My readers

Vikki commented on the previous post, asking me if I ever get second thoughts when a reader asks me for my address.  
Any readers who have asked so far have been long-time readers and commenters, and I was very comfortable sharing my address.  Honestly, it isn't all that hard to find somebody's address on the Internet if you know her name, and most people who regularly read my blog know my first and last name.  Zabasearch is the easiest method of finding someone's address, but I removed our names from that years ago.
I've had surprisingly few problems with readers of my blog.  Back in the old chat room days, a mentally troubled woman somehow got my phone number and called to "straighten me out".  She was attempting to straighten several people out at the time, as I recall, and even caused considerable problems in one lady's career.  That's probably the most uncomfortable Internet experience I've had.  
I don't get many negative comments on my blog.  Let's see, one was left by a guy from the old chat room: I had mentioned a gay blogger friend in an entry, and the guy said something like  "You call yourself a Christian" or something on that order.  I guess he thinks Christians aren't supposed to have gay friends.  (By the way fellow, if you are still reading me, I have a couple more gay Internet friends than I did back then.  As far as I can tell, it isn't contagious.)  

Then last winter after one of our heavy snows, I shared a picture of our house, snowy front yard, snow on the roof, and captioned it "my home, in the snow".  Some Kansas City reader who, of course, remained anonymous (coward), commented, "You call that a home?  It's a f***ing double wide!"  
Well, first of all, it isn't a double-wide; we couldn't afford a double-wide.  Second, anybody who thinks "home" has to consist of a fancy dwelling is not worth worrying about.  Remember the corny old poem that begins with the line, "It takes a heap of living in a house to make it home"? 
So, in eight years of blogging, that's about the extent of my negative experiences.  Two of these came from old chat room folks, so I'd blame those incidents on the chat room, not the blogging experience.  Meanwhile, I've "met" some wonderful friends online who enrich my world.  
Blogging is a perfect medium for me.  I don't make friends easily, I'm a loner.  I'm too lazy to put forth the effort it takes to maintain longtime friendships.  I'm not after fame or a huge readership, because again, I'm too lazy to put forth the effort it would take to keep things interesting.  I sit at the keyboard, type as the thoughts come, and usually publish the drivel without proofreading.  I'll read it later, or Cliff will read it, and discover all the errors I've made; then I go back and fix it.  
Because I'm lazy.  
Anyway, Merry Christmas to all my readers.  Thank you for sticking with me through thick and thin, and for not judging me for my weaknesses.  

From Poetry to Prose

I used to write a lot of poems; I don't, anymore.  There was a time I wrote a poem almost every day and sent each one out to a list of folks who wanted to be included on my "poem list".  Many times I'd sit down at the keyboard without any idea what I was going to write about, and sometimes those turned into some of my best poems.  
Every once in awhile, I'll meet up with someone at church or while shopping (or even on the Internet) who will ask if I'm still writing poems (or songs).  I tell them no, and they seem disappointed.  
Until now, I had not stopped to think about why I stopped writing my poems.  Today I only had to think about it for five minutes before I realized what happened:
Blogging took the place of my poems.  It's so much easier, not having to figure out a way to say something and make it rhyme.  
Oh yes, my poems do rhyme.  I never was a fan of free verse.  I like the old nursery rhyme rhythms, the lyrics of the old standard songs, the words of songs in the church hymnals, the honky-tonk songs from the seventies:  my very heart beats in time with such words.  
I'm the first to admit that a large percentage of the poems I wrote were mediocre at best, and some of them were just plain awful.  And yet, sometimes I'll look through a box of typed-off poems I wrote years ago, find one I don't even remember writing and think to myself, "Wow, that's pretty good!"   
But for the time being, blogging satisfies me.  The only thing I really miss about the poems is that I could put more personal feelings into the rhymes and disguise the facts slightly; although the readers might sense my unrest or dissatisfaction, they couldn't figure out exactly what it was (or who) I was talking about.  In this blog, I share nothing personal.  
Perhaps you thought my discussing UTI's or breast reduction was about as personal as it gets, but no.  Those are simply discussions about this aging body.  It's my opinions about others that I try to hold in.   I try very hard not to talk negatively about neighbors.  That's getting easier, since both of our next-door neighbors deserted their homes.  
When we had the renters living in the old trailer that's gone, it was really hard not to rant about some of their craziness:  We rented a place to four people and ended up with eight living there half the time; that's a problem because there's an old, tired pump supplying water to all residences on this place, and a crowd like that really puts a strain on it.  Of course, we'd be the ones footing the bill for a new pump, so I suppose it didn't matter to anybody else, although if they had been without water for a few days, I'm sure they would have hollered.  We agreed to let the renters have one dog, and next thing you know there were two.     
I've learned that's the way it goes with renters.  Give them an inch, they'll take a mile, without even a thank you.    
Perhaps I should start writing just enough poems to get the taboo subjects off my chest.  But I think I've gotten too lazy to put forth that much effort.  

