Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: January 16th

January 15, 2022 JanF Community 79

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 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 (right before “Leave A Reply”) and use the Pages Tool to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.

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27 Comments

  1. Wednesday Meese. 19 degrees here in Kingston NY – snow flurries predicted.
    Puerto Rico

    • Thanks for that information about the debt restructuring. On the surface it looked like good news but as your links point out, it is not going to help much.

  2. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 11 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of (oops, Weather App crashed, look at phone) 32. Partly cloudy skies. Wind chill advisory for tomorrow when the overnight low will be -2 and the daytime high 10!!

    The one-year report card on the Biden Administration should read “Incomplete.” Ron Klain, Chief of Staff, said “President Biden was elected to a four-year term, not a one-year term.” I would add that no president has been handed a global pandemic to manage with a hollowed out federal government, a Supreme Court beholden to the #RepublicanDeathCult and an opposition party willing to destroy the economy in order to gain an advantage in the next election. That Biden’s Gallup first year average is under 50% is not shocking – the good news is that he is still doing better than tRump did in year one.

    I watched the news about the broken Senate for a while but it is too disheartening so I switched to HGTV. I do wish that people – including Sinema – understood the history (Manchin knows the history and doesn’t care). The filibuster was put in place to protect minority rights SO THAT THEY COULD CONTINUE JIM CROW. Those were not minority rights worth protecting and anyone who lauds it is either stupid or a racist. Period. The notion put forth by Manchin that the courts won’t let people get blocked from voting simply has no basis in fact. The courts have done all they are able to do and we are left hoping that enough MAGAts die that we can outnumber them by such large numbers that the states can’t ratfk the election counting without overt fraud. :(

    Good lord, Ron DeSantis was apparently upset that Glenn Dumbkin was grabbing his “most racist Republican governor in the country” mantle and is now promoting a new piece of legislation that literally says “you can’t teach anything that makes white students uncomfortable.” It is a race to the bottom.

    Busy morning here so I better get back to it.

    See all y’all later!

  3. All kinds of excitement here. First, there’s a fire in the county to the east — started from a controlled burn. The forest service geniuses decided that moderate drought & windy ahead of a huge cold front was perfect for a “controlled” burn. Hundreds evacuated….ugh. And now the cold front. Today starts at 64, heading to 78 — but by tomorrow morning it’ll be freezing and they’re talking about wintry mix. And it will freeze for the next 3 nights. So I’m logging out from work early to cover my plants. It’s not going to be like last February — no teens/single digits, just 3 freezing nights in a row.

  4. Good Wednesday morning, Moose Peeps! The sun was shining through the misty woods a few minutes ago but has now retreated behind a gray haze. Naturally I did not see the Wolf Moon on Monday night because we had bad weather then. I’d be upset, as the wolf is my power animal, but there are so many other things to be upset about I’ll give it a miss this time.

    In Ashburn it’s 35 F. at the moment, going up to 47 F. We oughtta put on bikinis and run around barking happily, for tonight they predict rain and in the morning, snow. It won’t stick, though. Then, this weekend, there will be more snow. Oh, well, at least we’re not in Montreal.

    Goobernator Dumbkin is earning the wrath of Democrats (if it wasn’t already there). The Rethugs made up a nice package of voting restrictions that will not get past the steely-eyed, Democratically controlled Virginia Senate. They want to reduce early voting, kill no-excuse absentee voting, and bla bla bla. Also, the Dems are unhappy with Dumbkin’s first speech to the lege. It really was stupid, gotta admit. He said Virginia’s economy was in the ditch, the state’s residents are rill unhappy, and bla bla bla.

    In fact, Virginia has been named the top state for business two years in a row, unemployment is LOW, we have a high proportion of vaxxed residents (at least in Northern Virginia), and so on. Also, Arlington, Fairfax, Alexandria, Manassas, and other public school systems will defy Goobernator Dumpkin’s anti-mask mandate. Dear Goddess, he is SO STUPID! But then, most Rethugs are.

    Well, now that I’ve cheered y’all up, I can’t think of a single other thing to say. Let me just wish all the inhabitants of the Pond a good day and let us hope everyone will accomplish everything on their list.

