Love Those Loons
I keep trying to take loon photos and being unhappy with the results. My new camera, a Canon Powershot SX20is has the zoom needed for capturing the loons, but I’m leary of taking it out in the boat where it might get wet or dropped or damaged.
I did find some great loon photos on Zazzle and other loon gift items on Amazon, so I created a webpage for anyone looking for loon gifts. Check it out if you love loons too. I put some interesting loon videos, links and lots of gift items featuring loons (mugs, t-shirts, mousepads, woven throw, books, plush stuffed toy, figurines, etc.)
Those Cute Chipmunks
Rodents aren’t supposed to be so darn cute. After a mild winter this year, the chipmunks in New Hampshire are having a population explosion. It has given me an opportunity to try out the zoom on my Canon SX20is. Capturing digital images of the little critters has been fun.
What isn’t fun is the interest they’re taking in my strawberry patch. I have a photo series of the brazen culprit turning the large red strawberry around in his paws while nibbling daintily on different parts of the ripe fruit. Then we found they were even abscounding with the smaller green strawberries. As my husband waved his arms and stomped into the garden, a chipmunk took time to stuff a not-yet-ripe strawberry into each cheek before running away to safety.
I have two Squidoo lenses (webpages) about the chipmunks. The one about Ten Humane Ways to Get Rid of Chipmunks is proving quite popular. Apparently, I’m not the only one suffering from an over-abundance of these rodents with racing stripes. The second one is Fun Facts about Chipmunks and the target audience is children, but I’m finding that it appeals to adults too. It includes some of my chipmunk photos and observations that I’ve made of their behavior.
Promoting My Webpages Using Redgage
I’ve been posting my articles from eHow and my webpages from Squidoo to REDGAGE. Just now and then, I take a little time and add my links on Redgage. It is supposed to help the Google ranking on my articles and lenses to have more backlinks.
While putting on a few recent lenses, I noticed that I’d been a member of Redgage for a year now. Time flies when you’re having fun. During that year, I’ve posted 512 items to the site. It only takes a few seconds to upload a link or a photograph to Redgage.
Usually I get a few comments and friend requests while I working on my postings. There are quite a few people using Redgage that I already knew from Squidoo and eHow. It’s great to see familiar faces.
During my year on Redgage, I’ve had 7210 Total Unique Views, won one contest ($25) and had a photo featured ($10). Although I’m not getting rich on the site, the pennies keep adding up. I’ve earned more than I expected, since my main motivation for posting links on Redgage was to get backlinks for my articles and lenses.
“Nobody Likes Me”
Remember being a little kid and wailing the words, “nobody likes me.” Mom always hastened to reassure me that just because Mary wouldn’t share her ice cream and Sandra was too busy to jump rope, didn’t mean they didn’t like me.
Now with content on multiple websites, there’s the internet equivilent of “nobody likes me.” I have to remind myself that I probably just haven’t put the right keywords on a Squidoo lens or a blog posting or an eHow article. Here’s a list of Squidoo lenses that haven’t had a thumbs up or like from any viewers. Usually that means it’s getting outside views but not being seen by Squidoo lensmasters who are pretty faithful about rating other lenses when they read them. Sometimes, it means no one at all is even stumbling across the lens. That’s really sad.
Here’s my lenses that currently feel like orphans:
| Title | Rank | Rating | Visits | $$$ | Edited |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Favorite Eating Places for Sol… |
46,130 |
![]() |
6 | $0.00 | 07/10/2010 |
Decorating with Neon Bar Signs |
57,455 |
![]() |
5 | $0.00 | 07/08/2010 |
Haunted House in Chelsea |
57,760 |
![]() |
7 | $0.00 | 07/01/2010 |
Teterville, Kansas |
68,347 |
![]() |
2 | $0.00 | 06/29/2010 |
Kissimmee and Old Florida |
84,348 |
![]() |
4 | $0.00 | 06/12/2010 |
Golden Wedding Stamps Online |
108,947 |
![]() |
7 | $0.00 | 05/05/2010 |
Holland: Memorable Books |
115,967 |
![]() |
3 | $0.00 | 02/21/2010 |
Lake Forest Resort – Bulletin … |
121,194 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 07/07/2010 |
Cynthia Ross – Kansas Author |
135,360 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 06/28/2010 |
Donate Crutches to Haiti |
137,497 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 07/03/2010 |
Red Sox Spring Training |
137,527 |
![]() |
4 | $0.00 | 03/05/2010 |
Finding Poinciana, Florida |
138,565 |
![]() |
5 | $0.00 | 03/21/2010 |
BBQ Aprons for Men |
140,266 |
![]() |
7 | $0.00 | 06/21/2010 |
Small Town Kansas: Reading |
148,169 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 07/08/2010 |
Too Much Stuff |
158,370 |
![]() |
1 | $0.00 | 06/10/2010 |
Fun Facts about Moose |
191,323 |
![]() |
1 | $0.00 | 06/19/2010 |
Bertha McGhee |
210,697 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 07/01/2010 |
Create a Catalog of Your Lense… |
221,385 |
![]() |
1 | $0.00 | 06/28/2010 |
Wildlife Photo Gifts by Virgin… |
229,133 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 07/07/2010 |
Snow in Orlando – December Eve…| |
247,828 |
![]() |
0 | $0.00 | 06/16/2010 |
Kansas Gifts from Zazzle Featu… |
Thieves Stole My Writing!
