The Next Step for Poultry & Prose

Anyone who has regularly followed this blog has already figured out what I’m going to say.

I will no longer be writing Poultry & Prose.

I now live on 15 acres and the poultry are no more. So the title “Poultry & Prose, Stories from a free-range writer on a five-acre idea farm,” no longer fits.

Add to that, I didn’t renew my custom domain and have been unable to preview anything in Blogger. Not to mention I feel like I need a shower after seeing the names of Russian and Ukrainian porno sites that have taken over my stats.

During a Sunday afternoon when an electrical repair left us without power for three hours, I turned on my battery-powered Macbook and went through the contents of my  “Blog Stuff” folder. Duplicate images and beginnings of posts that went nowhere, I trashed. But in amidst the content were a few posts that I considered to be really good, three months or even three years later.

Those, I will be posting as my last entries on Poultry & Prose.

After that, until I decide whether or not to start a new blog, I will be guest posting wherever bloggers would welcome my opinion on politics or the economy or whatever else comes to mind.

So, I hope you enjoy these last few posts. Since I can’t preview, please forgive any typos that may appear in the copy. And thank you, dear readers, for reading!

Who Me? A Versatile Blogger?

Suerae Stein of red barn artworks says yes. And for that I say thank you! "Versatile" is a much nicer way of describing the randomly meandering topics found in this blog.

Whenever Suerae has a new post at the artful blogger, I'm there. Seeing which playful and creative images she has rounded up for the day is a great way to start my morning.

Anyone receiving the Versatile Blogger Award is asked to pay it forward by doing this:

• Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them in your post.
• Tell your readers seven things about yourself.
• Give this award to fifteen recently discovered bloggers. 
• Contact those bloggers to tell them the news.

First, the seven things about myself:

• I'm an INFP.
• I had a letter to the editor printed in Sports Illustrated in 1971.
• I enjoy rewriting the lyrics to popular songs for different occasions. I once recast the words of “To Sir with Love” into “Thank You Chef Wayne” for a departing chef at work who enjoyed oldies -- and sang it.
• I love seventies music.
• I have more relatives in Slovakia than I do in the United States.
• I cry at movies. 
• One of my favorite children's books is 365 Bedtime Stories.

Next, the 15 blogs I chose:

• The Apron Revolution by Donna Davis
• Almost 60? Really? by Paula Lee Bright
• Classical Bookworm by Sylvia
• House Garage Art by Marty Owings
• Jeff Moravec by Jeff Moravec
• Minnesota Brown by Aaron Brown 
• My Feet Only Walk Forward by Brandon Lacy Campos
• Ordinary Courage by Brené Brown
• Quintessence Creations by Nancy Rose
• The Real Blogger Status by Chuck Croll
• Rebuilding Tori by Tori Mize
• The Root by Cynthia Gordy
• Sand Creek Almanac by Deborah Sewell 
• Shoulda Woulda Coulda Prepared by Lynda Eggimann
• Strong Towns Blog by Charles Marohn 

I chose these blogs for their day-to-day variety, their voices of authenticity, their power to make me say "I didn't know that" or "I learned something today." Thank you again to Suerae Stein and to all readers of Poultry & Prose.

Not an End, but a New Beginning

I'll be away from the blog for a few days as we load up the van, move, unload the van, and get settled in. Moving feels right. We're looking forward to whatever lies ahead with hope and humor. So the goal posts have been moved on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. It'll be an adventure getting there.

To all who have enjoyed reading about my critters, quirks and quandaries, thank you -- I'll be back soon!

Packing Up

It's time to step away from the Macbook and step up the packing. Wyatt pointed out yesterday we're moving in 16 days.

Rather than shut down the blog completely, I'll be sifting through my drafts folder for odds and ends, half-finished posts and renegade photos, to post in Posterous-type messages.

It's such a kick to write Poultry & Prose. I'm especially gratified that more and more readers are curious about what goes on in this little corner of the world. Thank you for carving a moment out of your day to visit.

And now, I have a date with a box cutter and duct tape.

Flickr Photo: libbie

The Blogger's Serenity Prayer

Okay, so I'm tearing my hair out trying to navigate my blog migration. Feeling like my Webmaster abilities mirror the carpentry skills of Alf and Ralph Monroe. Wondering if I should try to fix the misconnects on my own. Or would I make things worse, and just tell Google, "Here, fix this."

Then these words came to me. And serenity prevailed.

Google, grant me the strength 

to change the HTML you cannot accept,

The serenity to accept the 

Page Not Founds you cannot change,

And the wisdom to know the difference.

