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!
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Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 50. It is raining now – the rain is expected to stop soon and we will have cloudy skies the rest of the day. Points north had snow overnight!
Well, that was a good outcome. “Barack Obama’s Third Term” appears to be winning over “Bern it down and hope that we don’t all die while we wait for something something.” I am not surprised. We are not a left-of-the-left country (or a right-of-the-right country), we are a center and center-left and center-right county. We want change – incrementally. We want a government that reflects our values – emphatically. The Obama coalition is alive and well and ready to win in November. NOW the big problem is the problem identified in this headline: “Democrats weigh how to nudge Sanders out after Tuesday losses.” The subhead “Many Democrats expect he’ll jump before being pushed” is pure bullshit – history shows that he won’t leave willingly. Even now his cult is saying that the Biden voters have to concede points – that Bernie would be the nominee if Joe Biden dies (first, ghoulish and second, that is NOT what people voted for) and that Bernie’s policies need to be incorporated into Joe Biden’s campaign or they will stay home in November. Fine, stay home – we came close enough in November 2016 without you that by adding the “fed up with tRump” center-right and getting out the vote, we can win the states we need to win to flip the White House: Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Arizona, Georgia.
COVID-19 – or for Kevin McCarthy’s benefit, CPAC-Rot – just got real. Colleges here are closing for an extra week for spring break (two weeks starting Saturday) while they work on how to get the majority of their lectures online. Students are being told to vacate the campuses and are cautioned against traveling and getting stuck somewhere in quarantine. And the airlines are now issuing vouchers for March travel regardless of when you purchased your ticket. It is a no-brainer for my daughter to stay home (yay) – I hope that the university system can get some emergency funding from the state for mitigation. It is unlikely – our Republican legislature is anti-education and absolutely hates the university system; they have been trying to destroy it for decades and since they came to power during the Walker years they have been working to make it impossible for it to survive. Republicans thrive in environments where the populace stays stupid and the best and brightest leave the state. Curse them!
See all y’all later!
That’s good news about your daughter, Jan!
Good Wednesday morning Meese. I’m still sleepy – staying up way too late to watch results roll in.
This will make you smile
That video is awesome! Once again and forever, Van Jones is stupid and wrong. I remember when I used to like him – what a sad ending to a once promising career.
Puerto Rico
One of the themes from the news today is that Nancy Pelosi has a lot of leverage right now to get a COVID-19 aid package filled with things that the Democratic House majority want. I would not be surprised if there was some help in there for Puerto Rico – she has not forgotten about them.
Left work early yesterday to get some housework done. Plan was to also go to the gym, but by the time I cooked the 2nd batch of vegetables, it was 5:30 so I just watched the election coverage. This morning, I’m laughing at a Twitter thread about snippets of U2 songs to wash your hands to. Got to find humor where you can. My favorite is a coda to With Or Without You:
“Yeah, we’ll shine like stars in the summer night, we’ll shine like stars in the winter night, one heart, one hope, one love, with or without you”
Happy Woden’s Day morning, Moosekind! It’s partly cloudy here in Ashburn, but earlier it was clear enough that I did catch a glimpse of the fading Super Moon. The lower right quadrant looked as if a mouse had been nibbling at it.
Right now it’s 42 F., going up to 55 F. later. I had the night from hell, probably owing to too much blue light. Could not tear myself away from the screen until 11:30 last night. At 1 a.m. I was still awake so I went to the living room and read until 2 a.m, at which time I fell asleep.
Had a weird dream just before awakening at 7: I dreamed I was walking across a smooth white concrete bridge from Virginia to D.C. Others were walking on the bridge too. The waters of the Potomac were lapping both sides of the bridge because there were no handrails or sides. I did reach my destination, Darling Niece’s house (in real life she lives in Virginia), but she wasn’t at home.
Woke up with shudders because transitioning from one side to the next can only mean One Thing. Ugh! Not yet! My vote is needed in November!
Anyway, was very pleased with the primary results last night. Wish stupid old bernie would drop out. I don’t think he will, because how else will he grift if he drops out? His million dollars and three houses aren’t enough for him. I am very pleased at how stupid all the pundits look this morning. Those people can’t count to ten without making a mistake!
