Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Jan. 27th through Feb. 2nd

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 (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). 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!
     
  • Page Three of Comments is HERE!
     

31 Comments

  1. Good morning, Moosekind, and happy Thor’s Day. It’s very cold and crystal clear this morning, with the sun rising behind the woods at a few minutes past 9. It was like this yesterday morning as well, which is why I wouldn’t believe the snow squall was looming until I saw it. Gack! Had to take the dog out in it—howling wind hurling needle-like ice pellets in one’s face, hands so cold in spite of gloves they seemed to want to drop off—the dog turned tail and scuttled back into the nice warm building. It made me realize what those poor penguins endured in that tragic film, “March of the Penguins.” Anyway, it’s just going to be cold today. Currently the temperature in Ashburn is 5 F., going up to a balmy 22 F. At least we’re on the plus side of the ledger, unlike our BlogGoddess!

    Not much to say except that for the third Wednesday in a row Darling Niece will not be able to come over for lunch. Fairfax County schools are on a 2-hour delay. We’ll try for next Wednesday, when the temperatures are supposed to warm up.

    Yesterday I received more belated Christmas presents. M’darling-Daughter-in-Austin sent me a Trump toilet brush! Funny, I’d been wanting a toilet brush but kept forgetting to buy one. Very handy! It has a shock of bright orange bristles on the end. She also sent photo blocks (pictures of us blown up and mounted so we can hang them) and a Planned Parenthood tote bag. I can take it to the next Current Affairs meeting here at Ashby to piss off all the conservatives in the room.

    We’re in wait mode, I suppose…waiting to hear whether there will be another shutdown. In the meantime, let us tweet to Howard Schultz to sit down, shut up, and start knitting. I think it would be fitting.

    Have a good day, all!

    • I saw someone on Twitter yesterday suggesting that we pick one new billionaire a week to totally destroy on social media. I like that idea! Can we do Jeff “I think Cory Gardner is just right for Colorado and America!” Bezos next? It is no surprise why billionaires like Trump – he gave them a trillion dollar tax cut and repealed planet-saving regulations that cut into their short-term profits – but the glee with which they are actively working to destroy our democracy is sickening. And they wonder why we seem to be moving closer to out and out class warfare.

  2. We’re at 28-feels-like-19 and the sun is shining again. Yay! We got 10.4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is currently 165 – if it stays sunny we might even get to 175 for the month, which while not great is definitely better than it was looking a week ago. It’s supposed to get into the 40s so if we don’t have cloudy & rain with that I should be able to walk home today. I most certainly need the exercise. Lately very thoughtful people have been bringing treats I can actually eat. LOL.

    I know it’s not possible but it certainly would be nice if we could go back to a time where media shut down for 5 or 6 hours a night and not have 24/7 garbage spewing. Of course it is very possible (although not probable) for us to go back to a time of regulation for market share, public service responsibilities, and the Fairness Doctrine. And we won’t get balanced politically until we do so the low probability is depressing. sigh. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app that turned all lies, spoken or written, on the media to pig-latin? It wouldn’t interfere with the liars’ first amendment rights to tell lies but it certainly would reduce the impact.

    Ranging from kinda to seriously concerned about the health and well-being of family, online and off. Can’t do much but Channel Energy to the purpose – and send a bit of grocery money – so that’s what I do. Wish the Universe worked faster. Sort of. From my human point of view it doesn’t seem too much to ask for 10 good years for those I love. Not pain-filled, hassled, stressed-to-the-max years – good years. Boring years where the seasons change, rain and sun come in life-giving ratios, lodging is comfortable and secure, pantry and fridge are full, and bodies are healthy or not very noticeably otherwise. Good years.

    Meanwhile I need coffee and to get back to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Good morning, 40 and cloudy in Bellingham. I managed to keep my focus yesterday so housekeeping basics are done and I have a “free” day, with no plans but lots of choices. I have a feeling a trip to the garden shop will happen :)

    RonK has a new post, An Escape to Orcas Island in the Salish Sea. Most of our boating pictures are lost in photofiles so it was fun to look at them again. But I must admit I was happy to be staying on land and to travel via ferry. The Salish Sea seems big in a small boat!

