Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: Jul. 29th through Aug. 4th

July 28, 2018 JanF Community 88

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 (dated 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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– Page One of Comments is HERE!
 
– Page Two of Comments is HERE!
 
 

 

38 Comments

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

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

    Have a great day, all y’alls!!

  2. Sunday Meese
    62 going up to 83 in NY’s Hudson Valley

    Finally some mention of USVI – because of trip led by Nancy Pelosi

    • I was glad to see (from my weekly scan of Nancy Pelosi’s news site) that a very large Congressional delegation was going to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. They will be ready to hit the ground running when they take over control of the House in January 2019. Congressional hearings, appropriations, STRONG ADVOCACY. It is a damned shame that we have to wait that long for a return to Good Governing. It was interesting to read about how there are factions who want to rebuild the electric grid to use fossil fuel and they are getting push back from those who want to use this opportunity to go to less expensive renewables. Hawaii is on pace to be 100% renewable energy by 2045 – there is no reason that Puerto Rico can’t go that route. Here are some comments from their VI presser:

      The appropriation of the funds is handled in the Interior Subcommittee – the Ranking Member Betty McCollum is here as well so hearing from us what our needs are, where the challenges may be. We can have hearings, phone calls, we can pressure those individuals and ask them for additional support. It can really go a tremendous way. Congresswoman Velázquez was telling that Puerto Rico is having an issue with their disaster allowance. She made a phone call. The Secretary would rather answer a phone call than be pulled into a hearing, and that was resolved at that point. So those are the kinds of things we can do [once we take control of the House].

      I saw that San Juan Mayor Cruz will be endorsing Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) for re-election over Skeletor. Do you think her endorsement will help or hurt? She is obviously on the opposite side of the Puerto Rican governor and I imagine that the Puerto Ricans who are now living in Florida are as split as those still on the island regarding the two parties. I would hope that they see that only the Democrats have any interest in rebuilding and revitalizing the island.

    • So much for the accusation that Rep. Pelosi is “old” and “out of touch”! Actions speak louder than words, and I’d say her actions indicate that she’s more in touch with the plight of PR and VI than her accusers are. They’re probably all puppies in St. Bernard’s litter, anyway.

    • {{{Denise}}} – what’s your thought on Alessandra Biaggi? The Dem postcard folks are now working her campaign and I don’t know whether or not to tag into a primary fight. Thanks & see you soon. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  3. Good morning, Meese! It’s a silvery Sunday morning here in Ashburn, with a dim blue sky, wisps of white cloud, and weak sunlight. The current temp. is 65 F, going up to 82 F.—not bad for late July! We’ll be back in a rain pattern for the coming week.

    At least it was a beautiful day for Mr. Youngest Grandchild’s third birthday celebration. The noise made by a dozen little people was not to be believed, to the extent that after we picked up the dog from day care and staggered home, we fell into a deep sleep. I must have slept a couple of hours, not too surprising since I woke up at the ungoddessly hour of 5 a.m.

    After the televised FI race in Hungary, I’ll do laundry and put up Lammas decorations. I really love this sabbat, which I always think is bittersweet because of the approaching autumn.

    Was happy to finally see some pushback in yesterday’s letters page in the WaPo. Others are also weary unto death at the Post’s unending explorations of racist, nativist Trumpists, both young and old.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and beyond!

    • I found this article related to our Twitter conversation and princesspat’s (continuing) tRump angst. It has a name! Trump Anxiety Disorder

      Therapists in the U.S. say they have seen a rise in politically-related anxiety under the Trump presidency.

      Though a condition has not been officially named, therapists and patients have referred to it as “Trump Anxiety Disorder,” according to a report from Canada’s CBC News.

      Elisabeth LaMotte, the founder of the D.C. Counseling and Psychotherapy Center in Washington, D.C., told CBC that there is a “collective anxiety” among her patients related to President Trump’s rhetoric and policies.

