Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Nov. 9th to Nov. 15th

Tags:

Welcome to The Moose Pond! The Welcomings diaries 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.

In lieu of daily check-ins, which have gone on hiatus, Welcomings diaries will be posted at the start of each week (every Sunday morning) and then, if necessary due to a large number of comments, again on Wednesday or Thursday to close out the week. To find the diaries, 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?

…


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 131 Comments

131 comments

  4. anotherdemocrat

    I think our high today is going to be in the 70s

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Going over what went wrong. I keep hitting mute when it gets to be too much. But I’d miss my pal the pastry plate if I didn’t watch (there really is a twitter account for the plate of pastries that they have – not run by someone from the show, & s/he is right on & funny).

    Today: church, groceries, maybe some cooking — the Tuesday holiday means I can cook then, too. Meanwhile, must get some tea.

  6. Diana in NoVa

    today.

    Haven’t looked at the papers because we just got back from taking MIss Pink Cheeks out to breakfast and shopping at Trader Joe’s. The only news I heard was that the North Koreans released two Americans from prison camp. Wonder why they did that? They must want something.

    Have TONS of laundry and housework to do today–ugh! Get a day off Tuesday, which will be used to reconfigure the living space downstairs and clean the refrigerators.

    Hope Meese everywhere will have a good Sunday. Still feeling too fragile to read the political news sites. It’s gonna take awhile, people.

  7. princesspat

    Friday’s fun in the garden was good for my soul, but my arthritic joints are still squawking, so yesterday was a low key day for me. Today will be busier as my sister arrives tonight via train for a weeks visit.

    And my twins are 43 yrs old today…..oh my!

  8. bfitzinAR

    in the VA Day Parade.  Aside from the fact the announcer was a Vietnam Vet still peddling the “just war” meme on Vietnam (did you know Vietnam isn’t doing as well as Germany or Japan because we didn’t stay?  neither did I.) it was a lovely small-town patriotic event.  Not just a proud grandma here – the Jr. High bands in this area are very good.  They have a goal, you see.  Not just a place in the High School band, but a place in the Razorback band.  That’s the good thing about small, college towns – on many fronts the college shows kids goals that otherwise might have passed them by in the crowd.  My ex was there (visiting my son so came along), the only vet in our family group, and we did have a pleasant talk – didn’t go into anything personal which always helps with an ex 🙂  It’s still a lovely day but beginning to cool off.  Got to go get my clothes off the line.  {{{HUGS}}}

  9. Portlaw

    Here are some excerpts from it if you are interested.  It’s an oped by LYNN M. PALTROW and JEANNE FLAVIN “titled Pregnant, and No Civil Rights”

    Based on the belief that he had an obligation to give a fetus a chance for life, a judge in Washington, D.C., ordered a critically ill 27-year-old woman who was 26 weeks pregnant to undergo a cesarean section, which he understood might kill her. Neither the woman nor her baby survived.

    In Iowa, a pregnant woman who fell down a flight of stairs was reported to the police after seeking help at a hospital. She was arrested for “attempted fetal homicide.”

    In Utah, a woman gave birth to twins; one was stillborn. Health care providers believed that the stillbirth was the result of the woman’s decision to delay having a cesarean. She was arrested on charges of fetal homicide.

    In Louisiana, a woman who went to the hospital for unexplained vaginal bleeding was locked up for over a year on charges of second-degree murder before medical records revealed she had suffered a miscarriage at 11 to 15 weeks of pregnancy.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11…

  10. JanF

    It is 34 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 56. A front will be moving through tomorrow evening that will give us temperatures plunging into the teens.

    Nothing new in the news: strong black women vilified. Hit pieces on the president’s attorney general pick (did you realize that there is more than one woman named Loretta Lynch who is … da da dummmm … an attorney!!!) and one of his long time advisers (he listens to her … and asks her advise!!!). Good lord, we are an insane peoples.

    Busy day and week here. Stay out of trouble, Moose peeps!!

  11. DeniseVelez

    it’s 32 here in the Catskills -brrrrr.

    Looking at the news – really interesting what is missing from the headlines – Ebola!

    Since Ebola=Obama=Vote for Republicans – amazing how quickly the meme was dropped post election.

    We will now continue with having to listen to ISIL=Immigrants

  12. Portlaw

    day for all. Don’t quite have the courage to check out more of  the news. I clicked on Huff Po and say that the Repubs are after EPA. Last night saw elsewhere. that McCain will take over the Armed Services Committee. Hope we get a nuclear treaty with Iran in the next month. Does anyone else remember his singing “Bomb, bomb, bomb…” Will go look for good news. First coffee and then more coffee.  

