Why Blog? part 5

Back on June 18 I started a multi-part posting on blogging. I just found that I had drafted this last posting, part 5, and had not shared it. So here it is, part 5. Sorry it got left behind.

Why blog? It's a question I ask everyday. Somedays I don't want to write. Somedays I can't help but write. Sometimes I need to get the thoughts out of my mind so I can easily fall asleep. Somedays I feel I should just write my thoughts in my own private personal journal and lock it away, not to be shared.

I blog so we can share our adventures with family and friends while we travel in our motorhome. I blog because I enjoy reading other blogs and maybe someone will enjoy what we share. Sometimes I write to get the words out of my head. Some life events need to be shared in the hope that it will help someone. Some life events perhaps shouldn't be shared, but I do anyway.

Many people blog to try to make money. They might be selling a craft or advertising their company. They might allow ads to appear on their blog in hopes of making money by the number of visitors or if someone clicks on an ad on their blog. I don't know if you can make a lot of money by including ads, but I know you'd have to have more visitors than I do. I get about 20 visitors a day and have a counter on the left side of the blog. Twenty a day is not a lot when you consider that some bloggers get hundreds and thousands each day. With that many visitors you'd probably make money with ads.

Years ago I knew people who met other people on the Internet through chat rooms and bulletin boards. But they didn't like to meet people face to face. They'd rather just talk on-line. Well, there are also bloggers who "specialize" in the interactive relationships with other people. They blog to communicate and receive comments from their readers. They become a network of supportive friends, but mostly not in person. We RVing bloggers are out on the open highway and because we communicate and share ideas on-line, we sometimes have more advantage to meet in person.

I still blog for the same reason I started with. I do this to share our experiences with family and friends. I enjoy writing my thoughts, capturing our experiences, but it's time consuming and some days I wonder why I continue.

New gadgets in the left sidebar

I've added a couple new "gadgets" to the left side of the blog. Right below our Welcome photo I added the "Followers" section because we've had a couple Followers for a while. (Hey Jason & James!) Although Google Blogger sometimes has a problem with the programming behind the Follower gadget, causing some blogs to not open properly. So we'll see how it works. And I'll see if more people decide to become Followers. We are Followers to a couple other blogs. I guess it's a way to let the blog author and others know what you like to read.

I added another jigsaw puzzle so now we have 4. The new one of us and our motorhome is a challenge. Try it to see if you like it. You don't have to rotate the pieces, just click & drag. There is an Auto Solve button if you decide you just want to see how it goes together. I love puzzles!

We have a section showing our archived or older posts and there is a link to Older Posts at the bottom of each page. You can click on them to take you there. We also have a nice Google search feature that pops open a new window at the top of our blog with the results. You have to go to the top of the blog page to see the results.

I'm going to work on a couple new slideshows soon and share some favorite photos. You can share your thoughts by sending us a comment. I try to reply to each of them.

I've moved some of the other gadgets around, rearranging them different ways. Let us know if something doesn't work, if you get an error message, or if something is causing problems. And check often to see what's new.

When to Blog? part 4

I don't know if there are any 'rules' about when to blog. I say you should blog when you have something to say and somedays I feel compelled to post even if I don't know what to say. It might be better to remain quiet. You might only have time to post once a week or you might be able to post everyday. It does take some effort and a committment to consistently write something meaningful everyday. I seem to go in spurts. Some bloggers only add text once a month. If you are posting lots of your own photos, that process can take a lot more time. Although a photo is said to be worth a thousand words - and a photo can easily tell the story. I love to use photos in my posts.

I've read that sending comments to another blog is a way to let the author know someone is reading and they care about what's being shared. Making a comment can mean a lot to some bloggers. And I've read that it's proper etiquette to reply to all comments that are made on your blog. I try to do that, but I don't get that many comments.

Since we usually post about fly fishing, RV travel in our motorhome, retirement living, family and a few other topics, I usually have something to say. One of the greatest aspects of having a blog is that I can write what I want, when I want. There are rules (laws) about inappropriate content obviously, but there is much freedom of speech with a blog.

Who Blogs? part 3

Everyone blogs. Well, almost everyone. I have neighbors who have never used a computer so they don't blog. I know teenage bloggers and bloggers in their 90's. If you don't blog I bet you personally know someone who does.

Google Blogger makes it so easy that almost anyone can create one. You can make your blog private and invite only the people you want to read it. That's what the teenage girl does who I know. Her parents try to make sure that she is safe on the Internet. You can add the ability for others to make comments or you can prohibit comments all together. If you have something to share, something you want a record of, or if you like to write a daily journal, then maybe creating a blog is for you.

