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Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Apr. 12 thru Apr. 18

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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?

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Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 151 Comments

151 comments

  1. JanF

    It is 45 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 67. Partly cloudy skies and high winds are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. anotherdemocrat

    Skipping the race, gonna go to church & get some donations.

    My friend with ALS posted what is basically a goodbye message on Facebook. He is a good guy, the world is definitely a better place because he was here. ALS sucks. Also, I am too young to be having this many friends having brushes with, and meetings with, mortality. Found out last week that a former co-worker is dying of liver cancer. I would like this stuff to stop, please.

  3. JanF

    Justice Sonia Sotomayor visited Davidson College, a liberal arts college in North Carolina, last month and this video is the “Event Reflection” from it.



    Justice Sotomayor: “Use your liberal arts education to make you rounded and whole people”.

    I know this is an important issue for you. Here is a link to the full video on Vimeo

  4. princesspat

    Lisa, Ryan and Finn went home yesterday, and Maggie (grand puppy #2) arrived, so she is cuddled on my lap this morning, and seems to think the computer is in her space. A sleepy small white dog is nice company, but she really doesn’t have an opinion re the news of the day!

  5. Diana in NoVa

    Just watched the Chinese Formula I Grand Prix. It was highly satisfactory because my man Hamilton won the race.

    Think I might actually do some gardening today–that is, I might pull up some weeds. We found a surprise green onion yesterday growing in last year’s onion pot. Pulled it and chopped it up for a salad.

    Goodness knows, I’ll have LOTS of spare time from now on because a brief glance at Orange this morning convinced me I’d be better off staying away from that site. If people are against Mrs. Clinton as a presidential candidate, that’s fine. We are all entitled to our opinions. It’s just that I have better things to do with my time than reading Hillary-Hate screeds. I agree with Jan that Democrats cannot afford to lose the White House.

    Hope all Moosekind will have a good day!

  6. Diana in NoVa

    are middle-aged Caucasian males. No new ideas there.

    O’Malley is a nice guy. Yawn.

    Jim Webb is a Democrat in name only. He hated the other half of his job as a U.S. senator, which consisted of raise money, raise money, raise money. He couldn’t be bothered to campaign for a second term as U.S. senator and now he wants to be POTUS? Also–and this is what makes me wary–he used to be a Republican in the days of Saint Ronnie. I seem to think he even worked for Saint Ronnie in some official capacity.

    No, the best thing about Webb is that he did save us from having a Senator Macaca from 2006-2012. George Allen is finito in Virginia politics.

    These two are supremely uninspiring.

  7. bfitzinAR

    actually alternating between sunny and really cloudy – like every time I think maybe it would be OK to put my clothes on the line instead of trying to dry them on the porch it seriously clouds up and when I think “better not” the sun comes out.  sigh.  Got just over 8 KWHs yesterday – will probably get the same today which will get me close to, if not over, 100 KWHs for the month to date.  However, I’ve just crossed over the 2 megawatt line on my “lifetime energy” tracker – so that says with the system I currently have I generate about 2 MWHs a year.  Once the new panels are installed I should get about 50% more.

    So.  Hillary has finally announced!  Not that I’ve read any of the emails whose titles tell me so, but I’ve got a lot of them.  (Nor have I gone to look anywhere it might be posted yet – or even read the Meese’s comments yet.)  They’ll all ask me for money.  I’m waiting for the one from her.  When I get that, I’ll go back to the $10/month donations like I was giving her in 2008.  I’ve supported Hillary in whatever she wanted to do since the 1980s.  If she feels she needs (or feels the country needs her) to run for president, she’s got my vote.  And cash, what little I have to spare.  And registering voters, working the local campaign headquarters, and… 🙂

    Hope everyone is starting the week off well.  Wish I could send you the scent of the lilacs.  {{{HUGS}}}

  8. JanF

    It is 56 degrees in Madison on its way up to 65. The forecast calls for morning rain and wind. We are in the middle of the rain but the wind is only 4mph. Maybe it will get windy later; it was very windy yesterday.

