Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: August 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 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 (right before “Leave A Reply”) and use the Pages Tool to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.

31 Comments

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

    Morning low of 57 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 77. Sunny skies are in the forecast.

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Puerto Rico

    Haiti

    • Denise, that’s great to hear about PR’s vaccination percentage. Good!

      Re the storm: have you everything you need—water, candles, matches, gas for the cars, nonperishable food, batteries for the radio? If you have a generator, do you have enough gas to keep it running for five days?

      Please stay safe. Hope the dogs won’t be too frightened.

  3. Good morning. Yesterday turned out to be more….interesting than I planned. I got in my car to go to the grocery store & it wouldn’t start. Got a jump, drove to a Midas, and it was the alternator. On a 8 year old car? Sigh. So I filled one credit card to it’s limit, but that’s what they’re for, right? Unexpected expenses. I did a search and while it was on the high end, it was in the normal range. And I read about half of the book I have from the library. Today: make next week’s tea, lunch and overnight oats. Thank goodness for online church.

  4. It’s 73 heading for mid 90s with a heat index over 100. We shall see how much over 100. Last week of August will be seriously summer. Sunny and supposed to mostly be that way also for the week. I hope so anyway. We only got 10 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 298 – to even reach 400 by the end of the month needs a minimum of 12 per day.

    More Holding of Good Thoughts. Everywhere. So very many people in pain or peril or both. There are some maybes in the relatively near future that if they come true will get some folks out of the pits they’re in. So more Holding of Good Thoughts.

    Just the piddle amount of chores I’ve done so far is bothering my hands. So time for a break. Do online stuff for a bit. Then we shall see. Coffee of course first. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  5. Good Sunday morning, Moosekind. The current temp. in Ashburn is 80 F., going up to 84 F. and it’s rather cloudy. You are no doubt eager to know we are now 5 inches under for rainfall for the year rather than 6 and 1/2 inches.

    Our 7-year-old grandson is over here until his father picks him up at teatime. He’s so articulate for his age! I worry so much about his going back to school on Wednesday: like all under-12’s, he’s not vaccinated. He’ll wear a mask, of course, and goodness knows what Fairfax County is doing with social distancing and teacher vaccination, but I would be devastated if anything happened to this precious boy. The 6-year-old will be here this afternoon and all day tomorrow.

    Unfortunately I didn’t have as good a night as I usually do, so I’ll need a nap after lunch. I’m keeping going with tea and coffee. Wishing a good Sunday to all at the Pond and holding the good thought for Bfitz’s hands.

  6. Good morning, 58 and cloudy in Bellingham. We’ll celebrate Ava’s 14th birthday later today so I’ve got a birthday bouquet to make and a few presents to wrap. My grand babies are all growing up!

    One task lead to another yesterday, so our “good enough” garage project is getting closer to being done. My knees are not happy, but oh well. Best wishes to all.

  7. Good morning, meeses! Monday ..

    It is 61 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 86, heat index into the 90s. Showers this morning then cloudy off and on this afternoon. The week will feature oppressive humidity and high temperatures in the upper 80s and a chance of rain. Lovely. The full moon was brilliant – maybe a last glimpse of her for a while.

    A breathless headline in a national publication: “Americans no longer believe in the public good.” Holey mackeral, where have they been? The percentage of Americans who believe in the public good has never been overwhelmingly high – we are a country filled with bitter selfish people and it is a complete mystery how we managed to cobble together enough of a consensus to even build a nation. Probably because the founding fathers were all rich white men so the consensus was from their privilege – the public good was from the hard work of the masses with the benefits flowing up. I will never forget my sense of horror in 2008, when people were losing their homes because of the banksters, that a lot of people thought that was their own fault and that they deserved no help – they themselves managed to pay their mortgages! Same thing with the student loan burden or the move to free college – instead of seeing the benefit to the country, people screamed “I paid my debt” and “No fair, college wasn’t free for me!” Bitter selfish ignorant people. I hope there continue to be enough of us who want to preserve and enhance the common good that we can win elections and put decent people in power. Some days it is difficult to see how we survive.

    I am ignoring Afghanistan angst. At least there are a few more op-eds showing up in the news that remind people of who got us into the quagmire. Just like Republicans crashing the economy and relying on Democrats to fix it, in this century, Republican incompetence and lies got us into unwinnable wars and now a Democratic president has to spend his political capital to put an end to it. I think Joe Biden’s handling of the evacuation will only be a political issue for rabid Republicans who were not going to vote for Democrats anyway. The outrage machine will continue to spew nonsense – egged on by garbage people like Chuck Todd and Richard Engel – while the rest of us will be trying to stay away from the #RepublicanDeathCult and the army of Typhoid Marys they unleashed. I noticed that another right-wing anti-vaxxer radio host and another local Republican Party official died of COVID-19. No tears shed.