  13. Diana in NoVa

    Stayed up too late reading a frivolous novel to take my mind off things. The Web site is rapidly approaching completion, and last night I worked on the front and back matter for the forthcoming book.

    Happy to report I did a bit of tidying yesterday but much still remains to be done.

    I’m just trying not to think about politics much at the moment–still too upset. There will be acceptance at some point, after which one can move ahead. It’s the feeling of helplessness that bothers me.

    Something else that bothers me–and this goes along with posts by Jan and Denise above–is that sexual assault on campuses is getting worse, not better. I’m going to urge Miss Pink Cheeks, who told me that she plans to attend college right after elementary school, to attend a women’s college. Women’s rights have eroded all down the line. Would the solution be to elect more women? But not all women are pro-women, as evidenced by the election last week of Transvaginal Barbie in the Congressional District I inhabit. Don’t know what the answer is.

    Hope everyone in Mooseland will drink at the pond today and try not to get upset.

  14. anotherdemocrat

    Warm enough for sandals today but a cold front is supposed to get here tomorrow – high the rest of the week in the 50s (Thursday even 49!). Tomorrow, I’m going to scooch my plants together, because even though it isn’t supposed to freeze yet, it’ll get in the 30s & I want my plants to be close enough together to hold in to some warmth.

    I also may do a diary tomorrow. My fundraising is pathetic. And I’m going to do 2 30 minute workouts of 2 min walking 1 run – Monday & Wednesday. Work my way to 1 each.

    So today: work, 30 minute workout (keeping it short therefore do-able), maybe do the plant-schooching thing this evening. Tomorrow: sleep in till 7, visit my friend, long workout.

    earworm: the Miracle of Joey Ramone, which is weird because it isn’t one of my favorites

  15. princesspat

    Good morning…..apparently post election blues have taken over my brain and instead of thinking I’m just simmering with outrage. Makes me feel like my voting demographic!

    The train was about an hour behind schedule last night so between staying busy so I could stay awake and visiting with my sister after she arrived it was a late night. We’ll both need a nap this afternoon.  

  16. bfitzinAR

    day for the foreseeable future.  Tomorrow’s “high” of 44 will be just after midnight.  Good thing I’m getting a small load of decent firewood today (to augment the trash wood I bought from the disabled vet down the street).

    Well, I can use all the good energy you guys can send me today.  Not only do I have a skull-banger headache (thanks to the glow-in-the-dark chemical my lodger sprayed on her bike last night – then put on the enclosed porch with the window into the house open), but it’s show time at the Finance Committee meeting tonight.  I’ll be making the motion to set our millage at 4.9 (up one mil from the current 3.9) to cover the black hole of under-reimbursed state prisoners in our jail.  Millage can only be changed in November even though we don’t get 2/3 of the revenue until the next October.  It’s the last thing I can do for the County.  If it passes, which is highly unlikely.  But at least I will try.  {{{HUGS}}}

  18. Portlaw

    Dr Spencer is now free of Ebola and will be released tomorrow! Loud applause for him and the doctors and staff at Bellevue


    Dr. Spencer was given a range of treatments, including an experimental drug and blood plasma donated by a recovered Ebola patient, Nancy Writebol, a 59-year-old missionary who contracted the virus in Liberia.

    His condition was serious at first, but by last week, he had recovered enough that he asked for, and was given, his banjo and an exercise bicycle to pass the time while he was in isolation.

    Dr. Spencer’s recovery adds to the evidence that when treated in advanced American hospitals, Ebola has a far lower fatality rate than in West African field hospitals starved of doctors, nurses and equipment. While 70 percent of Ebola patients in Africa are dying, eight of the nine patients treated in the United States have survived. The only one who died was Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian, whose treatment was delayed when a Dallas hospital initially misdiagnosed his illness.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11…

    Here’s hoping that everyone, most especially those in Africa, have similar treatment and results.

  19. Portlaw

    recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. This is the first time I have been moved to tears. It’s being given to those I have admired and mourned for years. I even drove to see where they were murdered


    James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner (posthumous)

    James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner were civil rights activists and participants in “Freedom Summer,” an historic voter registration drive in 1964.  As African Americans were systematically being blocked from voter rolls, Mr. Chaney, Mr. Goodman, and Mr. Schwerner joined hundreds of others working to register black voters in Mississippi. They were murdered at the outset of Freedom Summer. Their deaths shocked the nation and their efforts helped to inspire many of the landmark civil rights advancements that followed.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog…

  20. JanF

    It is 35 degrees in Madison on its way up to 36. My weather widget says “morning snow”  and it looks to be several hours west. The heavy snow still appears to be staying north of us.

