Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Dec. 16th through Dec. 22nd

December 15, 2018 JanF Community 96

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!
     

35 Comments

  1. Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    Morning low of 25 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 45. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Sunday Meese. 37 here in the Catskills, mixed snow and rain in the forecast.

    Ryan rebuked

    Puerto Rico

    • I was wondering why Zinke agreed to step down from his lucrative griftery. He must have sold off enough of our natural resources to feather his nest for a while. I hope he saved enough to hire attorneys because there will be referrals to DOJ for his buddies and family getting no-bid contracts for Puerto Rico “work” and his illegal use of department resources to take family vacations.

      Please post a Twitter link to your Kamala Harris diary when you have one. I was online scanning Twitter when the report of the first Iowa polls came out and was reminded just why having the presidential nomination run through the whitest of the white states is so stupid: Biden, Sanders, O’Rourke are the top three because WHITE MALE. Our nominee will not be a white male and the more they push that it will be, the more we (meaning me) will resist.

    • A very much deserved rebuke to Paul Ryan. One they should have been loudly making since he was first elected. Lace Curtain Irish = wannabe Brits of the Empire Age, turn R as soon as they get the wrinkles out of their bellies. JFK used to say nasty things about them – made quite an impression on me when I was 11. Unfortunately a bunch of them have political or propaganda power right now.

  3. Good morning, Moosekind! Today is anything but a “Sun Day,” as it’s still raining. This is the rainiest year ever recorded in our area, surpassing the old record of 60-odd inches in 1889. At half-past eight I can see the brown waters of the creek rising very high in the leafless woods across the way, and the pool beyond the creek looks very full.

    Poor Dearly Beloved picked up a cold during our travels. He’s off to the doctor in half an hour.

    Today is a day I devoutly hope will be spent doing housework. I’m rarely in the mood for that sort of thing, but even I feel slightly perturbed at the mess that exists now. I’m also trying to work up the courage to iron. I don’t allow myself to do it very often, fearing to become addicted, but really, Dearly’s handkerchiefs haven’t been ironed in years.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a miserable day to Thing and his minions.

    • Thanks, Dee, off to read it! The other lie I see is that an Attorney General has no administrative experience. In Kamala Harris’ case, she administered the 4,500 person California Department of Justice which is responsible for not only prosecutions but consumer protections, civil rights protections and a lot of other justice related agencies. They just want to find an easy excuse to cross her name off the list. I have yet to see a real reason that she should not be the front runner going into 2020 if she chooses to run. I think she said she and her family will decide over the holidays.

    • I see the “usual crowd” showed up to derail, “strawman”, demean, dismiss, and gaslight. sigh. They’re always lurking, hell stalking, but don’t comment unless you say something – anything – that doesn’t support their messiah of the moment. Then it’s a shark feeding frenzy. Damn near a PTSD trigger just reading their comments.

      • Haven’t had an invasion like that in quite a while, probably because I’ve been writing about Puerto Rico which they don’t care about.

        I ignored most of them – not worth engaging with since they were only there to trash KH.

        I am thankful for folks who pushed back on twitter – like Selena

  5. Good morning meese. It’s 32 with a high of 61 in Fayetteville, AR according to my phone. I can’t believe today is the last time I’m having breakfast with bfitz at her wonderful and lovely house! 😢

    Well, I hope to come back anyway…

    • Last time for this trip. I hope you come back, too. You have a standing invitation and are always welcome. 💕💕💕 Safe travels & {{{HUGS}}}

  6. I hope I’m in the right diary. I skipped my workout again. Just didn’t want to get up that early. Eating breakfast, watching Up. Going to make tea, go to church & watch the Christmas pageant, and finish grocery shopping (can’t believe I forgot bread & the frozen berries I need for breakfast) Today’s music — this is so weird I just have to post it: Eric Clapton doing White Christmas.

