Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Feb. 10th through Feb. 16th

February 9, 2019 JanF Community 81

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?

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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 Two of Comments is HERE!
     

33 Comments

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

    Morning low of 14 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 23. Snow is in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Sunday Meese. 19 degrees here in Saugerties NY, going up to 36 – with snow.

    My Black History Sunday sermon at Orange features Gloria Richardson

    will post link when it goes up

    Puerto Rico

  3. Good morning, Moosekind! The sun is rising behind the woods on another cold day. It’s 18 F. in Ashburn, going up to 41 F. later. They say we’ll get a “wintry mix” late tonight but that it will turn to rain tomorrow. Good.

    Woke up much too early and was reading my Twitter feed in the early hours. Dee, you beat me to it, though!

    Getting up at 4:30 means I’ll crash in the early afternoon if not before. It’s too bad, because I need to clean this place up. Younger Son and family are coming to tea today. Miss Pink Cheeks’ birthday is next Saturday, but as Grandpa and I are too old to attend a laser tag party, whatever that is, we’ll give Miss PC her birthday presents this afternoon.

    In 1619 the first enslaved people arrived in Virginia to suffer through lives of unremitting toil. Virginia as a state has a lot to answer for! Hope I can teach my grandchildren that what their history books say is not the truth. I’m not sure why history books seem to be written by right-wing nutjobs, but many of them are.

    Jan, hope you don’t have to go out today. Wishing a nice, quiet Sunday to all at the Pond and Beyond!

    • Sunday’s snow amounted to just an inch or two and, while I did have to leave to run an errand, I was able to get there and back unscathed. We still have the issue of snow sitting on top of ice which is tricky. When you see the ice, you know you will have no traction; when it is hidden under snow, you think you are dealing with just snow and can find yourself unable to stop or turn. I am so ready for spring. This is a reminder that Imbolc is also called the Quickening and that the signs of imminent spring are mostly hidden right now. I feel like if we can make it to March, things will improve. Just a couple more weeks!

  5. Up & watching the news. Got tea steeping, will cook vegetables this afternoon to add to the frozen dinners I bought. And maybe a walk, since I really am well. Today at church is our celebration of becoming a Reconciling church (the movement in the Methodist Church where we say “hey, glbt people — y’all are welcome here”). I forget how many years, maybe 10. Anyway, really looking forward to church today. Proud that we took & continue to take, that stand. I’m sure we’ll sing this today: All Are Welcome In This Place

  6. It’s 34 feels like 26 and at least I don’t have to thaw the outdoor cats’ water. Rain isn’t expected until this evening but the clouds moved in just before dark last night. Which of course is why it’s above freezing right now. The PV system is actually on – but I need the lamp on in the house to be able to see the keyboard clearly. Yesterday we got 10.4 KWHs and the m-t-d is 66.7 so I’m still averaging ahead of use. Which is good since today and tomorrow look like “might get 5 together, not each” sorts of days. sigh.

    #45 is evil. He is also the most accurate representation of the R party right now. The fact that his self-serving insanity is obviously insane does not lessen the self-serving insanity of the rest of the party. Their wants have just been normalized by the “colonial” white culture. They’re all short-sighted greed insanely destroying the ability of our society to exist – and worse, of our planet to sustain most species including our own. The planet will of course recover over time. She always does. But we won’t be here to appreciate it if these evil nutjobs aren’t stopped somehow. So we do our best. And hope for the best while we’re at it.

    I’m taking a break from housework. Like until my hands and back quit poking at me. Still have sweeping, which hurts my back but not as much my hands, to finish. Hearthrug to shake out. Firewood to bring in. And sweep up after. Never ending but that too is life. We really wouldn’t want it to, now would we? Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Good morning, 23 and sunny, but more snow is in the forecast. I’m ready for PNW grey skies and rain! We enjoyed some spur of the moment fun with the family at Koyoto Steakhouse last night. A chef cooks at the table, and along with the flames and fun he was very careful to keep my dinner gluten free.

    We’ll have a quiet birthday dinner for Ron here tonight. Hard to believe we are both moving through our 70’s now. How has this happened!

    Best wishes to all.