    I have a news hangover. I was following with interest the Hillary 2016 rollout and the reaction and made the mistake of reading some of the Tweet conversations. MY EYES!!! I think the vitriol aimed at Secretary Clinton is much worse than the vitriol aimed at Senator Obama when he announced, perhaps because none of the haters expected he would be elected. (They made up for lost time after he was elected). I find it highly offensive that they are calling her an old woman (crones unite!!) and that the political party that is about to nominate a Bush is complaining about “old ideas”. Indeed. I have been reading about some of those “old ideas” and they are actually unfinished business: gender equity, wage equality, respect for women (by the way that was definitely missing yesterday), climate change, retirement security. The boys at the RNC are going to run on misogyny and dredging up the past. Excellent! Please proceed, Reince Priebus, please proceed.

    One good thing is that most news outlets are running the boilerplate they wrote in 2007 and so I don’t have to read the news this morning.

    Busy day here … I cut my work day short yesterday to follow the news and now I am behind on work projects. See all y’alls later!!  

  9. DeniseVelez

    something is wacko on my puter – can’t get to Moose front page direct – message says “untrusted site” and won’t load the page.  This is happening in Firefox and Chrome.

    Any ideas about this Jan?

    Finally figgered out a work around for now.

    Am going to poll my women’s studies students for their impressions of Hillary.

    I already know that most Americans are not political junkies like we are…and don’t read reams of blogs – It was interesting that about two weeks ago an older white woman who is on the secretarial staff (I happen to know she is a Democrat) asked me if I thought Hillary was going to run. I assured her that she was. She asked me how did I know? I explained that Hillary had already hired staff, found an office etc. She stopped looking worried and smiled..”Good!” she said. This same woman did not know who Ruth Bader Ginsburg was…I sent her a link to my orange piece about her. (She did know the name Sotomayor – but not first name)

    I wonder what percentage of Americans pay attention to much of what is meat and potatoes to us?

     

  10. Diana in NoVa

    Good morning, Meese! Well, it’s happening–the first act of “Hillary and the Seven Dwarves.” Crazy announced a couple of weeks ago, Chubby will announce today, and I guess Porky won’t be far behind. Loopy has been yammering on cable outlets but I’m not sure he’s made a formal declaration. Snappy doesn’t seem very organized yet and I’m still not sure about Dizzy. She said she was “90 percent sure” that she would run.

    I’m excited at the thought of a woman president, especially one as well qualified as Mrs. Clinton. I was born and brought up at a time when women were definitely second-class citizens. (In many ways we still are.) To see a woman in the White House after a lifetime of being told to stay in my own place because I was a “gurrl” would raise my self-esteem, that battered organ, immeasurably. If Hillary becomes the candidate and campaigns anywhere near here, I’m going to take my little granddaughter to see her and say, “Look, you can grow up to run for president too!”

    Just found out that Political Granddaughter has applied to work on HRC’s campaign. What a hoot! No problem thinking of a birthday story for her next year if that happens.

    Hope all the Moosekind will have a good day, and Denise, hope you can solve your problems. I used Firefox for years and had no trouble but in the last couple of years of use it really acted up. I got caught in a virus over the weekend  (whatever you do, do NOT believe the pop-up about updating your Adobe Flash plug-in) and had to spend an hour on the phone with Apple Support getting that thing off my laptop.

  12. anotherdemocrat

    I really meant to take today off. I’m not done with my cooking & I haven’t done my taxes. Sigh. But I did walk this morning: 1.3 miles. Eating breakfast, drinking good, cold tea. I’ve discovered Amazon had radio stations on my kindle. Teaching it that Blondie is not like REM. And listening to the Sufjan Stevens station.

  13. bfitzinAR

    just barely generating at the moment but should cap 100 KWHs for the month today even at this rate.

