The Daily Bucket is a place to catch your casual observations of the natural world and turn them into a valuable resource. Whether it's the first flowers of spring or that odd bug in your basement, don't be afraid to toss your thoughts into the bucket. Check here for a more complete description.
Ok, there's really no such thing as an Oak Snake. At least, there's no tree-dangling reptile that coils up among the scalloped leaves waiting to strike.
But what does exist is that joy of spring joys in oak tree country -- the male catkin of the red and white oak. Sound harmless? Well... maybe. Let's say you just cleaned your car. Used a little elbow grease and a good dose of sudsy stuff to get the silver paint back to something like it was when the car was new (12 years ago). Then the next morning, you walk outside to this:
![](http://images.dailykos.com/i/user/363/car_oak_catkins.jpg)
Oak pollen and fallen catkins decorate a car
You can see that the driveway in the background has gotten an overnight layer of pollen thick enough that sweeping it aside leaves brown drifts at the side of the blacktop. Add a little rain, and the whole gummy mess produces a brown tea filled with enough tanins to stain everything in sight. It's sticky, it's messy, it gets everywhere, and it makes me sneeze.
If makes me wonder why the heck I put up with all those oak trees.
![](http://images.dailykos.com/i/user/363/woods_1_may_2011.jpg)
Kitchen window view, 1 May 2011
Oh yeah, that could be it.
The frog activity at the little pond has slowed way down. The tree frogs still grind out their low trills each time a storm approaches, but for the most part things have gone quiet at water's edge. On the other hand I've seen scads of toads out in the yard and woods, on their way to do their non-breeding season business.
So, what have you seen around your place lately?
![](http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?size=512x300&maptype=terrain&markers=size:mid%7Clabel:M%7Ccolor:green%7C3490+WEBER+RD,ANTONIA,MO&sensor=false)
Today's observations come from these locations
Share your own observations in comments, and I'll add a marker to the map. Please give a city and state (as close as you feel comfortable in providing). Green pins for observations mostly about plants, brown for animals, and blue for weather or other inorganic items. The letter at the center of each pin will be the first letter of the user who provides the data.