Member of the Month - November 2021 - ClearLake

[Fossildude19]

November already!

Where has the time gone?  It's been a trying year again, but the fossils seem to be able to keep being found.

The actual start of winter is not far off here in North Eastern USA. The days are shorter, the nights are longer, the temps are dipping slowly but surely towards the winter averages. Won't be long now.

 

And with the passing of another month, we again, pass the crown of MotM from one member to another.

This month's worthy recipient is none other than ...

 

 

     ClearLake  

 

 

ClearLake has been a member now for 4.5  years, joining us in April of 2017.

In that time, he has proven himself helpful and insightful, with lots of knowledgeable posts in Fossil ID.

Always friendly, interested and welcoming, we take this opportunity to thank him for his participation and citizenship here on the Forum.

Congratulations, and thanks for all you do @ClearLake !

Keep up the good work!

 

Would you care to say a few words about your journey to fossils and the Forum?

[digit]

Congratulations!

 

Cheers.

 

-Ken

[Praefectus]

Congratulations!

[Ludwigia]

Congrats!!!

[connorp]

[Kane]

Always a pleasure when you chime in on a thread. Congrats and well deserved! 

[Mainefossils]

Congratulations! 

[JohnJ]

Your knowledgeable participation is always appreciated.  Congratulations, Mike.  

[grandpa]

Congratulations.  Well deserved.

[Tidgy's Dad]

Well deserved, Mike! 

Nice to see a Santa on the board for November! 

[Pagurus]

 

You make this great forum even better!

[Paleorunner]

CONGRATULATIONS !!!  

[R0b]

Congratulations 

[Coco]

Congrats @ClearLake!

 

Coco

[Mike from North Queensland]

Congratulations

 

 

[Top Trilo]

Congratulations! you're definitely a benefit to the forum with your helpful replies.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Top Trilo

[fossilhunter21]

Congratulations!  

[ClearLake]

Wow, that is certainly an unexpected honor, thank you very much!  I am certain I get much more out of the forum than I contribute as I am always learning something new and enjoy seeing all the wonderful fossils and fossil sites from around the world.  I enjoy collecting and working with fossils but being part of this forum allows me to witness a breadth of sites and specimens that I will certainly never have the opportunity to do in person.  It has also provided an opportunity to meet some wonderful people, mostly online, but some in person and that is always great.

 

My fossil journey started not really at a young age, but certainly quite a while ago and has ebbed and flowed over the years.  As a kid I had an interest in fossils, but really didn't collect them as I was more into collecting bones/skeletons (I grew up in the flatlands of NW Ohio, not exactly a lot of rocks exposed - ).   I decided to major in Geology in college and attended school in SW Ohio in the heart of the Cincinnatian outcrops and the school back then had a real focus in Paleontology which helped develop my enjoyment of fossils and collecting them.  During my subsequent Masters degree work I had the opportunity to work with a great professor who was a prolific worker in Paleozoic invertebrates and that sort of honed my interest.  My thesis was on Pennsylvanian aged chitons from Texas, sort of an interesting foreboding of the future.   I got a job as a Geologist and enjoyed working at it for 30+ years until I retired a several years ago.  During that time, life happened: work, family, kids, other pursuits, etc.  I did fossil collecting periodically (as my kids will painfully attest to) during family trips but really was more focused on bone (modern) collecting and built up my collection of skulls and skeletons to occupy a significant section of the garage.  It was after retirement that I really got back into fossil collecting and decided to organize and expand my collection.  Researching for that is what led me to The Fossil Forum which I have really come to enjoy and appreciate.  It is an amazing group of folks with a vast reservoir of knowledge.  I find that I can contribute some, but tend to focus on the things I am familiar with (invertebrates, primarily Paleozoic, and relatively recent bones) and absorb knowledge from others on the things I have little expertise in (dinosaurs, sharks teeth).

 

Now, I get to spend as much time as I want collecting, but mostly studying and learning about what I have collected.  My wife has learned to enjoy fossil collecting to a certain degree (trilobites and ammonites are "cool", not so much "shells" ) so is usually agreeable to fossil stops and trips mixed in with our other travelling.  I like the science of it all more than the display so that is why my collection consists of thousands of not very show worthy specimens, but ones that I enjoy learning about.

 

Thanks again for the honor, but most of all for being a great group of folks to learn from and interact with on the web.

Edited November 1, 2021 by ClearLake

[Troodon]

Congratulations

[FossilDAWG]

 Congratulations, and thanks for enriching the Forum!

Don

[Sagebrush Steve]

Congratulations!  And as the experts always tell me, Geologists rock!

[Mark Kmiecik]

Congratulations!

[Sjfriend]

Congratulations sir!

[old bones]

Congratulations!

[PFOOLEY]

Congratulations!