Sunday, October 9, 2011

Triumphs and Tragedies

I'm more than a little surprised to find myself at Thanksgiving weekend already.  Where did the summer go?  It ended so quickly and even fall is quickly turning to winter as this week we had our first nor'easter of the season, as well as a taste of snow.  I will be using the sudden burst of warm weather this weekend to clear the garden, clean out the garage and get those bulbs planted snugly into the ground.

The reward for all the hard work will be a hot turkey dinner and a walk in the brightly coloured woods.

tragedy has befallen Blogger as of late.  It seems that comments are disappearing at an alarming rate.  At first I attributed these problems to a minor glitch, sure to disappear but a post by Debra at Common Ground concluded that the issue is really that Blogger is now strictly aligned with Google, or more specifically Google Chrome.  If you haven't got Chrome you've got problems.  Thank you so much Debra for setting me straight on this issue.  I tried to leave a comment to thank you but ironically Blogger wouldn't accept my comment as I don't run Chrome!

The easy answer to this dilemma is to switch all browsers to Google Chrome but that's not necessarily possible or something I want to do.  Changing to another platform is a consideration.  Others would be able to comment on my blog freely but I would still have difficulties commenting on blogs that run Blogger.  The larger issue at play here is that in order to keep up with blogging it would appear I need to have the latest in computer gadgetry.  While I understand that technology constantly evolves and the result is that it tends to work faster and better, it really gets my goat that in order to participate in the internet one must consistently spend money to constantly upgrade computers, devices and programs.  The short story here is that I haven't yet decided how to deal with this issue but if my comments seem a little lacking lately please accept my apology.

On a much happier note I'll leave you with some photos of yesterday's giant pumpkin weigh off that took place at Veseys Seeds on the York Road.

Look at all those pumpkins!

This one gets its own blankie

Everybody pose
How do you get a giant squash to the weigh scale?  A forklift

There were separate competitions for pumpkins and squash.

The Giant Squash winner.  Over 600 lbs!


28 comments:

RURAL said...

That's a whole lot of pie...looks like a wonderful day.

Happy Thanksgiving to you, enjoy your weekend.

PS I am having troubles with comments also, and am about to ask for help. Hope that my comment goes through here.

Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

The Witch said...

Marguerite,

Happy Thanksgiving to you!
I just love these shots of the pumpkin weigh off. We use to go to them when they were held at Christmas Bell's tree farm. It was always a great highlight to Thanksgiving weekend.

Island Threads said...

Marguerite love the pumpkin parade I've never seen pumpkins that big,

re google chrome, just another way for google to take over everything,
BUT you could try a firefox browser I use firefox and I can comment, I think google chrome is in firefox, firefox is free to download and easy to use just do a search for their website your side of the atlantic, I started using firefox a few years ago and all my favourites/bookmarks were transfered easily, anyway just a suggestion for a free way out,
Frances

Casa Mariposa said...

Love the giant squash and pumpkins! I wonder how tasty they are? The whole Blogger-Chrome thing is really irritating. It's like they're saying "Do it my way or you can't do it at all!" Dowloading Chrome is free but we shouldn't have to down load it at all! Grr...!

HolleyGarden said...

Loved seeing all the giant vegetables! Simply amazing! I'm so technologically ignorant, I try not to change anything, thus I don't want to go to Chrome, as I don't want to learn anything new! I had wondered about comments, though.

Anonymous said...

darn it, I should have gone! Looked like a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing!

Carolyn @ Carolyn's Shade Gardens said...

I think you should switch to WordPress--no issues like this, incredible statistics about your blog provided, and no word verification. I have to say that I find the Blogger word verification really annoying. I don't get any spam on WordPress so why can't Blogger do that.

Johanna said...

Looks like a great time :)
The weather here has been great and this weekend in particular has been super.
I haven't had any trouble with posting comments, at least not as far as I know. I use mozzila firefox as a browser and I find it do much easier than IE. I haven't tried Crome and really have no plans to try it as I'm happy with firefox. Hope that's helpful to you.
Hugs

Northern Beauty Seeker said...

Love the giant pumpkins! There is just something so festive about them.

Glad you had a wonderful thanksgiving. :)

Jane said...

I use google chrome and like it - it's a free download. But I know how you feel - the internet world is becoming more and more complicated and there is no "one size fits all" anymore.
Those are some huge pumpkins and squash - hope they are used for some "good eatin'" after the weigh-in!
We had temps in the mid 20's all weekend and I heard Charlottetown had a new record temp of 24c!

