Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Mar. 25th through Mar. 31st

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?

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.

 

Page One of Comments is HERE!
 

  • Page Two of Comments is HERE!
     


 

22 Comments

  1. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 30 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 46. Cloudy all day with a chance of snow this evening and overnight.

    Yesterday I watched the Ingraham/Fox meltdown with interest and then delight. The Parkland kids are not backing down – they have taken on two right-wing shibboleths: the NRA and Fox News and so far, they are winning. If nothing else, the youngs have further marginalized them – a huge majority of their generation is already done with the Republican Party – now the survival of the Republican Party’s campaign finance arm and their propaganda network will depend on old white haters who are literally dying off. Sad!

    Eric Holder has said he is not ruling out a run in 2020. Good. I want the “we can only win with a white male who likes hunters but hates Chicago” crowd to get a little pushback. Intelligent people who care about civil rights and human rights and economic justice should be the standard bearers of the Democratic Party, not those who pander to the pouters. I doubt Holder will run – he has never run for office and I suspect in the end he will realize that completing his career of public service working behind the scenes instead of eating bad food in Iowa and gladhangin donors will be a better use of his skills. His work in protecting democracy in Wisconsin this past week was inspiring. Walker is already using Eric Holder’s face (gosh, why would that stir the Republican base?!!?) in his ads. Thanks, Eric!

    Today is the last working day of March and I am realizing that I am seriously behind on projects promised so I need to get to it.

    See all y’all later!

  2. Good Freya’s Day, Meese, and Good Friday to those who hold this day in reverence. We have partly cloudy skies and a bit of wind out here at Ashby Ponds, which is encouraging. If rain is happening later I want to walk the dog before it comes down. Our current temperature is 68 F., going up to 71 F. Incredible!

    Have been watching the Ingraham debacle with interest. I love the Parkland survivor kids! Searched for a copy of the TIME magazine cover with some of their faces on it, but couldn’t find it.

    We still have lots to get rid of before this place looks civilized. Thank Goddess Darling Niece is coming over next week to help. Tomorrow we need to shop for objects that will organize our space. It’s hard to believe we’ve been here two weeks today!

    May we all have a peaceful Friday with no awful news dumps.

  3. Walked again this morning — same route as yesterday, but today it says 1.55 miles instead of 1.58. Weird. Soooo sleepy — I woke up at 4, 4:15….finally gave up at 4:33. It’s so unfair — I’m exercising, that’s supposed to help you sleep. Today is bill paying day. Sigh. Next Friday my neighbor has a plumber coming. I’m taking off in case they need to get into my place. Playing American Soul to wake me up. (love Bono’s ad lib during the Grammys: “blessed are the shithole countries, for they gave us the American Dream”)

  4. Good morning, 46 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’m still coughing and wheezing, but think I’m finally feeling better. The combination of the flue and now this cold makes me feel very vulnerable though. It’s been 3 months of illness so I’ve still got some careful recovery to do. I hope I can start going to the pool again next week.

    We mailed Easter cards to the family, but will wait until next weekend for a spring dinner together. RonK has his energy back but I just don’t. He clipped some blooming Camilla branches and arranged them in a vase so the house has one spring bouquet. He’ll cook a ham for dinner on Sunday and I may slice a pineapple.

    Take care everyone.

  5. Welp, my cursor wasn’t where I thought it was and when I clicked it took me off this page and totally blew away not only what I’d written and thought I was about to preview, it removed all my “fierces” as well. I’m now calming down enough to try again. Probably a shortened version of it, but maybe not. Momma used to say I didn’t have any “short” stories. LOL.

    mid 40s, feels like mid 30s, but sunny for the first time in over a week. Yesterday’s 2.6 KWHs inched us over the March 2017 total – m-t-d is 363 – but we’ll need two 20-KWH days to reach 400. Today already have 2 and we might make the 20. Tomorrow is a coin toss. I’m hoping the wind will die down when we get to the upper reaches of temps so I can walk. I need to get away from the computer and get some exercise. Mostly I need to get out in the sun and rest my eyes – they’re bothering me so much right now between pollen, overcast, and too much time on the computer that it’s taking me hours to deal with just a few emails.

    I’m very proud of the Parkland survivors. They’re channeling anger and pain into action. I’m also proud of our team for backing them. Those threats of boycotts wouldn’t have worked if we didn’t follow up when David called on us to contact sponsors. We can’t stop the Evil Ones from attacking them, but we can fight back for them, give them our support, and act wherever possible. And that’s what we’re doing. Nothing so great as an idea whose time has come – well, the surge of decency’s time has come. Black women in AL showed the kids that we can win if we vote. I think this group – the 18s and will be 18 by November group – will be voting in unsurpassed numbers this year.

