Rainy Day Musings

Rainy, rainy weekend here in Caneyhead. But that's okay. Makes for a more restful and relaxing weekend. Wanted to touch base with you all. Especially my usual readers and regular friends. I've been cleaning up my favorites list, getting rid of email subscriptions to things I never read anymore. Trying to get streamlined and organized so that when I do occasionally get on the PC at home I can spend more time reading your entries, visiting, commenting...like I used to. This is still my favorite medium on the Internet. And my goal is to begin to post weekly again.

Been over at Sitemeter....entertaining myself with a look at where do these people come from and how do they get here. Had a recent visit from Italy. Thrilled to see more visits from other places in Texas. But most amusing to me was a look at the referring URL's. In other words, the places people were in order to get to here. How they found their way to Caneyhead. Most of my visitors use AOL for their service provider, like I do. AOL returns an unknown result. But most other providers leave a trail.

Out of the ones I can really see it simply tells me they came from their blogger home or google reader list. Some others show up after clicking on a link to Caneyhead on someone's blogger profile or another blogger blog. But what I find most interesting are the ones that land here by way of a search. These folks have found me by searching "Caneyhead". That's simple enough. A more unusual one was a search for "river bottom people", on Google. Someone on Yahoo was searching for "preserving purple hull peas". Another Googler came after searching a screen name that commented here. Some sweet person used a Yahoo search for a "Baby stud horse". One person got here because they were searching for a certain person and both their first name and last name showed up in one of my entries, though not as a single name. Someone else was looking for a "space cowboy" and because I did an entry by the title of the Steve Miller song....voila they got here!

I find all of this fascinating. And it can be a lot of fun. But perhaps it reminds us all that we leave footprints everywhere we go on the web. So be careful little feet where you go.

Now if you are searching for jewelry, looking for the perfect gift for a loved one or a friend, doing a little early online Christmas shopping, I want to direct your attention to my good IRL friend, Donna and her Timeless Treasures. She carries a full line of everything under the sun in handcrafted sterling silver jewelry. I have not done this before, directly endorsed a friend's business on my blog. But I wanted to this time for several reasons.

One, I do know Donna in real life. Ten years ago, while her business was still a baby, she made a sterling silver baby bracelet for little baby Hannah. So I know she has the experience of ten plus years to do this right. More recently, she's adapted and modified a piece for Bubba. And Bug and I both have beautiful ankle bracelets she created. Also, she and her husband, Roy, are good people.

You'll find a permanent link to her website in my sidebar, right under my About Me section. So if you are a jewelry lover or are looking to make a purchase for a gift, please drop by and check out her selections first.

I'll be seeing y'all around. Until the next time, take care and God bless.

Barbara

A Totally New Experience

Surprised to see me? Well, I can't stay away forever. This place is like my home away from home. What brings me here today is a little different, at least for me. I had an unique experience last night. But before I tell you about that....let me catch you up on life here my friends.


The past couple of months have been an emotional rollercoaster with incredible highs and soul wrenching lows. I choose not to dwell on the lows, so I want to share some of the highs. Pete and I are doing things I never thought a year ago, no six months ago, we'd be doing. We've been really living and truly loving. He and I have gone 4-wheeling several evenings. We've slept out under the stars all night long. We've gone skinny dipping in a friends pool at 2:00 in the morning. We took the kids and went bowling as a family one night. Pete has cooked me some delicious meals. And we created a marvelous pasta dish together in the kitchen one night. For Father's Day I cooked him up some fried perch another friend had given us. For Mother's Day he gave me Stanley, just because he arrived that day.

That was the first day. Here's one more recent:

Bug thinks her summer is going terribly. :o( She has to help daddy with the animals, in the garden and with the dishes and laundry. But it's really not as bad as she thinks. She's been spoilt.

Bubba has bought himself a one-ton Cummins and is adapting the flatbed on it and rigging it out for a welding truck. I'm proud for him and of him.

That brings us back around to why I came here today. Pete and I went to a birthday party for a dear friend last night. Someone Pete had worked in the oilfield with. A relaxing, wonderful evening. Lots of folks. Various and different folk of all different ages, stages, and stations. There Pete introduced me to a woman who he has known most all of his life. I don't believe I have ever known her. Hard to believe in a small town, but we don't truly know everyone....just feels like it sometimes. And as we are talking she tells me she had come across Life & Faith by a Google search on Caneyhead. (Nice to know those meta-tags work.) She tells me she has read some here and enjoyed her visit. I'm pleasantly surprised and flattered. This was a first for me. Lots of folks from other places, including Vietnam and Romania lately, find their way here. And I've told people IRL (in real life) about my blog and some have come by. But it is the first time I've simply stumbled upon a person IRL who came across my blog totally on their own and then who I happened to meet and speak to. Reminds me of just how small this huge world can be. And impresses upon me just how powerful this medium can/could be.

To friends old and new, God bless you and keep you. And if I don't get another chance to tell you, have a safe and happy 4th of July.