Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: September 17th

September 16, 2023 JanF Community 83

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 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 (right before “Leave A Reply”) and use the Pages Tool to view previous pages, shown here with 3 pages of comments available and Page 2 circled.

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49 Comments

  1. It’s 60 going to 80, overcast and drizzling. Yesterday we generated just over 5 KWHs and the m-t-d at 201 is still on track but not by much.

    I haven’t been on the treadmill or gotten my breakfast yet because I made the mistake of sitting down at the computer to check my email and a little black cat hopped on my lap, curled up, and went to sleep. LOL. So I figured I’d start my boosting day and eat later. LOL. I can’t go to the bank until the rain stops and the sky clears a bit. It’s too dark for me to be driving right now.

    Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  2. Good Wednesday morning, Moosekind! This morning “mah Social,” as my cousin refers to it, was in my bank account, so it would be a good day even if it weren’t. Currently it’s 63 beautiful degrees in Ashburn, going up to 80 F. The drought is so severe that even the WaPo felt compelled to mention it, but we are promised rain for both days of the weekend.

    This morning I have a dr. appointment, and this afternoon there is a “celebration of life” in Farmwell Hall for a dear man who died. That’s one thing you have to get used to, living here—the sight of emergency vehicles. If there’s a sheriff’s car, that means someone has died. (Loudoun County, for reasons best known to itself, refers to its police officers as “sheriffs.” They probably never got over the Sheriff of Nottingham in “Robin Hood.”)

    Last night I did wear my pirate hat and eyepatch to the UU dinner, considerably startling some of them. Two of them asked me to wear the outfit at the Birch Point-Cypress Ridge building party on October 23rd. When I’m not thinking about my characters in “Emergency Contact,” I think about what I’ll bring. Vegetarian pizzas? Blackberry tarts? Haven’t made up my mind yet. What I’d really like to bring, Cheese Board, doesn’t lend itself to large occasions such as this one will be.

    Here I am, rattling on and it’s already 9:30. I’m distressed that the poor lady (name escapes me), who was giving a speech at her college, collapsed and died. I’m also, like all Virginia Democrats, devastated by the news that our Congresswoman, Jennifer Wexton, is not long for this world. I’m going to write her a letter telling her how pleased we were to vote for her, how delighted we were that she won, and how even more delighted we were about her work in Congress. She defended the LGBTQIA community, and that means a lot to me. Still feeling totally p.o.’d about the beautiful 10-year-old who was murdered by a stray bullet on Mother’s Day last. When will people learn that guns are the problem?

    Well, that’s enough out of me this morning. Y’all play naicely! Wishing everyone at the Pond a good day.

    • Joanne Epps was the Temple interim president. How terrible for everyone who witnessed it and who are impacted by her loss:

      People across Temple’s campus are shocked by the sudden loss.

      “I saw Dr. Epps, President Epps slouch down in her seat and it was just shocking,” noted Ruth Naomi Floyd, a jazz studies adjunct professor at Temple. “Such a brilliant woman who presided and served and led with grace and dignity and brilliance.”

      Beyond the university, Epps was also a pillar in the legal community.

      “When she spoke, we listened because we knew that what she had to say was thoughtful, it was well reasoned, and it was important,” said Marc Zucker, the chancellor of the Philadelphia Bar Association.

  3. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 70 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 91, Mostly sunny skies are in the forecast. Winds will pick up in the afternoon. It was 65 degrees when I got up and I have a nice cool breeze coming in my office window.

    To the surprise of absolutely no one, Kevin’s House is imploding. For the gazillionth time, you cannot run a government when anti-government terrorists are in charge of one branch of the legislature. NOW, Ron Freaking Johnson, the second stupidest man in the Senate, is putting a blockade on all Senate business because he is upset that the stupidest man in the Senate, “Coach” Dunderhead, is getting so much attention. The Senate can fix itself but chooses not to. The House cannot govern, period, because the majority does not have the votes and they burned all their bridges to getting minority help by reneging on the budget deal they cut earlier in the year. Here is the best possible answer:

    I am working on a client computer so I am going to just put a few news articles in my Pocket to read after things settle down.

    See all y’all later!