    Of the more than 100 “Hillary’s in” emails in my inbox this morning, I got the one from her team so I signed up for my piddly $10/month for the duration.  That’s mostly it for the next several months.  Our Dem Party in NW AR is so small we don’t have a permanent office, so it will be a while before I can do anything but donate money and sign petitions.  I read Robert Reich’s thing about Hillary and agree with him – she’s got the values we want, the question is will she fight Big Money and Power to bring those values home.  He thinks she will (but admits Bill was more into triangulation), but that really is the question.  I’m not heading to teh Orange until pootie diary time but I’m sure the acid will still be flowing rather than dripping when I get there.  sigh.  Glad there is a Moose pond where I can find out stuff without having to wear a hazmat suit.  {{{HUGS}}

  14. princesspat

    Our son has a Dr. appointment today so I hope the reasons for the continuing abdominal pain and leg swelling will be found. He’s really feeling miserable and worried. The Dr. in the hospital was more focused on his PE than the kidney issues so the remaining pain is a puzzling concern.

    I’ll be the driver today and as I told him, it is a fair return for all the appointments he’s taken us to the last few years. I’ve got the Dr. route on auto pilot!

  15. JanF

    It is 44 degrees in Madison on its way up to 67. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    The news yesterday was filled with Marco! Rubio! and his web site crashing. And yes, he is one of those who complained about the Healthcare.gov site. Here’s his words and his web site:

    .

    My favorite Rubio Tweet, poking fun at his New American Century meme (stolen from PNAC?):

    Daniel Larison @DanielLarison

    “Too many of our leaders and their ideas are stuck in the 20th century,” said the loudest defender of the Cuban embargo

    Univision covered the speech for a couple of minutes then shifted coverage to a piece on police brutality.

    Cynical me was shocked that justice was done in the Blackwater killings from 2007, 4 sentenced:

    A U.S. judge on Monday handed down lengthy prison terms to four former Blackwater guards convicted in the 2007 massacre of 14 unarmed Iraqis …

    U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced former Blackwater security guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison. Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were sentenced to 30 years each for voluntary and attempted manslaughter.

    All four were convicted in October for their involvement in the killings in Nisour Square, a crowded traffic circle in downtown Baghdad. The legal fight over the killings, which caused an international uproar, has spanned years.

    Prosecutors have described the shooting as an unprovoked ambush of civilians, though defense lawyers countered that the men were targeted with gunfire, and shot back in self-defense.

    The defense argued for mercy Monday by saying that decades-long sentences would be unconstitutionally harsh punishments for men who operated in a stressful environment and who have proud military careers and close family ties.

    Tough. You go to a foreign country and murder innocent civilians in our name, I don’t care about your close family ties.

    And the cop-not-a-cop from Oklahoma who killed a man will be charged with manslaughter. I wonder if the other deputies will be charged with crimes against humanity for their treatment of the dying man in their custody.

    I am thinking (as I have been for the past two months) about how I am going to “cover” the 2016 presidential race. On the Republican side, it is pretty easy: highlighting the emptiness of the Republican vision for America and the empty heads of those running will help remind us of what we stand for. But on our side, I have been stunned by the animosity out there for our only declared primary candidate and our likely general election candidate. Other ObamaBots (the pragmatic ones, like me) are reconciled with the sad fact that the next president will not be Barack Obama. We are also united that we need to find someone who will continue his policies and not diss his achievements. That will be the tell that will decide how forcefully I support our candidate but not whether I support whichever Democrat is our nominee. So until the dust settles, I will probably write about Winning Elections mostly on my web site. I still have a lot of Obama pompom waving to do and as long as the White House logo is at the top of the Moose, this is where I will do that.

    Busy morning here. See all y’alls later!

    p.s. Dee, I did not have time to look at the web site. I did notice that it is having problems with compatibility related to Adobe Flash when I try to open it on another web browser. I might take the videos off the front page and do something different with them and see if that helps. Don’t give up trying to connect!

  16. Diana in NoVa

    Good morning, Moosekind. Too sickened by the news from  Tulsa, Oklahoma, to comment but it’s one of those cases that makes me wish there were a hell so people like that deputy could go to it.

