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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Good morning, Motley Meese! The week begins …
It is 73 degrees in Madison WI, on its way up to 77. Strong storms are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Good morning, Moosekind! It’s 72 F. here on a partly cloudy morning in NoVa, going up to 85 F. today. It was surprisingly cool when I stepped out early this morning to look for strawberries and tomatoes. Found a lovely tomato for Dearly’s breakfast and a few measly little strawbs for myself. In a little while I’m going to the farmers’ market I used to frequent with my mother: I’m pretty sure they’ll have peaches. Also need eggplant and an onion for the ratatouille nicoise I’m planning for tonight’s vegetarian dinner. Have asked Dearly to knock down some ripe apples from the backyard tree so I can make an apple tart too.
Not much news—enjoyed lunch yesterday with the women who used to be my Circle sisters. Looking forward to reading Denise’s diary at GOS later today. Still depressed when I look at the diary titles over there.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
You always have such wonderful meals planned! I never learned to cook but I am very much an eater.
Have a great day!
Thanks for putting in the link yesterday to Part II. I am really looking forward to Part III.
Going to a Farmers’ Market you used to frequent with your mother sounds so nice. My life circumstances while Momma was alive didn’t allow for that, but I know she would have loved it if they had. We’ve had peaches and blackberries since late June and the melons started showing up yesterday. As have the summer apples but I’ll stick with peaches and cantaloupes while I’ve got them. Apples will be available until the Market closes the weekend before Thanksgiving.
Good morning, 61 and partly cloudy in Bellingham today. The afternoon high will be in the low 80’s again, making the crop of peppers and the basil growing in the garden very happy. RonK has been roasting the peppers, making pesto with the basil, and picking blackberries so our freezer is full of summer.
I’m going to find some dahlias to plant today. My older plants are blooming but the ones I planted last year didn’t come back so I’ll try again. The older tubers can stay in the ground over the winter but apparently I’ll need to dig up the new ones and store them where they won’t freeze.
You know, the New York Times isn’t even trying to practice journalism anymore. One of their HateTheClintons opinion writers opines about something that will allow her to hate Clintons and then the front page reports it as “rumors are that Joe Biden will be running”. The funniest headline was “William Kristol: Who are Dowd’s Sources?”. I know I know … call on me!! She pulled her facts straight out of her nether regions, just like you do, Bloody Bill Kristol, when you want to set a narrative that gains you an advantage. For her, it is finding someone, anyone, to read her pitiful columns, for Kristol, it is to find something, anything, that will make people pay attention to the faux-scandals that the right-wing has been ginning up for the past 25 years. Yes, she killed Vince Foster and everything she has done since then has been an elaborate coverup to avoid prosecution: running for Senator, running in the Democratic primary for president in 2008, serving as Secretary of State, running for president AGAIN … all part of her ebil plot to stay one step ahead of the law. :::sigh:::
Josh Marshall, at TPM re the NYT…..
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/highly-instructive
It’s supposedly in the upper 80s with low humidity in Fay., AR this Sunday afternoon – I beg to differ on both counts. Yesterday we had upper 80s with low humidity – I closed up the house at 10 am, the A/C didn’t kick on until 4:30 and the house was quite comfortable all day. Today I closed up the house at 9 am, the A/C kicked on a 1 and it was getting uncomfortable enough I was thinking of dialing down the A/C to force it on. Bah or sigh or something. Baked cinnamon muffin bread for breakfasts and coffee breaks next week. Also oatmeal cookies for desserts (with fruit) for the next 2 weeks. Also made chicken veggie soup for next week (local chicken, homemade stock, but – I admit it – commercial frozen mixed veggies) or so, the rest of the chicken being my dinner for the week. So. I’m ready for the 1st week of August. Or at least as ready as I’ll ever be. :)
Know what you folks mean about NYT and the Clintons – I think they’ve been trashing the Clintons for so long they don’t know how to do anything else. The papers around here have been at it even longer when they bother to notice Clintons at all since Bill left the White House. Of course none of them will admit it. Molly Ivins chalked it up to the media monopoly – when 5 corporations (with largely interlocking directorates) own all the national media, you get what the corporations want you to get. She thought we needed to get money out of politics so they could be broken up. I disagreed/disagree – cart before the horse and all that. We’ve got to find some way to break them up first or we’ll never get money out of politics, or at least dial it down so government offices aren’t for sale.
