Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Aug. 21st through Aug. 27th

August 21, 2016 JanF Community 101

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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52 Comments

  1. Morning all! Bright and sunny as usual, although some tropical activity is getting going, and we may get some rain as a result.

    I’ve been trying to figure out what the right course for the Clinton Foundation is – they do so much good around the world, but I do think there needs to be separation when Hillary becomes President, kind of like the blind trust presidents have to put investments in to prevent conflicts of interest. What’s infuriating, of course, is that the press is treating this bright shiny object as if it’s on a par with Trump’s billions of dollars of indebtedness to the Chinese – uh, guys, no it’s not.

    I watched Hillary on Jimmy Kimmel last night and she was delightful! Relaxed and funny – if you can find it on the web, it’s worth watching.

    Ok, everyone have a great day today!

    • Here is part of the Kimmel interview:

      The Clinton Foundation will have to be put at arms length when she takes office because you really can’t build a proper firewall. Even if everything is on the up and up (which I don’t doubt) you cannot risk that some employee will forward a request from a donor on to President Hillary Clinton or a member of her administration. But it should NOT be shut down because the good work being done is not being done anywhere else. I am not sure how they disentangle it all (certainly Chelsea can’t work there any longer) but I trust them to do the right thing.

  2. Good morning, 54 and sunny in Bellingham. We had a sentimental day yesterday with lunch at the bookstore cafe and time in the sewing room reminiscing about our summers together. Emma is excited to start high school, and Ava can’t believe she is in 4th grade now. My little girls are growing up.

    I’m going to be focused on flowers for the rest of the week because I’ve offered to make 10-12 arrangements for my dil’s parent’s 50th wedding anniversary. The party is on Saturday, so Friday will a flowerful day. I’ve started clipping and prepping the greens and the vases are washed and ready. My hope is that my creaky joints won’t complain so much if I spread the work out this week. I prolly shouldn’t be doing this, but oh well…..at least I’ll hurt for a reason!

  3. Good Wednesday morning Meese

    Have been following the French #burkiniban news on twitter and other stories about women being kicked off of airplanes and it gets more and more alarming for me personally – I often wear a headwrap – and now feel that I am pressured to not wear one when traveling

    I agree with this French feminist – women are damned for what we wear – whether bare or not bare

    The story in the Guardian about the older woman on the beach being forced to take off some of her clothing is awful

    Meanwhile:

    • Texting in your native language is suspicious and if you are a nun, you are okay because nuns are nice Christian ladies but a woman wearing a burka is a terrorist??? JHC! How did we get to this place?

      • I was just looking at the pages for the Headwrap Expo – coming up in September in Dearborn MI

        As they point out – lots of cultures around the world use head coverings – should they all be banned?
        Glad I have no plans to visit France – however I wonder how much of this crap is going to surface here.

        • Hope when they start counting up the tourist dollars they’re losing because of this they decide to be a little less burkaphobic. But consider the irony of forcing a woman to remove clothing at a beach that 100 years ago they’d have forced her to put on.

  4. Good morning, meese! Wednesday …

    It is 68 degrees in Madison on its way up to 79. Raining now, rained last night, and is expected to rain all day. I was awakened several times by storms, dog, and general restlessness.

    The Wisconsin Attorney General opted to not appeal the 7th Circuit’s refusal to issue a stay on Judge Peterson’s orders restoring expanded early voting, shorter residency periods and certain forms of voter id. That means expanded hours that were set in Madison and Milwaukee will be allowed. This is a BHD. In Ohio yesterday, their “golden week” was eliminated and in Denver, the appeals court heard a request by Kansas to allow them to purge voters from the rolls, people who meet federal requirements but not state requirements. The voting wars finishing Battle 2016 because ballots need to be printed and the time to appeal is short.

    The media is desperate to call Trump’s equivocating on immigration a “softening” because they need a horse race. But there is no softening and it is up to us to make sure everyone understands that and mock “journalists” who try to suggest otherwise. Trump wants to deport 11 million people. And anyone who votes for Trump is voting for that. Period. We don’t need the votes of sad Republicans sad that their party is finally paying the price for decades of dogwhistling – if we vote, we win – so we need to make sure they are lashed firmly to his sinking ship.

    The president was in Louisiana yesterday visiting the flooded areas, offering comfort and support.

