Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: June 16th through June 22nd

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 (usually Saturday night with a Sunday date). 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!
 

 

23 Comments

  1. Good morning, 54 and cloudy in Bellingham. I was awake in the night but the sound of rain helped me go back to sleep. I stayed focused on my house keeping chore list yesterday so now I can play around with plants today. The slugs have found plants in one pot, the bacopia is unhappy in another, a begonia has decided it doesn’t like the front porch, the white inpatients that were perfect last week are leggy and unattractive this week, and so it goes! Oh well, adapting to change is good for me :)

    Time for coffee and to see if I can win today’s daily challenge solitaire games. I’m stuck on three expert free cell games so I may not win them all this month. But I’ll keep trying!

    Best wishes to all.

  2. Good morning, meeses! Friday and Summer Solstice

    It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 72. Partly cloudy skies are in the forecast. This is the spring weather we skipped over in May and it is glorious!

    Holy Moley! It is being reported that Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders have a “non-aggression pact” of some sort. I guess if you can get 40% of primary-goers to buy into the left-of-the-left agenda, that promotes the “revolution” but it seems wrong. Psst, Senator Warren, I think he broke the deal! In my opinion, if either of those people are our nominee, Trump will win a second term. The Overton Window needs to move gradually, not be shoved left. We need some more years of progressive success before that “radical” becomes “acceptable”.

    Republicans are waving their, er, sabers, at Iran, Hope Hicks said that the vulgar talking yam will accept foreign help in order to win re-election, and migrant children are being held in deplorable conditions in concentration camps by our government. Good day to go “news light” and catch up on projects.

    See all y’all later!

  3. Happy Summer Solstice! It’s 81 degrees at 6am. But climate change is a hoax. Voice tried to go away yesterday, but I toughed it out. I just checked the calendar & it’s a good thing I’m here, because there’ll only be 2 people answering the phones when we open. For a statewide call center, that’s……inadequate. Ok, I’m going to listen to some cool-themed music. Snow Patrol’s Shut Your Eyes, Coldplay’s Clocks (which sounds to me like floating in Barton Springs, Austin’s magical, beautiful natural swimming hole) and maybe some others.

  4. Friday Meese. I overslept – got up at 7AM instead of 4 or 5. Feel really groggy.
    Was up way too late on twitter :)

    Nydia Velazquez:

    PR

    • I wondered where you had gotten to! I have tried sleeping in and my body simply won’t. It wakes up at 4am without an alarm – occasionally it allows me to sleep until 4:30 but never longer. I do go to bed pretty early which will be easier as the daylight disappears; sometimes I go to bed while it is still light outside. :)

      • Cue Robert Louis Stevenson:

        In winter I get up at night
        And have to dress by candle light
        In summer, quite the other way
        I have to go to bed by day.

        It wasn’t until I lived in England in all seasons that I really understood that childhood poem: how it’s completely dark at 4 p.m. in the winter but in summer you can sit in Hyde Park and read a newspaper without any artificial light at 11 p.m.

  5. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s another very windy, cloudy morning here, even though it was supposed to be lovely. Perhaps this is “lovely” by meteorological standards. They’re better at fiction than I am!

    Anyway, happy Summer Solstice, all! Jan, I want to read yours and DoReMI’s posts later this morning. I have a much overdue letter to write to a friend as well as a preventive call to the dentist’s office to make. I’ll be mostly out of town the first two weeks of July so I need to ensure I won’t be missing an appointment.

    Miss Pink Cheeks was frightened to be by herself in a thunderstorm, so I picked her up from Art Camp yesterday and brought her back here. The thunderstorms were certainly around us, but never materialized either in Fairfax or Ashburn. She fits in well with our little family of three: she ate all her dinner, earned her keep by taking the dog out when he needed it, and generally enjoyed herself until the family arrived to pick her up. It’s flattering that she enjoys the company of her grandparents. One day she’ll realize that we in fact deserve our title as the Most Boring Elderly Couple in America and won’t want to visit any more. Sigh.

    In addition to everything else we have to deal with, now we’ll wake up thinking, “Are we at war with Iran?” I sweartagoddess, our stress levels are off the charts.

    With no chauffeur duties, perhaps I can get on with things today. Meanwhile, I wish a good day to all at the Pond and a nonbellicose day Beyond.

  6. Happy Solstice to all. It was 77 at dawn, about 80 now, with 100% humidity. I’ve closed up the house, drawn the curtains, have the ceiling fans on – and am hoping I don’t need to turn on the A/C today. So far at what I’ve got it set it wouldn’t come on even if I did but…it’s always the humidity, not so much the heat. I really don’t want to turn it on and not just because of the energy draw. A/C mucks with my sinuses and the various allergens out there are mucking with them enough already. Yesterday we generated 23 KWHs and the m-t-d with this morning’s driblet is 362 – if we do as well today as we did yesterday we’ll reach 385 by end of today. That would be nice.

