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!
– Page Three of Comments is HERE!
Good “morning”, Motley Meese! The week begins …
Morning low of 75 degrees in Madison WI with an expected daytime high of 90. There is a chance of thunderstorms in the forecast.
Have a great day, all y’alls!!
Sunday Meese. 68 here in Kingston NY going up to 93.
Puerto Rico/USVI
Well said, Sis!
We got a little rain from the hurricane, but it is so far south that that will be our only effect. Thinking about the people in the Rio Grande Valley, who don’t need a storm on top of Covid 19. Watching the news & eating breakfast. Today: church on youtube, make overnight oats for next week, water the plants (because we didn’t even get enough rain for them to really be watered), and watch Captain Marvel because today is a good day for a kickass woman superhero.
Oh my goodness, there was a shooting at a protest last night, and one person is dead. I had no idea there was even a protest last night – with the storms I wouldn’t have expected one.
(Grieving) You will not be forgotten, Garrett.
What a country. Someone looks at you cross-eyed (because he might suffer from strabismus), you whip out a gun and shoot him dead.
This country deserves to fall.
Sunday music sermon
It’s over 80, heat index 83, and heating up. We’ll see how far when it gets there but I’m betting on another mid-90s air temp and 105 heat index. I will be pleasantly surprised if it is less. I’ve closed up the house for the day. We’ll see if I can manage to not turn on the A/C again. I’m getting used to 7 hours of solid sleep (broken only by a bathroom visit then right back to sleep) and I’d like to continue it. It’s sunny at the moment. Clouds are supposed to move in this afternoon then clear off this evening. That’s pretty much what it did yesterday. We generated 17.8 KWHs and the m-t-d is standing at 438.7 to start this last and not-quite-full week of July. Widget says we’re getting rain towards the end of the week so even making 500 is still a “wait and see” thing. But we’re getting closer.
Aji’s still hanging on. They need about $1200 to pay a couple of biannual insurances and the rest of July’s regular bills. She’s grateful for gifts but she wants sales. Wings’s latest masterwork – and it really is a masterwork – silver cuff (the stampwork on the heavy silver band alone is worth it but he cut out a pattern down the center of the band…talk about mastery of a skilled craft!) selling would definitely cover it and give them enough over to do the plumbing repairs as well as a fresh start for August. But so many of the folks who appreciate Wings’s work can’t afford to buy it – and if any of my followers can afford it, they don’t appreciate it/want to. Which is the same ol’ same ol’ for all but the lionized artists – but Black, Native, and other People of Color get it a magnitude or more worse.
Amelia’s still recovering from the visiting the bank & getting her account straightened out last week. I hope she manages a fundraiser before the end of the week… I haven’t talked with/got email from the rest but I’ve seen them on twitter so that’s good. Don’t know yet about my car.
I listened to my son venting about raising minimum wage. And that’s the recent one to $10/hr, not counting the increase to $11/hr next January. From the point of decent/livable pay for decent work he’s all for it. From the point of his pizza store staying in business he’s in a world of hurt. He’s making more sales and losing money. Food/ingredients have gone up so they’re 40% of his costs and that plus the increase in labor is killing him. His niche is inexpensive (but good) pizza – the $5 per large cheese or pepperoni type inexpensive. He’ll lose his customers if he raises prices. He’s in the red already and it’ll get worse if he doesn’t raise prices. Either way he’s staring at his store at least and maybe his company going out of business. His main actual pizza store competitor (Little Caesar) has already shut down and left Fayetteville but WalMart’s deli “grab & go” by the registers has the same thing. His company’s local. His company has 9 stores/carryout-only restaurants in NW AR. He doesn’t know what he can do, doesn’t know what the owner can/is going to do. One more reason to be stressed out. (& effen irritating as it can be used by the Rs as “proof” of what they’ve been saying since the beginning – that raising minimum wage hurts business.)
