Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: March 24th through March 30th

March 23, 2019 JanF Community 103

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 One of Comments is HERE!
 
 
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
 

37 Comments

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

    Morning low of 36 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 48. Rain is in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Diana, I made a change to an internal setting related to logins. It will either cause the site to be infested by bots or it will fix the login problem!

    Please try logging in and let me know. I will check for the bot infestation in the morning. :)

  3. Sunday Meese.
    26 degrees going up to 58.

    Will be talking about women running for President this morning at Orange.

    From Victoria Woodhull – to the current 6 Democratic women in the race.

    Since I am tired of seeing “freeped polls” I attached a poll – with only the 6 women on it (yes – included Tulsi Gabbard and Marianne Williamson)

    Puerto Rico

  4. Good morning, Moosekind, and a fair day it is, too. The sun is rising behind the woods, which still look grey and misty. The current temp. in Ashburn is 32 F., going up to 62 F. later.

    The fix Jan made to the site worked, for which I reverently thank our BlogGoddess! I can log in the normal way instead of filling out a little form at the end of a comment, and I can also “fierce” again. Of course, with all the restarting the computer and whatnot, my weather gadget now refuses to function, but what the heck. (First-world problem, cue tiny violin.)

    We have Mr. Roblox with us this morning. The family brought him over at tea time yesterday. Presently we’ll all go out to breakfast and then we’ll take him home. It used to be fun to have kids around: now all they want to do is stare down at devices. I wish no one had ever invented video games for children.

    With all the family things going on I wasn’t able to work on the book yesterday. I’m being pestered by a short story that’s not going to leave me alone until I write it. In fact, there are two other pieces of writing pestering me as well, so I’m going to have a busy time of it!

    Moreover, I’ve got to turn off the punditocracy noise. This morning Dana (“The Pill”) Milbank is predicting that Democrats are busy trying to reelect Thing just because we want to abolish the slave-state-favoring electoral college! Considering it resulted in two stolen elections it’s high time it was abolished. Can you imagine what kind of shape we’d be in now if President Gore had been allowed to take his rightful place? Electric cars whizzing everywhere, charging stations, universal health care, perhaps even universal day care.

    Must get ready to go out to breakfast, so will close. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and I am so glad to be able to join you again!

    P. S. “Preview” isn’t working, let’s see whether “Post Comment” does.

    • Abolishing the Electoral College is an aspiration, not a campaign issue, it is not done by presidential decree – what a maroon! I noticed that one of the right-wingers that the New York Times insists on giving editorial space to was complaining about the intent to “shred” the constitution (no, I did not read it – I refuse to click!). Someone on Twitter yesterday pointed out that no fewer than 8 amendments to the Constitution address how we elect our presidents, another one is not going to “shred” anything. Our Constitution has never been a friend of direct democracy, always preferring to give power to our “betters” (white male landowners) to make choices for us. They should have ended the electoral college when they gave us direct election of our Senators. Can you imagine the empowerment of a liberal person in rural Texas knowing that their vote will actually be counted – and could tip an election – or a conservative person in Massachusetts feeling the same way? This should be bipartisan except that history shows that the Electoral College favors the minority party and that is where Republicans are determined to govern from. Former Senator Birch Bayh of Indiana was the last one to try to get an amendment done although I think a House member has put a bill forward. The popular vote compact is close to having enough states opting in but I think it might be challenged in court. The best remedy is a Constitutional amendment but that would need 2/3rds of both houses of Congress and 2/3rds of the states. Maybe the young people can fix it in about 20 years when they take power in the states.

    • I am glad you were able to log in. I have no idea if the updates fixed the problem or if the setting change did (I broke the cardinal rule of troubleshooting – changing two things at once!) No new bots showed up – just the usual ones posting spam which gets picked up by the spam filter. The setting change is probably the culprit because it is part of a very old version of something called JetPack from WordPress. I can’t update it because the last time I did, it wrecked the site so it sits there like a lump probably using old methodology to recognize login attacks. Fingers crossed that it stays fixed!