    Best wishes to all.

    • The photos in that post are awesome! What a spectacular part of the country you live in – it is on my short list of places to visit.

  4. 49 with high of 66 and cloudy/foggy. I didn’t see any rain yesterday, but the next storm is supposed to come in tomorrow afternoon.

    Time to get ready for another day at work…

    • {{{basket}}} – 66 is good although can feel a bit chilly if it’s foggy enough. Not cold, definitely not cold compared to what’s going on in the “polar vortex” area, but you-can-feel-it-in-your-bones chilly. Hope you get enough rain over winter to reduce the fire hazard this year. It’s always better to not see what you’re breathing. And yeah, another day at work. But that pays the rent (& other household stuff) that come under the heading of needs – and if the pay is high enough covers “a few of our caprices” as well. Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Good morning, Meesefolk; -13 this morning with an expected “high” of 5, but the wind is dropping off which makes a huge difference. Ok, maybe not huge from a more southern perspective, but noticeable from a northern one! I got a strange alert from a local gas company last night, imploring customers to dial down to 65 or below. I’m not one of their customers, so I thought it was odd…until I read the news this morning that one of their storage facilities (less than 2 miles from me) had an equipment failure, resulting in an explosion and fire (http://www.voicenews.com/news/equipment-mishap-causes-fire-at-consumers-energy-facility-in-armada/article_c334fe36-24c3-11e9-aac9-bb305afbe413.html). Scary stuff and very fortunate that there are no houses all that close to the station.

    I’ve been watching the Howard Schultz BS with interest. He doesn’t stand a chance of catching on with the voters, because he keeps saying stupid rich-guy stuff, but he certainly has the attention of the media. And that is a bit worrisome, because it underscores that they haven’t learned a damn thing from 2016 and will continue to go with the policy-free horserace stories. And never-Trumpers are showing what we knew all along; that as soon as some one steps up who isn’t batshit crazy, they’ll fall back into line. The only person I can’t really understand is Bill Burton. Political consultants gotta consult, but really? Howard Schultz?!!!

    Good day to and for all!

  6. Here is another solid Democrat who could give a State of the Union response.

  7. Well, rats. The clouds moved in midmorning so we’ve ended January with 4.5KWHs on the last day and a total of 169.74 KWHs for the month. Definitely not a good month – only beating the 2.5K system by 38 KWHs. sigh. But we’ll keep on keepin’ on. {{{HUGS}}} to all.

  8. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is -4 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 16. It is snowing lightly right now and the forecast calls for cloudy skies all day. But Spring is in the Air! – we are at the midpoint between Solstice and Equinox.

    I need to avoid the news today because there are a couple of stories that are getting me riled up. The faux controversy over “late term” abortions is one. Most third trimester abortions are because continuing to carry the fetus will result in the death or serious damage to the mother or that the fetus has stopped developing. And the “post-birth abortion” is not a thing. If a baby is born and is so badly damaged that life is impossible, the family is presented with the same options they would have if it was their 90 year old parent entering their end of life – do you take extraordinary measures to keep them alive or do you choose to let them pass peacefully? No one strangles them or chops them up, for crying out loud! The right-wing lies ginning up the religious right is what elected tRump and we are going to need a voting tsunami to overcome the lies and win in 2020. Goddess help us if we don’t.

    See all y’all later!

  9. Good Friday first day of Black History Month

    It’s 8 degrees below zero here in Saugerties NY.

    Puerto Rico

  10. At work, still feel a little off, but I’m here. I left early yesterday because I felt weird, went home & took a nap; woke up feeling cold & still weird. It’s hard to be out on Fridays when I know we start off 2 people down (they allowed our 2 part timers to schedule Mon-Thurs instead of having at least one on Fridays, which was supposed to be the plan) Anyway, I’m upright, eating overnight oats & drinking nicely chilled tea. It is warm — only needed a jacket for the hood because of the light rain. Supposed to get to the upper 60s today, and 70s over the weekend. First training ride is tomorrow morning — definitely not riding, though I will go and say hi to people. Maybe I’ll take pictures & write a diary. Was listening to Snow Patrol on the way in, love this song: It’s Beginning To Get To Me. Gary is a brilliant lyricist:
    I tried to tell you before I left
    But I was screaming under my breath
    You are the only thing that makes sense
    Just ignore all this present tense

  11. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s snowing this first day of Imbolc, so I’m glad I decided not to visit my friend at Greenspring, 30 miles away. The current temperature in Ashburn is 18 F., on its jolly way up to 26 F. It’s a good day to stay home.

