Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: August 7th

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.

35 Comments

  1. Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind. It’s 75 F. already, going up to 91 F. later with thunderstorms. Another busy day of laundry and writing. My new email address which, incidentally, is:

    kalliste1944 at yahoo.com

    is refusing to deliver attachments from one of my best writers. Gods, I hate this! We decided that reading everyone’s writing a week ahead of time would enable us to give everyone feedback, instead of just one or two people. I don’t know how to text entire documents to people on my phone.

    So, thunderstorms this afternoon—I think we’ll order carryout from one of the restaurants. Tomorrow I have to go for a blood draw at 8:30, so I’ll be able to whine about that.

    Nora sent me pictures of a garden in Cranbrook, Kent, they visited yesterday. This child is magic. Every time we took her to England we had sunny, lovely weather. This week in the U.K. the family will enjoy sunny weather with temps in the 80s.

    Dearly is crash-banging the dishes as he takes them out of the dishwasher. May Goddess preserve my last nerve.

    TTThhat’s all, folks! Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day.

    (EDITED TO MAKE EMAIL ADDRESS LESS HARVESTABLE)

    • Not that it is any of my business but why would you get a yahoo email address if you are getting something brand new? Yahoo had to shut down because their security was breached so many times they became a laughingstock. I am not sure that anything that rose out of those ashes would be trustworthy and a lot of email systems routinely block yahoo.com because of their past history. For free email, your best bet is either gmail.com or outlook.com both of which provide advanced spam and security control. Gmail is more of a nanny and Google wants to control your computer but Outlook will work seamlessly with your Microsoft365 accounts and you can even set it up to be accessible using the Outlook program that comes with your new cloud software.

      • Thanks for the tip, Jan! I’ll set about that when the new system has been installed. Gmail is such a pain. I had some trouble with the free version of Outlooka couple of months ago so I stopped using it. I want to get all of my writing assignments done before the transfer occurs. I expect I’ll have to hire someone, even though my son-in-law did a great deal of the preliminary work.

        • I am pretty sure that Microsoft365 gives you an email account and allows you to connect it to a domain that you may own. You should look at that as an option as you are working on the transfer. Then you can be diana at goddessfiction.com for example.

          Sorry to be bossy! Of course you would not have known about Yahoo’s problems. I got caught in a major attack because of their security issues because the ISP I was using at the time (a BUSINESS Internet provider) used them as their email provider. I had accounts compromised and crippling spam for several months until I could cycle everything out of their system. I had not used their email except to forward notifications from the ISP but that was enough.

          • BlogGoddess, I am grateful for your advice. You know far more about this business than I.

            I also like the idea of Diana@GoddessFiction VERY MUCH! :)

  2. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 70 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 88. The day will begin with sunny skies and then there will be a pretty good chance for rain beginning around 11am. We did not get any storms last night which I am grateful for – the rain is nice but the thunderstorms at 2am I can do without. :)

    Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Doodiehead Vos did not get defeated but definitely got a scare – he only beat his trumpier opponent by 200 votes. Now he is angry at the monster he created, former Supreme Court Justice Michael PillowGuy Gableman. I am enjoying watching the crazy trumpers and the trumpers who can read the law tear each other apart! The other news from Wisconsin is not so good. The Republican nominee for governor was the trumper but he is only embracing the 2020 election fraud meme to get the trump vote. He is a longtime business owner in Wisconsin (and perpetual candidate for office) and the NeverTrump Republicans will vote for him over Evers without even batting an eye. He is not like the crazed Kari Lake in Arizona who wants to secede from the union over the FBI search of tRump’s resort or the Republican gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania and Maryland who are out and out Q members complete with wild conspiracy theories and connections to January 6th. Poor Wisconsin – I am glad we got out of there when we did.

    Busy day ahead of appointments and things I need to get into my car for so I need to get some things done before I shut down.

    See all y’all later!

