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, 51 and cloudy in Bellingham. Good news re my tree saga……the city has decided it’s over and the legitimate concern re ivy should have been addressed in a more diplomatic way. The city arborist will help us monitor the health of the trees, and the for hire arborist will come next week to prune the old maple trees, clean up the easiest to access fir tree, and develop a plan to mitigate the ivy in the big fir tree. So overall it’s a good resolution, but the heavy handed approach by the city is still unsettling.
And on the porches, they are clean and painted. Now to wash the windows and put all the accumulated porch furnishings back where they belong. The porches look quite spacious but the front hall and the pantry by the back entrance are full! I need to edit as I go.
Sam Wang has an updated post re the article Jan linked too yesterday, and HRC’s meta-margins are going back up so as always, his site is interesting to read.
How Lies Live And Grow In The Brain – 2016 edition
beautiful response to the “skittles” thing:
https://twitter.com/generativist/status/778398766541840384
There were a lot of Tweets from people reminding us of who came to America as a refugee. It is important that people know that accepting refugees is about 1,000,000 times more likely to give us a gifted person contributing to their adopted country than someone who wants to kill us. I worry more about people like the Bundys and the anti-choicers, home grown anti-government terrorists who want to force their demented views on us.
Good morning, meese! Wednesday …
It is 66 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 81. The forecast calls for “risk of thunderstorm” and it is actually a 100% chance because it is storming now. It looks like that will go on most of the morning.
The shoes keep dropping from the Trump Charity exposés being written by David Farenthold at the Washington Post. It should surprise exactly no one that the very embodiment of privilege would think laws were optional. HFA nailed it:
The president spent the day at the UN, addressing the general assembly and taking part in a summit on refugees. It is good timing as refugees are a political hot issue right now and how we respond to it as a nation will define who we are. Hint: it is about our shared humanity. I am hoping to have time to put up a post with the videos and transcripts.
If you missed this, take time to view it now. This is why Elizabeth Warren is perfect exactly where she is, spearheading legislation to protect consumers and hold financial industry bad actors to account.
(Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) calls on Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf to resign and give back his earnings following allegations of widespread fraud at his company. She also requests a criminal investigation into Wells Fargo’s creation of unauthorized accounts and says executives need to face jail time. )
Hillary’ campaign issued an Open Letter to Wells Fargo Customers with her plans to combat this kind of consumer fraud. It starts with protecting, with vetoes if necessary, Dodd-Frank and the CFPB.
There is a Hillary event to day in Orlando but there is no CSPAN link yet.
See all y’all later!
Another sleep-in day because of training near my house. I like these days. Still upper 90s, & sunny. Allegedly to cool down to low 90s by the weekend but I’ll believe it when I feel it.
Two more police shootings of men who weren’t doing anything wrong. I can’t fathom….. I don’t even have words, there are too many things wrong with all of these situations. I’m reminded of the schoolteacher here in Austin who was getting in (or out, I forget which) of her car wrong & for this offense was thrown across the parking lot like a rag doll & arrested for “resisting arrest”. When the video finally surfaced, the police chief did denounce it — but seriously -— what is wrong with people that getting in/out of your car, sitting in your car reading, or walking slowly with your hands up & clearly unarmed are seen as threats/resisting???
I’ll be away from computers for most of the day. See y’all later.
Good morning, Moosekind! How I’ve missed you all!
We arrived back last night but unfortunately woke up at 4 a.m., which to us was 9 a.m., U.K. time.
We have cloudy skies this morning—good—and it’s 68 F., going up to 82 F. today. Still no rain in the forecast as far as I know.
We had a wonderful time, about which more later, but we realized within the first 48 hours of being over there that old people should not travel. The aging bladder does not travel well at all. Also, my husband has a fashionable disease called COPD, which limits his ability to walk long distances or uphill.
After I have a nap I will very slowly start catching up with news and be come back to read everyone else’s check-in.
See you later, everyone!
Welcome home!! I wondered when you would return and was afraid to go look it up – wishing to be pleasantly surprised rather than depressed if it would not be for another week.
Just in time for the Autumnal Equinox – tomorrow morning at 10:21am Eastern time.
{{{Diana}}} Welcome home indeed. Glad you had a wonderful time and looking forward to your “report”. Naps are good. I can’t do uphill any more myself – why I stopped walking o work – but I’m fine for long distances. Should I ever do any traveling again, I will invest in one of those walkers with front wheels and a fold-down seat. :)
Hi Diana! It’s so nice to see your name on my screen this morning :)
Mid-60s at dawn and more than less sunny so far today. Heading for upper 80s which is cooler than yesterday – forecast has us heading slowly down to 70s/50s by the beginning of next week (with rain). Just wish we’d get sunshine when it’s not raining (same song, lebentith verse).