    Nothing much is happening. I have Babylicious today through Thursday. Tonight is meeting night for the Daisies so I’ll have Miss Pink Cheeks with me for dinner and through tomorrow morning. Her room is still torn up, unfortunately, so she’ll have to sleep in the Beach Room downstairs. Hope she can manage that.

    Wishing a good day and good health to all!

  17. Portlaw

    Corker claims he has the votes. Well, think I will call the Democratic Party and tell them what I think of the leaders.

    Hope it’s a good day for all.

  18. anotherdemocrat

    rain has moved out, supposed to be cooler than yesterday — 77 & few clouds

    Staying home from work today. I absolutely will: get some exercise today – and a chair massage, because my shoulder hurts a lot; get my taxes done (after I find my W2) and take out the trash & recycling. For right now I’m watching the news & eating breakfast, but I plan to have a productive day.

  19. bfitzinAR

    but already generating at a higher level (not high, just higher) than yesterday.  No rain in today’s forecast (there is for tomorrow morning again – so I can get a 2nd pair of shoes wet, yesterday’s won’t be dry yet) but no sunshine either, darn it.

    Students are starting to get antsy about enrollment – as if the classes in question didn’t start in May and August respectively – so more emails and foot traffic through here, but not bad.  Got a bunch of faculty reimbursements and a few other procurement-related stuff to get out but looks like a quiet day, which I can use.  My brain does not function well on overcast days.  I seem to need sunshine to process numbers.  {{{HUGS}}}

  20. princesspat

    And it’s snowing in the mountains so the air is cold. The  snow pack in The Cascades is at a record low so the snow is needed but winter advisory warnings  for the passes in April is surprising.

    We didn’t get answers from our son’s Dr. visit yesterday, just more tests, referrals to a cardiologist and urologist, and some welcome pain meds. Needless to say he remains worried and very frustrated. I’m doing my best to stay calm but seeing him on his sofa with his legs elevated is deeply concerning.

    The rock garden crew was here (in the pouring rain) yesterday as well, so that project is underway. I hope I’ve communicated my “vision” in a way that works with a steep slope and heavy rocks. I just want a very natural look, resembling a rocky outcropping in the Cascade Mountains with logs and native plants.  

  21. anotherdemocrat

    Taxes – big $200 refund. Better than nothin & way better than owing. Took out garbage (a bigger deal than it sounds, because the only dumpster is on the other side of the complex) and took 2 bags of recycling to the bins. And spread my plants out since it definitely ain’t gonna freeze now; and repotted 2 aloe vera plants.

  22. JanF

    It is 43 degrees in Madison on its way up to 66. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    Good news out of Sierra Leone where thousands of schools closed for 9 months because of the Ebola outbreak will be reopening:

    More than 8,000 schools reopened for the country’s estimated 1.8 million students, whose education was interrupted by the health crisis. Sierra Leone’s government and the U.N.’s children’s agency, UNICEF, have promised to check temperatures regularly and promote handwashing to discourage the spread of Ebola in the schools.

    “This marks a major step in the normalization of life in Sierra Leone,” said Roeland Monasch, UNICEF’s representative in Sierra Leone.

    Remember how Lee Atwater once said that you can’t say “N---” but you had to use code to remind people to vote for Republicans so that the blah people would not all kill you in your beds? Well, new code words for woman bashing. First, we have Hillary Clinton as “too ugly” to be president then “hormones!” and “Bible!” (that old standby filled with all sort of excellent excuses to discriminate!):

    “With the hormones we have there is no way we should be able to start a war,” [Texas Marketing CEO Cheryl Rios] wrote [on her Facebook page]. “Yes I run my own business and I love it and I am great at it BUT that is not the same as being the President, that should be left to a man, a good, strong, honorable man.”

    Rios later told KTXA that besides the alleged hormonal issue, the U.S. could not afford to have a leader who would be “looked at differently” than a male president.

    “There’s an old biblical sound reasoning why a woman shouldn’t be President,” she added, though she did not mention any specific passages to support her argument.

    Good lord! Is this 2015?