Blogging since 2004

Holly left a comment recently stating that she can't believe it's been three years since we moved back here behind the barn; she wondered how long she's been reading my blog.  Well, Holly, it's been a lot longer than three years.  I know this because we were fellow J-landers at first; we did our blogging on AOL Journals.  
When AOL journals shut down, we were able to transfer those journals over to Blogger; I'm so glad for this, because there are a lot of memories in the words I put out into the Blogosphere back then.  My granddaughters were staying here after school and during summers, and we had lots of adventures.  I was still holding down a job.  My mother died in 2004, the year I started the journal.  It's a shame that I stored so many pictures on AOL, because they shut down their picture-sharing site along with journals; so while my blog entries made the trip to Blogger just fine, the pictures were lost.  I do have them all on my computer, thank goodness.   
Because my son lives in Georgia, I thought it would be interesting back then to find some bloggers in that great state; you know, so I could sort of keep my finger on the pulse of Georgia and perhaps know what was going on in my son's world.  Many of them still blog; Holly is one of those.  I went over to My Country Life to see if I could find an early comment from her, but I got tired of looking.  I was amazed, though, to see how many of my original commenters are still in touch with me, one way or the other.    
Other Georgia folks I got to know back then are Carlene and Celeste; Cliff and I met Celeste and her husband on our way home from a visit with our son.  I was right here reading Carlene's blog when she shared the awful news that she had lost her husband, Danny.  
Early on in my AOL days, I searched for some Kansas City bloggers.  I didn't realize what a small forum AOL Journals really was, and I only found a handful.  One local has remained with me:  Toonguy.  He was, I believe, my first commenter, and I'm sure I was his.  He had an online friend, Sim, who followed his blog and mine; and rather than keep a public journal, Sim put his thoughts in mine and Toonguy's comment sections.  My daughter and I met Toon and Sim face to face, as well as Anne, who doesn't blog these days... but she's on Facebook with me; and these days her husband is our dermatologist.  True! 
Once I moved to Blogger, I found more Kansas City blogs than I ever imagined existed.  I get most of my local news these days from Tony's Kansas City; I never link to him because he insists on putting pictures of almost-naked women on each and every entry.  I'm not a prude, but it cheapens women, in my opinion.  Plus, the pictures he uses make me look really bad by comparison.  He and two lady Kansas City bloggers I follow were on the local public radio station yesterday, and I enjoyed hearing the voices of people whose words have only been in print, in my world.  May's Machete has shocked me a time or two... I don't get out much... but I like her.  Average Jane claims not to be all that average; perhaps not, but she seems quite normal by my standards.  I've read her for quite a while, too.  


I hate to single anyone out, but I have two favorite local bloggers.  Meesha, the only Jewish person I've ever met... and the only person born in Russia!  And Dave, a photographer who has a wonderful Kansas City picture blog.  He's the culprit who kept insisting I needed to switch to an Apple computer, so I hold him personally responsible for the fact that Apple won't let me upgrade my Ipad to the new model; if it weren't for him, I'd never have owned an Apple product.  Neither of these guys has been on the radio, although I'm pretty sure if someone got the two of them together, they could do an interesting comedy skit.    
Blogging has made my life so much more interesting, not because of the words I put out there, but because of the commenters and fellow bloggers whose words and pictures I take in every day.  
This is the best hobby I've ever had.  