    (Transcript)

    Hillary Clinton released a series of initiatives to help small businesses but you will probably not hear about it because the press is too busy chasing stories about emails and donations to a charity that saves millions of lives. Hillary will be in Reno tomorrow where she reportedly will give a big speech taking on the alt-right. That is scheduled for 10am Eastern and I should be able to watch it live if it is on CSPAN. I will post something when I get a link.

    See all y’all later!

  5. Lifting weights last night was fun — deadlifts! I’m good at them, makes me feel powerful. Unfortunately we also did the shoulder thing that sounds easy but is a real bear.

    I stayed up late (for me) to see Cher on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show. She talked about campaigning with Hillary, and Trump’s ridiculous appeal to the GLBT community. My heart swelled up when she said she worries about her son when she thinks about him getting elected.

    Sad about the earthquake in Italy. I hope the injury count stays low.

  6. Good morning, Meese! It’s 64 on a sunny morning, going up to 84 F. today. Jan, please send us some of your rain! We’re dry as a bone here.

    So sick of the media trying to “get” Hillary. Now it’s the Foundation. Wish all so-called “journos” would disappear.

    I have royally screwed up. When I saw Geordie’s link for Aji and Wings, I wanted to help out a little, so I went to YouGive and put down $25.00—or so I thought. Unfortunately, instead of “25.00” I made a typo and the amount was $2,500! I didn’t realize this until my Amazon orders started bouncing. I immediately got on the phone and after 20 minutes of nested layers managed to talk to a human being at the bank at 10 p.m. He told me that it would take 3 to 5 days to straighten this out, but in the meantime, I’m overdrawn; I will be charged for this mistake; and I simply cannot buy anything until it’s straightened out. I hope the YouGive people in California will return the money. If they don’t, I’m screwed.

    Sigh. Never again will I donate to a “GoFundMe” type of deal.

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

    • OMG!!! I hope you get that sorted out quickly … what a terrifying prospect. Would Aji and Wings be able to return the money themselves if the YouGive people can’t? I am 100% sure they would not want an accidental donation especially one that is financially damaging to you. On a fixed income, a $2,500 hit would be devastating.

      You can have my rain. I am ready for a return to the 72 degree mostly sunny days we had last week!

    • {{{Diana}}} We saw the jump in the total last night and were really excited – until kishik dug down and found out who sent it. Hope the YouCaring people get that straightened out for you quickly. Online donations are tricky – some of them put the decimal point in for you and some don’t and if you are used to the one, the other – well, unfortunately you know what can happen. And I’m sure the YouCaring people are used to dealing with this, too.

      Thank you for your intended gift. The other thing you can do is get the diary, or at least the links in the “how to help box,” out to as many people as you can think of. (I’ve a sister who has no interest in charitable giving but likes jewelry so I just sent her the link to Silverworks by Wings – which she said she’d pass on to her friends.)

      • Hi, Jan and bfitz! Aji, sweet person that she is, wrote to say she dug around the website and found no way to reverse the donation. All she can do for the time being is to make sure the funds don’t transfer until next Monday. If this hasn’t been sorted by Friday, she’s going to make sure the funds don’t transfer for a month, to give it more time.

        I have not heard from YouGive/WePay at ALL so far. It’s 11 a.m. in California. I hope they get back to me! I also might go by my bank to show them Aji’s email, which I’ve printed out.

        I did share the link on FB. That’s all I can do right now.

    • So sorry Diana! I have to be so careful when paying bills on line now…..the difference between a comma and a period is harder and harder to see. I wish I had a magic money wand so I could reimburse you and make a hefty donation to Aji and Wings house fund as well!

  7. Hahahaha! Usually around mid-week, I change the title of the Welcomings post to reflect the entire week (and to make it easier for people to spot the next week’s post on Sunday).

    I went to change it and noticed that it had been “Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: August 21th“. Oops! I really do know the ordinal indicators of numbers. The problem came about when I created the Sunday post and looked at my calendar wrong and put 7th in as the date. I saw the error and went back and changed “7” to “21” but did not change “th” to “st”. The repair has been made: “Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Aug. 21st through Aug. 27th”.

