Week-long Welcomings from Moosylvania: August 17th

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.

13 Comments

  1. Good morning, meeses! Wednesday …

    It is 82 degrees in Tucson 🌵 with an expected daytime high of 100. Mostly sunny skies with a slight chance for rain in the afternoon and evening. Last night there were storms on the other side of the mountains, we could see the clouds gathering and the radar showed rain. This morning it is clear and I saw the supine waning crescent with Venus to the right and slightly lower and Jupiter getting ready to leave the picture to the right but farther up. Very pretty morning sky today!

    Good lord, let’s paint the border wall black to burn the hands of the migrants seeking asylum?!??! What a cruel and idiotic idea! First, what kind of psychopath wants children’s hands burned? Second, a black wall is not going to stay hot 24/7 – there are some cooldowns in the wee morning hours and certainly during the winter. This is what happens when you ban science and defund weather and climate experts in federal agencies.

    I had to get off my computer early yesterday and so I have a stack of things I should review and organize.

    See all y’all later!

  2. It’s 70 but is so humid it’s still not comfortable. Heading for 93, heat index 99 – but the overnights are dropping into the 60s as of tonight. Yesterday we generated 15.96 KWHs and the m-t-d at 301.46 gained a smidge.

    Got up to a computer w/ black screen – scared the heck out of me. Plugged it in and after 5 or so minutes the Dell insignia came on. After more minutes it went blue screen “do not turn off your computer” as it started completing the updates it apparently started after I got offline last night. Another 10 minutes, then rebooted a few times while doing more “do not turn off your computer” in between. When it finally got to where I could actually do something I checked, and yes, as usual, my sound was disconnected. So I tried to restart. It just went black screen and didn’t completely shut down. I finally did a “hard reboot” – held the power button pushed in until the keyboard went dark as well as the screen. Gave it 5 minutes. Powered on. Another several minutes. And finally, a full 45 minutes after I tried to get online this morning, here I am. With sound.

    Otherwise, not a lot new on any of the crises or distressful things going on – either in the world or my friends’ lives. My own life is blessedly boring. Meanwhile, I’d best get started on my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  3. Good Wednesday moaning, Moosekind! Why is it good? Because Ah got mah Social! It even seemed to be a bit larger than usual, which is puzzling. So why am I moaning? Because for the third day in a row, beautiful, blonde, well-dressed Eileen has said we’d have an ugly morning and a sunny afternoon. This prediction did not come true Monday or Tuesday.

    Right now it’s 69 F. in Ashburger, supposedly going up to 85 F. Forget being able to see anything in the sky. It’s always overcast.

    However, I felt like making apple bran muffins with walnuts, so that’s just what I did. The beauty of these muffins is that they call for 1 tablespoon of molasses and half a cup of apple juice concentrate, so they’re not too sweet. Used the old trick of putting a teaspoon of vinegar in the milk instead of using buttermilk, which I don’t have. There’s never a problem storing leftovers, because I distribute the other 8 muffins among the neighbors.

    Another busy day ahead—need to get my hair done, stop by the store for milk and other stuff, then attend the first meeting of the Encore Rocks! group. I’m not going to join, their schedule is too intense for me. I leave Dearly alone quite enough as it is. I just want to get an idea of what it involves for an article I’m thinking of writing. Tonight there’s rehearsal of our new play from 7 to 9.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond, especially our ailing members, and a perfectly lousy day to those devoid of kindness.

  4. Thursday Meese – still cold here in Kingston for this time of year. 57 atm.

    Puerto Rico

    “The best cure for debt is independence”

    El mejor veneno para la deuda es la Independencia

    [image or embed]

    — PlanetaKike (@planetakike.bsky.social) August 20, 2025 at 9:14 AM

    Subsidiary of Puerto Rico Prison Health Firm Sued Over Missouri Jail Death
    A sister company of Puerto Rico’s prison health care provider maintains multimillion-dollar contracts with the city of St. Louis and a Virginia county.
    periodismoinvestigativo.com/2025/08/miss…

    [image or embed]

    — Denise Oliver-Velez (@deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social) August 21, 2025 at 5:49 AM

    Puerto Rico pays more taxes than all US states
    For every dollar generated in Puerto Rico through economic activity, taxpayers pay 26 cents in taxes.
    http://www.elnuevodia.com/english/busi...

    [image or embed]

    — Denise Oliver-Velez (@deniseoliver-velez.bsky.social) August 21, 2025 at 5:57 AM

  5. Good morning. Well, the gerrymandered map was gonna pass, but it is still depressing that it happened. I wonder if there’ll be protests today. 

  6. It’s 68 heading for 91/heat index 95, and sunny at the moment. Clouds are supposed to move in later today. Yesterday we generated 17.17 KWHs and the m-t-d at 318.6 gained a little more.

    I opened the house but shortly after I did a skunk got hit somewhere nearby. So I closed up again. Poor critter. He was probably trying to get to the riparian area behind my house/this block since the area across the main thoroughfare that used to be a cow pasture with a few stands of trees here and there is now being majorly “developed”. Just about all the “drama” situations with friends or family are currently in waiting mode. Hopefully what resolution can happen will happen soon.