  3. It’s 71 but will be going up fast now the sun’s above the hill to the east. I was able to open up last night around 10:30 but will need to close up soon. Yesterday we got almost an inch of rain and only 9 KWHs of electricity. The m-t-d at 133 is not on track for 450 for the month. Hold the Good Thought we catch up this so-far-sunny day.

    The drama seems to be winding down among my personal acquaintances – or else everybody’s gotten so used to it the adrenalines run out and we’re all just too tired to react. Not that I’ve had much, if any, personal drama. Shorter on money than I’m happy about. Still afraid I may have to remove some people from my patreon but so far I’m OK. Shorter on sleep than I’m happy about but I’m still getting more than a lot of folks I know. So I am OK. Just concerned about everybody else.

    Off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  4. Thursday Meese. It is wonderfully cool here this morning. 63! Only going up to 89.

    Puerto Rico
    Puerto Rico


    “15 years ago we had 2,000 dentists. Now we only have 1,200. Insurance rates have caused many to leave. 40 dentists have just graduated and only 3 are going to stay,” explains Dr. Arminda Rivera, pdta of the College of Dental Surgeons
    @radioislatv

  5. Good morning. We have a few days of less hot weather — I’m not calling mid-90s “cool”, and it might even rain. I’m getting a new computer at work, wish I could say the same for home. Using my kindle for twitter & other internet is awkward. And I didn’t see Ono’s diary at the orange place yesterday. It’s a good one, on the rec list of you want to read it. Anyway, I’m in the office. Beto called out a heartless trumpista, good for him.

  6. It’s 68 and sunny at the moment. Yesterday we got 15.7 KWHs and the m-t-d at 149 isn’t on track but it gained some and hopefully will catch up today. The A/C cycled on 3 times between 5 pm and 9 pm but I was able to open up the house by 10:45. Looks like I won’t have to close it up until 9 today. We’re moving towards winter. (It’s supposed to be 63 around 7 am in the morning. I shall bake muffin bread.)

    Everybody is still hanging on. Nobody’s really comfortable, but we’re all still breathing and that counts as good. Heading over to twitter & DK. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  7. Good Thursday morning, Meese! I was in a pissy mood this morning because of that fasting blood draw. However, now I’m back from the lab and am enjoying everything I should be enjoying, including COFFEE. It was so strong this morning that I had to put a few drops of vanilla extract in it.

    Also, the fierce rain of early morning has stopped, everything is washed and clean, and the sky is clearing. One of the writers in my group wrote a hysterically funny essay on the “rudest place names in England,” including Crapstone, Brokenwind, and Nether Wallop, so I’m sure this afternoon’s meeting will be hilarious. After that I’m going to a meeting about Parkinson’s disease, because my neighbor has it.

    Must dash, dog wants to out. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    • I saw pictures from Washington DC – did you get all that rain too? Yikes.

      By the way, if the domain name goddessfiction.com (used by your WordPress website) is your registered domain (ie you own it versus it is owned by your Hosting firm GoDaddy), you can use it for email using the Microsoft 365 Personal product. The M365 Personal (from the product information) appears to work specifically with GoDaddy so there is probably easy to follow instructions on how to set it up.

  8. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 73 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 91. Sunny skies this morning, clouding up a bit and today’s monsoonal rains are expected at about 1pm and then 9pm. Yesterday we got over an inch of rain from an early evening deluge (with pea sized hail) and some more after 11pm.

    The news is too stupid to look at so I am going to ignore it and ignore the implication that a Republican can never commit a crime because any evidence related to the crime is always “planted”. We will never fix our current mess until Republicans decide that the laws apply to them and their cult leader. Why is it that when a person who votes Democratic does something terrible (like the guy threatening to kill Bart Keggernaugh) every Democratic politician has to renounce it but when a MAGAt threatens to kill an abortion provider or a federal magistrate or Nancy Pelosi, the Republicans are silent and the press does not hold their feet to the fire? Yes, that was a rhetorical question – I know the answer.