  8. Good morning, 54 and sunny in Bellingham. I’ve got a busy day ahead, with the pool this morning and more flower fun this afternoon. Today’s task is to wash and prep the ferns, prep the lilies, and cut the hydrangea stems. I need about 3 dozen and I have that many growing in the garden, but some may not be “old” enough to last. So by cutting them early the ones that will shrivel up will have time to do so and I can replace them before I make the arrangements. It’s a real pain to do after the fact.

    Best wishes to all!

    • Princesspat, I love your descriptions of flower fun and sewing! Myself, I have no talent for either activity, so I enjoy reading about people who do have talent.

  9. Started at 75 this morning going low 90s and sunny – this is supposed to be the high for the week, with the temps starting to go down again after sundown. Several “urgents” if not emergencies this morning so just catching a minute to check in before starting the next phase (property accounting – got to scan all the electronic equipment listed as being assigned to this department) or rather next floor as I’ve done as much of the 2nd floor as I can until some people bring back their laptops. sigh

    I like James Carville’s response to the Foundation witch hunt (actually I’d say a lot of somebodies are going to hell for this). Hillary’s small business plan is golden – and will increase not just startups, but viable startups – and women- and minority-owned business startups which is currently the most viable way of dealing with wage discrimination.

    Gotta go. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • All this crap about the Foundation is making me really angry – Hillary is being tarred and feathered for doing GOOD.

      Republicans hate GOOD.

      • You know it. Other than JC himself, I can’t think of any other well-known (to western Xtians) figures to have gotten so much crap for doing good.

      • Probably the most transparent charity in the entire world, and one that does enormous good works – very efficiently – is being attacked while the sleaziest business practices, grifting, and scheming are being given a free pass because the press likes Donald Trump and has a long standing grudge against the Clintons.

        The Clinton Foundation will certainly have to downsize (I hope someone else picks up the slack) but deciding its fate now is getting the cart before the horse. There is plenty of time between November 9, 2016 and January 20th, 2017 to get it all worked out. And it will be unfailingly honest – although that will be unlikely to be reported.

        I hope to hell we take back the House because the alternative is seeing Jason Chaffetz’s and Trey Gowdy’s faces on my TV for 2 more years, tut tutting about some bullcrap investigation they are doing – grrrrrr!!!

        • Oh, dear Goddess, this is so true:

          …while the sleaziest business practices, grifting, and scheming are being given a free pass because the press likes Donald Trump and has a long standing grudge against the Clintons.

  10. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is 68 degrees in Madison on its way up to 79. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Today, Hillary Clinton will be speaking in Reno NV. The CSPAN schedule says 3pm Eastern but there is no link yet. I will post the link here when it becomes available and the speech will probably be a post because it is expected to be an important speech discussing economic issues and also the embrace of white supremacy by the Republican Party.

    Yesterday the president designated the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument to honor the 100th Anniversary of the creation of the National Park Service – which is today, August 25th! Here is the video announcing the new preservation area, 87,000 acres in Maine’s North Woods:

    See all y’all later!

  11. Good Thursday Meese.
    My comment here on burkini’s turned into an orange diary. Was glad to see a ton of excellent responses.
    Giggling at the Washington Post Editorial Board – who knew thay had a sense of humor?

    Is Rudy Giuliani okay?
    I loathe Rudy G with a passion.

    Off to make some coffee – got up late this morning.
    Sigh – hard to believe my summer vacation is almost over – have first class next Tuesday. Will spend the next few days doing prep.

    • I am finally catching up on news this morning (lots going on). Here are a couple stories you might be interested in:

      French burkini bans face legal challenge as tension mounts

      France’s highest administrative authority is studying whether local bans on full-body burkini swimsuits are legal, amid growing concerns in the country and abroad about police forcing Muslim women to disrobe.

      Critics of the local decrees have said the orders are too vague, prompting local police officials to fine even women wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf and the hijab, but not burkinis. The bans do not generally use the word “burkini” but forbid in a general way clothing that is ostentatiously religious.

      Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on BFM television Thursday that burkinis represent the “enslavement of women” and reiterated support for the bans – but urged police to implement the bans fairly and respectfully.

      Two human rights groups, arguing the bans are discriminatory, appealed to the Council of State.