I’ve just about finished my Sunday chores. Had to do them in batches with rest in between as I’d start to overheat. I’ve one more “section” of sweeping to do and the last bit of one of the bathrooms and it will be done. At least as much as housework is ever done. heh. Since I’ve rested up and cooled down while writing this, I’ll get back to it then head over to Dee’s Sunday Sermon/Music. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
95 air temp, heat index 101 – & still climbing for another hour or so.
28 million people will be evicted from their homes in the next two months if the Republicans in the Senate don’t pass rent relief. Not suspending evictions but sending money to tenants (or to landlords so that they can pay their own bills). This will become a humanitarian crisis. In 2009, the major blemish on the Obama Administration’s response to the Bush Global Financial Meltdown was giving in to the Republican and ConservaDem Senators who refused to spend money to help keep people in their homes. We pulled shrapnel out of our butts from that self-inflicted wound for years, very likely some people never recovered completely. The idea of 28 million people homeless during a pandemic and during winter should set everyone’s shorts on fire.
Should. But the MSM will hide that and everywhere will think what’s going on in their own area is “just” the problem – not connecting it to a nationwide problem until it’s so big it can’t be hidden any longer. And 100,000 people in this country believe that they are the only ones who’ve “earned” help when they need it. To them everybody else is lazy scammers “stealing tax dollars right out of my pocket”. (Yes, they’re also human radio speakers blaring RW talk show verbiage.) And yes, Obama’s rush to try and work with Rs – in this especially but everything else his first year in office – is the major blemish on his administration. (& I put it on him personally because he went around Reid and Pelosi to do it under the impression that they were partisan so he could do it better.) I hope we manage to prevent this. But with only one house of one part of govt, the hope isn’t very strong. sigh.
Good morning, 58 and sunny in Bellingham. We had fun celebrating Emma’s day with family only in their garden. She baked a delicious gf lemon/blueberry cake, the small dogs were glad to see me, the water was warm in the blow up pool, her dad made a tasty selection of salsas, and thankfully she liked her Disney inspired t-shirts. So in our small world all is well, and it’s a welcome retreat from the worries of our covid/ tRump world.
I don’t have anything I have to do today so I’ll see what happens. Best wishes to all.
That sounds such a delightful gathering, princesspat! Glad that a good time was had by all!
Good morning, meeses! Monday …
It is 73 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 84. Sunny skies are in the forecast.
Less than 100 days until election day. The focus has to be on getting out the vote and fighting tooth and nail to open up the franchise. We have never had a national election during a pandemic and we need to make sure that voting by mail is available to anyone who does not feel safe going to the polls. And PLEASE push back against anyone telling you about double digit leads for Joe Biden – those polls don’t count, the only ones that count are the ones that tally our votes on November 3rd.
That America is a country that elects men who believe that slavery was a necessary evil – because how else would white men have been able to set up this great and glorious democracy for themselves! – is not surprising. But America is also a country that elects and honors a man like John Lewis, who spent his entire adult life working against the Tom Cottons and his ilk and whose efforts led to great progress. I am glad that in his lifetime he got to see and embrace the first Black president – I hope we honor his legacy by finishing his work and putting down the Confederacy and Jim Crow and Cottonism once and for all.
See all y’all later!
Monday Meese
71 going up to 96 here in Kingston NY.
I’ll be participating in Maya Contreras Mayathon today
Her tweet from yesterday
I’ll be on at 1PM EST
Puerto Rico
Back to hot & sticky. We got a teensy bit of rain over the weekend, but I’m still going to have to water the basil & a couple other plants today. Otherwise, it’s just work.
Good hot sticky Monday morning, Moosekind! It’s 82 F. already at 8:45 Monday morning, on its way up to 97 F. In a few minutes I’ve got to get the dawg out for his morning walkies.
Where to begin: I’m still reeling from the word “non-heteronormative” that I encountered reading the obituary of Maria Lugones in this morning’s WaPo. When our Sister Dee introduced me to “intersectionality” I could cope with that all right, but “non-heteronormative”? Is English turning into a portmanteau language like German? Next thing you know we’ll be capitalizing common nouns!