Hope everybody has a wonderful Sunday – or what’s left of it. {{{HUGS}}}
bfitz, I enjoyed your description of the meals you’re preparing for the coming week! Food interests me hugely. And it shows! ;)
Good morning, meese! Monday …
It is 62 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 80. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
HAHAHAHA!!
Apparently, they are planning to end slavery! Koch:
Yes, the unjust demand that the rich pay for their share of the commons. I hope The Donald stays in the race for a long time just to poke these guys in the eye.
The president will be unveiling his Climate Change initiative related to power plant emissions today. I will be traveling and won’t be able to liveblog but will put up the video, transcript, and FAQ later this evening or early tomorrow morning.
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Meese. Just started my day writing to Sen Schumer to urge him, one more time, to support our President and Peace. Saw that he is wavering on the Iran Nuclear Deal. As I sent it off, I realized that I have never had good NY senators. Wish I lived in Rhode Island. Of course, then I’d be living in Rhode Island. Sigh.
Have not heard much about Diana’s new family member.
Hope all is well for all in the Pond and Beyond.
I hope Schumer is just posturing and will eventually do the right thing. If not, he has no business being Senate Majority Leader after Reid retires. I want someone who supports our Democratic administrations.
I hope so, too. I’d really like a Democrat to be the official leader of the Democratic Party. On the other hand, my senators are John Boozman and Tom Cotton. Even Schumer beats that pair – one is wholly owned by Wal-Mart and the other is an American jihadist. sigh.
Sen Schumer makes me embarrassed to be a N’Yorker
Thank you!!! I am glad not to be the only one!
Saturday my Mac updated & re-started & when I put in what I know good & well is my password, it said no. And again. And I tried switching around where the “special characters” might be, no. So I pulled out the old PC, which reminds me why I like the Mac better — and I couldn’t log in here. Grrrr. my Mac wants me to reset my password, but the hint is wrong. Sigh.
My back is really super stiff – yet I still walked 1.5 mi. Was kinda hoping that would shake things out. Didn’t.
Very few thoughts other than “owwww!”. Awful night’s sleep. (awake at 11, 12:30, 3,3:30, 4:15…) Playing City of Blinding Lights in my head, because it is soaring & energetic.
Did you get logged in again eventually or are you logged in as a guest? I can’t do anything to help you right now but I can tomorrow.
I’m at work now, this computer is fine. And if I get the Mac working again, it remembers my password. It’s just the stupid home PC.
Hoping for a better day.
another, sorry you had mysterious and inexplicable troubles logging in. I hate that! I hate it when a perfectly good password that has worked for years suddenly isn’t accepted. I still haven’t reset my password for the Kaiser Web site because of that.
I’m beginning to think longingly of a Windows 7 laptop. Hewlett-Packard still makes them. Life was so easy in those days—a filing system that worked perfectly and documents that were easier to manage. Sigh.
My old W 7 laptop is easy to use but it’s becoming increasingly slow to keep updated so I’m going to replace it. We also need to replace RonK’s desktop computer so he’ll be learning to use W 10 soon. Our daughter keeps encouraging him to buy a Mac, but we think it’s best to stay with what we know. If all the computers use W 10 it should be easier to keep everything updated and operating smoothly.
Good Moon Day, Meese! Well, Goddess knows what happened to the check-in I thought I posted earlier this morning. It’s gone with the ether. Beautiful, sunny morning in NoVa, 75 F. now, going up to 93 F. At least we’re on a downhill slope after Lammas!
Heard that Joe Biden is considering jumpin’ into the pool and my first thought after I yawned was, “How many presidential candidates does it take to keep an owner of ovaries out of the Oval Office?” Joe is nice enough, and I’m glad he’s our vice president, but he’s just another old white guy. Hillary Clinton is much more qualified than he to be president.
