February 28, 2012 - The Sun Is Shining for Granny Again

You don't know how close I came to just quitting this blog yesterday. Not only was I racking my brain over the comments problem, in between sessions at the computer with multiple changes to the blog template and settings, I was also moving furniture, cleaning out a closet, dresser and desk drawers, hauling out carpet and pad scraps and keeping an eye on son John to make sure he was installing the new bedroom carpeting to my satisfaction. While fixing lunch and dinner. Mr. Granny did start the day with a surprise for me when he came in with a couple of breakfasts from Jack in the Box. It's not that I'm that fond of those breakfasts, I much prefer a bowl of cereal and some fruit, but the containers they come in make great trays for soil blocks for seed starting, and the lids are perfect to use underneath the planters on the garden windowsill!

My dear long time cyber-friend, Teresa, came to the rescue with the blogger comment problem. She asked me "Have you tried using embedded comments rather than the pop-up box for them? In case you need it, it's under Settings>Comments>Comment Form Placement." That worked! I must say, I didn't know that would be any different than the popup comment box, but it is. It gave me back the option for follow up comments to be emailed to you, as well as adding a "reply" button, which I'm loving. No more long comments from me with all those ********between them!

While I'm still on the subject of blog comments, let me mention that my Firefox browser (an older version) doesn't show the comment box at all, but the "reply" option works. I noticed Erin had a commenter (Judy) who said she doesn't see a comment box. It does show up in Internet Explorer and Chrome.

OK, now that all is well (for now), back to business. It was only 19F here this morning, and we're expecting another storm to pass through tonight. More snow? Possibly. The weatherman is predicting 58F for Saturday, so there's still a chance the sod removal for the new garden plot can take place. I want to be planting peas and potatoes in about two weeks. C'mon, Mother Nature, we're ready to garden!

34 comments:

  1. i like the new look! and i am glad to hear you are not vexed. thanks for keeping it up. i do check in often, even if i don't often comment.

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    1. Same! I read all your posts Granny, I'd be bummed if they weren't there waiting for me in the morning. :)

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    2. @Echo of Eve, thank you! Where have you been? I haven't heard from you for ever so long! I'll bet you've been busy baking buns, LOL!

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  2. LOL... I know it's not healthy to admit within this particular blog circle (gardening), but can I just tell you how much I MISS Jack in the Box?!!! I know it's just because I'm on the East Coast now and all it would take is one trip there for me to say what???? But still.... :)

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    1. Erin, I'm not a big fan of Jack in the Box, but it's close by and the "Big Breakfast" isn't bad. Well, it's bad FOR me, but not bad tasting if you don't mind really dry scrambled eggs (Annie and Otto liked mine) ;-) I'm really not into any of the fast food places, but had one heck of a good hamburger at Carl's Jr. last week, for only $1.29. It was big, fresh, and had real onion slices on it. I'd never tried them before, as there isn't one in my town, but I might drive that five miles or so for another one.

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    2. Erin, your comment page isn't working for me again! Your banner shows in the comment box. Usually I can hitchhike in a reply to someone else's post when this happens, but this time nothing opens at all! If you see this, I did read your blog today, and I'll trade you a Jack in the Box for a Dunkin' Donut!

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  3. I like your new template. Your blog looks great! I am so glad you are getting it all figured out. I love to come and see what you are doing. I would really miss your blog.

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    1. Thank you, Christy. After 3 1/2 years of it, I think it would be pretty hard on me to stop blogging now. I had my tantrum. I'm over it.

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  4. I like the new look, too, and I admire your innovative spirit! Usually, my philosophy is "leave it alone as long as possible." :-) Since you've mentioned new carpeting here, I want to put in a plug for my new living room area rug. I hesitated a long time before buying it because there's a 4-year-old in the house often, eating crackers and spilling orange juice :-), there's a cat who sheds prolifically, and we track in grass and dirt from the back yard. But, I found just the thing! Carpet tiles. I love them. If one gets dirty, I can simply pick it up and rinse it off. They come with sticker circles for joining them, but so far I haven't even needed to do that.