Speaking of verbal circumlocutions, I’m tired of them. This is a password-protected blog so I’m going to start calling people by their correct names. Our darling Nora (formerly Miss Pink Cheeks) spent most of the weekend with us. In my (admittedly biased) opinion, she grows taller, more beautiful, and smarter every day. She has finished her online English and composition camp—one of her essays was chosen to be published on the camp’s website—and now has math camp for two hours Monday-Friday, coding for 90 minutes in the afternoons, and Mandarin from 2 to 4 on Saturdays. She forgot her Mandarin textbook, so hoped she could skip class on Saturday, but Tiger Mommy got on the phone with the teacher (they’re friends from church), who said that was just fine, attend anyway! Oh, well.
Last night my poor husband was assailed by the same horrible gastric ‘flu that afflicted me a week or so ago. He’s resting right now. With the aid of a flashlight I discovered a package of applesauce in the pantry, so gave him that and toast for breakfast.
Trevor, our younger son, invited us to tea when we brought Nora back. The big white boxer, Mort, was so glad to see us he wouldn’t stop trying to climb into our laps. He wagged his stump of a tail throughout our visit. Bin, our DIL, said the house we’d looked at online on Friday already had a contract on it. The market is very hot just now.
Received a message from Hank Gilbert this morning. He said Louis Gohmert’s goons had beaten up one of his staffers. He attached a picture of the young man, who has a cut underneath one eye from the assault. Apparently the po-lice just drove around the fight smiling and waving at the goons, didn’t intervene at all. Got so mad I sent Hank some money.
Ominous sign from the 12th District of New York: the ballot count is going badly. The elections board was overwhelmed with mail-in ballots. One encouraging sign, though, is that the reins of the National Governors’ Association pass from Maryland’s Larry Hogan to New York’s Andrew Cuomo on August 5th. Good! That’s a guy who knows what he’s doing.
It’s past 9 a.m. Got to get the dog out before we become broiled by the sun. Wishing as good a day as possible to all at the Pond!
I’m hesitant to use my kids real names too Diana but it’s lots easier! They are all on various social media sites and they use their own names so why am I so careful? So glad you had a weekend with your grand daughter.
Maybe this is what tRump is trying to do:
He does this on Twitter all the time!
In my opinion, we should not incorporate any of his habits into our national culture. When there was a dust-up last week about some disrespect to the Clinton and Obama presidential portraits, someone suggested not putting Trump’s portrait in the White House hall of presidents at all. When they were told that we probably can’t do that, it was then suggested that we put up a painting portraying him in his prison cell. That would work – perhaps a reminder to everyone to not elect a criminal again.
What a good idea!
I remember when he remarked he couldn’t stand living in the White House, which he referred to as “this dump.” That was before he had all the toilets gold-plated.
He also said the eyes of the presidents in the portraits hanging on the walls followed him down the hall. I don’t doubt it. They’re probably all whirling in their graves at the thought that a crim like him was elected to the presidency.
It’s 79 (I’ve just finished closing up the house) but supposed to be cooler than yesterday. It’s also supposed to rain this afternoon. I’ll believe both when I see them. Clouds moving in, yeah, that I’ll believe. We got 17.3 KWHs yesterday so we’re only 45 away from getting 500 for the month and have 5 production days left to do it in. We shall see what we shall see in this as in everything else.
The battle between Good and Evil is hotting up – and as usual Evil looks to be winning. But the attacker always does look to be winning until the defenders manage to get organized and moving in the same direction to overwhelm it. Even then it takes a lot of time, energy, and materials to shove Evil back under its rock.
