Hello from the frozen Northwest!

What is your microscopy history? What are your interests? What equipment do you use?
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MsLichen
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:05 pm

Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#1 Post by MsLichen » Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:14 pm

Hello!

I followed a link from Cloudy Nights, the telescope forum, and ended up here! After reading through the first year of the magazine, decided to check out the forum. I'm a budding lichenologist/bryologist working towards my bachelor's in biology at the moment. I'm a non-traditional student (which is a nice way of saying I'm old compared to the other students. So old that I drive my eldest son to classes on the same campus where I attend :D )

I have an Omax compound trinocular head with a so-so camera, as well as a couple of inexpensive Carson handheld zoom field scopes. I'm very much in the novice stage of microscopy. I know how to operate a scope thanks to school, and I can make decent non-permanent wet mounts. My next goal is to get a dissecting scope to make it easier to identify lichen both visually and with chemical testing.

Looking forward to learning from the others here!

einman
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Joined: Tue Feb 24, 2015 1:03 am

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#2 Post by einman » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:06 am

Welcome--

You get a lot of brownie points for earning your degree later in life.. from me at least!!!

MichaelG.
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Location: North Wales

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#3 Post by MichaelG. » Thu Mar 01, 2018 8:23 am

einman wrote:Welcome--

You get a lot of brownie points for earning your degree later in life.. from me at least!!!
+1

MichaelG. [ In surprisingly cold and snowy England ]
.
Edit: Perhaps Lichenologists have the same pioneering spirit as their subjects:
http://moticeuropeamericasblog.blogspot ... -etna.html
Too many 'projects'

MsLichen
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:05 pm

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#4 Post by MsLichen » Thu Mar 01, 2018 11:35 pm

Thank you for the warm welcome!
MichaelG. wrote: Edit: Perhaps Lichenologists have the same pioneering spirit as their subjects:
http://moticeuropeamericasblog.blogspot ... -etna.html
Interesting read. That is one of the things I love about lichens -- how they are first to move in. There have been some studies here in Washington on how lichens are necessary for the repopulation of our scablands after prairie fire sweeps through. I'm not sure if they were studied closely on Mt. St. Helens, though!

charlie g
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#5 Post by charlie g » Fri Mar 02, 2018 2:22 am

Welcome to a kind forum, Ms Lichen! BTW...I love forum platform: Cloudy nights.com too. Bravo to Beatrix Potter (?1866-1943?) for first writing in a science paper that lichens are a composite of fungi+algae...those stuffed-shirt windbags 'shouldered her out and scoffed at her proposal...sigh. I love her lichen illustrations as much as her Peter Rabbit illustrations.

I,m quite curious now with where in northwest you reside...but welcome, Ms Lichen! Charlie Guevara, finger lakes/US

' the hollow and lichen encrusted apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.' Henry David Thoreau

MsLichen
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#6 Post by MsLichen » Sun Mar 04, 2018 8:40 pm

Thank you for the warm welcome, I look forward to being a part of this community!
charlie g wrote:
I,m quite curious now with where in northwest you reside...but welcome, Ms Lichen! Charlie Guevara, finger lakes/US

' the hollow and lichen encrusted apple trees, gnawed by rabbits, showing what kind of neighbors I should have.' Henry David Thoreau
Washington state, but east of the Cascades where the grass isn't as green and the snows are much deeper!

I must say, Charlie G, as I go through the board archives I love to see your field and stream adventures!

JimT
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#7 Post by JimT » Mon Mar 05, 2018 2:44 am

Let me extend my welcome as well. Like Charlie I live in Upstate NY. We get a bit of snow as well.

Looking forward to some of your lichen adventures.

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McConkey
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Location: Alberta, Canada

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#8 Post by McConkey » Thu Mar 08, 2018 4:25 am

Welcome! I came over from Cloudy Nights too!! Got tired of not being able to use the observatory and opted for exploration indoors!! You will find a wealth of information here, incredible helpful and friendly people!!