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    1. Dianefaith, you've made that light go on in my "attic", LOL! I've put off carpeting the master bedroom, as the furniture is so big and heavy to try to move out and down the hallway, and the room is too large for carpeting without seams. Carpet tiles would be the thing! I could do them myself, and install just half the room at a time and not have to move stuff to another room! In the meantime, I already prepaid for professional cleaning of that carpet and the living room/dining room. I'll give it another year for replacement.

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  5. I, too, have shovel and rake in hand and am anxiously awaiting a temperature over 60 degrees to go start work in the garden. Glad you got your comments fixed!

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    1. AnywhereEden, this winter has seemed so long. Usually we don't get back to Washington from AZ until sometime in March, so I'm not used to the under 60 degree temps!

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  6. I just want to say how much I love the new look of your blog, and I'm so glad you're not quiting ;) You have so much great information and ideas. I'm planning to try out a few in this years garden.

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    1. Thank you, Suburban Gardeness. I hope the blog can live up to your expectations!

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  7. @Dianefaith- OMG. Carpet tiles! I'd never thought of them before. We need carpet so badly in a few rooms but with pets and a teen who lives to snack, we've been holding off. This could work.

    @Granny- So glad you didn't quit. I needs to read you!

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    1. Ranni, we've been friends for what....7-8 years now? You can't lose me, I'd always find you! Our master bedroom carpet is probably 30 years old. It was the first room we were going to redo, and we've put it of for about 20 years now. Darned thing won't wear out, and doesn't look half bad, but it really does need to be replaced. Someday.

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  8. I have to go take a nap now just from reading everything you did!
    Love the new look.

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    1. LOL, Liisa. I've seen how hard you work. Your photos are still in my "Favorite Gardens" folder!

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  9. I am so happy that you got all this blogging stuff figured out! We do not want an unhappy Granny! I really love the new look of your blog! I just put mine blog in to Spring mode today. I really need to make more adjustments though. I think it should be wider and I think I need to change the text color. I took your advise and changed my comments.

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    1. I'll be right over to check ya out, Robin :-)

      I was up until nearly midnight playing with widths, colors and backgrounds. It's so different from the template I've used for 3 1/2 years, it might take me a while to get used to it.

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  10. Yay! Happy Grannies are the best! Love the banner!

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  11. I changed my comments too so people could reply to specific comments (which I love). I'm still making people do word verification though. I just don't always log in so it might be days before a comment got approved.

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  12. Love the new layout Granny! The new word verification is a pain isn't it. I set my comments to moderate after a post is 14 days old. The spammers seem to only comment on older post well readers rarely comment on old post.

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    1. Thanks, Dan. I moderate all comments, but stopped having them sent to my email. Blogger has caught every one of the spams and put them in the spam folder where I don't have to be bothered with them.

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  13. LOVE the new header! your garden is a dream.=)

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  14. The new look is lovely, glad you didn't give up. I switched to WordPress ages ago, and am glad I did as I now use it at work, but I think Blogger finally added a lot of the features I wanted when I switched.
    The word verification system hate Wordpress, so that's another reason to have stuck it out. I just comment now with my URL and name. Sigh.

    Spring will be here soon.

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    1. Thanks, Ali. I did get WordPress to import the blog, but it got stuck on the comments and wouldn't finish, so I'm glad I got Blogger working again.

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  15. Good to hear you figured out your comment problem. I'm eager to garden ,too.
    It may be 50 here this weekend, too, but I know it can snow still here( zone 5) in April! Robbie:-)

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    1. Robbie, I don't know why, but I always thought you were in a warmer climate than I am. I'm in 6b here, and the forecast is for 57F on Saturday. It has been 10-12 degrees below normal temps here this past week.

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  16. EEEEK! A granny free day would NOT be a good one. It may take a day or two for me to get back here to read your post but to not be able to would break my heart. *sniff* I'm so glad you are still here!

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    1. Awww, Barbie, that's so sweet of you to say so. You know I wouldn't stay away for long...just have my tantrum and then get over it. :-)

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  17. The blogger template can be so frustrating! Glad you figured it out.

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