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Follow me below the gnocchi-doodle for a brief trip to a secret swimming hole on the Feather River, the story of a 54-pound gold nugget found there, and a nod to the gold rush town named after its canine population.
It may not look like it, but the water is 20 feet deep there, and great for snorkeling!
(For the blessedly uninitiated, Dave is the life-sized statue of Michelangelo's The David that resides in our back yard and is periodically subjected to the indignity of seasonal costume changes.)
From Pair-O-Dice to Dogtown
As summer ends we say good-bye to our hikes to our super-secret swimming hole on the
West Branch of the Feather River; so secret that we've never found our little beach occupied by other swimmers when we arrive.
To reach our destination we drive up the Skyway through Paradise, originally named after the Pair-O-Dice Saloon from gold mining days.
We then wind our way up through Magalia, home of the famous 54-pound Willard nugget, in 1859 the largest hunk of gold ever found in the state and valued at $10,690. The original gold mining town, established in 1849, was known as Dogtown because of the cacophony of dogs overrunning the town, saloons, and other environs. The dogs, which far outnumbered the existing buildings, were bred by a Mrs. Bassett (!!) who had made her way to the camp on foot with only three dogs, two female and one male, as her companions. The miners were lonely, and the enterprising Mrs. Bassett was able to sell her pups for a generous pinch of gold dust each.
The ladies of the town purportedly rebelled and had the name changed to Magalia, the Latin word for cottages.
Before gold-mining days this area was home to the Konkow (Koyangk'auwi/Concow) or Northwestern Maidu Indians.
We then drive down an old logging road and park in a small turnout. Hiking in with our small backpacks stuffed with masks, snorkels and flippers, we pass hulking remnants of the former hydraulic and placer gold mining operations, and sometimes we see a lone man dredging for bits of leftover gold. After 30 hot sweaty minutes of slipping and sliding down the deer trail and then across slippery green jagged jade-like serpentine rocks we reach the little rocky beach that serves as our launching pad into the river. The water is 20-30 feet deep in many places here, with rainbow trout and newts and innumerable caddis fly pupael cases clinging to the submerged rocks.
We carefully destroy all hoodoos and other signs of our occupation before starting the long dry hike out of the canyon.
What summer ritual will you be missing the most?
I'm looking forward to getting Dave's Bronco Football costume ready.....
And Now, on to Top Comments:
From
JanF:
I laughed out loud reading bubbanomics describe in today's J-Town how talking to his folks to try to convince them about the Republican's bad intentions was like boxing with jello.
...it's like boxing with a 500 lb blob of jello. Your fist goes in. it comes out all sticky and gross. The blob of jello is essentially unchanged.
from Horace Boothroyd III:
In reference to my diary Santorum: There is a Gay Jihad Against Me! about Rick Santorum calling LGBT people Jihadists, and a definition of Gay Jihad which includes glitter, rainbow flags, dancing and other items, I got this creative comment from squidflakes: Gay Fabuscide Bomber Attacks Bus
From Dragon5616:
Oke talked about community today in jotter's High Impact Posts. Sometimes it's good to be a Kossack.
from albatross:
What a deeply, profoundly True statement:
There are slings and arrows of outrageous fortune and indignities that I will take if it means that in my doing so it will create space for my 5 grandsons to blossom and grow and aspire to achieve whatever it is they desire to do.
The essence of love is distilled here by awesumtenor into just a sentence. Lovely and deeply moving. From Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did by HamdenRice.
from captainlaser
Bill Prendergast proposed a Great bumper sticker!
"No New Texans!"
(except in Texas...)
from Julie Gulden:
From Laura Clawson's front page story (or is it a post, I can never remember:) Wisconsin labor group bans Republican politicians from Labor Day parade, jck started the thread out with a bit of sarcastic humor, several join in to make the republicans in the parade's walk a little ickier.
and from the same diary:
from Jonathan Hoag:
Prospect Park hit it out of the park when he said
These republicans are like arsonists who set your house on fire and are surprised you won't join them roasting marshmallow's in the flames.
from rscopes:
I thought this comment by luvsathoroughbred in Weatherdude's post concerning hurricane names was excellent!
From sardonyx:
AllanTBG gives us one youthful observer's view.
and from your friendly RiverRat, smileycreek:
I was already in tears from reading HamdenRice's powerful, must-read diary Most of you have no idea what Martin Luther King actually did, but then this comment by Brit led to an amazing discovery about mallyroyal, Denise Oliver-Velez, and the diarist's real-life connections that were uncovered on Daily Kos. The parent comment by mallyroyal links to the photo of the tuskegee airmen in their lives.
AND NOW..... A Little Top Mojo!
1) how about this in 66 days? by ca democrat — 93
2) details on dominionism: go here: by G2geek — 89
3) This kind of propagandizing by Angela Quattrano — 88
4) i would also add that by Cedwyn — 87
5) As Eleanor Roosevelt by JekyllnHyde — 86
6) You misspelled "Onionist" by Seneca Doane — 83
7) Unfortunately my "conservative" relatives only by ontheleftcoast — 78
8) new recruit Rory, reporting for dutee by Debbie in ME — 73
9) I'm in Vermont by carolyn urban — 73
10) You're looking in the wrong places. by Sirenus — 72
11) In 2008 Obama got 45% of the vote in Texas. by Eric Stratton — 70
12) Itz tuff at furst, but den it becomes a habit. by Horsefeathers — 69
13) They go first, as in he who is without sin... by JeffW — 67
14) And for only $19.95/month, you can have by weatherdude — 67
15) In 2010 by texasmom — 65
16) She doesn't have balls. n/t by TFinSF — 64
17) Thank You and Amen by soothsayer99 — 64
18) This man is bloody nuts. by irishwitch — 63
19) I miss Matt and OpenLeft. by dkmich — 61
20) ... by Horsefeathers — 61
21) Cantori's comments on Vermont were priceless. Our by boji — 59
22) CNN calling out people for overhyping a hurricane? by weatherdude — 59
23) Hey click through the links, too by davej — 59
24) If he's killing people to make a point, by HiBob — 58
25) Ai will demonstrate on dis orange. by Horsefeathers — 58
26) Now dat yu haz an infant in teh house, by Horsefeathers — 56
27) Fold here.. wrap dis.. HOLD STILL YU LIDDLE BRAT! by Horsefeathers — 56
28) you sillee by Debbie in ME — 55
29) If there ever was any doubt by MadRuth — 54
30) Bernie Sanders is the best politician by RfrancisR — 54
31) Maybe I'm a fanatic, too, but I have a mental by importer — 54