  5. It’s 47 – the high for the day – and overcast. At least the PV system is on – not by much but on. Yesterday was a decent if not good day, generating 6.7 KWHs and bringing the m-t-d to 90. Not on track but a slight gain. Which we’re about to lose again. The forecast for day-long freezing rain and maybe snow has gone away but the clouds haven’t. The temps will slowly drop through the day, a little faster overnight, until it hits 12 just before dawn of a day that won’t reach freezing. Happy winter. Or something. (I’ve blocked the carport closet door open a cat-sized crack and put a flannel-wrapped styrofoam square for a bed inside in case the white-pawed tabby doesn’t have better shelter. I know the silver tabby does, he just needs a little extra food when the weather’s cold.)

    I got 4 hours of sleep in 2 chunks with 4 hours of not sleep between them. sigh. My hands are better for having worn the wrist brace a couple of days. I hope they’ll stay OK not wearing it today as I’m getting a rash and need to leave it off.

    I heard from Fineena this morning – haven’t answered her yet but I will shortly – saying she’s mostly OK other than being depressed and short of money. And figuring the two are related. (Oh yeah. How well I remember.) I haven’t heard from anybody else this morning. They were pretty much same ol’ same ol’ last night. Except Aji hadn’t posted her Tuesday stuff by the time I logged off. I hope it’s just that she was waiting on a new piece or something. I hope.

    Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, 44 and mostly cloudy. My quilt project has been a fun diversion and it’s been good to have some creative time, but I think I’d best finish a few other projects before starting a new one. Today is a housekeeping day and then I’ll be free to do something else on the ongoing list. Best wishes to all.

  7. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 0 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 7. Temperatures are still dropping so by the time the dog gets up and wants to go out, it will likely be below 0. Brrrr! Yesterday when my weather widget blew up and I had to look at my phone to see what the high would be, it said 32 but that was actually the temperature at midnight – the start of an overnight drop in temperatures; the high actually turned out to be 10 which is really cold.

    To the surprise of no one, the Senate did not approve a voting rights carve out to the filibuster. Fine, let’s use that as an incentive to work our asses off to get some more Democratic Senators elected to dilute the Sinemanchin votes. I was glad to see that Emily’s List is pulling the plug on Sinema – she got $1.7 million from them last election cycle and, more importantly, was able to tap into their activist network. She will not get that help in 2024. She could try to run as a Republican in Arizona and get her ass handed to her but there is no doubt that she will be primaried and will lose to Generic Democrat. It would be ridiculous to primary Manchin, he is the only Democrat who could win in West Virginia – plus it won’t matter because without the support of the people of West Virginia who he just stabbed in the back, he will lose in the general election to anyone the Republicans put up against him (he won by less than 2%, if I recall). We can be glad that we had him for the reconciliation bills and the judicial confirmations, thank him for his service and plan on a Washington DC without a rather ignorant rich white male who values Comity over the Constitution.

    Apparently there was a marathon Joe Biden press conference which is no shock because he really REALLY loves to keep talking when he has a microphone. I did not watch it, I was avoiding the political news because of the impending voting rights debate, but I understand that Biden is now admitting that he gave Republicans too much credit and his expectation that they would want to be partners in governing was misguided. We knew it to be true but even though he saw his old boss Barack Obama go from “there are no red states and blue states” to “the Republican Party would rather the country fail than help a Democratic president succeed”, I guess he had to prove that even an old white guy (their preferred presidential demographic) can’t win the support of the Party of No. Let’s see what comes of Biden’s epiphany.

    The Republican Supreme Court couldn’t bring themselves to destroy the Office of the President by ruling that former presidents have powers over current presidents. I am sure that they wanted a carve out for “former presidents who are Republicans” but even they realized that it would be the final blow to their credibility. In any event, the next Democratic president who has a Sinemanchin proof majority in the Senate needs to blow up the filibuster and repair the Supreme Court.

    Well, I just spent valuable pre-dawn work time reading the news and will regret it in about a half hour when people start work and wonder why their projects are not completed!

    See all y’all later!

  8. OhMyGoshItsCold Yesterday, wearing capris and sandals, I worked up a sweat covering my plants – it was nearly 80 degrees. This morning, it’s 33. Texas. So that’s the only story here.