    • This is the right diary if you are looking for Sunday, December 16th. You made me panic – I always double check the Sunday start date but I usually build the diary in the early morning on Saturday when I am doing other things. :)

      • I mostly remember to hit “refresh” & click on the new diary before I go to bed Saturday night, but I didn’t remember doing that & I was so distracted by the Eric Clapton weirdness I forgot to go to the top & check that it’s the new one. I should remember to read the url bar & see what page I’m on.

  7. Welp, Basket just drove off. We had a lovely time together. Didn’t do as much sightseeing as he probably planned, partly because this time of year several of the places we planned to visit were closed, but he get in some naps he very much needed. And was fed on a relatively regular schedule (although we ate out a lot more than I’d originally planned). We did visit the Lights of the Ozarks on the Square last night. It’s an extravaganza of lights with a few rides (Shetland ponies for the little folks, horse-drawn carriages for the adults – 2 years ago they also had camels but not this year) and all the cotton-candy, kettle-corn, funnel-cake, corn-dog vendors of a fair. LOL. It’s also crowded and chilly so we only did a leisurely tour around the Square, got a “sample-size” bag of kettle corn to share, and then came home to get warm by the fire. I miss him already.

    Depending on which widget you look at it’s either 36 or 43 & feels like 36. It was supposed to be clear but its cloudy at the moment. Seriously hope it clears off. We generated 7.4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 71 – the 180 goal is still possible if unlikely but certainly won’t get there if we don’t get more sunny days. Best I can say for it is that we’re only 5 KWHs away from reaching what my 2.5K system generated in Dec 2014. Which isn’t saying much because it’s about half what I use in a month. I upgraded to the 4K system because I was paying for electricity again by Feb 2015. We shall see what we shall see.

    I’m a whole lot not paying attention to the trending stuff. I don’t want to get into the OMGHOF about anything. If Kamala Harris wants to run for prez, I will of course support her to the best of my ability. But everything I see that seems to make everybody else say “Harris 2020” make me say “please stay in the Senate for the next 30 years”. I don’t really have a “fav” for 2020 yet. And earicicle and Aji are both having really serious issues that govt programs/safety nets are supposed to help with but aren’t – which is adding to their stress and exacerbating the health issues. And I can’t do a thing about it or for them except a few bucks here and there and a lot of time in front of my altar (actually a dozen or more instances of short periods of time at my altar – hoping its power is cumulative). Healing Energy to everybody everywhere shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 34 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 36. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Apparently the Republican House members who lost or retired this past year can’t be bothered to show up for their last 2 weeks of work (although, I am sure they will cash their paychecks!) and there are not enough Republican votes to keep the government open under their president’s new demands. So President ManlyWall will shut down the government so his sprayed-on-hair Goebbels can get his jollies. I hope the Democrats don’t give in – the $5 billion is not about the money, it has become a symbol of our refusal to be a willing partner in the destruction of the values of our country. Over the years, the parts of government that will be forced to shut down when Republicans play games with the budget has gotten smaller (turns out most are essential – who knew?) but the real pain will be on those who have to work without pay. What a terrible thing we do to our federal workers!

    Vanity Fair weighed in with a “Kamala Harris will only be a viable candidate because of identity politics piece” and Shakezula at LGM will have none of it:

    Vanity Fair set up the hurdles for Kamala Harris’ still-hypothetical bid for the presidency. It is as bad as one would expect.

    The fact that she is African-American, female, and relatively youthful can only benefit her during an election cycle certain to feature powerful generational currents—particularly as a foil to Donald Trump, an old, white race-baiter. Yet if Harris runs in 2020, she will need to harness the complicated currents of identity politics, while not being defined by them.

    Harris has to overcome a centuries-old system that serves as a founding pillar for this country and the millennia-old system that is a founding pillar of much of the planet and make everyone forget she is an African-American woman if she is to have a shot at becoming our next president.

