Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: July 5th through July 11th

July 5, 2015 JanF Community 136

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 (every Sunday morning). To find the posts, just bookmark this link and Voila! (which is Moose for “I found everyone!!”).

The format is simple: each day, the first moose to arrive on-line will post a comment welcoming the new day and complaining (or bragging!) about their weather. Or mentioning an interesting or thought provoking news item. Or simply checking in.

So … what’s going on in your part of Moosylvania?

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NOTE: The comments page will now split off after 20 or so left margin comments with the most recent comments on the current page. To see the older comments, scroll to the bottom of the page and use the link.

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48 Comments

  1. 75 “they” say heading for 76 and rain for the next 36 hours. We’ll see if “they” are right. It’s drizzling at the moment. I’m with Diana – either rain or shine, quit with the cloudy/gray/gloomy and no rain! Still finding little pieces of end-of-FY15 to deal with. New Chair is very busily charging up that learning curve :) She’s working on putting a disintegrating department back together and she most surely has my support in this. Makes it hard for me to check in or visit diaries except when she’s in meetings (like now). Hope everyone has a lovely Tuesday. {{{HUGS}}}

  2. Good morning, it’s 63 and should be sunny in Bellingham. But instead of sun we have another hazey day from the smoke of wildfires burning around us. My eyes are burning and I can feel asthma symptoms increasing. The caution to stay indoors isn’t very helpful though, because thanks to the heat the windows are open.

    Wildfires just over the border in British Columbia and locally are spewing smoke over the region and worsening air quality in parts of Whatcom County, and residents are being told to pay attention to conditions before they play outside.

    The poor air quality prompted the Northwest Clean Air Agency on Monday, July 6, to issue a smoke advisory for Whatcom and Skagit counties.

    http://www.bellinghamherald.com/news/local/article26595550.html

    Fortunately the little kids are doing fine, so Ron K is taking everyone to the Pt Whitehorn Marine Reserve today. And the air was clearer last evening so we enjoyed another family dinner on the patio.

  3. I’m home. They did have to go in a 2nd time, she said it went deep, but she got it all. I have a humungous bandage in my nose & now that I’m eating lunch, I can have the tylenol3. They’re going to get me with a plastic surgeon to do the stitches on Friday. I’m supposed to change the dressing on Thursday, they said I could come in for it, but I told them I’m tough, I’ll do it. And I have antibiotics, again, because she had to go so deep – cephalexin.

    I stopped at the tiny pie place & bought 3 single serving pies. Gonna have chocolate cream now, strawberry basil later & saving the chocolate pecan. I really wish I could blow my nose.

    • Pie is a wonderful way to celebrate/tell your body “hey it’s OK now” after something like that. Good thinking. :)

      • I was just thinking “chocolate” — and also intrigued by the strawberry basil…. you make me sound deeper than I was thinking. Because “chocolate pecan pie”

    • Glad to hear the news and it’s over Nd now the healing can begin. Don’t forget t rest

  4. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 53 degrees in Madison on its way up to 73. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    THIS!

    Our president is so cool.

    It turns out that a Hispanic heritage class in the Tuscon AZ school district was cancelled simply because it led to the students disrespecting Republicans. A lawsuit against the school disctrict just won the right to proceed in federal court:

    Indeed, as Judge Jed Rakoff describes the history of this law in his opinion for the court, the law appears to have been enacted — at least in part — as an act of vengeance by the state’s top education officials against students who once hurt their feelings. “Efforts to disband the MAS program began in 2007,” Rakoff explains, “after a group of students walked out of a speech by” the state’s Deputy Superintendent of Public Education which was intended to refute a prior allegation made to the student body that ‘Republicans hate Latinos.’”

    In response to this incident, former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne penned an open letter claiming that “the students did not learn this rudeness at home, but from their Raza teachers.” He also called for the Mexican American Studies program to be eliminated.

    Perhaps the students figured out on their own the attitude of the Republican Party to their very presence in the country? It is not exactly a secret … in fact that a majority of the 17 (!) GOP presidential candidates supports Trumpism.

    And to the surprise of absolutely no one, the Confederate flag is being raised again in parts of the south, specifically Marion County Florida. Durned pointy headed libruls won’t be the boss of them! Southern pride, Southern pride, Southern pride.

    Busy morning … see all y’all later!

  5. Good morning Meese

    I think my favorite uplifting news item this week is

    US Muslim groups launch fundraiser to help rebuild burned black churches

    A coalition of Muslim groups has launched an online fundraiser to help rebuild predominantly African-American churches damaged in a recent spate of fires across the South.

    At least eight churches have suffered fire damage since a shooting on June 17 at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, left nine black parishioners dead.

    The church burnings took place within just 10 days of one another, and three are being investigated as possible arson cases.

    “To many, it is clear that these are attacks on black culture, black religion and black lives,” the coalition wrote on the campaign’s LaunchGood page.