We've met a ambitious man named Todd Larsen who is just starting a blog. We met when he found our blog on-line and had some questions about blogging. He's about to embark on a 4,500 mile cross-country solo bicycle ride from the west coast to the east coast. He will use his website and blog to track his progress and to communicate with his nephew. He is inspired by his 21 year old nephew, Jared Larsen, to make this journey to raise awareness of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, a disease his nephew has lived with for more than 16 years. I'll share more about the ride in another post. In the meantime, you can check it out at this link http://jaredsmiles.org/index.html. I can't wait to read all about Todd's bike trip of a lifetime.

Perhaps you've thought about writing a book or short stories? If authoring a book is your dream then I don't suggest putting your stories out there in a blog. However, if you cannot keep up with all your emails or wish you had more time to communicate with family and friends, then a blog might be for you. It doesn't cost anything, other than your time, and if you decide you don't like it you can abandon it later.

What's a Blog? part 2

What's a blog? It's a web log. A method of communication. A diary or journal. For me it's a way to let family and friends know where we are and what we're doing. It's a way to share photos and experiences, thoughts and information, text and videos.

You can easily find blogs about anything and everything. Some are ramblings, some are knowledge bases. Some are about one topic, others take many different directions and cover a variety of subjects. If you're interested in a hobby, career, or nothing specific = you can find a blog about it. Politics, entertainment, sports, technology, parenting, food, life lessons, travel, or the world. Literally, anything.

Google isn't the only blog provider, but its the one I use. Creating your own blog on Google is literally as easy as 1-2-3. Here is their instruction link if you are interested.  https://www.blogger.com/start

For the most part, you don't need to know anything about coding or too much about computer technology. Google Blogger makes it very simple to chose a template and even to customize it if you want. There are many website bulletin boards and forums that provide an area for members of the forum to create a personal blog. Some that I know of are FMCA, iRV2 and the Good Sam RV Club, all related to Rving. They provide the blog space and encourage bloggers to post their comments and share experiences with others.

A blog can be private and personal, with restricted access or you can make your blog public to everyone. Some blogs are very interactive and the people who read them get to know each other and become friends. If you are going to create a blog take a look at the rules and regulations of the site. I've heard that some websites become the owners of your blog content and material you create. I believe it was FaceBook that has that disclaimer. Google Blogger allows a easy method to backup all your blog content onto your own hard drive whenever you want. Google Blogger also interacts easily with Picasa for photo/video storage and posting.

If you have questions, send me a comment and I'll try to answer.

Why Blog? part 1

I started this blog about 2 years ago when we were only thinking of retirement. I created the first posting in October 2007, but didn't do much with it. I thought a blog would be an easy way to share our travel adventures with family and maybe friends. Cell phones are good, but we've got a lot of family. And we can share photos and videos with a blog. So I thought I'd give it a try.

Another reason for this blog was so that I'd remember where we'd been and what we'd thought about it. Back in 1985 when we retired the first time, we went everywhere, and we went quickly. We moved around so much and visited so many places that I don't remember it all. Back then I kept a written journal and the daily entries quickly started sounding the same. "Visited nice campground, met nice people, saw the sights." I figured this blog-thing would be a good way to keep a record for ourselves of our trips.

Setting up a blog on Google is an easy process. 1-2-3 and it's done. Last spring while we waited at Guaranty RV Service Center in Junction City, Oregon for our motorhome I showed a few people how to create a blog. I jokingly said it's a class called "The blog you never knew you needed." It can be a lot of work and it can be a lot of fun. Some people update their blog everyday, some once a week, some even less often. Some are photographers sharing their art, some are gardeners and cooks, some are moms with young children sharing stories and advice. Some are retirees traveling in their RV's. I've even found a few fly fisher people sharing their fishing tales.

There are many reasons to blog. Some bloggers want to share their adventures, tell their story, voice their opinions, and check off their accomplishments. Some make money by selling their wares on-line and attract many visitors and receive lots of comments. Many have lots of interaction on their blogs with their "followers" and develop friendships. Some bloggers put ads on their sites and get some type of payment from the ad companies based upon clicks or visitors. I don't get too many visitors nor do I get many comments, which is OK with us. Every so often another blogger mentions my blog on their blog and I should do more of the same. I should reciprocate, especially when I find their blog informative. It's nice when someone thinks our blog is interesting.

I know there are many who know more about blogging choices than I do. Perhaps some of you who are reading have a blog or have thought about starting a blog. I'm not going to do a lot of research on blogging facts, something you can look up yourself if you're interested in stats or numbers. Instead, as with all my posts, I'm just sharing my thoughts and experiences. I think I'll post again on this subject because I get lots of questions about blogging. I have more to say and will try to answer some of the questions I get asked about blogging. Thanks for stopping by.

