Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: May 29th through June 4th

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?

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.

36 Comments

  1. Morning all – Day 4 without AC and thank goodness I got the fans I ordered last night. They help, but when it hits the 90’s outside, there’s only so much air movement can do. I decided to cancel my cleaners tomorrow and a health screening I had signed up for for Thursday, because I just didn’t know when the AC repair would happen. But YAY, they just called me, they’ve ordered the part and will get it tomorrow so they’ve scheduled the repair visit for mid day tomorrow!! I guess I could have kept the health screening, but I was thinking I should get a doctor visit scheduled and get most of those tests done in a setting where my health insurance would pay for at least some of it anyway, so it’s ok.

    Perusing Twitter this morning, I found this wonderful profile of Hillary by Rebecca Traister, in NY Magazine – it’s really worth reading the whole thing.

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2016/05/hillary-clinton-candidacy.html?mid=twitter-share-di

    Meanwhile, Bernie is caught on camera falling asleep at a Memorial Day event, and then laughing it up at the NBA Western Conference finals last night with Danny Glover – this following a rally in Oakland where the 99.5% white crowd actually had the nerve to sing “We Shall Overcome”. Tone deaf seem too kind a characterization of this guy and his followers.

    All right, one more day to get through, I hope, before order is restored in my house. Now I have to get the papers notarized for the property sale in TN and sent back to the title company, so that’s my project for the day. princesspat, so glad the estate sale process is going smoothly for you guys!

    Have a great day everyone!

    • I am still reading the NYMag story (I keep getting distracted/distracting myself). It is excellent. I hope some fence sitters read it. Not those sitting on the fence of whether to vote for her or not in the general election (they are beyond hope) but those who are sitting on the lesser-of-two-evils vs #ImWithHer fence. The article shows that there is a Hillary Clinton that people don’t know (“The idea that, at this point, there is some version of Hillary Clinton that we haven’t seen before feels implausible”) and that if they take time to learn more about her, they may become not just Hillary voters but Hillary supporters.

      Glad that your air conditioning problem is getting resolved sooner rather than later. I am trying to rationalize my use of the air conditioning – sure, my “comfort” is important but can I really afford to rack up big electric bills this early in the cooling year? I should probably get myself on a “budget plan” that gives me a fixed amount each month regardless of usage but I enjoy the weather “bonuses” that give me lower electric bills in the winter and lower gas bills in the summer.

  2. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 63 degrees in Madison on its way up to 82. Morning showers are in the forecast. Last night a storm went through at about 2am and disturbed me and the dog. Fortunately my daughter slept through it … I can take a nap later.

    The news is … freakish. I am not sure how Donald Trump wins anyone other than Fox News viewers if he is building his campaign on bashing the press, bashing federal judges with Hispanic surnames, trying to rip off veterans, defending himself in a lawsuit over his scam university, and attacking the establishment in his own party. To his supporters, he is coated in Teflon, certain that every attack is being launched by the PC police and people who don’t want America to be great again. They are a minority in this country and I hope for all our sakes that they are a minority of voters. I am glad that we have an experienced candidate with a top notch campaign staff to go up against him. No one knows what Trump will do and being prepared for everything is going to be important.

    Off to read Dee’s post! See all y’all later!

  3. Good morning Meese
    Good to see “Trump the Crook” being hit hard for his scams

    Former Trump University Workers Call the School a ‘Lie’ and a ‘Scheme’ in Testimony

    In blunt testimony revealed on Tuesday, former managers of Trump University, the for-profit school started by Donald J. Trump, portray it as an unscrupulous business that relied on high-pressure sales tactics, employed unqualified instructors, made deceptive claims and exploited vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands for Mr. Trump’s insights.

    One sales manager for Trump University, Ronald Schnackenberg, recounted how he was reprimanded for not pushing a financially struggling couple hard enough to sign up for a $35,000 real estate class, despite his conclusion that it would endanger their economic future. He watched with disgust, he said, as a fellow Trump University salesman persuaded the couple to purchase the class anyway.

