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?
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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!
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 57 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 72. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Welp, there was another shooting in Texas — and new, looser gun & weapons laws go into effect today. Yay. There was a student killed on the UT campus a year or 2 ago by a guy with a machete, so now of course it’s legal to carry one. A man was stopped in Pease Park (just outside of downtown — but a park, a freaking park with kids & joggers) with a full on arsenal — and he was only able to be arrested because of an outstanding warrant from Houston, and the metal baton he was carrying was illegal then (but would be today). Aaargh.
We need
Love and peace
Love and peace
Lay down
Lay down your guns
All your daughters of Zion
All your Abraham sons
Checking in from Fay., AR – taking a break in my Sunday morning chores & about to go out for coffee with my friend – it’s 69 but with 100% humidity it feels sticky. sigh. We got 16.6 KWHs yesterday and ended August with 425 – not great but also not in “last” place and definitely better than it was looking like a week ago. Just starting the new month so no stats yet.
My son and his family should be somewhere in the middle of eastern OK about now. They were going to leave before 6 and stop for breakfast once the boys were awake and hungry. Back when I was doing the same thing on that run, it was Mickey D’s in Salisaw – LOL. We had a lovely visit. Ended with a family gathering and birthday party for my 2nd grandson who is now 19. And even though he doesn’t live with his folks any longer he was happy to show up for a bit at a family gathering and eat birthday cupcakes. LOL
Taking off now. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, Moosekind! Sunday isn’t living up to its name so far: 69 F. and cloudy in Ashburn, going up to 82 F. There may or may not be showers. Since waking up at 6:30 I’ve driven 24 miles there and back to look after Younger Son’s dog, then came home to cook a proper Sunday breakfast for Dearly Beloved. We are about to watch the Belgian Grand Prix, although I’d really rather get going on the 1,000 chores I need to get through before my neighbor comes to tea on Tuesday afternoon.
What can I say about the latest shooting? What was this one’s motive? I’m more afraid of wild-eyed white males than I am of North Korea, Iran, Russia, or China. Can you imagine having a national buy-back program for guns like the one they recently had in New Zealand? People would take the money and buy more guns! I don’t know why men equate guns with penile size—oh, wait, yes I do. It’s about power over others.
Went to the National Book Fest at the Convention Center in downtown D.C. yesterday. What a disorganized mess! Hoped to hear Ruth Bader Ginsburg speak but the people who got in to see her started arriving at 3 a.m. to hear her talk at 10:30. I made my way through the seething mobs to the children’s section, bought one book for each grandchild, then had a solitary lunch. Would have liked to leave at12:30 rather than the scheduled 2:30, but sat down and read the book on my iPhone Kindle instead.
Dorian is now a Cat 5 heading for the Bahamas and then Georgia and the Carolinas. Hope both my sons, now in North Carolina on holiday, will leave today.
Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, and please, Goddess, give us a day with no bad news.
A friend alerted me to your FRIST! comment on a diary erasing Kamala Harris from the 2020 primary. Well done!! Sadly, I made the mistake of reading the diary and, JHC!, people are ignorant. I am glad that my reading there is limited to Dee’s diaries.
Ha, ha, Jan! The number of recs on that comment now total 94! What a laugh, eh? My friends over at #KHive thought it hilarious. I do get tired of the way everyone steals her plans and ignores her. It’s to be hoped that will change after the upcoming debates.
Good morning, 65 and cloudy in Bellingham. I started reading Louise Penny’s new book, A Better Man yesterday. She spoke at The Mt Baker Theatre Friday night and I had planned on going but family events happened. It was a full house, and a percentage of sales was donated to support the launch of the Whatcom Museum’s new program, Museum in Mind: Enrichment for People Experiencing Memory Loss. The program provides access to museum experiences in art for adults with dementia and their caregivers.
Her late husband, Michael Whitehouse, was the inspiration for the books main character Chief Inspector Andre Gamache.
The sun is breaking through the clouds now so I’m going to take my coffee and book outside. Best wishes to all.
Good morning, meeses! Monday … happy Labor Day to one and all!