      “There is a fear of the world ending,” she said. “It’s very disorienting and constantly unsettling.” […]

      Multiple therapists told CBC that they observed symptoms, including lack of sleep, excessive use of social media, feelings of losing control and helplessness, in their patients that they attributed to Trump-related anxiety. […]

      The American Psychological Association (APA) found in a recent online survey that stress levels following the election are the highest they’ve been in a decade. And the majority of respondents reported stress over the 2016 election and the future of the nation as factors.

      It says that one of the things it does is drive us to social media and online news sites which feeds our anxiety! That is why “online free” or “online light” days are essential, in my opinion.

  4. Slept in, watching Le Tour. The first time for a Welshman to win. He got really emotional yesterday, it was sweet. I’ll make oatmeal this afternoon. Sending good thoughts to John Lewis.

    • They said John Lewis was doing well this morning. Thank goodness, we need him on this earthly plane for the “taking back”!

  5. 67 and raining – as in so dark the streetlights are on and the PV system is still in night mode (i.e. off) at 9:30 ack emma CDT. Sigh. With yesterday’s almost 10 KWHs the m-t-d is 450. Unless this passes through by noon and we get solid sunshine this afternoon and the next 2 days, we will not made 500 for the month and might or might not make the 489 we got in 2016. But since I haven’t been running the A/C 450 should be fine even if we didn’t get any more, which we will – running the fans isn’t anything like the draw of the A/C compressor.

    My anxiety is more related to the situations of my friends – every single one who has health issues also has money issues and vice versa – who are so strongly impacted by this bunch of Deplorable, Evil mostly men but way too many women currently in power in this country. And the stolen, abused kids – mostly Indigenous – still in the “kidnapped to RW extremist Xtian placement” pipeline. About the only “good” thing I can see is the Evil Ones are shining the brightest and harshest of spotlights on the systemic racism and genocide that has always been a part of this nation – hell, this nation was founded on it – to the shocked dismay of white folks who didn’t actually know (I know, POC have been telling them for decades/centuries). We shall see if enough of them/us “pull themselves up by their/our bootstraps” politically, don’t just drop back into that river in Egypt, and put our power behind POC to end it. Goddess knows the RW-owned media is doing its best to get them/us back to Egypt.

    I need to go to Braums for milk, yogurt, and ice cream (for my grandson while he’s house & cat sitting) but I’m not driving anywhere until there’s enough light the streetlights go out and my PV system comes on. (Although I will if it’s like this Friday morning – any daylight at all and I can get on the freeway. It’s getting off it again that’s the problem.) I’m so glad I did my laundry yesterday. I still had to grab it in and put it on drying racks as the rain moved in before it was fully dry – but I got it at first thunder roll and before it got rained on. Fortunately I’ve got (just) enough milk left for coffee. Which I’m about to go get. LOL. Healing Energy to everybody. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  6. Good morning, 64 and sunny in Bellingham. I enjoyed some time in the garden yesterday and hope to do the same today. Keeping my little corner of the world green and tidy helps me keep tRump angst contained :)

    My indoor to do list is becoming alarming though, so I need to apply myself. Coffee first, and then my daily solitaire challenge, and so it goes. Take care everyone.

  7. Good morning, meeses! Monday …

    It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 77. Chance of thunderstorms. Yesterday’s 77 turned into 82 and the air had to go on so I am resigned to another day breathing indoor air.

    It’s weird – I read the NYTimes headlines and the blurb that is delivered with their morning email blast this morning and now I wonder if every story is filtered through the lens of their compromised publisher, a guy who clearly cares more about access than accuracy. Is any of it true or is it just the News That’s Fit for Dear Leader? Sad thing that they have done to their brand.

    This is Manafort week. The trial starts tomorrow and is expected to last 3 weeks. I don’t expect he will flip on Trump and I actually don’t think that if he offered to, it would be accepted. Mueller knows that he won’t be allowed to indict Trump and he absolutely knows that Congress will not act to remove their president regardless of his crimes. If Manafort flips, no one pays the price for his crimes and that would be a shame.