Portlaw, re the new baby—the pediatrician gave the All-Clear for the little family to go home on Saturday morning. I haven’t been texting or calling so as to let everyone get used to the new regime, but we’re sure to visit this weekend. There was some concern that he was breathing too fast, but he wouldn’t have been cleared for going home if it were a really big issue. DIL’s parents are there, helping out as well.
The DOG stole my cantaloupe right off the dining room table while I was opening the door to Younger Son and the Littles. What a horrible dog! And Dearly did not make any coffee before he left, so I’ve had to make it. Hope it’s drinkable.
A good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
Good morning Diana…..hope your day is going smoother now! Silly dog :)
Have had cats who loved melons of any kind and would also steal pieces and then go off to enjoy them.
Your cats liked melons? Very strange! I thought they didn’t like anything except meat. Animals are strange!
Thanks, princesspat! It was a rotten start and a wretched finish, but in between was fine. :)
Good morning, 60 and partly cloudy in Bellingham. I’ve got the grand girls and the pool to keep me busy today, and RonK will is meeting Ryan and his parents in Port Townsend. Wa for a day of easy hiking and exploring. Low tides disrupted the ferry schedule yesterday, but the boats should be on time today.
http://www.parks.wa.gov/511/Fort-Worden
http://fortworden.org/
Morning Meese
Headed to the store to buy new mouse, new keyboard, new headset – having so many puter issues – I want to just start afresh. Then there is Windows 10 looming.
Argh.
Have a good day all :)
Yikes. Good luck with all that shopping! I am ignoring Windows 10. For now.
Windows 10 is actually Windows 8.2 and is probably one of the most tested new releases from Microsoft, ever. After Windows 8 was widely panned, they quickly issued a new version 8.1 to satisfy the initial complaints and now Windows 10 to address the rest. I am not sure who they had doing the initial consumer testing of 8.0 but they clearly did not match Actual Humans Who Want to Use Windows. I have not seen 10 yet except in screen shots but I am sure that some of my bleeding edge clients will be installing it on their network workstations soon.
Well I was curious yesterday, so W 10 is now installed on the Lenovo laptop that will replace my old W 7 Dell. The update took awhile but went smoothly and as far as I can all my personal choices (log in info, bookmarks, etc) are all there. I said yes to letting W 10 organize the photos, and they are all now sorted by month and year which I’ve been wanting to do but couldn’t manage on my own. W 8 was a big change for me, but W 10 seems more familiar.
And I found the new version of Solitaire…..not sure it’s improved though!
85, heat index 95 – sigh. Monday Morning Manic – should calm down by the time I leave though which is a great improvement over times gone by. Hope anotherdemocrat’s day gets better and glad everybody else seems to be OK. Hurrah for baby coming home from the hospital! Gotta get back to work but will try to check back later. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, meese! Tuesday …
It is 59 degrees in Madison, on its way up to 81. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Speaking of sunny skies, the president (Happy Birthday, President Obama!!) announced the Clean Power Plan yesterday. The event was supposed to take place outside but it was too hot! The president’s speech and the Fact Sheet on the CPP are here: President Obama: “No challenge poses a greater threat to our future and future generations than a changing climate” . This:
I will put up the transcript when it is available.
Senate Democrats defeated the GOP’s effort to defund Planned Parenthood, the new ACORN, but Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) cancelled all Louisiana Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood. None of the PP clinics in Louisiana provide abortions, but hey, facts schmacts … he’s got a presidential campaign to run! This is not just an attack on Planned Parenthood, this is an attack on women’s health care. Sadly, the last time we pointed out that there was a war on women, most women yawned and stayed home on election day, allowing a half dozen of the most anti-woman Senate candidates in a generation to be elected and handing the Senate majority to the GOP. :(
See all y’all later!
