Going Nuts Over Monkey Nuts!

Sparky and the Monkey Nut 1

Haiku 239

The nutty squirrel

Executes a smash and grab

Desperate measures

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Several different squirrels come by my garden to eat the seeds I put out. Most of them know to hop right up onto the upturned green container.

Clearly this youngster hadn’t got the memo!

I watched in amazement from my seat nearby under the shade of the tree.

Sparky 2

Obviously little Sparky could smell the food, but he wasn’t sure how to get to it. Even the pigeon in the bottom left hand corner of the photo wondered what was wrong with Sparky!

The plan Sparky came up with?

Climb into the mini hedge next to the food. Scramble up inside the tangled branches. Pop out at the top end. Stretch!

Success! Grab the monkey nut. Stuff it in your mouth. Exit the scene. This proved a little harder than entering as Sparky had to push himself back up into the hedge, against gravity!

This is the action shot I got above!

Once he’d procured the monkey nut, Sparky rushed away to bury it.

When he came back for more food, he had a brainwave – and hopped up onto the container like all his mates. No problem!

Sparky 3

However, after the year we’ve just had, and the pandemic still in full swing, maybe this is what we all need. A new way of looking at things!

Either that, or embracing the crazy!

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post script: I had a mini panic attack this morning when I tried to Log in to my WP account as usual, but kept getting sent back to the Log in screen. I had already deleted my cache and cookies; something I do regularly; so Googled other options. I tried the regular window instead of using private mode; I typed in a different search address, going back to basics. Still no luck at all.

Finally, I thought to try using Firefox instead of Google Chrome.

Success!

I’m feeling pretty chuffed that I managed to sort it out myself, but I am sure this is merely a presage of things to come.

WhatsApp, that I use regularly to keep in touch with family overseas, is forcing you to accept all of Facebook’s conditions, including their having access to – and the right to use – all of your chats and photos, contacts, phone numbers etc I am not on fb and never have been. Now I have till 8th February to decide whether I am willing to give fb the rights to my whole life.

The craziness just continues!

 

LEET!

LEET Posts

WP have just informed me that I’ve published a LEET number of posts!

LEET, also known as eleet (elite) or leetspeak is an alternative alphabet for many languages used mostly on the internet.

If you turn LEET upside down it looks like the number 1337, hence this odd numbered WP trophy.

I used to post daily, but now it’s only twice a week, so it’s not surprising its taken a while to get here.

The last time I remember receiving a LEET trophy was when I reached 1337 followers, almost 3 years ago to the day.

Anyway – Go me!

 

I Am Six

Six Year WP Anniversary

Six Year WP Anniversary

It is six years since I first started this blog. And I’m still here!

Thank you to everyone who has joined me along the way and shared in my little blog of everyday life. Without you there would be no Mad Cap Dog!

Thank you for your support, words of wisdom and sarcastic comments. I appreciate them all! You know people are your friends when they start being sarcastic!

Thank you to everyone who has popped by my blog and liked or commented on a post. I thoroughly enjoy visiting your blogs, reading your interesting posts and marvelling at your awesome photography. I really appreciate the interaction and have found the WP community to be friendly and caring.

I have come to know many of you well, even though we have never met, being separated in many instances by vast oceans, and I count you as my virtual friends.

Here’s to many more years of Blogging.

Cheers SciFi

 

Five Year Anniversary

Rose

Five Year WP Anniversary: 2000 Followers.

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Well it’s five years since I first started this blog.

And I’m still here!

I have also just accumulated 2000 Followers.

Thank you to everyone who has joined me along the way and shared in my little blog of everyday life. Without you there would be no Mad Cap Dog!

Cheers, Scifi.

 

WP Anniversary

 

I Am Four!

I am Four

 

Hooray!

Four years old

Today!

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Well it’s four years since I started this blog. Time flies when you’re having fun!

Thank you to everyone who has popped by my blog and liked or commented on a post. I thoroughly enjoy visiting your blogs, reading your interesting posts and marvelling at your awesome photography.

I really appreciate the interaction and have found the WP community to be friendly and caring. I have come to know many of you well, even though we have never met, being separated in many instances by vast oceans, and I count you as my virtual friends.

I received so many incredibly kind comments on my 1000th post the other day; Thank You all very much. I don’t expect you to comment again now! It is a pity that my 1000th post and my 4th WP Anniversary did not exactly coincide, though they were so close!

Also I don’t mention these little milestones to garner praise, but rather because so many rotten things happen in life, that I feel we should always celebrate the positive things; even if it is only the minor achievement of a WP notification!

1000 posts

WP Anniversary

 

LEET

LEET

So, apparently I have a “Leet” number of WP followers.

What’s Leet when it’s at home anyway?

It’s an alternative alphabet for many languages that is used mostly on the internet. (You can read up about it here on Wiki if you like.)

What do I think of my Leet WP trophy?

The same as I thought when I got 1000 followers, which you can check out in Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder.

Meh!

Basically (because I realise no-one has the time to look up an old post) only 5% of my followers actually follow me. But that’s fine, because those that do are great friends. And that’s what it’s all about: the interactions, not the numbers.

Thank you all for being here!

Still, it’s always nice to “win” something!

 

Please WP!!!

Headless Horseman??

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

Anyone else having trouble with the WP Reader lately?

Above is how my Awesome (ahem) photo of LM appeared in the WP Reader yesterday.

Headless!

Daft!

Pointless!

