the rest of the Rs than really credit to him – he showed up. That’s it. But the kids are wonderful. I am so proud of them. There is nothing more focused in the world than a kid who wants something done, whether it’s a 5 year old determined to ride a bike or a 17 year old determined to get assault weapons banned. I don’t know if we’ll get anything more than that, but I know we’ll get that. Kids don’t give up.
Gonna visit DK Village and tour the internets. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
This is a very powerful statement about gun availability from this young man and the clip has the added bonus of not showing tRump. It does show Never Touched By Life Betsy DeVos pretending empathy in the background but that is the only blemish.
Good morning, 28, clear, and more snow. It’s just a dusting, but enough to make the roads slippery. I’m glad I don’t need to go anywhere today. Looks like a sleepy day ahead!
Time to find some coffee. Take care everyone.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 36 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 39. It is raining now and will just turn into a cloudy gloomy February day. At least the temperatures are above freezing – last night we had freezing drizzle and the sidewalks were a mess.
A quick scan of the news this morning is all I have time for – the last weekend in an already short month means I need to get February projects organized.
The Missouri REPUBLICAN governor was indicted for felony in the attempted blackmail of his former mistress. Should he resign or get convicted, the Lt. Governor would take over and the Lt. Governor position would be empty. Sadly, Gov. Nixon in 2013 vetoed a bill that would have required an election to fill that position – I would have liked to see Super Democrat Jason Kander run (in Missouri the Governor and Lt. Governor can be two different parties – they run separate races). Anyway, another Rising Star in the Republican Party brought low by his faux family values. Tsk.
The NRA is starting to feel the heat that comes from having 83% of the country upset with your policy positions. Now we just need to keep the heat turned up – and scald their bought and paid-for political party. They are a lobbyist for gun manufacturers, not a gun sports organization, and people need to “get” that their only goal is to sell more guns. The plan to arm teachers – or add a million security guards in schools across the country – delights them! Someone pointed out that the pivot to “arming teachers” is what killed the gun control movement after Sandy Hook. That could be right – I don’t remember all the details – but now that the scary black president is gone, they need to find a way to sell guns.
See all y’all later!
Good Friday Morning Meese
27 degrees here – and I have snow – ice all over my car
Stomach is feeling wonky so I’m staying home from school
Surfing twitter – was happy to see this
Denise, hope you are not coming down with the ‘flu!
{{{Denise}}} – Healing Energy and stay warm/safe. moar {{{HUGS}}}