But of course the damsel flies are not really drinking; they are laying eggs. They contort on the edge of a lily pad with their abdomen curved into the water seemingly under the lip of the pad. It’s called ovipositing. I’d seen lots of damselflies joining at the end of their abdomens earlier this Summer, to…
Category: Rescued
The Daily Bucket–Save The Redwoods
I’m just an old race horse out to pasture, pawing the ground when the race track bugle sounds. I still read the local public notices about developments, reflecting back on 40 years of environmental challenges, wishing someone was doing some more challenging. And then something happened. I am terrible at this but I’m the only one…
The Daily Bucket–The Robins Persist
But just a day or two after Billy Heron, the patriarch of my back yard gardens and ponds left, Cocky Robin brushed aside the murmured objections from the littler birds, and mounted the Sacred Roof Arch for his own announcement. “Listen up! When Billy Heron’s gone, Cocky Robin is the maximum Boss! Capeesh? All of…
The Daily Bucket–Frog Court–Capital Crimes Division (Trigger)
“Oyez, I call Frog Court into session,” rumbled Chief Justice Jeremiah, himself a very large bullfrog. “Bailiff, read the opening Declaration.” The impossibly tall Bailiff stood and began reading: “In accordance with resolution of a civil suit involving a Reagan cabinet member and prescription drugs, The Department of Fish and Wildlife established Frog Court to protect…
What If Congress Increases the US House to 500 Members to Give Large States More Electoral Votes?
en.wikipedia.org/… California has about 40 million people and Wyoming has 577,000. It takes nearly 70 Wyomings to equal one California, though both are represented by two Senators as the constitution requires. Add one congressperson to the Senators and Wyoming has three electoral votes. California gets 55 electoral votes which is 18.3 times larger — far…
The US Faces another Existential Crisis
Right now we’re facing one existential crisis: Trump, the Republicans, and the White Supremacists along with the oligarchs, are trying to turn this country into South Africa during apartheid. (Yes, Godwin’s Law has been suspended, and Trump thinks Mein Kampf is an instruction manual, but for the time being I suggest that apartheid just might…
Yes, Virginia – EVs Can Take The Backroads
Every so often one encounters a myth about electric vehicles that's so odd it makes you scratch your head. When it happens just once, it's easy to dismiss, but when it keeps popping up, it becomes time to address it. In recent weeks, I've seen multiple people assert that, “Sure, you can take EVs on…
The Daily Bucket–They've got Equinox birthdays, they've got Solstice Legs.
For the fifth year in a row, the tiny native Chorus Frogs have returned with the Winter Solstice moon, to breed in my back yard ponds. The new generation of frogs were born as egg sacs on the Equinox moon. And now, they are morphing from tadpoles into full-pledged, if tiny, Chorus Frogs, on the Summer…
I'm a Convert to Impeachment
I have been reluctant to push for impeachment up til now, on the grounds that, since the Senate would never convict, it’s a fruitless exercise which might well help Trump and the GOP. I’ve changed my mind, for a number of reasons: 1. I haven’t read the full Mueller report, but I have read bits…
The Daily Bucket–Frog Erotica
For many of us, the loud rapid croaking of peeper frogs fills the Spring air. Varieties of the thumb-sizer peeper, or chorus, or tree frogs occupy a North American range almost from the Arctic circle to the Equator. However often you’ve heard the peeper frogs, it’s unlikely that you’ve seen very many of them. They…
The Daily Bucket: The Chorus Frogs Mate at the Spring Equinox.
The chorus frogs have returned to the Frog Mitigation Area again this Spring. These tiny native frogs first occupied two small ponds in my backyard five years ago. The males usually arrive by ones and twos in late February. but they didn’t show until early March this year. They set up personal spaces every foot along…
The Daily Bucket–The Snail Whisperer
I recently set up a 5 gallon aquarium and germinated lotuses in it from storied seeds. I purchased two Japanese “trapdoor” snails to eat the aquarium’s algae. They just had a half-dozen live young, so I am sort of a grandfather of snails. This covey of snails swiftly ate all of the Lotus tank’s algae, to…
The Daily Bucket–There's a thousand stories in Frog Court.
The ”Frog Court” originated as result of a sealed court settlement over an unfortunate incident regarding Nixon EPA Administrator Anne Gorsche, prescription drugs, a government limo, and a lost weekend in the early 1970s. The quiet settlement established the Frog Environmental Regulatory Commission, or FERC. FERC’s mandate is the protection of native frogs in the…
Legacy of a Nerd
This article was first published on Up North Progressive on December 29, 2018 On Christmas Eve Rick Snyder closed the citizen’s input hotline early to ensure Michigan taxpayers could no longer object to the shame duck bills he signed just in time for Gretchen Whitmer to take over on January 1, 2019. It’s the final…
Repost. 2016's 'Twas The Right Before Christmas
Ursulafaw requested a repost of this Christmas classic from 2016. Hope you enjoy! 'Twas the Right before Christmas Twas the right before Christmas, when all through the states, – 'Thug legislatures were ginning up hate. – In Charlotte they dimmed the new Democrat's lights, – And Columbus nixed women's health care rights. – 'Thug…
The Last Strike
I’ve worked for labor unions for 40 years and I’m proud of it. But I’ve also witnessed, and suffered, from the employers’ and their conservative political allies’ relentless and successful attacks on workers. Unions have lost ground over the last 40 years. Weaker unions meant we had to bargain contracts with so-called 401ks instead of…
Conspiracy! Treason! Espionage! FARA?: Your guide to laws for l'Affaire Russe
This is a quick hopefully audience-friendly guide to the main charges that will (and won’t!) play a part in prosecuting collusion with Russia. In particular, I want to highlight the requirements for proving each of these offenses, because that’s valuable for understanding Mueller’s strategy as the various parts of this saga start to come together. For those hoping…
Two provocative questions that Democrats should put to nominee Kavanaugh
Many people are rightly worried that the appointment of “Conservative” Brett M. Kavanaugh will lead to the reversal of Roe v. Wade and other constitutional protections. With that in mind, I think that the Democratic Senators have to do a better job of framing this debate in the nomination hearings. And my points below are not…
Even more than impeachment, Democrats need to retake Congress's exclusive War-Making Power
President Trump and the U.S. Constitution (and established norms of governing) have been on a collision course since day one of the Trump presidency, but there is one looming, and overdue, Constitutional conflict that has not been discussed generally and which could serve, surprisingly, as a corrective outcome of the Trump presidency: Congress needs to reclaim its…
Spain draws closer to the edge
Things are… not going well in Spain right now. How to breed an infertile, mentally disabled king, who soils himself regularly, and sparks a regional war with his death. First, a little history. Some three hundred years ago, what is now that little pointy bit that constitutes the northeast corner of Spain was its own (more…