Good morning, Meese! It’s another lovely, sunny morning in NoVa, 67 F. now, heading for a high of 91 F. later today. We’re going to have a “cool-down” next week, with temps in the eighties. Hey! What a good idea for a short story—“Temps in the Eighties”! All the young people head for another planet so the only short-term staff left are oldsters—-h’mm. May try to do something with that.
Glad President Obama made the speech about climate change. Here on the ranch we can’t break ourselves of the habit of gawking at GMA while we drink our early morning tea, and for the past few weeks it’s been nothing but climate disasters. Floods in Florida, wildfires in the West, tornadoes in the Plains states. Normally, tornadoes are over by the end of May but not this year. Heard a rumor somewhere that the Northeast will get much more snow than usual this coming winter.
Today is the President’s birthday! And if I remember correctly, Mrs. Obama’s birthday was either yesterday or the day before. Hope they’ll have a good year…sigh. Can any year really be a good year for our first African-American president, given the racist haters that surround him?
Must go off to prepare Miss Pink Cheeks’ lunch for camp. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and Beyond!
Good morning, all. Am going off to read Jan’s post about climate and our President.
Thanks, Diana, for an update on the new family member!
Hope everyone’s computer woes are a thing of the past.
Hope it’s a good day for all in the Pond and Beyond.
And that is all I have to say!
The transcript is available now and has been posted in the diary.
Walked again this morning. Back is better – down to merely 7 level pain (I’m not convinced I’m dying, just kinda wish I would). Think I’m gonna have to get another massage. And please, please – some sleep. My watch is telling me I’m getting 7 hours of sleep, it is so very wrong.
Playing U2 in my head to keep myself awake. And distracted. My masseuse yesterday and I talked about music – we like a lot if the same music & he lived here in the early 80s & saw a lot of the punk bands I was too scared to see. Even if one of the biggest – the Big Boys – had a member that had been my brothers’ friend in high school.
Hope it’s a better day!
80 in Fay., AR – they say only going up to 89 – that of course doesn’t tell you what the heat index will be. Walked in but still groggy. Don’t think I’m getting any – or at least not enough – deep-cycle sleep. Supposedly I got almost 8 hours last night with only one bathroom break around midnight but I’m very groggy and caffeine doesn’t seem to be helping. sigh.
Hope anotherdemocrat’s day gets better. Massage is good. I wonder if walking in a therapy pool like princesspat does would help any? Austin at least used to have a good one back in the late 1980s – Momma used it at least weekly the last few months before she died. I like Diana’s “Temps in the 80s” idea for a short story although I must admit it took me a few minutes to “get it” – which tells you how groggy I am considering how many years I worked the temps. President Obama’s climate plan should be what everybody wants – a goal, help getting there, you decide how to do it – but of course the Rs are dead set against it. President Clinton had an EPA plan very like it which lasted until W walked through the WH door, as was true of many really good Clinton things. So far Rs whose jobs aren’t at stake (congresscritters) are telling people whose jobs could easily be at stake (governors) to disobey federal law. That’s R’s for you.
So. Happy Birthday to the First Couple and stellar to the Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
The therapy pool is a godsend for me. In addition to walking I use a noodle for support while doing the back strengthening and stretching exercise the PT taught me. The pool is in the PT clinic at the old hospital which is being closed, but fortunately they have finally agreed to build a new pool with the new clinic. It will be smaller so our therapeutic pool group will be changing and it won’t be as close to home. So needless to say I’m worried about the changes but I’m sure I’ll adapt.
Hope your situation stays relatively good. I wish we had a therapy pool around here – well, one I could get access to, there probably is one somewhere – as I’ve got “early-stage creakiness” I’d like to get into the habit of addressing before it becomes painful. Presupposing Dr. A. Hardy’s hypothesis on the evolution of the human bean is correct (Aquatic Ape Hypotheses – or theory if you’re talking to layfolks – see any of a number of books by Elaine Morgan) it’s very understandable that walking in chest-high warm water would help a whole slew of physical problems.
