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Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Sunday, May 10th

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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?

…


Categories: Uncategorized.

/ 74 Comments

74 comments

  1. JanF

    It is 51 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 66. Cloudy skies and rain are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  3. anotherdemocrat

    supposed to be stormy later, but it didn’t end up raining that much yesterday so we’ll see

    Eating breakfast, watching Up. Much better panel this morning, and talking about TPP instead of the Republican primary. Today I’ve got the usual thing – church, shopping, cooking. Another earworm of a song I haven’t heard in weeks, In Your Eyes by Austin band The Reivers.

  4. princesspat

     Today will be fun and easy, a brunch outside with family coming and going, green chile cheeseburgers and brownies for dinner, and Game of Thrones this evening.

    In the fullness of family life I often think that every day is Mom’s Day 🙂 I guess it’s good to have a day to focus our thoughts and memories, but I know I still think of my mother and my grandmother every day. The card’s still in the mail mom!

  5. Diana in NoVa

    It keeps looking like rain with all the metallic gray-tinged clouds, but then the sun comes out again.

    Just finished watching Nico Rosberg win the Barcelona Grand Prix, to no one’s surprise. At least my man Hamilton was second on the podium. The rotten thing is, Nico is bound to win Monte Carlo in two weeks: it’s where he grew up.

    We went to the garden center yesterday and I can’t wait to plant tomatoes today! For dinner we will cook steak and lamb chops and have strawberry shortcake for dessert. I seem to have put on so much weight that I can’t squeeze into my “nice” clothes to go out to dinner.

    Making progress toward getting the screened porch ready for Memorial Day. A new ceiling fan has been installed–yay! New porch cushions have been ordered, Dearly will repaint the white wicker furniture, and I need to get another plant, nearer the day.

    Hope it will be a wonderful day for all in Mooseland!

  6. bfitzinAR

    got a card and a phone call from my younger son (complete with youngest grandsons coming on long enough to wish me “Happy Mother’s Day”) and my older son took me to lunch.  (He and his sons are making a special dinner for his wife/their mom.)  It’s very rainy here, in waves (we’re between waves at the moment) – the drought may not have totally broken (brought lake levels back to “normal”) but definitely no watering for the next week or two.  On the way to the restaurant lightning hit a lamp post 1/2 a block away from where we were stopped at a signal.  If you’ve ever heard a transformer going, you know what it sounded like.  The immediately following downpour put out the fire it caused.  I’d have been frightened except it happened too fast to register until after the fact.

    Visited the chiropractor last Friday.  Aside from being totally out of whack in multiple places (which figures – bipedal entities have to adjust for being out of whack in one place by pushing a counter-balancing other place out or we’d fall down), I asked about the issue I’ve been having with cold hands and feet, hoping it was just a pinched nerve.  She took one look at my hands and said “classic Raynaud’s” – which apparently doesn’t exactly have a treatment except balance your minerals and keep your extremities warm.  The former is easier than the latter.  Oh well, from looking at the pictures when I did the google search, I don’t have it very badly and I will do my best to slow its progress.

    Again, hope everybody had a lovely Mother’s Day – with warm thoughts for those of us whose mothers have crossed teh Rainbow Bridge.  {{{HUGS}}}

  7. JanF

    It is 52 degrees in Madison on its way up to 69. Cloudy skies in the forecast.

    If you only read one thing today, this should be it: Leonard Pitts: Anti-government resistance now the beating heart of GOP

    It seems the four branches of the U.S. military are gearing up for Operation Jade Helm 15, an eight-week training exercise across seven states. Right-wing conspiracy theorists online and on radio are claiming the exercise is actually a pretext for a federal takeover of the Lone Star State, with – get this – abandoned Wal-Marts to be used for the processing of prisoners! […]

    Nor is this being laughed off by conservatives in positions of authority. To the contrary, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has ordered the state guard to monitor the exercise to safeguard Texan’s “civil liberties.” […]

    … chances are good you’ve never heard about any of this – the story hasn’t garnered major headlines – and that, hearing of it now, you are not terribly surprised. That speaks pointedly of how inured we have become to the insane, paranoiac, anti-government prattle flowing like sewage from the political right. Duly elected leaders, putatively responsible people, give credence to the crazy idea that the federal government is about to attack its second most populous state and we shrug because it’s just another Tuesday in the lunatic asylum of American politics.

    There are a few takeaways from this piece but the bottom line is that it would really be helpful if one of our two political parties was not insane.

    Found on the Internets:

    Every day this week will be the same backwards: 5/10/15 5/11/15 5/12/15 5/13/15 5/14/15 5/15/15 5/16/15 5/17/15

    There are only a few tweaks left to make in order to get the new web site moose-friendly and I will soon be migrating my own self and spending more time there than here. We are still mulling over themes (the layout of the site including color schemes and font selection) and how to organize the front page. It may be a couple months before we get the archive uploaded (things move at a snails pace behind the scenes in Moosylvania) and it is time to press Forward.

    See all y’alls later!!

  8. DeniseVelez

    headed to the 80’s.