I recently created a webpage promoting my favorite clog (Sloggers). Being an Amazon Affiliate, I put lots of links to Amazon so people could buy their own Sloggers. They aren’t that easy to find in stores, so I figured my webpage would help all those Slogger fans out there looking for them.
Yesterday I checked how the webpage was doing and was pleased with its page ranking on Squidoo (8,700) and the number of visitors. Then I glanced at the module I’d put on it about Bloggers Buzz about Sloggers. It changes regularly as Google picks up comments on Sloggers from the blog world.
Aack! Three of the comments in the Bloggers Buzz were just a repeat of the introduction rave that I’ve used on Squidoo. I clicked on the links to see what was happening. Sure enough, there were three webpages out there selling Sloggers and using my exact wording. This is totally unacceptable.
I did some searching about stolen content online and found out that I need to file a DMCA complaint.
In the meantime, if you want to see what was worth stealing, check out the introduction to my Squidoo webpage called Sloggers: The Best Clog Ever.
Sam’s a Super Star Cat
A few days ago I created a website (lens on Squidoo) for an online friend of mine. It was to feature all her cat related articles on eHow and her blogs about feral cats, cat adoption and feline leukemia. To pull the theme together, I used her cat, Sam, as the central focus of the lens. The title of the lens is Sam – Feline Leukemia Survivor.
My friend sent the link out to all her friends and posted it in the eHow forums. The lens took off, quickly climbing in lensrank from 95,000 up to 5,000 by the third day. The very first day it was out, the lens was awarded a purple star. Purple stars are coveted honors on Squidoo and confer a lens boost too.
I submitted the lens to the Squidoo Summer Sunshine Award which pays $99 to the named Squidoo charity and $99 to the lensmaster with a winner being named every day during the summer. Wow, if Sam’s lens won in this contest, that would be $99 for the Humane Society (official Squidoo charity) and $99 that I could contribute to my friend for the tests and treatments needed by Sam.
Please visit the lens at Sam – Feline Leukemia Survivor so you can see why Sam is such a great poster cat for this cause. Your visit and comment in the guestbook give the lens a boost and help it towards earning money for the Humane Society.

Feline Leukemia Awareness Postage by Susang6
See all other stamps available at zazzle
I’m a Winner
On Facebook, I’m a fan of Seaglass Jewelry by Tears of the Sea which promotes jewelry by a Maine artist. She uses seaglass to make her masterpieces. You have to see the necklaces and bracelets to appreciate the artistry involved. They are exquisite.
You can see the full range of the beautiful seaglass jewelry on their webpage.
Once in awhile they have a contest on Facebook. The most recent one involved guessing the number of seaglass pieces in a tall jar. I guessed 790. The contest ended today and they revealed that the jar held 796, so my guess was the closest without going over. I win and the prize is an English seaglass pendant. Click on the Facebook link above to see the truly lovely prize. It amazes me that I’ve won a contest and even more amazing that it was something that I’ll treasure.
I’ve loved beach glass for a long time. Recently I made a Squidoo lens about blue beach glass.
Toad Encounter
I bumped into this fellow today while I planted some impatiens. He was partially hidden in the dirt, so I almost jabbed him with my trowel. Fortunately he moved, as I really didn’t see him. His coloration blended pretty well with the soil.
I took this shot with my Canon Powershot A550. It’s a small camera that fits well in the hand and easy to hold steady for a close-up shot.
I was particularly struck by how detailed the toad’s eye pattern is in this photo. You can click on the photo to see it even larger. Somewhere I read that to get good wildlife photos to focus in on the eyes. Too many of my shots just show the animal’s rump as it disappears into the brush.
The Strawberry Queen
Since our vegetable garden was a dismal failure last year, we decided to skip the cucumbers and lettuce and zuchinni this year. Instead we opted to plant blueberry bushes, blackberries and strawberries. The first challenge was finding the plants. We trekked to Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, K-Mart and other places with garden centers. Finally we found some strawberry plants at Marden’s, a discount store. At $2.99, they seemed a bargain compared to the $10 strawberry plants we saw at another place.
Let’s get 10, I said, but my husband suggested getting four of the skimpy looking plants and continue our search. Later we did buy the robust looking $10 plant. Our reasoning was there were actually four plants in the gallon pot, so we could divide it.
Today I started planting the eight plants. When I opened the box for the skimpy plants, it revealed ten bare-root plants in each box. Suddenly I had 44 plants to plant. Feeling a little overwhelmed, I tucked strawberry plants into every nook of the garden.
Hopefully they will thrive in the somewhat sandy soil we have. Since we already had a strawberry patch of about 20 plants, next spring we may have to hold a strawberry festival for all our friends.
</div>
Boosting My Laggard Lenses on Squidoo
I guess when you list things by rank, something has to be at the bottom. Squidoo lensmasters get compulsive about checking their lensrankings. Maybe it’s just me, as I was that way with my eHow articles and before that with my Amazon reviews.
Now the challenge I’m setting myself, is to see what can be done to boost these laggard lenses that trail all the others in my list of 170 lenses (websites) on Squidoo. If nothing else, at least posting the lenses here and writing about them, creates a backlink for each of them. Google loves links and assumes you have a quality webpage if someone links to it.







Comments on the Blog