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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Good morning on a very muggy day here in NY – humidity 90% and rain in the forecast. we had thunderstorms at night – did not get to see the meteor shower.
Olympics watching has been my go-to – to avoid trumpery.
Love this tweet:
I liked this one, too!
Love it! :)
I like both of them – not sure which best, but inclining towards the “First Simone Biles” – You go, girl! :)
I got up early to see the Persieds, so of course it is cloudy. Sigh. Well, at least there was seriously no traffic on the way in. Another 100+ degree day, then it’ll cool off tomorrow — and rain on Sunday with a high of (brrrr) 90.
I dumped even extra instant tea in my already strong tea. Fridays suck at my office because we are so short handed. And I’m lifting weights after work. And I have to get up tomorrow for my 1st group workout — at least this one is at 9; the 7am starts next week.
Head is playing Chocolate, by Snow Patrol. A total nonsense song. Never mentions chocolate, or food. Some of the individual lines make sense, even some couplets. But nothing goes together for longer than that. Still, I love the song.
Hi, another, I’ve often wondered why song lyrics make no sense at all. There was a particularly obnoxious ditty, popular many years ago, with lyrics that went like this:
We had joy, we had fun
We had seasons in the sun
And the hills that we climbed
Were just seasons out of time.
Duh. And in “If I Were a Carpenter” by Bobby Darin, it was:
If I were a miller
At a mill wheel grinding
Would you still love your color boy
His soft shoe shining
Double duh…
If they’d tried a little harder they could have come up with words to fit the tune.
my favorite couplet in Chocolate is:
Goodness knows I saw it coming, or at least I’ll claim I did
But in truth I’m lost for words
that makes sense, but doesn’t go with the lines before or after it
How come these sorts of things are not widely reported?
Hillary Clinton is now at a net 0 for favorable/unfavorable, Trump is at -24.
Oops! There goes the “both candidates are equally disliked” meme.
Jan—the theme stays if you’re an overfed, overpaid, aging, entitled white male sitting in front of a computer screen in an air-conditioned office all day because you’re too lazy to get off your bohunkus and do some real reporting.
How I despise the so-called journalists. They’re stenographers, not journalists. I lived with a journalist from birth to age 21. I know what a real one does.
Good morning, and welcome to another lovely Friday in which the heat index will get up to 100 or 110 degrees Fahrenheit here in NoVa.
Had to fast for 12 hours so I could go to the lab this morning and get blood taken. Have a doctor’s appointment Monday morning. Today will be a child-free day, so I must get everything done. Have acupuncture at 10, followed by gym, then I have to pick up a LuAnn Bennett yard sign. She’s running against Barbara (Transvaginal Probe legislation voter ) Comstock. I do wish this would be a wave election that would sweep the Rethugs out of office.
Haven’t had time to look at the news yet, although I had a quick look at the Metro section of the WaPo. It appears that if we actually do go to England next month we’ll have to Trumpslain the whole time we’re there, according to Petula Dvorak’s column today.
Gotta work on my blog for Sunday, so will wish a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
Happy Friday – steamy, soggy Friday – it was 80 at sunrise and overcast so I opened up for the cats but didn’t turn on the fan to bring any of that humidity inside. Got a barely-respectable for August 16.9 KWHs yesterday and unfortunately not likely to repeat it today unless the clouds clear off. More unfortunately we’ve got predicted rain/cloud cover for the next week. But it is supposed to get down in the 70s with overnights in the 60 next week. I’ll believe it when I feel it. :)
Going to read Hillary’s speech when I get time – thanks for posting the transcript, Jan – can’t listen to it at work and the sound isn’t working on my laptop, darn it. Even after I uninstalled all those updates I shouldn’t have allowed to install, still no sound. In fact the “problem solver” can’t find the audio device, although if I click on the audio icon not only is it there, it thinks it’s working just fine. Messing with my head, my temper, and my ability to hear some good speeches/talks from Hillary. I can’t decide whether Trump is flat-out nutz or is doing his best to not win a job he doesn’t want because it’s too much work. I’m inclined to the former. But Hillary is just a shining light on the hill – or at least the current carrier of the torch that she dutifully accepted from our foremothers – awesome in the true sense of the word. At least she fills me with awe.