    Waking to find hysterical emails from students about why they won’t have their final exam papers to hand in tomorrow on time – begging for extensions – sigh.

    So tiresome, and the excuses are always so lame – they should at least invent better stories.  Or just be honest about having procrastinated.  

  9. Portlaw

    eighties here. That means summer is coming. It’s my least favorite season and I will not be going away.Sigh.  October doesn’t seem that far away, I keep telling myself. Now, news and coffee.

  10. Diana in NoVa

    It might rain this afternoon. All day yesterday it looked as if it would.

    Not much news except wondering about the Moose’s future travels. Where is it going? Will we be able to get there?

    We were thinking of having a casual Memorial Day get-together but people in our family already have other plans, apparently. Also, the baby shower for DIL is moving to her house, as she frequently feels very tired and doesn’t want to drive much. Understandable, with the baby due on 2 August.

    Will this be the week I get some writing done? Stay tuned. Hoping for a good Monday for all in Moosylvania!

  11. anotherdemocrat

    Another lousy night’s sleep. Sigh.  And we have thunderstorm warnings. Rain is good, just maybe spread out over more days.

    Well, I had an earworm of Jackie & Wilson going – fun, bluesy, cute song, but I refreshed twitter & my radio station is having one of the guys from Mumford & Sons on, and just from the picture, I now have I Will Wait in my head. Energetic banjo music probably better for keeping me awake anyway.

  12. bfitzinAR

    Hope so – we’ve had a lot of rain (yes, we needed it) and we’ve got a whole lot of rain in the forecast starting Thursday morning so it would be nice to see the sun in between rather than lots of clouds and just no water falling on my head. 🙂

    Got lebenty-hundred emails to deal with – just took a break to check in – but will try to get back later.  {{{HUGS}}}

  13. princesspat

    I’m slow and sleepy this morning so the news of the day isn’t registering yet…..coffee isn’t even helping!

    I’ll go to the pool this morning, then meet with the Borrowed Ground guys to add a birdbath (per RonK’s request) and move some rocks and a log around in the front bed. They were doing the work when I was totally preoccupied with our son’s medical crisis and just couldn’t focus, so we stopped. But with a few shifts the rocks will be more asymmetrical and the log that sees to big will be cut into two sections and angled more and then it should be ready to add plants. They have been great to work with.

    Our ongoing family medical issues continue this week…..Heide’s pathology report should be back today, our son has several Dr. appointments to set up and to go to, and I’ll be in Seattle early tomorrow for a renal scan and my 3 month follow up with the surgeon. Needless to say I hope we all have good reports!

  14. JanF

    It is 46 degrees on its way up to 54. Cloudy skies are in the forecast. It got cold … we turned the heat on last night! There is a frost warning tonight into Wednesday morning reminding people why you do not plant here until after Memorial Day.

    Found on the Internets:

    Becky Bowers @beckybowers

    It happened: Millennials are now the biggest generation in the U.S. workforce http://on.wsj.com/1IugHMe  

    Interesting that the new generation, just starting to enter the workforce, is called Generation Z. I hope it is not because no one expects our planet to survive another generation. p.s. Those 70-75 still working are Republican congressmen, CEOs, and desk jockeys who insist that the retirement age should be raised because working into their 70s is easy when the heaviest thing you have to lift is a pencil.

    Busy morning. See all y’alls later!

  15. Portlaw

    As for the news, drilling in the Arctic and another earthquake in Nepal sadden the day. And then, shockingly last night, a Picasso was auctioned off for 179 million. It’s a great painting but that’s not the point.  How does this happen? People are homeless in this city. Children are hungry. Others struggle with terrible terrible working conditions.

    Across the country, countless workers in the nail salon industry, mainly immigrant women, toil in misery and ill health for meager pay, usually with no overtime, abused by employers who show little or no consideration for their safety and well-being. It is a world of long days and toxic chemicals, where the usual protections of government have failed, at all levels.

    In shining a light on one ugly industry, a recent report in The Times has also illuminated a far larger problem that occurs wherever greedy employers meet vulnerable workers. Farm laborers, nannies, carwash workers, day laborers, dishwashers, busboys, construction workers, garment workers, janitors – it’s a sweatshop economy, and Americans have gotten used to its bounty of cheap services and goods, basking in ever-cheaper luxury while ignoring the pain and injustice that make it all possible.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/12/opinion/justice-for-nail-salon-workers.html?ref=opinion

  16. Diana in NoVa

    Another earthquake in poor old Nepal and Tom Brady suspended for four games! Well, well. Awful news.

    Hope princesspat received good reports yesterday. Today through Thursday I have Babylicious, and tonight there will be a Daisy troop meeting, so Miss Pink Cheeks will be spending the night with us.

    Yesterday I planted zinnias as well as Sungold tomatoes with their “guardian” marigolds. The cilantro looked as if it might come back on its own (the dill and oregano have done so), but I bought a little seedling anyway.

