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

November 9, 2019 JanF Community 78

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!
 

 

34 Comments

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

    Morning low of 12 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 23. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Sunday Meese.

    32 degrees here in the NY Catskills – going up to 50.

    Puerto Rico

    My Sunday topic

    • Her family’s story is so inspirational. I don’t understand why Democrats want to go with plain vanilla when they can have the richness of her lived experience.

    • OMG, that is tragic! That poor man. May he rest in peace.

      So now that trigger-happy cop is responsible for two deaths. May karma deal with him as he deserves.

  5. I did go to the gym yesterday, yay me! Now, I’m eating breakfast & watching the MSNBC morning show. Today: church, and maybe the gym again. From yesterday’s chunk of my gym playlist: Alison Stewart by my friends December. Such a happy, upifting song. And hey, have you checked out their cover of The Refugee? It’s powerful, re-imagined for what’s going on at the border now.

  7. It’s 57 and thinking about going to 70 today – last bit of autumnal weather before the arctic front moves in around midnight. Sunny again today which is nice. Hopefully I’ll get a good walk in. Especially since it’s probably my last outside walk for the foreseeable future. Yesterday we got right at 7 KWHs and the m-t-d is 55. Not on track by any stretch but fairly close to my usage so if not good at least better. And with life being what it is, globally/nationally/locally/with my personal friends, better is what we’re working towards because good is just so gee-dee far off.

    Thinking about community yesterday – I usually have that running in the background of my mind but Aji set it off with a rant about folks they’ve helped – no question, no thought of return, just helped – who’ve lately been coming by watching them struggle to get the wood sealed and painted before the real winter gets there. And just watches, except to ask for money when they take a break. Not even “what’ll you pay me” to do it. Definitely not “can I work off that loan…” and seriously definitely not “hey, you helped me when I needed it”. Almost like – and possibly really like – they enjoy watching Aji & Wings struggle in chronic and acute pain to do this job they should have to do because they paid top dollar to have it done 2 years ago. Aji and Wings both grew up learning/doing neighbors helping neighbors. So did I. We still try to do and be those kind of people. But the community system is gone. And the well is running dry. Pondering it a bit I’m thinking it’s part of the same crap that started with the Birchers. They bought school boards and thus education before moving on to take over the R party. They bought media, starting with am radio and moving on to MSM ownership (with a few other groups who are the “interlocking directorates” of the 5 corporations that own 90% of the MSM). They used their propaganda machine to convince the majority of America that government is the problem. But in doing that they pushed a libertarian “I did it all myself, nobody helped me” meme that destroyed communities. Online communities can be helpful, lifelines even, but they aren’t the same and can’t be the same. We are going to have to re-create communities – healthy communities. Of the presidential candidates only Harris and Castro understand this.

    I’ll go read stuff until the cat gets off my lap. I’ve done some of my Sunday chores but my back hurts and my wrists hurt worse so I’m putting off the floors for a bit. Hope the rising temperatures will ease up at least the wrists so I can finish. The floors really should be done daily but I’m not up to that – they seriously need to be done at least once a week. Anyway. Off to twitter then Dee’s diary. Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it, shaped to their need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, 49 and foggy in Bellingham. I finished sewing my birthday gift last night and RonK has the shopping done and the food prepped so we should have a fun family birthday dinner here tonight. I’ve got flowers ready to arrange and an apple kuchen to bake. The recipe is an old favorite, and the apples are from the tree Ron’s colleagues gave him when his father died 16 yrs ago. It’s finally grown tall enough for us to enjoy the apples instead of the deer.

    Time for coffee and flowers. Best wishes to all on this foggy Sunday morning.

  10. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 19 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 23. Snow is ending this morning – they had been calling for 2-4 inches but I haven’t checked yet. The next few days will be very cold!

    I am going to take today off and let the chips fall where they may. I have declared the weekend too short!

    The headline in the LA Times “[Mayo Pete] is now the alternative to Biden”? No way in hell. Klobuchar says that a woman with [Mayo Pete]’s experience would be “held to a different standard.” DING DING DING! He has all the personality attributes of the current occupant of the White House – full of himself, refuses to see his limitations – and the clincher: reads empathy off a prepared cue card. He is certain he can parlay his 9,000 votes into the 40,000,000 needed to win a national presidential election. Meh.