    I got a major project done yesterday and a new urgent project got dumped in my lap yesterday afternoon so I need to at least get the outlines in place before I finish my day.

    See all y’all later!

  9. So much for rain & cooler temps. 102 yesterday, no rain. And it’s 78 already this morning. Sigh. At least it’s Friday. My voice was trying to disappear yesterday, hope that doesn’t happen today — it was really tiring, trying to speak.

  10. Friday Meese. Lovely weather here in Kingston for a change – 64 now going up to 83 and sunny.

    Yesterday was a happy anniversary

    Puerto Rico


    Patients in the dark about the performance of their medical plans
    Most health plans keep information about the quality and quantity of the treatments they approve in Puerto Rico secret.

    • Thanks for the Kamala tweets! I still pinch myself to find out if it is all a dream. I hope the left-wing deadenders give her a chance to run for president some day.

  11. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 72 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 90. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast with rain expected at 11am. Last night the clouds over the mountains cleared enough so that I could see the full moon! I had not seen her for quite a while and it was a treat. She had a few clouds around her but was definitely “super”. This morning she is in the southwest sky and I will get to enjoy her for another half hour or so. I found and bookmarked a web site that will help me know when she will be visible here and which sky she will be in – I am not yet oriented. The Perseid meteor shower is peaking right now but most reports are that the fullish moon will make it difficult to see. I think the clouds will be a problem here.

    Holey Shamoley! Is anyone surprised that tRump would have seen the value (monetary and otherwise) of having continued access to the most sensitive documents related to our national security including our nuclear arsenal and the nuclear arsenals of our allies and enemies? Whether he intended to sell them or use them for leverage against someone or just show them off to people who visited him at his table in the Mar-A-Lago dining room is unknown. That Republican electeds continue to reject the need for the confiscation of these documents is deplorable. I am sure their defense will be that he didn’t know what they were – exposing their willingness to put the fate of the world in the hands of a toddler. Merrick Garland has one job – find a charge that will stick to tRump that will land him in prison and keep him from running in the 2024 election. By the way, anyone who denies that MAGA is a cult needs to look at the guy who attacked an FBI office – at the right-wing media’s, the Republican party’s and tRump’s goading – and ended up dead in a corn field. I am glad that most MAGAts are incompetent and his attack on the FBI failed.

    I actually got something important done this morning and I can spend a little time reading the news. I have no more appointments until mid-September so my time is my own. I am learning how to use a new software development tool and that is keeping me at my desk longer than I want but it feels good to be doing something proactive instead of reactive.

    See all y’all later!

  12. It’s 66 – was 62 when I got up – and sunny at the moment. We generated 17 KWHs yesterday and at 166 the m-t-d is back on track for 450. Hopefully we get 17 or more today as next week is supposed to be cloudy and rainy (and cooler).

    I baked cinnamon applesauce walnut muffin bread this morning. Had a square of it for breakfast. Yum! If I quadrupled the butter and sugar I could call it cake. That would be lot shorter to type than muffin bread. On the other hand it would be too sweet for my taste and too much fat for my pancreas. LOL. So far everything’s quiet with my friends. No dramatic surprises anywhere in the last 24 hours. Hold that thought.

    Off to Twitter – the Help Folks Live 2022 hashtag/thread has been a lot busier than usual/expected for the 2nd week of the month. Hope my boosting of all these fundraisers is actually helping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Anybody heard from princesspat? She hasn’t checked in since Tuesday and I’m kinda concerned.

    • I have seen her in other places – I know she has been very busy and had company for a while. I will ask her if she is having trouble logging in. I almost never check my blogging email accounts, for some reason it exhausts me to have to log in. I should probably make a point of checking mail at least once a week.

  14. Good Friday evening, Moosekind! It’s really late for a visit. I had to rush off for two early morning doctor appointments. I hate early morning appointments almost as much as I hate doctors. After drearily visiting the grocery store I straggled home to make lunch, and then do absolutely nothing. I should have done all sorts of things this afternoon but did none of them. I did make it to the gym to use the treadmill, then went to get dinner, which took a solid hour of my time.