    Kitties are sleeping. I wish I could too. My dearest friends are running from short to OMG-short on revenue and/or meds (and mostly the short on funds is caused by the medical bills and meds). A personal (to me) side of the results of giving our nation over to Evil. And of course in the wider world…concentration camps, people dying of deliberate neglect (it would be called negligent homicide if the govt weren’t doing it) from the camps to Puerto Rico and beyond, possible war in the Middle East. Yes, I know Evil’s been working towards this for 55 years that I personally know of. But as with another facet of that – global warming – we supposedly good people did not stop it/them when it could have been done easily and with very little disruption or change in the average person’s life. Now we need a massive push to stop the Evil Ones. And only stopping the Evil Ones will give us the power to make the massive push it may already be too late for on climate change. And concentration camps. And Puerto Rico. And… If I could do more than Tubmans to my friends and Hamiltons to various Dems in or running for office & helping NGOs…but I can’t so that’s what I do. It’s not enough.

    I think I’m gonna celebrate the Solstice by getting my hair cut today. I need to visit the bank and the dairy store – it’s time to shift over from hot cocoa with breakfast and hot coffee for midmorning to yogurt for breakfast and iced coffee for midmorning. Maybe get some ice cream or frozen yogurt for dessert. Although Chocolate Pecan doesn’t exactly go with blueberries. 😁😁😁 Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

    • Although Chocolate Pecan doesn’t exactly go with blueberries.

      That sounds like a valid reason for getting two types of ice cream to me. Of course, I think there’s always a valid reason for getting two types of ice cream.

      • The ice cream was on sale too. But I’ve only got room in my freezer for one carton at the moment. sigh. I think I’ll have ice cream for a midafternoon snack – that way dinner will be between the chocolate pecan and the blueberries. 😂😂😂

  7. Good morning, Meesefolk; 57 when I got up with a sunny! high of 73 today. I hope I’m not jinxing things, but we may have sun on Saturday and Sunday too. Jan’s right: this is the spring weather we skipped in May, and yes, it is indeed glorious.

    I got up at 3:30 and moved to the couch; Hubby was in full-bore snore mode, and nothing was stopping him. Even the pups got up with me for awhile before they decided the comfort of the bed, no matter how noisy the bedroom, was better than trying to share the couch with me. I slept better than I would have dreamed possible, and only woke because the sun was pouring in the eastern windows. Our bedroom only has west-facing windows, so this was a surprise for multiple reasons.

    If the weather holds, I intend to immerse myself in yardwork and nothing else for the weekend. The local mom-and-pop nursery is selling their perennials for $5, and I want to go see what they have on hand. For the most part, I can refurbish my gardens with divisions, but for $5, I’m willing to consider a few new-to-me plants. But I really need to make some headway first and make the visit to the nursery my reward. I ran some errands after work last night, so drove home a different way than usual. I finally saw a field planted with corn–the first one I’ve seen this year–and I almost wish I hadn’t seen it. The plants looked to be only about 6-8 high; they certainly won’t be “knee high by the 4th of July.” So if I do buy any new perennials, they probably won’t be that much behind any of my divisions.

    No matter what, my plan is to spend as much time as possible in a news blackout. I’m actually less worried than many about us starting a war in Iran; despite Bolton’s best efforts, he’s not Putin, so he can’t pull the puppet strings as effectively. I also have zero doubt that a hot war would trigger massive protests that would make the Women’s March look miniscule, and tRumpublicans do not want that. So while I’m concerned, I’m not panicked. I hope I’m right.

    Good day to and for all!

    • Tucker Carlson called off the war. While I am glad that we are not Bomb Bombing Iran, JHC on a popsicle stick, what a horrible way to run a country’s foreign policy! This, from the NYT article on the “deliberations”:

      One thing made clear yet again, however, was just how different Mr. Trump’s decision-making process is from those of other presidents, even on the weightiest of issues to confront a commander in chief.

      “Turn on Fox News, listen to hosts, follow their lead” is indeed “different”.

      Have a wonderful weekend of outside work, I hope the weather cooperates!!

  8. Good morning, 58 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. I was early to bed last night, but I did see the spectacular sunset from my bedroom window. The colors were amazing. I have to hope the power and beauty of nature will see us through the difficult tRump days.

    I puttered around in the garden yesterday but didn’t shop for replacement plants so that will happen this morning so I can putter around some more this afternoon. Best wishes to all on this first day of summer.

  9. Saturday Meese
    59 here in the Catskills going up to 80

    April Ryan to Sarah Sanders “Girl, bye”

    Catholic Hospitals

    Puerto Rico

  10. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 73. Sunny this morning but rainy this afternoon with storms expected into the evening.

    Our 2020s are in South Carolina this weekend, hoping to make a dent in Joe Biden’s “inevitability.” I am not ready to declare the primary over and I hope that the people of South Carolina aren’t either. I am surprised to see Bernie Sanders and Mayo Pete in SC – they really have no base there: white dudes with ginormous egos in South Carolina are mostly Republicans and won’t vote in our primary.