Got to finish out the End of Summer HR and procurement stuff today being it’s the last day before the AY17 contracts start (for the 9-monthers) on Monday. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Did you try rolling back the computer to one of the restore points? That will sometimes drag the hardware drivers and operating system updates back together as a pair.
If that does not work, your laptop should still be under warranty. I recommend that you contact the manufacturer via phone or livechat and tell them that your audio no longer functions after an update. They may have the fix that the error message alludes to. Devices are part of the hardware and so technical support on it should be covered.
Good luck!
I haven’t tried the restore yet – but I’m going to grab the IT person who helped me set it up in the first place on her coffee break and see if she can figure it out. She can’t do it on University time since it’s my personal computer, but she can on her own time. This may be something that anybody who knows what they’re looking at could fix in a minute while you (and the other folks over at GOS last night who offered suggestions) are stuck with my descriptions of something I most certainly do not understand.
You are absolutely correct. I can give advice on the things you might try but very often I have to look at the issue which then triggers a memory and helps me find the solution. When I do long-distance troubleshooting and repair, it is a safe bet to recommend going back to the Restore point because it is easy to do, it is harmless and works about 80% of the time. Good luck!
Morning all! I am still happy after watching the Simones last night – especially Simone Manuel winning that race last night. I posted a comment over at DKos on a diary about it this morning, and I’m going to copy it here, as I was very moved by her win.
I was so moved to watch Simone win last night — I am 65, grew up in the segregated South (Nashville), and I’m white, and I’d like to add a little personal history to this wonderful moment.
When we moved to Nashville when I was 6 years old, there were public pools that we went swimming at (I remember the one near the Parthenon in Centennial Park). Then, all of a sudden, all the public pools closed — I didn’t know why at the time, but now I know it was to stop integration of the public pool system. Thus, generations of black children all over the south as this happened continued to be deprived of even the chance to learn to swim, as they had been when the pools were open but for whites only. Racists even maintained that black people were less able to swim, that somehow their bodies were denser and that they would sink — I know this sounds incredible to you younger folks, but I assure you it was out there. Probably still is in some places.
From 6th grade on, I went to a private school, the demonstration school for then Peabody College for Teachers, and in my freshman year in high school, we became the first school in Nashville to integrate . My mother (to my embarrassment then) got a job teaching swimming at my high school’s small indoor swimming pool — it was part of PE, we all had to swim. That freshman year, one of my black classmates, Geri, was horrified that she would need to swim, as she had never been in a swimming pool, didn’t know how to swim and was afraid of the water. I can still see her face, terrified, as my mom gently led her further into the water every day. Mom worked with Geri for weeks — maybe months, I don’t remember how long it took — but eventually helped her get over her fear, and it was a triumphant day when Geri swam a length of the pool!
My mother was one of those natural swimmers — she could float for hours, and was happiest in a swimming pool until late in her life. But she understood Geri’s terror — my grandmother had also been afraid of the water and didn’t learn to swim, but she kept her fear under wraps so as to encourage her children, my mom in particular, to learn to swim growing up in Detroit. So my mom, of all the white women teachers Geri might have had, was perhaps uniquely qualified to help her conquer her fears and learn to swim. She also was determined that my brothers and I would not become racists growing up in the South, and raised us right.
So, as I watched Simone swim so beautifully last night, I was in tears, thinking of my mom, and of how much she would have loved seeing a young black woman win an individual gold medal in swimming, setting an Olympic record to boot. It’s been a long time coming, but it’s wonderful to see.
Everyone have a great day!
Thank you for that story! I was reading about Simone Manuel and that even her coach did not think she had much of a chance and didn’t even include her in one of the finals last weekend.
Defy expectations!!
