Milestone!

Yesterday I happened to notice I'd hit 1100 Google followers.

Thank you "lifeonthewink" for being my latest follower!

This blog is growing slowly and steadily, and I have all of you wonderful folks to thank.

Milestone!

I'll admit it, I'm shameless when it comes to watching my Google Follower numbers. For days they hovered tantalizingly at 1198, and I thought I'd take a screenshot when it hit the momentous 1200.

But today while I was gone, it tipped over to 1201. Thank you "chobers" and "Pladd" for being my latest followers!

This blog is growing slowly and steadily, and I have all of you wonderful folks to thank.

Milestone!

For all my recent frustrations with Google, it was lovely to see another numerical milestone achieved.

Thank you to Lisa for being my 1100th Google follower!

This blog is growing slowly and steadily, and I have all of you wonderful folks to thank.

Milestone!

My Google followers just exceed 1000! I took a snapshot last night when it was 999...

...and then this morning I saw that two more folks joined up, pushing me over 1000. Thank you Snooglerat and Joy!

And thank you all so very much for following our humble lives.

Milestone!

I confess, I'm a numbers watcher when it comes to my Google followers. This afternoon, reader Roxanne pushed me up to 900! Thank you, Roxanne!

I hadn't checked my Sitemeter stats in quite awhile, and was shocked to find I had 75,000 readers last month!!! Yikes!

Thank you all so very much for joining us in our humble lives.

Milestone!

My Google followers just exceed 800! I was going to take a snapshot of the even 800 when it happened (I was at 799 last night) but I gained two more followers during the night (greetings to Faith and Sandra).

Thank you, dear readers, for your faithfulness in following our humble lives.

Milestone!

Wow -- the number of Google followers on this blog just hit 700!

Thank you, Emily B., for being my 700th follower -- and to everyone else for following earlier!

Milestone!

Here's a milestone! The number of Google followers on this blog has reached 600!!

Thank you all for following our humble lives!

Milestone!

Here's a milestone! The number of Google followers on this blog has reached 500!!

Thank you all! And a special thanks to "johnnybgood" for being my 500th Google subscriber!

Milestone!

I confess, I'm a hopeless and inveterate numbers watcher when it come to this blog's statistics. For a couple months now, I've watched my RSS feed numbers tease and flirt with 1000, but never break through. RSS feed numbers vary from day to day, so one day I might be 945 while another day might be 968 or something.

On Thursday, the number was tantalizingly close...

...and then yesterday it backed down to the mid-900's.

But I logged off my computer for awhile today, and when I logged back on, lookie!!

And my Google followers are higher than ever!

Folks, you have no idea how thrilled I am to have you along for the ride! Thank you!!

I'm baaaAAAAAaaackkk....

Hi everyone:

I woke up this morning not only feeling better physically, but mentally as well. It's like my mind finally cleared itself of the fog it's been wrapped in for almost two weeks. Man oh man, I hope I don't get that sick for another decade or two. I'm so thankful this flu bypassed Don and the kids.

I felt so good this morning, in fact, that I went out and did my usual barn chores, specifically telling Don to sleep in for once. It took me almost twice as long as usual - and I skipped cleaning Matilda's pen until the afternoon because I was too wiped out - but I did them.

Got treated to a pretty sunrise for my efforts.

Nebuchadnezzar, who managed to hop the fence yesterday evening, somehow got a loop of hay bale twine over him. Fortunately it was a simple matter to cut the twine.

Any physical labor tuckers me out, but as Don points out, effectively I haven't eaten anything but yogurt since last Sunday night. I just have no energy reserves left. On the plus side, I managed to lose ten pounds. Don says I should write another book, this one called "The Yogurt-and-Influenza Diet," but I told him I wouldn't wish that on my worse enemies.

On a brighter note, a couple of milestones I wanted to point out: My Google followers are now at 375!!

And my RSS Feed topped 900 for the first time! RSS Feed varies from day to day, but this is the first time it's been this high:

I gotta admit, I'm a hopeless number-watcher, so these statistics please me immensely.

A couple of random things I wanted to clear up. Last week a reader inquired as to why I had banished her from posting comments on the blog. Had she offended me, she wanted to know?

Of course not. I reassured her that this blogger program won't let me banish anyone, even if I wanted to, and certainly I had no reason to banish her. However she isn't the first reader to ask. What it comes down to, I believe, is your browser. If you suddenly find yourself unable to post a comment, it could be because you've either changed browsers or changed the settings on your browser. I'm not tech-savvy enough to suggest anything beyond that, but please be assured I don't (because I can't) banish anyone from posting.

Ah now comments, that's a different issue. While Don was moderating all comments during my absence with the flu, he told me he deleted a couple for very specific reasons I'll get into.

Please understand we cannot edit your comments from our end. If you drop in a bad word, we'll delete the comment even though it's otherwise interesting, simply because we're trying to keep a family-friendly blog here.

Here are some of the reasons a comment might be deleted:

• Bad language. If I don't want my kids reading it (and yes, they read my blog) then I won't post it. Yes I've been known to drop a salty word or two on the blog as well as at home (cough), but that's my decision and I prefer mild language in all comments. We received a very interesting comment from a 16-year-old young man relating an incident at his high school in which he was relating the attitude of his schoolmates in some **'d out four-letter words. Obviously the bad language he referred to came from his schoolmate; nonetheless, we felt we couldn't post the comment. (If the young man is reading this, I urge you to post again; we really did enjoy your perspective.)

• Racist language. Another post came in which expressed an opinion using some derogatory terms easily interpreted as racist. I'm sure everyone understands we are not racist and prefer not to have such expressions on the comment archive.

• Language suggesting violence. Yes, there are times I'd like to set fire to some people, but I can get into a boat-load of trouble for "encouraging" or "inciting" such feelings by posting comments to that effect. So if you're suggesting a violent solution, don't be surprised to find your comment deleted. I have no way of knowing how many government goons are trolling this blog, and any hint of violence could be seriously misinterpreted. Savvy?

• Dirty jokes or links. In response to a post, a dear reader sent a link to a dirty website as something of a joke. I immediately deleted it. My kids read this blog and they sure as heck didn't need to follow that link. I know this reader's email address, so I sent him a note explaining my reasoning. He apologized for the momentary lapse in judgment and all is well, but it serves as a warning for future comments.

• Personal attacks. Oh my goodness, there have been times I've come thiiiiis close to deleteing comments from some readers who start slinging personal attacks directed at other readers. I tend to be a little more lenient with these comments, but only up to a point.  I welcome politely-expressed opinions from all ends of the political spectrum and would rather not have those opinions attacked. Polite disagreement is fine, attacks are not.

Phew. Hope this covers the basics!

Milestone!

I've been watching my RSS Feed numbers and Google followers creep upward, and today they hit a milestone!

I've topped 700 on my RSS feed...

...and 300 on my Google followers!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love all my readers?  You guys ROCK!!