Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: July 23rd through July 30th

July 23, 2017 JanF Community 67

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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– Page 1 of Comments is HERE
– Page 2 of Comments is HERE

27 Comments

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

    Morning low of 73 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 81. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Good Sunday Meese
    68 here in Saugerties NY going up to 82
    Am up and drinking coffee.
    As soon as it is full daylight – I need to go outside and clean off the grill — still have company here and will BBQ this afternoon.

    Have a good day – and store up your energy for the battles ahead

  3. I will believe this when I see voted on and signed (or veto overridden). Until then, it is a fig leaf for Republicans saying “look, we do think Russia is not our friend!”:

    Congress will consider imposing new sanctions on Russia and Iran as well as North Korea, after Republicans and Democrats agreed to changes that will allow the legislation to move ahead. The bill also aims to prevent President Trump from relaxing sanctions without lawmakers’ consent.

    An earlier form of the sanctions legislation had sailed through the Senate with a 97-2 vote last month. But that legislation focused only on Russia and Iran. It then lost momentum in the House after representatives said they wanted to include North Korea. That conflict has been resolved, lawmakers say.

    A vote is expected in the House on Tuesday.

    tRump will veto it, the House and Senate will be reminded by ads and lobbyists and big donors that overriding the veto will weaken their president and they will fold like a cheap suit.

  4. Good morning, Meese! Lots of lovely rain yesterday but clearing this morning—so far. It’s 73 F. right now in NoVa, going up to 86 F. later. I’ll have my youngest grandchild here this morning but I’m still hoping to get to the gym this afternoon.

    Hope it’s a nice, quiet day for everyone.

  5. This story about the Remote Area Medical clinic event in Virginia is heartbreaking. I am not sure how you reach people who willfully ignore the facts and think that “taking health care away” and “wanting to expand health care” are the same thing:

    No relief is in sight for someone like Larry McKnight, who sat in a horse stall at the Wise County Fairgrounds having his shoulder examined. He was among more than a thousand people attending the area’s 18th annual Remote Area Medical clinic, where physicians and dentists dispense free care to those who otherwise have none.

    “I really think that they don’t have any clue what’s going on,” McKnight said of political leaders in Washington. “You watch the news and it’s two sides pitted against each other, which in turn just makes them pitted against us, the normal person.”

    One party wants to deny health care to millions and one party is pitted against them in defense of the “normal” person” – same same to this guy.

    But this is the saddest. The man who created the event, who probably was exposed to knowledge at one point or another, said this:

    Stan Brock, the English philanthropist who founded the RAM clinic program more than 30 years ago, said there was one more visitor he’d like to see at the clinic.

    “It’s absolutely imperative that the president of the United States come and visit one of these events,” he said. “I believe if he did, he would take some immediate action.”

    Amazing lack of understanding about the man who sits in the White House.

    • A day late (it’s becoming the new normal for me!), but I have long supported RAM with donations. The work they do is humbling, but yeah, the delusion that 45* would actually care for anyone outside of himself or his family is totally contrary to the evidence of his 70+ years of life.

    • That photo from Grant Park on election night 2008 never fails to give me goose bumps. It was a remarkable achievement and it makes me, and should make every Democrat, want to redouble our efforts to not let his legacy be destroyed.

  7. Slept in, got no exercise yesterday so I have to make up for that today. I took a nap after lunch & woke up feeling worse than before. Today: church & exercise. Pull next week’s lunch out of the freezer, but I’m not working tomorrow so no big deal. Still sending all good thoughts to my friend John & his wife, haven’t heard any new news, hoping that’s good.

  8. Good morning, 62 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. I often feel like I run a B & B in the summer, with visiting family coming and going. Our grandson goes home today, but my sister will be here for most of next week. It’s been a fun visit with Ryan, and we seem to have found the right balance of activity and rest for him. Gum surgery is no fun so it’s good to have distractions while healing!

    His visit has been a good distraction for me too, as I have had less time and energy to worry about tRump’s evil doings. What happens next with his so called presidency is beyond my control, but thinking of my grand kids and their future makes me even more determined to do all I can to remove him from office. I just have to hope my feelings are shared by enough voters, and that they will have strong Dem candidates to vote for.

    Best Sunday wishes to all.

  9. Warm and sticky headed for hot and sticky. Woke up to no power – somebody ran into the transformer pole around 1 am and the power didn’t get back on until after 7 – house was warmish since no A/C after 1 am and no way to cool it down since no fans. Opened up – it was light enough outside to sort of read so went out with my utility statement and “emergency” cell phone (oh, I wish I had my landline back) to call. On hold for over half an hour but since I only use the phone for emergencies I at least had plenty of minutes – but as with SSA, once you get a real person SWEPCO’s customer service is excellent. So’s their maintenance team – once they got enough daylight to work on it, they had it fixed in under 2 hours. The A/C kicked on at 7:45 before I even turned the oven on for the muffins.