    Need to tour the internets then get back to my emails. Maybe by the time I finish it will be warm enough for me to take a walk. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 39 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 46. Light rain this morning and clearing up this afternoon. The fullish moon should be visible tonight – officially full at 7:36am CDT this morning but she will be under the horizon even if it were not too cloudy to see her. She was brilliant last night!

    I can’t find the Democratic Party Weekly Address (it is the leaker Senate’s turn) – we really need to take back the White House to make it easier for me to do my “job”! I did find Hillary Clinton’s Rutger’s speech and may build my weekly post around that. I need to get some work done first, so it might not be until tomorrow.

    The news slowed down when the shitgibbon left town, thank the goddess. The level of Scott Pruitt’s grifting is being exposed and he might be the next to go because he committed the one sin that is unpardonable – he is sucking up news cycles that the dotard needs in order to feel relevant. I hope he doesn’t decide to fire Mueller in a Holy Saturday Night Massacre to regain the spotlight. I followed a twitter stream of someone who was at his speech in Ohio Thursday night and the disjointed rambling was frightening. I cannot imagine the type of person who would be inspired by that – or maybe to them blathering is inspiring because they seem to like it when their presidents are stupid and incoherent.

    See all y’all later!

  7. Saturday here in Saugerties NY – 36 going up to 58.
    Still feeling lousy from this cold or whatever it is. Spent some time thos morning browsing the newspapers in Puerto Rico
    Interesting to see which stories dont seem to be covered in the English-lang mainland media

    For example –

    Here’s the press release in English

    NEW YORK, NY – On April 3, 2018, President Clinton will formally launch the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) Action Network on Post-Disaster Recovery, bringing together more than 300 leaders in government, business, and civil society at the University of Miami to discuss and develop solutions that address immediate and long-term hurricane recovery needs facing the region.

    At the meeting, stakeholders will work toward CGI Commitments to Action – new, specific, and measurable projects to address critical issues such as health care, housing, clean energy, education, small business support, mental health, and climate resiliency to assist with immediate needs as well as the long-term recovery in the region. This Action Network builds on the successful CGI Commitment to Action model, which over the years, has brought together leaders from across sectors to improve the lives of more than 430 million people in 180 countries worldwide.

    Another article

    Mayors from various towns in Puerto Rico are disputing the figures being touted by the government about how much of PR has light and power. Republican Statehood Party Gov. Rossello – is going to be facing an election in PR – where it looks like the opposition party will probably sweep him into the dustbin of history

    • Nothing like a crisis to expose the failure of leadership – it appears that Gov. Rossello was a useful tool for the big business folks who sucked the prosperity out of the island, leaving the people with debt and an aging infrastructure.

      Will their election be in November to coincide with ours?

      • Next elections in PR are 2018 midterms – Gov is not up for reelection till 2020. Rossello claims to be a “Democrat” – which he isn’t – he’s really a Republican Statehooder – the resident commissioner of Puerto Rico – Jenniffer González – Republican – is also not up for reelection till 2012

  8. Good Saturn’s Day, Moosekind. It’s a fair morning here in NoVa, with a current high of 35 F. on the way to 59 F. I noticed the moon blazing silver in the heavens last night but forgot to check the calendar to see whether it was a full moon. Jan says it’s tonight.

    Had a rotten night from 3 a.m. on, so will look forward to a nap this afternoon. (Cue broken record here: we are tired of living in squalor, this place is a horrible mess, yada yada yada.) We heard the unwelcome news from our realtor that the buyers of our house want the remaining stuff out of the garage. We had left them the tools and the window fan thinking they might find them useful. They’ll regret this when they have to spend lots of money on leaf blowers, power washers, and so forth. However, I hardly suppose the sale can be undone at this point, so we’ll just have to put up with their demands.

    In the meantime we have told Younger Son and DIL that we can’t pick up Miss Pink Cheeks from school any more. It’s a 20-mile round trip for us through some very nasty rush-hour traffic and whoever picks her up would miss three dinners a week. We are paying to have dinner here. So I have bought her a GizmoPal watch to wear. She can make phone calls to four different numbers from it, to her parents and grandparents. Miss PC has less than a block to walk from the school bus stop to her house, a large fierce boxer to guard her when she gets there, and she’ll be alone only for an hour until DIL gets home. On Thursdays and Fridays DIL telecommutes, so she’ll pick her up from the bus stop. (Don’t even ask me what we’re going to do about summer!)

    This morning we are going to put the dog into day care for a few hours while we take Miss PC and Mr. Preschooler out to breakfast, then we’ll run some errands after we take them home.