    Don’t worry, it gets worse. […]

    One of the many myths that people who use the term identity politics cling to is that people who aren’t born as white men can overcome their unfortunate circumstances if they just try hard enough. If you’re very, very, very, very good at a job that is seen as the domain of white men, and you don’t make them uncomfortable by being too obviously not a white man, a blue fairy will appear and make you white-ish and male-like enough that Real People will accept you. Or to use the writer’s phrasing, your “manifest talent” will replace the less desirable identities that are an unfortunate disadvantage of your birth.

    As they say, read the entire thing. She concludes with:

    To end with the pronouncement that when it comes to being a black woman, a black woman doesn’t need to have the fact that she’s a black woman validated suggests that the article was written by a committee of people who were test-driving different drugs. Or perhaps it’s just that any old garbage will do when the subject is women who are running for president.

    See all y’all later!

    • Excellent response to that Vanity Fair bullshit.

      Was reading/retweeting twitter responses yesterday

  9. Monday Meese

    We had black ice and mess last night – later today will be facing very cold wind chills here in the Catskills.

    More on the Jazmine Headley story

    PR

  10. Back to warm — only needed a cardigan this morning & will be in the upper 60s this afternoon. Got a lot of cooking done yesterday: dinner for the week (a sesame sriracha vegetable thing with quinoa), and cooked a bag of spinach & a container of mushrooms to have on hand to add to any frozen dinners I have. And tea, probably enough till Wednesday.

    Stevie Wonder, Some Day at Christmas:

    Someday at Christmas, man will not fail
    Hate will be gone and love will prevail
    Someday a new world that we can start
    With hope in every heart

  11. Good moaning, Meese! Nothing to moan about, really, as the sun is shining. Once more the woods are backlit by the rising light and the pools are shining among the bare trees.

    Having a very slow start to the day, which will include more housework. Ugh. Must get to the post office, if I can remember where it is. Also need to get a mani, as my poor fingernails are shredding themselves like Christmas tinsel.

    Haven’t looked at the news yet but the word on the street is that Something Big will happen today or tomorrow.

    Eleanor Roosevelt, Hillary Clinton, and now Kamala Harris. There is no end to the misogyny or the racism. We get the message: stay in your subordinate place, women. Our reply: Eff off, we’re coming, and we’re coming in droves!

    Wishing a good, quiet day to all at the Pond!

  12. Half day at work today – currently 42, heading for 60, and sunny. I may walk home. The lovely trek basket and I took around Lake Fayetteville when he was here last week reminded me that I enjoy walking. Preferably with a friend but OK by itself. Yesterday we got 6.4 KWHs and the m-t-d is 78 – which is at least more than the 2.5K system I had in 2014 generated in Dec. We’ll see how close we can get to the 180. Considering how few days we have left in the month and where we are at the moment we won’t make it, but we can still get close.

    It was wonderful having basket to visit. I’m already looking forward to his next one. Maybe some of the places we tried to visit Saturday will be open then. Oh well. Meanwhile I’m boosting signals and otherwise staying out of my TL on twitter. Wishing I had the money to resolve the financial issues of several of my online friends. Which would also resolve a boatload of their health issues at the same time. Well, I don’t. So I do what I can and Channel Healing Energy every time I think of them as well as formally in front of my altar at home. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Good morning, 50 and cloudy in Bellingham. Just a quick “hi” this morning. Our Christmas weekend with Lisa and her family was fun, the grand girls busy dance weekend was fun, but I’m weary from so much fun! Regardless, today is busy with a lab visit, lunch with my grand girls and sister, more Christmas elfing, and lots of laundry.

    Best wishes to all.

  14. Good morning meese, 51 with high of 59 and partly cloudy. It was raining when I got home, which was a good sign. No rain in the forecast for today that I can see.

    Best be getting cats fed before going to work.