10,000+

We recently passed the 10,000 mark with the number of visitors to our blog. I guess that's an accomplishment of sorts. Some type of milepost. We don't win anything for hitting 10,000 posts. Although we only get about 20 visitors a day, it eventually adds up. We've also made more than 300 posts.

woo-who

On the left sidebar, toward the bottom of the left side, I've added another visitor counter that shows the visitor's country. I've had visitors from all over the world at times and thought this would be an interesting stat to share. I've added a couple other widgets offered by Google Blogger and some from other third party sites. I think I'll take the next couple postings and blog about blogging. My who, what, when, where, why, and how of blogging.

Detours in life

Detours can be interesting. They take you off the main route you plan to take.

I've been away from Blogger for a few days and feel some sort of obligation to post when I don't. Not like a job type obligation, but more like an outlet for my thoughts. I enjoy it and miss it. And there are a couple people who tell me they miss me. Thanks for the nice comments and encouragement.

Rick and I have been back and forth to California a few times in the last couple months, a 6 hour drive through the desert, to visit family and take care of personal, private family stuff. We've had some very nice family gatherings, spent lots of time with our young nephews and nieces, and all in all, have had a wonderful time. As much as we like spending time with family, it's good to be home.

Lately I've been writing about life in the motorhome, but life happens outside of the moho. It's been 14 months since we retired and it's still new and amazing. Some days I wake up and marvel at the realization of freedom. It's been nice to escape to the motorhome, escape the TV news of gloom and doom. Can't wait to get in the motorhome and drive north to escape the summer Arizona heat that will surely be here by May!

I'd like to share my thoughts on retirement in a post. There are endless activities taking place here where we live that draw us in. And perhaps I'll share some of the family stuff that we all go through. Thanks for stopping by.

Comments to Comments

I've read that it's proper blog etiquette to respond to comments we receive. I try to reply to comments as soon as I read them, although it sometimes takes me a couple days. But I try. And everyone can see the published comments and replies under each posting, if you're interested. I welcome comments and appreciate the few that we get. (Thanks Polly!)

Although I write on this blog for myself, it's nice to know that others read it and get something from it. I started it so that family members and friends could keep up with us and know what we're doing. It's turned into a way to get the thoughts out of my mind and recorded. And a way to share my photos. The blog has turned into more of a journal for me. But like I said, if someone reads it and gets a smile, a fishing tip, a travel hint, or a shared life lesson, that's what I'm hoping for.

I received a nice comment from someone named Roberta. This photo is for her.

Comments are easy

The folks at Blogger have made some nice changes lately and I wanted to share one with you.

Have you ever read a blog, maybe this one, and wanted to leave a comment? Maybe to add something more, correct something, agree, ask a question, or just share your thoughts on the issue? Now it's so easy!

At the bottom of our blog posts you will see a link to "comments". It might show "0 comments", but if you click on "comments" you can leave us a message. You can enter your name and if you have a blog or webpage you can include it. Or you can be anonymous, but it would be nice of you to leave us a hint to who you are. You have to type in some squiggly letters, aka letter recognition, but that's easy. We read and approve all comments before they are published. If you want to make it private (unpublished) just say so.

We'd like to hear from you, I think.

Silly Me

Where have these silly posts come from? Why do I allow the fish to be part of my postings when I'm no where near water?

As I go about my daily routine, I think about fly fishing. I needed a haircut and I see fish with hair. I go to the dentist and those sharp teeth in the mouth of a brown trout are felt once again. I don't turn on the radio because I still hear the river burbling in my ears. The weather is turning cool, but I feel the cold river surrounding my legs. I look at the clouds floating by in the sky and see trout sipping bugs off the river's surface.

When we left the river, and our summer spent concentrating on fly fishing, I just couldn't leave the fish behind. They creep into my thoughts, my postings, my dreams, my future plans.

Some people have bad habits. I have the good habit of thinking about fly fishing. I'm one crazy woman! I'll try to share some of my more saner thoughts, sans trout.

Laughing at myself

I admit I sounded like a dud in the previous posting about Halloween. Yep, a dud. Admitted. But those are my thoughts and this is a blog, one where I get to write my thoughts so they don't keep circling round and round up there.

Today I received an email from a good friend, someone we got to know pretty well over the past summer. It's always good to hear from him. When I read it I laughed, actually had a good laugh, and thought he was also having a good laugh at me. That's OK. We learned to understand each other's sense of humor after a short while and my first thought was 'he's poking fun at me.' Even Rick had a good laugh at the email.