It is 61 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 77. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
Dorian missed Puerto Rico but slammed into the Bahamas – twice – as a Category 5 hurricane. The dotard in the White House has never heard of a Category 5 – except for the times over the last 3 years that he heard about them and exclaimed the same thing! He is like the old grampus who memorizes set phrases and uses those because he literally has no idea what anyone is saying and has no cognitive skills left. Good job, Republican enablers. You wanted Reagan and you got sundowning Reagan – the difference being that you let tRump destroy the federal agencies that provide government services and install his sycophants; there are no professionals left to help run the executive branch.
Once again, video games are identified as the cause of mass shootings by white males. Yes, and Pacman led directly to the opioid crisis – power pills creating great powers to evade moving images on a screen! ::insert eyeroll emoji here::
I am up early to get some projects done during the quiet of a holiday Monday morning so I better get to it.
See all y’all later!
Up & watching Harry Potter. The news is all about the hurricane, and there’s only so many reporters standing on windy beaches…. Anyway, watching a happy, fun movie while I’m eating breakfast. I have sweet potatoes, black beans, cilantro, quinoa, nuts & mangoes to mix together for lunch for next week. For now I’m watching the movie — not to the end, because this isn’t one of the happy ending ones.
It’s 66 in Fay., AR heading for upper 80s and starting to clear off. This could be a good production day. We did manage to get 13 KWHs yesterday even with the clouds. Which of course is the m-t-d since yesterday was the 1st. I’d like another 400+ month. It’s possible as we did it in 2015 and 2017. We shall see what we shall see. August was cloudy enough that I had to pull 70 hours out of my KWH bank to cover running the A/C. Sigh. (It’s OK – I still have 380 left.) But I don’t really expect to run the A/C at all in September ???????????? – at least not this year. The humidity is pretty much what determines it – when the humidity is high, the temps don’t start dropping until after midnight and I need the A/C. The overnight lows themselves – mid-to-low 60s – is just fine for sleeping.
Praying for the folks in Dorian’s path. I can’t do any more about that than I can about the shootings. We get better govt when we get the Rs out. A solid majority of the Rs out. And unfortunately not before. And if we don’t keep them out they’ll just pick up where they left off. Just like they did in 1980 and 2000 and now 2016. I don’t think we as a nation or society can handle what they’d do next. But I could be wrong. I hope I’m wrong – but I’d rather not find out. We need to get the Ship of State back under our guidance – and immediately fix the voting system and break up the RW propaganda machine. As we needed to do in 1993 and 2001 – and didn’t. Which is why we’re where we are today. We shall see what we shall see.
Hope everyone is enjoying the day whether or not it’s a “holiday” for them. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good Monday Moaning, Moosekind! It’s been gray and ugly here. The sky now shows enough blue to patch a Dutchman’s trousers, so perhaps the clouds will clear off. At 11 a.m. the temperature in Ashburn is 78 F., going up to 85 F. There may or may not be showers. There was one yesterday afternoon just as I arrived at the Ashby Ponds dog park with Monty. We had to shelter under someone’s screened porch while we waited for it to stop. As it had looked hideous all day, I hadn’t taken an umbrella with me. That was a BIG mistake.
This morning I woke up at 6:30, got dressed and hotfooted it to Fairfax to take care of my granddog, then went to do some shopping at the grocery store in my former neighborhood. I’m about to embark on a housework blitz.
The news continues to be horrifying. Poor old Bahamas! Are they under British control? I forget. Gosh, yesterday a guy named Tom Joseph published a really frightening Twitter thread on Thing: it seems he’s slipping more and more into dementia, the trips to Denmark and Poland were canceled because of it, and Vice President Q-tip knows he has to take over pretty soon. That, apparently, is why Mother looks so aghast in the photos of herself and Hubby. Interesting and scary.
Must get on with the plans, Moosekind! Hope this will be a quiet, enjoyable day for all at the Pond.
I keep thinking about how it would change the dynamics of 2020 if Trump resigned (or collapsed in a pool of drool and they couldn’t cover for him any longer) and Pence took his place on the ticket. The biggest problem is people who have been running “against Trump” instead of “for the future.” That would include Joe Biden who has remarked on more than one occasion about how Mike Pence is a “decent guy” and Republicans were tricked by Trump into being racist assholes. It might be a good idea to find a nominee who is not in the race to “save us from Trump” but to “save us from Republicans” – we may not run against Trump but we will definitely be running against Republicanism.