    Government shutdown right before midterms to show the voters – as if they need a reminder – exactly what a Unified Republican Government means? Please proceed, Republicans.

    I am going to be “online lite” today. See all y’all later!

    • we are on the same page about shutdown – what the F are they thinking?

      • Oh, please Goddess, no. The last shutdown resulted in another pregnancy in our family. I can’t cope with another grandchild now that I live so far away from the family, LOL!

  8. From the Twitter machine …

  9. Monday Meese

    60 degrees here in Saugerties NY going up to 80
    Headed to the eye doc this morning to get fitted for my cataract lenses.

    Then have to start getting prepared to leave for NOLA on Wednesday. Have to do my writing for next Sunday before I leave.
    The talk of gov shutdown before the midterms is beyond stupid.
    Praying for those caught in the wildfires and those who lost family.

    • The stories from the wildfires are heartbreaking. There is literally no escaping once the fire starts to move. :(

      • My Australian relatives escaped from a bushfire in the state of Victoria in 1982. Brother-in-law jumped into a car with two of the girls, sister-in-law jumped into the other car with the other two girls, and they fled. It was terrible. Their beautiful house was demolished, along with many other houses.

        Our relatives lived in a “caravan” (read “trailer) for a year. Later, describing the aftermath of the bushfire to me, my sister-in-law said some people’s hair turned gray overnight. Those who’d stopped smoking started again. It was truly horrifying. It took years to get a new house built.

        And to think that some murderous bastard deliberately set that fire!

  10. Good morning meese. 67 with projected high of 91 today. It was cooler yesterday than the record 107/109 degree temps but that was because of the smoke and ash from the various NorCal fires. Not really the best trade off.

    Need to start packing soon for this weekend’s trip to Orlando where I will be meeting up with Bfitz again and several other friends. I’ve never been there.

    Have a good day everyone!

    • {{{basket}}} – well, Kali loves rollercoaster type rides and I love Epcot Center type exhibits so between the 2 of us, I think you’ll have fun. Heck, I think just wandering around and talking is fun. moar {{{HUGS}}}

  11. Hot. At 6am. Supposed to be thunderstorms overnight & maybe tomorrow only in the 90s. But meanwhile today: 104. Again. But global warming is a liberal conspiracy. Oatmeal & tea. I forgot to put in the soymilk when I made the oatmeal, the only moisture is from the berry juice, eggs & yogurt. Seems to have turned out ok. And I’m just going to ignore the news because guns from 3D printers & something about Bigfoot…. it’s just to much for my brain on a Monday morning.

    This was in my “watch it again” on youtube. Sweet, mellow early 90s pop.
    I would like a place I can call my own
    Have a conversation on my telephone
    Wake up everyday, that would be a start
    I would not complain ’bout my wounded heart

  12. A totally unbelievable-for-July 63 degrees at dawn (& gonna be in the 50s tomorrow). Global Weirding for sure. Somewhere between 3 weeks and a month of summer didn’t show up this year. Overcast & drizzling. Got 11 KWHs yesterday, the m-t-d is 461 – 500 is possible but just barely as it would require getting 20 KWHs both today and tomorrow.

    Ignoring what I can of the gishgalloping. Getting ready for the trip. Mostly packed except for some last-minute stuff. This time Friday I’ll be about halfway to Little Rock, heading for NOLA and Denise. ???????? Then Saturday (unless plans change) driving to Kissimmee and basket (and some others). ???????????????? I was last at WDW in 1988, last trip I did with my sons while they were still “at home”. I understand things have changed a bit since then. ????????????