Thankful

As I begin this post, I remind myself how lucky I am that I can blog as I please.  If I bore some of my readers, they might stay away for days (or perhaps forever), but it doesn't matter.  I keep this blather going mainly to please myself.  Sometimes I will add an entry that I know is trite and meaningless (like most of this blog) just because Cliff's sister in St. Louis worries if I don't write something every day.  I'm not doing this blogging thing to make money or to try to attract thousands of readers.  There's great freedom in that, and I am thankful.  So today, I choose to tell you about my strawberries.  And of course, I am liable to include a picture or two of my dog; nobody will set up a blog with a huge following telling the world how boring I am or how sick and tired they are of my dog.  They SURELY won't be complaining that I'm making too much money doing this.  Although, hey, I'm up to $78.55 with Google Adsense.  When I get to $100, I get a check for that amount.  $100 every six years is better than nothing, right?  

This is today's pickins, about a quart.  We've had cold weather and rain for days on end, so the strawberries are slow to ripen.  I've been getting enough, though, for our cereal each day, and a nice bowl of berries for dessert sometimes.

Matthew 6:26: Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them.   
My heavenly Father is feeding those birds my strawberries!  It's OK, though; there's plenty for us all.  When I'm picking berries, I can almost hear Miriam Makeba singing "Love Tastes Like Strawberries".

Here's what the birds left me, all coated with sugar and chilling in the refrigerator.  I'm hoping the strawberries will hit their peak when my son, his wife, and my granddaughter are here from Georgia.  I believe they're arriving June 6.

Cliff thought I was asleep, so he grabbed the camera and aimed.  I heard him moving around, opened my eyes, and asked him, "Do you want me to act like I'm asleep?"  He did, and I did.  Iris, I believe, was actually sleeping.     

The closing of a blog

No, not mine.  You won't get rid of me that easily.  
A blog I've read for some time has had all the archives removed; there is only a short and simple goodbye post.  I didn't bother to comment, since this person deleted the last comment I made there.  
She didn't bother to say why she's closing her blog, but I have some ideas:  When your very public blog becomes controversial and you and your husband live and work in a small rural town, there are going to be repercussions.  Business starts falling off; the kids start taking flak at school... that sort of thing.  
I have a feeling this person will resurface with a new blog, but one in which she remains anonymous.  She won't be using her own real-life name, nor those of her children.  She probably won't even talk about the state in which she lives.  But she has things to say, and I don't think she will want to keep all these ideas to herself for very long.   
I know at least a couple of my readers follow the blog I'm talking about.  And that's all I'm going to say about that.

One thing and another

Just in case some of you are Pioneer Woman fans and missed it, you can catch her appearance on the Bonnie Hunt Show HERE. I have never watched that show, but as I was fast-forwarding to Ree's slot, I saw Dr. Greene, of E.R. I just saw him die on the show last week! He seems very genuine. And so does Ree Drummond.

I'm getting along fine with my Mac; oh, there's this one problem that makes me wonder what's going on; I downloaded Open Office, a word processing program. It works just dandy, but it has parked itself on my desktop looking like a little plug-in, and thinks it's a CD. When I try to remove it by dragging it to the trash, it tells me it can't be ejected because it's in use. I know I shouldn't find this hilarious, but I do! The little word processor that thinks it's a CD or DVD! It doesn't cause any trouble; it just sits there looking innocent, and I surf away to my heart's content.

I'm on the verge of making an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon; my knees are hurting enough lately that I find myself avoiding walking, even for small distances. Pain relievers provide me with no relief, even prescription ones; they never did, and I quit taking them years ago; OK, Vicodin relieves the pain, but who wants to be a junkie? Besides, I hate taking pills. I don't hurt when I'm in bed or sitting, although I have to be careful how I position myself or I'm in for a painful pop in one knee or the other; but the less I walk, the fatter I become. I'm sure some of you can relate.

Besides, right now I am insured where Cliff works, and I also have Medicare as my secondary coverage; I imagine it would be wise to do something while I have that much coverage.

If Dr. Strong asks which knee, I'll tell her to take her pick, because they both hurt equally. She won't do both knees at once.

Finally, one of my favorite commenters asked how long I've been blogging and chatting: I found the CTI chat room on AOL not long after I got my first computer, in 1998. It wasn't crazy like most chat rooms, I think partially because you couldn't get there directly; you had to go to a website, then click into chat. Also, it was an "over-fifty" and "Christian" room, so lots of troublemakers weren't interested. Don't get me wrong, though: there were plenty of trolls, especially toward the end. It got to the point of being like junior high, with people accusing others of having cliques, and plenty of gossip and petty jealousies. It turned me totally off the whole chat-room experience, and nowadays, even when the old group of people I care about very much gets together in a private chat, I don't take part. Chat rooms left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Missing the interaction of the chat room, I haunted a few message boards. Guess what? There are trolls there too! And people who like to argue if your opinion is different from theirs.