  8. Monday Meese

    28 degrees here in Saugerties NY going up to 36.

    One of the news stories that has slipped under the radar:

    Bravo Judge Gelpí

    “Allowing a United States citizen in Puerto Rico that is poor and disabled to be denied SSI disability payments,” Gelpí concluded, “creates an impermissible second rate citizenship akin to that premised on race and amounts to Congress switching off the Constitution.”
    These are, in short, fighting words. Gelpí is essentially challenging the judiciary to consider the possibility that federal discrimination against Puerto Ricans is neither benign nor permissible, but rather a result of racist callousness that the Constitution generally prohibits. If more courts agreed, more unjust laws—like those that entrench substandard health care for the island’s residents—would be imperiled. The federal government could no longer freely single out Puerto Ricans for poor treatment.
    Gelpí’s decision will be appealed, and a higher court may yet order Vaello-Madero to turn over the $28,081. A similar case is also pending in Guam; if appeals courts eventually disagree, the Supreme Court could hear this issue. It is unlikely, though not impossible, that a majority of the justices will agree with Gelpí given the Supreme Court’s imperialist view of Puerto Rico. But at a minimum, Gelpí’s ruling will force mainland judges to reckon with the “citizenship apartheid” that the federal government has created and maintained with the help of the courts. Puerto Ricans deserve better than Trump’s malevolence and Congress’ neglect. They deserve a judiciary that safeguards the rights afforded to them as American citizens.

  9. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 25 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. A Winter Storm Warning is in effect for tonight into tomorrow with 6-9 inches of snow accompanied by 30 mph winds. I had planned to travel tomorrow and will have to adjust those plans. I do not have any interest in being caught in a blizzard.

    “Indentured servants”. Sigh. The problem with Ralph Northam is that he grew up steeped in lies about the cause of the Civil War and the nature of slavery – lies told in schools to resolve the cognitive dissonance that is created when your ancestors felt that they had a right to own other human beings. You dehumanize those enslaved and then build fanciful scenarios where Africans chose to migrate to the new world and arrived with their dainty suitcases in Virginia, ready to make a new life for themselves. You can’t undo that much wrongness – he needs to go and anyone from that era should be automatically disqualified from public office. It does not help that Virginia continues to honor the men who founded and fought for the Confederacy. The whole thing has to be burned to the ground and rebuilt.

    It looks like there will be a Shutdown 2.0 because there is no way to reconcile the racism of the Republican Party and their leaders with the Democratic Party requirement that migrants seeking asylum – and undocumented immigrants already in the United States – be treated with dignity and respect. :(

    See all y’all later!

    • The mythology developed to make people comfortable with our enslavement history – churns my stomach.

      Next week we “celebrate” Presidents on what was Washington’s Birthday – no mention of the people enslaved by 12 of them.

      • One blogger pointed out that trying to re-educate “a nearly 60-year-old upper class white guy from Virginia was like trying to teach a chimp to land a 747. “

        • Actually the chimp could probably land the 747 OK as long as there weren’t any weather issues or other emergencies to deal with. Teach an upper class white guy about the realities of slavery & racism? Ain’t gonna happen. Not at his age. If he hadn’t already started questioning his comfortable white privilege existence before age 40 it’s dipped in cement.

  10. Still damp, dreary weather, but at least it’s not freezing any more. 60s today, and they said the sun would be back tomorrow. I posted on FB about my church’s anniversary of being Reconciling, and I think it my be my most liked & shared thing ever.

    So, Monday & I need energy — I’ll listen to upbeat, positive Empress.

    So standing in the steady throng of restless hope, you don’t feel like an outcast any more, ‘cause something deep inside of you has wakened up & you know that nothing’s gonna be the same again.

  11. Good morning, Moosekind! Ugh, Wintry Mix Monday is getting us down. We had something white falling last night before bedtime—not sure whether it’s sleet or what—and this morning, when I took a reluctant Monty out to the courtyard, it seemed to be just rain. It’s 32 F. in Ashburn now, going up to 36 F. later. Thank Goddess I don’t have to go anywhere today!