It would have been nice if the media hadn’t been so caught up in trying to bring Hillary down that they hadn’t enabled Trump to get where he is, but at least they’re now taking a good look at what they’ve enabled. Not that they won’t keep up with trying to bring Hillary down but it will be muted (probably until she wins the election – then full witch hunt again).
I’ve been interrupted 4 times trying to get this comment entered so I guess I’d best put my attention where it’s paid to be. LOL. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Hillary Clinton will be speaking in Orlando Florida this afternoon at 2pm Eastern:
Good morning, 45 and partly sunny in Bellingham. We got the porch windows washed and the furnishings edited and cleaned but the paint wasn’t dry enough to put everything back where it belongs. So the porches look clean and spacious and the house is a mess! Oh well, progress regardless.
I made the mistake of checking Sam’s site once to often yesterday so it was good I was busy because yam induced anxiety builds when HRC’s meta-margin goes down. Intellectually I know the numbers are still good for her election but emotionally I’m fretting!
Our sons are on their mid forties now and sleep apnea is a reality, so son #1 was at the sleep lab last night and son #2 will be soon. They are both finally ready to chose the health benefits of restful sleep over the dislike of using a snore machine. I understand their reluctance, but I’m very relieved they are doing so.
What Is Sleep Apnea?
I know someone whose father had sleep apnea. He managed to survive into his 90s but I am sure his wife had a few scares from it. When my daughter was 3, she had a nighttime breathing issue that turned out to be oversized tonsils. I literally held my breath when she stopped breathing – and then let it out when she started again. My sleep got better after she had her tonsils removed. :)
Apparently these are people who star in “movies” and “television”. They would like you to vote so that the vulgar talking yam does not destroy our country … and our planet:
I’m so glad you found that — it is so great!
I don’t know any of the people in it and I am pretty sure that I don’t want to see whoever they were talking about naked but it is a good sentiment. I hope that those who are on the fence are inspired by it.
Good morning, meese! Thursday …
It is 64 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 81. The forecast calls for a few thunderstorms this morning (I think they have already passed) then mostly cloudy skies. Looks like rain the rest of the week. I have no idea where the rain will go … we have had a lot and the ground is saturated.
A Blessed and Fruitful Mabon to you all!!
I will try to repurpose my Autumn Equinox critter post but I may not get to it until the equinox has passed – my calendar says 10:21 Eastern, 9:21 Central.
See all y’all later!
The president just completed the Leaders Summit on Refugees and this letter from Alex, 6 years old, was included in his presentation at the United Nations.
I put up a post a few days ago with his UN speeches if you want to learn more.
p.s. Can you imagine a small child writing a letter like this to the vulgar talking yam? We will lose more than just an election if the Republicans win in the fall – we will lose our soul.
It’s sorta starting to cool off. Current temp 71 — cooler than it has been in the mornings. And today’s high is only supposed to be in the mid-90s. So, yay? Actually, next week, it looks like I might have to wear actual shoes. But I’ll believe that when it actually is too cool for sandals.
I really have to walk after work today. Really, really. If I’m going to make progress, I have to walk during the week.
Good morning, Moosekind, and it’s beautiful here—also, it’s 64 F. (yay), going up to 82 F. today. That’s almost an echo of your weather, Jan!
Slept wonderfully last night, woke up at 6 a.m. The jet lag is beginning to dissipate.
Thanks for the welcome back, everyone! It’s good to be home. However, my mental landscape is filled with beautiful images: round green English hills leapfrogging over each other down to a silver sea; winding village streets with the upper storeys of houses jutting out; masses of baskets spilling over with late-summer flowers in all colors hanging in front of pubs and markets. The weather was very nearly perfect, no rain and in the high 60s or low 70s.
Cornwall was filled with tanned women, young and old, whose blonde hair was plaited into braids (loved that sight), and tanned Cornishmen. We enjoyed walking around St. Ives, but did not meet the man with seven wives, each of whom had seven cats, and…I won’t go there. We also went to Mousehole (pronounced “Mow-zel,” with the “Mow” rhyming with “now”), and Marazion, an oddly named village from which you can see St. Michael’s Mount sitting in the sea. It was high tide, so we couldn’t walk across.
We saw my herbalist friend Wendy in her charming, storybook house outside Weymouth, with its enchanting garden and view of the valley. I couldn’t get over the views, both in Cornwall and Kent. It reminded me of Housman’s poem: “Here of Sunday morning/My love and I would lie/And see the colored counties/And hear the larks so high.”