    • Here is the ad that will run in my district against the guy who we hope to make a one-term congressman. He won in a Biden+ district after the Arizona redistricting commission carved the University of Arizona campus out of his district. So we will need to get everyone to vote this time and not stay home thinking this is a blue district.

    • The link goes to a Spout. Does Spoutible have a bot attached to the news feeds of the organizations listed?

      It looks like Spoutible has an embed feature.

      • Oh Jan, you know I don’t know enough to answer that. LOL. Yes, it’s a spout but it includes a screenshot of the “manage news feed” page under account settings that lists everything currently in the feed. You can click or unclick whole categories (the default is no categories desired so it sort of turns off the news feed feature) or you can have whatever categories you want and unclick specific sources. You do have to have an account to use it but there’s a tab when you go to your TL that lets you choose to see news only so you don’t have to be involved with the spouts & spouters at all if you don’t want to.

  5. Thursday Meese. 46 here in Kingston, going up to 71.
    Puerto Rico – Hurricane Maria

    • I WISH people would stop saying Americans may very well reelect Defeated Former Guy.

      How, pray, does a convicted criminal get on the ballot? Because by that time, he WILL have been convicted.

      Of course, the media are doing their best to make sure Biden loses. Oh! Oh! He’s 80 years old! Blimey, what are we going to do? He’s in far better shape, physically and mentally, than DFG. I cannot understand why DFG hasn’t died of hamburgeritis, or too much Coke.

  6. Good morning. My neighbor helped tape plastic over the bedroom windows last night. We don’t know when they’ll decide to do them, but better to be prepared. They’re leaving some really big gaps when they put in the windows, the people doing the caulking are having to put in insulation to fill some gaps. So anyway, that’s my week so far. It’s back to hot weather, expected to be 100 degrees today. But yeah sure climate change is a scam.

  8. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 70 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 95. Sunny skies are in the forecast but high winds and a slight chance of rain in the afternoon. It turned out to be very cloudy yesterday and not as cool as expected. This morning on my patio it felt muggy.

    The tRumpers indicted in Georgia trying to move their cases to federal court are being pretty obvious that they want to be in position for a presidential pardon when they are convicted. I going to try to stop thinking about what happens to the rule of law should tRump be elected next year and he pardons all the insurrectionists. I really have no place to go – it is too far to Canada (and I would not qualify to live there) and the places in Mexico I could live safely are too expensive. I just need to put positive energy out that the American people wake up in time to realize that there will be no United States of America and possibly no Europe if they elect him.

    I woke up early with a head full of to-dos and got a few of them done. I am going to get my seasonal flu vaccine this morning in advance of flu season. I will let others be the first to try the new COVID-19 boosters and will think about getting it in late October. It is most effective within the first two months and it makes more sense to wait until the “indoor season” starts or when there may be holiday travelers around me. I do want to be immunized before the Snowbirds bring their germs here.

    See all y’all later!

    • I just need to put positive energy out that the American people wake up in time to realize that there will be no United States of America and possibly no Europe if they elect him.

      Well, they elected Biden last time, didn’t they? There are more of US than there are of them.

      Women are furious that Roe was overturned. That much was proven last year. If by some evil chance the Rethugs were to prevail, it would be the end of contraception, the end of women’s right to vote, and pretty soon, the end of women’s right to attend college. We’d be living in the Republic of Gilead.

      • The good news is that this years special elections seem to be trending blue – a deep red district in New Hampshire went for the Democrats on Tuesday. The Republicans may find that “winning” the war against women’s reproductive rights is a Pyrrhic victory – they pleased their christian nationalist base but ticked off everyone else in America. NOW we just need to put good candidates in every race, even the ones that seem impossible to win.

  9. Good Thursday morning, Meese. I’m taking delight in the slow drift of leaves off the trees as I look through the glass doors to the porch. Saturday is the autumn equinox, so the Wheel of the Year is turning to a close. We have an uncertain blue sky with veils of white cloud trying to hide the blue.

    It’s 62 quite lovely degrees Fahrenheit right now, going up to 78 F. or something. Tomorrow, They say, will be cloudy, with rain clouds moving in. Praise Yemaya! I must lay in sufficient supplies that I won’t have to go out.

