Oops Blogoversary, Your Favorites, and Thank You!

I missed the exact date. But that's no reason to miss the celebration! This silly blog was two years old on September 7th! Can you imagine? I, who was Never Going To Have A Blog, have been at it for two years.

I went back and looked at that Very First Post. I said, "Blog, blog, blog: it's the new blah, blah, blah." I wrote a little story about public poopage way back then! And I included an excerpt from the novel, most all of which has been cut from the rewrite. (Not the Run! part; but it's been changed and moved.)

I introduced you to a Very Old Dog and we said goodbye to him.

I laughed with Lady Maria ...

And visited with a Nekkid Neighbor .

And said goodbye, after a Lifetime of Laughter. Little sweet pea.

We extolled the virtue of Support Socks! Remember?

We laughed at the notion of being considered SEXY!

I shared some fiction, one I wrote about Santa, which got shared a LOT, thank you so much!

And the most widely read and shared post of all, a three part short story about a Rescuer, and the dog she rescued, Joe.

The horse short story has already gotten almost as many reads. Looks like you are sharing that one, too. More thank yous!

Here is a piece I wrote the very first week of the blog, which you might have missed.

I've made new friends, and reconnected with old ones. You've supported me through a rather challenging year, and put up with certain rants and pity parties.

I hope in return I've been able to bring you a smile or two, and a good kind of cry once in a while.

I sure do want to say a most heartfelt Thank You!

So I think I'll do a random draw from the comments on this post and send a free, signed copy of Mama Pajama Tells A Story.

And, if you would, for me, please hug your hounds!

Bloggus Interruptissimus

Dearest Readers,

We will be unable to blog

from now until

mid October.

Please hold the whippets

in your hearts

until we return.

(We are fine, don't worry!)

***

hug your hounds

Give-away, blog-o-docious thank you!

Here Ye, Hear Ye !

From the Very MOUTH OF THE SOUTH to your ears

We have some BIG THANK YOUs to share with YOU, Dear Readers.

Since 9/07/07, we have had 75,621 pageviews... OH MY HEAVENS!!! More than 75,000 pageviews for the dog poop blog!!! And 53,473 visits from more than 110 countries.

And that is because of YOU, dear readers!!! And we can't thank you enough! You have told your friends and spread the word and thank you thank you thank you.

In our first post, on September 7, 2007, we

• told a story about the dogs pooping in public,
• blamed Amy, Mary, Jeannie, and Rhonda for talking us into blogging, and
• included an excerpt from the novel

But that did not stop you from coming! Google Analytics this morning gave these exciting numbers-

The most popular story is still Mr. Mouse, with nearly 4000 pageviews, next is the Rescue, followed closely by My Dog Is Getting Old. The overheard conversation, For Dog Lovers Only, is right up there.

Some of our personal favorite stories are

• What's in a name?
• The Smile Maker
• The Difference Between Dogs and Humans
• When All is Right
• When Nine are Too Many, and finally
• Remembering

To THANK YOU, DEAR READERS, we'll be doing GIVE-AWAY DRAWINGS from now until our September 7th BLOG-O-VERSARY!!!

The first Give-away, never before offered for free ...

[drumroll.......]

the ever popular POOP CANDLE!!! Great for birthday parties, barkday pawties, hostess gifts, powder rooms, oh the possibilities are endless!

Simply leave a comment, by scrolling down a little bit and clicking on "click here to comment" or on "post a comment". We will draw from the comments and if we draw you, you WIN!!!

Thank you. Sweet Maria, at thirteen and a half, is worn out from all this excitement. She says, "Sweet dog dreams" to you and yours.

Hugs to you, and to your hounds

And the winner is... (winners are...)

I typed up all of the entries. (Oh, and please note that I didn't blab, blab, blab about this free drawing, because it was to be a Reader Appreciation Give-away, so I put it at the end of a LOOOONG, boring post, and only the dearest of dear readers would have slogged through the drudgery and find the opportunity to get a freebie!)

I then cut them up into equal sized pieces and put them all into one pile, all together, with none left out.

The dogs were all sound asleep. Who would supervise?

I couldn't raise anyone, and Bill is still out of town, so it was up to HENrietta and Fartin' Earl to see that all entries were in the empty CD holder ready to be drawn:

Yup, they were all in there (you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them... use your back button to return):

I did the drawing. And then I felt like a cheapskate. Because I do so appreciate all of you dear readers. So I drew another. And then even one more. And then I thought how much each book costs me and I got a grip.

Here are the WINNERS!!!

Congratulations! And thank you for your unexpected and surprisingly supporting words!!! Really, I was the winner here, and I pumped out about ten chapters of the novel zoom with enthusiasm and confidence after reading your kind words of encouragement.

And since I feel bad that there were only three winners, I will lower the price of the book on eBay for one week, 20% !!! Wow!!! Bill will kill me!!! Welcome home, darling!

THANK YOU.

hug your hounds and winners please email me your snail mail address and let me know if you want my autographed book and to whom you would like it signed, or let me know if you already have the book and want two free custom collars instead.