    Busy week here as I head into the home stretch of house clearing and cleaning. I lost one helper but got a reprieve on one of my other helpers and will have her for a few extra days. I think I will be able to take a deep breath on Thursday and declare a victory. Phase II won’t need to start until after Labor Day.

    See all y’all later!

  8. Good morning. Saw the Space Station this morning, that was cool. The Rd are having another voter suppression hearing today, sigh. And after spending $$$$$ on the new alternator, my “check tire” light is on. I’m going to the place I got 2 new tires in March, with any luck, it’s one of them & still under warranty.

  9. It’s already 76 heading for the 90s, heat index probably over 110 – it was yesterday and today’s supposed to be hotter. We generated 15.24 KWHs yesterday and m-t-d 313.29 starts the day.

    Got cocoa-cinnamon-walnut muffin bread in the oven. Yes, too hot to bake. But the commercial GF stuff is starting to upset my tummy. Which is already upset enough. Got the house open and just hoping the kitchen heat will go out the window rather than down the hall where the thermostat is. I’ll have to close up as soon as the oven’s off. Or at least shortly after.

    Prayers & Good Thoughts for Jill – there’s a “maybe” she should get an answer on this week & if yes, a path out of several of the dangers she’s in. For Amelia too, there’s a fainter, further out, maybe for her. But it’s there. For everyone, of course. Some, if they’ve got maybes, they aren’t visible. Others just don’t have any. But all need prayers. And if I started listing, I’d be at it until I ran out of pixels or whatever these are and still not be done.

    The sun is shining. That may or may not be a hopeful sign, but it eases my depression and I’ll take that very thankfully. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  10. Good Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s 82 F. going up to 90 F., so I’d better hurry with morning chores. Little Ethan wants to visit the community garden. He told me he eats red-hot chili peppers with every meal. I texted this statement to his mother, who responded that he was telling a story because he abhors all things spicy!

    It’s a sunny morning but hot in Ashburn. Naturally, as I have a grandchild staying with me, both swimming pools here are closed owing to a water quality issue. Someone else’s grandchild peed in the pool? How tiresome. Tomorrow his other grandparents will host him for the day and school actually seems to be starting on Wednesday. The other grandchildren, whom I saw yesterday, will start school today. There’s a shortage of school bus drivers, so bus schedules are totally messed up.

    Yesterday this child, when I assumed he was playing with the coloring books and color pencils in front of the TV, quietly grabbed the child-safe scissors and sheared off his hair in front. He looks like a tonsured monk and certainly will not look at all nice in the “first day of school” pic his loving mother takes every year. Great Goddess! I’ve now hidden all four pairs of child-safe scissors.

    Well, I only have a million things to do, so will end this and start my day. I actually started it by making blueberry muffins. They were delicious.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond. Dee, stay safe!

    • {{{Diana}}} Would he look any better if you gave him a “burr”? That would at least wouldn’t look like a tonsured monk. I’m glad your blueberry muffins were delicious. I’m about to find out if my cocoa-cinnamon-walnuts things are as they are almost cool enough to cut. Healing Energy/Protection to you & yours. moar {{{HUGS}}}

      • Thank you, darling! Actually, his hair is already so short that where he’s cut it makes him look bald.

        Fortunately, the one thing we know about hair is that it will grow back.

        • THIS!! “the one thing we know about hair is that it will grow back.”

          I used to have angst about bad haircuts until I embraced this knowledge. Of course it helps to be old and not trying to impress anyone – my haircuts are for keeping my hair out of my face and most anything will do. After surviving the look of the COVID haircuts, I can survive anything.

  11. Monday Meese. Tried to log in earlier but couldn’t. Second try. Looks like I’m here.

    Haiti

  12. Puerto Rico

    Sarcasm

  13. Good morning, 57 and raining in Bellingham. The garden is dry so the rain is welcome. Between the heat and the deer munching new blooms my pot plantings are looking tired but I’ll leave them as is for now. Covid allowing, sister is coming for a visit in late September so I’ll do a fall refresh for the plants before she arrives. Looks like we’ll need to stay outdoors for family gatherings for who knows how much longer.

    We enjoyed our family time together with Ava yesterday…..flowers, food, dogs, family, and a charming young woman excited to start high school. She can walk to school from her house so no more bus rides. Crossing fingers her school can stay open and be safe for everyone.

    Best wishes to all.

