Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Dec. 8th through Dec. 14th

December 7, 2019 JanF Community 102

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!
 

 

41 Comments

  1. Good morning, 38 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’ve got another round of medical visits this morning and I don’t want to go. It’s just routine testing so no worries. I know it’s important so I’ll stop whining soon :)

    Got the packages in the mail, RonK is giving up trying to make the old tree lights light up and will buy some new ones today, and the crooked bare tree still smells like the forest so on we go!

    I’m trying to ignore my tRump/impeachment angst for as long as possible today. Best wishes to all.

  2. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 10 degrees (feels like -5) in Madison with an expected daytime high of 18. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    After watching the news yesterday, one wonders if Bill Barr is trying to be the Worst Attorney General Possible in order to deflect from the impending impeachment of his boss. I hope that FBI Director Wray has his resume up to date.

    I am not personally satisfied with the Articles of Impeachment but I am okay based on the politics. It will be much easier for the more moderate Democrats to defend their votes for this short list, it might have been more difficult if it included the full depth and breadth of tRump’s crimes. I will leave it to NY Attorney General Tisha James to bring Donald J. Trump to justice after he leaves office in January 2021. We The People have our own list of tRump offenses and we can vote to remove him from office – and the Senate Republicans who are endorsing his crimes – next November. Let’s at least put down the marker “this is not okay”. I hope they vote soon.

    I was confused when I opened up Twitter yesterday and found the left-of-the-left in a frenzy. I thought they were reacting to the thin list of Articles of Impeachment but they were melting down over the announcement of the agreement on the new NAFTA. Their thought was that we were handing tRump a “signature victory” after we had just rebuked him. Sigh. I am glad that Nancy Pelosi is in charge and not the left-of-the-left. The new trade deal was the result of months of negotiations and hard bargaining to get worker protections included and was endorsed by the major trade unions; a lot of rural Democrats were for it. It gave our representatives something to brag about which makes me believe that it was this deal that brought some of the swing state Democrats into the fold on impeachment. I don’t know the details of the new NAFTA deal (I won’t call it by tRump’s name) but I am 100% certain that it is a much better deal than would have been approved out of a Republican House. We can always redo a trade agreement after we win the presidency – we only have on chance to make the point about abuse of power.

    I have some errands to run later in the morning so I need to use the quiet time to get a project out the door.

    See all y’all later!

    • Bill Clinton pushed NAFTA after he got worker and environmental protections put in (something a whole lot of people forget – if they ever knew) but he was naive enough to not worry about enforcement mechanisms, thinking people would obey because it was the law. Pelosi has been hammering out enforcement mechanisms for the New NAFTA for months – she saw what happened with the original and she saw why it happened. Anything with enforcement mechanisms in it is not handing a win to twitler.

  3. Wednesday Meese
    Looked out the window – we got snow overnight here in the NY Catskills- thankfully looks like only about an inch.

    Woke up and saw American Jews and Judaism trending

  4. Puerto Rico

  5. It’s so cold! Ok, 30s probably isn’t cold to y’all, but Monday it was 83 & I did my morning walk in short sleeves because even at 5:30 it was in the mid-60s. Gym yesterday & again today. The Trump executive order thing…. we seriously have to get him out of office. Like, right now. That’s real Republic of Gilead shit. Or more like the christofascists in Starhawk’s Fifth Sacred Thing. Today is really a day to listen to the speech from the Great Dictator, so here’s Head Full of Dreams.

  6. Good Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It was a treat to wake up this morning to an outside view that looks as if a giant hand had sifted confectioner’s sugar over everything. Behind the frosted winter woods a warm yellow glow means the sun is rising into a clear blue winter sky. Right now in Ashburn it’s 31 F., going up to 40 F. today.

    Feeling great because last night I took nighttime cold pills, thereby getting 8 and 1/2 hours’ sleep. Only woke up because the butler thumped my back when he brought the early morning tea.

    Made some progress on getting the flat cleaned up: still have the bathroom floors to do, followed by Christmas cards. I send out very few. Can’t believe Christmas is two weeks from today! I need to work on my email Christmas newsletter tonight. It would be really nice if the new printer cartridge were to arrive today.