Aji still needs $1K to get through July and start August relatively fresh. Extra August bills will be plumbing repairs and chimney cleaning/inspection that were bumped from July. And sometime before Spring planting they need $15K for a drilled well/irrigation system. But one day at a time and all that – a set of necklace, coil, earrings from the gemstone collections or a single silver cuff will do it. Amelia wants to do a fundraiser among her FB friends for her August “rent” this week. That’s another “if” – as in if she can get the energy and focus to be able to do it. I’m getting a bit worried about Fineena. I haven’t seen her for a day or two on twitter and she hasn’t answered my last email. Also worried about the Puerto Rican folks. The overall situation there is as bad as some of the mainland Native reservations. And for the same reasons. And so it goes.
I just heard back from my son and I need to get a new car. The oil change and diagnostic were only $100 but the verdict isn’t good. The engine’s getting ready to throw a rod. The car could run for months or the engine could go today when he drives it off the shop’s lot. Of course that’s always true. Just as it’s always true that any of us could drop dead at any minute. Life is what it is. But taking chances on something I know is going out isn’t a good idea. I’m gonna miss that car. It’s been a good dependable vehicle for a lot of years. Finding something I can afford ($5K or under) that will be as dependable…well, I’d appreciate everybody’s “Good Thoughts” of whatever means/nature on that.
I need coffee. Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere, to your shaping. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Just heard back from Fineena. She’s not feeling well – say’s it’s flu-like but didn’t mention a fever – and just got ripped off on a fraudulent charge on her PayPal Cash/debit card but can’t reach anyone at PayPal to report it and get it reversed. So more Good Thoughts would be helpful.
Good morning, 65 and sunny in Bellingham. I’m looking at my old maple trees, and the sun is illuminating the leaves and the trunks and branches look sturdy and strong. But I know they are old and vulnerable, much like I feel! Talking with my daughters yesterday was unsettling as they are worried about their jobs, concerned about their children, tired of covid worries, deeply upset with the protests and feds in Seattle and Portland, and wishing they could do more to “fix” the mess this country is in. I wish I could do more to ease their worries, but I can’t. We are usually together in the summer where such conversations are easier to manage.
I finally took my book outside and read and relaxed in the garden. RonK grilled salmon and corn on the cob and made a tasty pasta salad to go with so we enjoyed a summer evening with dinner on the patio. The wasps were annoying, but no one got stung so our day ended well.
Best wishes to all on this sunny July morning.
Good morning, meeses! Tuesday …
It is 66 degrees in Madison with an expected daytime high of 82. Chance of thunderstorms this afternoon.
I will ignore news reports of tRump’s personal lawyer, William Barr, testifying before the House Judiciary Committee today. What purpose will it serve? He will lie, he will deflect and we will not know any more about anything after the hearing concludes than we do now. We just need to count down until the Trump Resignation – November 10, 2020 when he realizes he has lost bigly and has no interest in finishing out his term. Pence will pardon him for federal crimes and he won’t have to deal with being on the inauguration stand with Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton – who may be smirking at him!
I have a number of projects percolating and I hope to get at least one of them finished. I am not very hopeful – I started too many at once and now it will be a mad scramble to get finished and disconnected from client computers before the work day begins.
See all y’all later!
Good luck with the projects!
Tuesday Meese. 76 here in Kingston NY going up to 88 with rain. Way better than yesterday where we hit 97.
I’m so disgusted with this woman
Sis, I’m also disgusted with three of the four Squad members. I do still like Ayanna Pressley. She seems to be more rational than the others.
Puerto Rico
Had an upset stomach last night, didn’t sleep well. This is one of the days that shows why working from home is great. On 5 hours of sleep, I wouldn’t have been able to deal with the commute, the noise, the constantly ringing phone (there’s a commercial for headache medicine that makes me laugh: “back to back phone calls” — oh the horror — try literal nonstop calls whydontcha). But being at home, I’m listening to U2, and to voice mails, doing the things they ask, having a drink of tea then moving on to the next message. So I can deal with the whole workday.
Sorry about the upset stomach, another! Hope you’ll feel better as the day wears on.
{{{anotherdemocrat}}} – that is the blessing of working from home. I hope you are feeling better soon.
