Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: July 26th through Aug. 1st

July 26, 2015 JanF Community 121

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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34 Comments

  1. Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …

    It is 65 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 87. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Good morning, Meese. How did it get to the end of July?
    Diana, don’t you have a new family member making an appearance this week? That’s quite exciting!
    Hope it’s a good day for all in the Pond and Beyond.

  3. Up for my workout. Coach posted something about a “challenge” today. Oh dear….. Back later.

  4. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s 69 F. today, going up to 90 F.—arggh! Definitely a grill-out kind of day. We’ve turned the a.c. back on.

    Portlaw, that is my question exactly! How on earth did it get to be the last week in July already? After the race today I need to work on part II of “Getting Unhexed.” And yes, on Wednesday the 29th my DIL will go to the hospital to have her first child, my fifth grandchild! We are all excited. Elder son sent a selfie he called “Last Free Weekend,” showing his hands holding a cigar and a glass of beer on the table of the patio of his house.

    Haven’t really looked at the news yet. Mostly staying away from Bernie Central these days, but did read a diary concerning a horrifying, robotic method of “teaching” called “No-Nonsense Nurturing,” in which the teacher doesn’t even address the children in full sentences. Ugh! Thus does oligarchy seek to turn us into serfs. I’ve said for years that America is now a feudal society.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!

    • Please put a link somewhere for your story – for reasons I will never understand the only way I can get to that site is if I click on your link and I’d really like to read part II. Holding the good thought for your 5th grandchild. And I read the FP over at GOS about that school – I think evil is probably the best I can come up with.

  5. Good morning, 59 and cloudy in Bellingham today. Rain showers didn’t dampen the fun at the wedding barbecue yesterday and Emma’s 13th birthday party today will be a rain or shine family celebration. I have flowers waiting to make her a more sophisticated birthday bouquet, but want to use a square vase so I’ve got a creative challenge. I think I know what to do…..and I’ll soon find out!

    I had a chocolate ganache failure yesterday when for some reason the chocolate separated. It tasted fine but looked messy, so a quick trip to the store and a remake happened. The second try started to separate as well but I was able to “save” it. I packaged the cupcakes in a floral delivery box, along with napkins and a small bouquet so they looked festive and made those who knew smile :)

  6. So the “challenge” was to do 5 miles. Ugh. I could barely stand up for the hymms at church. Though today, we sang Be Thou My Vision, which made me happy. Now I gotta cook. Quinoa with vegetables, and then a cauliflower risotto. I’ll be sitting a lot.

  7. Happy last Sunday in July – went to a seminar on Global Warming this afternoon – not only nothing new, not even new twists on the stuff I already knew. The upshot was to present the “Carbon Fee and Dividend” proposal one of the national groups is proposing. It, like everything else that would work if we did it, is a good idea that will go nowhere. The poor innocents (some of them my age) think that because this is a “Market” solution the Rs will come on board. The Rs can’t admit GW exists so how are you going to get them on board with a solution to it? sigh. 90 at the moment (6:12 pm CDT) with a heat index of 105. Hope everybody – and their kith and kin – are doing well. {{{HUGS}}}

  8. Good morning, meese! Monday …

    It is 64 degrees in Madison on its way up to 87. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast.

    I was watching the racial justice protests in Cleveland unfold on Twitter and the video of the Cleveland cop casually pepper spraying the crowd (and his fellow officers!) was incredible. I am not sure what we need to do to fix this but it is grossly unfair that the police are there to arrest and shoot black citizens and serve and protect white citizens. Attorney General Loretta Lynch is trying to get up to speed but the unconscionable delay in her confirmation makes it slow going. Over the weekend, she spoke to ABC News

    “We have a situation where many minority communities for so long have felt that law enforcement was coming in essentially to enforce laws against them, not to protect them.” Lynch said. “I do think that what has been a important part of the debate in Miss Bland’s death has been the discussions that we’ve seen from community members and police leaders alike…about the importance of training and deescalating incidents.”

    Over the past 5 years, the 10 largest police departments in the country paid $1.02 billion to settle claims resulting from police malfeasance. White and black citizens alike must demand that police departments quit squandering their money, and the lives and futures of their young people, on payoffs to protect cops, and start putting that money into training and screening. There is no excuse, none.

