Who Stole Your Followers?

Did it!!

I have read concerns about losing followers on so many blogs recently and, so far, 24 followers have disappeared from the Friends of my blog. While this seemed strange and has never happened to this extent before, I felt that as long as the 30 or so friends who regularly post comments and have been there for me when my life became difficult, as long as they were still there, I would not really mind. 

But still, it hurts. I read posts by blogger friends who spent a lot of time going over their follower lists or were really distraught to the point of wanting to stop blogging.

Then yesterday, I read this here: 

My friend S. J. Qualls posted an announcement from our friends at Google Friends Connect that said this (Please click on link to read my friend's comment to the announcement):

December 21, 2015

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count. 

(Bold added by me, Inger, Oh, the arrogance of the people at Google!!!)

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

I don't know where this announcement was posted, I know I never saw it.  All I know is that many bloggers were upset about the loss of followers and I'm so glad that S. J. Qualls posted this on her blog. 

Notes From The Canyon

The above picture didn't work as header photo, so I'm posting it and it's sister here, just to have them on record. I really like how they turned out ~ mountains wearing hats. They were taken with my phone, so maybe that's why they didn't work in the header.

I'm feeling much better than I did at the beginning of the year. As I said, I was dreading certain dates, none more so than January 22nd, which last year was the last good day Errol and I had together. 

But I'm learning that fear has no place in our lives, not really. First thing that happened on January 22nd was a lovely email from my childhood friend in Sweden, Barbro. She's the shorter one in the picture above. We have been friends since 1946, 70 years now. Pretty amazing and I was so happy to hear from her.

Then my relatively new friend, Mary, invited me to come over and crochet with her as the crochet group was cancelled. This is one of Mary's dogs, Sparkle, and Mary's legs in the snow at Christmas.

This again is from Christmas and the stunning view from Mary's deck. Mary is a widow also, and we were able to share some serious things, as well as having a fun and creative afternoon.

My friend Carol sent this lovely yarn for Christmas, along with other things to encourage me in my crocheting adventures. It wasn't enough for a scarf, so Mary suggested a cowl. I finished it later and it's very warm and looks good too. All this to say that my worries about a specific date did just that, worried me. The day itself was just another day and turned out to be a lovely one. 

As most of you know, last April was for me the cruelest month, since Errol passed away in April 2015. So I thought I would really challenge myself this year and signed up for the A to Z Challenge, where you post every weekday throughout the month, a letter for each day, A to Z.  I think I can do it. I am calling it, "Me, Alone," borrowing the title from Stewart O'Nan's wonderful book about the life of another widow, "Emily, Alone." I would like to write about how I am finding my way in this new life of mine. And it will not be a sad story, I think it will be hopeful and happy at the end. 

Other than that, I have been waiting all day for UPS to come and deliver my new insulin pump. It's now 7:30 in the evening. I just sent off an email to UPS tracking service, asking them to let me know what's going on. I need to drive down my hill and lock my gate and go to bed, I said. Not that that will make them come any sooner........

Facing A New Year Alone

sort of gave me the blues for a while. I prepared myself for Christmas and it was wonderful. Now comes the time I have dreaded in my mind,

a time where may allow myself to think back too much on what happened those first four months of 2015. I have every date in my mind, the last good day we had together and all the awful ones that followed. We'll see, looking for my inner Viking, my stoic Swede, I'm sure I will be fine.

As you can see, the snow melted and it created a muddy mess for me. I was stuck here for several days, even with the Jeep. Melting snow upon deep mud, followed by rain, made for some fun driving. I learned about driving in mud and how once you lose control, it's very hard to get it back, you just sort of slowly slide away. 

Faith is such a smart dog, but she doesn't get it that she and I can play with the pull toy. She won't do it, instead she picks it up and throws the other end at Samson's face until he gives up and plays tug of war with her. 

Samson gets eye drops every day and Faith gets ear cleanser. Guess what happens then? Faith promptly licks Samson's eyes and he her ears. I tell them "no" when I catch them at it, but I think it's so cute. Such loving gestures, taking care of each other.......

Where ever Samson is, Faith has to be too. And she has to be first! First outside, first inside, first to the house when we are out walking, and 

first for her closeup. Sometimes she's a bit too anxious to be first and runs out of the picture. Oh well, what would I do without them?

I haven't read any of your blogs, I have barely opened my computer. Right now I just want to be outside, working on my messed up road, gathering gravel (of which there's a lot around here), cleaning up the mess around the back caused by over a year's worth of recycle stuff and other junk, walking with the dogs.

I want to crochet and work on my cooking. I discovered a 5 gallon container full of different kinds of beans that Errol had stored. So I'm thinking beans in the crock pot. Lots to learn there. I feel pulled toward something less technological, more organic for my future. But I still want to blog, I want to fix my blog format, which seems to have changed, and I most definitely want to keep in touch with you.  

Stay well and take care.