If twitler goes, via impeachment (probably not) or collapsing in a pool of drool (might) Pence will win the 2020 election. In the eyes of the Deplorables and the Never-trumpers he’ll be seen like LBJ after JFK was assassinated and the folks who’ve been all upset about what’s going on and have believed the propaganda about it being from twitler will go back to ignoring politics. And not voting. In fact, I personally think that’s why the RW-owned MSM is allowing as much of twitler’s increasingly insane comments and actions to get out. Impeachment that Moscow Mitch orchestrates to convict and remove (and that will take some people being ordered to and obeying the “fall on your sword” routine) puts Cromwell II in the WH to continue and cement the christofascist policies the John Birch Society have been working on for 60 years – but politely. And we’ll have lost our final chance for a generation or more.
Good morning, 64, cloudy, and high humidity in Bellingham. RonK is on his way to see his brother today so I hope the traffic won’t be too bad for his drive. I made a fresh garden bouquet for him to take with him, and am now cooling off with ice tea and a fan blowing fresh air in my window.
I’ve got a quiet day ahead, so I’ll whisper my best wishes to all :)
Enjoy, princesspat!
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 68 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 79. It is storming now and has been since about 2:30am when my dog started jumping up on the side of my bed. I got up because it was going to be impossible to sleep with her so upset and now she is sitting under my desk at my feet – which makes it uncomfortable because that’s where my legs go!!
Finally, a gunman who people knew was going to shoot and kill people: “Neighbor: Texas gunman was ‘violent, aggressive person'” So often we hear “he was a quiet lad” and “I was completely shocked.” Now we know that lax Texas laws make it easy for someone to get past background checks and that neighbors reporting violent behaviour are ignored because law enforcement is not going to get between a man and his gun. So can we finally agree that the only way to keep weapons of war out of the hands of people who want to slaughter is to stop selling those weapons? Of course that is a rhetorical question – we can’t agree on any such thing. The junior Senator from Texas cooks his breakfast meat using the muzzle of an AR-15 – that tells you everything you need to know about how much Texas Republican electeds care about their citizens.
Joe Biden says “the details don’t matter” in the stories he tells, they are just nice stories told by an old grampus who wants to run against a man who is sundowning. So if he is the nominee, we will have to take “doddering old fool” and “loose grasp of facts” off the table for attacks on Trump – :::sigh:::.
Busy day here – I have to prep for projects that couldn’t be done over the long holiday weekend. In some ways it is great – no client emails and phone calls – but in other ways it is inconvenient because I can’t contact business that I need to get information from.
See all y’all later!
It is a cool 76 this morning — you wouldn’t think 4 degrees from our normal 80 would make that big a difference, but it does. Back to work, half our people are making it (at least) a 5 day weekend, but at least we weren’t buried in e-mail. And I need to leave early to take a check I got for the Walk by the AIDS Services office. I should probably listen to something more energetic, but I am listening to sweet, romantic Disappear.
Another democrat, glad you’re getting cooler weather. How did the “Match” operation go on Friday? If I had realized the match would be in effect at 10, I would have donated then. However, Friday I got paid, so all I could think of was donating to the AIDS Walk, Kamala, and Dan McReady before all my money disappeared.
It went great – and did you see where Bfitz donated & it was matched? And a friend chased me down in church on Sunday & said since she missed Friday, she doubled her donation herself!
No, I didn’t see that! So did you get $5,000?
Tuesday Meese
Still have a house full of people – some will be leaving today – only to return on Friday – for a massive ceremony on Saturday.
I’m exhausted – just checking in to let you know I’m alive.
{{{Dee!}}}
Hope you get some rest. Are you getting any help with the work involved in hostessing a houseful of guests? Hope so!
{{{Dee}}} thank you for checking in & I hope you’re having fun even if you are exhausted. moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good Tiu’s Day morning, Moosekind! Sunny and gorgeous in Ashburn after yesterday afternoon’s El Biggo rain, with a current temp. of 71 F. as of 9 a.m. Today the temp. is supposed to climb to 84 F. and it will be humid. I think it’ll be OK for tea on the porch at 3:30, though. My charming Irish neighbor is coming to tea. I’m dying to hear about life in Ireland. She had seven children.
Was up early and on the road well before 7 as today is Terrible Traffic Tuesday. The traffic was not too bad at that hour going to Fairfax County, but there was fog about. I took care of the poor, sweet dog and told him his people would be back by mid-afternoon. He’s such a nice doggy. My son told me he was on the point of being killed until they drove to the shelter in Norfolk to adopt him. I’m very glad that he’s a big dog with a deep bark because Miss PC has been a latchkey child from 4 to 5 p.m. during the school year.