  10. Puerto Rico

  11. Good Thursday morning, Meese. It’s 36 F. here in Ashburn with rain tapering off. So much for the two inches of snow that were going to mess up traffic this morning. Also, the large snowstorm coming in late Friday night has decided to take a vacation in Florida or something, so we won’t be getting that either. They love to scare us into spending a large unseemly fortune at the supermarket, stocking up against a week of not being able to go anywhere, and then calling the whole thing off. I can’t believe what I’m spending at the store!

    Had three hours of deep, wonderful sleep last night, but woke up at 2, was still awake at 3, so decided to get up. Read the paper—what I could stand to read of it, that is—then crawled back into bed and didn’t get up until nearly 8. I sweartagoddess, if there were but one Trumpanzee in the solar system the WaPo would despatch a rocket to Luna City to lovingly interview said Trumpanzee. No wonder people hate the media!

    Speaking of interviews, this afternoon I’m supposed to interview another ex-Peace Corps volunteer. She runs the Progressives (Democrats) here, works hard to organize us all to get out the vote, and so on. She doesn’t like me, which should make things amusing. This morning I want to see a presentation in the auditorium about the beleaguered Dr. Fauci. He is such a good man and has been so vilified. Hillaried, you might say.

    Guess what, the newly elected Attorney General, Jason Miyares, is turning out to be just as big a git as the goobernator and assistant gubernator. He just fired 30 attorneys from the office of Diversity, Opportunity, Equity, and Inclusion. The word “equity” has been removed from the state website. A lot of people bought into his story of how his poor old Mum swam from Cuba to Florida to escape Castro, then pulled herself up by her bikini straps to raise those youngsters, bla bla bla. Never, EVER trust a Rethug! “Proper villains they be,” said the old mum in the novel, Cluny Brown.

    If Yamiche Alcindor is going to do nothing but parrot Rethug talking points, I’m going to stop watching her show on Friday nights. I always liked her because I thought she was cute, and her eye makeup is so fascinating I could stare at it all night, but lately she’s been going off the rails.

    That’s more than enough out of me, Meese! Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

    • Yamiche is following the “Chuck Todd” model of punditry: be a complete asshole towards all Democrats and do everything possible to question their motives. I am not sure we need another one.

  12. It’s 13 going to 28. Maybe. But it’s sunny as all get out. Even with snow and ice on the panels the PV system is on. It’s not generating much, but it is on. And sun this bright will sublime the snow – hopefully all of it. So there’s potential for generation in KWHs. Unlike yesterday when we didn’t get a whole KWH, just enough to bring the m-t-d to 91.

    I got a good stretch of sleep last night. A lot of it was more dozing than real sleep and I did wake several times but altogether it was almost 8 hours and I’ll take that most gratefully. My hands went out suddenly and without warning about 6:30 pm yesterday. At least I got most of my twitter stuff done first. I’ve got the wrist band back on and am marginally functional now. So I can do my twitter stuff today – so far – but it’ll be slow. And I may need to just RT and not “quote tweet” – I’ll see. My Social Security COLA was a bit over $50 so I passed that on to Fineena and Bobby. (Bobby walked over to the next town, got his COVID test which came back negative, and is now trying to find a dentist who’s got an opening for an emergency extraction.)

    Off to read Dee’s diary and see what I can do on twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Bobby found a dentist. He can be seen tomorrow. Transporation’s going to be more than I sent him but not a lot more (like $15) but aashir’s nani offered to help yesterday so I’ll let her know what’s needed. I’m so relieved. Dental stuff can really mess and exacerbate existing medical conditions.

  14. Good morning, 49 and partly cloudy. Seeing a patch of blue sky now is most welcome. I listened to rain in the night and more is on the way so I’ll enjoy the light for as long as it lasts. I’m relieved I shelved the quilt project, but I’m still interested in the idea so I think I’ll make a pillow cover instead. I’ve got quite a stack of unfinished pillow projects so I may as well add another one! Best wishes to all.

  15. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is -8 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of +18. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Fortunately the wind died down so the -8 feels like -8. :) We expect to see highs in the upper teens to mid 20s over the next few days.