Times are a’ changin’ – because of the actions of our mothers and foremothers more than anything else. My momma did her best to “raise us right” although I’m afraid she was most successful with me and I’m not claiming I’m not racist – just that I’m trying not to be racist. And that while the foundation was laid by my mother, the courses have been laid by people of color I’ve met throughout my life. For which I am grateful/have been blessed. And every gold medal or professorship or success in business or elected office brings us closer to a time when there won’t be the adjective Black in front of it to somehow lessen it’s importance.
What a beautiful post about your Mom, Geordie! She evidently was a remarkable woman.
My mother, also a remarkable woman, brought us up not to be racists, although we grew up in Little Rock and Tulsa.
Hurray for Simone! Well, both Simones!
Just rec’ed your comment at orange – and thank you for sharing that piece of history – and kudos to your mom.
Good morning, 65 and sunny in Bellingham. Ron and Ryan are going hiking this morning, and if I can find my swimsuit I’m going to the pool….then I’d best finish the laundry and see what else is missing!
It’s Saturday Meese – survived the storms here – was really scary – 5 people in nearby Poughkeepsie were struck by lightning – 3 are critical. We have tree damage.
Having a ball watching Olympics – women are so awesome
Images of Katie Ledecky’s 800m record swim are boggling minds on Twitter
Holy mackeral! I did not realize that Ledecky was doing those sorts of things. The marquee swimming events are on past my bedtime and I just scan the paper and see the times (which mean nothing to me). We are looking forward to the track and field because my daughter is a runner.
When I saw how far ahead Ledecky was – my mouth was open.
Track and field events are my favs too.
My daughter watched Almaz Ayana from Ethiopia win gold in the 10,000 meter yesterday and she was shocked by the times (Ayana set a world record). My daughter runs 5k in high school so she has an appreciation of what the 10k times mean.
There is a just-graduated UW Badger woman throwing discus next week. She set a bunch of NCAA records her senior year and we are hoping she does well.
Goddess Above! What a lead! And the shot put gold! PThttttttt! to the folks who diss women athletes.
Good morning, meese! Saturday …
It is 72 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 81. The forecast calls for variable cloudiness.
I can’t avert my eyes from the train wreck that is the Trump candidacy. I suppose it is a step in the right direction that he realized that his comment about President Obama and ISIS was nonsensical and needed to be dressed up with some sarcasm lipstick. Merriam Webster reported a 2,000 fold increase in web hits on the word “sarcasm” – I doubt that Trump was one of those googling. I am worried about his call to his fans to “patrol” the polls and keep “illegal” voters from voting. With armed idiots everywhere, that is a recipe for disaster – or for widescale voter intimidation leading to low turnout.
It is disheartening to see the results of the awful thing that has happened to our country because people cannot be bothered to vote in midterms and because ideology has replaced commonsense – and compassion – in the crafting of our legislation. The U.S. has declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico because of the Zika virus:
The administration will be able to shift funds there because of the declaration but they are rapidly running out of available money. There is only money for off-budget things when there are wars of choice like Iraq, apparently. The poor and sick are simply collateral damage in the Republicans war on government.
I have been setting aside too many projects in order to chase the shiny objects on the Internet and now the stacks of papers near my desk threaten to tip over. So I am going to try to disconnect from the news cycle for a couple of days so I can begin next week with a clean desk and a focused to-do list.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Moosekind, and welcome to another NoVa hottie! It will be dangerous to go out after 11 a.m. today, so I’ll have to scurry to get the shopping done. Currently it’s 82 F. with 82 percent humidity.
Today is Dearly Beloved’s 86th birthday! Miss Pink Cheeks and I will bake and decorate the birthday cake. Dearly and I are frantically getting the house ready for the cookout tomorrow. Younger Son and wife are moving house today, so Miss Pink Cheeks will be spending the night; Babylicious will be looked after by our nephew and niece around the corner in Reston.
I saw an item on the Intertubes that Trump is tired and wants to call it a day! Of course one can’t trust anything one sees on Facebark. Won’t have much time for shiny objects on the Net today with all the work I’ve got to do.
