I started this blog over a year ago in a great burst of optimistic enthusiasm. As it turns out, it was probably over-optimistic. Before very long the project was crowded out by the demands of everyday life. I discovered that the amount of work and commitment needed to maintain a blog was more than I had expected. I found out that what I thought would be hard was easy — and what I thought would be easy turned out to be hard.
I was worried about figuring out the technical aspects. But I’ve found that, with enough persistence, I can usually make things work. That part has actually been fun.
Writing, I assumed, would be a piece of cake. I write all the time. I’ve kept a personal journal since my teens. It now fills boxes and boxes! I keep a work log detailing my daily travails. I was an English major, for Pete’s sake! But the writing part turned out to be agony! It’s not that I can’t write … and it’s not that I don’t have anything to say. Rather, it’s like sitting in a large seminar where the moderator unexpectedly asks you to come up on the stage and say a few words. I just wasn’t prepared for that reaction.
So my blog has been essentially abandoned for almost a year. The idea behind it, however, has still been simmering along on the back burner. Even though my optimism has been dented just a tad, my enthusiasm has managed to hang in there.
The little brick and mortar shop that has provided my meager subsistence for all these years has been on a slow slide to oblivion for several years now. That’s what inspired me to get started on all this internet stuff in the first place. Part of the problem (one problem among many) has been that the old building on our family farm where my shop is located has been about ready to fall down over my head. Neither my store nor the farm has had the income needed to fix it. Finally, this spring I convinced my mother and sister that we ought to sell a few acres and fix the roof before it caved in and left us with a lot bigger problem on our hands.
So, we listed the real estate. And, on that basis, the bank agreed to give us a short-term note to fix the roof. (It really was to that point — do it now, or lose the building!) Promptly after we listed our land, the real estate market took a nose dive. At this point, we have the land and no buyers in sight, with the note coming due all too soon. But we do have a roof.
That project, which I thought would take a month, just totally consumed the summer. It was decided that, since we were doing the roof, we should add insulation under it. But, before doing that, wiring needed to be roughed in for the large upstairs space. And, before that, the door we had always thought the area needed would have to be installed. And, if you have a door leading out onto the roof, it really needs some kind of landing. And when you’re rebuilding a large south-facing roof, it’s the perfect time to add a simple solar heating system.
After consuming the summer, the project went on to (more…)
Sphere: Related ContentI’m so excited! I’ve gotten my first blog installed, working and (almost) figured out.
I feel just like the first guy who invented the wheel! In fact, there’s a 50-50 chance that first “guy” was a woman — maybe even a grandma like me. I can picture her jumping up and down, crying “Ooga-booga!” I know just how she feels! And her next thought was probably “I’ve got to tell the rest of the tribe about this! This has possibilities …”
Well, when she invented the wheel, she most likely didn’t really “invent” it. She found a nice log and figured out how to use it. What I’ve figured out how to use is the blogging program called WordPress. (And available for free!)
I’ll be giving the blow-by-blow description of what I learn as we go along.
At this point, I imagine there are some people saying, “Oooo! Cool!” and others saying, “You’ve figured out how to install WordPress … have you also figured out how to tie your own shoes?” (more…)
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