Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Aug. 11th through Aug. 17th

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!
 

 

33 Comments

  1. Kamala in Iowa

    Normally can’t stand NPR – this wasn’t too bad

    Some results…

  2. Blech, it is so hot. Might hit a record high of 107 today. 81 degrees at 6am. Did I say “blech”? I did go to the gym yesterday, yay me. Brain jukebox was playing this song when I woke up, specifically the line: “I need your grace, to remind me, to find my own”. Such a gorgeous song: Chasing Cars. And the way he smiles at the end when the audience sings to him, just magical.

  3. Good morning, Meesefolk; 66 when I got up and headed up to 84 or so. The rain came last night…south of the city. Since I am about 45 minutes north, it didn’t come close; we got the mugginess but not the relief. My widget says the next chance of rain is on Friday, and at this point, I’ll believe it when I see it. But it’s not as humid this morning, so there’s that.

    I have a ton of things to get done today, so I should probably get started. Between the deep cleaning before SIL arrives, projects I’m trying to get done so I have birthday gifts for The Kiddo, and yard work, I really should have taken a few days off work. It’s too late to ask now, so using every waking moment of my days is my only option.

    Good day to and for all!

  4. Overnight (temp at dawn) was 74 so I very briefly opened the house. I closed all the windows there weren’t cats in by 7:15 and the rest when the A/C kicked on at 8. sigh. At least I do have A/C. And we generated 20 KWHs yesterday which is at least a bit more than needed on an A/C day. The m-t-d is 157 so slow going. It’s supposed to be sunny again today so maybe some catching up – if it happens.

    Twitter is worse than cats when somebody shines the red dot. Or dogs when a squirrel runs across the yard. A cabal of somebodies – Hillary’s “vast right-wing conspiracy” – put twitler in the WH for just that reason. Meanwhile they are systematically destroying or erasing every human rights and environmental gain we’ve made since the Civil War. Systematically. Not something twitler does. Started before twitler was installed. Unless they’re stopped will continue long after he’s gone. Didn’t anybody think what those signed blank Executive Orders meant? And this election cycle is quite probably our last chance. The structure of the Constitution is still in place. But another 4 years of court packing and voter suppression can change that. Whether that 4 years of R control under current laws happens immediately or there’s a brief hiatus of Dem control to clean up an economic mess. If we don’t fix the voting problems, the gerrymandering, the various forms of voter suppression this time…well, for white people it will be like white Catholic French folks living under Vichy. For BIPOC and other marginalized groups it’s already starting – the raids, the never knowing when somebody is going to grab you or a member of your family for the concentration camps. & of course never knowing if you or a family member will be killed “in the line of duty” isn’t even new – that’s been around since before the founding. So. To save our country and a whole lot of lives, we need to take back Congress and WH – and get “Nancy Pelosi busy” dealing with securing our voting system from Rs (Republicans and Russians), break up the media propaganda machine, and dealing with the Courts. We’ll have about 18 months to do it. IF we do it, then we’ll probably have at least another term and maybe more to deal with the other very serious issues – but if we don’t secure the election system and defang the propaganda machine we won’t have the opportunity to do anything else.

    Meanwhile I worry about people to no practical end as best I can tell. Folks I worry about tell me they appreciate the emotional support – and I appreciate that. But they still can’t pay the rent or mortgage, or buy groceries, or get meds, or…and not a single one of them would be in this space if we’d had Hillarycare since back in the ’90s. Sometimes anger is the only thing keeping them (& me) going. Even though it tends to not be good for the tummy. sigh. Coffee. And maybe a piece of toast since I’m out of muffins and it’s too hot to bake. Keepin’ on keepin’ on. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Good morning, Moosekind! The comment I typed earlier disappeared, I see. Well, whatever.

    It’s overcast with tremendous thunderstorms expected. The Littles may have to spend the night here. It’s okay, we can do it.

    Today is Dearly Beloved’s 89th birthday, so I gave him Belgian waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for breakfast. He’s about to go out to make an appointment for the car to get its tune-up.

    Mr. K. is watching ‘toons on TV, Miss Pink Cheeks is working on a jigsaw puzzle, and Grandma has to do some housework. In a little while we’re going to make Apple Smiles.

