Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: June 9th

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?

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.

27 Comments

  1. It’s 67 heading for 87 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 20.2 KWHs and the m-t-d at 172.1 has gained enough we’re now on track for over 460. We’ll see if today can push it over 470.

    Relatively low humidity today so no heat index. Looks like summer’s actually here. (For the 1st time since I’ve lived here, I’ve got an Indigo Bunting at my bird feeder. Beautiful little guy.) The rest of the forecast is showing lows in the low 70s and highs in the low to mid 90s. A couple of those days are showing heat index close to 100. We’ll see how long I can go without turning on the A/C.

    I talked to Karen yesterday afternoon. The only place that had/has any space is Matthews so they moved her back there yesterday morning. She doesn’t know what the oncologist is going to do or say because he can’t do her treatment at Matthews but she was actually in hospital because of a very nasty UTI (caught at Matthews by not by Matthews) that had her on IV antibiotics for a week. As soon as she was ready to come off the IV antibiotics the hospital needed the bed for somebody else. Karen said the hospital beds for when you’re on IV drips are very uncomfortable and at least she could actually sleep in the bed at Matthews. So that’s where she’ll be for the foreseeable – granted the “foreseeable” isn’t very long with Karen. Things change so fast in her life. But she should be there long enough to get a card or something like that.

    Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  2. Good partly cloudy Wednesday in Ashburn, Meese! I just made some muffins from a quick bread mix. To make it more exciting I used half a cup of applesauce instead of half a cup of oil, and scattered a mixture of chopped walnuts and maple sugar on top. Dearly forgot to put the water in the coffee machine so we were minus the coffee until just now.

    I didn’t get to the gym yesterday because I was so busy traipsing around two different grocery stores. Then I had to queue for half an hour to order dinner and wait some more while they were getting it ready. That’s because I was later than usual. (First world problem, I realize, but I was terribly tired when I finally reached home.)

    This afternoon I’m going to a movie next door about Sir Nicholas Winton, the man who saved nearly 200 children from the Nazis. He brought them to England and placed them with families who wanted them. He never told anyone about it, but it was discovered when the children grew up, and the Queen knighted him.

    After that, I’ll be too exhausted to do anything but sit on the porch stuffing dried lavender into little purple organza bags. I’ll hand them out to my writers tomorrow to take home and put in their closets or handkerchief drawers. After Dearly and I go to the Pub for dinner tonight, I’ll mix up the lavender shortbread with culinary lavender and chill it. Tomorrow I will roll it out, cut it into interesting shapes, and bake the cookies. This is also for the writers’ meeting tomorrow.

    STILL have to choose the music for the ritual! Someone advised me to look for Summer Solstice music on YouTube. I’ll try that on Friday.

    That’s enough from me, Moosekind, and may I add that whatever Hunter Biden may or may not have done, it doesn’t equal killing police officers and threatening to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  3. Good morning, 51 and light rain. Today is a laundry and flower prep day. Our son will be here this afternoon to put another railing on the patio steps then he’ll help me cut some greens. The main ivy fence has recovered from the winter damage but I can’t reach the new growth that needs a trim. The winter damaged salal and ivy are recovering, the photinia tree growing by the garage is alive and growing new leaves, but the hydrangeas are still struggling and look like we may need to replace them come fall. I’m going to miss their blooms this summer. Best wishes to all.

  4. Thursday Meese. 53 and sunny here in Kingston going up to 86. Doc visit was good yesterday – no progression of my cancers. I go back in 4 months.

    Puerto Rico remains a mess with the blackouts.

    No incompetents, yes thieves. This mediocrity and plundering of resources is unsustainable.

  5. Good morning. Yesterday I went to the gym & did 20 minutes on the treadmill followed by weights, so this morning I just walked. It’s not steam-bath hot out, so that’s a win.

  6. Good morning, meeses! Thursday …

    It is 75 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 104. Mostly sunny skies but they are now putting in the obligatory “6% chance of rain.” I woke up too late to see the stars but I did see the waxing crescent in the WNW sky on Tuesday night when I stayed up later than usual.

    I am skipping the news today. If we can get organized quickly enough this morning before it gets too hot, we might try to visit a lavender farm north of here.

    See all y’all later!

  7. It’s 70 heading for 90 and sunny. Yesterday we generated 22.25 KWHs and the m-t-d at 194.4 is on track for 480. Hopefully we’ll gain some more today.

    We’ve got a reprieve from the overnights in the (low thankfully) 70s – they start this weekend. And both air temp and heat index will be in the low/mid 90s. No triple digits in the 10-day forecast. Of course it’s only June.

    I’ve seen the moon out my bedroom window the last several nights running. That’s been very nice. Another benefit of the relatively clear nights that allow the temps to drop so nicely and cool the house so well.

    Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  8. Good Thursday morning, meese! We’re going to have a hottie today in Ashburn, the temp. is promising to get to 95 F. Right now it’s 76 F. and gorgeous outside.

    My lavender shortbread dough is chilling in the fridge. I’m going to use a mixture of flour and sugar to roll it out and cut it into shapes.

    Yesterday I went to see “One Life,” presented by the Jewish Community here. It was an excellent film about Sir Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 (mostly Jewish) children in 1939 by sending them from Prague to families in England. By the end the audience was speechless. I couldn’t talk, I was so choked up. And to think there are people who deny the Holocaust ever happened! Dearly and I visited Dachau years ago, and let me tell you the despair and suffering endured there hang over the place like a miasma.

    There’s a postcard-writing party at the Blue Ridge Clubhouse (same place my writers are meeting today at 1:30) from 7 to 9 this evening. I think I’ll have enough mojo to write postcards for an hour. Today we’ll be writing voters to be sure to vote for reproductive choice.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  9. Good morning, 53 and sunny outside my window today. The forecast was for rain this week, but now the plants are dry and need to be watered. I’ll have to see what happens re lunch on Sunday but I know I have to be careful about how much I do and when I do it so it’s a dilemma. Oh well, worrying about where and when to set a luncheon table is a hard earned gift and I’m grateful. Best wishes to all.

  10. Good morning, meeses! Friday …

    It is 73 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 100. Sunny skies are in the forecast. The clouds yesterday dropped rain but as happens here in the desert, the rain never made it to the ground – it evaporated (the mountains may have gotten a few drops). The monsoon season starts tomorrow but the meteorologists say that they have not seen the wind shifts yet. The pattern is high heat, wind shifts, monsoonal rains. We have the heat! I saw the 1st quarter moon peeking out from the clouds last night in the western sky and stars over the mountains this morning.

    Apparently a bunch of people suing to block a drug because it makes them sad that it is available is a bridge too far even for the Roberts Court. The abortion pill will continue to be available at least until the Republican Party can find someone with real standing to sue. You know that is the only way they got Bloody Sam Alito to sign onto this unanimous decision – the promise that he will get to take another whack at women’s reproductive rights and the administrative state. The next case being teed up is several states suing the FDA claiming harm where there is none. That worked for cancelling Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan when clearly states weren’t harmed – no reason that it won’t work for the abortion pill. We need to keep Congress and re-elect Biden – and pass some of the state protections for abortion access – or we are in a world of hurt with this terrible court in place. The ruling is good news for the short term but a reminder that it is only temporary when there is a political party hellbent on denying rights to women.

    I had a very productive day of errand running yesterday and now today I need to get my lists ready for weekend work. We did not make it to the lavender farm – the heat was oppressive, even my 6:30am walk was right on the edge of being too hot. This morning I will try to get out around 6am.

    See all y’all later!

  11. Good morning. 77 degrees is just wrong at 6am. Did my walk/run — ran up the hill 1 ½ times. Anyway, in the office. Got to write more on my music post for tomorrow — y’all come by at 6pm. And I’m doing Bookchat on the 26th because Romancing The Vote is back. July 1-5, all kinds of cool book-related stuff (not just from Romance authors) to raise money to GOTV.

  12. Friday Meese. 72 going up to 81 with rain here in Kingston.
    Puerto Rico

  13. It’s 73 going up to 93, heat index 100, and trying to be sunny but not quite making it at the moment. I’ll need to close up the house shortly. Yesterday we generated 22.4 KWHs and the m-t-d at 216.79 is on track, barely, for 500! We get enough more sunny days and we might have a decent month’s production after all. Which I’m certainly going to need if I can’t make it through the month without turning on the A/C. And it’s looking likely that I won’t.

    I haven’t talked to Fineena in a couple of days. Really talked. I’d call her or she’d call me, then somebody would come in she needed to deal with and we’d get off the phone. Maybe tonight. My son should be back from visiting his father (in IN, a 2-day trip by motorcycle – and probably car but he’s riding his motorcycle) either today or tomorrow. Hopefully I’ll see him Sunday.

    Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  14. Good morning. Just popping in to say hi before my Saturday workout. Hoping to get a good run in. And I’ll tweak my diary for this evening at the orange place some more — posts at 6pm, on repeating songs. I found some interesting articles.

    • I got sidetracked and almost missed the last good time for my morning walk. Fortunately, it was cooler this morning than it has been and 6:45am worked fine. I have been trying to get out before 6:30am. If I miss a comfortable walk time, I will have to use the fitness center treadmills and they are not my favorite way to “walk.”

      Summer is a challenge!