    Here’s an Imbolc poem:

    So we shall light a candle, on this night

    Before the morn of Candlemas,
    
For all those who have no one to weep for them,
    
And we shall shed the tears
    
And we shall be the voice
    
And we shall do the work

    Of the lonely Bean Sidhe.

    From the Pagan book of Hours

    I’ve posted an Imbolc story, “Bearly There,” at “Just Grazin’.” It’s very short. This morning I’ve nowhere to go, so I’ll keep on writing.

    I’m thoroughly annoyed by two items in the WaPo’s “Metro” section this morning: one, as Jan mentioned, about how the Rethugs are blowing the late-term abortion thing out of all proportion, and the other about two smug rich Rethug women who think, because they’ve had it easy all their lives, that other women do too and the ERA is therefore unnecessary. This complete lack of ability to sympathize with someone else’s plight is what separates Democrats from Rethugs, or liberals from “conservatives,” if you will.

    Virginia being a former slave state means our state elections are held in off-years and this is one. We’ve got to make sure we oust the Rethugs. I hope Mark Herring is the nominee for governor on our side. Justin Fairfax is our current lieutenant governor and although he’s a good guy, Mark deserves his turn. He’s the Attorney General who said he would refuse to defend a law forbidding marriage equity.

    Enough about that. Wishing everyone at the Pond a nice, quiet Friday. And as Dee said, this is the first day of Black History Month!

    • It is such a waste that your governors only serve one term. I am a believer in term limits for governors – after we barely dodged a 3rd term for Scott Walker while Michigan had an easier chance to go blue with their horrible tea party governor being termed out – but one term seems too short to deliver on an agenda. I hope you can pick up the seats you need to take the legislature back – it was very disheartening to lose the seat that would have won one of the houses when Republicans changed a ballot and then our candidate lost the tie-breaker drawing.

  12. Good morning, Meesefolk; -9 when I got up and soaring to 14 today. Sunday is supposed to be in the mid-40s; in honor of anotherdem, I’ll be thinking of this huge swing in temps as the Austin Whiplash. I’m headed down to OH after work, where The Kiddo reports they received several inches of snow overnight…but their Sunday high is supposed to be in the 50s, so that won’t last long.

    I’ll be watching to see the reaction to Cory Booker’s announced run for president. I expect the corporatist label and the supporter of charter schools label and the not-really-a-great-mayor label. What will be interesting is whether the attacks and arguments are as clearly coordinated as the attacks on Sen. Harris have been. My guess is they won’t be, because a) male, and b) less of a threat to the Anointed One, but whether the racism comes out in full force is another question. There’s a lot I like about Sen. Booker, but as with Pete Buttigieg, I don’t see this as his year. But I look forward to what he adds to the conversation about governance and policy (not that we’ll see any of that in the media, of course).

    Crazy day expected at work, so back to it. Good day to and for all!

    • I watched the videos and followed Cory’s tweet thread and while I don’t dislike him (he is an inspirational speaker) – and could easily vote for him if he were the nominee – I think that in 2020 we need someone with sharper elbows. I am not sure how much “let’s all come together – red states, blue states” is going to resonate in the current hyperpartisan environment. Been there, done that, got our extended hand bitten off. A bigger problem is that his Senate seat is up in 2020 and holding a New Jersey seat is never guaranteed. They have a strange habit of electing Republicans there. If we are going to have a Senator as our nominee, there has to be an ironclad guarantee that the seat will stay blue.

  13. It’s 42-feels-like-40 and overcast. Not a great beginning for February (although the PV system is actually on) nor a particularly great way to celebrate Imbolc/Candlemas. Sigh. Best I can say for January is that we ended the month with 3 more KWHs than we did December. We’ve got warmer weather today through Wednesday, then back to winter.