You know nothing of the cold and snow though! Anything south of 55° latitude is considered tropical! :lol:
Karl
AO21 with Canon M3

MsLichen
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Joined: Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:05 pm

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#9 Post by MsLichen » Thu Mar 08, 2018 3:13 pm

McConkey wrote:Welcome! I came over from Cloudy Nights too!! Got tired of not being able to use the observatory and opted for exploration indoors!! You will find a wealth of information here, incredible helpful and friendly people!!

You know nothing of the cold and snow though! Anything south of 55° latitude is considered tropical! :lol:
It appears that some of us like peering through glass, whether it's up or down!

And for the record, I'm subtropical at a balmy 46 degrees north :lol:

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KurtM
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#10 Post by KurtM » Fri Mar 09, 2018 1:42 am

It's an interesting thing - I've noticed that microscopy hobbyists tend to also be amateur astronomers far more often than the reverse is true. Wonder why? It's really more or less the same thing if you think about it. Anyway, another telescope nut here ... in fact I'm in west Texas for a star party even as we speak...

30.827453, -100.108186 for you sports fans. 8-)
Cheers,
Kurt Maurer
League City, Texas
email: ngc704(at)gmail(dot)com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/67904872@ ... 912223623/

einman
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#11 Post by einman » Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:47 am

We really need to work on pulling together everyone on here for a get together as well. So many interesting people.. so much expertise!

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Pat Thielen
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Location: Saint Paul, Minnesota

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#12 Post by Pat Thielen » Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:59 am

einman wrote:We really need to work on pulling together everyone on here for a get together as well. So many interesting people.. so much expertise!

That would be awesome! :D
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

einman
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#13 Post by einman » Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:02 am

Pat Thielen wrote:
einman wrote:We really need to work on pulling together everyone on here for a get together as well. So many interesting people.. so much expertise!

That would be awesome! :D

yeah and I could enter what is perhaps one of the most famous inline marathons while up there..The Northshore!!! Kill 2 birds with one stone :)

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Pat Thielen
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Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#14 Post by Pat Thielen » Fri Mar 09, 2018 4:08 am

einman wrote:
Pat Thielen wrote:
einman wrote:We really need to work on pulling together everyone on here for a get together as well. So many interesting people.. so much expertise!

That would be awesome! :D

yeah and I could enter what is perhaps one of the most famous inline marathons while up there..The Northshore!!! Kill 2 birds with one stone :)

The word "marathon" scares me -- It may well be more than two birds that would be killed! :lol:

Of course we could compare carnivorous plants!
Pat Thielen
Motic BA310, C & A Scientific Premiere SMZ-07, Swift Eleven-Ninety, Swift FM-31, Bausch & Lomb VM349, Olympus CHA
Nikon d810

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coominya
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Location: Brisbane Aust

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#15 Post by coominya » Thu Mar 15, 2018 11:48 am

KurtM wrote:It's an interesting thing - I've noticed that microscopy hobbyists tend to also be amateur astronomers far more often than the reverse is true. Wonder why?

I think it's just a lot easier to get an astronomer to leave the cold open skies than to get a microscopist to leave a comfortable gas lift office chair. I remember what it was like to set up a C11 in the field 100km from home just to sit for 2 days under cloudy skies. You have to be really dedicated hey.

PNWmossnerd
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Location: Corvallis, Oregon

Re: Hello from the frozen Northwest!

#16 Post by PNWmossnerd » Mon Sep 24, 2018 3:07 pm

Hello,
I read your post and couldn't help replying despite its antiquity! I also live in the PNW (Oregon) and love lichens and bryophytes. I am working towards my PhD in bryology at the moment.

What are your favorite lichens and bryophytes?

Also, do you use Bruce McCune's book lichens of the Pacific Northwest? If so, how useful is it in the eastern part of the region?

Cheers!

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