    Trump makes liars out of the pundits as he gets within two points of Walker in Iowa; Cruz and Lee, shot down by their fellow senators (p.s. they came up short on the elebenty billion repeal of the ACA); Mike Huckabee, OMFSM! “Obama marching the Israelis to the door of the ovens“? Go away.

    See all y’all later!

    • Y’know, it wouldn’t be difficult to think Goddess sent Trump to whack the other Rethugs in the clown car. Walker scares me with his cold, dead eyes and Koch habit.

      Trump is the Clown King but by George, he’s not afraid to call out his fellow Rethugs. I’m still chuckling over his Rick Perry comment and the fact that he said “Walker ruined Wisconsin.”

  9. Morning Meese
    70 degrees in Saugerties NY and more rain on the way
    We had torrential rain last night with thunder and lightning…I got very little sleep

    NYC is one of the worst offenders in having to pay out money for wrongful convictions. The WSJ article is very telling – thanks for linking Jan

    The cost of resolving police-misconduct cases has surged for big U.S. cities in recent years, even before the current wave of scrutiny faced by law-enforcement over tactics.

    The 10 cities with the largest police departments paid out $248.7 million last year in settlements and court judgments in police-misconduct cases, up 48% from $168.3 million in 2010, according to data gathered by The Wall Street Journal through public-records requests.

    Those cities collectively paid out $1.02 billion over those five years in such cases, which include alleged beatings, shootings and wrongful imprisonment. When claims related to car collisions, property damage and other police incidents are included, the total rose to more than $1.4 billion.

    On Monday, New York City agreed to a $5.9 million settlement with the estate of Eric Garner, whose death after being put in a police chokehold last summer sparked widespread protests.

    City officials and others say the large payouts stem not just from new cases, but from efforts to resolve decades-old police scandals. In 2013 and 2014, for example, Chicago paid more than $60 million in cases where people were wrongfully imprisoned decades ago because of alleged police misconduct.

  10. I couldn’t understand why my alarm was going off so early this morning — couldn’t grasp that it’s Monday. Still not positive this isn’t just a dream. Had a really awful night’s “sleep”, if you could even call it that. And even better news — I was looking up info on the sleep aid I take, for the maximum dose & read that you shouldn’t take it if you take my allergy med, zyrtec. Yay.

    And this came through my twitter stream:

    UP Pastry Plate retweeted
    SciencePorn ‏@SciencePorn

    You’re a ghost driving a meat coated skeleton made from stardust, what do you have to be scared of?

    And I’m sitting at my desk, eating broccoli & quinoa & drinking tea, so I’m pretty sure I’m not asleep. I don’t know that my dreaming mind could reproduce the flavor of broccoli so realistically.

    May try walking before work tomorrow.Maybe that’ll help my sleep. Though yesterday’s 5 miles didn’t.

  11. Charles Blow in the NYTImes today writing about Sandra Bland’s funeral

    But, it must always be remembered that the parameters of “respectable behavior” are both raced and gendered. The needle moves to differing positions for different people. That is, I believe, one of the reasons that this minor traffic stop so quickly escalated.

    How dare a woman not present as a damsel? How dare a black person not bow in obsequiousness?

    There are so many unanswered questions in this case and so many things that don’t, on their face, make sense. The public wants answers, but more importantly, the family needs answers. As her mother said, “I’m the mama, and I still don’t know what happened to my baby!”

    The pastor extolled those gathered to “go online and shut down the Justice Department’s website, asking for a federal investigation.” Indeed, Senator Dick Durbin and Representative Bill Foster both said at the funeral that they’d each sent letters to Attorney General Loretta Lynch requesting such an investigation.

    And both Bland’s mother and Pastor Miller took swipes at the media’s portrayal of Sandy.

    Miller demanded that responsible media stop showing images of Bland’s scarred body, “lining your pockets with the blood of our child!” As Miller said, “You have stepped on the cat’s tail.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/27/opinion/charles-blow-at-sandra-blands-funeral-celebration-and-defiance.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-2&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&region=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article bold mine

    • The attacks on Sandra Bland are disgusting. “Uppity” is only a crime when you are a young black woman … and in Bland’s case it resulted in a death penalty.

