April A-Z Blog Challenge Reflections

         

          This was my very first time participating in the A-Z Challenge, and there wasn’t very much that I didn’t like about the whole experience! I had a blast! Now, let’s be honest, in a way I seriously failed, because I didn’t post each letter each day, on time, every time. I think E-G went up on the same day. I did my best, but truth be told, I have so many priorities that come before my blog and there were days where I just said “heck with it, I’ll post tomorrow, I’m gonna hang out with my love before bed”.
 

          

No matter the method, I was very happy with the end result and I can’t help but be proud of myself. I finished! I posted all 26 letters of the alphabet, I learned a lot about myself, my blog and changes that I want to make in the future. I also read a lot of interesting blogs, met new people, joined new groups and discovered that there are so many different types of blogs and blog content and reasons that people even have blogs. 

           

            I think my favorite part was the themes. There were so many interesting themes out there! Here are some of the blogs that I checked in on, on a regular basis: S. L. Hennessy, The Mommy Rant, The Character Depot, The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment and The Insecure Writer's Support Group. 

            I also liked that there are co-hosts and minions that reached out, because it made me feel more included in the challenge, like I was part of a group. When a co-host or one of their minions would stop by and say “hey, I like your posts, you’re doing a great job!” it may not have seemed like much, but it really did help out.

            I never thought about quitting. I never said “this is too hard, why am I doing this?! I’m insane!” Sometimes I would get to the end of the day and realize that in all the mayhem that is my daily life, I had forgotten to do anything with my blog! I didn’t post or check comments or read any other blogs. And I would feel a little frustrated and overwhelmed, cause like I said, there’s a lot going on around here. But then I would get my posts up and I would read something interesting or funny and falling a little bit behind didn’t seem like such a big deal anymore. 

            I wouldn’t change a thing about the challenge, I think it’s wonderful just the way it is! I had so much fun that I started looking for other blogging challenges that were creative and fun. And I found nothing that even comes close to the April A-Z Blogging Challenge. Heck, I even got my sons involved! They guest posted in Letter X, for Xtreme Riding, my youngest son’s letter theme idea. Maybe some day they’ll be blogging in the challenge alongside their mama!

            Thanks so much to everyone at the 

A-Z Challenge! I had a blast, I hope everyone else had fun and maybe learned something interesting about our little California mountain community during my Kern River Valley themed month. I sure did learn a lot! And grew to love this place even more than before and I learned that there are more possibilities for adventure around us than I realized.

 My A-Z Blog theme was The Kern River Valley:

A is for All That Fresh Air

B is for Backyard Farming

C is for Camping at Isabella Lake

D is for Driving the Canyon

E is for Expensive Shopping and How I Avoid it

F is for Far and Away; Moving to the Mountains

G is for Gleaning the Fields

H is for Homeschooling in the Mountains

I is for Isabella Fishing Derby

J is for Junior Fishing Derby

K is for Kern River

L is for Lounging by the Lake

M is for Mountains

N is for Neighbors

O is for the One Seventy-Eight

P is for Produce Grown in the KRV

Q is for Quite the Fisherman

R is for Recycling

S is for Shrinking Lake

T is for Trout & Tourism

U is for Underwater Lake

V is for Valleys Galore

W is for Weekend Activities

X is for Xtreme Riding

Y is for You Can Prevent Wildfires

Z is for Zephyr; the Western Wind

Z is for Zephyr; the Western Wind

"She stood in the storm, and when the wind didn't blow her away, she adjusted her sails ~Elizabeth Edwards

Okay, maybe the wind doesn’t always blow through here toward the west, but I thought it was clever for “Z”. Most people who live around here will tell you the same thing; that while the KRV is well known for being windy, it blows the most when people come to visit. I’m not saying that the wind is never blowing but it is definitely the worst during tourist season.

This is, of course, caused by seasonal changes in atmospheric pressure, but it’s funny to tell visitors that they brought the wind with them. It can be a real inconvenience, sometimes we just want to hang out at the lake, without being windblown, but we’ve grown accustomed to it for the most part.

When the lake is at higher levels, people take advantage of the powerful gusts for windsurfing, and on the shore the kids do love to fly kites.  

The almost constant wind has also caused trees to grow in interesting directions, usually they lean over. I found them fascinating when we first moved up here, that these trees could not only survive and endure in the wind, but also be flexible. It’s almost metaphoric for life; it’s better to be flexible and blow in the wind than stand against the wind and get blown over or broken.

I can’t believe that I am finally finishing Z for the A-Z Blogging Challenge. The month seemed to go by so fast! I didn’t manage to keep up with it every day, or post the correct letters on the assigned days each time, but that’s life. Sometimes things don’t get posted in time, but they did get posted. If I’m at least able to do that, and still take care of my family and my home, then I feel like I succeeded and I am so proud of myself!

Photo Credits: dandwiki.com

meted.ucar.edu

wordy.photos.com

deutsch.istockphoto.com

Ikitesurf.com

Y is for You Can Prevent Wildfires

I’m sure most of you have probably seen California wild fires on the news. In the summer they seem to be constantly going. And maybe it’s scary to see it on the TV or maybe you don’t really feel anything, one way or the other. But let me tell you, to us California residents, specifically those in mountain areas, where wild fires are an annual event and we all have evacuation plans, it’s a very scary thing.

It’s especially scary with the drought situation currently going on in our state. No rain + mountainsides of dry grass+ dry lightning and thunder storms = a nerve wracking season. My husband and I have a plan to get our family and possessions to safety in case of a wildfire.

Now, for those of you not living in fire prone areas can still exercise caution and use common sense when visiting areas that can catch fire. For instance, you could be aware of burn days, learn how to maintain and extinguish a campfire, use an ashtray, (don’t throw cigarette butts out the window) and make sure there are no sparks coming from your car.

It may sound kind of public service announcement, but for people living in our area, a carelessly thrown match can ruin people’s lives, destroy their homes and possessions and even cause the loss of life.  

     






   Here is a link to educational resources and printable coloring pages for kids.