    I will post a few foreign policy snippets in the Cuba post. Did you know that American bishops and nuns don’t think we should Bomb Bomb Iran? Between that and Pope Francis helping to broker the Cuba deal, we now know why Marco Rubio rejected Catholicism. Can’t support a religion that respects the value of life and doesn’t want war in the Middle East. THAT PART of the Bible was elided.  

    Busy day here again! See all y’alls later.

  23. Portlaw

     

    Hope it’s a good day in the Pond for Meese and Meesekin, especially for PrincessPat’s son.

    Have news to read and early morning acupuncture.  Will check in later to see how everyone is.

  24. Diana in NoVa

    Just about to make breakfast for Miss Pink Cheeks and get her off to school. Looked at some of the news–the good news is that a CEO in the state of Washington is going to make sure everyone who works for him will make $70,000 a year minimum. He’s cutting his own salary and using company profits to ensure this.

    Saw reports of police atrocities in Oklahoma and Arizona. The police are out of control. It shouldn’t be a force composed of sociopaths.

    Here’s hoping PrincessPat will receive good news about her son and that Madam Secretary won’t be slimed by misogyny today. The depth and breadth of hatred of women never ceases to amaze me.

    Want to come back later and read the front page. A good day to all!

  25. anotherdemocrat

    when I was walking this morning, looking at the crescent moon with a few clouds, then gradually, dawn, it was really nice

    I had another really lousy night’s sleep last night. Put extra tea in my tea this morning & brought a packet of Sport Beans with caffeine. My app that I know way over-estimates my sleep says I got 6 hours of restful sleep & 1 of “restless”. No chance it was that much.

    Head is full of old U2 songs from favoriting lots of stuff in the #U2Request hashtag yesterday. It was a thing to see what old/rarely played song the fans want in the new tour. The most requested one was Acrobat, which was never a favorite of mine. So I tweeted Yahweh, and favorited everyone else who did; and also suggestions like Spanish Eyes. Everything but the song that makes me seasick.

  26. DeniseVelez

    sun shining – lovely spring day!

    Got up late – the back pain meds make me very sleepy.

    Going to go for a nice slow walk to see what bulbs are up 🙂

     

  27. bfitzinAR

    I am REALLY tired of this.  And it is precisely why I’m spending another $4.5K to upgrade my system.  If the “new normal” is going to include this percentage of overcast days (clouds but not enough rain to end the drought) which it probably is, then we need to estimate up on the number of panels needed to do the job.

    As far as I have looked – which admittedly wasn’t far – there’s nothing new in the news.  That isn’t good, but it could definitely be worse (and probably is, just not being reported by American media).  Well, we’re almost halfway through another week as well as another month.  That’s progress.  {{{HUGS}}}

  28. princesspat

    It’s amazing what three strong men with the right tools can do in a day! The ivy is gone, the laurel is pruned to allow a rock path on the slope, and new dirt, big rocks and mossy logs are all in place. There is some fine tuning to do re one log and a bird bath rock but that will happen when they find the right rock. So the next step is to call the woman who will help me plant the slope and newly made rock garden…yay!

    I’ll try to take some photos today so I can share the rock garden progress.

    Thanks to all for your kind thoughts for our son. Each test has eliminated something scary, yet the pain persists. I’m very grateful each time he gets “good news” but very concerned to see him in such pain. There’s got to be a reason for it.

  29. JanF

    It is 41 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 69 degrees. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    I say “I think” because I am pretty sure that THEY added an extra day to this week. All day yesterday I thought it was Thursday yet here we are today: Thursday!!

    The Republicans are bragging that they have been in charge of Congress for 100 days and never shut down the government even once!! Hip hip hoo… wut? That is their point of pride? They did do one good thing: passed the permanent “doc fix”, taking doctors who accept Medicare patients off the permanent “political football” list. We also got a two year reauthorization of CHIP, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, out of it and that is a BHD.