Healing Energy and moar {{{HUGS}}}
Good Tuesday morning, Meese! At 10:11 a.m., it’s already 87 F., on its way to 91 F. Afternoon thunderstorms are predicted. Uh-huh.
By 8 a.m. I felt I’d already done a day’s work. Rising reluctantly at 5:30-ish, I took the dog out, fed him, and made the early morning tea. Poor Don suffered another attack of this nasty gastric ‘flu, so I had to make applesauce from scratch for his namby-pamby breakfast of toast, applesauce, and orange juice. He then went back to bed. There were laundry to do and tomatoes to pick, so I watered the garden, did the laundry, and had my own breakfast.
This morning I need to send some moola to Doug Jones, Jennifer Wexton, and our future POTUS.
There are times when I feel life will never be “normal” again. There are some aspects of the present I’d like to remain as they are now: reduced traffic (and therefore reduced air pollution), greater attention paid to police brutality, more attention to economic and social inequality, and a thorough overhaul of the American day care system. They organized on-site day care quickly enough during WWII! They could do it now, as long as there’s the national will and, of course, a Democratic administration.
The dog is yawping to go out, must go. Wishing a good day to all.
It’s 77 and I’m about to close up the house. It’s supposed to be like yesterday except for the 2″ of rain we got. It still might rain but it’s in the maybe category at all and maybe 1/2″ if it does. Heading into some cooler nights which is good. We generated 15.8 KWHs yesterday, already another one this morning, so the m-t-d is 472.6 and climbing. At least 500 is still looking good.
I’m in process of buying an ’02 Toyota Camry. In the process because I’ve paid half and driven it home – since I’m paying cash he dropped the price below $3K!!! – so it’s sitting in my carport at the moment. But I can’t get the title and start doing the insurance, assess, license plate until I pay the rest. So that’s waiting for money to transfer from my TIAA-Cref to my checking account. It should clear by Thursday, Friday at the latest. I’m afraid it’s gonna goose my insurance – 6 cyl instead of 4 cyl so “sporty” – but I’ll worry about that later. Just like I’ll worry about what I’m going to do with the Subaru later. (I’m not handing it off, allowing it to be handed off to someone in my income bracket who needs dependable transportation. Not with the possibility the engine could go any minute.)
Aji seriously needs $1K in any combination of gifts and sales. Like by tomorrow so it can clear their bank and they can pay the biannual insurances by Friday. Amelia seriously needs the energy/focus to do her “rent” fundraiser. So many other really serious but personal rather than national things (the national things are gawdawful multiplied by millions). My best friend’s mother is going on hospice at home as of today for as long as possible. Don’t get me started on the medical system that fluffs off an elderly woman’s complaints of pain for years and when they finally actually do the workup it’s cancer. Metastasized, inoperable, and end-stage. Her father has both Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s and isn’t handling things very well. (Meanwhile everybody goes back to campus on 8/22 – the university is providing PPE for the staff and she’s ordered “sneeze shields” for the desks but…) That’s on top of the new HR/Payroll program that I swear is an unofficial beta. Prayers/invocations/candles… Channeling Healing/Helping Energy to everybody everywhere, to your shaping.
Anyway. Coffee. Close the house. Do what comes to my hands to do. Bright the day, Meeses. {{{HUGS}}}
Bfitz, does your local high school have an automotive maintenance class? Ours does. We donated our old pickup truck so the kids could examine everything and find out what wore out and whatnot.
I’d say you might get a tax writeoff for it—you would have before 2017—but nowadays, I suppose the idea is, in the words of the most overrated song in American musical history, to “Let It Go.”
The high school doesn’t. It hasn’t for at least 20 years. We’re faux elitists here – 2 tracks: academic and football, both college. But I think there’s a tech school where the old “Vo-tech” high school classes were held. I might check into that. My son’s suggested selling it on ebay to someone who likes Subarus and that body style and has the time, energy, and money to restore older cars. We’ll see. Right now it’s still the only “street legal” car we we’ve got so we’ll keep using it. {{{HUGS}}}