    Well, one thing is crystal clear: we will either have a permanent Republican majority or nothing is permanent. 🙂 As someone who has been on the losing end of “nothing is permanent”, both in women’s reproductive rights and Democratic Congresses, I am leaning towards the latter.

    My action items post-election, now that the dust has settled:

    1. We must continue to advocate fiercely for protecting the franchise, not just frantically in election years but laying the foundation in the years between elections. If people are going to need ids, let’s get them ids in 2015. If we need some laws changed to make it easier to vote, let’s push for that. If we need to educate people about the importance of voting, let’s set up the programs and reach the people who are part of our natural coalition.

    2. We must continue to promote Democratic Party principles not just to win elections but because they make people’s lives better. Don’t let folks tell you that the Affordable Care Act was an overreach, or worse, not worth the loss of the majority. The ACA enshrined into law the principle that access to affordable health care is a right. And the people who voted for that and lost their seats in 2010 and 2014 are not chumps … they are heroes. The ACA has already saved lives and it will save more once it is fully implemented and the latest challenge to its legitimacy is turned away. p.s. It won’t be the last challenge: Republicans are still trying to repeal the New Deal.

    3. I forgot the last one! 🙂

    See all y’alls later!  

     

  21. Diana in NoVa

    1. We must continue to advocate fiercely for protecting the franchise, not just frantically in election years but laying the foundation in the years between elections. If people are going to need ids, let’s get them ids in 2015. If we need some laws changed to make it easier to vote, let’s push for that. If we need to educate people about the importance of voting, let’s set up the programs and reach the people who are part of our natural coalition.

    There used to be high school programs called “Civics.” These are probably deader than doornails by this time.

  22. Diana in NoVa

    Think I’ll make Shrimp Creole for dinner tonight.

    Have a day off today so must make best use of it. Will have to make an unplanned telephone call to GoDaddy this morning–my Web site designer can’t get into the site I bought, even though I’ve given him the login and password. It may be because I haven’t yet “registered” the site–for $100! Gad, my little hobby is becoming expensive. Oh, well, going to give it the old college try.

    A brief cruise through Orange convinced me not to spend any more time there. Going to concentrate on my own stuff for a while. Still sick about last Tuesday.

    Hope everyone in Moosylvania will have an enjoyable, productive day, and that at 11 minutes past 11 this morning we will remember all those who lost their lives in World War I.

    We are Earth’s best, who learned her lesson here;

    Life is our cry: we have kept the faith, we said

    We shall go down with unreluctant tread

    Rose-crowned into the darkness; proud we were

    And laughed, that had such brave true things to say;

    And then you suddenly cried, and turned away    .

  23. DeniseVelez

    Hubby is off for Veteran’s Day, but my school is open for business so I’m headed off to work 🙁

    Did my morning remembrances early for all my ancestors and living relatives who have served.

  25. anotherdemocrat

    Slept in (more or less — stayed in bed, anyway), front is here, we’ve hit our high for the day & it’ll get much colder now. I wore sandals yesterday, today’s high will be in the mid-50s. Counties to the northwest even have a freeze warning. Didn’t scooch the plants yesterday, but I will today. I can’t visit M today – she has 2 pt & 2 acupuncture sessions today. So my plans are to take care of the plants, get in a walk and prepare for next week’s weight loss contest. My tri group is having another one, and boy do I need it. I’m going to map out a good menu. That sounds like a plenty busy day.

  26. anotherdemocrat

    there’s a great picture that goes along with this, but if not, this’ll still put a smile on your face:

    Richard Engel ‏@RichardEngel  7m7 minutes ago

    Kurdish fighters in #kobane say #ISIS militants are afraid if they’re killed by women, they won’t go to paradise.  