My Australian sister-in-law sent early birthday greetings and remarked that she would not attend her niece’s wedding in Alice Springs because of the coronavirus. Apparently it’s over there too.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, and, Goddess help us, to those Beyond. May the coronavirus be contained in this country. I understand that it’s already subsiding in a couple of countries.
Happy belated birthday, Diana! I had to leave before yesterday’s greetings and since the page flipped, I didn’t want to leave my well wishes in old stale threads.
I hope you get a nap today. Your dream is not necessarily a harbinger of a transition to the next life but possibly just having things become clear for a path to victory in November! Or maybe getting on the other side of the Mercury retrograde. I was very relieved to see Joe Biden win last night – I think he will win bigly next week and the berned one will have to drop out.
{{{Diana}}} Hope the birthday is/was good. Crossing bridges means just that – crossing bridges. The bridge in question is usually not the Rainbow Bridge. Just a change that is significant enough to notice. Off hand since the destination was DC, I’d say the dream was about this very scary time between now and next January. That you made it is a very hopeful indication that we really do make it this time.
Hope you manage a nap today and feel better. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Daylight ‘savings’ time will have me a bit late until the sun catches up to the clock in a few weeks but rain on both sides of dawn followed by doing my baking made me very late today. The rain was welcome. And I got my best sleep the 2 hours after the county “weather alert” phone call woke me. (At least I got to see a glimpse of the moon in a break in the clouds as I went back to bed. Without my glasses I couldn’t see Her clearly enough to note She wasn’t full.) And now it’s sunny. The clouds keep coming and going. This is the 4th sunny spate since I got up. I like sunny. Yesterday it did clear off early enough to give us 15.38 KWHs, 3rd highest thus far this month, bringing the m-t-d to 114. Not on track for 400 for the month but so far definitely for over 300. (While we’d have to beat 421 to reach “first place” getting 392 will put 2020 in “second”.)
Glad to hear Joe’s got it. Not because I like Joe that much but bernie needed to be stopped. We don’t have much of a chance, all things considered, to take WH and the Senate plus keep the House but with Joe we have what chance there is. I was pretty sure he would. He’d taken the “M” states when I logged off. I am pragmatic. I know even if we had such a Blue Wave as to take DC to the point of veto-proof majority and at least a plurality of statehouses and such, miracles may happen but not quickly. The whole country going blue still wouldn’t happen fast enough to help my friends. Legislation not only needs to pass, it needs to be implemented – and the “sleepers” W put in back in the day weeded out so that it will be implemented. Not even counting getting rid of as many of twitler’s administration hires & appointees as possible. But hope, healthcare, and a massive infrastructure program would go a long, long way to keeping us in office long enough to do that. (We still gotta break up that RW propaganda machine though if we’re ever to make long-term gains.) So they and folks in their kinds of situations still need help, prayer, invocations, and the like.
Muffins need to come out of the oven and I need coffee. Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 44 and partly sunny in Bellingham. Between the election results and the COVID-19 virus now declared active in Whatcom County I didn’t sleep very well last night. So we are now officially under a health emergency, which is good because awareness of social distancing and careful hygiene should increase.
Thanks to my stay at home winter keeping the recommended social distancing will be easier for me than it will be for RonK. He was looking forward to going to a Land Trust event tonight but now he’s reconsidering. We both have seasonal allergies and now isn’t a good time to be coughing and sneezing in public!
Best wishes to all on this nearly through with bernie day. The thought of him being gone and counting down to the end of tRump makes me smile regardless of the COVID news.
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 37 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 61. Rain is in the forecast.
I was glad to hear that Joe Biden is going to run a shadow Oval Office to provide accurate information to Americans about the COVID-19 virus – we have a crisis of leadership right now created by an administration that lies about everything and shows so clearly that the only thing that matters is covering tRump’s ample butt. I did not watch Donald Dotard’s address but followed the reactions on Twitter. Apparently the key to virus mitigation is to cancel travel to any country that does not have a Trump Golf Resort! Perfectly normal; good job, aholes who voted for a buffoon. The NBA is suspending their season and one wonders if Major League Baseball will follow suit. Baseball is less a contact sport than basketball but how long can teams hold games in empty stadiums before they literally go bankrupt? How long will any service industry be able to stay afloat with no customers?
