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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Morning Meese. I took my friend to work today so I could have the car. Ran by the bank for my September cash. Gonna have lunch with the dept chair today. Just a “catch up” since I’ve been retired. Nothing anybody can do right now about the office situation and until there is… Got almost 17 KWHs yesterday, m-t-d is 375 and we’ve got 4 production days left in the month counting today. We shall see what we shall see. 75 heading up to 90 (heat index in the triple digits) and sunny at least at the moment. Maybe some rain to cool things down tomorrow. I don’t mind the daytime highs although I wish the humidity would dial down a bit, but I’d really like to get back to those overnight lows in the low 60s.
Twitter is worse than a toddler with ADD. How about concentrating on important things? Indigenous kids (asylum seekers and our own) still slated for the RW Xtian adoption ring. Potable water for Flint. Power (incl potable water) for Puerto Rico. Getting non-violent offenders out of prison and violent offenders in. Stop the gun violence. Get the racism out of the criminal justice system. Protecting women’s rights (including reproductive rights). Protecting Voting Rights. There are so very many important things, life and death things, to work on. What #45 says about John McCain is not one of them. sigh. Meanwhile, I need coffee. Healing Energy to everybody shaped to your need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 55 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. Some mornings are so slow and sleepy coffee doesn’t even help. When (if) I ever wake up I hope to do something with my day!
Take care everyone.
We need to get these stories tweeted and retweeted all week.
Wasn’t there a Harvard (or some university study) that was saying 6400+ Maria and Maria-related deaths? This new government estimate is an obvious improvement as far as truth-telling goes, but even now, it seems like this is an under-estimate.
I think the Harvard study had a range of possible values with the high point being 6400+. This certainly beats the “64 people died” narrative that was in the news when the Orange Orshole made his visit to the island.
The Harvard study used a different methodology than the one contracted by PR gov – I don’t think the PR gov was happy with what thy paid for – Gov Ricky has been trying to avoid the big numbers as he hugs up to Trump.
I can’t remember if it was Harvard, but there definitely was a study that put the death toll at well over 4,000. And counting. Folks are still dying in Puerto Rico for a multitude of reasons mostly related to the power still not being fully restored – and inconsistent where it’s been restored at all.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 63 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. The rains have stopped for now but, holey moley, what a mess! I had a several hours of driving to do yesterday and the last half hour was spent white-knuckling my steering wheel in a torrential downpour. By the way, when #ScottHoles fill with water and your tires hit them, it makes a frightening splash and can send your car in a different direction!
I have to check out the news and see how last night’s primaries went. I saw that the more progressive Democrat won the Florida gubernatorial race and that Democratic turnout there was up 70% over 2014. Okay, then, let’s build on that and get a bunch of Democrats elected in November! I am just glad that Jeff Greene was crushed. Democrats should reject celebrity candidates – it is time to push back against the idiocy.
Busy day here – last week of August and a holiday weekend looming and I need to get ahead of the curve.
See all y’all later!
That sounds scary, Jan! Driving through torrential rain can be life-threatening. Our weather forecasts constantly repeat, “Turn around, don’t drown.”
The question is always “do I pull over and wait it out or plow ahead?” If you drive through you can find the end of the storm – or eventually get home. If you pull over, you risk other things.
So I usually go 50 mph in the right-hand lane and try to look as old and frail as possible so people don’t honk at me. I got off the Interstate on the first reasonable exit and all was well.
LOL!
1.08 hot sticky miles this morning. I bet it’s above 80 already. There’s more news than my poor sleepy brain can contend with. Between “stay awake” and “no scratching your forehead”, that’s about all I have brain power for. It is also playing https://youtu.be/LF0rKW1DEMo to me. Good, loud, energetic song, was good on my walk. I love the little acoustic break, then boom!
Good morning, Meese, and happy Woden’s Day. We’ll have another scorcher here in Ashburn: right now it’s 72 F., going up to 95 F. Tomorrow they’re predicting thunderstorms. Today will be a good day to stay indoors.
Going to see the dermatologist at 11 this morning. Apparently she’s here one day a week. It’s rather nice not to have to drive all over the place to go to the doctor.
Feeling somewhat encouraged by yesterday’s primary results but less encouraged about getting rid of Thing. Should someone write a play called “Waiting for Mueller”?
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and a nervous, nail-biting, shifty-eyed day to all the Rethugs on the Hill and in the White House.
Wednesday Meese
I overslept and got up at 7 instead of 5AM – it must be the medication I’m taking.
Have writing to do today but will try to get some rest too.
Yes, take it easy, Sis!