Our last stop was in Kent, in the charming village of Cranbrook. Kent, known as “the garden of England” is full of apple and pear trees. People, I could totally live there if they had the Internet. It was peculiar, as I remarked before, that the Internet was so sporadically available and so slow when we did get it. However, we did have a great time seeing the family! Our niece had made a Victoria sponge in our honor, and we enjoyed a slice of it with a cuppa on Sunday night when we arrived. Said niece removed the cake from a cake tin—I was charmed, because in the books I read people are always taking cakes out of cake tins!
It was particularly good to see our sister-in-law, now 88 and not in the best of health, poor lady. She can’t see well enough to read or really enjoy the telly, and refuses to wear her hearing aids. That’s a shame, because a lot of people enjoy listening to talking books when they can no longer read.
That’s enough babbling from me. SO glad to be back, even if it hasn’t rained, and I’m looking forward to catching up with everyone and everything. Not very happy with the “tightening race” gleefully reported by the deplorable media, but we’ll see what happens after the debate.
Happy Mabon, everyone! Jan, thanks for the music!
Sounds like a lovely trip but glad you’re home. {{{Diana}}}
That sounds delightful! I know I could not live without Internet as it connects me with family and friends but it sounds like an ideal place to vacation.
Don’t worry about the tightening race. Remember that national polls poll something that has not much to do with the actual election. It will come down to the electoral college. If we win Florida, where Hillary was yesterday, there is no path for the yam to win. None, zero, zilch, nada.
Low 60s just before daybreak heading for the upper 80s and clear at the moment. As the days get shorter and the angle of the sun more oblique, the amount of electricity possible to generate gets less and less. At this point in the year I don’t think it’s possible to reach 20 KWHs in a day – but it’s definitely possible to get above 15 although I haven’t done it in the last 10 days. Hopefully today and tomorrow will do so before the clouds and maybe rain start moving in this weekend.
Ignoring the political news, as usual, and getting my information here and in the HNVs at GOS. I will never understand the people who attack Hillary, but I will also never underestimate them. GOTV is the answer. Meanwhile my energy is mostly going to working on the fundraisers for Aji, Ice Blue, and Edrie – not that I can do much besides put the links to the fundraiser diaries in the various community diaries I visit, but I can do that so that’t what I do. Just like helping Hillary for me means staff the Dem HQ on Saturdays because that’s what I can do.
Gotta get to work. Bright the day and Happy Mabon, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 51 and mostly cloudy in Bellingham. Apparently I needed a day off, because that’s what happened yesterday. I went to the pool in the morning, Ron and I enjoyed a late lunch at a restautant with a view of Bellingham Bay, and then I plugged my earpods in and listened to the Americana Music Association awards. Nearly 4 hrs of music! Then I watched more Big Bang Theory re-runs until bed time.
Unfortunately election anxiety is ever present……I just pushed it back a bit yesterday.
Hi Meese
I’m back from the nightmare traveling experience from hell.
I got to the airport in MN at 8:30 AM yesterday – got home last night at 11PM
The delays and board the plane – get off – board the plane get off (repeated 5 times) experience – plus shifting gates changes in Chicago – which happened over and over again was horrid – hordes of disgruntled passengers.
This was all made worse during times we were stuck on the plane – sitting on tarmac – no water, beverages food cart – sigh.
Am very tired – and had to get up early AM to write for deadline.
Will hopefully feel better by tomorrow.
{{{Denise}}} – considering the travel issues at NN, do you think maybe the universe is hinting that you should stop traveling? Or at least find a way to take the train? Hope you can get some naps in today. Moar {{{HUGS}}
How awful! Traveling is bad enough and spending all day in airports has to be a nightmare. I hope you can get some rest later today.
OMG Dee, that sounds horrible! Get some rest!
OMG! And this happened at O’Hare? One of the worst days of my life was spent at O’Hare, 16 years ago. I’ve never forgotten it (shudder).
Poor you, what a goddess-awful day! Hope you were able to have a hot bath, tea, and a good night’s sleep in lavender-scented sheets.
Looking forward to hearing from you tomorrow and reading your post.
Morning all (just barely) – STILL HOT here – I see no break in our heat forecast for at least 10 days, altho there is just a hint of coolness in the breeze out there this morning. Maybe we’ll see some fall weather by mid-October.
I’m so desperately sad about the two police shootings of black men this week – I cannot fathom the frustration and probably despair of black communities in Charlotte and Tulsa. What on earth are black men supposed to do to NOT get shot in a police stop? As Hillary said, it’s unbearable and it should be intolerable. Meanwhile, Trump’s Ohio chair had some choice comments that demonstrate the baked in racism of his supporters – “there wasn’t any racism till Obama became President”, low turnout among black voters would happen “because of the way they’re raised”, and other choice tidbits. That woman made me ashamed to be an older white woman, I have to say.