The universities in Wisconsin have suspended in-person classes and have asked students to leave and not come back to the campuses until April 13th. Those who can’t (international students, students with no home) will be accommodated, thank goodness. I heard that some colleges are evicting students some of whom have no place to go and/or no way to get there. So I will have my daughter home for a month. I will feel better knowing I can see her but I worry about how flexible the university will be with grades – some students do better with in-person classes and having access to professors – it would suck to flunk or do poorly in foundation classes that are needed as prerequisites for Fall 2020 and on-time graduation. What a mess! I am glad that universities and state and local government are stepping into the leadership breach – it would suck to live in a red state right now and I thank the goddess that we kicked Scott Walker to the curb in 2018. He would have banned the universities from taking action because it does not follow the talking point of his party’s leader – that the virus is a “Democrat hoax.”
I need to get some projects organized because things will be more chaotic here than I expected. Back to the grindstone.
See all y’all later!
Thursday Meese
37 here in the Catskills going up to 52. Looks like this spring weather is going to continue for the rest of the week.
Puerto Rico
Didn’t make it to the gym yesterday, but I brought my gym stuff & will try again today. I don’t understand that travel ban — did he think that would look like he was doing something to prevent the spread? How? That just isn’t…. Anyway, I’m going to the gym today, I have a good healthy stirfry for lunch & apple slices for snacks. And I’m listening to California, my comfort music. There is no end to love.
After an overcast start the sun is trying to come out. We’ll see how successful that try is. The temps are almost summery today – 68 already and heading for 80 – before heading back into the 50s tomorrow. Last night wasn’t and tonight won’t be cool enough to start a fire before it’s time for bed. My feet do not approve. But the kitties do. The carport door is open and one of the west windows (in the spare bedroom) – I’ll open the east window in a little bit. There’s a breeze and I want it to be a few degrees warmer before I have that on my back.
I’m glad Joe is starting to show what he’s made of. If there was ever a time for it, this is it. There are many things I don’t like about him/have against him but he’s our nominee and he’s sane. He’s also a caring person – like most white people in general and white men in particular he has to be told/shown – repeatedly – that something is harmful to the people he’s not thinking about when he does/says it – but he is a caring person. He’s had troubles in his life that folks can tag to that help him relate. Obviously he’s already working on the pandemic. My bet would be he’s also working on the economic fallout that’s going with it. On top of having paid attention to what plans and programs folks like Kamala (especially Kamala) presented. That he asked for KHive help – didn’t demand it or assume it, asked – is a very, very good sign to me. In this as in all else, we shall see what we shall see.
The only thing’s that have changed on my friends’ fronts is more stress, less money, and deadlines approaching. So nothing new there. All of them have health issues that put them at risk. All of them are in situations where they have to be out and about. Some because of their jobs, some because of their living situations, some both. I guess thank goddess for internet – the isolation is already bad in this country. With self- or ordered-quarantines it’s gonna get worse. Except…folks gotta eat. Whether that means going to work so they can have the money to buy food or just the business of going out and buying it – even ordering it to be delivered…well, it’s a mess. For my friends and the nation, the world. sigh.
Holding Everybody in my heart. Sending Healing/Helping Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 41 and partly sunny in Bellingham. The polio epidemic was a reality during my childhood, and in our small ranching community one of my friends fathers died and she was in an iron lung for what seemed to me to be a very long time. I remember the relief my parents expressed when we finally had access to the vaccine. My family is all at some level of risk with the COVID outbreak in the PNW so as we talked yesterday memories of that time in my life kept surfacing. We are all taking precautions and staying informed but the uncertainty of what happens next and when is a real presence.
I have a hair appointment today and a banking errand to do today, but both are in the neighborhood so I’ll take my Clorox wipes and do my best to stay safe. And a bit of good news……Biden is ahead of Bernie in the Wa State vote totals now. They are basically splitting the delegates but it’s still encouraging news to me!
Best wishes to all as we make it through another day.
