Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Aug. 19th through Aug. 25th

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.


Page One of Comments is HERE!
 
Page Two of Comments is HERE!

 

35 Comments

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

    Morning low of 61 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 82. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s a fair day here, with thunderstorms forecast for evening. We never experienced the thunderstorms predicted for yesterday afternoon. A few half-hearted raindrops fell as I walked the short distance across the parking lot from my building to the Great Oak clubhouse, but that was all. The present temp. in Ashburn is 65 F., going up to 81 F.

    Last night they were showing the film “LBJ” here at the Home for the Aged, so I went to see it. It was good! Woody Harrelson excelled in the role of LBJ, as did the actress who played Lady Bird. I almost cried at the sight of the familiar scenes of the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the Oval Office, which now feel desecrated by the presence of Thing. I can’t bear to think of Thing sitting at the Resolution desk. The entire office should be cleansed by sage smoke if he ever leaves.

    LBJ was a real character, and not to everyone’s taste, but he did get important civil rights legislation passed—and some of those civil rights included women’s rights. I squirmed throughout the movie at the sight of the all-male Supreme Court, Congress, the use of the word “countrymen,” “mankind,” and so forth. I notice that despite the political correctness of the 1970s, people are still saying “the desk was manned by” (even when said desk is staffed entirely by women), and “mankind” instead of “humankind” or “humanity.”

    Oh, well, rant over. I still have lots of laundry to finish and desk work to do today. I really need to get on it, too, as some of said work affects my pension. Other than watching our local candidate, Jennifer Wexton, appear on “Face the Nation,” I’ll try to avoid politics today.

    Hoping it will be a quiet day for all at the Pond and beyond!

    • This is me:

      I almost cried at the sight of the familiar scenes of the Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House, and the Oval Office, which now feel desecrated by the presence of Thing. I can’t bear to think of Thing sitting at the Resolution desk.

      I was glad we went to DC during the Obama administration so that we can remember those places with fondness. Can you imagine being a child growing up now wanting to go to Washington DC and being near not only the pig in the White House but the corrupt craven cowards in Congress? It will take a long time to cleanse – I am leaning towards burning the White House down and starting over. Would you want to sit on a chair that tRump used???!!?

      I am just finishing up my one pass through the news but only to save things off to read later. I have an accounting project that needs to be done while it is quiet and not interrupted with crises.

      See you!

  3. Got to go back to work tomorrow, wah. The will have switched my computer to windows 10, double wah — if my check in is late, you’ll know why. One of my neighbors put up a sign by the mailboxes to come take their plants, I made 2 trips yesterday afternoon, will walk back over there this afternoon to see if there are any left — and if I can talk them out of their shelving unit. It is really hot — high of 104 expected; so it’ll be nice to be using work’s air conditioning instead of my own, I wonder what my August electric bill will be.

    Today’s song: Love Is Bigger Than Anything In Its Way. Just because.

  4. 73 with 100% humidity going to 78, gray overcast and 70% chance of rain. Got 16 KWHs yesterday, be lucky to get half that today if it doesn’t clear off, m-t-d is 264. Still technically possible to get 500 for the month but ain’t gonna happen. In fact at this rate we’re gonna just barely make it over 400. Still, the A/C’s been off so I think I’m OK. Did my baking (molasses spice muffins) and soup making (“Mexican” rice & refried black beans in a slightly bbq-ish pork stock because that’s what I had in the fridge 😁😁😁) yesterday. Still trying to “catch up” removing the dust bunnies, cat hair, and layer of bacon grease from the house from being gone 10 days even though I’ve been home a whole week. Fortunately and blessings upon her my friend is going to “do” the floors (vacuum and mop) – but I still have to get up the clumps of dust bunny/cat hair – they’re big enough to cause problems with the vacuum.