    Wishing everyone a good day.

    • I hope your sleep improves once the “squalor” subsides. I know I find it difficult to sleep when there is some urgent thing that must be done. It sounds like you have an entire apartment full of urgent things!!

      I am sorry to hear that there are lingering issues related to you old house and I am sure you will be happy to be finished with it and when their demands can be safely ignored (on my last house sale, I had complaints for a year, mostly that my mail was not getting forwarded – like that’s my fault!) What on earth are you going to do with a bunch of lawn care equipment and tools? I hope you can find a home for them.

      • Well, luckily we sold the riding lawnmower to the neighbor before we left, and gave some tools to Elder Son. Younger Son is going sell the rest of the tools on Craig’s List or donate them. It’s really weird that the buyers didn’t want them, but I put it down to inexperience. They’re coming from an apartment.

    • The moon was full about 15 minutes ago but not visible here because it is daytime (plus raining quite heavily). So last night was fullish waxing and tonight will be fullish waning – that is as close as it will get for us this month. It is a blue moon, the second full moon in a month for the second time this year. That is a simply a quirk of the pope’s calendar but this blue moon means four full moons in a quarter and is something that astronomers note: “according to NASA, this super-rare double blue moon only occurs about four times in a century.” The next double blue moon won’t happen again until January and March of 2037.

      • When I was walking before work yesterday morning, I kept looking at the full moon, it seemed so bright. That’s the good thing about super-early morning walks, get to look at the moon & stars.

    • {{{Diana}}} – not “squalor” – clutter. There really is a difference. :) If there’s a church you are willing to donate anything to, see if they’ve got a spring rummage sale going to give the yard equipment to. Back when I was doing my own yard work, I’d end up buying a lawnmower every other year whether new or used so I started hitting the Spring rummage sales. Otherwise, GoodWill is your friend. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Sunny & warm here, highs in the 80s. This weekend I need to finally fix my shoe shelving unit that broke a few months ago so I can, well, have a place to put my shoes — more important now that it’s time to put the “shoe-ier” ones on the bottom shelves & the sandals on the handier ones. If I can’t fix it, a visit to Goodwill is in order, this needs doing. I will not fail to exercise, absolutely will get that in. And thaw some oatmeal & next week’s lunches. And oh yeah, tomorrow is Easter. I have the dress I call my “Monet” dress because it reminds me of an impressionist painting. And my gorgeous purple high-heeled sandals. I have to walk slow in them because I almost never wear heels (they’re maybe 2 inches, but when you always wear flats…) The police officer who is our crossing guard always laughs when I say why I’m walking slow, and says yes, I shouldn’t try to hurry, he’ll hold the cars off.

  10. Good morning, 36 and sunny in Bellingham. I hope we feel well enough today to go to Joe’s Gardens. They have greenhouses full of flowers and veggi starts so it will be an easy way to be with growing plants. It’s still to cold to plant anything in our own garden but some pansies and vegetable starts will bring spring to the porches.

    Best Saturday wishes to all.

    • That sounds cold! We have nothing – zero, zilch, nada – growing right now; not even a glimpse of a shoot from the spring bulbs. That is probably a good thing as it will be 12 degrees overnight tonight!

  11. Happy last day of March :) – Lovely sun yesterday – generated 20.4 KWHs (highest for day, month & year to date) – had sun this morning so did some yard work until the clouds started moving in. Which they just did. I’ve got 3.8 so far today but not likely to get a whole lot more. sigh. Still, the m-t-d is 385 at the moment – not the 400 I wanted but better than March 2017 so we’re good. Missed the moon – will again. I don’t see Her very often it seems. But I know She’s there and that’s all that matters.

    This administration is going to go down in history as the most sued ever. We’ve got to take Congress back so we can keep the Courts so those suits will do what they need to do. I think we will. We’ve got to hold off the Extreme Left as well as the Extreme Right to do it – but that surge of Decency Krugman talked about is a politically active surge of Decency. And that is largely thanks to the kids. Aside from the gender bias we’re seeing Romberg’s “Stout-Hearted Men” playing out in real time. The dreams, the energy, the will-to-good was there but didn’t have a focus. Emma Gonzales called “BS” – her schoolmates joined her, then other students joined – “start me with ten who are stout-hearted men and I’ll soon give you ten thousand more”. The students, the survivors, the kids gave that energy leaders and a focus. March for Our Lives is now moving to Meet for Our Lives but the longer term message is very, very strongly Vote for Our Lives. So I have hope.

    Got a grandson’s birthday party to head for shortly so I need to visit a few online places then get going. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

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