A Different Kind of Quiet

 ...and a different sort of problem.

Out of necessity, over the many years, I've had to be the tech-savvy one. 

It did not, necessarily, come naturally to me and was one of my "skills" I preferred I didn't have. However, it kept my staff and family afloat (mostly).

Maybe I'm just too stinking old to keep up with it, or I'm just tired of the trying, but I really can't anymore.

I rely on the Blogger "Reading List" to inform me when bloggers I follow have posted new posts. 

A few months+ back, it seemed that my reading list was not showing recent posts from blogs I followed.

I researched, pondered, and tinkered and found a simple resolution (manually refreshing my FeedBurner/RSS feed). (FeedBurner is the feed reader that Blogger (and other feed readers) use to retrieve posts.) I think I even helped a fellow blogger resolve the same issue on her blog.

And then "this" happened.

Over a week ago, I again noticed something seemed off with my "Reading List." 

No new posts were showing.

I manually refreshed my FeedBurner feed, cleared all caches, and tested.

Finally, a post from Saundra (Woodland Junction Blogspot) showed up so I thought all was well (again).

It wasn't and isn't.

The only posts that show up in my Reading List were/are Saundra's.

(Yes, I double-checked by going to a few blogs who post regularly and, sure enough, there were posts.... many of them...only none of them showing on my Reading List.

I did what I did last time (manually refreshed my FeedBurner feed)...did a test post (as sometimes things only refresh in the background until a new post is made) and nope. Still, only Saundra's posts show.

More researching, pondering, and tinkering ensued and the conclusion is not good.

This is not a FeedBurner/RSS issue.

Apparently Google Blogger is having a major backend/cache problem.

And this is giving me (and likely others) a major "backend" problem as well.

This also explains why I was experiencing that new posts were missing, delayed, or appearing out of order. To add insult to injury, all questions regarding this topic have been locked on the "Help" platform and replying has been disabled.

So.....Gameplan B: Find a workaround.

Ummm, another "nope." 

Essentially this would require bypassing Blogger's Reading List and use a separate feed reader (e.g., Feedly, Inoreader, NetNewsWire, etc.). 

Not necessarily a huge deal...but the deal becomes huge when I have to transfer my Blogger Reading List/followed blogs into the new feed reader, and Blogger doesn't offer a simple "export my Reading List" button that alternative feeders can directly import. Consequently, I would have to manually search out the feed address for each and every blog I follow and add it to the new feed reader manually.

I can't wrap my head around how long that would take me.

In short, I'm "fed" up with FeedBurner, feed readers, and feeds in general. 

I don't know what else to say.

Theoretically, each day I could look up each and every blog (I can remember) I follow and check to see if they posted anything new, but I follow almost 200 blogs (197 to be precise). (It actually was more until Blogger limited the number of blogs one can follow. Granted, not all are still active, but I don't want to delete them, you know?)

So I am stuck here.

And I am sad here.

Blogging has been a refuge for me for many years and I've come to count so many of you as my dearest friends.

But until (unless??) Blogger fixes things, I don't know when I will be able to see you or your posts. And, if things are mucked up in the manner that I think they might be, you may not see anything I post...including this post. 😢

Not sure why I bothered...but I'm developing an expertise in exercises of futility I guess.

Be well my friends.

You will be sincerely and dearly missed.

Quiet Again

Those of you who have followed me for any length of time know that I often go quiet...go missing.

I go without explaining myself and no one knows how long I will be gone...

...least of all me.

The quiet times are never planned or premeditated but sometimes there's an "aura" (in the sense of a warning/sensation preceding a medicinal episode such as a migraine or seizure) or a foreboding. 

Such was the case when I went to the lake two-ish weeks ago to meet with someone about the fireplace. What was to have been a short two-day (at the most) trip, turned into a week of horrors.

(For context, you should know that I had just (as within in the last 6-9 mos.) finished with the remodeling of the lower level of the house: new flooring (wood and carpet), completely new stairs and railing, new doors, new walls, new trim, new baseboards, new ceilings, new bath fixtures, new EVERYTHING.

I had not even yet gotten to post about it, but I was so happy with how it turned out:)

When I arrived, however, there was a small lake surrounding the house (not to be confused with the large lake surrounding the property). We had gotten a great deal of snow and then the temperatures warmed quickly (for a few days) resulting in a quick thaw and all that "melt" went straight down the sloped driveway to the house.

When I went inside, my worst fears were confirmed.

This was what I saw:

I immediately threw down the tarp and towels, but that was a waste of time. The water deepened and spread before I could even catch my breath.

I called my insurance agent who, in turn, called a cleanup/restoration company and the nightmare began in earnest.

The company came and took up residence.

They said they would bring pickaxes to chop some of the ice that was melting to remove it and bring sub pumps. They did bring pickaxes the following day but chipped at the ice for 10 minutes at the most and then gave up and dumped ice melt on the ice...which, wouldn't you know? melted the ice and made MORE water that ALSO seeped into the house. 

They also brought sub pumps each day; but, each day, they brought ones that were too large or didn't work.

 They ripped up, removed, (and broke) flooring, tore off baseboard, trim, removed doors, vanity, toilet, put up plastic sheeting and brought over a dozen industrial machines in (water extractors, dehumidifiers, air purifiers, etc.) that ran (and made a deafening noise) 24/7.

The cats freaked and yowled at high pitch adding to the cacophony.

On Day 6, I told them to leave and take their machines with them.

(Another point of context: On Day 2, my insurance agent informed me that absolutely none of this would be covered by insurance. It was “ground water incursion” and that is an excluded event.)

I will have to start all over: New flooring, new baseboard, new trim, new dry wall in areas, new paint, new plumbing work.

There's more to the story about the new wool area rugs, pads, etc. that were shoved - along with other dry, undamaged items - into the small shower and left to moulder with the door closed, but I don't want to relive things by repeating them in written words.

In any event, it was, thankfully, at least quiet again.

I am back in Nod and have spent the last week rescheduling appointments that were canceled as a result of the unexpected lengthy stay at the lake and attempting to line up contractors and such...again.

I had hoped not to have to worry about the "root cause" of the melting/flooding issue until the ground was thoroughly unthawed but...winter has returned with a vengeance.

Thursday night into yesterday, we were hit with a nasty storm. The prediction was for 3-5". 

 We received 13".

We had a brief reprieve today, but we are now under a blizzard warning. 

"Mega Snow." 

That's one way of describing it.

I think it will be "quiet again."