    Cold’s going away but the change in barometric pressure has fired off another headache. It’s also starting to ease up but Ibu and coffee is in my immediate future. Tired. The gish-galloping evil, even though I ignore it as much as I can, is still doing its thing and adrenal exhaustion is the result. I’ll keep on keeping on. Channeling Healing Energy to everybody when I can – unfortunately can’t when I’ve got a skullbanger. Can’t put myself into the, call it “light trance”, state I need to be in to actually Channel (as different from “good thoughts”). I’ll get there. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Good morning, 61 and smokey air in Bellingham, so breathing conditions are not good. We’ll be outside for Ava’s birthday party this afternoon so thank goodness for asthma inhalers. The fires burning in the Cascade
    Mountains and interior BC need rain asap!

    The girls and I had fun baking yesterday. We did have a ganache failure, but thanks to google we saved it by slowly adding milk, reheating, and stirring until it was silky and smooth again, whew!

    Best Sunday wishes to all.

  6. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 70 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Rain and thunderstorms expected throughout the day, bringing cool temperatures in for the next few days.

    In some ways I am glad that I follow the news via Twitter during the day. I think if I opened up my newsfeed in the morning and saw it all at once it might be alarming! But once you sort it into old news, new news and constantly present news it is easier to deal with. There are several categories of stories right now: the Mueller investigation and subplots, the impact the Mueller investigation is having on the White House, the midterms, the humanitarian crisis created by Republican immigration policies, and the SCOTUS nomination. The Republicans are getting a little more nervous about the midterms and this headline from AP is important: “Steve Bannon wants GOP to rally behind Trump.” I think so too! That is why I believe that it is perfectly fine to run against Trump – to run as a check on his administration. If people are forced to choose between rallying around Trump and curtailing his powers, the sooner the Big Sort occurs and people will stop being Republicans. The next two generations will be lost to the Republicans and white college-educated Republican women are finally waking up to the possibility of a forced birth future.

    Busy day here as I did not get done with my hot projects and it looks like I will be traveling for a few days.

    See all y’all later!

  7. Good Moon Day morning, Meese! The lowering clouds of daybreak have given way to lesser clouds with glimpses of blue sky and sunlight. The temperature in Ashburn is 69 F., going up to 80 F.—not bad for late August!

    Another night from hell: unfortunately, once I wake up during the night, that’s it. No going back to sleep for me! Basically, I’ve been awake since a little after 2 a.m., which means I am going to ker-RASH this afternoon! Hope I can get some stuff done before then.

    Miss Pink Cheeks is with us through Thursday. I’m supposed to take her swimming this morning, as soon as everyone clears out of water aerobics. She wants me to get into the water WITH her—horrors! I bought an “old lady” swimsuit that covers up as much as possible, but it’s still not enough.

    Still have computer chores to do. Have been procrastinating. Hope I can get them done today.

    Wishing all a good day!

  8. Not loving Windows 10. But I’m here. As far as I can tell, I missed no drama at work last week. Well, some — our new web-based system doesn’t work with Edge, so we have to use IE. Otherwise, just a normal weekday, eating oatmeal & drinking tea. High of 104 today. Blech. Lights of Home was my wake up this morning. Love that song.

    • Edge is not compatible with much of anything. Most people have to continue to use Internet Explorer 11 for web-based software. I am not sure what kind of business model that is.

  9. Good morning meese. 68 with a high of 93 and hazy. Not great weather to be outside for long and that may have been part of the reason I was sick yesterday. Hoping today is better.

  10. Good morning, 58 and the sky is a yellow, smoky haze, so breathing conditions are not good. I’m going to the pool soon and will be in my sewing room this afternoon.

    Our family birthday party for Ava was fun but busy with 14 people and 4 dogs :) Made me grateful to be at our son’s house and to see the combined family in action. We all love the kids and support each other in caring for them.

    Take care everyone.

    • {{{princesspat}}} – Holding the Good Thought for rain to put out those fires and clean the air. Family parties are great – especially at one of the kids’ houses so the clean up is their problem. 😂😂😂 moar {{{HUGS}}}

  11. 68 heading for 77 (this is August, dadratit!) with 100% humidity. Overcast enough I haven’t got a full KWH yet today. Got 6.8 yesterday and the m-t-d is at 271. sigh. At work so interrupted a lot. But that’s what I’m here for. To handle the lost students and cover the phones. Once I get my permissions back I need to start enrolling students and entering senior writing requirements.