  5. Slept in, watching MSNBC. Tea is steeping, working out the logistics of cooking in my still-sleepy brain. I could put the quinoa in the rice cooker now & when it’s done, it could be thawing the mango while I’m at church. I’m making a cold dish with mango, nuts, black beans, asparagus, bell pepper, and avocado. Got in a good workout yesterday, found a standing ab workout online that I want to try. This Snow Patrol song is probably too bouncy for it.

  6. It’s low 50s and overcast (although the sun’s trying to break through) right now in Fay., AR. We got 3 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 279. I haven’t a clue about today. More rain in the forecast but a hole or three in the clouds the sun is trying to sneak/peek through. The Twins want to go outside but I haven’t let them so far today. I probably will if the rain chance goes away and the sun comes out fully. I guess the household big news is that the 5th cat is now inside. Yesterday’s drizzle convinced him. I feed him on the top step of the stairs out the back door as it’s the most sheltered but most sheltered doesn’t mean totally sheltered. He’d been hiding in his box/cave all day and came out to eat but kept looking at the rain and then the door – I opened the door, scruffed him lightly and brought him in. He whined for a few minutes then headed back to my bedroom and has spent most of his time curled up on my bed. (Except when I was sleeping in it – no cats in my bedroom when I’m trying to sleep.) He purrs when petted – this cat is not feral and never has been. (Bad Cess on whoever dumped these 3 black youngsters.) He’s also so “beta” I’m thinking maybe need a stronger term – delta or gamma maybe. He doesn’t eat when any other cat is around. I’ll see if I can keep him inside long enough to get the vet back – which will partly depend on how soon the vet can come back – to get him checked out and vaccinated.

    I am avoiding most news stuff. We are in a world of “shouldn’ts” – We shouldn’t have this person in the WH – we shouldn’t be having all the fraud, corruption, Deplorable evil that we wouldn’t be having if he weren’t. We shouldn’t be doing any campaigning for anything except special elections held this year. We shouldn’t have a multi-layers of for-profit health industry – nor all the financial issues, mis-Dx’d and/or dead people we wouldn’t have if we didn’t. We also shouldn’t have a disjointed nobody’s coordinating and most don’t care health industry which is part of that “mis-Dx’d and/or dead” – we should have health CARE – and goddess alone knows how we will ever get that on a systemic level. Women (& BIPOC) shouldn’t be trapped financially where even owning one’s own home doesn’t count against “unsecured debt” (mostly medical/dental) when trying to get a loan for maintenance and repairs. That’s just one of a myriad of shouldn’t about women and BIPOC in financial realms. The shouldn’ts we live with are overwhelming sometimes. Like right now. So I’m mostly keeping my focus closer to home.

    The muffin bread (lemon almond butter) is about cool enough to cut and I need coffee. I’ll be over in Dee’s diary shortly. I wanna take that poll, too. 😁😁😁 Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Good morning, 45 and cloudy in Bellingham. Ron and Ava will be making a video interview re their Land Trust activities this morning, so they are meeting at Rocket Donuts to coordinate their answers. They are both wearing their Land Trust caps and having fun :)

    I puttered around in the garden yesterday, mostly clipping and cleaning up the pots. It’s nice to just let my mind wander, and then to pay attention when a planting idea forms. I’ll do a bit more today.

    Best wishes to all.

  8. Monday Meese

    42 here in NYS going up to 49.

    I’m sleepy – would like to go back to bed.