    See all y’all later!

  11. Veterans Day Monday Meese.
    39 degrees going up to 46 here in the NY Catskills ( and I see snow – ohhhh no – predicted for tomorrow )

    Puerto Rico

  13. Warm this morning but a front is coming & it will freeze overnight. Going for a walk before noon, since that’s my last outdoor time for a while. For now, eating breakfast & watching the news. Looking forward to a nice, relaxing day.

  14. Good Moon Day morning, Moosekind! It’s 36 F. and sort of sunny here in Ashburn at ten past nine, on its way up to 65 F. today. This would be a good day for a walk, and a good day to wash small area rugs and dry them on the screened porch. Tomorrow we’re going to get bfitz’s weather, rain and cold.

    WHAT a weekend! We arrived at 8:30 in the large hall where I had to set up my table for the bazaar. Everyone else apparently arrived at 7 to set up their tables for the bazaar, which began at 9 a.m. I bought a large bouquet of red, pink, and yellow roses to set on the crimson brocade tablecloth I brought, and arranged as many colorful objects on it as I could. My ad and the booklet were displayed on stands, and in front of the booklet was a dish of Ghirardelli chocolates. (There’s nothing like a bribe to get people interested.)

    Miss Pink Cheeks sat by the table and played her clarinet for two hours. After the first hour, the master of ceremonies chugged up on his mobility scooter to ask her name, age, and where she went to school. He then went back to the front of the hall and announced, “Ladies and gentlemen, the music you hear is by ——-, age 10, a student at Oak Hill Elementary. Let’s all give her a hand!” Everyone in the hall clapped, Grandma loudest of all.

    You wouldn’t believe how many people came up to say they, too, had played the clarinet back in the Jurassic. Miss PC looked so cute: I dressed her in a long-sleeved red dress, put a white shrug over it, and she wore white tights and black slippers.

    We sold 13 booklets Saturday and one more in the parking lot Sunday to one of my rich neighbors who’s always encouraged my writing. She’s such a nice lady. She also uses a mobility device. If I could get —-, my sometime dinner companion, to buy a booklet (she’s already bought and enjoyed Turnabout), I’d have about $200 to hand in for the Benevolent Fund. That would make me very happy!

    I borrowed Miss PC for the weekend because I knew she would attract visitors to our table. (Of course, I also enjoy her company.) She arrived with her clarinet, two library books, her computer so she could do her math homework, and enough outfits and “sleepy clothes” for the weekend. She didn’t have to pack a toothbrush, hairbrush, or underwear because Grandma keeps all that for her.

    Yesterday I cooked three different breakfasts, put the meat and veg in the slow cooker with a beef stew sauce, prepared lunch for three people and one dog, made a gingerbread with lemon frosting from scratch for tea, and an apple pasty for dessert after the stew for dinner. Needless to say, Grandma did not eat any of the cake or pasty, since she’s on a campaign to lose weight. It seems to be working, I’ve lost the 8 pounds I gained since we moved here a year and a half ago.

    That’s probably much more information than you care to have about my weekend! Just wanted to explain why I’ve been completely exhausted. Have hardly touched the computer until now.

    Busy, busy week coming up! Writing up notes for interviews conducted, contacting people for more interviews next week, lunch out with a friend. We were supposed to go to her house last Wednesday but she was seized by a sudden desire to paint her shutters before bad weather sets in. Thursday I’m going to the NRA HQ to demonstrate with the other Raging Grannies, and Friday we are going to the Newseum in DC or die in the attempt. It’s closing at the end of the year.

    Wishing a good, nondramatic day to all at the Pond and beyond!

  15. Welp, it was 55 when I got up, 44 now, and doing nothing but going down until tomorrow morning. Late morning. It’s drizzling, ‘spozed to turn into snow later, and so dark the PV system is still in night mode. We got 6.9 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 62. Where I won’t be surprised it stays until the sun comes out in the morning. Got a fire started and the laundry just finished. I’ll have a little time to read while the fire gets going, then I’ll hang the clothes on the racks in front of it. The cats aren’t sleeping but they’re settled on various chairs by the back door. (Except Murf who’s on my lap.) I don’t know what they’re watching. Neither birds nor squirrels are at the feeder in this weather. But they’re very definitely watching.