    The most important thing going on right now, in my mind, is shining a light on the treatment of migrants in our border camps and the planned ICE raids: the rollout of Stephen Miller’s plan for ethnic cleansing. tRump will run in 2020 on hatred of The Other and two and a half years into his reign of terror, his base still has an insatiable appetite for cruelty.

    See all y’all later!

    • The most important thing going on right now, in my mind, is shining a light on the treatment of migrants in our border camps and the planned ICE raids: the rollout of Stephen Miller’s plan for ethnic cleansing.

      Great Mother! I am heartsick. And the SS—ICE—will round up the “undesirables” tomorrow. I hope ICE freezes over.

  11. My usual Saturday routine of sleeping in & watching MSNBC’s morning show. Today: groceries & the gym. And put some beans on to soak so I can cook them tomorrow. Maybe get my tea for next week made, to get ahead for tomorrow.

  12. Good morning, Moosekind! It seems like a fairly decent day for once here in Ashburn. Yesterday the “breeze” howled all day at 35 miles an hour. It would have been pleasant walking outside except for that. Currently the temperature is 68 F., going up to 82 F.

    There’s a Jennifer Wexton town hall on gun violence today at 1:30, which I hope to attend. We’re going to dinner tonight with a couple of friends down the hall. Just found out from reading the weekly AP “purple paper” that someone I knew from work long, long ago has just moved here! I’m going to leave her a note welcoming her. Perhaps we can get together.

    Three consecutive days of (mostly) vegan lunches and dinners have made me feel quite cheerful in my personal life. I’m about to go to the gym to walk on the treadmill. One of the trainers told me that walking at a slower pace burns fat more than walking at a faster pace. I’m having a hard time with that concept: logic tells me that the harder you work, the more calories you burn. Still, I like doing my beta reading while on the treadmill—thankfully, the pace has really picked up from page 200 on! At this rate I should finish after President Harris has been inaugurated.

    Wishing a pleasant, un-humid Saturday to all at the Pond and Beyond!

  13. It seems to be 76 heading for the upper 80s. I haven’t a clue what the heat index will be but with the humidity as high as it is, we’ll probably get close to the 102 heat index we had yesterday. I’ve closed up the house for the day. So far I’m still holding firm on no A/C. It’s sunny at the moment but we’ve got rain forecast for just after sundown so I’m not sure how long that will last. We got 23 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 385. Well on track for 500 – IF…

    Evil Ones being evil. I wish I believed in the kind of magic that could – poof – stop them. But there is no magic answer. If we impeached twitler tomorrow he’d be acquitted Monday. And just as Al Capone’s response to arrests and guaranteed acquittals was to double down on what he was doing, so would twitlers. There is no shortcut. Even more – it’s not just twitler any more than it was just Al Capone (or Hitler). There’s a whole organization that will just replace the head and keep doing what it’s doing if twitler dropped dead from laughing at us after the acquittal. To save those children, to get them out of the hellholes they’ve been put in, to get them back with their parents, to close the concentration camps – we cannot, not will not, cannot do this until we have the power. Even just the whole of Congress could block this, could defund ICE and otherwise force them to stop. But cutting one head off the hydra means two more grow in its place. Meanwhile those children are tortured by threats, beatings, sexual abuse – and by denial of food, clean water, sanitary facilities. And their parents. It’s torture and 60-fucking-% of white America is fine with this. There are those who walked away from the city of Omelas. Where can you go when it’s your whole geedee country? I live in a bloody state where my congresscritters vote for this evil. I live in a bloody county where the Sheriff’s Dept depends partly on ICE money to run the jail because the good citizens refuse to pay an extra $25 – $50 a year to fully fund the county. I don’t have an answer. This is like the gangs of white men raping Native women on the reservation – laughing because Native LEO has no jurisdiction over white men and can’t touch them. We can start impeachment investigations – and that’s good, we need to investigate, to find out everything we can so we can nail them good and proper when we have the power to do so – but it’s not going to save the health-sanity-life of a single child in these camps. Maybe Raices & groups like them can get better treatment for them and even get some of them out of there. Maybe. I send them a few dollars and a lot of hope. And not let myself be deluded by the thought of a magic impeachment.

    Coffee. And another attempt to reach the Dem Party volunteer coordinator again. And the handyman who finally sent me the quotes for the 4 separate jobs dealing with my roof but hasn’t responded about which is most urgent. And hang onto the loving kindness that is Moose Pond. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  14. Good morning, 56 and cloudy in Bellingham. Yesterday felt like summer but the chilly breeze and grey sky outside my window today is all to familiar. I have a few more plants to find homes for and then I hope to just relax a bit. We did eat dinner outside last night, so the patio is officially open for summer fun.

    Time to find some coffee. Best wishes to all.

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