    Not paying much attention to the news, got too many other things to think about today. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!

    • Happy Birthday, Diana’s DB!! I hope you get your quiet – news free – day. I am going to go offline shortly so that I can as well.

    • Happy B’day to you DB – the birthday breakfast sounds lovely. So does a news-free day. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, 59 and mostly sunny in Bellingham. I’m propping my eyes open, hoping coffee will kick in and help me wake up. Ryan arrives tonight for a “working” visit, my sister’s friend arrives this afternoon, and our Oregon family arrives on Friday. So ten more days of family, food and entertaining and then I can close the B&B for the season!

    The roof trusses on the house being built across the street went up yesterday, and to my dismay the loft will have a vaulted ceiling and that takes away the remaining sliver of the bay view. The owner saw us watching from the porch, ducked her head and ran to her car, which makes sad. Oh well, I may have said something I would regret so it’s best to avoid her until I know I can be civil.

    Time for more coffee and even more laundry. Best wishes to all.

    • Greed will almost always win out over integrity. It should be no surprise that the lies went from “won’t build rental property there” to “won’t build a two story” to the new design. If I had an empty lot near water, I would probably opt for the most glorious views but I would not lie about my intentions. Her lies made everything worse because now you have lost the view and you have to avoid a neighbor. Darn her! Try not to seethe – go sit in your beautiful garden and enjoy the beauty you and Ron created.

  7. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 70. Showers are in the forecast.

    In a just world, the Trump’s amping up of white supremacy would be the end of the Republican Party, not just his presidency*. Immigration Services Director Cuccinelli’s claim that the Lazurus poem on the Statue of Liberty welcoming the oppressed “was referring to people coming back from Europe” was truly deplorable. Tying their anti-immigrant policies into our symbols of liberty and inclusion is such a perversion – it shows that their depravity knows no bounds. May they find an eventual demise that returns their awfulness three fold.

    The news is still all Epstein, all the time – people being shocked SHOCKED that the Bureau of Prisons might not care about the safety and well-being of men and women they have locked up while they await trial or the disposition of their cases. They only care now because he was one of their pals. Meh.

    See all y’all later!

  8. Another morning with a “low” of 80, heat index supposed to be 110 this afternoon. Did not go to the gym yesterday, but I just e-mailed my boss asking to leave early today so I won’t have the “crazy traffic” excuse. So, there was a nuclear accident in Russia which they of course aren’t talking about. But neither are we. I’ve only seen Rachel Maddow cover it, and she mostly talked about the Russian disinformation campaign about it & all the stuff we don’t know. And there are huge demonstrations in Russia & Hong Kong (oh — the Chinese are massing army troops & tanks near the border, yay). Again from Rachel — the Hong Kong demonstrators are waving American flags, singing our anthem….. and we’re just gonna let China kill them. Ok, gonna distract myself from the awfulness of the world with music from young Mr. Byrne: To Noise Making (Sing)
    You don’t have to sing it right
    Who could call you wrong?
    You put your emptiness to melody
    Your awful heart to song
    You don’t have to sing it nice, but honey sing it strong
    At best, you find a little remedy, at worst the world will sing along

  9. Wednesday Meese. 69 going up to 83 here in the Catskills of NYS.

    Puerto Rico

  10. Good Woden’s Day, Meese! It’s 77 F. in Ashburn at 9:25 a.m., going up to 86 F. with thunderstorms today. We had rain yesterday, which resulted in an unexpected sleepover for The Littles. You should have seen them, one dressed in Grandpa’s old t-shirt, and Miss PC wearing a “Hillary 2016” t-shirt of mine.

    Up at 6:30 a.m. but it takes a long time to prepare five different breakfasts (the dog gets his first). We are about to return one of the children but we’re keeping the other. Our living room is piled high with children’s books because Miss PC likes to read. This morning she was reading a child’s version of Julius Caesar.

    Ken Kook-A-Nelly is the same loathsome individual he has always been. Can I fantasize about a scandal bringing him down sooner rather than later? What if his wife runs away with the pool boy, leaving Kook and their seven children behind? One can but dream.

    I’m enjoying the straight 7 hours’ of uninterrupted sleep induced by the night-time cold pills—feeling almost normal.