    I see the burnouts are throwing CA Gov. Jerry Brown under the bus for endorsing Hillary. Sad.

    57 here – going up to 86.
    Have writing to do – and have to make more coffee
    Seeya later.

    • The bernouts need a lesson in “How to Win Friends and Influence People”. Purity is killing their movement and every new insult to pragmatism is making it less likely that their god Bernie Sanders will have an opportunity to be part of shaping the Democratic Party of the future. I will throw my lot in with the millennials – they call themselves Hillennials! – who are building upon the Obama coalition, not trying to tap into the anger of the demagogues. There is already a candidate and an entire party for butthurt white males – our tent is big but there is no place in it for people who don’t respect others and who have no sense of history.

  4. Good morning, Moosekind, and another beautiful Woden’s Day it is in NoVa! Currently it’s 63 F., going up to 84 F. Cannot…believe…today is June first!

    Not many thoughts in my head this morning, too tired. One of my apple trees has brown spots on the leaves. Must Google that. Problem is, I don’t like to put poison on my trees, so can’t solve the problem that way. It’s hard to grow apples in Virginia, I’ve been told, with all our pests.

    Will post “Jolyon” here a bit later this morning and catch up with other posts. Everyone have a great day!

  5. More rain & flooding. A woman was killed tubing near Barton Springs. And they’re still looking for the 2nd person who was in the truck that got swept off the road last week. it’s much worse in Houston. Wish we could send the water to California.

    Yesterday was….. madness. Day back after a long weekend & of course not everyone was here. I’m glad we’re popular, I just hope things calm down a bit today. I’ll use my usual coping mechanism of making sure the iPod in my head is playing U2.

  6. 64 at what passed for dawn, 70 now, may or may not make it to the predicted 77, may or may not actually rain (we got a few sprinkles about an hour ago) but overcast and the 98% humidity is making my joints ache! (Some parts of getting older suck.) Finished out May with 487.58 KWHs but haven’t gotten even 1 yet for June. sigh Oh well, still haven’t turned my A/C on this season and looks like I won’t for another week.

    Not sure what to say about the State of the Nation – we’ve always had a 20% fascist component (not necessarily evil, but truly believe that fascism is the best form of government/economy combination) and another 40% good-hearted but easily manipulated by scare tactics. We’ve always had a 20% progressive component and another 20% who can be motivated by calls to the good that is within them. The fight is always over that 60% good-hearted, sometimes gormless, mostly not interested in politics group. I think Hillary’s team has the right balance of tactics to comfort and reassure the fearful ones while calling for the best that’s in us to get not only this election won, but the progressive agenda moved forward once she’s in the White House. But I’m not going to get complacent. The Rs are masters of scaring people and we need at least 10% +1 of those who respond most to fear.

    Trying to get some stuff done, as usual. Much of it is currently stuck in the approval chain, as usual. But I’d best get on it. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Good morning, 63, breezy and cloudy in Bellingham. It’s good to be home! I slept nearly 10 hrs last night so I’m feeling rested and ready to unpack and reconnect with my garden. I should go to the pool but being quietly outdoors has more appeal.

    • Yay for “reconnecting with your garden”! I am sure that will feel wonderful.

  8. Morning all! Another bright, HOT day here – and I’m desperately hoping the AC guys show up when they said they would and can actually fix the problem and get my AC working. I can cope with the heat, although it’s just a drag on me, but I worry constantly about my dogs. So far, the fans seem to help, but I want to get back to normal.