Good afternoon, Moosekind! Having the laziest day imaginable, as you can see. Today, Thor’s Day, 12 March is my actual birthday, so to celebrate I slept a blissful drugged sleep until 7:45 this morning. Have been moving gently about ever since.
Can’t believe (1) that I’m the age I am (76); (2) that I have so little energy nowadays; (3) that I never seem to get any writing done; (4) that I’m living in such a weird time! I’m starting to feel that coronavirus is the 21st century version of the Black Death.
Anyway, although the early morning was quite ugly, it’s a beautiful day now. There’s a pale blue sky with little wisps of white cloud, it’s 66 F., and all is well.
Heard something awful on Twitter, to the effect that in Italy the doctors are just letting the elderly die. It’s understandable, since the hospitals are overwhelmed, but still really scary.
Well, now that I’ve cheered y’all up, I shall go on answering birthday emails. We’re not having any wild celebrations or orgies tonight, but I’m celebrating with Irish daffodils and carrot cake from Ireland. It’s a bit dry but better than no carrot cake at all.
Hope everyone at the Pond is having a good day!
How did I not notice you said it’s your birthday??! Happy birthday!!! Late is better than never.
Thanks, another!
{{{Diana}}} – I’m glad you had a pleasant birthday. Congratulations on reaching 76. The so little energy is partially age but mostly it’s that weird time we’re living in and have been since Nov. 2016 – there’s so much stress and holding that off takes energy. Which is also one of the reasons you aren’t writing as much. The energy is being used elsewhere. & yes, cononavirus is the 21st century version of Black Death. And wypipo/colonizer culture is just as unready for it was it was then. But we can deal with it more efficiently than they did then if we can get sane, competent, caring people in office what they need to override the short-sighted fascist currently blocking things. (Italy was warning that if the healthcare system gets overwhelmed with cases they’re gonna have to ration all healthcare and the guiding rule was going to have to be to give those limited resources to the folks who needed the fewest of them and would live longest after getting them – essentially how to spread limited resources to the largest number of people. Which means yes, a lot of elders would be just let die – but so would most folks with existing health conditions. And that’s relatively homogenous Italy. You know who’d be denied health care first in AmeriKKKa. sigh)
The Irish daffodils and carrot cake sound lovely. If it’s too dry, add a smear of cream cheese. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Thanks, bfitz! {{{Hugs}}}
Hello, Meese, back again this Thursday evening with sad news to impart. Barbara Neeley, author of the “Blanche” series, has died. I didn’t read the paper until this evening, so only saw the obituary just now:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/barbara-neely-author-of-blanche-white-mystery-series-dies-at-78/2020/03/10/219c1838-623a-11ea-845d-e35b0234b136_story.html
I remember how enchanted I was to come across the “Blanche” detective stories years ago. Reading them was like going for a swim in a cool pool on a hot day. They were so refreshing!
Hate to lose good authors. But the gifts they’ve given stay with us.
Friday the 13th. 43, raining – going up to 64 here in the NY Catskills.
Good morning, meeses! Friday …
It is 34 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 43. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
I am trying really hard to not break any Wiccan rules about wishing ill on anyone but I must say that I hope that “what goes around” does indeed “come around three-fold” for certain people in the Trump Administration and his rotten-to-the-core family. I hope that Eric Trump put all his money in the stock market, as he urged others to do a few weeks ago, and lost a bundle of money. I hope that calling COVID-19 a hoax – and endangering innocent people’s lives with their lies – comes back on people like tRump and Pence and Ivanka and, please goddess, William Freaking Barr.
I am sad about Major League Baseball cancelling Spring Training and delaying the start of the regular season – watching games on tape delay is how I wind down in the afternoons – and really sad that our national champion Badger Women’s Hockey team will not have a chance to defend their title. The seniors will now finish school wondering what might have been. I feel sorry for people who will be laid off because multi-billion dollar sporting events have been cancelled and I hope that Nancy Pelosi is able to hold firm and get some paid-leave for sick workers. I keep thinking about what would be happening now if we had not taken back the House in 2018 – can you imagine a Paul Ryan led House caring one whit about working people or sick people or the failures of tRump’s CDC? :::shudder:::
I have to set up some contingency plans for clients who want to work from home and that has disrupted my already shamblistic schedule. Back to it!