{{{Denise}}} – rest when you can. You heal in your sleep. Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Meesefolk! 72 this morning with an expected high of 80; we didn’t get the driving rain that much of the state did overnight, although we did get a brief shower. For the most part, whatever Jan says today about her weather is what I’ll be saying tomorrow! I had a very poor night’s sleep which is unusual for me (usually I have the Hillary-ability to fall asleep anywhere and anytime). I got up at 2, read until 4, and then came very close to over-sleeping. I suspect this afternoon is going to be a battle to keep my eyes open.
I followed the election results last night, particularly in FL, but after awhile I decided to wait until things settle to try to understand the ramifications of Gillum’s win. Right now, too many folks are invested in making this one-time Hillary delegate into the latest Bernie coronation, and it’s hard to get a read on whether this is good news for D chances in FL (and not incidentally, Nelson’s chances). Did he win with a strong ground game? Was it his message that resonated, and what was his message? Is he an energetic campaigner? Does he have fundraising chops? Will the ongoing FBI investigation hurt him? These are all questions I have, but there’s too much noise right now, and I can wait to wade through the wheat and chaff. Armando thinks this is really bad news for D chances in FL, and while I generally learn a lot from him, he does have an Eeyore side that needs to be taken into account.
Time to get back to work; even if I can barely keep my eyes open, the work doesn’t go away. A good day to you all…
I think there is a disturbance in the force, DoReMI. I have been unable to sleep through the night for 3 out of the last 4 nights. Some was weather related but last night the storms ended early. I think a lot of us are on edge because we know how awful things are and also know that nothing will change until Democrats can win some elections and get sworn into office. Too much uncertainty (and polls do not help).
I am not willing to cede Gillum to the berners any more than Stacey Abrams getting the TheirRevolution endorsement means that she is a Kleebian. I think that having endorsements from a lot of factions (except, of course, the KKK) is good for coalition building. Gillum does not strike me as a pure berner because, for one thing he is Black and I don’t see him as a Tina Turner type who rejects his black identity. He got the endorsement of the Moms Against Guns which is definitely not a berner issue. I will wholeheartedly support him and will also refuse to believe that the most progressive candidate is doomed to failure. Liberal positions on issues are very popular. I hope he has a good campaign manager! I am impressed with the campaign strategy and ads for Abrams and for Tony Evers in Wisconsin, another uphill battle. All the candidates deserve us at least holding fire.
I will confess my unpopular position – I am no longer looking at a candidate’s electability, I am looking at their positions on the issues I care about. I believe that the rest will sort itself out.
75 heading for 90 with enough humidity to put the heat index into triple digits. Well, it is still August. sigh. Cloudy at the moment which doesn’t help my mood any. Oh well. 15.8 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 391 so likely to reach 400 today if we get any sunshine at all. That’ll give us 2 production days to push it up a bit.
Black folks spoke loud and clear last night in FL. Andrew Gillum is their choice. Reese says it’s a hard lift – he’ll get creamed in the panhandle area – but if “Obama 12-like numbers” of the Obama base turn out, he can do it. So I hope everybody paying any attention to what’s been happening in FL gets their butts to the polls in November. Gillum will carry a bunch of Dems with him. I’ve heard that may be Nelson’s only hope. (Don’t know whether to believe that or not.) It was a good night apparently. I cratered pretty much after the FL results came in.
Made soup with my Pad Thai leftovers yesterday. Got lemon almond butter muffins baked this morning. Got some reading to do, not particularly pleasant as it’s unwhitewashed history of US dealing with Natives, but I need to do it. Need coffee first. Healing Energy to everybody everywhere, shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 57 and cloudy in Bellingham. I woke up early but it was still dark so I went back to sleep. So now I’m my usual late, slow and sleepy self! Seems like the light is changing fast this year.
Time for coffee and a quick scan of the news. Take care everyone.
The light does that! Around the Solstice, the light changes very very slowly – sometimes holding steady for a day or two. The closer we get to the Equinox, the more quickly it changes – then it goes by big chunks of minutes. I was planning a driving trip and thinking about when sunset would be so that I would not be driving in the dark and was shocked to see that it was 7:41! Last Sunday’s sunset was 7:44, next Sunday it will be 7:32! Twelve minutes is visible change.
So you’ve noticed that too, princesspat! I have felt the call of an early autumn for some time now.
Thursday Meese
72 here in Saugerties NY going up to a muggy 83.
Still under the weather but not coughing as much, Will continue to rest and take all these medications.
Furious – re the Orange Turd.
“Killing people” was an unexpected bonus, I think. Willful neglect of people “not like him or his base” was the administration’s plan.
Dee, sometimes one is so outraged that one’s voice disappears into gasps.
OMG, how much longer? Mueller? Mueller?
Good morning, meeses! Thursday …
It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 72. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. Sounds like a perfect day and I will make a point of getting outside for a long walk with my doggie.