  27. bfitzinAR

    The high for the day (59) was a few minutes after midnight.  We wont’ see 50 again for at least 10 days.  Lows in the low 20s and a possibility of snow next weekend.  I’d call that winter, don’t you? 🙂

    The only thing about last night I didn’t expect was how long my proposed millage increase was discussed.  It went down 10 to 3 with 2 JPs absent.  But we passed the package, 25% down on millage for the County as has become usual, and we added a 2% COLA to the draconian budget which we then passed.  I wish I could have given the County the boost of needed revenue to get back on our feet.  Instead they seriously discussed taking out loans – only 2-1/2% interest, almost free money – to deal with the lack of funding.  I know where that goes and I know what every single one of them would say about an individual who refused to work a full work week, covered regular expenses on a credit card, and got into serious trouble.  But I’m done.  It would take 10 votes to pass a millage increase which would mean flipping 7 votes.  We’ve got a special meeting Thursday – planning board appeal – regular QC 11/20, then 5 in December and that’s it for me.  Thanks for all your support over these last most difficult months.  {{{HUGS}}}

  28. princesspat

    The ring of winter fog on my window and the bare tree branches outside tells me fall is changing to winter. I’ll have to remember to wear a coat today.

    A busy day ahead….the grand girls and grand puppy Maggie will be here soon, a mid morning Dr. appointment, RonK is driving to Kennewick to spend the rest of the week with his mom and brother, and my sister and I will prepare a family dinner for the Nov. Birthdays tonight.

  29. JanF

    It is 21 degrees in Madison on its way up to 29. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    It looks like the president had a successful trip to China: China Agrees To Greenhouse Gas Cap; U.S. Will Accelerate Cuts

    The United States and China pledged Wednesday to take ambitious action to limit greenhouse gases, aiming to inject fresh momentum into the global fight against climate change ahead of make-or-break climate talks next year.

    President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would move much faster in cutting its levels of pollution. Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to cap China’s emissions in the future – a striking, unprecedented move by a nation that has been reluctant to box itself in on global warming.

    You may have missed it because the “media” chose to cover a Chinese official’s pique at the president’s gum chewing. :::sigh:::

    In other news, Congress is planning to block funding of the president’s executive order. Sadly for them, the only way they could stop funding is to shut down the entire federal government because the only purse strings they have access to are the ones in the immigration bill passed by the Senate and ignored by the House.

    And Sam Brownback got some bad news on the heels of his good news about being given another 4 year term by the voters of Kansas: the budget deficit for 2015 is $1 billion. After tapping reserves, the state will have to cut $280 million in spending. So now all eyes will turn to Kansas, that laboratory of conservative ideology, to see how he does that … he has already (largely) defunded education and closed down the way stations. Elections have consequences, but to be fair, even if the Democrat had been elected, he would not have had any ability to fix the tax cuts because the legislature would have still been solidly Republican. Paul Davis would have simply have gotten the blame. I know!!! He can look up in the Book of Trickle Down in the chapter where it says “And the tax cuts have caused an abundance of revenue as all the businesses of the land used increased profits to create jobs and fueled the economy”. Oh wait!! That chapter was never written because trickle down is not really an economic theory, it is an excuse to cut taxes on the wealthy. Poor Sam.

    See all y’all later!  

  30. DeniseVelez

    newest weather problem – “BomboGenesis”

    http://www.weather.com/news/sc…

    I have school today – and thankfully the weather bomb hasn’t hit here yet.

    On another note – I’ll only be posting Tuesday’s Chile here every other week – since we have new editors and I won’t have to write every Tuesday – something I’ve been looking forward to – since between BKos and fp Sundays – its a bit much

  31. Diana in NoVa

    and that will also be the high for today. A cold front is due to move in. As usual, the weather forecaster did not foretell this morning’s fog. Why do we even bother to watch?

    Made some progress on getting the house ready yesterday but much remains to be done. Today Baby Pink Cheeks and I will visit my dear niece, who had a cold last week so couldn’t be visited, and this afternoon Grandpa will look after Baby so I can go to the doctor.

    Used to wonder why the British loathed the media but now I know:  I loathe them too. My late father, who worked in journalism all his life, would be whirling in his grave if he knew what was going on.

    A good, productive day to everyone in Moosylvania!

  33. anotherdemocrat

    Brrrrr!!!! I wore a coat, hat & gloves! I was wearing sandals Monday. It’s 38 right now, might get to 50. That’s January weather. It could freeze tonight!

    So I did nothing at all yesterday. Big surprise. Wasn’t about to even think of walking before work this morning, my lungs hated the 40-something degree workout last weekend, this would have been way too much. So I have to do something this evening.

    Earworm is California. Happy Wednesday!

  34. anotherdemocrat

    O follow lots of astronomers & NASA people on Twitter, but he & the mohawk guy are my favorites

    Neil deGrasse Tyson ‏@neiltyson 19h19 hours ago

    Mysteries of #Interstellar: In this unreal future, they teach unscientific things in science class. Oh, wait. That is real.