    Silly season is actually too silly, even for me. Yesterday the BIG STORY was how Hillary Clinton did not tip the counter staff at the Chipotle restaurant she ate at. The manager “She spent $20 and did not leave a dime!!”. Who tips counter staff at a fast food restaurant??!!? And this is what passes for political reporting? Someone should develop an App to filter “teh stupid” from my political news feed … of course, then it would be nearly empty. p.s. Hey, Chipotle guy? Pay your people a living wage and they don’t need to hope someone tosses 50 cents into the tip bucket.

    The good news is that the Bible is now the official book of the State of Tennessee and Oklahoma is passing bibles out in schools. Now if we can just get people to read the part about caring for the sick, sheltering the homeless, and feeding the poor, we might have a chance. Why is that part in tiny print too small to read?

    See all y’all later!!

  30. DeniseVelez

    groggy this morning – from the back medication but slowly waking up – lucky that today is my afternoon class.

    Having very long battles with myself.  

    Had planned to stay out of much of the sturm und drang around HRC but it may become impossible.

    Some of my women’s studies students are watching the outpouring of sexism with horror…

    It’s going to be hard to deal with legit critiques  when so much sewage is swirling around in the internet cesspit.

    I feel dirtied after looking at some of the hillary hate sites.

    Had to go back and re-read Charles Pierce to calm down

    http://www.esquire.com/news-po…

  31. Diana in NoVa

    Good morning, Meese. Just read Denise’s front-page story on Loretta Lynch. Beautifully written as usual; alas, I couldn’t think of an intelligent comment to add. Denise, hope your backache will subside and you’ll feel more comfortable.

    I, too, have been staying away from dkos because of the HIllary-Hate. Have never forgotten reading this statement by Germaine Greer years ago: “Most women have no idea how much men hate them.” That statement has colored my thinking since the 1970s.

    Hope this time Secretary Clinton’s campaign is agile and focused enough to let her AND a lot of House and Senate Democrats to win. I wish there would be a Democratic majority from here on out. Read a little Internet piece yesterday comparing this country to the Roman republic in its decline and the points of comparison were unnerving, to say the least.

    Have to pick up Miss Pink Cheeks at 1 p.m. today instead of 3 p.m. (dear Goddess, the kids in this area are NEVER in school) and she has the day off tomorrow. And it’s going to rain so we can’t garden. Bummer.

    Hope it’s a good day for all and that princesspat will receive some good news!

  32. anotherdemocrat

    It’s already 70. I walked 1.5 miles. Can I go back to bed now? I was listening to REM in the car but my earworm is Snow Patrol’s Wow. “Say the first thing that comes into your head when you see me. If it looks like it works & it feels like it works then it works.” Though I’m thinking about doing a diary with music from REM, specifically Driver 8: “we can reach our destination, but it’s still a ways away”. Since I’ve raised $931 for the Ride. See — $2,000 isn’t unreachable, but it is a ways away…..

  33. Portlaw

    is

    WASHINGTON – President Obama’s most far-reaching regulation to slow climate change will have its first day in court on Thursday, the beginning of what is expected to be a multiyear legal battle over the policy that Mr. Obama hopes to leave as his signature environmental achievement.

    In two separate but related cases to be jointly argued in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the country’s two largest coal companies, along with 14 coal-producing states, have challenged a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation, which the agency issued under the authority of the Clean Air Act, to curb planet-warming carbon pollution from coal-fired power plants. If put in effect as E.P.A. officials have proposed, the rule is intended to fundamentally transform the nation’s power sector, shuttering hundreds of coal plants and expanding renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04…

    Hope it’s a good day for all.

  34. bfitzinAR

    forecast says it’s supposed to be sunny (and get up to the mid 70s).  Students are finally starting to panic – and thus contact us – about their Fall classes, so I’ll be busy for the next 10 days or so.  Not counting all my procurement and HR duties of which I have a number right now.  Busy, busy, busy.  But the same kind of busy women’s “jobs” usually are – the square mileage of the floors you’ve swept in your lifetime may equal the state of Texas but that doesn’t count for anything and even though you will keep doing it until it equals the continental U.S. it still won’t count.  sigh.  Anyway, at least I’m helping students get where they at least think they need to go and making sure people are hired into the correct position and actually paid appropriately and on time.  {{{HUGS}}}

  35. princesspat

    I don’t know where to focus today so I guess the day will just happen. If the meds the Dr prescribed yesterday don’t make a difference for our son we’ll be back to see him again, the desk mess is reaching a critical point, and the garden is calling to me. Needless to say I would rather be in the garden but I’d best tend to business first.