    Yesterday’s rehearsal went very well. For a change we sat in a classroom and read our lines. The sweet guy who plays Daniel, the shuttle bus driver, has been changing “had” to “would have.” I told him it wasn’t the past conditional, it was the simple past, so to please say “had.”

    Received a compliment on my acting from the director and the woman who plays the Executive Director of Gatsby Woods. Sorry for bragging, but it’s rare that compliments come my way. I’ve always fancied being an actress. I’ll get another chance on Saturday, because I’m playing the part of the English teacher, Irene, in the shouty play I wrote, “DNA Dilemma.”

    I’m now working out the plot details for “Emergency Contact.” What does a single mom do when she lives far away from family, and her daughter’s school is demanding an “emergency contact” person? Especially when the ex-husband married his side chick and moved to Pennsylvania. He doesn’t even care enough about his daughter to live in the same town as she does.

    Well, that’s something interesting to ponder while I’m wandering around the grocery store later today. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

    P. S. I’m being haunted by the ghost of little Monty. This morning I heard an impatient grumble while resisting the urge to wake up, the kind he used to make when I didn’t react quickly enough to his demands. Am I “going mental”? Or is he really a ghost?

    • {{{Diana}}} Really a ghost. Monty was visiting you to see how you were doing. You’ll likely only be able to sense him when you’re half asleep. And he won’t always be around. But he’ll check in from time to time. Healing Energy. moar (((HUGS}}}

  10. It’s 73 heading for 81 and clear at the moment although who knows for how long. Yesterday we generated 8.8 KWHs and the m-t-d at 210 is right on track for 300. We’ll see how long that lasts.

    Rocky night & slept in. Then had some housekeeping things to deal with. (Cats!) I enjoy the Autumn weather – not needing either A/C or furnace – but I’ll certainly be glad when it gets cold enough to get rid of the bugs. Sigh. Best I can tell is all the folks I follow are keepin’ on keepin’ on. Not getting better but at least for the moment not getting worse.

    Need to get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  11. Good afternoon, 68 and sunny in Bellingham today. Ron’s surgery went well this morning, but recovery is slower so he will spent the night in hospital. I’m very relieved he will be where his pain can be better managed than at home. Now if he can please avoid a infection of any sort he can heal and enjoy being out and about with his camera again. I’m ok, just really tired but feeling very grateful our daughter is here to help us for a few days. Best wishes to all.

    • {{{princesspat}}} Healing Energy to RonK – and you & the rest of your family. moar {{{HUGS}}}

    • Glad to hear it went well and good idea to stay in the hospital overnight. They can manage the pain better and won’t hesitate to wake him up if they need to (family is usually nicer!). Hoping for quick healing!!

  12. Friday Meese. 46 here in Kingston going up to 72. Furnace repair guys are due here at 8 AM – thankfully. I hate being cold :)

    Puerto Rico

  13. Good morning. They did my bedroom windows yesterday. Knocked my curtains off the hooks. I didn’t feel up to fixing them last night, I’m going to leave work early today and tackle that. If they only sorta damaged the blinds, I’ll just tape things together, those windows face the parking lot, so I never open them. So that was my day yesterday. This morning, I’m here, did my walk — shorter because of this afternoon’s anticipated exercise. Getting ready for work.

  14. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 70 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 95. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The “cooldown” is taking longer than anticipated but 95 does not feel too bad when the humidity is low. I have my cool mornings with windows open and the air conditioning is kicking in less frequently. Tonight is the Fall Equinox (at 11:50pm MST) and it is mostly fall-like, at least for the Desert Southwest.

    So we have a government shutdown looming and Joe Manchin is most concerned about the Senate dress code. I know! Let’s make them all dress in clown costumes which would properly identify them as foolish and scary. The Senate rules, from letting MAGA Senators veto good judicial candidates via the blue slip rule to putting terrible people on the Supreme Court in a lame duck session to allowing an ignorant man who wasn’t even a good football coach impact the readiness of our military, are a plague on humanity.

    Speaking of plague on humanity, I hope that Rupert Murdoch’s retirement is short and unpleasant and that he is forever remembered as the man who tried to destroy American democracy and set the course for ruining our planet.