  35. princesspat

    Yesterday’s family fun was a bit too much for my creaky knees and BCH leg so today is a rest day…not what I’d planned! So no pool this morning, a second cup of tea, some reading and visiting with my sister, and then some easy walking afternoon fun instead.

  36. bfitzinAR

    totally slammed with priority registration right now – can’t even do any of my requisitions, cost center balances, or catastrophic leave bank donations right now.  Just grabbed a minute to say hi.  At least no QC until tomorrow and that’s a conditional use permit appeal, not budget.  {{{HUGS}}}  

  37. JanF

    It is 23 degrees in Madison with a wind chill of 13. Today’s expected high is 29 degrees under cloudy skies.

    Have a great day …see all y’all later!

  39. Diana in NoVa

    Cloudy and 38 F. chilly degrees here in NoVa, going up to 47 F. today.

    I despair of ever getting that Web site launched. There are things I have to do that are associated with it but I can’t do them during the week. Last night I was too tired to do anything, and besides that medicine the doctor prescribed yesterday seems to give me stomach pains.

    When I read about the side effects of this drug I thought they sounded worse than the condition it supposedly will cure. It’s hard for me to accept that “acid reflux disease” is real–I thought it was something dreamed up by Big Pharma to sell more drugs. Oh, well, we’ll see.

    Hope all in Moosylvania will have a good day!

  40. DeniseVelez

    something he caught from a client 🙁

    Have papers to grade and writing deadline – so have a good one Meeses

  41. anotherdemocrat

    Well, hello winter. Wow. Not quite freezing last night, but I’m still glad I covered the plants. A freeze tonight – they said maybe as long as 12 hours. In November. Craziness.

    Didn’t walk yesterday, I had a stomach issue, then needed to cover the plants. Will try again today.

    Mojo request for my friend P, her husband is having a medical procedure this morning. Happy Friday Eve!

  42. anotherdemocrat

    my friend Melissa has a great idea about it. So, first the solution, because you’ll need it

    Ok so basically Bath and Body Works doesn’t want people to come in without buying–the door sensors count traffic and they count sales. So they turn away people who are unlikely to buy. This makes them such a easy target. In and out, in and out, in and out. With friends.

    now take a deep breath & read the story – the news report is on autoplay, so scroll down & stop it or turn the sound off

    ‘Demoralized and degraded’: Second Bath and Body Works store blocks special needs students

    Melissa’s idea is great – these stores are everywhere, so every time you see one, go in & out a few times. Spread the word.

  43. bfitzinAR

    Still busy with priority registration.  Also new faculty position interviews today (fortunately I don’t have much to do with that – just enter the travel for the interviewee and any expenses attendant thereto).  QC tonight – conditional use permit appeal so 1st of 3 meetings the 3rd of which I will not be on the Court for.  Still going and planning to say my piece which nobody will pay any attention to but at least it will be on the record.  Mentioned in the pootie diary yesterday about “defeated” – someone said that’s what the overwhelming tired was – I said we’re only defeated when we stop trying, so I guess I am defeated as far as the QC is concerned – by not running for re-election, I stopped trying for the future – but I’m still trying while I’m still on it.  Gotta go.  {{{HUGS}}}

  44. princesspat

    Shivery weather, ready or not!  It’s 23° in Kennewick Wa, with a winter storm warning, so Ron drove home yesterday afternoon. His visit with his mom was short, but it’s best to be on the west side of Snoqualmie Pass when it starts snowing.  

  46. JanF

    It is 21 degrees in Madison, wind chill 12. The expected high is 28 degrees with mostly sunny skies.

    My take on this morning’s news:

    – No, Harry Reid, the president will not delay his executive order on immigration again. There will always be a “better time” but delaying it until after the election turned out to not help a whit. Delaying it until after the continuing resolution is passed will simply embolden the Republicans to not pass the CR.

    – Yes, Karl Rove, the president is “defying the voters” but he is not defying the will of the American people. When less than 25% of the voting age population votes for Republicans in red states, that is NOT a mandate. And, no, I did not read what you wrote in the Wall Street Journal (I just saw the headline “The President Defies the Voters” and your name by it and saved myself the time).

    In non-political news, a federal grand jury in West Virginia indicted Don Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy, on charges that could result in 31 years in prison. Well, I guess this is sort-of political because in 2008, Blankenship bought some state judges who refused to recuse themselves from Massey related cases. That case went all the way to the Supreme Court and in a startling development, the Roberts Court said you cannot buy judges!! (Politicians are still for sale). I hope that he can’t buy a jury.