    Have been reading the preceding comments with interest. We were told lies in our Southern public schools about slavery: to wit, that it was not “profitable,” and that’s why it ended. Huh! Edward Baptist has put paid to that little theory. There are still lies in Virginia textbooks, as far as I know. One demented textbook author wrote that slaves were happy to fight on the side of the Confederacy. She lied! The good news is that apparently teachers are relying far more on external sources for history lessons and less on textbooks.

    I have an entirely different view of the Founding Fathers from the view I grew up with. After reading Dee’s diaries and a book called Never Caught (about a slave who got away from Washington and was never recaptured), and reading about Thomas Jefferson, who in today’s world would have been had up on charges of statutory rape, defilement of a minor child, and child endangerment, I view them with a jaundiced eye.

    The teachers explained their ownership of other human beings with the excuse, “Well, they were men of their time.” Uh-uh, not so fast: Robert Carter III was contemporary with those cats, but he freed his slaves. Born into a rich family, he grew appalled at slavery after being educated in England. He came home and eventually devised a plan to free his slaves in batches, as soon as they’d acquired sufficient skills to find jobs in the local economy. As a reward, his fellow plantation owners threatened to shoot him, so he had to leave Virginia and live out his days with one of his daughters at her house in Baltimore.

    The family did not, after all, come to tea yesterday. One of the most tiresome things about aging is that one loses one’s mind. I mistook the date. They’re supposed to come to tea on Sunday the 17th! Duh…

    Today will be very busy with telephone calls and writing. Hope everyone will have a good day, and be thankful you don’t live in Virginia! “Chaos in the Commonwealth” is the new “Dems in disarray.”

  12. Seems to be 43 and actually “feels like” 43 – but it is also drizzling and very overcast. The PV system is on but that’s about it. The Little Black Kittehs (the 3 outdoor cats I’m feeding) moved to the carport when their boxes in the backyard flooded. I’m not sure what I can replace them with – but whatever I come up with I’ve got to find a way to get the boxes enough above the ground that temporarily standing water doesn’t get to them. They’re safer in the backyard – dogs, coyotes, etc can’t get to them – but they’re drier on the carport where I do have a few boxes set out for passing kittehs/critters in bad weather. Meanwhile we got 2.4 KWHs yesterday and I’ll be surprised (but grateful) if we get that much today. M-t-d 68.9 so we’re still a tad over the 6/day average even if we don’t get anything today. As long as we get at least 6 tomorrow.

    Deplorables being deplorable. Decents trying to at least block the deplorability – and get us back on the decent path when/where possible. Yesterday was “another day, another person declares for the presidency” – I was very impressed by Klobuchar until the cheap shot at Hillary. I’m still impressed but the very just got erased. It was so effen unnecessary. MSM is gonna be on her like white on rice so they can blow up any vaguely possible “attack other Dems” statement. If she can’t be more careful than that…

    I got myself a “featherweight” Bissell electric broom (came yesterday) which made doing the bathrooms & kitchen floors soooo much easier on my back. A “oh, hey, I’m getting a refund from the state” present to myself. Once the refund actually gets here I’ll be sharing it with my peeps. I’m hoping/praying/Channeling “make things better” to all my peeps all the time – including frequently in my sleep. Meanwhile I need to get back to work. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}

    • One thing a lot of people don’t get – because they don’t live in Wisconsin – is that Hillary did have a big rally planned here that was going to include President Barack Obama. The rally was cancelled when the Pulse nightclub murders took place because JHC, who wants to get on stage and smile and act cheerful when people have just been slaughtered?!? Hillary did not neglect Wisconsin – she had phone banks and people in the field; Wisconsin was poisoned by berners telling people to stay home or vote for Jill Stein because they would get “dirty themselves” to vote for someone impure. And the #NeverTrump’ers never really wanted a Democrat so they voted for Gary Johnson. Trump only won 46% of the vote here – it just turned out to be more than Hillary won. Klobuchar will have to deal with the “not pure enough” people in Wisconsin in 2020 (they are still here). Maybe she has a magic way to do that.

