Euthanizing This Blog

Writing this blog had become a chore over the past month or so. I began posting pictures with a few words and hooking up to blog hops to fill the days. I felt the need to post on a daily basis yet had little to say. I became overwhelmed with daily life avoiding the job of writing a post.  Amid all the pressure and stress I placed on myself, I lost my way. I felt it might be time to end this chapter.

Kirby's Facebook Page has been slowly growing gaining new followers yet with a billion Facebook users I felt it wasn't growing enough. Pages where cute little dogs who spoke baby talk were surpassing us in leaps and bounds. Don't misunderstand, I love reading the posts and seeing the uber cute pictures on some of these pages!

Even though I receive emails from readers people stopped leaving comments here. Yes, fellow bloggers left a comment here and there but they had their own stories to tell. Stories that were much more interesting than mine. Information that was much more helpful than mine. I really began to feel the past few years had been a waste of time. I began to believe I had failed again. Over the last few weeks I seriously contemplated shutting down this blog.

Two different analytics on my site tell me I get an average of a hundred new visitors every day yet my Page Rank has dropped from a 3 to a 2. It didn't bother me so much that very few commented since I read a lot of posts I enjoy without commenting. I use Mailchimp email so I knew every time a blogger I follow unsubscribed. Each one left me feeling rejected.

I designed and coded every part of this website which really turned out quite beautiful even if it is simple. Its easy to navigate. It showcases the Kirbster's personality. But that wasn't the problem. I had to admit the problem is my content really sucks! Other than the Canine Chef's Cookbook I have even bored myself. Where did the fun stuff go? What happened to Kirby's Dorkie Moments? What happened to sharing the precocious things he does that endear him to us in so many ways? Kirby the Dorkie stopped being about Kirby the Dorkie. He is truly my muse yet I stopped sharing him. I let it all become mechanical.

People who interact with him in person just fall in love with him. A picture of him can speak a thousand words just by the twinkle in his eyes or the expression on his face. The camera loves him and he'll do just about anything I ask of him. Sometimes surprising me. Why didnt I write about the time where I grabbed the camera, a bag of treats, and a silk rose planning to teach him to hold it in his mouth. I placed the rose in his mouth, said hold it, and held the clicker. The plan was to get him to hold it a little bit longer each time, then I would click and give him a treat. That never happened because he never let go! I must have taken twenty pictures of different poses and he never let go of that rose!

Or the time at the lake when he was swimming out to me and several kids started swimming towards him calling his name. It was hilarious how he abruptly made a u-turn heading for the shore. Although he looked back a time or two, he never stopped paddling. Or how he swims out to retrieve his toy bringing it further and further into the grass with that look of "are you kidding me" every time we throw it back out. Or the time he was swimming with Grits, a very large lab. We threw Kirbys' toy and a huge stick for Grits out into the lake. Grits got to the toy first and grabbed it. Kirby, not to be outdone, simply swam out much further, retrieved the stick which was larger than him, and upon returning, struggled to bring it out of the water. Or the time in the French Quarter when he suddenly decided to jump into the public fountain for a swim to cool off.

 Even Doug, who doesn't like dogs in general, absolutely adores him. I've been blessed with this angel, this little bundle of fur. He behaves, he listens, he learns. He's fearless, he's friendly, he's always eager. He loves to go and see and do. He loves life to the max and brings me along for the ride. He's unbelievably gentle with small children and he is the perfect therapy dog for our fosters, and for me, if I'm being honest. He seems to know and understand my moods often reacting with a snuggle or doing something totally silly just to make me laugh.

Today I have made a conscious decision to go back to the basics which is Kirby. There is so much I have learned from him, about him, and because of him. That's what I am going to start writing about. Even if I only write two or three posts a week it will be enough. My passion is Kirby, canine nutrition, fosters, and how God is directing my life through it all. Somewhere along the way I fell into this huge vortex of all things dog and I lost my voice. Starting today my voice will once again center around a little dog with a big heart.

Honestly, I never for a moment forgot Kirby was my heart dog, I just forgot to share him.

The Next Big Thing

Maybe, just maybe 2013 will be our lucky year! Just four days into the new year our weblog was given this award by Emma, from MyGBGV Life who just happens to be a fellow canine with her own chef's hat which makes it extra pawsome!

"we just recently met on facebook and I found his blog amazing! I just love it, full of ideas and fun and therefore I think he is on his way to something big!" 

Kirby is the muse behind everything this weblog is.  His silly antics, his quest for knowledge, his love of food, his willingness to do whatever I ask, his role as therapy dog for our fosters, his joy in the simple things, and above all, his unconditional love show what an amazing dog he is.

Everyday he inspires me to do more, to try harder, to reach the unreachable. Every day he teaches me to take one day at a time, to live in the moment, to stop and take time to play. Nothing pleases Kirby more than a happy time and nothing pleases me more than sharing him with the ones that love and adore him.

Kirby the Dorkie just might be the next big thing! He already is in my book.

The requirement for accepting this award is to nominate five blogs that we think just might be the next big thing.  I just don't have the time to read a lot of blogs on a daily basis but I do read the ones I subscribe to by email. We join blog hops now and then when I know I'll have time to visit most, if not all, the blogs on the hop. There are so many blogs nowadays that I know I'll keep discovering more to love. For example, Emma's blog is one we only recently discovered and it's adorable with some of the funest pictures!

