The word I chose as a guide for 2024 is SIMPLIFY so, when it was time to renew my web hosting for this online space I considered it through that lens. It made my decision to switch from self hosting to managed hosting an easy one. (I realize this may make no sense to you, but bear with me 🙂 )
Self hosting for 15 years meant that I was in control—and I like being in control. (That’s a joke. Kind of). I determined the look and feel of this place and had the ability to add different features and bells and whistles (Remember the really old days of blogging when we had music? I’m not talking about that. I never did that.) It also meant I could break things—and I did a time or two. Good times.
With managed hosting, I will lose the ability to do things I used to do behind the scenes here. The look and feel will change—a lot—and my role as blogger will shift back to what it was in the early days before I took control. I’ll still have the ability to make the new space my own though. I’ve been working hard this week to set things up in the new place. I hope you like it!
Earlier this week, I deleted about 2,500 posts from this site after downloading them into a PDF. I’ve also got the blog books I create every year so nothing’s lost except the ability for readers to go back into the archives on the new site which, if I’m honest, no one really does except those looking for canning recipes and, surprisingly, I get a lot of traffic from those folks. Sorry, friends.
I’ve also decided to close down my Substack. Yes, I realize I’m swimming against the stream while so many bloggers are moving to Substack. No one said I follow the crowd. All that means is that I’ll be posting the handful of things I have over there on here in order to keep them all together when I create my blog book at the end of the year. If you don’t follow me on Substack, don’t start now. All this means is that you may have the opportunity to read a few new posts.
Anyway, all this will change early next week. The switchover should be transparent to you, apart from the totally different look and feel of this place, but I worked in I.T. long enough to know that stuff happens so I’ll be keeping my fingers, toes, eyes, and everything else crossed for a smooth transition.
Hopefully, I’ll see ya on the other side!