Here are some nice photos from my back yard/patio as well as some thoughts about this blog and some things I think you folks might like to know about or might find amusing.
Producing this blog takes some time and thought. Several of you readers produce your own blogs so you know all about that. [By the way, you blogger folks are most welcome to talk about and advertise your blog in the comments here. I will approve those links for sure, so please feel free to do that.]
Writing each blog post is a matter of deciding on the subject matter, choosing photos, editing photos (I take photos that are around 10,000 KB and reduce them to 200-300 KB for the blog). Then I rename the photos using my naming convention so I don’t get them mixed up, then I upload photos into the WordPress blog program. Then I choose videos I’ve taken, and then post the chosen videos to an internet page/app, and then I add a link in this blog app to those videos, then I write the words that go with the photos/videos, then align photos to fit with the words, then RE-write the words … and on and on until every nuance is nailed down and every grammatical stricture is properly structured, links are correct and safe, and the photos are right side up, etc.
Still, I sometimes notice later that I’ve made grammatical errors or find that different wording would have been better, etc. Sometimes I go back and change things, but mostly I just let the blog be what the blog is. I figure we’re all friends here. 🙂
I realized just a few weeks ago that when you readers click on a photo, that the photo closes the blog. So if you then close the photo you are viewing, you have lost the entire blog and you have to start over. How dumb is that? So I dove into the WordPress app one day and figured out how to make the photos open in a separate window. Voilà!
But fixing that photo issue means, being the stickler to detail that I am, that I must go back to day one and back to blog post #1 and re-set every photo so that each one opens in a separate window. Sigh … oh my. I did spend some time looking for a way to do that for all photos in one fell swoop, but found no such swoop. So I’m slowly progressing through every single photo and changing each one’s attributes to open individually in a separate window.
News for newbies (and you oldies too).
It has been several months since I wrote about how this blog works and how readers (that would be you folks) can participate if you’d like to. Rather than write an entire post about that, I will simply refer new readers to the post from last year “Housekeeping .. or, rules of the road“.
Those dastardly hackers.
I keep a list of the countries where people live who visit this blog. That list has grown steadily.
Now, I’m sure that some of the people who have visited this blog are people who would like to hack into the blog or put links to spam or malware in the blog for you to click on. The software app I use for security sends me a daily report of attempted hacks … there are thousands of attempted hacks every month, hundreds every day, just into my little blog about my travels. Those hacker people and the countries they’re from are certainly not counted in the list of countries where people live who legitimately visit my blog. Those hackers aren’t just visiting and I don’t like them!
I am curious and puzzled about why there are so many attempted hacks. My word, it’s not like this is a bank or an online voting service or a political party. Who knows, maybe even those hacker folks will read a bit of this blog or at least look at the photos and learn something and enjoy being here. I hope they do. But in the meantime, the software app I use is keeping them from doing any damage.
One of the settings I use is that ALL links and ANY links that ANYONE tries to put into the comments section are blocked … completely blocked … nada, zip, zilch, no! If someone does create a comment with a link in it, then that comment is set aside for my approval or deletion. If I approve it, then you’ll see the comment and you will know that the link is ok to click on.
Where are all of you folks from?
I have friends who took a cruise down to Mexico and into parts of South America. While they were gone, this blog was read by someone in Mexico, then Ecuador, then Chile. As soon as those friends of mine flew home, the number of views from those three countries declined significantly. But … there continue to be a few views of every post from two or three people in Ecuador and Chile and several views from people in Mexico … hola y bienvenido!
Here is the current list of countries from which real, live, legitimate people view this blog (not counting the hackers):
USA, Canada, Australia, Vietnam, UK/Britain (Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and England are all perversely lumped together in this category in the app), Laos, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Indonesia, Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Mexico, Singapore, Ecuador, Philippines, Netherlands, Spain, India, Pakistan, China, South Africa, Cambodia, New Zealand, Chile, Tanzania, Finland, Bangladesh, France, the Seychelles, Belgium, Greece, Cayman Islands, Israel, Portugal, Ukraine.
If you could visit one of those countries (other than your home country), which would it be?
Hot and Spicy Oregano
Spam comments (people who write using English but who shouldn’t).
There are anywhere from six to 12 spam comments sent in reply to each post. Again, they are captured by the security software I use. They are so poorly written that I laugh at them. Here is a great example:
“I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored material stylish. nonetheless, you command get bought an edginess over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come more formerly again as exactly the same nearly a lot often inside case you shield this increase.”