      Apparently Waller County Texas has a long history of racism: at one point it led the nation in lynchings. The guy running the jail has a checkered past and some of his comments are terribly offensive. The district attorney there says they “fixed” all their past problems. Nice try!!

  12. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s 75 F. under sunny skies at the moment, going up to all-the-eights. We had predawn rain showers and lightning but I slept through it. “They” say we’ll have more thunderstorms this afternoon. Fine with me if it actually happens, the garden needs it.

    Late to the party because both Dearly Beloved and I had to rush over to Younger Son’s house this morning—he to drive Miss Pink Cheeks to the first day of a two-week math camp, I to pick up Babylicious and take him to the Monday babysitter. This enabled Younger Son to put the house to rights before leaving for work. They’ve put their house on the market after less than two years in it. Will they ever tire of moving? This will be their fourth since Miss Pink Cheeks was born and she’s six.

    Hope very much to catch up with the Moose front page between chores. Haven’t really looked at the news yet. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!

  13. Happy Last Monday in July from Fay., AR – 80 with a heat index of 88 already – heat index will be in triple digits by noon. “They” say thunderstorm possible around 3 this afternoon but it’s a 12% chance. All of our predicted rain has moved into next week (so I’ll need to water the nursery stock before I leave for work in the morning unless that 12% morphs into 100% real fast). Haven’t looked at the news yet. Probably won’t do more than read the FPs here and at teh GOS – and then hide out in the pootie diary this afternoon, presupposing I have time to do anything except deal with the stuff on my desk. Have a pleasant day – whether productive or laid back – and {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Good morning, 58 and cloudy in Bellingham today. Ava just arrived so between going to the pool and keeping up with her my day will be fun and busy. Fortunately RonK is picking berries to make his annual batch of blackberry wine and she’s a great helper. He makes a dry and deep red wine that tastes like summer.

    Last night’s dinner conversation was interesting. Our old friends now live in Florida, Paris, and visit family in Brazil so they see American politics through a broader lens. I know very little about real life living in Brazil so it was interesting to learn more about why they left that country and why they enjoy living in France for several months in the fall.

      • Florida is miserable at all times, both the political climate and the physical climate. I have no idea why people choose to live there.

    • Wow, blackberry wine! Sounds great! Your neighbors sound fascinating, princesspat.

      I don’t drink wine, so when I get hold of blackberries, I make blackberry roly-poly.

  15. Good morning, meesies! Tuesday …

    It is 67 degrees in Madison on its way up to 89. Mostly sunny skies in the forecast.

    Why does it not surprise me that The Donald believes that there is no such thing as marital rape? Sadly, it will probably bolster his ratings from the fundies who believe that wives are property and the government has no business dictating what a man can do with his property.

    The president trolled both Mike Huckabee and Trump. Wonkette has the best explainer.

    The administration is getting set to announce the finalized Clean Power Plan, putting in place new rules on allowable carbon emissions. President Obama has extracted pledges from 13 giant companies to cut back on energy use (there will be more announced in the fall in advance of the Paris climate talks). At the other end of the spectrum, 14 states whose lawsuit against the EPA was rejected by a 3-judge panel of the DC Circuit has asked for a full court review. THIS is why elections matter: the DC Circuit, thanks to Harry Reid invoking the nuclear option and getting President Obama’s nominees confirmed, now leans left. Or, more properly, rules in favor of the law, not ideology.

    See all y’all later!!

    • HAHAHAHA! Wonkette was what I needed this morning. Thanks Jan.

      68 and cloudy here – going up to a humid 91.

      Following the aftermath of the pepper-spraying incident at the Black Lives Matter gathering in Cleveland.

      The confrontation provided an ironic ending to a conference birthed from protests over police violence. More than 1,200 black activists spent a weekend organizing and discussing police use of force and other social just issues.

      • Wonkette is a national treasure. And Kaili Joy Gray is one of their best.

        That Cleveland incident was disheartening. The cop was a transit cop, and apparently, from his actions, bummed out that he was not getting any of that “make the blah people run and scream” action. The coldhearted way he sprayed was chilling; I have no doubt that he would have just as easily pulled out a gun and shot them all.