    Not sure about what else is going on – other than the Evil Ones being Evil. We’ll block as best we can until we get the power to stop them and start repair work. That’s all we can do. That and support each other as best we can. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Dear Goddess, what wonderful swear words you come up with, bfitz! “Dad-rat-it” as one word? I am going to borrow it!

      Borrowed Jan’s “Yikes,” and now my entire extended Facebook family is using it. :)

      • Use it in good health. 😁😁😁 you’re welcome to ‘dadgummit’ too. {{{HUGS}}}

  12. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 63 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 75. Rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast – which is the last thing we need given that yesterdays chaining storms brought massive flooding to the area. We are pretty high here but the videos from Madison were amazing! They shut down the Beltline Highway which is a BHD.

    Busy morning, can’t stay. See all y’all later!

  13. We don’t have Dee while she is traveling but we do have her tweets:

    From yesterday morning:

  14. I got in a 15 minute walk this morning. Not much but better than nothing. It is hot & muggy, even before 6am. Highs in the 100s, they’re predicting we’ll break some records at the end of the week. From NK Jemisin’s Hugo speech: “I wrote the Broken Earth trilogy to speak to that struggle, and what it takes just to live, let alone thrive, in a world that seems determined to break you.” Btw, she’s the 1st person ever to win the Hugo 3 years in a row, for a trilogy. Also, her story – she’s a 2nd career writer, just quit her day job of social worker last year. She is just the coolest. If you haven’t read anything of hers, do. Have something fluffy & soothing to read after, because it will hurt — Fifth Season took me 6 months of reading fluff to recover, but that’s how I discovered Gail Carriger.

    Speaking of fluff that actually isn’t fluff, here’s Discotheque. You think it’s just a nothing dance song, but read the words, it’s deep.

    • and on top of NK Jemisin’s historic win, there’s this amazing piece from Kelly Marie Tran, the Star Wars actress who was driven off social media by racist misogynist trolls

      Because the same society that taught some people they were heroes, saviors, inheritors of the Manifest Destiny ideal, taught me I existed only in the background of their stories, doing their nails, diagnosing their illnesses, supporting their love interests — and perhaps the most damaging — waiting for them to rescue me.

      And for a long time, I believed them.

      I believed those words, those stories, carefully crafted by a society that was built to uphold the power of one type of person — one sex, one skin tone, one existence.

      Today is starting off really well.

      • I’m not crying, you’re cr – ok, yeah I’m totally crying

        I am not the first person to have grown up this way. This is what it is to grow up as a person of color in a white-dominated world. This is what it is to be a woman in a society that has taught its daughters that we are worthy of love only if we are deemed attractive by its sons. This is the world I grew up in, but not the world I want to leave behind.

        I want to live in a world where children of color don’t spend their entire adolescence wishing to be white. I want to live in a world where women are not subjected to scrutiny for their appearance, or their actions, or their general existence. I want to live in a world where people of all races, religions, socioeconomic classes, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities are seen as what they have always been: human beings.

      • Good for Ms. Tran! I don’t see enough movies to know who she is, but I do applaud her words.

        Just this morning I read the Rev. Katy Zeh’s post on “Feminism and Religion.” She said that women are culturally indoctrinated not to claim their own expertise. Even though we may be experts in a given field, we’re taught that it’s not “ladylike” to announce that we are experts in that field. And at work, if women dare to mention their accomplishments, they’re considered “pushy.” (By men, of course.)

  15. Good Tuesday morning, Meese. Another cloudy day here in NoVa with thunderstorms expected this afternoon. This cloudy weather is getting really old. The current temp. is 72 F., going up to 82 F.

