At some point in the previous year I must have forgotten how much time these blog summaries take. Not so much the high level commentary, but gathering up all the year end statistics rivals the daunting 50K. Oh, did I mention I checked the 50K off my life list -yeah, I did that ha! Truthfully, 2019 turned out to be one of those years I’ll probably try hard to put past me. Something tells me it will keep flashing into conscious for some time. The running addiction sent me to the doctor earlier in the year thanks to a marksman hornet/bee that nailed by spine and then I lost a battle with the Heat Miser that landed me in the ER with a set of shiny new staples. Watching Linda go through her surgery and recovery still takes the top spot on my stressful experiences – a distinction that doesn’t come lightly based on some of life’s challenges that fill the rest of that list. Then there’s still trying to keep my emotions in check whenever a random event triggers a cherished memory with my father. Fortunately for me, blogging is the best therapy for the money. It has been a fantastic grounding that allows me to document my thoughts, events, opinions, adventures, accomplishments and progression on the things that intrigue me in this thing called life – the fact that the completion of 2019 represents the 12th consecutive year of producing the flagship LifeIntrigued and its offshoot WildlifeIntrigued is testament to the joy it brings me. Through this effort, I’ve been able to meet new friends across the world, share experiences, explore differing perspectives and learn about their cultures and hobbies from their own blogging efforts – ex: CJ has introduced me to the world of canoeing/kayaking, adventures in the Netherlands and St Louis zombies (https://thecedarjournal.com/blog/ ) – B has been ramping up my Butterfly/Dragonfly/Birding knowledge from the UK while taking me to places like the Berlin Wall that seemed so far away from my stomping grounds in the broke state of Illinois (https://blhphotoblog.wordpress.com/blog/). A big thanks to all you birding bloggers out there that challenge me every day to get better at my photography craft and special gratitude to all those that take the time to read my musings, comment and show your appreciation through likes. Shout out to Brad M. who catches all my typos so I at least appear halfway credible.
Even with some of the downsides in ’19 there were still some very bright spots that I can’t overlook. Seeing Linda on the upside of her recovery brings a big smile to me every time I see her. Can’t wait to witness her tear up the dog agility competitions now that she can keep up with Raven. On the personal front, getting the 50K trail checked off was big for me. Failure doesn’t sit well with me and being able to recover and redeem myself in a little more than 3 months took some pushing (especially with all the chaotic things happening during that time). Add to that the 17 (at least) new checks on the NA bird list (link here) which kept me in striking reach of Ron (yes, he who owes me bigly ha!). Was able to meet up with Ron for some local birding adventures (and one not so local) – always fun times to be had in the field and going through the tins trying to ID the day’s haul. Goal this year is for me to get him posting more on his own blog (link here). He was the catalyst for me to start this whole blog endeavor 12 years ago. Although the surgery limited us on our usual travel, Linda and I were able to catch a few short trips allowing for some good birding opportunities that have filled up the blog hopper for likely years to come (Lake Tahoe, Henderson NV, St. Louis) as well as quick excursions to local hotspots. I promise to try and get those tins posted at a fresher rate this year. If nothing else, having just celebrated another birthday it is starting to limit how far back I can easily recall.
Keeping with tradition, it’s time to look back at the year’s output and self-evaluate. Did I hit my self-imposed monthly quota, did my photography show progress and what posts intrigued my readers ..or more important which topics missed the mark. So with that, I bring you the 2019 year end summary. If you are curious, hit the jump below to see the individual stats and accomplishments. Thanks again for all your help throughout the year and for spending precious time on my little project. Can’t wait to see what intriguing things 2020 throws at us. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to get you crispy pictures in the tin to share.
Thank You!
And now, the annual stats for the year’s worth of blogging.
Hit the jump to see the 2019 stats!
