BLOGS: HOW ARE WE DOING?

I started using this site to blog about 3 months ago, and I knew going in that it takes a while to acquire an audience.  I'm not new at this, got big into blogs years ago, then got bored with it and quit.  Until recently, I haven't done much blogging, and that now includes sites here at Blogger and at Wordpress . . . and several less used sites at Weebly.  This one gets the most views, about 1,700 since I started back in early October, and some 940 this past month.  Nearly half the views come from Malaysia, and that surprises me.  A few are coming from Europe.  On the other sites I maintain, almost all the views are from the U.S.  Overall, my blogs have had about 1,500 views this month (all sites), and that's only about fifty a day . . . not many.  Still, Blogger is my best site, the one I like using the best.  My attention span is short, meaning I get bored easily, but we'll stick with it a while and see what happens. 

I'm not disappointed because I don't write blogs intended for mainstream readers, like those catchy things about politics or social issues, etc.  I'll do one now and then, but mine are usually little lighthearted things, nothing of great importance.  I write about books I've written or those I'm working on.  I write about rural life, small town living, cats, and hobbies or crafts I pursue.  And I write about life as an old guy, something a lot of folks don't even want to think about.  Yeah, I'm old, and I can't do anything about that . . . other than write about it.

Over at Weebly, I maintain sites called Clowder Country (about cats), Hiram's Cove (about old people in a retirement village, based on a book I'm writing), and Philip Martin Cawlfield's Blogs, which is mostly about Texas (with pictures).  Here at Blogger, I'm D. Paz Dalton, same as my site at Wordpress.  Just thought I'd mention that, in case you'd like to check 'em out.  If not, you know where to find me here.  And, thanks for looking in.

SUPERSTITIOUS? YEAH, ME TOO

I'm superstitious about a lot of things, especially numbers.  I avoid the number 13 if at all possible.  Should a hotel clerk assign me a room with 13 in it, I'd reject it and ask for another.  I won't carry 13 dollars in my wallet, and I won't stop the gas pump at any dollar amount involving that number.  I don't like the number 9 either, but I feel good about 7. 

Do you carry a good luck item around with you?  Old time cowboy superstition says you should never carry a fifty cent piece in your pocket.  Don't wear yellow, and never put your hat on a bed.  I don't do those things, just in case they're right.  Do you avoid stepping on cracks in a sidewalk?  I'll have to admit to not worrying about cracks in sidewalks.  And then there's the thing about black cats.  I'm not superstitious about that, but I will admit to backing up and going around the block to keep from crossing a black cat's path that just ran across the street in front of me.  I love cats, though - even black ones.

There's some scientific evidence to show that some superstitions hold up, like the one about full moon nights being bad.  Ask a cop and see what he says about it, and you'll find that many of them dread full moon nights.  But most superstitions are bunk, just a bunch of nonsense.  Dan Moreno wore the number 13 when he played professional football, and he ended up being one of the most productive quarterbacks to ever play the game.  I could go on and on about how numbers mean nothing at all, but I can't help myself when it comes to 13.

2013 has been a crappy year for me.  It's been tough financially, demanding in terms of my work load as a writer, and difficult in other ways.  Two trips to the hospital due to health problems, one that damn near got me . . . that's been my year.  But . . . it's also been a lucky year.  I didn't die, or at least I've survived to date, and a few good things happened.  I won't be sorry to see it end.  Writing checks the first few months of each year is always hard for me 'cause I usually screw up the date . . . but that's not likely to happen this time around.  2014 can't come to soon for me.

By the way, Moreno never played on a team that won a Super Bowl.