      • Yeah. I know. And she knows. Which is why I didn’t like the jab. If it’s a sign of things to come I’ll be very disappointed in her. I doubt she’ll ever reach the berner/puristas any more than Hillary did – and of course she’ll never reach the Rs – but she might be able to get the “didn’t vote” lot. For one thing, by 2016 Hillary was not seen as a midwesterner by midwesterners even though that’s where she came from & grew up. When they weren’t thinking AR (ooh ick) they were thinking “east coast elite” from her 7-sisters school to her Senator from NY. AK is a midwesterner and even the berner/puristas can’t deny that.

  13. Good morning meese, it’s 34 with a high of 54 predicted. A bit of a respite before the next round of storms.

    This week is going to be pretty busy at work, so won’t be around much. Good day to one and all!

    • {{{basket}}} – holding you in my heart, however busy you are. Moar {{{HUGS}}} & Healing Energy.

  14. Good morning, 23 and cloudy with 2-4″ of snow overnight and more on the way. It doesn’t take much snow to make the hilly streets and roads dangerous so Bellingham is basically closed today. My grand girls will have a fun snow day and I’ll be in my sewing room. I feel for my Seattle kids because they have more ice and snow than we do. Makes going to work very dangerous, and staying home means no pay for my independent contractor daughter. Moving full time employees to independent contractor status may be good for the company bottom line but it’s hard for the people who work for them.

    Best wishes to all on this snowy day.

  15. Good morning, Meesefolk; 23 when I got up with a high of 34. We’re expecting a rain/snow mix later today, which isn’t bad as long as the salt trucks get out before the evening temperature drop. But at least we’re not Seattle…we actually have salt trucks, in quantity.

    Today is the day that Kiddo’s MIL has her brain surgery to remove most, if not all, of her meningioma. She’s at the best neurosurgery center in the state of Ohio, so I’m confident she’s getting the very best surgeon and care, but of course, whenever dealing with brain surgery, one can’t be overconfident. At this point, I’m more concerned that Kiddo may blow her cool with MIL; to say that there is a difference in style when it comes to medical issues is an understatement. The family descended on their house yesterday: MIL, grandMIL, aunts, uncles, a cousin or two, and the son from Atlanta flew in. That in itself is mind-boggling to Kiddo; our family (me, Hubby, Kiddo) is much more private and low-key. Kiddo felt it fed MILs narrative, which is very, very pessimistic…”I’m so glad I’m able to spend my last day with my family.” Today MILs pastor came down to “pray with the patient and family” before surgery; upon learning that Kiddo is Jewish, he made sure to sprinkle his prayers with the word shalom, because apparently that’s all that evangelical pastors know about Judaism. I’m probably being unnecessarily unkind about this (I am genuinely concerned about the surgery and hoping for the best outcome and no complications), but I’m venting some of the frustration I’ve been hearing from Kiddo and SIL as well as some of mine. I told Kiddo that if I ever face something similar and start going all woe-is-me, she has my advance permission to give me a swift kick in the backside.

    In the meantime, while I’m waiting to hear about the results of the surgery, I got a text from my sister that my nephew is back in the hospital showing signs of heart failure. He’s had ongoing issues, but bluntly, he’s ignored every health/diet/exercise recommendation his cardiologist has made; last time he was in, the doctor told him that he was making himself a candidate for a transplant, but even that didn’t cause him to change his lifestyle at all. And he’s not getting much support from those around him. He lives at home still, and the doctor said that was fine as long as no one smoked in the house…my BIL promptly informed everyone that he was not going to stop smoking in his own home, and his son could move out if it was an issue. My sister, from whom I am mostly estranged (she’s a Trumpster), is beside herself, and I just want to go down to NC and kick some butt. I’ve never liked my controlling, emotionally-abusive BIL, but I just can’t fathom the selfishness on display. One would think seeing one’s wife in meltdown and one’s son in dire health would be a wake-up call, but apparently not.

    But other than that ^^^, it’s a good day! :D

  16. Tuesday Meese.

    Winter storm hitting us here in NYS – 19 degrees, going up to 27. Total snow and sleet accumulations of 5 to 11 inches and ice accumulations of a tenth to quarter of an inch expected.

    I’m still hibernating.

