Testing

Stuart from Blotanical is trying to help me get my feed back up. I followed the instructions for the work around, but still nothing as of yesterday. Hopefully, he performed some interweb magic and all will be well. This is a test to see if what he did fixed me. I seem to be a problem child.

2008 Blotanical Awards

I spent a little time trying to make my selections for nominees for the 2008 Blotanical Awards. Blotanical is a site that has hundreds of members who blog about gardening. I have put the little award badge over there on my side bar. This is about as political as I will ever get on this blog. Saying that, picking my favorite blogs on Blotanical to nominate is HARD. There are so many gardening blogs I love to read. Then there are a few categories, such as African blogs, that I don't know a thing about. More research is needed. Unfortunately, this post will not likely feed in to Blotanical any time soon because of a technical difficulties. Anyway, if you visit here and are also a Blotanical member, isn't this fun?

Milestones

I started this blog back in November of 2007. I was so serious in the beginning. The first post was on propagating roses. I intended to blog about gardening and then the content took on a life of its own, and here I am blogging about gardening, kids, food, and anything else that I find interesting.

This little blog of mine is about to reach a couple of milestones. I am within 300 points of becoming a guru on Blotanical. The cool thing about that is I get to pick 40 more blogs to add to my favorites list. Lately, I have stumbled upon a lot of great new blogs and a few older blogs that have just come to my attention.

Also, according to my site meter, I should reach 10,000 visitors in the next ten days or so. While this may seem like nothing to some of you with hundreds of visits every day, to me it is mind blowing. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that many people would have any interest in what I have to say. The site meter has also revealed that people visit here from all over the world. This is just amazing to me.

Through this site, I have been able to keep family members up on what is going on with our little family, which was my intention to begin with. I have also reconnected to a long lost cousin. She began reading this blog after getting in touch with one of my sisters. I saw her on the sitemeter, who else could be reading from Pampa, Texas.

Possibly the best thing that has come from this activity, is meeting such a great group of fellow bloggers. Most of the blogs I read and bloggers who come here and read mine are garden bloggers. There are a handful that I found through other links. My sister also has a mommy blog and a craft blog. I try to visit the blogs on my links frequently to see what everyone has to say. I consider many of these bloggers dear friends.

I love reading and responding to comments. There has been very little trouble with spam and I have never had an ugly or hateful comment. Occasionally, though, the comments do take on a life of their own. Gardening Injuries comes to mind. Some of the commentors (I know, not a word) had some pretty gnarly injuries.

All in all, this has been a great experience and I have really enjoyed myself. I can't wait to see what the future holds for my little blog.

Blogs I Dig

I never cease to be amazed at the number and types of blogs. Mostly I read gardening blogs. I also have a few others that I visit mostly because there is a great story or the writer is very interesting. I read one daily that is in a field of it's own. The blog is Tomato Casual. There are several writers and a new tomato related post daily. Recently Michael Nolan did a spot light on my blog, which made me feel very honored. Check out the site. There are recipes, planting information, funny stories, and a lot more. Today's post was on companion planting.

I also read Poor Richard's Almanac each day. There is always an interesting post by Ourfriendben, Silence Dogood, or Richard Saunders. The writing is excellent and covers various topics. Sometimes there are great recipes. Check them out too.

Of course I go to Blotanical everyday. There are hundreds of great blogs and interesting information to roam through. I have cyber meet some of the nicest people. In fact, that is where I found Tomato Casual and Poor Richard's Almanac.

I had to come back and add one more. Rees at Green Side Up posted about square watermelon today.

You can see on my sidebar that there are many other blogs that I like to read. I have them linked for quick access and because I think if you are visiting here, you might enjoy visiting over there.

The Votes Are In

The polls is closed. It turns out that of those who voted, 52% would like to scorch their weeds with laser beams shooting from their eyes. Weather control came in 2nd with 21%. Plant resurrection received 17% of the vote. Finally garden tool wolverine made a miserable showing at 8%. Apparently, only two of my readers/victims want sharp tools popping out of their hands. I want to thank everyone who participated in this silliness. This is about as close to politics as you will ever see me get.

Now for a link and a nod.

I would like to say a few words about Dee at Red Dirt Ramblings . She was one of the first garden bloggers who commented on my blog. She also encouraged me to join Blotanical, which has been a blast. She posted about rose pruning yesterday. The article is very very well done. She gave very clear instructions on rose pruning and posted pictures to illustrate. She knows her stuff. Please go over and give her a visit.

Blog Hopping Through Blotanical

I did it again with better results. I went blog hopping by out clicking on other peoples blogs and then out click from there, rinse repeat. This time I started with blogs on Blotanical and had a much better time. The blogs were happy about children and faith and flowers. I found more good company and had a much better time than before.