    I’m avoiding the Deplorables at the moment. Anti-abortion/forced-birthers have been Deplorable long before Hillary called that entire group of Haters “a basket of deplorables” – and of course, being Hillary, she was being polite about them. Meanwhile it being Black History month, expect a deplorable boatload of “caucasity” appropriating and whitesplainin’ the words and actions of famous Black folks. sigh. I think the gray is eroding what little optimism I try to carry around. Oh well. The laundry is about done. I need to add more wood to the fire and get the clothes on the racks. Then coffee. And a lemon muffin. Sending Healing/Mending/Tending/Maintaining/Sustaining/Surviving & Thriving Energy out to everybody. Shape it to your need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Good morning, 44 and raining in Bellingham. The forecast for next week shows snow on Sunday, but the temps are predicted to stay in the mid 30’s so I’m not worried. Compared to what most of you all are experiencing that’s practically balmy!

    Some days don’t go as (sort of) planned, and yesterday was one of them. Apparently I’ve developed an allergy to the artificial tears I’m using so today’s task will be to find a different solution. By the end of the day my eyes were so swollen I was alarmed, but they are better this morning so on I go.

    I did make a new arrangement for the back porch, using curly willow branches for the real element and my faithful fake forsythia, tulips, freesia, and maiden hair ferns for the seasonal flowers. I used to be a fake flower snob, but now I appreciate the ease of just having them and the challenge of making them look as realistic as possible.

    Best wishes to all on this rainy day in the PNW.

  15. Taking a quick break from work. It’s currently 63 degrees and the clouds are rolling in. We had rain a couple of days and it’s supposed to rain again starting tonite late (around midnight). Our book order has come in and a half dozen teachers bought items for class assignments. I’m working on them and trying to do the discarded books. I gotta do the discards so Carl the Acquistions librarian can put the new books on the same shelves. All in all if that’s my worst problem life isn’t too bad. Have a good weekend Meeses.

  16. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 14 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 41. Showers off and on all day. If a groundhog is looking for a shadow today, he or she will not find one. So I guess for us that means :::consults Wikipedia::: spring will arrive early! I am here for that. A Madison suburb, Sun Prairie, has its own groundhog day ceremony featuring Jimmy the Groundhog. Jimmy used to visit the schools until an unfortunate event a few years ago when he bit the mayor’s nose and they decided that perhaps a groundhog is a wild animal and it is not really the best idea to let children – or elected officials – pet them. The reason for Jimmy challenging Phil’s claim to fame is, according to the Wikipedia, the way it usually happens, because of a diss:

    In the Midwest, Sun Prairie, Wisconsin is the self-proclaimed “Groundhog Capital of the World”. This title taken in response to The Punxsutawney Spirit 1952 newspaper article describing Sun Prairie as a “remote two cow village buried somewhere in the wilderness…”

    I was shocked SHOCKED to hear that a privileged white male who grew up in Virginia in the 70s and 80s – and went to VMI – would think that the KKK was funny and would jokingly put on blackface (or a hood, no one knows which one is Ralph) for a photo to be immortalized in their medical school yearbook. That the school would publish it is a permanent blemish on that institution but I am struggling with the calls for resignation (the calls from Republicans can not only be ignored but called out for their blatant hypocrisy). How deep does that kind of disconnect from decency go? Is it disqualifying? The temptation is to say yes because the outcome would be good for our party – zero tolerance for past racism, the black Lt. Governor becomes governor and is positioned to win his own term in 2021 – but when is redemption called for? It is certainly embarrassing for the prominent black politicians who went to Virginia and stumped for Northam in 2017.