    “It’s Ramadan, and we are experiencing firsthand the beauty and sanctity of our mosques during this holy month. All houses of worship are sanctuaries, a place where all should feel safe,” it added.

    • How wonderful. Good for them. I hope other groups follow their example

  6. Good morning, Meese! Anotherdemocrat, you sound as if you’ve really been through the mill! Glad the surgery is over for both you and Portlaw and the recovery can proceed. Enjoy your pie! They all sound great.

    As for me: still ill. Another day of wearing the face mask because I don’t want to reinfect Babylicious and Miss Pink Cheeks. By the way, for those desiring a quick lunchtime short story with your sandwich, why not stop by http://goddessfiction.com to read “Getting Unhexed—Part I”?

    Just took the cough medicine, made a lunch date for Friday in the hope I’ll be able to talk by then. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!

  7. Slept in, watching Le Tour & the news. It is cold today – after 93 the other day. The riders are all in long sleeves & they still look cold.

    Will do something today, dunno about my evening walking group. Since I need but don’t have stitches, I think working out hard might be a bad choice. But I shouldn’t just sit all day either. Maybe I’ll take the recycling out. Anyway – hi.

  8. 75 with the high supposed to be 73 – I think “they” need to check their program or something :) Still drizzling and ‘spozed to do that off and on the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow. Got just under 2.5 KWHs the whole day yesterday – on a sunny day in June or July I can get that in an hour – and looking like more of the same today unless the sun actually comes out between those drizzly spells.

    Had a “walk in the door” meeting with the New Chair. We’re working on FY16 departmental budget. Both applications to the Dean’s office for instructor funding (using money that had been allotted to people who’ve left for temporarily staffing what they would have been teaching as well as paying for the Searches to replace them) and plans for using our allotted budget in a manner to best start rebuilding the department’s morale (and productivity). I think it’s going well, but I’m staff not faculty. We shall see what we shall see. Still lots of little fiddly things coming up, but a lot calmer than even last week. I like calm. :)

    Got some stuff to do so can’t stay but I’ll be back to read, fierce, and reply sometime this morning. Healing energy going out in all directions, freely given. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Good morning, 60 and partly cloudy in Bellingham today. The air quality is better this morning….yesterday’s smokey haze was surreal. The sun looked like a moon all afternoon. I’m hoping for a few days of rain to put out all the fires and scrub the air clean again.

    Our daughter and her family return home to Oregon today. After a week of small children and dogs our house will seem very quiet! Our grandson stays until Saturday so we won’t be too lonely. He’s been great with his little girl cousins, but he’s ready for some teenage boy fun as well.

  11. SC House member Rep. Jenny Horne, from Charleston says, “Take the flag down!”

    CSPAN video

    Last word was the “keep the flag” contingent, including a guy who read the SC Articles of Secession from the floor of the House, were offering dozens of amendments. No final vote yet.

    • The South Carolina House passed the bill early this morning but had to include a resolution to the flag defenders “assuring them the flag would be respectfully handled and preserved in the museum”. I recommend that it gets the same amount of respect that was given South Carolina’s black citizens when the flag was put there during the nascent Civil Rights movement.

  12. Good morning, Meesepeeps! Thursday …

    It is 55 degrees in Madison on its way up to 78. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. Our several day cool spell is over. :(

    The GOP presidentials are going to need to trim their field a bit because it is really difficult to keep up with all the crazy. Jeb(!), the “smart one”, told ABC news that he wants to grow the economy by 4% and that means that everyone will “need to work longer hours”. This from a guy who has never worked a real job in his life, who is the son and grandson of millionaires and who amassed his own wealth by sitting on the boards of corporations. Twitter was abuzz as you can well imagine. So the party of the have-mores want to eliminate the minimum wage, raise the retirement age, and have everyone work longer hours. I think this may be their way to save Social Security: work us to death before we can collect it!

    And finally someone at RNC headquarters talked to The Donald about the GOP brand and how he is supposed to keep his hate mongering in his thought bubble like the successful Senate candidates in 2014 did, not wanting to Todd Atkin themselves … Lying To Get Electedtm is a much better brand.

    See all y’all later!

  13. Watched South Carolina debate – S.C. Rep Jenny Anderson Horne (R) said she had heard enough about “heritage” – and she is a direct descendant of Jefferson Davis

  14. Good morning, Meese! It’s 74 F. here in NoVa on a partly cloudy day, going to 90 F. Would you believe MORE thunderstorms are in the forecast for this afternoon? No wonder our baby wading pools are gathering dust—or rather, raindrops.

    Still feel grotty. Might have to cancel the lunch date tomorrow if this keeps on. Can’t talk much with my voice, only with my fingers. Miss Pink Cheeks and her mother are in New York visiting friends, so I have only Babylicious to look after. Yesterday was easy, in a way, as he took a couple of pretty long naps. However, he probably won’t today.