    Meanwhile, with this early October in July weather I’m going back to hot instead of iced coffee. LOL. Some of which I need now as this overcast makes me sleepy and the chill makes my hands hurt. Gonna do a quick check on this and that and maybe follow the cats’ example – take a nap. (Yes, I know it’s too early for naps.) Healing Energy to everybody everywhere. Protective Energy – and some solid rain – to the folks where the wildfires are. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

  13. Good morning, Meese. It’s an overcast Monday with rain in the offing. Currently it’s 69 F, going up to 76 F. I need to get out of here and go to the bank while Dearly Beloved is still here. He’s driving to the Chinese consulate in DC this morning to pick up visas for the little family. Miss Pink Cheeks is staying with us and will be here through Wednesday. Thank Goddess she actually appears to like her grandparents! Day care for children in the summer is a horrendous problem for working parents. Why are schools geared to a 1930s economy and lifestyle wherein mothers stayed at home? You tell me.

    Elect enough women to the Big Three and we’ll have day care centers, just as we did in WWII, when women were needed to make bombs while the men were off fighting.

    Okay (climbing off soapbox). A squirrel told me how to reset my master password, so now I’m able to read the 73 messages that piled up in my sulis inbox. Can’t send, though, even though I’ve checked the settings and they appear to be OK.

    Sigh! Hope it’s a peaceful, non-newsy Monday for all at the Pond and beyond!

  14. I am watching the online conversation about Suffragettes and I appreciate when one of the sites I follow allows me to “read” a lot of a New York Times piece without using up a paywall click. Loomis:

    The story of how white suffrage activists went full racist in the late 19th century in their demands for the right to vote is well-known among American historians. But as we reach the centennial of the 19th Amendment in 2020, to what extent will this racism be recognized in the celebration of suffrage? Brent Staples has a good piece here and he does what journalists should do – rely on historians, who tell straightforward stories about the past that are increasingly written to be accessible to the general public, as opposed to many other disciplines for whom communication seems to be an outright enemy, to inform his analysis.

    Stripped of her halo, Stanton, the campaign’s principal philosopher, is exposed as a classic liberal racist who embraced fairness in the abstract while publicly enunciating bigoted views of African-American men, whom she characterized as “Sambos” and incipient rapists in the period just after the war. The suffrage struggle itself took on a similar flavor, acquiescing to white supremacy — and selling out the interests of African-American women — when it became politically expedient to do so. This betrayal of trust opened a rift between black and white feminists that persists to this day. …

    My only critique of this piece is that Staples does what writers, even on the left, do again and again when discussing race in this country, which is completely ignore every non-white group in the nation except African-Americans. Especially as 1920 approached, there were Native American, Asian-Americans, and Latina suffragists as well.

    There is a long blockquote about the history of the Suffragettes fighting against the 15th Amendment. Pretty embarrassing!

    • Totally shameful that white women suffragettes threw WOC under the bus. Racism is the foundation of all ills in this country. In a definitely “off-topic” discussion I had in one of my science classes back in 1987 I pointed out to the young black man (goddess help him, his legal name was “Sonny”) ranting about rights that African American males got the right to vote in 1865, females of any race got the right to vote in 1920 – and Native Americans didn’t get the right to vote until 1948. Most but not all of the girls (multiple races) agreed with me that we have to work together and not let the Powers That Be divide us. Most of the guys did not. At 15. Starts early.

  15. Good morning, 67 and sunny in Bellingham. A cool breeze across Bellingham Bay usually cools our house in the evening, but last night was warm and still. Thanks to working in the garden I slept well but I’m still tired this morning.

    I have a PT appointment this morning and should work at my messy desk this afternoon. Time for coffee. Take care everyone.

  16. Tuesday Meese
    60 degrees here in Saugerties NY, going up to 85.
    Deeply saddened by the loss of Ron Dellums

    PR

  17. Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …

    It is 55 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 81. Sunny skies are in the forecast and the heat index will be 90. Our little break in the heat appears to be over. :(

    Joe Manchin had his interview with SCOTUS nominee Kavanaugh yesterday and his focus was on the 800,000 West Virginians who might lose coverage for pre-existing conditions under a Federalist Society Supreme Court. Good. That is exactly how it should be approached. The average WV voter is not going to care if Roe is overturned, they are probably just fine with Kavanaugh’s notions about the Imperial Presidency (as long as the president is a white Republican male!) but the protections put in place with the Affordable Care Act are a new third rail. To the extent that anyone in his constituency cares enough about this vote to make it their litmus test, he can defend a NO by tying it to health care. Kavanaugh is one of the least popular SCOTUS nominees in polling history and people who have his net positives have either been withdrawn or have been defeated. Of course, that was back when the filibuster was in place – it is now gone so the bar is considerable lower.