Say what? Hmmm. Methinks the author does not have a clue about the English language.
Ok, that’s it for all this detail stuff for now.
I recently found a problem with the tires on the new trailer. One of the owners of ETI is driving down with two new tires for me! Talk about personal service! Once that has been taken care of, I’ll be gone like the wind. 🙂
Thanks for blogging . Always enjoy your blog. I can not begin to comprehend how hard and how much work you put into your blog . I find it hard just to put a couple of sentences together to make a good comment .
Thanks Vernon. You always write such nice things about the blog, and you add helpful information as well. Please keep on putting those words and sentences together! 🙂
Love your garden. I figured since I wasn’t going to be able to travel this summer I was bound and determined to have flowers. Yep one left nasty stinkin heat.
That is darn good service from your ETI dealer to bring you those new tires. Will be great to follow you along.
How frustrating is that about your flowers, Jo? Last year, my hanging geranium was the most lush and beautiful of any I’ve ever seen. This year, purchased from the same nursery, and the same variety, my hanging geranium is really puny and wispy and half dead. Who knows?
I figured the ETI guy would ship me two tires, or have me buy two tires down here and he would pay me back for them … yes, darn good service.
Your patio flowers are so pretty.
I did a small blog years ago, and ended up having to make it private so I didn’t get those weird comments from idiots. Some were obscene. It was hard work to come up with blogging material and I just wanted to try it for fun. So I only lasted a couple of years.
I don’t understand all the hacking. But they managed to find my bank account a few years ago. I used a debit card at a gas station. They got my account number and pin number and withdrew funds from my account, in a foreign country. What a hassle to get all that straightened out.
I think you are doing a great job with your blog, and the pictures. It’s always interesting. Don’t worry about errors, (I haven’t seen any).
Wow, that’s great that the owner is delivering new tires.
Ack, how awful that someone stole your bank info, and your money! That’s terrible! And you had no recourse. I hope the bank reinstated your money. Makes me want to go back to carrying cash, but that sets up another whole set of risks.
Before I started this blog, I did a whole bunch of research about blogging generally and about blogging software in particular. The software apps sure aren’t all equal. On the other hand, I bet blogging software years ago didn’t have all the bells and whistles that they do today. There are so many free apps to supplement this WordPress software that I can’t even count them all, with more being written all the time. In one of the apps, I made a list of words that would cause an entire comment to be blocked if any of those words were used … it was a fairly long list of words actually.
Thanks for the nice words about the blog, Ginger. Ok, I won’t tell you where the errors are. 🙂
I don’t understand all the spam I get either. I don’t think it’s actually a person, I think it’s something like the ‘spiders’ I used to hear about, something programmed to search the web and post things.
I used to have a widget that showed me where people were posting from. I enjoyed it a lot. I can’t remember how I got it or what happened to it. All this stuff makes my head hurt so I don’t get into it very much.
I wonder how to compress the photos…that would save a lot of space which I seem to be always running out of. I should learn this stuff.http
If I could visit any of the countries you listed..well…I’d want to visit most of them!
You’re probably right about the “spiders”. Much of the hacking and spam we all get is likely automatically and electronically generated.
The stats app I use that shows where readers live is called Jetpack, although I’m using WordPress.org and, if I remember correctly, you’re using WordPress.com, so maybe apps are different. I sure know what you mean about your head hurting from all of this digital stuff. Sometimes it’s fun, but mostly it’s a hassle to wade through all of this and end up just more confused. When I do find an answer, then I feel smart. 🙂
I use a free photo editor called Fotor to resize, crop, straighten photos, have used it a few years now.
Ha! me too about the countries, Dawn. I love to travel and see new things and meet people.
PS: Just read “All about Ann and was struck by your traveling n a pickup camper as a kid. My family did that too…all six of us in a slide in trailer on the back of dad’s red truck. And one year we had an exchange student so there were seven of us. Yep it was a bit tight, but we saw almost the entire continental US that way, in two week increments, one done each summer when we were growing up. Great memories. Thanks for reminding me!
Holy smokes … 6 and then 7 in one camper?! Did you have tents so some of you slept out? Otherwise, someone would be sleeping in the refrigerator! Gosh, what great memories you must have.
By the way, everyone, Dawn produces one of my favorite blogs … https://dawnkinster.com/. And she has just about the most beautiful princess pup there is (that would be Katie).