See all y’all later!
They closed schools here a day early for spring break. There are 2 “presumptive positives” here, but they aren’t community spread, not yet anyway. I’m leaving work early — when I requested the time off, I said it’s for a birthday thing that starts at 4 & I wasn’t consulted on the time. All of which is true. It’s for the broadcast of a U2 concert that their website is doing in honor of Adam Clayton’s 60th birthday. I have a tab open for twitter messages about #AdamClayton60, so I’ll have happy wishes and the like to read today. So yes, the world is falling apart, but the sweetest, kindest bass player on earth has a birthday today & thousands of people are wishing him well & posting stories about how gracious & kind he is, so there is still some good.
It’s cloudy and back in the 50s today in Fay., AR – doesn’t help my mood or electricity generation. We got 14.4 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is at 142 – which is progress. Every day above 13.4 is progress. Every day below – as today will be – isn’t. But what is, is – and we do need the rain that’s supposed to start this afternoon.
Aji did a very good thread last night (I didn’t see it until this morning) about stocking up (v. stockpiling) for the quarantines (self or otherwise). Basic common sense and planning. But so many folks, especially city folks, “run to the store” every few days and they’re panicking. I need to spread mine a bit. I’ve done my shopping weekly but except for milk and carrots I’m shopping ahead and try to have at least 2 weeks of food in the house at all times. It won’t take much to push that to 3 or even 4 weeks of food. Not sure what I’m gonna do about the milk and fresh carrots though. They don’t last 3 to 4 weeks. (She also addressed power issues & winter heating issues that mostly don’t apply in the city. Heating issues mostly can’t and if power becomes an issue in the cities, we’re hosed.) Life is indeed gonna change. We’re looking at a multi-month to multi-year situation here. It requires the kinds of mobilization that we’ve only done for wars. We shall see if we are up to it. We’re looking at potentially 1.5-2 million deaths at best. If our infrastructure fails to stand the strain we’ll see a lot more. This is our Great Depression & WWII combined. We gonna see how “great” this generation will be.
Holding the Good Thought for Everybody – the Moose Pond, my various of groups I’m concerned about, including folks whose only “group” is my concern for them. Healing/Helping Energy. Bright the day, Meeses.
Good morning, 36 and cloudy in Bellingham. The sky was still dark when I first woke up, and in my sleepy haze I couldn’t remember what I was supposed to be afraid of today. So I closed my eyes and went back to sleep and now the sky is grey and my worry list is all sorted out.
Time for coffee and to scan the news. Best wishes to all on this dreary March morning.
Princesspat, that pretty much says it all.
Good Freya’s Day morning, Moosekind! Welcome to another day of chaos in our great country. It’s 51 F. in Ashburn at the moment with cloudy skies, going up to 70 F. later. The wind will be unpleasantly windy today.
I don’t mind at all that it’s Friday the 13th. In the Goddess religion 13 is a lucky number! There are 13 moons a year so those of us in a certain bracket experience Sacred Moon Time
Feeling a bit gobsmacked by everything that’s been happening. Younger Son FaceTimed with me last night. He apologized for leaving it so late but things were chaotic in his household yesterday morning and again when he arrived at work. It appears that Mommy is feeling a bit paranoid, so removed the children from school at lunchtime yesterday. She’s keeping them at home today and of course, Monday Fairfax County schools will be closed anyway. She’s Chinese, so I do wonder if she’s been the target of unpleasantness. It seems barely possible in this ultracosmopolitan area, where every school looks like a miniature United Nations, but you never know. People will always find excuses to be racist.
Anyway, she already teleworks two days a week so presumably she can do it full time.
Must depart hastily, the Shred Truck is coming at 10 a.m. and I’ve got contributions! Wishing all at the Pond a good day.
P. S. Unfortunately, the Moose Pond was a bit skittish so I didn’t have time to log out and then log back in before it was time to queue up for the Shred Truck. It was half an hour late. Did a couple of errands, then walked back here. It’s turned into a beautiful day and the current temp. at 11:30 is 59 F. Blossoms are everywhere!