    Last night I went looking for the full moon, known as “The Sturgeon Moon,” according to folklorists. I found Her hanging low over the roofs, a pleasing pale yellow rather than high in the sky and silvery.

    I’ve got a tale of the Virgin Sturgeon
    Virgin Sturgeon very fine fish–
    Virgin Sturgeon needs no urgin’,
    That’s why caviar is my dish.

    I fed caviar to my grandpa
    He was a man of ninety-three
    Screams and shrieks were heard from Grandma–
    He had chased her up a tree.

    Dearly will be 92 tomorrow. I shall not feed him caviar, believe me. Imagine, he was born within the sound of Bow bells when there actually were Bow bells. That makes him a true Cockney. I taught my grandchildren to sing “Oranges and Lemons,” which ends with, “I’m sure I don’t know/Says the great bell of Bow.”

    It’s been a sparkling, low-humidity day here, although there’s a little too much wind to suit me. Hope everyone at the Pond had a good day.

  15. Still no rain, and the chances are diminishing. Back to 100s. Today’s agenda: groceries and laundry. Re-reading some books because new ones in a couple of series are coming out. 

  16. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 72 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 88. Daily rain expected around 3pm. Yesterday the rain stayed west of our location but the skies were ominous. I had to drive near downtown yesterday and I can see why flood warnings are so important – in the older parts of town, there are a lot of low lying areas and underpasses that would easily be underwater in a flash flood (it is like they dug trenches to go under the overhead roads!). We have a few areas around here to watch but in general our part of town is much higher and the roads and bridges are better designed.

    The northern view was pretty cloudy this morning so it was not good for meteor viewing (plus one of the neighbors to the north had left their porch light on so it was not dark enough). I did see early morning stars directly east and that was nice. I am not sure I had seen Orion’s Belt here yet – I am going to have to find my Astronomy book and get an idea of what I can expect and when. As for the Perseids, maybe next year! I need to find a nice dark place to sit which might involve going to a local park on one of the hills.

    It is hilarious to watch the Republicans try to circle their wagons around the moving target of tRump lies. Ginned up charges, planted evidence, well not planted it was there but already declassified (which is not a thing), he was just bringing home documents to work on AFTER HE HAD ALREADY LEFT OFFICE. In a just world, Republican electeds would be laughed at instead of interviewed by reporters as if they were serious people. Now we find that the Party of We Heart Law Enforcement is doxxing the FBI agents involved in the raid because the trump team released the unredacted warrant and inventory to their pals on right-wing hate sites. Goddess help them and keep them safe – I hope that threatening a federal agent is a crime.

    The Inflation Reduction Act has been passed in the House and is headed to Joe Biden’s desk. That will be a huge immediate relief for people who were counting on the ACA subsidies in order to afford health insurance. And also a huge relief to people on Medicare who use prescription drugs. I am very lucky – I have no ailments that require drugs but I am glad the benefits will be there should I need them as I age. My maternal grandmother lived to 96 without being on any drugs and my mother only needed drugs to manage her blood pressure after they removed a kidney when she was 80. So fingers crossed that I take after that side of the family! The bill will be a great thing to run on – young people will see clearly which party cares about green energy and the environment. Now do student loan debt forgiveness, Joe, and you might lock these kids in for a lifetime.

    Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos fired the election denier who was racking up taxpayer bills and then declared – in his clumsy I Am A Stupid Uneducated Person way – that he is no longer a lap dog for tRump. Yikes! He must think that tRump is now no longer a threat to anyone now that he personally has won re-election. He must have forgotten that Speaker is an elected position and if enough of his caucus is terrified about his anti-Trump comments, he will lose that job. He would hate just being a member of the Assembly with one vote and no cameras following him around recording his every utterance. Ha!