- According to the WordPress Stats: Total Posts 1017 and 3,629 comments (across both blogs – there is overlap)
- According to the WordPress Stats: 2019 Total Posts 83 (a slip from the 101 of the previous year which is a bit surprising) and 456 comments (way up from last year’s mere 278!) along with 599 likes – very appreciative.
- Total blog pages this year (according to MS Word): 592 (down from my previous year’s output of 675, but that would have been pushed up significantly had I been able to publish the Halloween trail and projects posts)
- Total number of words this year (according to MS Word): 92,961 (a drop from 102,934 last year – hey, it’s the size of the word that counts right?!?)
- Post topics (some posts had multiple categories) 2018 / Total
- Birds: 61 / 427 – surprisingly the exact same number of bird posts as last year)
- Fail: 0 / 5 – seven years in a row now, but CJ has me motivated with her “Hmmmm” posts so actually have one in the hopper)
- General: 0 / 53
- Insects: 2 / 23 – as promised in last year’s summary I did get 2 out there
- Observation: 73 / 787 – 5 short of last year, not bad
- Phoadtography: 0 / 16 – I can’t take pictures out of the car if I’m writing posts now can I? ha
- Products: 1 / 22 – hold the presses one of these made it out there
- Projects: 5 / 70 – one more than last year, but this should have been a lot more as all the Halloween projects didn’t make it out yet
- Ramblings: 0 / 11 – definitely good for you
- Recollection: 14 / 135 – went back down from my high of 22 last year, will put a little more focus back on this for next year
- Service: 0 / 53 – don’t be fooled, there were plenty of times I could have ranted about crappy service
- Wildlife: 66 / 533 – clearly an ever-growing emphasis here at LifeIntrigued and the part of the blog that generates the most feedback
- WIT: 0/2 – may just kill this category, thought it would be something fun, but ended up more work than expected and didn’t really generate that much interest.
- Blogs this year by month
- Jan: 11 – grease those fingers
- Feb: 6
- Mar: 7
- Apr: 6
- May: 7
- Jun: 6
- Jul: 7
- Aug: 6
- Sep: 6
- Oct: 7
- Nov: 7
- Dec: 7
- Comments this year by month (from wildlife stats) (comments / likes)
- Jan: 62 / 66
- Feb: 44 / 42
- Mar: 54 / 55
- Apr: 56 / 49
- May: 36 / 50
- Jun: 20 / 27
- Jul: 18 / 40
- Aug: 35 / 60
- Sep: 27 / 51
- Oct: 36 / 53
- Nov: 25 / 36
- Dec: 43 / 70
- Posts with Most Comments / Likes
- They Who Suck Sap – 16 / 12
- Low Rider – 4 / 15
- Number of images used:
- Birds – 390 (woot, up by 2 from last year)
- Other Wildlife Photos – 48 (amazingly essentially the same as last year)
- Other Photos – 161 (way down, but that is primarily due to not getting the massive Haunted Trail posts out – which means this year will be waaaay over the top hehehe)
- Custom Graphics – 3
- TOTAL: 602 (down from the 679 blast from last year)
- Completed Life List Items:
- Trail running now has me officially hooked.
- 5 half marathons this year (3 standard, 2 trail) plus two 5Ks as doubles to halfs, a 15k and a 7 miler (the last being the Bix for my 17th year in a row).
- Completed a life list 50K trail run (admittedly took me two tries – first try sent me to the hospital)
- Upped my total running distance to 1,200 miles (up 100 miles from last year’s total).
- Blogging for the 12th year successfully hitting my self-imposed 6 post/month quota – actually rocked it last year and really closer to 7 a month!
- 2019 was another good year for my birding list coming in with an additional 17 ticks to my birding checklist giving me a total count of 254 (note, that is seen, photographed and blogged on before the count can be incremented)
That’s a wrap, have a great New Year everyone!… 2019 is officially closed and to be honest thanks to a significant amount of stress and emotions that year brought… glad to be able to turn the calendar.