I got my list of phone calls to make for a local State Senate Democratic candidate, so I’ll be working on that for the next several days – looks like they gave me everyone over 65 in the county! But I had a nice talk with the young man who dropped it off – he looked about 15, but was probably in college, and I’m thrilled to see young people taking over our Democratic Party down here!
Ok, off to the vet to get pet meds and to the grocery store – everyone have a great day!
This: “there wasn’t any racism till Obama became President”
There certainly was less overt racism – the birther movement mainstreamed it to the point where establishment Republicans like Reince Priebus, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell are willing to ride it into power if that is what it takes to stoke up their base. But it has been around for a very long time and will be until that generation (but not us!!) dies off or stops voting.
Good morning, meese! Friday …
It is 66 degrees in Madison with an expected high of 70. Mostly cloudy skies are in the forecast.
I can’t look at the news this morning. The white supremacist party is ginning up a race war over their loss of power while black men are gunned down by law enforcement because they are frightening to white policemen. I am sick of hearing people say “it has to stop” … it just must stop. Trump calls for nationwide racial profiling which is what is causing the problem, not how to help. It won’t help to charge anyone – they charge then hope no one is paying attention when the killers are acquitted – we need to change the people who are holding the guns and the people who are hiring them.
And for crying out loud, what is wrong with people who think that Hillary is “blowing it” because she is not exciting! Governing is not exciting, it is fundamental. I don’t need my streets cleared by dancing marionettes or firefighters giving out party favors when they arrive to put out a fire. Our country has been ruined by reality TV and sports and won’t accept intelligent people with a profound sense of community as the best people for the presidency – and the Senate and the House. Just stop it and grow up, pundits.
I am going to grab the megaphone later about the debate over debates because I am tired of people giving Hillary advice – she should listen to me!! ;)
See all y’all later!
Good morning Jan. I have to decide if I’m going to watch the debate at all – since 99% of mainstream media will be targeting Hillary with slimy barbs and critiques. If I do it will be on C-Span – I may just sit in twitter and retweet sane comments.
If I do watch, it will be on CSPAN, without the “instapolls” and chyrons and talking heads waiting to talk at me. I have not decided yet. I will definitely be on Twitter so that I can flag my favorites and read them again in the morning. :)
Here is the CSPAN link if you want to bookmark it: Presidential Candidates Debate at Hofstra University, Sept. 26th at 9pm Eastern
This is classic, Jan:
Thank you, BlogGoddess. :)
Here is a perfect example, Diana: Hillary Clinton cares about the Great Lakes! Does Trump even know where the Great Lakes are???
Hillary Clinton Statement on Protecting and Restoring the Great Lakes
First, she and her campaign knew that there was an important conference taking place on Wednesday and Thursday. Second, she understands what the Great Lakes mean to the states that border it, including Wisconsin. And third, she cares that the right thing is done.
That is presidential … and boring as hell.
61 here in Saugerties going up to 81 and rain
Have school today – still tired from the long long trip – didn’t sleep well though.
Hope you can get some rest this weekend, Sis!
Good morning, Meese, and it’s another fair morning in NoVa. The current temp. is 59 heavenly degrees F., going up later to 87 F. (arggh). Tonight is going to be a salad night!
Yes, I agree about the debate. Dearly insists on watching mainstream media, so perhaps I’ll slink downstairs and watch it on C-SPAN.
Guess what: voters in Virginia have been receiving suspicious letters from groups purporting to be “concerned” about their voter registration. One bunch of letters is from a right-leaning organization. Luckily, these voters have had the good sense to call the Virginia Board of Elections, which has come out and said, “Those did not come from US, throw them away!”
Jesus, Republicans, always up to feelthy tricks! Will I EVER forget how, in 2004, one of Rove’s minions sent an anonymous note to the Fairfax County Board of Elections saying that I’d moved and therefore wasn’t eligible to vote in my precinct. Having been warned about this by the Blog on the Howard Dean website, I immediately called the Board and roared my denial. “I’ve been paying property taxes on this house where I live in Fox Mill precinct since 1976—kindly check the tax records IF not believing yours truly!” When the person on the other end of the telephone informed me of the anonymous note I said, “I want to SEE that note! It’s not MY handwriting because I never wrote it! I’m coming down to your office to see that note!”
Well, she became very conciliatory after that, and the upshot was that I was able to vote with no problem. It just shows you, doesn’t it? Even ordinary, inoffensive, unknown voters like me can have their vote taken away if they’re not vigilant.
Off to my miserable breakfast! Yesterday I had my favorite breakfast, but I can only have it once a week, so today is the yogurt-berries-muesli thing.
Wishing everyone a good day!