    I have a few lingering projects left over from a too-busy week so I need to get back to them. Tomorrow morning is Microsoft Patch Tuesday Plus Five and there are things I need to do on the servers I manage – whatever I can get done and off my list will make tomorrow easier.

    See all y’all later!

  17. It’s 68 heading for 94 but less humid so the heat index isn’t supposed to reach 100, and sunny. At least at the moment. We generated 17 KWHs again yesterday and at 183 the m-t-d is on track for 450 with a bit to spare. Good thing as clouds and (maybe) rain are going to move in Monday evening and stay for a bit.

    Anyway the house is opened up and airing out. I’ll need to close up within the next hour but it’s pleasant right now. I got online to check my email (no, what I’m waiting for isn’t there) and then just got started with my online routine. Totally forgetting breakfast. LOL. So I’m about to go get breakfast. Then off to twitter. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  18. Good Saturday morning, Meese! Guess what, when we woke up our temperature outside was 59 F.! Even now it’s 75 F. with low humidity, flawless blue sky, and lots of sunshine! Couldn’t be a better day for Dearly’s birthday.

    He’s had some birthday cards, including one from Raspberry Poodle across the hall (must write and thank her mom), the Home from the Aged, and my cousin, who makes her birthday cards herself and does a very good job of it. I gave him wine and scratch-offs, m’daughter gave him Raging Bitch beer—LOL—and I had a chair back cushion delivered from Amazon the other day. It helps his back when he sits down to eat at our little table.

    Speaking of Amazon, the guys were here bright and early to assemble the desk I’d ordered. Alas and alack—as usual, there was a flaw in one of the drawers, the roller of which did not work properly, so they or sometone like them will appear next Saturday with a new desk and we’ll have to go through it all again. At least there’s somewhere for my new laptop, keyboard, mouse, and external backup disk to rest. The new laptop won’t stay there forever—eventually, when everything is transferred, it’ll move to my real desk—but it will do for now. So (deep, first-world sigh),I will have to wait to summon a Geek to help me.

    Meanwhile I need to pick up the birthday cake for this evening’s celebration. We’re going to Elder Son’s house.

    It’s supposed to be 95 F. and sunny in London today! Wonder how they’re faring? Air conditioning is very uncommon in the U.K. I did hear they’re supposed to go to the Coast, to visit Margate and Hastings. Trevor has always wanted to open a fish-and-chip shop in Hastings.

    That’s enough from me today, must get on with things. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    • Happy Birthday to Dearly!

      I find that the need nowadays to assemble every new furniture item is quite a bummer. There are always things that don’t fit well, missing parts – and with one of our purchases a few months ago – an entire Box 2 of 2 that never showed up! I hope it does not take more than one return trip to get your desk set up.

    • Hope you and Dearly enjoy your birthday celebration Diana. 92 yrs is a big deal!

  19. Good morning, 65 and mostly cloudy. Sorry I’ve been absent this week. Between a bad case of tRump angst and overwhelming fatigue I have been out of sorts and forgetful. Seems like I haven’t done much but sleep and worry. We did get the back porch painted and put back together and RonK has prepped the front porch steps so those will be painted today.

    Our son’s health is improving and that’s a huge relief. He is still on IV antibiotics with frequent doc visits, but his color is better and he seems to have more energy for his daily life. He’s been very sick since late May so it’s been a long worrisome time for him and for us.
    We’re celebrating both Emma and Ava’s birthdays tomorrow so I’ve got birthday bouquets to make and gifts to find today. And we need to replace our microwave oven so while Ron paints I’ll do the errands. Our son has offered to come with me so it will be an outing for both of us.

    As always, my best wishes to all and my apologies for causing concern.

    • {{{princesspat}}} Thank you. Healing Energy for you and your family. & Happy Birthdays to Emma & Ava 🎶🎶🎶🎶✨🎊🍨🎁🎂💕🎉🎶🎶🎶🎶

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