Well Kirby and I had a little talk and these are the ones that inspire us with their knowledge, their humor, their fun ways of sharing who they are:

1. Hey... It's Jet Here  This blog is just plain fun to read. 

2. Doggie Dessert Chef This chef whips up some delicious canine cookies with recipes boasting an array of ingredients like lavendar and bacon. She is an inspiration.

3. Fidose of Reality From current news to canine topics to a wigglebut wedding this one is always interesting.

4. Pretty Fluffy  This one is just so beautiful pretty to gaze upon.

5. Kol's Notes This grumpy dog is hilarious! I'm not sure about the zombies but he's spot on when it comes to good food which his mom is a wiz at.

Blogging takes time and dedication which is both a curse and a blessing. Bloggers have different personalities and ideas whether it's the way they perceive an idea or let the anipal do the talking or the gauntlet they choose to empower.  Through all of this it really comes down to the readers who take the time to stop and notice.  Thank you Emma for stopping to notice Kirby the Dorkie! 

SquareSpace Rocks My Blog!

When I first began my little blog I began with SquareSpace. Eventually I moved Kirby the Dorkie to Blogger thinking it was just as good and FREE. We rocked on for quite a while growing and learning until disaster struck. Something went screwy with my design placing everything in the far right column. No matter what I tried, no matter where I searched, I found no help. 

So I went back to SquareSpace. Why I ever left is beyond me! I'm on the standard package plan which gives me everything I need for only $96.00 a year or $8.00 per month. Every time I have run into a problem there is always someone available to help me. The day came when I encountered the exact situation that had sent me running from Blogger - everything stuck in the far right column. Panic quickly set it!

Then I remembered someone was there to help me. I opened a ticket and received an email acknowledgment. Within thirty minutes I received another email asking for more details which I sent, then another email saying they were passing me to a more experienced tech. Within a few hours all was right with the world! That tech took the time to go through my website until he found the problem. He didn't send me an email telling me how to fix the problem - he fixed the problem and explained what had happened! Turns out it was a bad code I would have never discovered with my limited knowledge. 

Last week Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast with gusto immobilizing New York City where SquareSpace headquarters is located.  I received an email alerting me that my blog would go done for an undetermined amount of time.  Was I upset?  People and pets were displaced from their homes so absolutely NOT!  My blog seemed of little importance in the scheme of things. 

What amazed me was that Kirby the Dorkie never went done, not for one second!  Following is an excerpt from the email I received today from SquareSpace. 

Peer1, our data center in downtown Manhattan, was so severely impacted by Hurricane Sandy that it suffered a total loss of power despite multiple levels of redundant systems. At the time, there was no resolution in sight. Our backup fuel reserves and building infrastructure had been destroyed by Sandy's storm surge, which flooded many buildings downtown. As you may be aware, this was a historic and unprecedented storm for the entire tri-state region, bringing about the largest storm-related power outage ever in Con Edison's history.

I am proud to announce that throughout this event, Squarespace customers experienced absolutely no downtime related to the power outage. This is an amazing outcome considering the extraordinary circumstances we faced last week. What remains is an incredible story.

For those of you that haven't been following our updates, employees from Squarespace, Fog Creek, and Peer1 manually carried fuel up 17 flights of stairs for three days to save our generator while an interim fuel supply and pump could be installed. These efforts to provide uninterrupted service for our customers were chronicled by numerous publications including All Things D, BetaBeat, Computerworld, Fast Company, TechCrunch, The New York Times, Pando Daily, and The Verge.

We now have a working pump system delivering fuel to the roof generator, more than enough fuel on site, and a redundant street-level generator connected and tested as of last night. These systems will remain in place for the foreseeable future. Our building has still not been able to connect to Manhattan's power grid, as the building's two sub-basements were submerged in 30 feet of water that took four days to pump out. We will continue to post updates onstatus.squarespace.com as we resume normal operations.

Of course, such heroics should not be necessary to keep operations running smoothly. We initiated a plan to build a geographically redundant operation this past summer and expect to have it online in early 2013. This gives us the ability to route around areas affected by natural disasters much more effectively.

We take the responsibility of running the hundreds of thousands of sites on Squarespace very seriously . Our homepage states that our scalable, reliable cloud infrastructure eliminates downtime, and our customers all over the world count on us to keep their websites online no matter what. Wanting to keep that promise is what propelled us forward and helped us persevere during this most challenging of times. Thank you all for being Squarespace customers - it is with your continued support that we can continue to fight for great design, amazing products, and exceptional service.

They were concerned about their customers even while they had families and pets facing such devastation, ie, flooding and loss of electricity. Can I just say SquareSpace has heart! 

I know most bloggers use Blogger and many are moving to Wordpress but you really should consider Squarespace when you finally decide you could use a little backup for when things go wrong which they will - just ask Murphy. Right now I'm still using Version 5 but have plans to upgrade to the brand new Version 6 (at the same monthly fee) which has more of a magazine feel to it. 

All I can say is Kirby the Dorkie is home! Three cheers and four paws for SquareSpace!!