    Last day of July! Tomorrow is Lammas, the First Harvest. I have many things to be thankful for and for the next few days I will focus on those and not the dumpster fire raging unchecked in the White House and fueled by the irresponsible people running cable TV news.

    See all y’all later!

    • This, in spades:

      …I have many things to be thankful for and for the next few days I will focus on those and not the dumpster fire raging unchecked in the White House and fueled by the irresponsible people running cable TV news.

      Cable news is despicable!

      • Over the weekend, Jake Tapper called out Barack Obama for dancing instead of – doing what exactly? Somehow ending racism in America so that butthurt white voters wouldn’t have voted their color? CNN had more to do with fluffing up Trump than Fox did. Fox did it because they are the propaganda network of the Republican Party; CNN did it for ratings. They will never be forgiven or trusted as long as I live.

  18. Good morning, Moosekind! It’s a gray day presaging thunderstorms here in NoVa. In fact, it’s going to be that way for the next five days. As a rule, you’ve heard me complain about the lack of rain in our Northern Virginia summers: not this year! We’ve had 10 inches so far in July. The current temp. is 66 F., going up to 80 F. It kinda feels like autumn with these cooler temps and grayer skies. There are even yellow leaves lying on the grass outside.

    Tomorrow I’ll bake bread to celebrate Lammas. Today I’m working on reducing an 8 x 11 1/2-inch party invitation to 5 x 7 inches. The building we live in is Party Central! There have already been four, with one this week, one next week (I’m planning that, along with another first-floor resident), and one the week after that! The pub just down the hall will be opening for three days a week. This may take some of the pressure off the other restaurants, as it is increasingly more difficult to get reservations.

    Apparently Thing is planning to bypass Congress and issue a new tax cut for billionaires by executive order. Can you say “Great Depression, Part II,” coming to a neighborhood near you next year? I simply don’t know where to look.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  19. Not raining in town yet. It’s supposed to, though. One fire is getting rain, but not the other. They’re hoping it rains enough, without wind to stir up the fires & lightning….. Anyway, happy Harry Potter’s birthday!

    Mellow song today: Snow Patrol’s Don’t Give In
    Don’t give in
    Don’t you dare quit so easy
    Give all that you got on the soul
    Don’t say that you want it forever
    I know, I know
    This is your grace
    And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why
    This is your grace
    And I don’t know why, and I don’t know why

  20. 63 on Lammas Eve! This is nuts. Well actually it’s Global Weirding. Goddess Bless whoever has gotten the conditions we usually have. They aren’t used to it any more than we’re used to this. Heading for 79, our “normal” overnight low for end of July. Overcast again and possible/probable rain. Got 12 KWHs yesterday and the m-t-d is 473.5 – no way to make 500, may or may not (probably not) meet the 489.9 of 2016. We shall see what we shall see.

    Still ignoring the gishgallop as much as I can. Channeling Energy (I have some very negative associations with the term “praying” although I use it on twitter for the fewer characters and lack of “New Age Twinkiness”) for everybody every time I get an unfocused minute to do it. RTing & tweeting a few specific folks and/or issues as they show up the few times I check my timeline. Otherwise getting ready for the trip. Most of the packing done. Need to find my coffee travel mug and something bigger than my regular water bottle for water. Carrots, cheese, and maybe nuts for nibbling but otherwise will stop for actual lunch. Putting my laptop & powercords in will be the last thing. I may do it Thursday night (no checkin before I leave) or Friday morning (checkin before I leave), depends on how bad my travel nerves are Thursday night. Hopefully I’ll be in NOLA in time for dinner with Denise if she’s not tied up with an NN thing. Meanwhile, need some coffee. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}

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