    • My daughter was driven to school for two years (I did not want her on a bus as a small child) then was able to walk for three years. The bus ride to middle school was really long and the bus ride to the high school was worse so I often let her borrow my car. I usually did not need it.

  14. Tuesday Meese. 64 going up to 89 and muggy here in Kingston NY. Glad to finally have a day without rain.

    A voting rights win in North Carolina

  15. Puerto Rico

  16. Haiti

    In 2010, much of Port-au-Prince was flattened by a magnitude 7 earthquake, taking 220,000 lives with it. The latest quake was two decimal points bigger in magnitude but struck a less densely populated region.
    The relief effort 11 years ago was riddled with controversy. Aid workers at Oxfam were found to be trading food and supplies for sex, while a cholera outbreak that took more than 9,000 lives is likely to have begun with the arrival of the United Nation’s peacekeeping mission in October 2010.
    Since then, international charities and humanitarian organisations have been viewed with suspicion. White pickup trucks, emblazoned with NGO logos, move foreign employees around the cities, using Haitians as drivers and private security. With more than 3,000 NGOs operating within its borders, Haiti is often described as an “aid state”.
    “The [international NGOs] do what they want, not what we need,” says Modesty, from her damaged home. “They ignore the communities, the leaders, and the needs of the communities.”

  17. Good morning. I have to go back to the tire shop this morning. Sigh. Working from home after I walk back from there (or with any luck, drive back with the fixed car). Normal 10,000,000 degree temps here, I just went outside to knock a wasp nest off one of my plant stands and ick. August in Texas is like a large outdoor sauna.

  18. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 70 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 91, will feel like 100. Mostly sunny skies with a chance of thunderstorms later in the evening.

    The new governor of New York, Kathy Hochul was sworn in at midnight. Of course, Pig Cuomo went out attacking Tish James and essentially claiming his innocence. Someone suggested that he will use his $18 million state campaign fund to seek revenge on those who wouldn’t let him grab the wimmins. He could also do the right thing and turn it over to the state Democratic Party. I will not hold my breath waiting for that.

    It is so frustrating trying to watch the news. Yesterday afternoon, someone had a guy on who compared the failure to airlift all the women Afghan nationals out of harms way with the United States turning away Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. Good lord. The plight of the women in Afghanistan is terrible but it has been terrible off and on for centuries – it is terrible in the United States in some areas! People pinning every bad thing that happens in Afghanistan from now until eternity on Joe Biden, who has been a participant in their history for about 7 months, need to read some history and then STHU.

    The land that is now Afghanistan has a long history of domination by foreign conquerors and strife among internally warring factions. At the gateway between Asia and Europe, this land was conquered by Darius I of Babylonia circa 500 B.C., and Alexander the Great of Macedonia in 329 B.C., among others.

    Mahmud of Ghazni, an 11th century conqueror who created an empire from Iran to India, is considered the greatest of Afghanistan’s conquerors.

    Genghis Khan took over the territory in the 13th century, but it wasn’t until the 1700s that the area was united as a single country. By 1870, after the area had been invaded by various Arab conquerors, Islam had taken root.

    During the 19th century, Britain, looking to protect its Indian empire from Russia, attempted to annex Afghanistan, resulting in a series of British-Afghan Wars (1838-42, 1878-80, 1919-21).[…]

    1979 – The USSR invades Afghanistan on Dec. 24 to bolster the faltering communist regime. On Dec. 27, Amin and many of his followers are executed. Deputy Prime Minister Babrak Karmal becomes prime minister. Widespread opposition to Karmal and the Soviets spawns violent public demonstrations. By early 1980, the Mujahadeen rebels have united against Soviet invaders and the USSR-backed Afghan Army.

    1989 -The U.S., Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the Soviet Union sign peace accords in Geneva guaranteeing Afghan independence and the withdrawal of 100,000 Soviet troops. […]

    1995 – Newly formed Islamic militia, the Taliban, rises to power on promises of peace. Most Afghans, exhausted by years of drought, famine and war, approve of the Taliban for upholding traditional Islamic values. The Taliban outlaw cultivation of poppies for the opium trade, crack down on crime, and curtail the education and employment of women. […]

    Oct. 7, 2001 – Following unanswered demands that the Taliban turn over bin Laden, U.S. and British forces launch airstrikes against targets in Afghanistan. American warplanes start to bomb Taliban targets and bases reportedly belonging to the al-Qaida network. The Taliban proclaim they are ready for jihad.

    If you read the entire article, women gained rights, lost rights, gained rights and lost rights again. We are always the first to lose rights because the men control the guns and the government. THAT is a global problem and not one that would have been solved by keeping American troops in Afghanistan.

    Nose back to the grindstone!!

    See all y’all later!

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