      What right does someone have to criticize an entire religion by claiming the attire they require is “enslavement”? How insulting! I think that having to wear skirted suits is enslavement to the Judeo-Christian patriarchy but if people want to wear them, fine. ;)

      In Canada, they are going the other way regarding religious garb: Canada’s Mounties Say Female Officers Can Wear Hijabs

      A spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, known as the Mounties, recently approved the headscarf for its Muslim officers.

      “This is intended to better reflect the diversity in our communities and encourage more Muslim women to consider the Royal Canadian Mounted Police as a career option,” Scott Bardsley, spokesman for Canada’s public safety minister, told the Canada-based Global News.

  12. Good morning, Meese! Starting today our weather will go back to ‘ot, ‘umid, and ‘orrible. Not looking forward to it at all, especially as we were able to have the a.c. off for a while. Will be really glad to see summer go, if it ever does.

    Good news: Aji and Brian (who works for the YouGive organization) say the mistaken amount will be back in my account in two to five days. I’ll still have to pay a penalty, but (shrug) that’s life. Felt so bad for Aji that I raided my Christmas account for a donation to her house. It’s in a different financial institution.

    Was exhausted yesterday after the visit to the Children’s Science Center at the mall. Miss Pink Cheeks and I went with her cousin and aunt. Mr. B. did an experiment to extract DNA and Miss PC did one to create purple play dough.

    Looking after Miss PC has curtailed my visits to the gym, so will try to get back on it. At least Grandpa is home to play checkers with her. She can draw or paint while I’m out.

    Feel sad about the earthquakes, outraged by the bombings in Pak-Afgh, and sad about the tornadoes in Indiana. However (cheering up), the scientists have found a nice new empty Earth-like planet for us to go and ruin one day. How does that grab ya?

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

    • Glad the Aji donation was sorted out – sry you had to pay a penalty.

      I won’t hold my breath on us escaping to an earth like planet – lol – we need to take care of the one we have rather than pull a future demolition job elsewhere.

      I’m off to go do Draenor invasions and to try to figger out how to get Mumble to work – -Geordie – I need help from Than.

      • I’m sure he’d be glad to help – I’ve got to do some stuff around the house before I get in game, and I’m not sure I’d be much help anyway. I miss talking to you, we need to get you back in there!

    • {{{Diana}}} – I’m glad they’re dealing with the donation error so quickly. I knew they were on it yesterday evening when the widget total dropped back to $10,261, just didn’t know how long it would take to get the money back into your account. Wish you didn’t have to pay the penalty, but that’s banks for you – at least in their current incarnation.

      I don’t think I’ll worry about us trashing another Earth-type planet, considering the state of our space program and how many generations it would take to get there. :)

  13. Went to the kick off party for the AIDS Walk last night, it was fun, if a bit warm. Outdoor things in August…. I need to do a Walk diary. When I’m more awake. Ended up not getting to bed till an hour later than usual, still woke up the usual 3-ish times.

    Lawrence O’Donnell had Glen Beck on his show. I didn’t really listen, because “Glen Beck”. I am listening to Discotheque, from U2’s Pop album. Which is way deeper than you think:

    Looking for the one
    But you know you’re somewhere else instead.
    You want to be the song
    The song that you hear in your head
    Love, love, love, love.

    It’s not a trick, you can’t learn it
    It’s the way that you don’t pay that’s okay
    ‘Cause you can’t earn it – love

  14. Here is the information on Hillary’s speech today – 3pm Eastern

    Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton campaigns in Reno, Nevada, where she is expected to address opponent Donald Trump’s so-called “alt-right” political philosophy.

    Airing LIVE Thursday, Aug 25 2:00pm CDT on C-SPAN

    • That was a remarkable speech. I will post with transcript in the morning.

      Someone suggested that it gave Republicans an exit ramp. It could also serve to lash them more tightly to the sinking ship they refuse to abandon. There can be no “gosh, I didn’t know!” … they will own what they have done to their country by refusing to repudiate him. The election will not end the “alt-right” movement, the forces that energize it have been around for as long as there have been humans. But the amount of power they wield in the future will depend entirely on how the establishment Republicans react. Silence is acceptance.

  16. 70 when I got up heading for 90 and sunny so far. Got just under 20 KWHs yesterday. Even though the heat index hit 106 yesterday, the house was cool enough (I didn’t say cool, just cool enough) that I didn’t turn the A/C back on. The overnights are heading back down into the 60s – as long as that or lower keeps up, I can keep the A/C off by opening up after sundown and closing up before I leave for work.