The “day after” stories about Andrew Gillum’s victory are reassuring – this one by Joan Walsh (the only readable author at The Nation) lays it out. He is not a berner but a pragmatic progressive who espouses ideas that are mainstream Democratic and popular with a lot of people. His response to the racist attacks was perfect – attributing it to the Trumpist impulses of his opponent so that he can run against Trump’s ideas without running against Trump himself.
I am trying to sort out what happened with Chuck Schumer giving up on slowing down the Republican takeover of the federal judiciary. At least one of the judges he essentially rubberstamped could have been – and should have been – rejected. We can’t stop Kavanaugh (at least 6 Democrats will vote to confirm him) so there is nothing to gain by making nice with Mitch McConnell (as if he would care). I have never liked Schumer and never felt he was very good at the leadership job. I hope that when we take back the Senate, our caucus chooses someone else. There is no advantage to having Schumer in the role that I can see.
See all y’all later!
Re Schumer—you and me both, Jan!
I could say something very rude about him but will refrain for now.
Another hot, sticky morning. 17 straight days of highs over 100. Sigh. Since my brain is on a Songs of Innocence kick, I listened to California on the way in. (all I know, and all I need to know, is there is no end to love). 1.10 miles, not bad. Still not pushing, I figure I should give my system a good 2 weeks to get used to this before I push any. As for the news, ugh.
Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! How can the world be in such a parlous state on such a beautiful day? We have a lovely blue sky with little wisps of white veiling, sunlight everywhere, and a little restless breeze playing with the trees.
While we’re on the subject of color, may I discuss my innermost longings? I want to paint half the White House black, brown, and peach-glow, leaving a strip of white, then the rest in rainbow colors. Let the White House represent the people who put the occupant there.
Today I have absolutely nothing on except treating the wound on my poor, blameless leg, which until yesterday morning was being colonized by a Thing from Outer Space. I secured an appointment with the visiting dermatologist, expecting her to do what my last two doctors did in such cases, which was to blast the Thing off with a compressed nitrogen cylinder. (Hurts briefly, but it’s worth it.) Naw, she took out a tiny razor blade with TEETH and excised it. Now she’s sending it off to the lab. This is no doubt more information than you cared to hear, but will perhaps explain why I have done absolutely nothing yesterday and so far this morning.
It’s currently 71 F. in Ashburn, going up to 87 F. later, with thunderstorms possible.
Not sure I can take any more news. Feeling overwhelmed. Wishing a good day to all at the Moose Pond!
People who have been parsing the occupant’s tweets suggest that something BIG is about to drop. Tweeting out that the Lester Holt interview – a taped interview – where he essentially admitted to obstructing justice was FAKE NEWS and TAKEN OUT OF CONTEXT is certainly the rantings of a man feeling boxed in. He is telling his base to not believe what they hear him say on TV.
Here is some interesting data. It is not “white women” who support tRump, it is “white evangelical women” – a much smaller group:
This is a relief. One expects white evangelical women to have opinion other than those planted by their men and their father figures. We would hope that most women would recognize that tRump is a literal pig and refuse to support him. It appears that they did!
75 with 100% humidity going to 85 with heat index in the 90s so getting a bit of a breather today. Yesterday generated 11 KWHs and the m-t-d is 402, with 2 more days of generation. Not nearly what I hoped for but not bad. The PV system installer checked but didn’t find a problem with my system (for all this lower-than-usual production) – I don’t really trust him on this. He ran diagnostics and they came out fine so he blamed the fast-dropping-its-leaves wild cherry in the front yard as usual and left it at that. But I don’t know what else to do and the system obviously is producing. I just know it can produce more. Oh well.
I think we are on the good path for November. We shall see if we manage to get to our next goal – taking back Congress. Definitely if we get the Senate back ol’ Chuck needs to go. Harry Reid made compromises that got stuff done. Chucky baby opens the gates to Troy and wonders why folks are pissed at him. (I mean, didn’t we get this neat giant wooden horse out of the deal?) But that’s an IF we’ll deal with later. Right now it needs to be head down, focus, and make that goal. Everything else is a distraction. We need to keep the urgent stuff – kids, Puerto Rico, voting rights, other rights (like breathing) – on the table (and in the news when we can) but we can’t really do anything about them until we get Congress back.