  15. Tuesday Meese
    25 here in Saugerties NY with wind chill making it much colder.

    PR

  16. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 19 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 45. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    We hit our low-point for daylight yesterday as the last minute was squeezed out of the waning year. On Sunday, we had 9 hours and 1 minute of sunlight, yesterday it dropped to 9 hours. We will hold at 9 hours for the next 10 days with sunrise and sunset shifting slightly (sunset gets later) until 12/28 when we gain that minute back. I’m ready! I don’t mind the morning darkness – I work better when it is dark outside – but the darkness descending before 4:30pm makes me want to go to bed at 6 o’clock!

    So the Russians learned the lessons of Lee Atwater and the Republican Party of the 80s and 90s and exploited racial anger and Othering to get a white supremacist “elected” president. Shocked, Not Shocked. It doesn’t help us with our current situation except perhaps to go clear-eyed into the 2020 presidential nomination cycle and refuse to reward any candidate who is running on appealing to the butthurt white male vote. We see you, we see what you did in 2016 and we don’t want you for our party’s standard bearer.

    It is impossible to keep up with the Mueller news. He, at least, respected the DOJ rules and did not release any indictments or plea deals in the run-up to the election. James Comey’s outrage at “disgraceful people” shows that he has no mirrors in his house – I could not believe he said that the children and grandchildren of the people in the Republican Party who are not stopping Trump’s destruction of our institutions will curse their name. JHC, man! You put a literal piece of crap in the White House because you wanted the white male Republican and it made no difference which one it was! You broke the DOJ rules and EVERYONE IN AMERICA’s grandchildren will curse your name! Go back under your rock.

    Harumph!!

    I was traveling yesterday so I have some queued up projects that I should get to before my clients start work and fracture my time.

    See all y’all later!

  17. Super dense for this morning. Like, less than a block visibility. If I’d hurried getting dressed, I could have been early enough to walk before work. But even walking on the sidewalk, I thought crossing the streets would be too risky. I will walk after work. No really. There’s that useless hour where Chris Matthews is on; I can get 30 minutes in. Today’s song: U2’s cover of I Believe in Father Christmas.

    I wish you a hopeful Christmas
    I wish you a brave new year
    All anguish, pain and sadness
    Leave your heart and let your road be clear

  18. Good Tiu’s Day morning, Moosekind. It’s clear with low-lying clouds in Ashburn today. The temperature at 7:45 a.m. is 38 F., going up to 43 F. A good day to stay in and, ah, perhaps do more laundry.

    Haven’t looked at the news yet. There seems to be so much going on at all times that my head is spinning. Possibly something big will happen today.

    Can’t believe that a week from today will be Christmas! This season reminds me of the weird songs my irreverent, whimsical father used to make up:

    Somewhere there’s laughter
    And yellow teeth
    Somewhere they’re hanging
    A Christmas wreath
    My teeth are yellow
    I laugh all day
    And I’m a hangman,
    So I’m okay.

    Okay, I suppose you had to be there. :) When my sister and I were small it used to crack us up.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

    • They say that something will hit in the next few days related to Mueller’s investigation. I just finished reading a piece from Forbes about what has become known as a result of the December 7th memo and Cohen’s plea deal related to Trump Tower. It outlines what Putin’s hold over Trump was and makes a case for a felony that is not centered around the confusing campaign financing laws but a clearer fraud:

      The Special Counsel’s Office gives every sign of focusing sharply on the larger narrative with Russia. It is investigating the possibility that Donald Trump, his campaign, his organization and his associates, participated in a set of criminal conspiracies with Russia to defraud the United States both of a free and fair election and of a government solely devoted to its interests (18 U.S.C. § 371).

      It will be interesting to see where that takes us. I might have to start paying attention to the Mueller investigation again! I had been pushing it aside because it did not seem like it was going anywhere fast. Actually, it appears to have been waiting for the election season to end.

  20. Good morning meese, 41 with a high of 59 today. Not much time for a proper check in as I need to be out the door in 15 minutes or so.

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