    Got lots to do today, including finishing off two articles to mail to the editors and typing up the notes for another article.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    • I would prefer that Cuccinelli’s wife run away with the pool girl as it would embarrass him even more!

      I was reading that his grandfather was a literal anchor baby – conceived in Italy but born “just in time” in New Jersey. He is the epitome of “got mine, screw you.” Plus his great-grandfather needed public assistance during the Great Depression, as many immigrants and birthright citizens did, but it was okay I guess because they were white. I think we should #SendHimBack!!

  11. It was 68 at dawn – which I took advantage of to bake cocoa-cherry muffin/bread/squares (now cooling) – and still only 71 now. Heading for 90 and who knows on the heat index. Not as bad as elsewhere for which I am grateful. It’s sunny at the moment and I hope it stays that way. It didn’t yesterday. Only 12 KWHs generated and the m-t-d is 169 rather than the over 200 it could have been if we’d had even 10 “full power” days this month. We’re back to that very irritating no sun/no rain situation. sigh. I’ll need to close up the house in a bit but it’s nice to have everything open and the pleasant breeze blowing through.

    Evil Ones being evil. Most of what we can do right now is keep getting the word out and not let their evil actions be swept under the table or behind the door. This election cycle may be our last chance for a generation or more to not just but up road blocks, but to get us onto a different road. Meanwhile we do what we can regarding the “big picture” and help where we can closer to home. So many of my friends are in financial straits because America has a for-profit, Market-driven, health industry that no self-respecting barbarian would own. Or even a not-self-respecting barbarian. And it’s so hard to have to stand by and not be able to do anything but send a dab of grocery money a few times a month. But of course it’s harder on them to be in pain and have to deal with little or no care or they-didn’t-listen-so-wrong-care and try to stay “living indoors” as jtg puts it.

    So. Tour the internet. Coffee. See if the cocoa-cherry whatever is ready to cut into squares. Do the next thing. Maybe get in an actual walk before the day heats up. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  12. Good morning, Meesefolk; 61 when I got up and heading to 79. All sun and no humidity, so the kind of day the #PureMichigan folks like to brag about.

    I got a great deal accomplished yesterday, but it feels like I barely made a dent in all that I want to get done. Walls and windows were washed; curtains were taken down and washed; carpeting was shampooed…and that’s just one room. Tonight after work will be bathrooms. The kitchen will be tomorrow night (decluttering the kitchen table is practically a night in itself, because no matter how often I resolve to keep it clear…I don’t.) Friday night will be the living room, although I hope by that point, The Hubby will have done most of it.

    I was going to celebrate today, because I have finally conquered the extra work and refiling of material that was necessary because of the recent audit. Instead, I came in to find that the boss has a new, tedious project for me. I am not particularly happy. I’m not objecting to the extra work; after all, I do get paid to work, not spend time on political blogs. But the project is basically reworking the filing system in anticipation of the next audit, so that there will be far less work when that happens. It’s not a bad idea overall…but all of the refiling/sorting/etc I’ve been doing for the past few weeks will now be undone. If he had come up with this idea a few weeks ago, it would have been both easier and not repeating the same work over again. The fact that I had pointed out some of the flaws of our filing “system” after the last audit and was ignored is just an additional layer of insult added to injury. Who me, grumpy?!

    Good day to and for all!

  13. Good morning meese, it’s 73 going up to 102. Back to being August, hot and dry. At least remote start means I don’t have to get into a baking car at the end of the day (though sometimes I like it because I’m feeling too cold). 😂

  14. Good morning, 62 and sunny in Bellingham. Jan, I followed your advice yesterday and just puttered around in the garden. Tending and watering the plants and enjoying the fresh air was restful and soothing. Ryan arrived via Amtrak last night, ready to work so one of our tasks will be planting ferns and mahonia along the path in the salal bed I’ve been pruning. The ground is full of roots and digging the planting holes is hard for me so that will be his job.

    I’ve had a painful reminder that celiac is all to real. I had a very small gluten exposure last Friday resulting in familiar blistering sores and even more painful joints. A very small drop of a berry pie landed on my gluten free desert plate and I didn’t see it. It takes about two weeks for the me to become “unglutened” so I’ll need to be extra careful to avoid cross contamination.