        The issue of cop-on-people-of-color violence is national but not national. It is national in the scope of the problem but there is little that the federal government can do: they are called in to investigate after an incident … and may file a civil rights lawsuit after someone is killed or maimed. But they can’t compel a municipality or state to rein in excessive use of force or require them to train police officers better or do a better job screening so that psychopaths are not given guns and badges. What needs to happen is that every incident needs to result in a lawsuit until the cities and counties and states come to grips with the $ cost of ignoring what is happening. Then the press needs to report the total costs of complacency. Their law enforcement practices are immoral and in a just world that would be enough to make them want to change. But we don’t have a just world and the only way to get anyone’s attention is to make them pay and pay and pay until finally people say “why the hell are we paying to protect a bunch of thugs from responsibility for their actions?”

        • Might get some change if we had an honest media – put up a counter of citizens killed by cops in the corner running in realtime, something like the old newspaper banner that posted lynchings. Not sure of course, but that kind of reporting helped end Vietnam.

  16. Good morning, Meese, it’s another hottie today. It’s 71 F. now, going up to 88 F. again today. Actually, it’s more like 92 F., computer predictions and TV predictions being somewhat divergent.

    Got to leave here shortly to pick up The Littles from their house so Dad can put the place to rights before he goes to work. Someone might come to view it today. They’ve already had several showings. Wish Younger Son and DIL would just settle down.

    Racism in the police force—don’t know what can be done, really, except at the very least take away the armor. You don’t go to war against your own citizens, unless you’re expecting a Russian-style revolution. There’s a whole segment of the population, at least 50 percent, that’s poisoned by Fox. If Fox “News” could be banned somehow, there would be less poisoning of minds.

    Must rush off—hope everyone will have a good day!

    • Don’t need to ban Fox News – do need to require that News be actual facts, that something can’t call itself “news” unless it is, but mostly do need to break up the media monopoly. At this point Fox is driving the “news” and has been overtly since 2000, covertly since about 1995 (or earlier – I’d been weaning myself off TV since the 1980s and hadn’t had cable since the 1970s so I’m not sure when they started taking over). But break up the media monopolies so that there’s real competition like there was 100 years ago, even 50 years ago although they were starting to merge already by the 1960s, and you’d see some RWNJ spots and some LWNJ spots and a whole lot of in between competing with each other to get actual news out.

  17. I walked this morning! 23 minutes, 1.13 miles. Yay me. Had another lousy night’s sleep, the last time I woke up was 3:50. I dozed a little till the alarm went off, but, ugh. Maybe tonight, between the walking & the little sleep, I’ll get to sleep.

    Earworm is the lovely, drifty Rise Up, which is not helping me stay awake. Must figure a way for more caffeine.

  18. Good morning! It’s going up to the nineties today and am not happy about it. Off to read the news. Hope it’s a good day in the Pond and Beyond!

  19. Happy Last Tuesday in July! Already in the 80s at 8 am CDT – heat index will be in the triple digits by noon (we hit 111 heat index between 1 & 2 yesterday). Summer time. I’ve noticed that no matter what season it is, most folks – me included – seem to be ready for it to be over about a month before it actually is! :) News mostly sux – not that I’ve looked at it but with the philosophy of “if it bleeds, it leads” in the media, the news always sux. American can do better. Thing is America always could and chose not to. “Yes, We Can” always irritated me (aside from mostly not attributing the source” because we always could. I’m looking for “Yes, We Will” changing into “Yes, We Are” – I’m hoping my grandsons and any greats I may have will be able to say, “Yes, We Did” because the job is too big for one generation to finish. But we will never finish if we don’t start. (rant over.) Hope the Moose Pond is peaceful and the Meeses are doing well at whatever they are doing today. {{{HUGS}}}

  20. Good morning, 61 and sunny in Bellingham and I have no grand kids or social commitments today. I was going to read my book this morning, but being in the garden is feeling more and more tempting. The ivy growing on the fences and along the rockery needs to be clipped so I may just do that, and then read while I rest and recover.

    We enjoyed dinner with more old friends last night and commiserated about the fun and challenges of caring for grand kids and gardens and the surprise of being in our 70’s. Their garden is very clipped and tidy…quite a contrast to the more natural, but bordering on out of control look of our garden. Clipping the ivy will help, but I need to call the garden crew to prune the hedge and the yew trees. No more pruning on ladders for us!

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