But then I said to Rick, "Perhaps this is honestly true?"

Mic,
I had errands to do yesterday and I found very conspicuous signs saying "Please Remove Costumes Before Entering" at the bank and a convenience store. Sad state of affairs.

I do like the Mexican tradition of celebrating "Dia De Los Muertos."

Steve

I'm not able to see his face through email, and you don't always get the feelings a person is trying to convey through email. I can't see if he has a grin on his face or if he's serious. But he did get me to laugh at myself. Thank you friend!

On a sad note, I did read about or hear about crimes, some tragic, that were committed on Halloween. I'm not sure the crimes were so out of the ordinary or if they made it to the headlines because they involved a Halloween costumed bank robber or a child out trick-or-treating. But as my friend said, it is a sad state of affairs.

Blogging & Random Thoughts

I've been wondering who's reading our blog lately. When I talk with some friends and family some say they haven't looked at the blog in a week so I wonder who is. Not that you have to check in everyday! Not at all. But I've wondered who is stopping by. What are you interested in? How did you find us? This blog started as a way to keep friends and family updated on where we are and what we're doing. It's turned into a combination daily journal, fishing report, and RV travelogue. And sometimes random thoughts that are floating through my brain.

Are you interested in fishing? Interested in travelling in an RV? The challenge of living full-time on the road? Or the joys of retirement life? Or just curious what could be keeping us busy. "What are they doing with all their time?"

We've had a motorhome for more than a year, although this is our second new motorhome in less than 12 months. So we have experience with buying the right RV for your needs. And the wrong RV, too. We do a lot of research and know where to find answers to any questions about RV's and other things.

We've been fishing together for more than 30 years, even before we met. We love fly fishing for trout in rivers, but have done all types of fishing. We lived in the Florida Keys for awhile and were lucky to have a nice boat and access to some of the best scuba and snorkeling in the world (we think.) Our favorite way to fish was spearfishing! Loved the combination of snorkeling and being able to see the fish we caught. Some of our best memories were spearfishing and it also kept us in great physical condition. We'd go out on the boat for dorado (mahi mahi), marlin, sailfish, snapper, tuna, and had a commercial license to sell fish which we did in order to keep the boat fueled. We didn't make money, just "stayed afloat" with the cost. We also had a commercial license to sell fish and lobster (caught by hand, not trap), but chose to keep, not sell, the lobster. We've loved fishing lakes with lures (rapalas, mepps, etc.) and even other baits. We've had boats, float tubes and inflatable boats, and friends with drift boats and rafts.

We've learned a lot about RVs, having owned a 28' Alpenlite 5th wheel trailer in the 1980's (lived full-time for 6 years) and this past year we've had 2 new Monaco class A motorhomes. We've made some safety modifications to our RVs as well as comfort changes. We're not experts on RVs, but we've done a lot with them. You could say we know "a little about a lot" of RV things.

We successfully live full-time on the road. Meaning we deal well with banking, mail, medical issues, entertainment, vehicle maintenance, budget, and technology to keep us connected and communicating with family and friends. I'll probably delve into some of these topics in depth in another post. We've dealt with forwarded mail getting lost, but eventually catching up with us. We've dealt with a car break-in, losing everything in my purse (and more), and getting it all replaced. We've dealt with vehicle maintenance and an almost flat tire on the toad car. For years we've done our banking on-line so that was a fairly easy transition. We've dealt with emergency room visits and surgery 1000+ miles from home. Post-surgical recovery in the motorhome took some planning, but was soooo nice. We're set up to connect to the Internet with high speed access while travelling, and have an antennae to help with phone and Internet connections when in remote areas. We even have ways to keep us entertained and our budget in check.

However you found us, for whatever reason you visit, we hope you enjoy your time with us. And we hope you check in every so often to see where we go next.

Blogger hiccup

Our blog is created with Blogger and hosted by Google. While it is usually very stable, every once in a while they suffer a technical hiccup. Sometimes they have scheduled system interruptions to make upgrades or do server maintenance, but Friday and continuing on Saturday, Blogger is has been down to correct an unexpected problem. (Whoa! Just had a flash back of work!) It seems a large number of blogs have accidentally been flagged as spam blogs. However, the users have posted in the support/help area that there is a conflict with some of the html code in certain blogs and if I remove it my blog is now OK! Blogger is still having the conflict with the html code, I just have put a band aid on the problem by removing the code.

As a general note, I’ve noticed that it sometimes takes a few seconds for all our photos and slideshows to fully load. Until the slideshows load, they will be blank or only show one or two photos. Be patient and everything will load.