    History

    Puerto Rico

    Water rationing

  17. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 30. It is snowing and will be into the afternoon. It looks like our area got on the low end of the 6 to 12 inch forecast but points north got clobbered. Area schools are all closed – kids are going to be going to be having make-up days into July at this rate!

    An agreement has been reached on a border security bill but there is no indication that the short-fingered vulgarian in the Oval Office will sign it. Fresh off a new hate rally in Texas, I am sure he is energized. The head of the Flight Attendants union, Sara Nelson, says that her union is poised to strike over unsafe air travel if the government shuts down. In an interview yesterday, she pointed out that 20% of air traffic controllers are at retirement age and that if they retired en masse 50% of all flights would be grounded. I don’t know if the Republicans’ president cares, he has his own plane, but Republican Senators – who can force the issue – should. It would be difficult to blame the shutdown on the Democrats if a joint conference agrees on a bill only to have it voted down by frightened Republicans in the Senate if tRump threatens a veto. We shall see.

    It looks like the hue and cry over blackface and rape in Virginia has not survived the short attention span news cycle. It certainly will roil the 2021 governors race, I hope encouraging women of color to consider running. It will make the Virginia races this fall, the canary in the coal mine for 2020, interesting. Who will run on zero tolerance who will run on “forgiveness”? We shall see!

    I have a less hectic day toady than yesterday so I am going to try to catch up on the news including who is thinking of running for president. No, Bill De Blasio, No, Seth Moulton, NO NO NO. The doggies are at Westminster this week and apparently a Dachshund has advanced to the final rounds. I will have to set my DVR to tape the shows.

    See all y’all later!

  18. Chilly enough for a sweater this morning, high this afternoon in the 60s and they say the sun will come out but they said that yesterday and it rained again. Happy that Beto’s rally got attention, wish it had been on TV more. I really, really hope he runs against John Cornyn. For some reason, Hozier’s Nina Cried Power is playing in my head.
    It’s not the song, it is the singin’
    It’s the heaven of the human spirit ringin’
    It is the bringin’ of the line
    It is the bearin’ of the lie
    It’s not the wakin’, it’s the risin’

    • I hope he chooses to run against John Cornyn. He has the statewide organization and the name recognition and House to Senate is a logical step (former House Member to President is NOT). Going after the next available Senate seat after he came up short on the 2018 seat would not be considered out of line – in Arizona, the Republicans who went after John McCain in a primary ran for the open seat in 2018. The only sitting House member to run for president and win was James Garfield in 1880 – I know Beto is no longer sitting but the path is similar. To be one of 435, people whose main purpose is as a head to be counted for floor votes, is not much of a resume enhancer for top job. Plus every one of those votes, even ones you disagreed with and ones you took a (calculated) stand against, become “disqualifying.”

  19. Wow. This should be….

  20. Good Tuesday morning, Meese! It’s raining heavily, so whatever snow was still left has disappeared. The current temperature in Ashburn at this hour, 8:45 a.m., is 32 F., going up to 40 F. later. Dearly Beloved reports that Monty did a lightning visit to the courtyard, then bolted back inside. He does not like precipitation.

    Just been reading posts from yesterday and this morning and feel whomped! Schools closed in Bellingham, family un-fun in Ohio, water rationing in Puerto Rico, snow in Saugerties and Madison, water threatening the kitties in Fayetteville—whew!

    Not sure what’s going on with respect to “chaos in the commonwealth” because I didn’t wake up until 7:30. Yep, took the knockout cold pills last night and enjoyed eight and a half hours’ sleep—such a nice change from the usual four to six. Stayed in bed drinking my early morning tea until 8:30.

    Well, last night I managed to get my characters out of Srinagar International Airport to the large house where the Queen of Tarts lives. The fun will begin soon, but it’ll have to wait until some time tomorrow as I’ll be out of reach from this afternoon until late Wednesday morning. (Thank you, Goddess, for giving us rain rather than snow when I have to drive to Elder Son’s house.) I”ll be looking after Mr. Preschooler while his parents are out of town.

    Would like to catch up with the posts here if time permits, but must scarf down some breakfast before starting on a round of telephone calls.

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

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