Question for anotherdemocrat: Another, are you planning to write a food blog for the Wellness group on GOS? If Y, may I allude to your baked oatmeal in my blog that’s going up tomorrow? If N, may I include your recipe?
Hope everyone will have a good day and stay cool! Every day the humidity causes masses of clouds to build up, some of which turn black and look promising. Then they clear away and we get NO rain. All the rain has gone to Louisiana. It’s awful there.
Back later!
Yes, and yes.
I have the 28th. Writing on vegetarianness & batch cooking. I think they’re far enough separated that it won’t be a big deal. Besides, I’m going to have links to veg athlete sites & stuff.
Thank you! I’ll repro your recipe then.
Looking forward to your blog on the 28th! I’m so tired of eating murdered animal flesh—oh, sorry, I mean meat.
I’m going to the 1st workout for my training group. I’m not sure about re-joining. The upfront cost, while a bargain for marathon training groups, is really more than I can afford. Being a great deal doesn’t make the money appear. And the fundraising. I don’t know why raising money for the AIDS Walk is so much easier but it is. And it’s also weird raising money for even a really good cause when I’m ducking calls from bill collectors. So I’m going to go this morning but I really don’t know about re-joining.
So, today: 1 mile walk, grocery shopping…. maybe another workout in the afternoon.
Good morning, 65 and partly sunny in Bellingham. Ron and Ryan’s hike The Racehorse landslide fossil fields yesterday was an adventure. The trail was very overgrown so they didn’t make it all the the way, but they did find a few fossils. Ryan recovered faster than Ron!
Morning all, and Happy Birthday to Diana’s Dearly Beloved!! Hot and sunny this morning – we’ve had a break this week from scorching heat and got some rain, but I think that’s done for at least a week.
I am so sad I missed Ledecky’s swim last night – lay down and was taking a nap before i knew it – but I did see Twitter having fun with it, photoshopping a shark chasing Ledecky, saying “early footage of Becky Ledecky’s race” and inserting a youtube of Secretariat’s Belmont win, which, come to think of it, is an apt comparison in terms of how far ahead she was. I was a competitive swimmer for a while as a kid, so I know how much effort these races take – and I’ve never seen anything like that margin of victory in a swimming event. Unbelievable.
But I do hate NBC’s coverage generally – they treat the Olympics like a pre-programmed entertainment event, and they’ve decided in advance who the stories are going to be – Phelps, mainly, and then Ledecky to some extent, Simone Biles in gymnastics, and the beach volleyball women’s team. They don’t seem to have the flexibility required to respond to breaking sports stories – like Michelle Carter, first American woman to win gold in the shot put. They showed her win, and I was glad I saw it – but they only hinted at the great back story, of her father also winning an Olympic medal in the shot put (silver) years ago, and being an NFL player. I mean, how many father-daughter Olympic combos are there out there? I’d like to know more about them! Oh well, maybe they’ll catch up on some of these stories at some point.
Opera today – I can listen while I watch Olympics muted I guess, the internet is wonderful! lol I do have paperwork stuff to catch up on too, so I will try to triple task. Everyone have a great day!
Did you see the SPLC Tweets talking about Jim Crow and swimming pools and the 1970 Montgomery lawsuit? It really laid out how trailbreaking Simone Manuel’s win was.
I get my TV off Directv and they have a channel app (red button!) that shows the events and when and where they will show. It helps a little but most of my viewing has been just by the luck of finding it when I sit down in front of my TV and turn it on.
G’ afternoon folks – I’m at the Dem HQ, staffing until 4 (every Saturday through 11/5), and just got a minute to check in. Mostly overcast again – but cool enough I could turn off the A/C and leave a few windows open for the cats. Since I only got 10.9 KWHs yesterday and will be lucky to get as much today being able to turn off the A/C is really good. Diana, tell your husband “Happy Birthday” for me. :) Hope everybody is safe and at least content if not down right happy. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}