    If you missed my post yesterday, I highly recommend the profile of Hillary by Rebecca Traister that I linked to in there – it’s really wonderful. Bernie continues to show why he’s unfit for the Presidency, indeed for the Senat imo – he gave an interview to Rolling Stone very recently in which he basically admits he knows nothing about governing or about issues outside his standard stump speech. Seriously? He’s verging on Trumpian ignorance.

    http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/bernie-sanders-fights-on-the-rolling-stone-interview-20160531?page=5

    Here’s a damning (to me) excerpt:

    So how do you do it? What are the specifics that allow you to—

    What are the specifics about how I, personally, all by myself, do what nobody in American history has done? And I’m being criticized? Why don’t you do it? Why doesn’t the editor of Rolling Stone do it? Look. You know. With all due respect, that’s an absurd question.
    ….

    But you’d still likely face Paul Ryan as your negotiating partner. And I’m trying to figure out how you get something like public-college-for-all passed with Paul Ryan as your counterpart. Given that you just said today that they won’t play ball.

    To answer that question successfully requires us to think outside of a zero-sum game. …. So what’s the strategy? The strategy – which is unprecedented, and this is where we’re talking about thinking outside the box – is to have a president who actually, vigorously goes around the country and rallies the American people, who are in favor of this idea. …

    Now, is it easy to do? No. How do you do it? It’s a good question. And the truth is, right now I’m a bit busy running for president to have figured that out, other than to tell you that it requires a mass-based political effort bringing millions of people together to stand up and fight back. …..

    IOW he has no clue. And then he sent out a tweet yesterday on getting universal health care that mentioned FDR, Truman and LBJ as Presidents who paved the way. Geez, I feel like there’s one recent President’s name missing from that list…. Sanders just seems to go out of his way to insult Pres Obama and black voters. I can’t wait for this primary season to be over – one more week.

    Ok, everyone, think good thoughts about AC repair! And have a great day!

    • Hope you can get your air conditioning fixed, Geordie!

      Ours went on the blink too. We decided to get a Chinese HVAC guy, because our son said they’re less expensive—there’s a whole subculture of Chinese repair people, realtors, loan officers, electricians, and construction subcontractors, all accessible through our Chinese daughter-in-law. He came over within the hour, went back to get the relevant part, and fixed it El Fasto!

      Don’t know about less expensive. We’re still gloomily contemplating what it all cost. But we can’t do without a.c. in this climate, especially in July and August.

    • Holding the good thought for your A/C situation. Unless your dogs are malamutes or something like that (or have health issues) they’ll handle the no A/C better than you will.

    • I don’t own anything orange – but I’ll find something. Thanks for the reminder.

      • I happen to have quite a few bright orange outfits – wear them on my property when in the woods – because we get hunters who trespass.

  9. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 54 degrees in Madison on its way up to 75. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. Blessed relief from the heat – windows open!!

    The president was in Elkhart Indiana to take a victory lap on his economic policies. He also previewed “campaign mode” in his attacks on the Republican Party and their pukative nominee. But here is something positive – a buy-in by everyone in the Democratic Party to fix Social Security in a way that helps seniors now and in the future:

    “It is time we finally made Social Security more generous and increase the benefits so that today’s retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they have earned,” Obama said in Elkhart, Indiana, during a speech in which he spoke against Republican economic policies. […]

    “Retirement insecurity is an obvious problem for middle- and low-income families and both Social Security and Medicare are highly efficient programs,” said Jared Bernstein, a former Obama White House economic adviser and now a senior fellow at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. “It took a while, but I think Democrats have come to realize that defending, strengthening, and even expanding these security-enhancing programs is what makes them Democrats.”

    Secretary Clinton has already come out in support of expanding benefits but having the president preparing the way will be a huge help. I am not sure I completely agree with the analysis that “it took a while” for Democrats to embrace Social Security (the article also buys into the fiction that President Obama had planned to cut Social Security as part of the Grand Bargain in 2011) but I am happy to see Social Security become a campaign issue. “Lift The Cap!” It even fits on a bumper sticker. :)

    The president’s speech is on YouTube and the transcript has already been released so after I get my morning work done, I will put up a post.

    See all y’all later!

    • Jan, “pukative nominee”—brilliant!