    Time for coffee, and as always, my best wishes to all.

    • That’s terrible about the gluten exposure! It is sad that one errant drop of berry pie can throw you off for two weeks. I hope that you feel better soon. And yay for help in the garden!!

  15. Good morning, meese! Thursday …

    It is a delightful 59 degrees in Madison with an expected equally delightful daytime high of 75. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    News reports suggest that former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper will announce the end of his presidential “bid.” There is some talk of him running against Republican Cory Gardner for the Senate seat up next year. I think that there are already a few good candidates for that race so I hope they don’t assume he is the best candidate (Chuck “No Political Chops” Schumer wants him which in my mind is a strike against him) – and that the Democratic Party stays out of the primary. He was a fine governor when they needed a purple-red guy but he leans too Third Way/DLC for my taste. Colorado is pretty purple-blue now and they can probably afford to run someone a little more liberal.

    I hope PBS rethinks giving a platform to white supremacist Pat Buchanan. It is gross to think that he will be given a microphone to spew his hate on a medium that I help support. It is bad enough we have to pay to house the white supremacist in the White House and pay Stephen Miller’s and Ken Cuccinelli’s salaries but it seems PBS has a choice.

    Yesterday we saw the stock market effects of the first rumblings of recession and – SURPRISE! – this morning it appears that we will start a war with Iran. The old hawks in the Trump administration think that this is 2003 and that a war will rally the base enough to ignore the economic disaster brought on by the ignorance of their leader. Not this time.

    See all y’all later!

    • Thanks for the heads up – re “Uncle Pat” (not my uncle)

    • Where does she get her energy? I admire her and Nancy Pelosi more than I can say. I’m younger than they and I already feel old and poohed.

  16. Puerto Rico

  17. Good Thor’s Day morning, Moosekind! The sky outside is as gray as Athena’s eyes. It’s 72 F. in Ashburn, muggy and overcast. There may be thunderstorms today. What I don’t understand is how the sky can look black and evil at 3 p.m., as if it’s going to storm any second, and then the storm clouds scoot merrily away to threaten the next village.

    Anyway, our grandchildren count is down to one female child, whom we are exploiting. She’s taken the dog out for walks and business meetings and helped to set the table for lunch. Miss PC appears to be working her way through all 20 volumes of the children’s tales of Shakespeare I gave her years ago. In between she works on large puzzles in the game room, a few steps away down the hall, with the help of several elderly ladies. By the time she’s twelve she’s going to have a thorough understanding of the needs and proclivities of the elderly!

    Have a Communications Committee meeting this afternoon, still have some notes to type up and shape into an article for the September 2 deadline. I’d better get on it.

    So Hickenlooper is going to drop out—that’s good—and we’re going to have a war? Not good.

    People are starting to wake up and move around, which means that Grandma must set about making breakfast. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond.

    • This is good! “By the time she’s twelve she’s going to have a thorough understanding of the needs and proclivities of the elderly!”

      I think children should be around older people. I believe that knowing and spending time with my grandparents when I was younger was important in my understanding of history, connections, and generational changes. As you know, ancestors are very important in our goddess traditions and actually knowing some of them helps ground that.

  18. Made it to the gym yesterday, was early enough before the class that I did 20 minutes on the elliptical first. The class was too hard, even modified I couldn’t do most of the things. So I’ll stick to the elliptical, treadmill & the HIIT workout I have (as soon as I find a place in the gym where I can do the exercises & see a clock with a second hand) Anyway, it is hot & sticky and gonna stay that way.

    Shut your eyes and think of somewhere
    Somewhere cold and caked in snow

    • and I can’t believe I forgot to mention one weird/nice thing that happened: when I left work, there was a note card on my car: Random act of kindness — I hope you have a great day. With a cute animal picture on it. When I got home someone (maybe the same person, I don’t really look at my car before I drive in & it’s dark, could easily have not seen the card) had put a bunch of stickers on the table by my door: RAICES, an anti-Trump sticker & some from Austin businesses. Just…. weirdly nice.

      So, I made copies of the card, and now I have 20 paper versions of the card to put on people’s cars. Not sure what to do with the stickers. May put the RAICES one on my car.

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