It's my blog-aversary!

Eight years ago today, on January 18th, 2008, I began this blog.  I'd blogged before as a guest writer on another animal blog,  but I'd left that organization the previous year and soon had a bunch of foster animals to care for and plenty of  stories to tell.  And so I learned how to set up my own blog, and put pen to paper - or fingers to keyboard.

And here I am, eight years later, with way fewer animals to write about and way more photos to share. (Those early posts were more stories than photos,  though some posts did get the occasional photo attached).  My posting waxes and wanes, with some months having few (or - gulp - zero)  posts,  and others having plenty, but I seem to be back in the swing of things, making an appearance at least every second or third day at the moment.

Since January 18, 2008,  I've posted a total of  1,379 posts and received a total of 5889 comments - the latter count having declined, per post, since I started putting  the link to most new blog posts on facebook, and many people now comment there instead.  Can't blame them - Blogger seems to make it more and more difficult to comment.  (Oh, and if you rely on 'notifications' to tell you when I've posted, Blogger is changing the rules on that too - so starting this week, you may have to stop by to see if I've posted recently.)

But back to the stats.  I've had approximately 392,527 page views from about 258,362 visitors (not counting the ones who are surfing and don't stop to read anything).  That's likely a conservative count as every now and then the counter has broken.  And I'm not sure how many are return visitors and how many come here only once, because that part of the counter seems to have disappear.

The post that got the most views was "We Canadians Kill Dogs" with a record 3450 views - followed closely by the subsequent posts on the topic of importing dogs.   Some of the comments from importers were so nasty I ended up closing the comment section.

My favourite posts are the ones I have written from my heart, not my head - posts full of love and humour and the joy of being alive  - stories of the critters I fostered, the dogs I've loved, the beauty of nature, special times with family and friends,  magic moments that make one glad to be alive.  And, of course, my annual July 1st tribute to Canada - which combines images from all those favourite posts.

So....unless you've been here from the very beginning....you might have some catching up to do, to find those buried treasures.  They are hidden among the 1,379 posts on this blog.  If you're curious about how it all began, you'll find the very first post here: Welcome to my blog .