It was supposed to look like this –

Her Master’s Voice 1

I’m sorry, but either show the whole photo in miniature or not at all. Deciding to crop it willy-nilly inevitably results in failures like this!

Most of us take a great deal of care with our photos, adjusting the image for optimum effect. How annoying it is then to see these photos mutilated in the WP Reader. If you were browsing through the Reader and saw my headless dog, would this photo entice you to click on the post and read further? I don’t think so!

And, every time I opened a post in the WP Reader to read and comment, then returned to the Reader, it sent me right back to the beginning of my Reader. Do you know how long it takes to scroll all the way down to where you were each time? I already battle with rubbish internet speeds; I don’t need any more hassles. (OK this appears to be fixed today!)

Further, my Notifications kept getting stuck, showing an orange dot, meaning new Notifications, when I had cleared them all.

Also, the Powers That Be have once again changed the font in the WP Reader Notifications. It is tiny again. To achieve a reasonable reading size I have to increase my magnification to 150%. This effectively removes everything from my screen except the Notifications.

So why am I complaining to you guys and not WP?

Well, the last time WP messed around with the Reader and changed the font to smaller, they also made the print paler; as in grey not black. I commented to WP on their own post about the new improved WP Reader (their words!). The reply I got simply said, ‘Yes they had changed the font’. They did not address the issue of smaller, fainter print at all. (Eventually they did change the font back, as enough of us complained!)

 

Please Please Please WP.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

 

So, will my rant here achieve anything?

Nope! But I sure feel better for venting! Thanks guys!

Gripe over.

Happy Saturday!

 

post script: I fully understand that the majority of you will have no problem with any of these changes, but please pity the less advantaged, such as we South African’s, who have rubbish internet; those of us who already battle to read tiny print and those of us who Blog on our laptops, not smart phones. Any change affects us!

post post script: I am curious to see how my first photo above will now appear in the WP Reader! Poor LM is already headless. What else can they do to her?

Baaahahahaha! I had to add this update quickly. The only part of LM now showing in the WP Reader is her bum and the tip of her tail! 

 

Help WP! Nobody Likes Me!

Rose

My Blog’s a bit broken!

I discovered last night that the Likes button has disappeared from the bottom of my posts when you visit my blog. If you click on the title of each post, then the Likes appear again.

In my Settings I have WordPress.com Likes On for all posts. 

As far as I know I haven’t changed anything. (Maybe my extra long post yesterday was too much of a shock for my blog!)

I wondered if anyone else had encountered this problem and if so, how you fix it? I can’t remember how to contact WP for help!

I have deleted the cache and all cookies and un-clicked and re-clicked the above button and saved the changes.

No luck.

Any and all suggestions are most welcome.

Thank you.

 

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Finally, I have reached 1000 followers. No fanfare or fireworks. Even Word.Press waited till I had 1001 before sending me the above notification. I know, because I was keeping an eye on my followers and noted the 999th (Yay!) and then the 1000th. I had to wait another day for WP to realise I had tipped their magic number and send the notification.

Also, there was nothing from WP at the end of the 2016 year (that I saw anyway) with our annual stats round up and fun personal facts; such as most viewed post, top commenter, how many cable cars or trains your viewers might fill etc – Surprisingly, I missed that.

So how do I feel about this new achievement?

Meh.

It seemed such a big thing when I first started blogging. I’d visit other blogs and notice their large following and huge viewership. I wondered if I would ever achieve those kinds of numbers.

I don’t think like that any more.

Most of my followers do not actually follow me. I calculate only about 5% of them do. Most have never even visited my blog, so technically they haven’t really followed me!

This is why I don’t put my follower stats on my blog any more. It means nothing; especially as I still have people counted as following me, who have deleted their blog.

But, the genuine followers that I do have are awesome! You are very supportive and always there for me when I need it and it’s great to have you as my friends.

I am a small blog and always will be. That is absolutely fine by me. If I am following you, I will read your posts and comment fairly often. If I had more genuine followers I wouldn’t be able to do that.

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However, I noticed something funny last year, when I was absent from the blogging world for a while.

Normally, I get very few new followers any given month. What is weird is that I find I have been getting more followers than usual, ever since I stopped posting for a while and then returned posting less often.

In one day once I got 7 new followers, but I have to say that only one was a bona fide follower; the rest are just those who go round clicking ‘follow’ to all and sundry, hoping for follows back to boost their stats. They do not even visit your actual blog or even bother to ‘like’ a post in pretence of having stopped by.

I just find it baffling, that my absence promoted more interest in my blog than my actual blogging did!

 

It seems the old saying is true after all; Absence makes the heart grow fonder!

 

Why don’t you Count?

Frangipani flower 2

So what’s going on with WP these days?

I noticed, before I went on holiday, that my visitors and views were declining, after having risen slowly but steadily since I started blogging.

No worries, I thought, it happens; and I am not trying to be the most popular blog out there. (Yeah, yeah! Just as well, I know!)

But as nebusresearch has noted, it seems that WP may no longer be counting all the stats; eg from mobile devices?

I really noticed this on Tuesday, when a WP friend from India visited my blog to catch up, and liked and commented on lots of posts. None of this registered in my stats! It showed no visits from India whatsoever and the views/likes/comments also did not show.

Now, like I said, I’m not a big blog: I ‘know’ each and every one of my visitors. It sucks when they have taken the trouble to visit me and do not register. I wonder, am I doing the same thing over at their blogs?

What gives? Any answers anyone?