    Didn’t have much luck with my computer chores yesterday. I will have to call Social Security to update my address: I’ve entered it five times on the website and it won’t take it. The pharmacy I’m supposed to use under my new medical plan doesn’t have anywhere to sign on as an individual member. I’ll have to call. I’ll try to update my address on the Unisys website, but I’ll probably have to call.

    Other than that, I have a meeting tomorrow afternoon, The Queen’s “Back to School Night” (in the middle of the day so working parents can’t attend) on Thursday, and a free day on Friday, as far as I know. This is my last week to have The Queen staying with me. Her family misses her so much that they called up on FaceTime last night to talk to her. She says she’s finished the 20 Shakespeare stories for children that I bought for her, and what else do I have for her to read? I’m going to recommend The Ship That Flew. I never read it until I encountered it at age 50, and it was so good that I now own two copies.

    Wishing a peaceful day to all. Nothing good is happening in the outside world, so I just can’t think about it today.

    • I had to look up The Ship That Flew because it sounded vaguely familiar. I may have read it when I was a kid (or at least heard about it); I’m adding it to my list of books to read when my head and my heart need a break. Between you and Dee, I feel as if I have my own personal librarians!

  16. Good morning, Meesefolk; high of 75 with rain expected most of the day. I had planned on working in the yard today, but I may need to switch to Plan B. I have no idea what that is at the moment, but in my current pre-coffee state, anything less energetic sounds good.

    I spent my birthday weekend in OH with The Kiddo and S-I-L, and we did all of the things we hoped to do. We had our high tea…best scones I’ve had in years, and The Kiddo now knows what clotted cream is. We all spent way too much at Penzey’s…I stuck with smaller sizes as I’m not much of a cook, while S-I-L, who is very creative in the kitchen, was like a kid in a spice store. We played Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective…we spent most of the time thoroughly baffled but eventually avoided utter humiliation (and laughed at our general ineptitude until tears were rolling down our cheeks). Sunday we went to see the new Prohibition sculpture (mentioned in my post today); it’s incredibly well-done and thought-provoking. Fortunately, there is a placque which explains the symbolism, because we were unprepared to solve any more mysteries. It was a wonderful, memories-made weekend which is powering me through a week that is sure to be filled with turmoil. Occasionally I wish we lived closer to them, but at least this way, our visits are special and treasured.

  17. Good morning, 62 and the sky is still smokey in Bellingham. Between the haze and changing light I feel like summer is over. Oh well, fall means the election is closer. I’ll believe the Dems will win the house when it actually happens, but I do have a flicker of hope.

    Our grandson arrives via Amtrak tonight for another working visit. This time we are repairing the drawers and sanding and painting a set of old cabinets in the basement. We have used the space for an indoor workshop, but that stuff is being moved to the garage and the cleaned up space will now be used for household storage. It’s a lot to sort, shuffle, move, donate, etc, so Ryan’s strong young legs will be welcome!

    Take care everyone.

  18. 63, 100% humidity, overcast, chilly breeze, hands & feet cold, only got 10 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 281. Definitely not gonna get 500 this month and 400 is starting to look iffy. Situation at the office is also iffy. Confidentiality and all that but the kid is gaming the system and has just lost every bit of sympathy from the folks who’ve been bending over backwards to help him. We shall see what we shall see. Meanwhile whether, when, and how much I’ll be there is totally up in the air. Which also puts my schedule for staffing the newly-opened Dem HQ up in the air. sigh. (Also my computer locked up twice this morning. W T H?) Anyway, I need something warm to drink – to warm my hands on if nothing else – so heading coffee-wards. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  19. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 57 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 73.

    I am checking in via phone because I am travelling for a few days and won’t be able to see up my computer until later in the morning. It took four tries to get spellcheck to let me type “meeses”!!!. I will be nothing but a gloomy gus anyway because it is beyond discouraging to realize that the “president” has been implicated in a crime and his political party doesn’t care because this is their last best chance to set a Republican Supreme Court for a generation. When we take back power, if we don’t pack the Supreme Court to counter the Russian influence on our democracy, it will be political malpractice.

    See all y’all later!

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