    Sherrod “Joe Biden” Brown joins the berner brigade by saying that “Democrats don’t speak to working families.” Such bullshit – Democrats won working families in the 2018 midterms (and women and young people), just not in states like Ohio where racism is so strong that they vote to repeal their own health care and destroy their industries to own the libs. Watching the pro-Brown people twisting themselves into pretzels trying to protect their great white leader was hilarious. We do not win by appealing to the butthurt white vote, period. They have a champion and he is a Republican. Connie Schultz saying “Sherrod and I know what is in our hearts so [shut the hell up]” is a bit disturbing. I am sick of “in our hearts” as an excuse; words matter – use the right ones, not the ones that pander to 97% white Iowans. And Democrats saying that the Democratic Party sucks are the worst of the worst. THAT is disqualifying.

    I am going to try to find some clips from the H.R. 1 For The People Act hearings for the Fighting Back post (this week is the Senate Democrats turn to do the Weekly Democratic Party Address and as usual I can’t find a video or even who appeared in it).

    See all y’all later!

  17. Was up really early – coldn’t sleep – too pissed at “progressives” defending Northam

    Just posted a rant

    • Do you think he will resign? He seemed pretty dug in even as his support was dropping off dramatically. Guys like that probably have no capacity to understand why what he did was so ghastly.

    • Thank you, this added the piece I was missing. Redemption has a limit – the people he used to gain power are essentially taking their consent back.

      If the problem is that you don’t “get it”, close your mouth, take your fingers off of your keyboard and listen. Listen to those of us who do who don’t have the privilege you do.

      The KKK.

      Blackface.

      Not acceptable now, not 20 years ago, not 60 years ago…never funny.

      If Northam wants to have a “come to Jesus” moment — fine. If he regrets his younger adult racism — that’s fine too.

      What is not fine is him remaining seated in the Governor’s chair won on the backs and ballots of black folks.

      He needs to resign.

      You people defending him need to think seriously about your own racism.

    • Hi, Mvgal, it’s always good to see you. Wish those discarded books could be sent to a place where people could eagerly embrace them. It kills me to see books thrown away.

      I know a woman who vowed that for a year and a day she would read ONLY books she found discarded on the street. She had a pretty interesting year of reading! I’ve always wanted to write a novel about that but, rats, you gotta have a plot if you want to write novels, and so far one hasn’t dropped from the sky on my head.

    • I’ve tweeted it out twice – once this morning and again this afternoon. Times like these it upsets me I can’t rrtc – but I did read it including down the comments (saw a few friends who don’t often post – since I’m not really there, just a ghost, I can’t call it “old home week” but it was nice to see them). I think that rat bastid is gonna hang on if he can. I think he may be an R stalking horse and since he doesn’t have to worry about re-election he’s gonna stay and do as much damage as he can. sigh. but {{{HUGS}}}

  18. Good Saturday morning Meese – minus 6 here in Saugerties NY

    Puerto Rico

  19. Up & watching the news. Northam is 75% of the discussion. Ugh. Anyway, going to the cocoa social for the Ride this morning. Not going to ride, I’m still too wheezy. Will ride a shorter, flat route in my neighborhood this afternoon.

  20. Good gorgeous Saturday morning, Meese! My comment to Mvgal’s comment of yesterday landed in the wrong place, I see. The Moose is skittish this morning! It’s clear, sunny, and blue-skied here in NoVa today, with a current temp. of 10 F., going up to 40 F.

    Dee, I shared your Northam diary on Facebook. Your pain comes through with every word. No white person can really understand the pain people of color feel when something like this is revealed. But we can at least make the effort to understand.

    Until this happened I supported Northam because the alternative, Gillespie, was so awful. Always had my doubts about him, though: I didn’t like the fact that he voted for Dubya twice. I didn’t like the fact that the Rethugs in the Virginia lege liked him so much—he seemed like one of them—that they asked him to switch parties. But, as I said, I thought the alternative was far worse. Of course, I didn’t know then what we know now.

    As early as today we may have Justin Fairfax as our new governor, and he’d be eligible to run in 2021. What many appear to have forgotten is that my adopted state of Virginia of the Racist History was the first in the nation to elect a black governor, Doug Wilder. I voted for him because he was (1) a Democrat and (2) pro-choice. I believe a lot of women voted for him because he was pro-choice.

    There are heinous events that remain heinous no matter how much time has passed. This is true in my own life and it is true of Northam’s racism.

    I hope the next news I hear will be of his resignation.

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