    Puerto Rico

  9. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 28 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    I watched the Barr letter drop yesterday afternoon and decided to let the first wave of hot takes flame out. In essence, Mueller could not prove that there was a conspiracy with Russia on the email hacking and trolls but he was pretty clear that Russia ratfked our election to benefit Donald J. Trump. I am not sure how that is being called a “win” for Trump – it underscores that he is an illegitimate president installed by a foreign power. On the obstruction charges, there was no exoneration by Mueller, just Barr declining to prosecute his party’s leader – something that any sentient human expected would happen (remember Barr whitewashed Iran-Contra). Even if Mueller had found evidence of conspiracy, the Republicans in the Senate would not have removed tRump, it would have simply made him a martyr. Now, there will be a steady drip drip drip from the cases in SDNY, the Manhattan DA and the New York Attorney General and House investigations for the next 18 months. When all is said and done, there will likely be a Trump or two convicted of crimes and serious damage done to their business empire. For now, we focus on beating him at the ballot box – he is still unfit, still a crook, and still a racist pile of excrement.

    See all y’all later!

  10. Warm — almost summer-like, but a cold front is supposed to come next weekend. There’s a big golf tournament here then, hope it doesn’t rain. Yesterday’s cooking marathon was… a lot. But I have lunch for a couple of weeks, and vegetables to add to dinners. Gotta leave work early today — they did some work at my complex yesterday & moved my plants around. Since they didn’t bother putting them back, I will. This song is probably too dreamy for this time of day but oh well.

    • Pretty bad ratio on that tweet! 2400 comments to 201 retweets.

      Josh Lederman @JoshNBCNews
      It’s fair to assume there is a significant degree on panic setting in this afternoon at the DNC, Democratic primary campaigns across the country
      3:13 PM – 24 Mar 2019

      I remember seeing it retweeted with scorn yesterday afternoon – how does someone that embedded in the Republican Party’s colon have a job with NBC???! And he even tried to defend it!

    • Here is an actually useful reply to that:

      • and Nayyera Haq & Jess McIntosh’s response – despite his rude & dismissive one

  12. Good morning, Moosekind, I’m late to the party today. At nearly 10 a.m. the temperature in Ashburn is 55 F. under partly cloudy skies. The weak sunshine at the moment will give way to rain this afternoon.

    Feeling a bit rocky because of an earache. Going to the doctor pretty soon. It’s great that all I have to do is walk 8 minutes through a few buildings to get to the doctor’s office.

    I’m sick of Barr’s letter and the Mueller report. I’m going to look up Jennifer Boysko’s campaign HQ location and see if I can start volunteering in August.

    Finished most of the edits on my manuscript. Here’s my dilemma: the book ends when they’re deciding on the location of their honeymoon. Now, as the author, I know what they’re going to be doing after they return to these shores, but the reader doesn’t. Should I write a short epilogue telling about their future activities, or just leave it? I can’t make up my mind. Suggestions are welcome.

    Will be contacting princesspat and DoReMI this week about how they want their names to appear on the acknowledgments page. I’d love to get this thing to the publisher by the end of the week, but I’m not sure whether that will be possible.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

  13. It’s 44-feels-like-40 and heading for 55 this partly cloudy day in Fay., AR. We got enough sunshine to generate 10 KWHs yesterday and are just a smidge under 290 for the month. If we can get a bit over 10 today despite the clouds we’ll reach 300 anyway with the rest of the week to try and catch up with previous years’ generation.

    All 5 cats still in the house. I’m worried about the latest addition. He spent most of Saturday and Sunday curled up on my bed and didn’t have a problem with other cats joining him on the bed. He ate a little, drank a bit, and did use the litter box. He’s been up and wandering around since just before bedtime last night but is now “meowrring” at the other cats when they come close and hadn’t eaten anything as of when I left for work. I’m afraid he may have gotten injured in a fight or something (which is why I wanted them in the house in the first place) and is doing the bluff-to-hide-disability thing. I’ve left a message with the mobile vet and hope they 1) get back with me & 2) can come out this afternoon.

    As far as medical stuff is concerned Aji’s got the 2nd/replacement biopsy this week (no refund on the botched one of course) after which maybe she’ll get some answers, a treatment plan – and treatment. As far as her health is concerned she’s in constant chronic acute pain and the stress of not knowing on top of the stress of being dunned daily for the inconclusive stuff done over a year ago is just exacerbating it. And Miika had colic yesterday which meant Aji was out in the wind and weather walking a horse until the vet got there.