    It is Friday and next week is the last week of September and the third quarter. I am determined to get ahead on accounting projects and promises made for “I should be able to deliver that by September 30th” projects.

    See all y’all later!

  15. Good Friday morning, Moosekind! It’s partly cloudy and 56 F. this morning, but it is predicted that four-letter word will begin tonight and continue gustily all through tomorrow and tomorrow night. Let it pour! Have laid in a supply of chocolate, beer, iced tea, 2 percent milk, and I don’t know what all to see us safely through the weekend.

    Right now we have weak sunlight, white clouds completely veiling the blue, and not much wind. Time to get those cushions in. I’m amazed those red, white, and blue petunias have survived this long! Bought them before Memorial Day, hoping to impart a patriotic look to the screened porch.

    Last night, while I was walking around my neighborhood to deliver “get well” cards to two people I like very much, I saw the quarter moon! It was hanging in the clear night sky, looking so silvery and shiny that I just wanted to reach up and grab it. What a nice little treat. Hope to see the full moon a week from tonight, but you know how that goes.

    It appears Dearly is too tired from his Awful Night to travel to the Genius Bar today, so that gives me most of the day to write! I’m itching to work on my new play. Those of you who have been single moms, what did you do when asked for an “Emergency Contact”?

    Tonight we are to meet J. and L. for dinner. I’m glad Dearly is getting out a bit more and not sitting here isolated in our flat. He has plenty to watch on telly, this being a Formula I weekend.

    It’s to be hoped I can start work on my play, pick out a short story to enter in my friend Lisa’s anthology (October 15 is only three weeks away), and write some of my correspondents.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond and healing energy to those who need it!

  16. It’s 66 heading for 83. Overcast and raining lightly. Yesterday we generated 8.2 KWHs and at 218 the m-t-d is still on track for 300 but losing ground.

    Rocky night at first. Didn’t get to sleep til after midnight. Made up for it by sleeping til almost 8. I haven’t checked in on anybody this morning. I’d best get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good Thoughts for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  17. Saturday Meese. Today is a special day in Puerto Rican History

    On September 23, 1868 between 600 to 1000 men, mostly Puerto Rican born and from the west of the Island, revolted for Independence from Spain. This insurrection became known as “El Grito de Lares” It all began when a group led by Dr. Ramón Emeterio Betances and Segundo Ruiz Belvis founded the Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico on January 6, 1868 from their exile in the Dominican Republic. Betances authored several proclamations attacking the exploitation of the Puerto Ricans by the Spanish centralist system and called for immediate insurrection. These statements soon circulated throughout the island as local dissident groups began to organize. Secret cells of the Revolutionary Committee were established in Puerto Rico by bringing together members from all sectors of society including landowners, merchants, professionals, peasants, and slaves. Most were criollos (Spaniards born on the island). Although plans originally called for the insurrection to begin on September 29, their discovery by Spanish authorities forced the rebels to move the date up. They agreed to strike first at the town of Lares on September 23. On that day, some four to six hundred rebels gathered in the hacienda of Manuel Rojas, located in the vicinity of Pezuela, on the outskirts of Lares. Poorly trained and armed, the rebels reached the town by horse and foot around midnight. They looted local stores and offices owned by Spanish mainland-born men and took over the city hall, proclaiming the new Republic of Puerto Rico. Spanish merchants and local government authorities, considered by the rebels to be enemies of the fatherland, were taken prisoner. The rebels then entered the town’s church and placed the revolutionary flag of Lares on the High Altar. This was the sign that the revolution had begun. The Republic of Puerto Rico was proclaimed at (2:00 am local time)
    The next day, on September 24, the rebel forces departed to take over the next town, San Sebastian. The militia of the town surprised them with strong resistance, by moving troops from San Juan, Mayagüez, Ponce, and several other towns. This caused confusion amongst the rebels, who were greatly disadvantaged without significant weapons. The insurgents retreated back to Lares. Upon an order from the governor, Julián Pavía, the militia soon rounded them up, and the insurrection was over. Initially, commemorating the Grito de Lares as a holiday was outlawed in Puerto Rico by both the Puerto Rican/Spanish and American administrations, during different time periods, however over time, Puerto Ricans from all walks of life , even those who weren’t pro independence, recognized the importance of Grito De Lares in contributing to the forging of Puerto Rican identity. So, In 1969 Governor Luis A. Ferré, a statehood supporter, declared September 23rd a National Holiday and Lares was declared a Historic Site by the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture

  18. Good morning, meeses! Saturday and the Autumnal Equinox …

    It is 68 degrees in Tucson with an expected daytime high of 96. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Standing on my patio this morning with the cool air and the stars twinkling over the mountains made it difficult to come back inside to start my work day.

    Senator Menendez indicted again. Sheesh. I hope this time he resigns and lets Governor Murphy appoint someone who can fill the seat and run in 2024. We can’t afford to lose a Senate seat in a blue state and it sounds like people are sick of him and his criming. He won last time he was under indictment because having a Democrat was more important than not having a crook but twice is tempting fate (plus the deplorable Chris Christie was governor). He won’t resign, of course, because his office gives him perks and protections that regular folks don’t have. Shameful.

    I got up early to get some accounting work done in the quiet before things get busy. I think I ran all my errands yesterday and should be able to spend the afternoon in my easy chair watching sporting events.

    See all y’all later!

  19. Good morning. The thief brought back what she took last night, so this morning I’ll try to put things back together in a way that doesn’t preclude the work that still needs to be done. It is back to August-like weather, 78 degrees now and 100ish this afternoon. For now, I’m enjoying the a/c while I eat breakfast.

    • {{{anotherdemocrat}}} Glad the thief finally did bring your stuff back. Hope things cool down again soon. It IS the last week of September after all. (Sez I who remembers Thanksgivings with weather in the 90s.) Healing Energy & moar {{{HUGS}}}

  20. Good Saturday morning, Meese! What happens when you invoke Yemaya? You get Ophelia! Although by the time I lurched to bed at 10:30 last night, not a drop of rain or flash of lightning had occurred, apparently it began during the night.

    It’s now 57 F. in Ashburn at 9:36 a.m. and the rain and wind have settled down a bit. We’re supposed to get a commercial break, don’t know how long, and then the rain will begin again.

    Thank Goddess I will have an easy, covered walk to Farmwell Hall this afternoon at 1 p.m. The members of my team will meet for an hour to rehearse “DNA Dilemma,” which will be presented as a “reader play.” See all the new terms I’m learning?

    Dearly and I both had AWFUL nights, so we plan to go back to bed soon. I don’t know why we had awful nights, we just did. Problem is, when I have a bad night, I lose my voice—a terrible thing to happen when I’m about to read a role in the play.

    It is satisfactorily dreary outside. Dearly, who at 93 feels the cold keenly, has actually turned on the little fake woodstove with its “pretend” flames. I cooked a hearty breakfast for him as he seemed to need it. That’s good, we won’t need much lunch.

    Still having a plotting problem, Meese. The lead character phones her gentleman friend and asks him to be an emergency contact—he can’t, because he’s out of town such a lot. She then asks the mother of Jessica’s best friend in the Girl Scout troop. This lady can’t be an emergency contact because…why? I’m trying to think. The fact that Dina attends parochial school rather than public school like Jessica doesn’t seem to preclude being an emergency contact for Jessica (who is 12, BTW). Both the gentleman friend and the Girl Scout mom ask why she can’t ask Helen, who lives next door. “But she’s OLD,” protests the protagonist. “She must be about 80!”

    If I can ever think of a reason for Girl Scout Mom not to do it, I can start writing the play.

    Wishing a blessed Mabon to all at the Pond who celebrate it, healing vibes for Ron K., warmth for Denise, coolth for anotherdemocrat, leisure time for BlogGoddess, and sunlight on solar panels for bfitz.

    • Well, just not feeling comfortable with the responsibility is as good a reason as any. Some people don’t pick up any responsibility lying around as you and I do. LOL. And depending on when your play is set, Catholic vs. Non-Catholic actually would have been considered a good reason – by a Catholic. Good luck. {{{Diana}}}

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