    I’m so tired of wypipo. The entire culture is of a spoiled 2 year old. Not only “I want it so it’s mine” but the total inability to see/understand they/we are pulling the keystone out of the arch of Life on this planet. And we don’t have a spare. If we don’t take them down first – or everything they need to survive once we’re gone – the Indigenous folks around the world can/will rebalance things. But part of our culture is to kill them off and take all their stuff so they might not have the chance. Whyte culture loves “survival games” and thinks you win by being the “last man standing” – they/we never get the point (as a culture) that last man standing is dead man walking. It wasn’t an “English” person who wrote “Who Would Inhabit This Bleak World Along?” – they’d consider it winning. I consider it Hell and no, I wouldn’t.

    Amelia got hit with anxiety attacks just when she needed to start tapping her sources for the next week’s motel money. And the drugs that keep it from turning into a panic attack also keep her from thinking and being able to it. sigh. I’ll see what I can do – give her at least another day – and hope she can connect with at least one other person to pay the rest of the week. I may talk to the manager about what’s the absolute lowest rate and how can one get it. It’s probably at least a month and maybe more at a time – the issue comes in whether or not it has to be paid up front. But I’ll find out. Knowledge may or may not be power but it certainly helps one survive.

    Murf just got down. I’ll go tend the fire, hang the clothes, and get coffee. Healing/Helping Energy to all who accept it, shaped to their needs. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Good morning, 43 and foggy in Bellingham. We had a fun birthday dinner last night. My knees made me stop and rest before everyone arrived so dessert changed to hot fudge pudding, made by our son and Ava. It’s nice to have a family of cooks! Makes for a noisy kitchen though:)

    I need to work at my desk this morning, and I’m not grumbling because my knees aren’t ready for activity. Best wishes to all as we ease into Monday.

    • Those kind of “noisy kitchens” are fun kitchens – the best of my holiday memories. {{{HUGS}}}

  17. Ugh, I had a whole long comment written and Moe decided to walk across my laptop. I’m not sure how she managed it, but she managed to shut down my computer. I’m not going to try to recreate the whole long, newsy comment; I’ll try to write something tomorrow afternoon. In the meantime, we’re getting buried in snow. Since I got up this morning, about three inches has fallen, with five more in the forecast. Personally, unless it starts slowing down soon, I think eight inches more is likely by this time tomorrow. I did get the yard tools put back in the carriage house and brought the snow shovel out of its summer retirement. I need to finish my post for tomorrow and then start my first shoveling pass.

    Good day to and for all!

  18. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 9 degrees in Madison (would feel like -5 if I were foolish enough to be outside!) with an expected daytime high of 19. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The deep freeze will last for a couple of days and then more normal temperatures will set in. It is too early for this kind of weather!

    The televised impeachment inquiry hearings will begin tomorrow and no one really knows how that will play out. That the Republican Party will get ahead of it with some kind of narrative that will make us want to scream is a given – I wonder how many ordinary people will tune in (literally and figuratively) and what they will think. I am pretty sure that tweeting out “read the transcript, the call was PERFECT” every few hours is not doing anything except making people realize how unhinged the occupant of the Oval Office is. What is that “perfect” thing all about? Nothing is perfect and that seems to not only set the bar pretty high but also seems like the wrong word to use to describe a phone call. The mind of a malignant narcissist has some twists and turns that I, for one, feel better not knowing about!

    Today is the DACA argument in the Supreme Court. Without hearing even a single word from the sides in the case, there are already 4 votes to begin the deportation of people who were brought to America as children and who have built lives for themselves. That should make everyone sick to their stomachs. The legal pundits think that Roberts will craft some kind of opinion that will suggest that the process was the only thing wrong and toss it back to the Orange Orshole to “redo” rather than deciding if the Obama executive order stands or his president’s executive order cancelling DACA stands. So those lives will become a political football again and goddess help us if we can’t find some way to run the clock out until we can take back the White House. I can’t imagine the terror the DACA kids and their families are feeling right now.