31% of emissions come from electricity generation, 27% from transportation. It will be easier to change power plants over than to change the lifetime habits of the driving public. More fuel efficient cars, more hybrids, electrics will help (because it does not require a lifestyle change) but the biggest savings can be achieved by more efficient power generation.
We have been moving in that direction for a while, coal has been on its way out for some time, but this sets some goals and incentives.
As to transportation one of the biggies – other than electric mass transit which was actually quite popular 100 years ago before the automobile companies bought them ripped up the tracks – is to get off this corn ethanol nonsense. Ethanol, yes, made from corn or any other food crop, no. And one of the things that drives me nuts about that is we have the technology to generate ethanol or syngas from ANY carbon substance (less than 40% water, so sewage for example would have to be “de-watered” first), and generate electricity as a side/by-product. We’ve had that technology for something like 10 years. It was developed and tested here in Fayetteville – an anaerobic bacteria basically eats carbon and excretes ethanol and water, the heating/cooling in the process generates electricity that runs the plant with some left over to go on the grid. They tried their hardest for 5 years to get funding for a pilot commercial plant and could never get public and private funding matches together at the same time. They finally sold the patent to an international energy corporation whose name currently escapes me. So – instead of the 1st plant going online some 5 years ago making energy from chicken litter right here in NW AR, the 1st plant went online about 1 year ago making energy from citrus grove detritus in Indian River County, FL – the profits from which are going overseas instead of remaining here and improving our economy. And things being the way they are, Goddess only knows if they’ll build another or even keep this one running if they can keep getting subsidies (our tax dollars at work) to extract more fossil fuels from places nobody should be extracting anything much less fossil fuels. Rant over. :)
Morning Meese!
Had my head buried in writing for Tuesday’s Chile and forgot to come up for air.
Jan – the draft is there – have no idea if I did it right :)
Bought new mouse, keyboard, headset and phones – it sure is making blogging life better.
Now to go eat some breakfast – seeya later.
I will look it over. When is it supposed to post? I can set a timer for you.
Good morning, it’s 59 and sunny in Bellingham today so I want to be outdoors but the desk mess is needing attention again. I’ve gotten far to comfortable with avoiding the big clean up I started several weeks ago. The card table is starting to look like a permanent fixture in the room and that was not my intention!
Good morning, Moosekind! Mercifully, we had some rain yesterday evening and evidently during the night, so it’s less like an oven here and more like a steam bath. Very much looking forward to cooler weather. Right now it’s 68 F. under clearing skies, going up to 90 F. here in NoVa.
Can’t believe the Rethugs are planning to shut down the government in September because of funding for Planned Parenthood. When I was marching for the ERA in the 1970s and defending women’s clinics in the 1990s, I never dreamed that contraception would be threatened in the 20-teens! All we need is for Congress to pass another Comstock law and then take away women’s right to vote.
The incredible thing is, there will be no pushback from citizens on either the government shutdown OR defunding Planned Parenthood. They’re so afraid Obama gonna git their guns they’ll vote all the Rethugs right back into the House and Senate.
Sorry to be so gloomy but nothing in the news makes me feel cheerful, even the media’s “horse race.” It looks as if Sanders is cutting into Clinton’s lead. That make me feel worse than ever.
Hope it’s a good day for all at the Pond and Beyond!
Don’t worry about the polls, Diana!! “Cutting into” an insurmountable lead is no cause for alarm. As one of my offline friends said yesterday, Hillary Clinton’s lead has shrunk from infinity to infinity/2: when you cut a 60 point lead in half, the lead is still pretty solid. PLUS, in the first state that is not over 95% white, she is ahead by 70%. The first two primary contests are in states that do not reflect America – older white Iowans who can spend hours standing around in a room will decide who has the momentum heading into the next white state primary. Stuff will get real in South Carolina.
Mitch McConnell says “no shutdown on my watch” and is being roundly castigated in the right-wing blogs. The anarchists on the right want the people they elected to run the government to shut it down! The GOP will not be allowed to say that there is no war on women if they are willing to shut down the government over women’s health care funding. And heading into an election year it will be fresh in people’s minds who to blame for the shutdown. I hope.