  15. It’s 72 outside and 75 inside so I’ll be closing up shortly. We’re heading for 92 but the heat index is “only” predicted for 95 today. Yesterday it hit 102. (Yes, I turned on the A/C. Grumble, grumble.) We didn’t get quite as good a production day, 19.99 KWHs, but the m-t-d at 236.79 is still on track for over 500 and gaining ground.

    I talked to Karen last night. She’s still at Mattews but was transported to & from the hospital for an MRI. She was marveling at how quickly they got her in and out – especially compared to last time – and how quickly they got the results to her. Very relieving results. She does not have a brain tumor. Whatever that “white spot” on the CT scan is, it’s not a tumor. That and her dinner was edible are the good news. Well, and that she likes old westerns from back when she was a very small child since they’re running a “Lawman” marathon on the TV station in her room. She hasn’t talked to her oncologist in over a week so she doesn’t know when she’s starting the treatment he told her he’d gotten approval for. And the rehab people at Mattews keep showing up at irregular times wanting her to “do rehab” when she can’t even get out of bed. Heaven only knows what “rehab” they think will cure – or even ameliorate – liver cancer.

    Anyway, I’d best be about the closing up and then to my boosting day. Holding the Good Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  16. Good Saturday morning, Meese, sure and it’s a grand immortal day! “O, what’s so rare as a day in June,” the poet asked. We’re having blue skies, sunshine, low humidity, a high of 84 F., the lot! Violent, evil thunderstorms were predicted last night, but did they show up? Naw. The sky would look menacing, then the clouds would part and the sky would turn blue again. The good news is that I saw the quarter moon! First time I’ve seen the moon in ages. Right now it’s 71 F. in Ashburn.

    It did rain very quietly last night for an hour, between 10 and 11 p.m. I’ve just had the night from hell, and today is supposed to be so busy! The Shred Truck is coming, so I have to lug a bunch of paper there as soon as I’m dressed. The Father’s Day fishing contest starts at 10 a.m. this morning, but I can’t go. I have to catch up on my sleep before the Drama Club meeting at 2 p.m.

    What else…yesterday I went to a meet-and-greet for Jennifer Boysko. My temporary hearing aids don’t work very well. I was late, because I couldn’t hear Jennifer’s staff member on the phone, stating the time. When anyone calls, I can’t even hear them properly when I turn on the speaker. On Tuesday the new aids will be fitted, and I won’t leave until my phone has been synced with the new, allegedly more “modern” aids. Then I can call Fineena.

    I’m still working on the ritual. Unfortunately, I feel impelled to invoke Juno, protectress of women, and I’m afraid the men will interpret this as meaning She doesn’t care about them. Men always seem to feel that if they aren’t put first, they are therefore being disrespected. Never mind, I’ll think of something. If the men in question were actual Witches, they’d know that “men” are included in the word “women,” but these are UUs.

    Hope everyone at the Pond will have a wonderful day, that our Western-based Meese will not get too hot, and that Princesspat and Bfitz will enjoy some sunshine. (Incidentally, we’re supposed to get fried next week.) Healing energy to Dee, Bfitz, and Princesspat! Blessed be.

    • Goddess help us, this is so true!!

      Men always seem to feel that if they aren’t put first, they are therefore being disrespected.

  17. Good morning, meeses! Saturday …

    It is 78 degrees in Tucson ???? with an expected daytime high of 106. Sunny skies are in the forecast. Today begins the Monsoon season in Southern Arizona:

    The monsoon, which officially begins on June 15 and ends on Sept. 30, brings a much-needed reprieve from Arizona’s oppressive summer heat. The storms are also one of the state’s most enchanting spectacles. The storms bring rolling haboobs, fantastic lighting storms, flash food warnings and fresh desert smells, reminding many why we tolerate [Southern Arizona] summers.

    Before the National Weather Service established those dates, the monsoon season used to be signaled by “three consecutive days of average dew point temperatures of 55 degrees or higher.” The dew point means the temperature to which air must be cooled to become saturated with water vapor which is what forms clouds.

    I was out of town when the monsoon season started in our first year here and missed the first exciting storms. Last year’s monsoon was not very active (or helpful with cooling); we are hoping for a more traditional one this year.

    I woke up with the best intentions of getting a good start on weekend projects and ended up chasing a research thread on wills that took way longer than I wanted to. I have a very simple “estate” and was trying to figure out a way to do a will without an attorney or random witnesses pulled off the street. I discovered that holographic wills (written by hand on a single piece of paper) are valid in Arizona, probably because we value not needing attorneys for things here! There are also some things I can do with my bank accounts, retirement accounts and my car title that will pass them along to my heirs immediately, thereby avoiding all probate. I think I have them in place for my bank accounts but I wanted to make sure I have all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. In any event, I have gathered some notes to get my will updated and everything on my to-do list will be pushed off until tomorrow.

    See all y’all later!

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