    Well, my day off went well. I walked away from my computer and did not go back; I did nothing of consequence: shoveled the driveway and sidewalks twice, checked emails to make sure that I was not missing a crisis, read the news, played some games on my tablet and took it easy. Now, my head is clear – this morning I have a few things to catch up on and need to lay out a plan for the rest of the week but at a pace I can deal with. I would like to find a way to take an extra day off each week but since I wouldn’t be able to synchronize it with clients it would always have to be a stealth day off – I’m would not be working but my clients wouldn’t realize it! I will have to think about what would work.

    See all y’all later!

    • On the hearings ahead.

      I hope we have Democrats who can step up and make history – like Barbara Jordan did.

      Full text
      https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barbarajordanjudiciarystatement.htm

      Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
      Mr. Chairman, I join my colleague Mr. Rangel in thanking you for giving the junior members of this committee the glorious opportunity of sharing the pain of this inquiry. Mr. Chairman, you are a strong man, and it has not been easy but we have tried as best we can to give you as much assistance as possible.
      Earlier today, we heard the beginning of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States: “We, the people.” It’s a very eloquent beginning. But when that document was completed on the seventeenth of September in 1787, I was not included in that “We, the people.” I felt somehow for many years that George Washington and Alexander Hamilton just left me out by mistake. But through the process of amendment, interpretation, and court decision, I have finally been included in “We, the people.”
      Today I am an inquisitor. An hyperbole would not be fictional and would not overstate the solemnness that I feel right now. My faith in the Constitution is whole; it is complete; it is total. And I am not going to sit here and be an idle spectator to the diminution, the subversion, the destruction, of the Constitution.

      • What a wonderful human being Barbara Jordan was! I read that she carried a copy of the Constitution around in her handbag. I wish she hadn’t died while still in the prime of life. Sometimes I like to think of her, Molly Ivins, and Ann Richardson in heaven, looking down and ragging on on the Rethugs.

      • Thanks for posting that! I have it up in a tab and will play it and use it to remember the old times and reflect on what we used to be and could still be.

  19. Tuesday Meese – rain/snow mix here in Saugerties NY. 33 degrees going down to 18

    As we move into the hearings – I think of Barbara Jordan – and hope someone can equal her impact.

  20. Good Tiu’s Day morning, Moosekind, although it’s kind of a dreary morning, really. Woke up FAR too early. Sniff. When I took the Mont-ster out into the courtyard a few minutes before six, a cold wind was blowing and it was raining hard. The rain appears to have stopped for the moment, but the sky is still gray. The lying weather liars said as recently as 12 hours ago that the rain would continue this morning, then turn to snow before it stops this evening. Humph!

    Have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that the dermatologist’s office called to say the biopsy showed I have a basal cell carcinoma. I’m seeing the doctor next Monday, when she will no doubt carve up my chest like a Thanksgiving turkey.

    The good news is that I’ve sold two more booklets and now have $200 to contribute to the Benevolent Fund! That sum was my goal. Also, two people who’ve bought the books came up to me yesterday and said how much they’ve enjoyed the stories. Yay! That makes me feel good.

    Today I do not want to go out, but have to work in a visit to the gym in addition to doing some writing and laundry.

    Re the news: I’ll be watching C-SPAN tomorrow morning. I don’t like listening to “pandits” while watching things on telly. They talk right over the testimony so they can get their little oars in.

    And speaking of massive egos, how about Bloomberg and Deval Patrick? Unwilling to jump into the race five months ago to do the hard work of campaigning, they’ve waited until now. Well, duh! No person of color is going to vote for Bloomberg, nor is this old white bee-yatch. As for Deval, could he not have waited until the next time around? Or if his ego has told him he needs to run for president now, why didn’t he get in earlier?

    Kamala now, Kamala tomorrow, Kamala in November 2020! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

    • Good luck with your medical issues and congratulations on your booklet sales!

      I also choose CSPAN when I want to watch something live. I am boycotting cable news and even if I weren’t and chose to turn on MSNBC (the least offensive), there are too many terrible people who might pop up. Morning Joe, Chris Matthews, Hugh Freaking Hewitt, all the leftovers from the Bush administration and John McSame’s campaign – too sickening that that aren’t all in jail. I have not yet determined how much I will watch – I really can’t bear to look at or hear Republican Congressthings and if Gym Jordan comes on my TV that will ruin my day. I just hope our side acts professional and does not grandstand.

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