    I’ve a couple of friends in danger of eviction. And another who might be depending on how much the landlord’s property taxes go up. (I am beginning to feel “survivor’s guilt” about my own blessings.) Prayers or whatever your Tradition teaches for all concerned. Thank you. & Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Good morning, Meesefolk; 28 when I got up this morning with a high of 39 today; it’s sunny at least, but our lovely warm (low 50s) weekend weather is gone. Oh, and look, I can log in again!

    I’m feeling a bit gut-punched at the moment, and it will take a bit more time before I can get back to my usual glass-half-full outlook. It’s not that Barr is gaslighting us; it’s that he’s and the administration are gaining time to get the “declare victory and move on” message in the news cycle before the report has even been read. It’s not that politicians like Buttigieg are [probably cynically] using their whiteness to gain momentum while acting as if whiteness isn’t an identity; it’s that so many people, including some I greatly admire, are uncritically falling for it. It’s not that people like Julián Castro still haven’t qualified for the debate stage; it’s that part of the reason for that is that our media hasn’t deemed him worth column space…and I have no doubt that’s because he doesn’t look like the person they see in their own mirror (any more than Kamala does). I’ll move on from this funk at some point, but right now, I’m feeling pretty beaten down and disgusted.

    Despite my mood, good day to and for all!

    • I didn’t realize that Julián Castro had not received enough donations to reach the debate stage! To not have a Hispanic primary candidate would be pretty embarrassing and my guess is that whoever does not make the first cut will be done. :(

      I was saddened to see that Iowa has white males as the top three in the latest Emerson poll. I am not sure how reflective that is but to me it is a reminder that Iowa – and New Hampshire – should not be picking the presidential nominees for a party as diverse as ours. White is an identity and white male as the default for “president” is giving in to the haters who ran against Barack Obama on birtherism. We can’t let that happen or we, as a party, will lose our soul.

  15. Good morning, 44 and cloudy in Bellingham. I wish I could have gone to the gym with RonK this morning as we both have tRump angst burning. I know this mess will evolve and wanting it to be over won’t get us there, so we’ll cope……and vote! And in the meantime life does go on and I still have ivy to clip:)

    Time to find some coffee. Best wishes to all.

  16. Tuesday Meese. 29 here in NYS going up to 45.

    Well – finally someone has bothered to write about the food benefits slashed in Puerto Rico. After the fact, and pointing a finger directly at Trump.

    We’ve been talking, tweeting and begging about this for months. What is making me crazy is that it is going to get worse- much worse. In September over 1 million Puerto Ricans are due to lose Medicaid and prescription drug benefits. This is a death sentence for anyone who needs drugs, medical help – to stay alive. Those million can’t all just pack up and leave for the mainland.

    ARGH!!!!

    My new hashtag is #TrumpPuertoRicanKiller

    • I am glad to see a lot of retweeting of that story! I started retweets when it hit yesterday afternoon and picked up a few more this morning. I will start using your hashtag #TrumpPuertoRicanKiller – I also like mine #RepublicanDeathPanels because it encapsulates so much of what is wrong with putting Republicans in charge of our government.

        • It just means that when you tweet things out for a topic (like saving Puerto Rico from the Trump Administration), you use a different hashtag than you had been using. You don’t change anything in your profile, just on new retweets and tweets. I have been using these:#VoteThemOut or #VoteThemOutNov3rd2020 and today because of the ACA lawsuit “shift” #WeAreHealthCareVoters and #ExpectUsNov3rd2020.

          • I saw that! I rarely block – I prefer to mute because they can’t see that I did that and they can live deluded that I am reading their tweets. :)

            I do block if bad people get into my mentions somehow because it makes my notifications very noisy. The way I retweet (usually with a quote) keeps that to a minimum although sometimes people – unintentionally, I hope – drag me into fights.