    Meanwhile, my back is more or less back to normal and so’s my laptop. Off to start my boosting day. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

  7. Good Thursday morning, Meese. It’s 64 F. at 10:25 a.m. and the high today will be 71 F. Is that weird or WHAT? It’s, like, AUGUST, for Hathor’s sake! ‘Tis yet another ugly day here, made uglier by the fact that two people I know in this building have popped their clogs. One death was kind of expected (he’d been quite ill for years), but the other is a complete surprise. I will be writing notes to their widows at some time today.

    I’m feeling a little extra tired. Will run to Trader Joe’s (we’re out of eggs and yogurt), then home for lunch and a nap. This afternoon I’ll be interviewing the leader of the Astronomy Club here. Hope to get some good material for the article! Then at 5:30 I’m supposed to have dinner with my partner in the monologue project about Varina Davis.

    Guess what, in the fall play, in the character of Diane, I’m expected to pronounce “penchant” as “pen chant,” instead of giving it the proper French pronunciation. It bugs the hell outta me, but I can’t go against the director.

    I’m glad your back is better, bfitz. I’m getting huge delight from Gavin Newsom’s trolling of DJT on Tweeter! I’ve liked him since he was the mayor of San Fran years ago and allowed same-sex marriage to happen. A bunch of us on dailykos obtained the address of florists in the city and sent bouquets to those standing in line for the civil ceremony.

    I’ve looked up some of the nearest Dark Sky parks to Ashburn. Someone said, “The universe is not only queerer than we suppose, but queerer than we can suppose.”

    Sister Dee, ironically, the WaPoop carried an article earlier this week about PR’s solar power grid and how it was an example to other states as to how to set up their own solar power grids.

    With that, I’ll sign off. Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  8. Good morning, 62 and sunny in Bellingham today. I’m finally feeling better but have no stamina so I’m sleeping a lot. But I’m restless today so we’re going to the bookstore cafe in Fairhaven for lunch, then back home for a nap. Best wishes to all.

  9. Good afternoon, meeses! Thursday…

    It is 97 degrees and sunny. This early morning it was cloudy so no moon or stars and it was very muggy on my walk, the aftermath of a very nice rainstorm yesterday courtesy of the monsoon.

    I need to sort out how to do my morning work – I am out of sync with my morning walk and my plans to get off my computer before 9am. In the meantime, here I am late for check-in again.

    See all y’all tomorrow!

  10. Good morning. My congressman of 30 years said last night that if these maps go into effect, combining his district with Greg Casar’s, he won’t run. So that’s the damned Rs finally getting rid of the smartest, strongest representative….. If the districts stand. They gerrymandered him away once, he moved to San Antonio – and kept doing constituent stuff for Austin because Michael McCaul couldn’t be bothered. My hatred for Abbott, Patrick and the people who voted for them is really growing this morning.

  11. Good Friday morning, Moosekind! We’re having a cool morning in Ashburger, 69 F. with clearing skies. It should be nice for the Courtyard Concert tonight, Goddess willin’ and the creek don’t git up.

    I have Cardiac Rehab this morning after an awful night. Forgot to take my nighttime pills, which includes a sleeping pill, so naturally I woke up at 4 this morning. Going to crash at some point.

    Spent a fascinating hour interviewing the head of the Astronomy Club yesterday. He said his NASA contacts had dwindled down to exactly one, and that one doesn’t always answer email. We all know why there are budget cuts for NASA.

    Would love to discuss the raid on Captain Moustache’s house by the FBI, and talk about Sandwich Man, who threw a foot-long Subway at some National Guard troops and was subsequently arrested and charged with a felony by the FBI, but I must get ready to be picked up.

    Wishing a good day to all at the Pond!

  12. It’s 71 heading for 91/heat index 95 and sunny at the moment. Yesterday we generated 16.32 KWHs and the m-t-d at 335 gained a smidge. 10 production days left in August & we’re looking good so far.

    Basket spent most of yesterday in hospital – he woke up with severe abdominal pain but not so severe he couldn’t drive himself there. Most waiting and watching. They did a CT scan and found a 6mm stone in his kidney. After lots of discussing options, choosing and then changing their minds, they sent him home late last night to “pass it at home if he could” (this was after telling there was a 40% chance of him being able to). According to the DM Earicicle/Amelia sent me, he got home about 10 pm Pacific time. I think, if I read the DMs she & basket did back & forth correctly, they sent pain meds as well as other meds to help him pass it. So considering how painful passing a kidney stone is, especially this large a kidney stone, he could use a lot of prayers.

    I’m taking my cat Cloud back to the vet this afternoon. The bald patch is getting bigger. It may be a normal part of healing this staph infection. But it may not. A few prayers for Cloud as well would be good.

    Meanwhile, I’ve got boosting to do. Holding the Good/Healing/Protecting Thought for everybody. {{{Meeses}}}

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