Meanwhile our for-profit medical industry is bankrupting as many as it can and killing the rest. When I was doing the community needs list there wasn’t a person on it whose need for help didn’t start with health issues they couldn’t pay for but used up all their funds trying. That’s where Aji is now – needing to do a fundraiser to finish the house before winter because the medical bills have eaten all the funds they were going to do that with. Those bills aren’t anywhere near being paid off – that same rapacious medical industry is hounding her daily for payment and still hasn’t run the tests to see what’s actually wrong with her, refuses to without cash up front. This is evil, of course. Fixing this will take getting the power to do it plus having the complex and detailed plans needed to fix this convoluted mess. Meanwhile, as soon as I pay my property taxes next month, I do what I can to help Aji. As Chef Bobby says “one heart at a time”. Healing Energy to everybody – I know all here need it, too – shaped to the need. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
I wish New York could keep this woman as Attorney General. I like the cut of her jib (and yes, I know she isn’t running).
Good morning, Meesefolk; 57 when I got up this morning, with an expected high of 70. We’re back on the weather seesaw…I love this weather, but then the weekend and Labor Day are expected to be in the mid-to-high 80s. A lot of the trees in my neighborhood are already starting to turn and showing signs of stress, which surprises me because I didn’t think the summer overall was particularly dry. But maybe my perspective is just skewed, because it always seemed to rain when I had outdoor plans!
I see the responses to the Cuomo/Nixon debate last night are breaking down along the usual [2016] lines of division; we saw the same thing happen here in MI, but fortunately, the one candidate touted and endorsed by the senator from VT is now working hard for our nominee. Of course, when the R opponent is Cousin Bill, who is the worst-of-the-worst, it makes setting aside divisions a whole lot easier.
Good morning, 62 and cloudy in Bellingham. All I’ve managed to do this week is tend to the basics, but the laundry is done, the beds are changed, the desk is as tidy as it gets, and I’m a bit more rested. So lets hope I can find some creative energy and do something fun today. I do have a physical therapy appointment and an overdue lab check in so my day isn’t completely free.
This man’s work is so interesting to me…….
José Andrés’ New Memoir: How the Chef Fed Puerto Rico
That man is an angel in human form.
Friday Meese
64 and cloudy only going up to 74 here in NYS Yay.
Was stunned by the response to diary I threw up yesterday at DKos after posting here – I was so angry I couldn’t let Trump’s lies go by.
As I predicted – the flurry of stories about PR death toll are fading. I don’t know what it will take to get the media to sustain attention.
Now the stories will be about FEMA cutting off the housing vouchers now that the judge gave them permission. :( I am not sure what they expect people to do.
They want them to go back to PR to live under tarps.
I’m going to keep posting tweets from this young woman on the island – she’s showing a reality that the big journos ignore.
Good morning, Moosekind. I can’t believe this is the last day of August! Where did the summer go? The weather can’t make up its mind this morning: we’re supposed to have rain on and off all day, but the clouds of dawn gave way to clearing skies and now the clouds are back again. Oh, well, I wasn’t planning any outdoor activities anyway.
Currently it’s 71 F. and so humid that there’s condensation on the windows. The high will be 82 F.
The poor dog did not understand why we didn’t give him breakfast. He was leaping agitatedly around our apartment, barking sharply to let us know he wasn’t pleased. Unfortunately, he has to go under anesthesia today so the vet can clean his teeth. I’m sure he’s going to hate his parents when we bring him home. Dearly Beloved reported that he did NOT want to go with the vet—she had to drag him. Never mind, I’ll give him a nice dinner.
Just read a gloomy diary about the seeming inevitability of Roe being overturned. All the news is gloomy. Wish I could make sure Miss Pink Cheeks learns French so she can emigrate to Canada one day, but the school she attends teaches only Spanish.
Hope it’s a quiet day for all at the Pond.
She could use the Spanish in Cuba and Uruguay – where abortion is legal.
Uruguay! That’s a nice country. When I was researching a safe country for Caramel Tart to hide in, I chose Uruguay because it’s the most secular country in Latin America.
So I’ll definitely keep that in mind, and thanks for the suggestion, Dee.
I’d love to visit Cuba but I don’t suppose I ever will, now that the Rethugs have banned tourism for Americans. Yet another reason to damn them.
Roe will be overturned and the battle will go back to the states to protect a woman’s right to choose. But we will also turn Susan Collins out in 2020 and replace her with a Democrat and introduce another generation of women to the battle that we seem to have to keep fighting over and over and over again. Maybe they will decide to vote in every election – or run for office themselves. Democrats can never become complacent because the powerful and well-funded will always be for the party that puts profits over people and refuses to pay for our shared expenses as a society. It will be a constant battle to keep them from taking over our government again.
In 2009, we had 60 Democratic Senators and we could pass legislation like Dodd-Frank, Lily Ledbetter, and the Affordable Care Act. By not voting in 2010, we lost the filibuster proof majority and by not voting in 2014, we lost the majority and ceded the federal courts to the Republicans for a generation. It didn’t have to end up this way.
Sigh. So true.