RETIRED AS EDITOR DUE TO RAVAGES OF ALS GeeBee60 (talk) 03:26, 18 September 2019 (UTC)
I graduated from The Evergreen State College with a degree in environmental science / sustainable agriculture in 1987, and ended up staying in Olympia, Washington, USA. Since then I have mostly worked as either a field restoration tech or as a landscaper and presently own a small landscape maintenance business. I took a ten year break where I worked in public schools in the field of special education. Working in special ed probably improved my skills in data collection, and in giving direct and clear instructions; possibly improved my sense of humor; did not help my appreciation for bureaucracy nor for standardized public education.
I have a very long interest in insect - plant interactions, and frequently chase and study pollinators. My environmental studies began as a bird-watcher, hooked during a six week student sojourn at Malheur Environmental Field Station, (draft version). With my spouse and my sister-in-law we write / maintain a photo journal blog of wildlife observations. The research of Alex Shigo has informed many people including myself of the ways that trees and shrubs grow and respond to pruning, and I strive to meet his careful standards. In addition to being a longtime professional pruner of edible and ornamental trees and shrubs, I am now reasonably skilled at grafting.
After becoming a WP user in 2008 (more or less) I became a WP editor in 2013. While working in the field I often listen to recorded books -- often history related, (some topics are better to "read" when working that others). While some of my edits draw on my experience with bees, butterflies, and other insects and wildlife, or landscaping / restoration techniques, or special education, many of my edits just reflect a particular topic I'm reading / listening to. I strive for clarity and my edits of other pages might reflect this. My rather exacting mother trained me in proper English from her point of view, and mostly she trained me well. However, I continue to learn about regional writing differences, and hope I can avoid making (future) "corrections" that reflect a different branch of the English language.
My family, friends, colleagues, and myself face expanded heath conundrums that grow with knowing both more people and more years. As these conundrums flit and hurl their way across the path of my distractible attention, the temptation to read and then revise health and medical articles ever increases. I am thus learning those peculiar and more exacting requirements as I attempt to improve some MED articles, and occasionally take on a bigger project, such as Monomelic amyotrophy in May 2018.
I am not immune to posting opinions on talk pages, and admit to staring with horror and fascination at the wreckage of some epic edit battles waged by others. But when folk proclaim that there are two sides to an argument, then they are not looking very hard. There is what we know, what we don't know, and what we don't know we don't know. Better to fall back on the tale of the six blind monks examining the elephant.
But ... I do have an occasional pet controversy that I insert myself into, and my talk pages gives an idea of what is brewing at any particular time. GeeBee60 (talk)