That's when I started blogging, so I could say what I darn well pleased; and if people didn't like it, they didn't have to read it. I started my AOL journal in the spring of 2004, and there I found my niche.

Where have all the bloggers gone, long time passing

Seriously! A lot of the people whose blogs I used to follow have vanished into thin air. Or migrated to facebook and twitter.

I get about one-third of the comments I used to receive. Perhaps I comment one-third as much on others' blogs, because I read most blogs VIA Google Reader.

So, am I going to stop my aimless drivel here?

Nope.

Because every once in awhile I get an email from somebody who never comments, telling me, "I love your blog". Or, "You brighten my day."

Yesterday I received such an email from a lady in Independence. She sent me a recipe for butternut squash fries, having read about my abundance of squash.

She told me, "I've been reading your blog for several months and thoroughly enjoy it! I live in Independence, MO, so I like reading about places close to home. Thanks for the enjoyable reading that you provide on your blog! Nancy

You see, I realize it isn't all about comments and "hits". There are folks reading this nonsense who have never once left a comment, and that's just fine with me.

Besides, I have few relatives who make their way here from time to time, and several long-time Internet friends. As long as I have at least two readers, I shall forge on.

Oh, and to my cousin Carolyn: I shall see you at the reunion tomorrow.

Why did you start blogging?

I've often wondered what circuitous route led all of you whose blogs I read to start a diary that's wide-open to the whole world. Sometimes I tell myself how crazy it is to type words on a screen about my life and my mundane activities, and expect that anybody would be interested.

I started connecting with people on the Internet in an AOL chat room. Not your typical one, though. It was a Christian chat room that you couldn't really enter directly, so it seemed as though not too many "crazies" made their way there. I spent way too much time chatting there, but I made some wonderful friends and had a lot of genuine rolling-on-the-floor-laughing moments, just from typed words scrolling up a screen.

The chat room went sour toward the end, with lots of bitterness and petty fussing. By the time AOL closed it, I had already left it behind.

I found some message boards that filled the void for me, and fully enjoyed them for a while. If I had a thought or a picture or two I felt I wanted to share with the folks on the forums, I'd post it there. But I hesitated to do this too much, because I didn't want to dominate a public forum with the drivel that is my daily life.

I saw one message board that was originally a country living site degenerate into arguments about religion and politics. I got the feeling that nobody wanted to hear my opinions anyhow, and I started my AOL journal. That way, nobody was forced to read what I had to say, and I didn't have to put any boundaries on myself.

I still feel this way: If you don't like what you see on a blog, don't run a smear campaign, as I've seen someone do with one of the most widely-read blogs on the Internet. Just don't go there, if you don't enjoy reading it.

I love the freedom of blogging, and I enjoy the new Internet buddies I've made in this way. I'm learning what life is like in Singapore, and I'm keeping up with folks in nearby Kansas City. Two mothers of young children are going through ordeals with a serious form of breast cancer (HERE and HERE), and I feel their fears as I read their blogs. I share in the adventures of a lady cab driver in Oregon. I read about the trials and tribulations of a cattle farmer I met on one of the above-mentioned message boards. I read the blogs of atheists and Christians and one Muslim, and I like them all. Or else I wouldn't read them.

I have to confess there are a couple of reads I can't add to the blog list on the left, due to the authors' tendencies to start some of their entries with certain four-letter words that would show up on my blog. But I still read them. They've not used any words, so far, that I haven't heard or read before.

So, why did YOU start blogging? Leave your answer in a comment or do an entry in your own space and let me know, so I can read it.

Playing around with my blog

I've been looking at all the widgets other people have on their blogs and trying them out. I'll probably do away with that "recent visitors" thing, since it never seems to show an actual person. Plus it refuses to let me move it on down the page, for some reason. If you are reading this and don't see what I'm talking about, you'll know I already trashed it.

I was over at My Spyderweb and saw a music player I liked, so I'm trying that out. I think I'm going to like it just fine. For one thing, readers don't have to listen to it if they don't want to. Nothing irritates me more than landing on a blog or home page and having somebody's music forced on me. Often, I'm already listening to my own music on my computer, and I don't need the intrusion.