      Glad to hear about the “lift the cap” meme. I don’t think we’ve had a COLA in Social Security for three years now.

  10. Good morning Meese.
    Headed to campus this morning for a 9:30 meeting to discuss fall semester content for our “intro to women’s studies class” – which we team teach.

    62 and going up to 85 here in the Catskills – should be a really nice day.

  11. Good morning, Moosekind! The Moose is acting up today. Had to clear out “Preferences” before I could comment.

    Cloudy this morning in NoVA, currently 63 F. with plans to go up to 80 F. Rain expected after sunset. I wish I could believe it would rain now, the trees and plants need it badly. I’ll have to water the front this morning.

    Feeling depressed since learning about the death of a childhood friend of my sons. It appears to have been suicide. He was a troubled soul, so I wish I could believe he is at peace now.

    Have posted Part I of “Jolyon” in the Fiction part of “Just Grazin'” in case anyone feels like reading during her lunch break. Going to read Denise’s post now.

    Hope everyone has a good day.

    • {{{Diana}}} – my daddy committed suicide – you always wonder and grieve and hope they found peace, but after the first raw jolt works it’s way through you find peace and that will have to do for this time/space continuum.

    • I saw that your story was posted last night and will go peek at it later. I have been busy this morning on project work and just now came up for air.

  12. More rain & flooding. It really is a shame we can’t send this to California. Yesterday was also super busy at work, hoping things calm down a bit. With the legislature coming into session in January, I’m glad we’re popular, but I can’t take many more super busy days.

    I keep sleeping wrong & my shoulder is stiff. A workout would probably help, but I don’t wanna go to the gym.

    I opened a tab to youtube, looking for whatever my earworm was, and it vanished because one of the suggested videos is this – the original one for I Will Follow, and the guys are just babies. There is very little Adam in this video which is fine because he was in an unfortunate hair phase. Also, IWF is the song I talked about for my story for the U2 fan book. I really do think the notes of that song wrapped themselves around my spine.

  13. 66 at what passed for dawn supposedly heading for 75. Overcast although not dark enough to cause the streetlights to come on. Sort of sprinkling now and supposed to really rain about lunch time. Humidity at 97% so joints creaky – thank goddess it’s not over 75, with that humidity it would be very uncomfortable if it were also warm. Not exactly starting June with a bang as far as energy production is concerned. Got just over 12 KWHs yesterday and will be lucky to match it today (unlike May which had 20+ KWH days the entire first week). Oh well, haven’t turned the A/C on yet and don’t expect to until Sunday if then (it’s supposed to clear off – good because it’s laundry day – and get hotter, but the lows are also supposed to get lower so the house may stay comfortable without A/C as long as I don’t do late in the day baking).

    Got some payroll prep stuff to do – prior to the addition of multiple approvals and multiple steps I wouldn’t be worried about it for another two weeks, but… Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Hillary Clinton will make a national security speech this afternoon from San Diego, scheduled for 2:30pm Eastern.

    CSPAN Link: Hillary Clinton National Security Policy Address

    Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton delivers a speech in San Diego, California laying out her national security vision for keeping Americans safe at home and continuing to play a leading role on the world stage.

    From Reuters:

    Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton will slam Republican Donald Trump for being too friendly with North Korea and too harsh on European allies during a foreign policy speech in California on Thursday, designed to paint the billionaire businessman as unfit for the White House.

    He handed her the brush and the paint – should be pretty easy to paint this picture.

  15. Good morning, 57 and cloudy in Bellingham. I’ve got a busy day ahead, with bills to pay, laundry and errands to do, and another long nap to take!

    I’m finally engaged in reading another Malazan book, Toll The Hounds, so I’ve got a got an escape from reality when I need one. Given the endless election and on going family demands I welcome the interesting distraction.