    This afternoon I have a mani and pedi, both of which are terminally boring and uncomfortable, but at least I have a decent little novel to read on my phone while enduring it all. If I think about what’s happening in the country (yet another shooting yesterday plus the executive order), I’ll be depressed, so I’ll try not to think about it.

    Wishing a sunny, pleasant Woden’s Day to all at the Pond.

  7. Welp, 26-feels-like-24 but the sky is blue and the sun is shining. I wish I had – could afford – enough wood bricks to run fires all day during the winter. But I am blessed that I have central heating so I can survive without it. I’m not comfortable but nothing is endangered – not me, cats, or the water pipes. Yesterday was quite pleasant with the fire – at least after most of the laundry was put away and was no longer between me and the stove. 😁😁😁 The sun did come out yesterday so that we got over 6 KWHs – the m-t-d is 61.6 which is most certainly not the 70 we should be at to be on track, but it’s definitely better than it could be.

    In one of the Faiths I’ve been in during my life – woo-woo appropriated and distorted a whole lot of what this particular one taught – it was said to release emotional attachment to specific outcomes and make our prayers for “the highest good for all concerned”. That’s pretty much where I’m at right now. Every door to Good seems to have been slammed in our faces and most of the windows are barred. Since I can’t see the way out, I just keep moving – and hanging onto any bit of Good I can see. Be it Amelia managing to make a phone call and go grocery shopping, Aji making a decent sale, Diana getting a good night’s sleep, anotherdemocrat getting her mile in… – or enforcement mechanisms in New NAFTA.

    So. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to all who need and accept it, to their shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, 42 and cloudy in Bellingham. Thanks to being awake in the night I’m slow and sleepy this morning, but I’ve got to focus on sewing today regardless. The gifts I’m trying to make are needed and will be appreciated but I wish I had an elf to help me get them made!

    Lights are on the tree and it looks much better. I’m tempted to just leave it that way :)

    Best wishes to all as we stumble through December.

    • Never seems to be an elf around when you need one. LOL. Lights on a tree are decorations by themselves. But I’m sure you’ll like it even better with the ornaments on it. Healing/Helping Energy & best wishes back – and yes, we pretty much are stumbling through December. {{{princesspat}}}

    • Last year, all we had was the lights! We put the lights up with plans to finish the decorating when we had more time. We came to like the look and decided it was enough. Our plan is to do the same this year.

  9. Thursday Meese

    18 degrees here in the Ny Catskills, going up to 34.

    Though Black Kos is on vacation – I still keep my eye on Black Caucus member activities

    From the impeachment hearings:

    • Val Demings!!! I am here for the side-eye Val Demings throws at the Republican side of the panel when she said she would defend and protect the Constitution “against ALL enemies” (at about 2:55 into that clip). Yup, there are some right over there.

    • Thanks, Dee. Lucy McBath is one of the candidates I’d like to support, along with Jaime Harrison and Lauren Underwood. We need them in the House and Senate.

  10. Puerto Rico

    • Well, the WaPo is all bent out of shape at the moment about the useless, ongoing war in Afghanistan. What if we started a mass letter-writing campaign to the befuddled, aging white males who constitute the WaPo editorial board?

  12. Good morning, meeses. Thursday …

    It is 18 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 37. Light flurries this morning, mainly cloudy skies the rest of the day. I am glad it was clear last night for the very aptly named Cold Full Moon. She filled the nighttime sky with her brilliance.

    Today they vote in Great Britain and they are faced with voting for the awful Boris Johnson or the Labour Party which is run by a highly disliked man. I am not sure why they insist on putting such a bad face on their party, it seems like they could find someone more acceptable – the only conclusion one can draw is that they like him, which is disqualifying. Perhaps another party will emerge, one that has a leader who does not have so much baggage he drags down the entire party. It would be like if we nominated Bernie Sanders and so Democrats had only one choice – vote for Sanders or let tRump get re-elected. What a terrible option that would be!