    And lots of “expletives deleted” my PV system is still not automatically coming back on after an outage! So here I was just starting to catch up from being down over a week during the best generating month of the year, and I’m down again in the 2nd best generating month of the year!

    Meanwhile, I’m late starting my day. Muffins just got out of the oven and the washer is running. I’ve plenty to do but got online to check my PV system since there’s now plenty of light and it should be generating. This is getting seriously old. 3rd time this Spring/Summer I’ve been down. I’ve emailed the installer – all I can do at the moment – and will get back to work in a minute. Just needed to vent. The major equipment is still under warranty but the system itself (labor and wiring) is not – I just paid them over $200 to fix it the last time. Oh well. Guess I’ll get back to my housework.

    I’ll be back to check in, read the British Breakfast, and head to DK for Denise’s FP when I finish – probably another couple of hours. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Rainy Monday here in the hills of NY.

    Hubby has a bad summer cold and is staying home from work.

    Celebrating the birthday of Dr. Billy Taylor today –

    William “Billy” Taylor (July 24, 1921 – December 28, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster and educator. He was the Robert L. Jones Distinguished Professor of Music at East Carolina University in Greenville, and from 1994 was the artistic director for jazz at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.
    A jazz activist, Taylor sat on the Honorary Founders Board of The Jazz Foundation of America, an organisation he started in 1989, with Ann Ruckert, Herb Storfer and Phoebe Jacobs, to save the homes and the lives of America’s elderly jazz and blues musicians, later including musicians who survived Hurricane Katrina.

    Taylor was also a jazz educator, who lectured in colleges, served on panels and travelled worldwide as a jazz ambassador. Critic Leonard Feather once said, “It is almost indisputable that Dr. Billy Taylor is the world’s foremost spokesman for jazz.

    One of his most well known compositions is “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free” – which became an anthem of the civil rights movement, performed here by Nina Simone

  12. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 61 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.

    It is ACA repeal week! From what I understand, tomorrow the Senate will vote on the Motion to Proceed to debate (MTP) but they will not be told what bill they will be advancing. There are 4 bills under consideration: the AHCA House bill , the BCRA, the BCRA with the Cruz Amendment and the full repeal. If they vote to debate, there will be 20 hours of debate and any one of those bills could very well be passed. In theory, the first three bills will not be able to be passed as-is because the Senate parliamentarian has ruled that they do not meet the criteria for reconciliation. They have two options related to that: create a new BCRA that removes the non-compliant sections or blow up the Senate rules, override the parliamentarian and effectively make 50+1 the new rule for any legislation. The second option is the nuclear option with 100 simultaneous explosions as it will set the stage for every Republican fever dream – repealing Medicare, privatizing Social Security, repealing the EPA, and Title IX, and the Civil Rights Act, you name it – to be passed and signed into law. If they choose not to nuke what is left of the “saucer that cools the hot tea of the House”, the only bill they can vote on is the ACA Repeal and Delay leading to 36 million uninsured and the virtual defunding of Medicaid. I don’t think that bill passes.

    I have no idea how this will play out but to me the MTP is racing your car straight towards the edge of the cliff and hoping that your brakes hold out when you apply them at the last minute. It is better to hope that the MTP fails.

    Busy morning – I have not checked the news. I hope we still have a country. Oh, wait. That was “decided” on 11/8. :(

    See all y’all later!

  13. Good Moon Day morning, Meese, and yikes! Jan’s post has jerked me right out of my befogged state. I’ll have to pay attention tomorrow to what’s going on. Weight training at the gym will keep me out of the loop for a bit in the morning, though.

    We had a delightful rainstorm last night, with thunder, lightning, and heavy downpours, between 10:30 and 11:30. Even I could hear the heavy rain and without my hearing aids, I’m deaf as the proverbial post. This morning it’s clearing and quite lovely, with the trees and shrubs looking freshly washed. Current temp. in NoVa is 74 F., going up to 87 F., so it’ll be another hottie.

    The focus of this week will be getting the house ready for Mr. Toddler’s second birthday party on Lammas Eve. It’s too bad the party will consist mostly of giants (which is how grown-ups look to the knee-high population), but it can’t be helped. Although Mr. Toddler has friends his size in his own neighborbood, Elder Son and DIL can’t have the party at their house. It’s torn up at the moment owing to the construction underway for the addition.

    Other than that, will try to keep my hair on; the temptation to snatch myself bald is overwhelming, with all the Trumpeting going on. Wishing everyone a good day!

  14. Slept in, going to do all those errands I didn’t do yesterday. Get breakfast & lunch all packed up, and buy some watermelon & other fruit. I swear I’m going to the gym. I won’t make my goal if I keep not going.