    Hope the rest of the news will not be too bad. Babylicious drives everything else from my brain. He’s crawling now, into everything, and requires constant vigilance! 🙂

    Hope it’s a good day for all in Mooseland and if he takes a nap I’ll have a look at the new site.

  17. anotherdemocrat

    Cool here today – high will only be mid-70s. Actually wearing long pants instead of capris. Not supposed to rain till later, so I’m going to try to walk with the lunch group.

    Tea. Breakfast. Earworm is Just Say Yes.

  18. bfitzinAR

    Yesterday we had enough sunshine to get 26 KWHs for the day – a new record (for me)! – and we’ve just ooched over 200 KWHs for the month.  Looks like we’re going to get sunshine for at least most of today as well.  The rest of the week shows varying rain chances but nothing gets over 75% until Sunday.  I’m hoping to be able to walk to and from work the rest of the week (the secretary who is also my ride in will be out) so I’m very much hoping the rain will hold off.  We shall see.

    Don’t know what’s going on in the world and probably don’t want to.  We are here and at least all right enough to be posting/checking in so I’m going to call it good and let it go at that.  Something to be said for the conclusion of Candide – “let us tend our own gardens” – at least some of them time.  OK – that’s not really what I think unless you understand that I think everything in the natural world is “our garden”.  {{{HUGS}}}

  19. HappyinVT

    as the week progresses) …

    As Fox (not the news channel) announces next season will be American Idol’s last I find a new reason to be annoyed by Ryan Seacrest … his production company is responsible for Keeping up with the Kardashians.

  21. JanF

    It is 36 degrees in Madison on its way up to 63. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    In a political party based on demonization of The Other and driven by irrational fear, all of the candidates are coated in Teflon. They know that they will get x number of votes just because they have an R after their name … they don’t even have to support popular policy positions. Jeb Bush said he would still invade Iraq knowing what he knows now and not-very-quickly reversed that, saying that he “interpreted the question wrong, I guess”. “I guess”??!!?? The war of choice started by the worst president in our lifetimes that led to the death of hundreds of thousands, the destabilization of a region and trillions of dollars of wasted tax dollars and he couldn’t be bothered to understand the question or what it meant? It is almost as though he has decided to run for president to rehabilitate his brother’s legacy. Good luck with that. People who remember that war still make up a majority of the electorate and it has not gotten more popular coated with the gauze of history.

    In Madison, Dane County District Attorney Ozanne, the son of school teachers … a man whose mother traveled to Mississippi in 1965 to register voters during Freedom Summer, declined to charge the policeman who killed the unarmed black teenager. He can’t. We have a screwed up justice system where all a cop has to say is that he feared for his life and he won’t be charged. You can’t prove or disprove someone’s feelings and the only way to get a charge is when you have video evidence of malfeasance. We aren’t going to fix this problem by charging policemen … we have to fix the problem by retraining and changing the rules of engagement and finding some way to subdue a dangerous suspect without killing him.

    Busy day here … AGAIN!! I spent yesterday doing research on a product and that ate up 3 hours that I didn’t really have to spare. So now I am behind in my project work.

    See all y’all later!

  22. Portlaw

    if I could.  That was about five or so minutes ago and they are still awaiting moderation.The site looks good. Hope I am smart enough to navigate the new Pond,

  23. anotherdemocrat

    More rain, but at least we’re not flooding. There have been water rescues in Houston & Dallas, but none here yet. But some idiot always goes around the barricades, so it’s just a matter of time.

    Very sad about the train derailment. Some day we’ll actually invest in our infrastructure….. Or not, and all those “things fell apart” science fiction stories will come true.

    I’m taking tomorrow & Friday off work. I need to take some time off because I’m bumping up against the maximum amount of vacation time. Also I’m tired. And grumpy. But my earworm is still the uber-cheerful Just Say Yes

  25. bfitzinAR

    not happy about the overcast (nor the fact the furnace has kicked on in the morning for the last two days) but it looks like the rain/clouds should pass through by noon.  Current electricity generation count is 222 KWHs for the month and we still have over half the month to go.

    Got my new site stuff (thanks Jan) and actually have the new site open on another tab.  When/if I get time today – have a new “new hire” procedure to initiate and I have got to get summer payroll entered among other things – I’m going to look around and see if I can figure out how to navigate over there.

    The news stays consistently bad – partly because the media seems to think only bad news sells – that I’m trying to step back and be philosophic about it.  I will do anything I can do myself, send good energy to everybody/everything else, and try not to dwell on it.  (Variation on the Serenity Prayer – do what I can, accept what I can’t, and know the difference.)  Otherwise I get so depressed I can’t do anything at all.  Blessings on the Meeses and the Purple Pond – and pootie diaries at DK – and {{{HUGS}}}

  26. princesspat

    I’m feeling strangely out of focus this morning with no scary medical worries to tend to. So I’ll go to the pool, and then start getting the house ready for next weeks visitors. Our old college friends from Iowa will be here for a few days. It’s so nice to reconnect with them. They spend summers in Wisconsin and do their best to elect Dems in both states so we will have lots to lament!

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