    Kamala Harris was back in the Senate – wearing Power Pink! – questioning people and making a case for an investigation of the Attorney General and hinting at one for Stephen Miller. She looks comfortable and competent, rested and ready to go. Good. We need smart people in the Senate making the case For The People.

    It would be kind of embarrassing to have to vote for a Space Force – a Trump vanity project – to get paid parental leave for government workers but the legislation coming out of Congress over the next few weeks is likely to be embarrassing and gross. We can’t afford another government shutdown and we need the short-fingered vulgarian’s short-fingers to sign bills to fund the government.

    Impeachment moves to the next step – a vote in Judiciary. I hope they schedule the vote soon, I am sick of seeing Gym Jordan’s and Louie Gohmert’s faces on my Twitter feed. The Senate plans to take up the impeachment referral in January. Apparently they are leaning towards not having a trial with witnesses – not sure how that would work, maybe just opening and closing arguments by Lindsey Graham? – then a quick vote to acquit. We aren’t going to get removal anyway but they should at least pretend to care about the Constitution enough to discharge their Constitutional duty. They are a bunch of cowards – so focused on their goal to remake the federal judiciary to be anti-woman anti-worker anti-LGBT anti-people-of-color anti-non-christian – that they will do anything to keep the sewer to court pipeline flowing. I hope someone has a plan to clean up the courts after the Republicans fill them with literal garbage. People can be forced to resign from lifetime appointments or be impeached; it seems impossible that these toxic piles of excrement being put on the courts won’t commit impeachable offenses once they are seated.

    See all y’all later!

  14. Did not work out in any way, shape or form yesterday. Was just exhausted — talking to a co-worker in the afternoon, we were wondering how a Wednesday could be busier than a Monday (call center — Monday morning our phones ring off the hook from people who’ve been waiting to call all weekend). Watched some of the hearing last night, muted the Rethuglicans. How can people vote for someone as gross as Gym Jordan??? Listening to the last thing that was playing in the car — Chieftains Dells of Dublin/Christmas Reel, to cheer me up.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} – You and I don’t often share the same taste in music but Chieftains? Oh yeah! 😁💖🎶👍🎵💖😁 Thank you for the link. Healing Energy and more {{{HUGS}}}

      • I’m glad you liked the music! I love that whole album. Rebel Jesus may be my favorite Christmas song ever.

          • This. This right here. It’s the very best thing:

            In a life of hardship and of earthly toil
            There’s a need for anything that frees us
            So I bid you pleasure
            And I bid you cheer
            From a heathen and a pagan
            On the side of the rebel Jesus

            Seriously. That gets me in the heart every time, and I’ve been listening to this song for…20 years? or 30? I love it.

          • Yeah. I was probably in my teens before I knew there was anything but a rebel Jesus. My association with Xtianity has been – strained – since I learned about the others. Absolutely love it. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  15. Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind, and a beautiful morning it is, too. Again it’s very cold and clear, with a current temp. of 25 F. in Ashburn, going up to 40 F. Tonight the sky will cloud over, thereby preventing our seeing the glorious full moon, but we saw it last night and it was gorgeous.

    This morning I’m off to the Science and Faiths forum at the Great Oak clubhouse. Normally I never attend these events, but this time I will because a woman I admire is speaking. I forget the subject, but no doubt I’ll find out when I get there.

    Another night in the green recliner. Sigh. I know you all tire of hearing me complain about my seemingly intractable insomnia. The doctor shall hear about it in February, bigly!

    Still hoping to get my Christmas cards out. Also, some of the stress is being taken off me because my good friend’s cleaners have consented to come on the morning of December 24th. This means I can focus on tidying up, rather than killing myself and my fingernails with cleaning.

    There’s a big party today from 5:30 to 8:00. Can’t really leave the dog for that amount of time, so I’ll go and stay for an hour or two.

    Wishing a nice, calm sunny day to all at the Pond.