The actual Serenity Prayer is best known for its importance in Twelve Step recovery. The Twelve Steps start with admitting powerlessness over a cunning and baffling opponent—in my case, Web technology. But all around I found helpful, knowledgable people who were eager to lend support because they were once in the same position I was. They empowered me to keep going: to try and fix the faulty HTML, to not obsess over irrevocably deleted pages, but take note of what to do next time and move on. It's working.

Thank you to all, especially Classical Bookworm, who generously shared her self-taught migration expertise;  Nitecruzr, a Blogger rock star; and the enthusiastically supportive Blogging Mastermind Comment Tribe on Facebook.

Related Posts:

Politics and the Fellowship of Recovery

Men Are from Mars, USB Ports Are from Mayberry

Time to Change

Bloggers of a Feather Flock Together

Friday Feather Party

This has been a significant week for Poultry & Prose. Reblogs and retweets and referrals, links and likes, and comments.

The latest Poultry & Prose follower is Greg’s Eggs, via Vinton McCabe. (Like my chicken coop, Greg's blog is under construction. Watch for it this month.) While life pulls me in as many directions as Jerry on a walk, Greg’s follow reminded me that poultry is the heart of this blog. Because chickens have been disappearing on the farm and scarce on the blog, I’ll be starting a series called Poultry I Have Known and Loved. In the past 10 years we’ve raised many chickens, turkeys, ducks, and even geese whose memory outlives them. In the case of one turkey, I still tear up whenever I hear a particular song on the radio.

Friday Feather Party will be the day I thank everyone who has helped this small flock grow during the past week.

Martha Garvey's My Fat Cat

Deb's Sand Creek Almanac

Vinton McCabe's blog

Carolyn's Roundtop Ruminations

Tripawds.com

Check them out and give them a follow if you like what you see! And have a great weekend.

Blogging Between the Raindrops

Note: When I exported my blog posts some of the photos made a left turn at Albuquerque. I'm re-publishing those posts with photos intact. This one is from August 2010. Since then, David Swanson launched his design services Web site. Check it out!

Nothing sharpens your blogging skills like frequent thunderstorms and a telephone connection that's susceptible to lightning strikes.

My friend David Swanson, when I'd call in from my farm to discuss a creative project, would ask if I was calling from the top of a telephone pole. (Green Acres fans will get the reference.) Sometimes it feels that way. But once struck, twice shy. Several years ago our modem fried out in a thunderstorm and it took eighteen days for a repair crew to replace it. So what if I feel like my grandmother, who unplugged every electrical device in the house during thunderstorms. Elders have wisdom.

But the upside is, frequent thunderstorms bring frequent rainbows. And I've learned to blog faster.

Fifty Ways to Love Your Blogger

I've been thrilled with the feedback from readers of Poultry & Prose. New followers. Praise that has left me grasping for words at times. Thank you, all.

Similar to kicking up my skills in digital photography, I now need to grow comfortable in asking readers to take the next step. A song always works. Think Paul Simon.

Give it a Like, Mike,


Mark it a Fave, Dave,


Just comment away, Ray,


It's easy to do.


Give it a tweet, Pete,


More traffic is so sweet!


Just ShareThis wide, Clyde,


And I'll do it for you.


The latest bit of blogger cred: having Poultry & Prose included in the MinnPost Minnesota Blog Cabin program. Which means it may appear on this page someday. Would you like me to link to the latest news in your life? Give me a call, y'all!


_{Lyrics adapted from Paul Simon's Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover from his 1975 album Still Crazy After All These Years.} 

Beaning and blogging

Summertime Sundays have become my favorite mornings for preparing garden vegetables. On Sunday mornings Mike is hosting his country gospel music program on WKLK-AM. Wyatt usually sleeps late. That leaves me alone in the kitchen, free to play whatever music I wish without eye rolling from others. And my music of choice is usually The Deep End with Nick Michaels. It's a syndicated program of deep-cut classic rock, the B- and C- and D-sides, with a sprinkling of classics you never tire of. Only 41 affiliates nationwide carry The Deep End. Duluth is the only Minnesota affiliate and only one of 16 nationwide to air the extended four-hour program.

That means a busy morning. I tend to work in time to music. In Minneapolis I discovered Ice-T provided a good backdrop for punching yeast dough. Last year I rhythmically shredded zucchini with a thrift-store kitchen contraption that resembled a countertop wood chipper. This year it's beans, green and dragon tongue: trimming them, blanching them, freezing them. Today, I was chopping beans to ZZ Top's La Grange. I stopped before the Ahow-how-how-how led to ow-ow-ow. 

And during this dance of chopping, blanching, and freezing, that's when the blogging ideas flow. During the summer harvest, ideas often must wait their turn. Ripened beans on the vine are harsh taskmasters.

That's why it feels good to have several blog posts in the can, as good as it feels to have fresh vegetables in the freezer. Both are stores against less plentiful and productive days.