My visit to my friend at Greenspring has been deferred until next Wednesday, as the facility is having some huge, horrible event on Friday. It’s really too bad because her birthday is Sunday. I was going to pick up our favorite lunch from La Madeleine and drive out to see her to celebrate. Bummer. We haven’t seen each other the entire summer because of my nanny-granny duties and the quarantine at the facility. It was lifted about a month ago.
No other news except that this will be a busy, busy week, as usual! I’ve got an idea about interviewing some of the women here for a story about pioneer feminists. Years ago I managed to be mentioned in a book about pioneer feminists, so I’m sure a few of the people here have done something along those lines.
The news continues to be awful. At least for today I have something else to think about, although I will meditate on the poor souls who lost their lives over the weekend.
Wishing a nice, quiet day to all at the Pond.
65 was the overnight here in Fay., AR – it’s now 72 heading for upper 80s (heat index in the upper 90s) and more humid than I like. However the humidity is supposed to drop this afternoon so hopefully I’ll manage another day without A/C. Yesterday we got 14.5 KWHs and the m-t-d is 27.8 – on track for 400 but early days yet. Days are getting shorter but not that much shorter. It’s the oak tree. I’d be generating a couple more KWHs per sunny day if my 16 panels were set up in two rows of 8 at the west end of the house than the single row totally across the house & the 3 that “don’t fit” in the row doubled at the west end. At least I do have that much going for me. Half my system is at the western end. But the 3 panels at the eastern end are only producing about 3 hours a day. The rest of the time they’re either in heavy shade or the angle of the sun means very little electricity generated. sigh.
The news is not going to change, only the names of the victims and their killers. Until we get the reins of govt back and break up the media propaganda machine. If. For now all we can do is what our hands and minds find to do. And pray. So. Day by day, one foot in front of the other. We shall see what we shall see. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Good morning, 61, partly sunny, and another day of high humidity. Yesterday I was reading/napping outside and woke to see two deer walking up the back stairs. They ate the yellow begonia blooming by the back door and emptied another pot on the table by the veggie garden, grrrrr! Oh well, I wanted a natural garden, just didn’t expect the critters to enjoy too.
I napped and rested the day away yesterday so I’d best be more productive today. I’ve got desk work and some overdue errands that need attention. But I need to win the Solitaire Daily Challenges first, priorities! Best wishes to all.
I wonder if the British betting parlors are taking bets on how many Scaramuchis Boris Johnson’s PMship will be measured in? Wasn’t he sworn in just about 2 weeks ago?
Someone on Twitter calculated that it took 4.1 Scaramuccis for Bor-ass to lose his majority. :) I was reading some of the livetweets from the Parliamentary session and it was incredible! Some people were saying that our Congress is very boring and we should be more like Britain. No, thank you.
Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …
It is 59 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 68. Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast.
There was some good news out of North Carolina – their state courts struck down the partisan gerrymander put in place by the Republicans. The U.S. Supreme Court said this past summer that federal courts can’t determine when a gerrymander is partisan (or how to fix it) and that it falls to the states. North Carolina courts did just that, applying the state constitution just like Pennsylvania did last year. So for states that have a functioning non-partisan judiciary (sadly, not Wisconsin) there is hope for fair maps. This is the case that involved the estranged daughter of the gerrymandering guru Tom Hofeller giving her dead father’s backup disks to the voters rights group that was suing the state and finding detailed maps and instructions on how to carve up districts that maximized safe Republican seats. Good job, Common Cause! Thank you for helping preserve our democracy.
See all y’all later!
Hurrah for the daughter!
Good deed.
Good Wednesday morning Meese.
Fell into bed well past midnight last night. May get a chance to rest a bit today – though we have several minor ceremonies to complete. Will be gearing up Friday – for the events on Saturday (100 to 150 people expected)
65 here in NYS going up to 82 with rain.
#Dorian
From the Prime Minister:
Oh, how terrible! I was hoping the Bahamas belonged to Great Britain but Dearly says they’re American. That means they’ll receive no help because they have black skin.
Blast Trump and his cronies to the most incandescent flaming sphere of hydrogen in the galaxy!
Puerto Rico