So don't be surprised if you see something new on my sidebar, then come back to find it gone. After a glorious weekend, winter has returned to my part of Missouri. Yes, I'm housebound again. I could clean house, but playing around on the Internet is far more fun.

Why my blog will never be famous

Yes folks, I'm aware of the fact that I'm a run-of-the-mill blogger.

The problem is, I'm lazy.

I'm too lazy to bother changing the look of my blog.

I'm too lazy to put a new picture at the top of my blog; not to mention that my husband loves seeing that picture when he comes to read this drivel, and I'd hate to take it down and disappoint him.

I'm too lazy to learn HTML, or any of that stuff that would make this spot on the web a little more interesting. In fact, there are some things on this silly page that I would take off, if only I knew how. I'm that bad.

But perhaps it's for the best. I'm not sure I could deal with 2,000 comments a day anyhow... I'd probably be too lazy to read them! Oh, and besides, I've noticed that the more popular a person is as a blogger, the more open she is to criticism. Criticism makes me curl up in a corner and suck my thumb for hours.

So now you know.

I will say, though, that I like the little circle of readers I've accumulated here. So let's just say I go for quality rather than quantity, shall we?

Blogging stuff

I enjoy my site meter.

Thanks to the site meter over at the right, I can tell what website refers people to my blog, and sometimes, a reader's location: That isn't too accurate, since it gives my location as Brinktown, Missouri; or sometimes as Bucyrus, Kansas. And I think it tells me my journal buddy Astaryth is in Illinois; she's actually in Florida! So don't count on that part.

I can always see how much time a reader has spent here, and how many pages she reads. I know whether they've clicked on a link, and have been surprised to see how few people click on any of the links I plant here, unless it's something I'm really, really promoting hard.

This blog isn't very old, but I notice more and more that readers are coming here by way of Google. Often they typed in "hamburger stew". More times than you can imagine, actually! Or "horses", or "round pen", or "how much grain to give my horses". I'm not usually high up on the google page, but people seem to stumble in, anyhow.

Many readers come to check me out after I've commented in other blogs; they've read my Blogger profile, which lists this blog, and they come to see what I'm like, what sort of person has been reading what they have to say.

Then there are my faithful AOL journal readers, who usually come directly here from My Country Life.

I really enjoy that about site meter. It's free, and I recommend it to anyone who blogs. By the way, if you click on my site meter, you can see the same information I do. In case you get curious. Of course, I'll be able to tell that you clicked on it. Unless you click on something else afterward, because it only gives one out-click per person per visit. Obviously, I have too much time on my hands or I wouldn't have figured all this stuff out.

Now, about the Google adsense ads on the right: I've had them on my blog for a few days and I've earned $1.09. And that was made in the first twenty-four hours after I added it. I'll leave the ads there for a few days; if that's all they're going to net me, they'll go bye-bye in a couple of weeks. That just isn't enough for me to put up with clutter on my blog.

Doctor's and nurse's blogs

I'm fairly new to Blogger, having journaled on AOL for years. I set this blog up just in case AOL disappears at some point. However, through this site I've found some interesting new people. Yeah, just what I needed, in addition to the fifty or so journals I already read on AOL.

Some of my favorite new reads are by doctors and nurses; these give me a whole new insight into the lives of people that I normally see only in their professional capacity. I'm enjoying reading their opinions and their patient stories. I like being reminded that they have lives outside their offices.

I'll drop a few links here for those readers who might be interested. All of these have many links to other medical blogs, and you can hop from one to another for hours, if you so choose.

Maybe it's just me who finds these so fascinating.

Nurse Ratched's Place

In My Humble Opinion

Kevin, M.D.

oncRN

NHS Blog Doctor
(He's in Great Britain)

Haaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!

I had three links to other journals added; then I went to the new format, which appears to be almost as easy as AOL journals. Somehow, in the process, I lost my links. It's OK, I'll get them back, and then some.

While I was at it, I figured I'd add a picture of a November sunrise, just so your trip here wouldn't be totally wasted.

Whoa, I'm liking it over here better all the time. I can add pictures from my computer, and they are automatically re-sized in the entry... but if you click on the picture, there it is, full-sized. OK, maybe I do need to re-size pictures a bit before adding them.

This may turn out to be EASIER than AOL. Now, back to adding links to my favorite journals. Something tells me I won't be getting much housework done today (as if I ever do).