Thursday, April 26, 2012

April Funk

So, I went to change my header the other day, to something more spring like, and I got a message saying I've maxed out my allotted free picture room. No more pictures until I figure out what to do. I am interested to hear from other bloggers, your experiences and what you've done when you get to this stage. For five dollars I can buy more room. I know it isn't much, but if the blog is going to cost money, it does raise the option that I could post adds and make money... I'm generally very anti add. I don't like clutter on pages or advertisements in general. What do you guys think?

Complete topic change: All I want to do is write and read. What do I fantasize about while washing dishes? Solitude. Days and days to myself. I would clean the house and then it would stay that way. I'd eat salads and nibble on raw foods, and take a complete break from the kitchen, from the stove and dirty dishes. And then I'd sit and let it all pour out at the computer, taking breaks to curl up in the sun with a good book. What does it say about myself and my life that I want to live in fictional worlds other than my own? I've been contemplating this question for a year now, with few answers. I feel like the Little Engine That Could, repeating in my head over and over to myself, "I love my life, I love my life, I love my life." And I do, don't I? Am I having a midlife crisis already or is it just spring time? 

I'm not sure if I've written this already here, or if it has just been on my mind so often - but either way it bears repeating. For most the winter I feel like I'm doing just fine. People are complaining, moaning and groaning all around me about how cold and dark it is and how they'd rather be elsewhere. And I, myself feel just fine. Then about this time of year; March, April, it is like I've woken up from a long dark dreary sleep that I do not want to ever return to. When I think of next winter, my only thought is of ESCAPE! 

We are finally in full spring mode here. Mud and water everywhere. The river down our driveway has finally dried up. There is still a glacier of snow in our backyard. I hunger for warmer days, but I know the end of cold nights will bring an abundance of mosquitoes after all that snow. The bees are collecting pollen. The pussy willows are budding. The goats are laying out in the sun all day. From the middle to late afternoon, if the sun is out, we can get by on the back porch without sweatshirts. But when the sun goes behind the clouds or when the wind blows across the glacier, we are reminded that it is still April. 

I did till two small beds by hand and plant cold hardy greens, scallions and some beets. I covered the beds with clear plastic. Half the garden is still under snow. I laid out plastic row covers from last summer to thaw the beds quicker. The strawberry plants, comfrey and poppies are still green from last year. The iris shoots are coming up. The raspberry canes are budding out. I should feel thrilled with life today, shouldn't I? I suppose it is time to forget about chores and go sit in the sun. I hope you all are feeling perkier than I on this April afternoon.








 

7 comments:

Buttons Thoughts said...

Oh Emily I to am feeling this, I just came back from two weeks in Vancouver and Victoria now back to my real world I am lost.
I have not ran out of photo room yet and I am dreading the day. I seriously need to blog for my sanity.A friend of mine bought me my own domain name with no limit on photos but I have not changed yet. Change is always hard. Take care B

becky3086 said...

Check it again because since they have changed blogger the prices has gone up. I just bought the $5 one about a week and a half ago and they tell me I am out of space again today and now there is a monthly charge.
Use photobucket and copy the url code then you can still add pictures here.

barefootmommy said...

I use blogger for my homesteading/homeschooling/photogragphy blog and upgraded to more space last year for hosting my photos. It think it's worth it, because if you want to stick in an extra picture or two, you don't have to second guess. You can look at my blog to see if you think you like the ad thing. (barefootmommy.blogpsot.com)
I think you have a much larger reader base than me, so you would probably recoup the $5 in ads pretty quick. They don't cut you a check until you've reached $100 though I think. My hubby has done well with his programming blogs earning $ in this way. Also, I love your blog, Adalyn Farm told me about it, and I love to follow what's going on in your farm. I grew up in Hawaii and am a transplant to Washington, so I sometimes find myself wondering what I'm doing here, but I too am like the little Engine that Could..."I love my life..." and I do!

Throwback at Trapper Creek said...

My two cents - try Wordpress, in 4 years I have used 12% of my free space and you know how many photos I post! I do re-size them though to save space and keep my dial up readers happy.

It's also easy to migrate your entire Blogger blog to Wordpress, you won't lose a thing.

Don't stop blogging, we so enjoy your posts about your farm in the North! :)

barefootmommy said...

I upgraded quite a long time ago to the larger photo storage in Picasa web albums ($30 a year for photos and documents too) and haven't had any more notices of limited space. It seems like it's a pretty good deal, but free is always much nicer.

Marge said...

I have spent the $5. Twice. I post many photos on my blog, and have only had to spend $10 in six years to purchase more photo space. I don't think that's too bad.

Prefer no ads.

Anonymous said...

I'm with MOH!! Blogger is nice, but Wordpress is nicer (IMHO). You could do the work around, and start a flickr account, and link to the photos there (www.strobist.com does this if you want to see how it looks). It's kind of 'one more thing to do' but it's workable...

On a completely different note, I have some goat questions I'm e-mailing you.... Hope you don't mind....