  36. JanF

    It is 52 degrees in Madison on its way up to 77. Partly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    I have only had time to skim the news this morning and it looks remarkably like yesterdays news! The silly season is filled with silly things.

    A story I read yesterday in Al Jazeera online (one of my new news sources) was an eye-opening report about the campus sports rape culture and one woman’s quest for justice following her college’s refusal to punish her rapist: “Does Title IX protect accusers in sexual assault cases involving athletes?”. Today there is another article in the series with an interview of the woman kicker from New Mexico “Katie Hnida: There are a lot of ‘really scary questions’ in Winston case” that I want to read. The woman assaulted by Heisman Trophy winner and probably #1 or #2 NFL draft pick Jameis Winston is suing him after finding no justice at Florida State University or through local law enforcement. I was stunned reading the story yesterday that most rapes are not reported to local law enforcement but just handled internally by the colleges. JHC!! If you want to know the end result of the coddling of student athletes who are not required to even be decent human beings (we are looking at you, former Nebraska coach Tom Osborne!) look no further than the story of Lawrence Phillips, now accused of killing his prison cellmate. The victims of this culture of privilege just keep stacking up.

    I may have to write about Gov. Walker’s precipitous drop in the polls. Finally, now that it is not just the captive press in Wisconsin covering the awful reign of Scott Walker, we are getting the kind of reporting that might have kept him from lying his way into a second term.

    Have a great day all y’alls!

  37. Portlaw

    Have only had a glance at the news. The Middle East continues to be a nightmare. I don’t know how those poor people living there have the courage to get up in the mornings, or even if they got any sleep at all in the night.

    Haven’t had time to figure out this new trade deal but may need distractions later in the day and will read more about it.

    Will check in later to see how everyone is doing. Hope it will be a good day for all in the Pond and on the Planet.

  38. Diana in NoVa

    currently 54 F., going up to 77 F. The dorks who do our local weather couldn’t get a forecast right to save their lives.

    As Jan said, today’s “news” appears very much the same as yesterday’s news. Feel sorry for that young woman in Florida and hope she obtains justice. Men get away with almost everything. Look at that nasty old git in Tulsa who murdered that man.

    Busy day ahead. Babylicious will be in day care–yesterday was more difficult than usual because he refused to take a nap–so I’m glad of that. Miss Pink Cheeks and I need to go to an Indian store to buy lots of bay leaves for a project we’re doing at Daisies at the next meeting. Having lunch with the Circle sisters while Grandpa takes Miss PC out to lunch, and then perhaps doing a little gardening.

    Will check back later to see what’s going on. Jan, so pleased to hear that Scotty is falling in the polls! He reminds me a great deal of Nixon. Ugh.

    Hope it’s a good day for Moosekind and the world at large.

  39. anotherdemocrat

    I did my walking again, 1.57 miles. This song from an old Austin band in my head:

    The video is a little frantic for the song. Just close your eyes & listen instead. I never understood why the Reivers never made it big in the late 80s, Kim has a lovely voice & their sound was exactly right for then. Anyway, I put that in the new mix I have in my car & listened to it on the way in to work & it was still in my head when I was walking.

    Yesterday it rained just enough to get the car extra dirty, but traffic still was as bad as if it was a super bad, blinding thunderstorm. We’re supposedly getting an actual thunderstorm today.