  15. 67 at dawn and so far sunny and not particularly humid so comfortable. I turned off the A/C last night after the front moved through and it cooled down a bit. Mostly I wanted to open the windows for my kitteh who wasn’t feeling well. So not well I was afraid I would be taking him to the vet this morning. Thankfully it seems to have been heat stress, dehydration, and something itchy he got into when he was outside while I hung up clothes – using a syringe to squirt some water down his throat (since he wasn’t drinking) and getting him wet enough (note I didn’t say giving him a bath – LOL) to remove whatever was causing him to aggressively groom his pads and tail seems to have taken care of the problem. Very thankfully.

    War conditions – whether we are living under WWII occupied France or just Vichy the news is mostly bad. We do what we can in Resistance, then go to our jobs, deal with our homes, take care of our sick – and yes, celebrate birthdays. There’s always the looming stress, but there’s also family and community support to keep us going.

    Haven’t heard back from my PV installer yet. fume. Playing catch up since I was out Friday and need to get back to it once I finish my coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  16. Breezy, overcast, and high of 69 today; I feel as if I should hear a marching band practicing in the distance in preparation for a Friday football game. (I’m loving it though, since this weekend was hot and humid.)

    I’m still steaming over Schumer’s comments. He may have serious legislative chops as minority leader in the Senate, but he’s no leader of Dems beyond that. I am heartily sick and tired of…and angry at…old white men making pronouncements which disparage and disregard the base of the party. If they can’t respect us, then they need to leave the messaging to people that get it. What these dudes don’t seem to get is that every time they open their yaps with this sort of idiocy, they empower the ‘splainers. Twitter was a cesspool of man-/white-splaining yesterday, and I don’t for a minute believe it was a coincidence.

    • Schumer is tone deaf. I remember him complaining back in 2014, when he saw the strong headwinds against Democrats in the midterms, that President Obama had “wasted” his political capital on health care. He thought that more should have been done to help the middle-class. It is a good thing that the Schumer Agenda was not followed because there are people alive today because of the ACA who would have died otherwise. And, really, avoiding medical bankruptcy is very much a benefit that middle-income Americans received. Dumb comment then, dumb comment about having no message over the weekend.

      Democrats take care of those in need. Period.

  17. Good morning, 68 and sunny in Bellingham. My sister and I have been visiting this morning so I haven’t read the news of the day. But in my small world all’s well. I’ll call the grand girls soon and we’ll be with them this afternoon and then the family will be here for dinner tonight. We’ll be outdoors, and with their help it should be a fun evening.

    Time to start moving, hope it’s a good day for all.

  18. Tuesday morning and it is 59 here in the Catskills going up to only 66 degrees with rain. Weird.
    Browsing twitter

    I couldn’t listen to Trump’s lunatic Boy Scout speech. Angry – my dad was an Eagle Scout.

    • I was scanning my Twitter feed when the speech started so I saw bits of the text. Incredible. I can’t even imagine what it would feel like to be a young person of color seeing the white kids around me cheering Barack Obama hate and poor people hate and non-Christian-religion hate.

      Organizations really need to rethink this “it is an honor to have the president speak to our group” and look at the man, not the office. There are ways to do it without being political. But to have your annual gathering turned into a campaign event and a racist rant should be embarrassing.

      • I shudder thinking about young kids gleefully cheering the Orange Monster.
        A new generation of bigots to deal with.

      • Bizarre is right.
        Nothing about this summer’s weather here has been normal

  20. Good morning, meese! Tuesday …

    It is 54 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79. Mostly sunny skies.

    Today is ACA Repeal Day with the Motion to Proceed (MTP) being voted on after 2pm Eastern (they want to have lunch first). John McCain is flying back to Washington DC, a few days after brain surgery, so that he can be in on the fun of killing some poors. I had some sympathy for his family and retweeted good wishes for recovery. Now, I will be silent and simply say that I hope that the universe evens things out sooner rather than later.

    I called my R senator yesterday and told him that he should not vote to proceed to a vote on a bill unless he knows what is in it. Ron Freaking Johnson is in the Rand Paul camp (Repeal and Suck It, Sick People) and apparently Paul is a NO vote on the MTP so maybe we can get this killed proceduraly. Mitch McConnell says he will vote Yes which means one of three things: he has the votes, he doesn’t have the votes but wants to be done with this, he is lying. If he votes yes and it fails, the motion cannot be brought up again. Usually leadership votes no on failing motions as it preserves their right to bring it up. Ha! What the hell am I even saying? The Republican Senate has not followed any rule or norm since January 2015 when they took over the majority! Rules are for Fools. I hope our side remembers that when we regain power.

    See all y’all later!

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