    I was pleased to see that the folks who put together the slates of fake electors are finally coming under scrutiny and may be charged with fraud. At minimum, if they are attorneys they should be disbarred. Some of them in Wisconsin are members of the Wisconsin Republican Party leadership – it would be nice to see them disgraced and lose everything for trying to ratfk our democracy.

    I know that it is too much to ask that Donald J. Trump and his company be subject to the same laws as everyone else but there is literally no one who thinks it should be legal to inflate the value of your assets in order to get bank loans and then deflate the value for tax reporting. Even if the banks knew he was lying and didn’t mind giving him loans (and won’t press charges because they don’t want MAGAts threatening their workers) there should be some punishment for intentionally lying to taxing authorities. It sounds like New York City has been pretty accommodating to the Trump family for years – I hope that changes with the new District Attorney in place.

    It is Friday and I think I got enough done this week to feel confident that I will be ready for the end of the month. January 31st is a Monday so there is one more weekend (besides this one) to deal with anything that is left unfinished.

    See all y’all later!

  17. Puerto Rico

  18. Good feelthy Friday moaning, Moosekind! It’s absolutely miserable in Ashburn, 17 F. with a wind that feels as if it’s straight out of Siberia. The sky is turning blue and oh, goody, I did see the remains of the Wolf Moon! Better than nothing at all, as my cat Minou used to say when she attacked the leg of lamb defrosting on top of the stove.

    Had a night from hell. That’s two nights in a row. I’m going to take a pill tonight, I’m so tired of this. I’m about to groggily eat breakfast and get cleaned up for my 10:30 interview with an ex-Peace Corps resident who served in Nigeria.

    The interview yesterday went much better than I expected. She was quite funny, actually. When I asked whether her Peace Corps service had occurred before or after college, she said it was in the middle. That’s when she met and married her “starter husband,” as she called him. They served in the Solomon Islands together. She told me that very few marriages survived two years of service in the Corps. The pressures of being “everything” to another person 24/7 in an alien culture are just too much to bear.

    She also said the most striking thing about the culture was there was no sense of time. Everything transpired in the present. She taught adolescents who appeared to be between 13 and 17,, but they didn’t know how old they were. Births were not registered, despite the fact that SI was still a British Protectorate in those days. Even the pidgin everyone spoke had no sense of time. “When does the mail boat arrive?” the “European” people would ask. “It comes when it comes.”

    Wow. It doesn’t surprise me that of the two volunteers I’ve interviewed so far, both found work in international fields after they finished their service. Their outlook on life was completely changed by their experience.

    ‘Tis breakfast time so I shall stop babbling and go. I’m having horrible trouble with one of my email addresses, and unfortunately it’s the one I use for business and groups. I tried typing in the new password and the old password but it won’t take either of them. Gods!

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. I feel like burying my head in the sand after McTurtle’s remark about “African-Americans” yesterday. Goddess give us strength!

  19. Had sleet, maybe snow on the way home yesterday, but it died out overnight, so no school or work cancellations. Bummer. The weather is the only news. Okay, I do love the #MitchPlease stuff.

  20. It’s 11 heading for 35 and sunny. I hope it stays sunny. Yesterday it didn’t exactly cloud up but it got hazy enough that most of the snow and ice are still on the solar panels. We generated close enough to 2 KWHs to bring the m-t-d to 93 but that’s it. Holding the Good Thought for today.

    Bobby’s at the dentist right now. (He DM’d me from the office just as I was boosting Dee’s Puerto Rico tweets.) When I asked if everybody was masked he said you don’t get into the office at all without a mask on and a negative COVID test. Puerto Rico is definitely doing some things a lot better than we are stateside.

    As far as I know everybody else is pretty much hanging on. Except aashir’s nani – she may have had a heart attack yesterday afternoon. Not her first rodeo so she did what they’d have told her to do had she gone to ER but stayed home in the warm to do it and had a (relatively) local friend text her to check on her every few hours. She says going to ER would just about guarantee she’d get COVID. She’d “stabilized” by the time she emailed me about it.

    My hands are better. Not good and I’ve got the brace on, but better. Another night of total 8 hours but broken sleep. Beats 4 by a long chalk. That’s 2 in a row. Maybe. . .

    Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

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