  16. It’s 39-feels-like-28 heading for 54. The forecast says sunny but nobody told the clouds so they’re out covering the sky. sigh. Yesterday we got a hair under 7 KWHs and the m-t-d is 68.5 – not bad but definitely not on track. Yesterday was weird – and stressful. My friend was supposed to be out of her house by end of day and was doing her best to get rid of stuff and be ready for the movers at noon. First thing up the movers called and said they couldn’t be there until 4:30. Next thing up the real estate guy called and said the appraiser didn’t have them on his calendar so the closing for today (Thursday) was being delayed. The worst/scariest part of the day came when they called and told her it might be 8 days before closing (because at that point she was still expected to vacate immediately). She kept plugging away. I took some stuff to the Peace at Home shelter thrift shop for her. We put some stuff on the street in front of my house for neighbors to take (it’s gone now). Her sister and BIL showed up with his pickup and loaded lots of stuff to either go to the farm or to the landfill, depending. Then she got a break – the real estate guys (all 3 of them – representing her for the house sale, representing the house buyers, & representing the sellers of the new house) had managed to nail the appraiser down – seems he’d actually done the appraisal but his file got corrupted so he “just” needed to reinput his notes/forms. The closing on her current house is moved to Friday. Hopefully the closing on the new one either late Friday or very early Monday. And the new buyers are allowing her to stay in the old house until Monday. Plus she got the word in time to stop SWEPCO from shutting off the electricity (and reschedule the movers to Monday). So she’s still been jacked around and I’d like to (metaphorically) pound the people doing it into the ground but at least she’s got more time for the move and she won’t be trying to keep 2 very active dachshunds in a motel room for a week. sigh.

    Amelia’s situation is still “all right right now” but not good. The Elder Abuse person showed up unexpectedly – which she explained they do so nobody can “set up” a good-looking facade in an abuse situation – yesterday morning. Apparently it was a good visit but stressful as Amelia wasn’t awake yet much less have taken her meds when the front desk called to say she was there. The visiting person said Amelia needed a case worker and when Amelia panicked said she’d call them for Amelia as soon as she could but didn’t think it would be that day. So when – after business hours – Amelia noticed the case worker number on her phone log she panicked again. Basically she can handle one stressor a day and she’d already had one. So. Prayers and Invocations. If she can get an advocate, one she trust and doesn’t dump her in the middle of a crisis, she can get out of this. She’s so isolated. Her friends aren’t returning calls or texts and the only thing her family does is yell at her for “upsetting” them with her problems. So more prayers and Invocations.

    I wish I saw a way through for our nation. I really don’t. Not as long as Birchers by whatever name own 90% of the media. But I’ll keep hanging on there, too. My faith in the Constitution is as strong and complete as ever – but it takes a majority of those in power obeying it for it to work. Getting that majority back at all levels is gonna take some doing. And how the nation goes, well, so goes the safety of a whole lot of people – the majority actually although certain number of wypipo don’t realize it/won’t accept it. Call me selfish but my friends in the BIPOC groups health and safety concerns me more. So more prayers and Invocations (& working campaigns once they actually open offices).

    I need some coffee to deal with the headache – sinusitis or barometric changes or both – so I’d best get it while my lap is free of cats. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody who needs and accepts it, to their shaping (which is at least good sleep on a regular basis to a bunch of my friends). Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  17. Good morning, 49 and raining in Bellingham. My day changed from sewing to house keeping yesterday because I forgot Sue was coming….oops! Thanks to her help the beds are now ready for Christmas visitors, the house is clean, and the laundry is done. And I did make some progress with my sewing by accepting reality :) I’ll do what I can now, and the rest will get finished when I can do so!

    Thanks to all for your kind words of support, and my best wishes as we try to find a moment of joy on this December day.

  18. Friday Meese

    28 here in the Catskills going up to 39 with rain.

    Am watching the Sanders endorsement of Cenk aka Skunk Ugyar trainwreck

    • I was watching the clusterfk unfold and that endorsement should be disqualifying. That Bernie Sanders can’t smell the stench coming from Cenk and his entire Young Turks group, not just the misogyny but his Armenian genocide denial, is not shocking. Bros don’t respect women and you can’t fix that. I hope California is paying attention.

  19. Puerto Rico

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} Healing Energy – hope your tummy settles down soon. moar {{{HUGS}}}

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