  40. bfitzinAR

    hit my building as we lost power for just over a blink of an eye – and I lost my original comment I was in the middle of typing – wish I could remember what I said 🙂  Oh well, it was probably a rant against cloudy weather or “entitlement” students or something.  It’s very irritating to me how just 1 little snot seems to outweigh 20 sweet kids who are grateful for the help and explanations I give them as far as my mood and feelings are concerned.  That is no way, shape, or form balance and you know how us Libras like balance – heh.  Hoping sunshine – literal or figurative – comes to everybody today and this weekend.  {{{HUGS}}}

  41. DeniseVelez

    Trying to post from my phone which is still awkward for me

    rain here and damp.

    will look forward to reading the links Jan posted when I get home  

  42. princesspat

    And our son is finally feeling better! We still don’t know the reason for the swelling in is legs but the diuretic is working so the swelling is decreasing, his color is better, and he can walk with less pain. It’s good to see the vitality return to his face. He even feels well enough to be grouchy…..but my tolerance for that won’t last long 🙂

    Ron and I enjoyed lunch at a restaurant at the harbor yesterday. It’s nice to enjoy the boats and the water, and not be worrying about taking care of (or selling) one!

  43. JanF

    It is 56 degrees in Madison on its way up to 68. Partly cloudy skies in the forecast.

    What I read: a troubling report on farmer suicides in India, Huckabee is in and has staked out a position against the Christie/Bush “raise the social security retirement age” issue (this issue fries my butt, by the way), and Lake Mead is down 140 ft since 2000 as the 14 year drought continues.

    .

    The boys of the GOP will be in New Hampshire to visit the “First in the Nation Summit” in an obvious swipe at Iowa whose first in the nation caucuses are, I guess, irrelevant. Actually, neither are relevant  because the population of both are over 90% white, earn more than the median U.S. wage, and have almost no poors. From my experience when I lived in New England, most people who lived in NH were folks who left Massachusetts so that they could Live Free or Die … with no taxes!! A harbinger of exactly nothing. The last Democratic nominee did not win New Hampshire and the last Republican nominee did not win Iowa. But everyone will go there and summit with the kingmakers and show how much they hate the poors and working folks who can just barely make it to the 66 year old retirement age and how much fun it is to bomb stuff.

    Have a great day, all y’all.

  44. Portlaw

    A quick scan of the news was not reassuring,  Loretta Lynch is still not confirmed, Oklahoma has perfected a new method for their barbaric death penalty, the drought continues, who knows what’s happening with those all important Iran talks…

    Hope the news is good in your parts of the Pond. Hope it’s a good day for Meese, Meesekin, and all who share our planet,

  45. anotherdemocrat

    Yesterday it rained hard enough to actually clean off the car. They canceled today’s leg of the MS 150, I have a bunch of disappointed friends — I invited them to the AIDS Ride next weekend.

    Watching Up – today’s Republican is actually nice, and Joy Reid will be subbing for Melissa Harris Perry. I need to get some exercise today, clean out fridge….. probably some other stuff. I’m sure I’ll think of something after I’ve had some caffeine.

  46. DeniseVelez

    I’m going to go out and take some pics of what is blooming 🙂

    Tra-la-la-la-la…

    I’m happy to see spring!

  47. Diana in NoVa

    it’s a really nice day. The ecru stage of the dogwoods is in full swing and I expect by tomorrow they’ll be white or pink, depending on their nature.

    Got a banana-black walnut cake in the oven. Off to the nail salon in 15 minutes for a mani and pedi.

    The news–have not paid much attention. The WaPo says the po-lice want to keep the videos from police body cams secret, which, of course, defeats the whole purpose of them. The Tulsa Police Dept. is lying through its teeth. At least the Tulsa World, busily investigating, still bears some semblance to journalistic fervor.

    Must go–the oven buzzer just went off! A good day to all Moosekind!

  48. princesspat

    I’ve got garden fun planned for today. It’s our son’s birthday so we’ll plant geraniums in the pots on his porch and finish cleaning and setting up the upper patio here so we can have a birthday brunch outdoors tomorrow. I love the smell of sausage on the grill, so we’ll do that and make Dutch Baby oven pancakes served with hot applesauce and fresh fruit. After the week we’ve had a life affirming time together is most welcome!

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