        • Read and retweeted. I notice that no diary is immune from the “Bernie Can Fix This!” people. Yes, a guy who denies that there is racism and whose biggest policy successes have been the naming of post offices is going to be the point man on pushing back against the racism inherent in the “not even one more dollar for Puerto Rico” spouting pile of excrement in the White House. :::insert eyeroll emoticon here:::

  17. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 21 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 48. Mainly sunny skies are in the forecast. I have the tiniest shoots coming up in my front (north facing) planting bed in the place where the lillies usually emerge. No sign yet of any crocuses or daffodils so I wonder if the bulbs got eaten by hungry critters living under the snow banks all winter. I once had a herd of voles do significant damage to my plantings during a winter when we had snow cover for months. We shall see!

    For people who worry that Republican strategists are smart, take a look at their response to the Barr Letter’s “vindication”: the Trump administration decided to go all in with Judge Doodiehead in Texas to strike down the Affordable Care Act. So a terrible misreading of what led to the Democrats 2018 victories and what 2020 candidates are running on (it is not impeachment but health care and the economy) has given us a huge talking point: “Trump and his Republican judges want to take away your health care.” Thank you, stupids.

    I am not going to jump on any Mueller thumbs-up thumbs-down bandwagons until the actual Mueller Report is received by Congress but I hope that they seize on the part where he stated unequivocally that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and mention as often as possible that their interference put Trump in the White House. What should come out of it is a re-invigoration of the election cybersecurity units to stop it from happening again in 2020. The purpose of Congressional hearings is, after all, to help develop legislation – let’s get some election security bills rolled out. We can’t change 2016 and we have to go eyes forward to 2020.

    This reminder that tRump is NOT off the hook by any means:

    See all y’all later!

  18. Cool morning — I sorta regretted wearing sandals, but it’ll be 78 this afternoon. Texas has one of those awful “freedom to discriminate” bills pending. So awful. I hope someone finds a fatal flaw, because “hey, discrimination is bad” isn’t going to fly with the Texas lege. I didn’t get in a workout yesterday, but did spend 20 minutes moving my plants back where they should be. Listening to happy, bouncy Snow Patrol to remind myself to get a workout in this evening.

  19. Good morning, Meese! It’s clear and cold in Ashburn at this writing, 34 F., going up to 50 F. At six a.m. it was so unpleasantly cold and windy in the courtyard that the dog quickly did a bit of business and scuttled back toward the door of the building. I’m not looking forward to days of colder temperatures.

    Read a long account of Thing’s vicious treatment of Puerto Rico in the WaPo this morning. In the history of this country has there ever been so vile a man in the White House? Not only the mind, but the entire body boggles at such manifest evil. How could anyone vote for this piece of ordure? Was Andrew Jackson as hateful as this?

    Why doesn’t someone send him a double cheeseburger with extra bacon so he’ll eat it and pop his clogs? Do we really have to put up with this for two more years? But if he expires we’ll have Vice President Q-Tip and that would be equally bad.

    Today I’ll try an exercise class. They’re often full, so if I can’t get in I’ll just go to the gym. Tomorrow morning I have an evaluation by the department head of the gym, anyway. There are numerous people here who walk by pushing along a contraption on wheels. I do not want to join that crowd.

    Have a day of cleanup and writing chores to do, so I’d better get on it. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

  20. Good morning, Meesefolk; 23 with a sunny high of 43 today. Meh. Yes, I am grateful for the sunshine, but I”m reaching that point in the season where I start to get impatient for warmer weather. I want to retire my winter coat and switch to a jacket, but the morning temps are making that a dream unfulfilled.

    I was very surprised by Tom Udall’s announcement yesterday, but then I checked and discovered he is 70. For some reason, I thought he was at least a decade younger. I hope NM is ready to keep that seat in the blue column; my focus for 2020 is more about the Senate (and keeping the House) than the WH, so I’ll be watching that race with interest (particularly since Deb Haaland is one of those giving a run for the Senate seat “strong consideration”). There will be several strong Ds running for the seat, I’m sure, and I just hope it doesn’t turn into an expensive battle royale.

    Good day to and for all!

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