The Daily Bucket is a regular feature of the Backyard Science group. It is a place to note any observations you have made of the world around you. Insects, weather, meteorites, climate, birds and/or flowers. All are worthy additions to the bucket. Please let us know what is going on around you in a comment. Include, as close as is comfortable for you, where you are located. Each note is a record that we can refer to in the future as we try to understand the patterns that are quietly unwinding around us.
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The Daily Bucket is all about observation of the natural world as it unfolds all around us (to paraphrase one of my colleagues). Inevitably those observations include the behavior of our fellow bucketeers. We can observe their phenology (early posting vs late posting, frequent posting vs. seldom posting) and details of their posts.
One bucketeer who I have had the pleasure to observe/know over many years is martyc35 who celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday. I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you what I have learned.
According to the kos database marty has been a kossack since the fall of 2005 and has made almost 5500 comments but has never been persuaded to write a diary. Based on my searches her first comment wasn’t until December 2008 although that could reflect some change in the database such that earlier comments don’t show up in the search. The earliest comment I found was in a diary on Canadian politics.
Marty first commented in Dawn Chorus in the spring of 2009, showing up, as would become typical, with webcam captures and information from some far flung part of the world. That would have been the first time that I (and maybe many of the other natural history oriented folks) were fortunate to cross her path. However it wasn’t until about a year later that she began regularly commenting in Dawn Chorus diaries and then still later, when this series began, in the Daily Bucket.
Looking down the list of her comments, they are notable for their graciousness. So many start with ‘thank you’ or ‘I’m glad’. I always feel a diary or comment has been a success when I check back late in the day and she has posted her kind appreciation of my humble efforts. Her enthusiasm for all manner of topics is very refreshing. She also posts on the comings and goings in her backyard, in Africa, and wherever ospreys nest around the world.
I find marty quite inspirational in the breadth of experience and interests. One of my fondest memories of daily kos is posting a diary on the ‘Bonzo Dog Band’ and having marty and several of her friends and family show up in the comments to discuss the role of the band in their shared history. I also am delighted whenever she dips into the past, talking about life in California in the 1950s or even earlier, a world as exotic to me as the streets of Kota Kinabalu.
So I will pause in my observations to wish marty a happy (belated) birthday and encourage you to do the same in the comments. Below are a few of her past comments I excerpted from the record.
On Pete Seeger’s birthday
I sprained my ankle in 1960 dancing to (14+ / 0-)
"Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" Or was it 1961? Best sprain I ever had. Happy Birthday, Pete.
In a Daily Bucket discussing Dobson flies (large insects in which the males have extraordinarily enlarged mandibles).
Makes me wonder what Dobson looked like. N/T
Commenting on a diary detailing the author’s favorite writers on dkos (I could hardly leave this one out although lineatus and Frankenoid have contributed far more to dkos than I have).
And Matching Mole (5+ / 0-)
and Lineatus and Frankenoid, too.
And this gem from her earliest days of commenting.
I once found a really dry, really flat
really long dead mouse in my purse, while traveling on the highway. I squealed and threw it out the car window. I have no idea how long it was in there, carefully placed by one of my cats. Women never clean their purses, you know.
Imagine the song is titled 'Hello Marty'
And recall this is still the Daily Bucket. Even if you have no idea who the heck martyc35 might be feel free to post your observations of the unwinding natural world. Or something like that.
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"Spotlight on Green News & Views" will be posted every Saturday at 1:00 pm Pacific Time and every Wednesday at 3:30 Pacific Time on the Daily Kos front page. Be sure to recommend and comment in the diary.
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