Please let us know if you notice that a link is not working or you get an error of any type.

It is simple to send a comment and I won’t publish it if you ask me not to. You can also remain anonymous and you don’t have to have a Google account (although I’d like to know who is sending us a comment). If you click on ‘Comment’ at the bottom of any post you will get a new window to make your comment.

I have implemented 'Word Verification' when sending a comment because we had started to receive spam comments. You will need to retype some letters that are displayed. It’s easy to send us a comment and we would love to hear from you. Give it a try and let us know what you are thinking.

Problem with PhotoBucket slideshows

It seems that PhotoBucket (where I host many of our photos) is having problems with their site, but it appears they are trying to resolve the problems. Yesterday I couldn't access my photos, but today it's only the slideshows. I can't view them when I go to PhotoBucket and I can't view them here on our blog. And I like to include lots of photos and slideshows! So please check back again later to see if they resolve the problems. Don't you just love computers?!?!

Any ideas for another photo hosting site? What do you use? It's easy to leave us a comment.

Catching Up With 'Life-Stuff'

Thanks to everyone who sends us emails and comments on our blog. It means a lot when you send words of encouragement and inspiration, or just say hello. Sometimes I'll start a post and when I actually publish it, it appears on the date I started it. So check back a couple days and see if I slipped a post in there that you might not have seen before. And I'll try not to do that (too much).

I've almost caught up with our posts, but soooo soooo soooo much has happened in the last couple days, and more Life-Stuff just seems to happen, it seems I'm playing catch-up rather than keep-up. Tomorrow may be a day when I can get caught up and let you know about the latest "ordeal". An ordeal that I'm still trying to find the silver lining of. I'll find some good in this latest test, although it may be tough.

Our health is good, and the doctor released me to travel. Yipeee! So that's some good news to tuck in your pocket. Later...

Any suggestions for photo hosting?

Does anyone have experience they would like to share with me on photo hosting (like PhotoBucket) that gives you the ability to upload and store photos, create and share albums, and create and link to slideshows? I really like slideshows so that's important to me. Oh, and I'd like it to be free. Although if you know of a really great site that's a reasonable cost I'd like to know about it. Thanks in advance to anyone with a recommendation who leaves me a comment or sends me an email on this!

Time for Reflection & Reflecting on Our Blog

Staying put for so long here in Junction City and being able to explore the area and my thoughts, has caused me to reflect. Having the blog as an outlet gives me the place and excuse to record thoughts and feelings. This blog started as a diary and a method to stay in touch with family & friends. I want to record my feelings, but don't want this to become all about me. Rick is also here sharing in all this so bear with me while I figure it out. You might find it interesting, you might find it boring. I need to make it mine, no ours, but I want to make it interesting for you. Ultimately though, it is mine (ours!), so I'll take the liberty to ramble about whatever is on my mind.

We've been to places and events that I want to tell you about. There are people we've met who are so interesting that I want to tell you about them. There are other blogs that we've found that I want to share with you. There are artists we've talked with and I want to share their inspiration with you. Especially the inspiration! Rick and I both like to think we're somewhat creative and we're lucky to have hobbies that keep us busy and provide us a creative outlet. Being retired will allow us the time to explore our hobbies, interests, and of course, fish.

We'll try not to bore you with our ramblings. Let us know if there is something you'd like to know about. Leaving us a comment is easy to do.

Communication, Self-Expression, a History, or a Travelogue

We started our blog as a means to communicate with family and friends - where we are, what we're doing, how we're feeling, what we're thinking, what we're planning, and what we've experienced.

It's turned into a little more in some ways. Exploring the 'world of blogging' or on-line journals is interesting and a way to get lost in other's lives. Some are like short stories, inspirational, travelogues, family histories, how-to manuals, self-help, and entrepreneurial businesses.

I wanted our blog to look a certain way, be formatted just so, and match the colors of our home - our motorhome. Rick gave his feedback, but left most of all that to me. (I'm still wanting to tweak the layout and wish I knew more about website creation and html code.)

We don't know how often we will make new posts, but we will try to keep up with it. We don't know if the posts will always include photos. We don't know if they will be actual experiences or musings. We don't know if they will ramble or be to the point. We don't know if they will be funny or serious. We don't know if anyone will think they are worth reading. BUT we've found that we enjoy creating the messages from us to you. If you have thoughts about our writings or the experiences we share with you, please let us know by leaving us a comment. We love it that some of you have. I've made the process of leaving us a comment simpler and you no longer have to login. It's nice to know someone is reading.