    Will check out Hillary’s speech when I get home as long as I can find the link. :) Supposedly she did an interview on CNN last night but I didn’t stay up for it. If they asked her the same old crap I won’t bother to look it up today either. The only thing that makes this a “contested” election is that the media keeps hyping that meme and an unfortunate number of media watchers believe it. And the media we see, wanting their paychecks, will continue to blather what their employers tell them to blather. And the media owners hate Hillary with a purple passion so they’d be after her even if they didn’t think Trump would give them every short-sighted greedy thing they asked for on a platinum platter. Which is high on the list of reasons why I don’t pay any attention to the corporate media.

    {{{Denise}}} enjoy the last of your break. Our classes started this week. sigh. :)

    Still dealing with “urgent” stuff at work. I did managed to get the Wednesday deadline and one of the Friday deadlines stuff done yesterday, but gotta get to work on the other one. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • you need to tell me where to send the photo of you and Dred Scott :)
      Was just looking at my phone.

    • The CNN interview was simply more haranguing about the emails (this time “why are you picking on Colin Powell???) and complaining about the lack of a press conference. I hope she never gives another one. They are just for playing gotcha and seeing if they can make her cry. I don’t want to watch it.

  17. Morning all – quick check in as I have to clean up the house for the cleaners, who I postponed from yesterday because I was feeling a bit under the weather (I think it’s basically allergies). Diana, so glad the contribution thing got straightened out, that’s pretty terrifying!

    I didn’t hear the CNN interview, but people at DKos thought it went well, but that the panel afterwards did the same old trashing of Hillary they always do. And they keep complaining about no press conferences – nobody cares except them. I really think press conferences are like NASCAR races for the press – they don’t really want information, they just want to see a slip up, a car crash, one they can hopefully cause themselves, and then pat themselves on the back for tripping up the candidate or the President.

    I did watch Beck on O’Donnell, and while he’s as loathsome as ever, it was alarming how much I agreed with what he said about Trump. I’m going to watch Hillary’s speech today for sure, thanks for the link Jan – it’s so important to not let this white supremacist stuff slip any further into normal US politics.

    Ok, everyone have a great day!

  18. Good morning, 58 and sunny in Bellingham. Thanks to the lilies my garage smells like a proper floral shop, but flower fun gets real when the dahlias arrive this afternoon. Cut dahlia stems don’t last very long so I’ll put the buckets in a tub of ice water and hope that the fan and the cold water will keep everything fresh until Saturday. I always get nervous seeing all the assembled greens and flowers, but I have plenty to work and a manageable deadline so in creativity I trust!

    The ice and fans make the garage a cool working space for me as well, and the new railing my son made for the ramp from the garage to the garden makes my path more secure. So I’ll listen to music and tend my flowers and keep my domestic bubble firmly in place…no yams allowed!

    • Princesspat, never knew so much went into floral creations. You are inspiring me to put a florist in my fiction one of these days. Let us know how it all turns out, OK?

  19. Trying to see if this embed will work:

    Ahh – it does.

    Maddow’s interview with Daryle Lamont Jenkins from the One People’s Project – was important – since he has been following White Supremacists since 2000. These are the “AltRight” Klannazi’s Hillary forcefully spoke about in her speech.

    • Thanks for the video. I will view it later.

      I was thinking last night while watching my Twitter stream about Hillary’s speech, that this development must be quite interesting to you. You have been following the white nationalist movement for a long time, reading the awful web sites, gaining knowledge of their rhetoric, their tactics. Now they have been mainstreamed and are just another faction in the Republican Party. Chilling.

      Hillary’s speech is posted on the front page now. The transcript is not “as delivered” but “as prepared” so there are parts of the speech that are missing from the text. It is worth watching the entire speech again, in my opinion.

  20. Good morning, meese! Friday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison on its way up to 75. The forecast calls for sunny skies this morning giving way to variable cloudiness this afternoon and into the evening. Rain expected tomorrow.

    I posted Hillary’s Reno speech on the front page. The CSPAN video embed is a bit odd and includes the writeup on the speech but if you scroll down, you can see the speech. I will put a better one in when they release it.

    I haven’t had time yet to check the other news and it will have to wait until I get some work done.

    See all y’all later!

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