    I’ve discovered zucchini is a stealth vegetable! There I was, a-fumin’ and a-frettin’ because my zucchini plants seemed to do nothing but grow enormous leaves and blossoms. I couldn’t see any zukes growing. Then, all of a sudden, I went out and there was one of quite respectable size! How did I miss it? And how did I miss the fact that the runner beans have already come on? We had home-grown potatoes and string beans for dinner last night, and homegrown raspberries, blueberries, and exactly one blackberry for dessert.

    A good day to all at the Pond and beyond, with healing to those who need it!

    • Sending healing energy your way – and zucchinis are more stealthy than you think. Keep an eye on that thing or you’ll end up with baseball bat-sized zukes and more of them than one family can eat! (Best thing to do with baseball bat-sized zukes is slice them long-wise and use them to replace the noodles in a lasagna recipe.) Enjoy the garden produce and heal fast.

      • Thank you, bfitz! And what a good idea for dealing with the zukes if they get out of hand. Now tell me: how does one tell when a watermelon on the vine is ripe? Our Sugarbaby is still growing but one day she’ll be big enough to cut. But I don’t know what the outer and visible signs are of an inner sweet redness.

        • Once your Sugarbaby reaches the point it doesn’t get any bigger and has the dark green color, the test for picking is the “thump” – but trying to describe what you’re listening for is not easy :) A musician friend of mine said to listen for a “bass note”. I did more cantaloupes myself and they’re easy – when they slip the stem, they’re ready.

  15. Slept in, appointment isn’t till 11:30. Watching the news & Le Tour. There were more crashes yesterday, at least 1 more rider is out.

    Just hanging out. Bored, but happy to be so — I’m usually running 1,000mph so boring is actually nice.

  16. Good morning, it’s 61 and cloudy in Bellingham today. The wild fires in Whatcom County are all under control but smoke from the fires in BC is still making my eyes burn. Thankfully rain is forecast for the weekend.

    Our daughter and her family are safely home but our grandson is still staying with us so today’s activities need to be fun for a 14 yr old, yet restful for his tired grandparents. Might be a good day to take his bike and my lounge chair to the park. He can ride and explore and I can read and rest.

    • We had an air quality alert here yesterday related to smoke from the Canadian wildfires. I think it is better today but I haven’t been outside yet.

      Read and rest, princesspat! You deserve it after your busy week.

  17. 77 going up to 80 today and “partly cloudy” at the moment. (Generating at above 1 KWH for the 1st time since Monday.) Some more rain forecast for this afternoon which I hope doesn’t happen as I haven’t gotten a walk in since Tuesday morning. Still wrapping things up for FY15 but getting serious about the new ways of handling things for FY16. My part of that will be pretty much done soon – once the new program is designed I’ll be implementing it, but it will actually be less work than the “old” system. I’m looking forward to a whole lot better morale around here. Have the good Thor’s day {{{HUGS}}}

  18. well, that was……

    So it turns out that this was like plastic surgery. With a general anesthetic. And a $700 co-pay. I freaked out. Calling the Mohs surgeon when they re-open at 1, to ask that she just do stitches.

    • YIKES! I’d have freaked out, too. Where do they think we are, Sweden? Ordinary people do not do $700 co-pays in any country that has for-profit health care. And a general anesthetic without warning or accommodation for getting you home again? They’re nuts. Hang in there. Healing energy headed Austin-ward.

    • I also couldn’t change my own bandage, part of it had dried on. The dermatologist’s worked me in to take that off & re-bandage — without a co-pay. And they called another doc who is coming in at 7 in the morning to just do lidocaine & stitches. When I warned them that I cry when I get shots, the assistant even said she’ll let me in at 6:45 & give me numbing cream so maybe I won’t even cry at the shots. They said they’re going to take skin from either my forehead or somewhere & do a flap. So tomorrow will still be interesting, just hopefully not $700 interesting.

      • Sounds like your dermatologist’s office is full of good people. Golden light of healing.

      • Hoping for a painless procedure and some sort of resolution on those horrible fees

    • I am glad you called back and asked for something cheaper than their $700 procedure (and glad they accommodated you!).

      Part of the problem with health care in America is that for years we would just pay whatever because a doctor or a hospital billed it. No one would even ask what something would cost because most of the time someone else was picking up the tab. As insurance premiums kept going up exponentially and people, and businesses, had to change to plans with higher deductibles and bigger co-pays the costs became apparent. A few years back my doctor ordered a test and I asked what it would cost me. When I heard, I said “I can’t afford that” and told them I would skip it and take my chances. The ACA has changed more than the costs of insurance, it has put in place controls on prices and put the emphasis on outcomes, not procedures.

  19. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 61 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 82. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Trump. LOL. Ruder LOL.

    House GOP “Leadership”. LOL.

    p.s. Taking down the Confederate flag after you knew damn well it was being used as the flag of white supremacy, a flag that had gotten your state banned from hosting NCAA post-season play (the only state so sanctioned), FINALLY, but only after business interests expressed embarrassment, is NOT courageous. I am glad the flag is down but people who call Nikki Haley brave are misguided at best, willfully blind at worst.

    See all y’alls later!

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