    By the way, I am energized by the president’s approach to his job these days. He was elected by an overwhelming majority of the American people – twice – and he is going to advance his agenda despite the threats of Congress. Good for him … and good for us.

    See all y’all later!!

  47. anotherdemocrat

    They were talking on the news this morning about how we don’t think anything of the months of 100 degree weather, but give us 3 days of cold & we’re sick of it. That’s about right. I’m ready to have summer back.

    orange version of the diary is up:

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/…

    I hope it gets some attention. I see there are comments already in the one I posted here – thanks!

  48. DeniseVelez

    it much colder in the mountains of NY.

    Heading to school – showing “Jesus Camp” in my Witchcraft/Magic/Sorcery class – to look at the right-wing Christian extreme reaction to things like Harry Potter and Pagans.

    I’m always surprised that more students haven’t seen the film.

  49. bfitzinAR

    QC last night (Conditional Use Permit to put 2-houses per acre in an area zoned for 1-house per acre) was actually not bad.  As there were no speakers in opposition we “suspended the rules” and did all 3 readings and passed the puppy.  Everybody was happy and cheerful – as if we hadn’t rather contentiously passed a draconian budget without the millage to even support next year’s needs just Monday night.  And of course I came home to acrid smoke from my lodger’s dinner filling my house and burning my eyes.  I’m afraid that’s the one issue that will not go away, cannot be fixed, and will have to be addressed sooner rather than later.  My eyes are just too important to keep this up.  (Of course my son suggested I put a dorm-sized refrigerator and a microwave in the bathroom for her and tell her to stay out of my kitchen.  That would work except I need the bathroom as a bathroom myself.)

    Have an acupuncture appt this afternoon.  Hope it works because I can’t keep hitting the OTC decongestants and nose sprays – they upset my tummy.  I’ve used more of them the last 5 months I’ve had the lodger than I have in the last 5 years.  Also haircut tomorrow which is overdue.  Everybody have the good weekend and {{{HUGS}}}

  50. princesspat

    We’re going  going to see Amy at The Green Frog tonight. The small room should be a good setting for her music. It’s been a busy but fun week with my sister. She’ll go hiking with our sons and or spend time with the grand girls tomorrow, then to Edmonds to visit our daughter’s family and then back to New Mexico on Monday.

  51. JanF

    It is 12 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 26 degrees. Light snow in the forecast for later in the day.

    I have decided that the saddest thing about losing the Senate majority is that it means we will have to listen to ignoramuses like Orrin Hatch for the next two years, puffing and preening. Gak! After hearing this (“I intend to win with our candidate for the presidency in 2016, and we will give them a taste of their own medicine”) it makes this “dumbass liberal” fired up and ready to do anything and everything I can to deny Republicans the White House in 2016. p.s. Hatch is what passes for “adult” in the Republican caucus.

    Shutdown fever has hit the Republican Congress! Some of them just like breaking stuff because it makes them feel good but some of them are now realizing it may be the only way to stop the president from using executive actions to make peoples lives suck less. They also figured out that the American voters have a very short attention span. It took them less than a year to forget how angry they were at the last shutdown and put MORE Republicans in power. The chances of them being angry two years from now are pretty slim.

    See all y’all later!

  53. Diana in NoVa

    Just about to take off for the lab to get tests done. Have stayed in bed until a little while ago to take my mind off the fact that I have to abstain from food and liquid for 12 hours.

    Next Friday is outpatient surgery, what a bummer.

    Hope I don’t have to hear about anything unpleasant today. The past week, with the Web site fandango, hearing aid breaking apart, baby seat in the car tilting sideways while the baby was in it and I was driving, have been enough to bring on a huge headache.

    However, Baby was a real hit with teachers and Littles at day care yesterday!  He will be going every other Friday until the end of the year to give his bent, aging “Nye nye” a break. Grandpa took the car and the seat to the police station and got everything properly adjusted.

    A good day to all!

  54. anotherdemocrat

    My group is meeting out at a state park this morning, so I slept in — must get my workout in on my own this afternoon. Right now, watching Up & staying warm.

  55. princesspat

    Last night’s music was very fun and we were home by 9:00 pm but I just couldn’t settle into sleep so I’m groggy this morning.

    We’ll meet our daughter halfway this evening, enjoy dinner together at a Mexican restaurant,  and my sister will spend the rest of her visit with them. She is very experienced with dog rescue and fostering so Finn (the new grand puppy) will especially appreciate her visit.

Comments are closed.