  16. Morning all from my lovely cool house!!! The AC guys were here for a couple of hours yesterday afternoon, and they must have properly diagnosed the problem because replacing the part plus some other stuff, seems to have done the trick, yay! Joni Mitchell was so right – you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. Dogs and I had a much more comfortable night – I really slept well.

    I don’t understand how Trump can continue as a Presidential candidate after the breaking of this Trump University scam stuff – seriously, anybody else would have been finished after yesterday, but the press continues to take him seriously. THIS is how fascism happens here, MSM – do your job and go after this guy for real criminal behavior with even half the zeal of your pursuit of fake Clinton “scandals” like Whitewater over the past 25 years, and we may yet save our democracy!

    And, as Shakesville says, “What are you even doing Bernie?” Now he says he’ll continue to pursue superdelegates after June 7th – this is just delusional behavior, and I have to think it’s designed to keep sucking in campaign contributions from the guillible who can be convinced it’s not over. It’s over, Bernie, have some dignity, man. I really hope Al Giordano follows thru on his threat to run for Bernie’s Senate seat in 2018 – it’s time for Bernie to retire from the national stage.

    OK, gotta get this POA form notarized and sent to Nashville, and get some groceries in for the weekend – have a great day everyone!

    • Geordie, glad you’re cool, literally and figuratively! You said:

      THIS is how fascism happens here, MSM – do your job and go after this guy for real criminal behavior with even half the zeal of your pursuit of fake Clinton “scandals” like Whitewater over the past 25 years, and we may yet save our democracy!

      Dear Goddess, yes.

  17. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 53 degrees in Madison on its way up to 83. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Yikes! What a news day yesterday! I was following Secretary Clinton’s speech on Twitter and saw the announcement that Paul Ryan had endorsed Donald Trump – on the same day that Trump said that a Hispanic surname disqualified a judge from hearing his case. The devolution of the modern Republican Party is complete. There is no one left who can even pretend to care more about their country than their party. People will say that Ryan was forced to give in to soothe his House caucus but that caucus was his own creation, the politics of power-at-any-cost – politics built on destroying the good government initiatives that have kept people out of poverty and built a strong middle-class. I am not sure how long it will take for the American people to forcefully reject the Ryan-Trump party at all levels of government; Democrats must do everything we can to tie every single Republican officeholder to the Trump boat anchor. Setting aside the “unsuited to control the nuclear codes”, think about this:

    Matt O’Brien @ObsoleteDogma

    How racist does Trump have to be before Paul Ryan decides the hope of a tax cut for the rich isn’t worth it?

    See all y’alls later!

  18. Good morning Meese!

    Elated with Hillary’s speech and her jabs at Trump.

    Today is Nadhiyr’s birthday (the hubby) We will go out to our fav restaurant this evening – one that does not serve “nouvelle cuisine” (huge plate, little food and a lot of decorative parsley)

    • Those were more than jabs! Those drew blood. Trump’s only response was to call for her to be jailed. Ha! He must believe the right-wing media that is convinced that there is something criminal about Hillary’s handling of emails while she was Secretary of State. Sorry, Donald! No laws were broken, just a disregard for administrative rules which she has apologized for. Now, about the fraud uncovered in the investigation of Trump U? That’s criminal.

      Happy birthday to Nadhiyr!!!! I hope you have a nice birthday meal. I only went to a “nouvelle cuisine” restaurant once … and left hungry!

    • I put up a post of Hillary’s speech (with full transcript):

      Hillary Clinton: “This isn’t reality television – this is actual reality”

      While I was building the post, I got to listen to it again. She really did a great job. The reactions yesterday were interesting. The berners were saying she had no right to talk about national security because she voted for the AUMF in 2002. Disqualified!!! The right-wing said that the speech was all about how bad Trump would be and not about what she would do (they obviously didn’t listen). But most people thought it was an excellent way to lay out the stakes in this election: if you truly think that putting Donald Trump in charge of the world’s most powerful military and handing him the nuclear codes is a good idea, you are insane.

      The general election has started … that was a good kickoff.

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