Curbstone Valley Farm said...

I'm so sorry about the comment woes. I actually do run Chrome, because in part I find it to be more compliant than some other browsers in regards to how it uses and interprets code. Regardless, I hope you can resolve your problem soon. Changing platforms, although an option, is a lot of work.

As for the pumpkins, I'm always impressed at how large some of these grow. Although I do wonder if they're remotely edible. I can't imagine even one growing here, it would have swallowed our entire squash patch! Still, fun to see!

Jennifer@threedogsinagarden said...

Hi Marguerite, I guess I am out of touch with things because I didn't even know that there were different Googles. I find that I can't leave a comment on blogs that have an Open ID instead of name and URL. Does that mean I don't have Chrome? It is all so confusing. I'd rather look at big pumpkins too. Those are some big squash!

Pam's English Garden said...

Dear Marguerite, Amazing pumpkins! And what fun. I hope I don't start having problems with Blogger - none so far, maybe because I use Firefox. I don't want to change; I don't like change the older I get. P. x

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

Yikes, it seems to me that Google have scored a ridiculous own goal if they have made it hard for people to use Blogger from browsers other than Firefox and Chrome. Surely it will just send yet more people running for Wordpress? Scarily large pumpkins...

Janet/Plantaliscious said...

PS Looking around I see a lot of people are using Disqus to handle their comments, meaning they don't have to migrate to Wordpress but get threaded comments and avoid the current issue with BLogger comments. I found info about it here.

Melanie J Watts said...

I've often thought of migrating to wordpress if only to thwart the googlization of everything :) I was unaware of the problems with comments. Safari is my browser and I won't be switching. Those pumpkins and squash are amazing. What does one do with such a huge vegetable after the competition is over.

Marguerite said...

Jen - from what I understand Internet Explorer is the problem with comments. Most other browsers cooperate. I use Safari on my Mac and haven't had too many issues there, it's other computers running IE that give me problems.

Witch - This was my first time to the weigh off and I was really glad we went. Such an incredibly beautiful day and lots of fun.

Frances - I feel a bit the same way, these companies trying to corner the market on everything is a bit much. I've heard many other browsers like Firefox are working okay but I don't always use my home computer, what then? Everyone has to leave IE?

Tammy - feeling like we're railroaded into using a product is really a turn off isn't it?

Marguerite said...

Holley - I was pretty impressed with the size of those squash too. I find changing my blog and using new programs is a bit of a nuisance. I like my blogging to be easy since it's a fun task.

Kim - It really was a hoot. I loved the games they had set up for kids - dangling a carrot into a narrow bottle; bowling with mini squashes. We had a good time watching the kids playing.

Carolyn - I've considered Wordpress a few times but always liked the free aspect of Blogger and the ease of using all their widgets. Now I'm rethinking my position again and questioning the good and bad aspects of all the platforms.

Johanna - it seems any browser other than IE works! frustrating because IE is the automatic browser installed with PCs and most public computers use IE. Wasn't the weather this weekend spectacular? We went to the beach!

Marguerite said...

Ms.S - This was a fantastic weekend. Got lots of garden chores done, had a bike ride, a moonlit walk, lots of food. Just doesn't get any better.

Jane - We actually hit 26c, isn't that crazy? People were actually in the water at the beach. unbelievable.

Clare - from what I was told the cows really enjoy the pumpkins! I don't know if any human has ever tried eating them but they put them in the field with the animals and they enjoy every last bite.

Jennifer - I'll admit I didn't know what Chrome was at first too. I thought it was just a different version of the google page.

Marguerite said...

Pam - stick with Firefox and you should be all right I think.

Janet - thanks for the info! I'll be looking into that and see if it changes anything for me. Although with Blogger's new interface they are asking you use Chrome so that's another issue for me.

Melanie - Cows apparently. although I would have thought goats. I have no idea how they bite through that hard skin.

Diana Studer said...

Those pumpkins, are frightening. Do they ultimately get eaten, or are they all 'smoke and mirrors'?

I have been using Chrome since I found it. Have you tried updating IE? It may be a glitch they have patched. Or checking if it is a Known Problem?

I got your comment, thank you ;~)

Diana Studer said...

PS please don't change to Disqus. Disqus hates me, won't link to my blog and shows my IRL name as a dead end. GRRRumble ...

Diana Studer said...

http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/blogger/thread?tid=56e0f315d3a8eab6&hl=en

Blogger is working on the problem. Leave your details on this thread.

The Sage Butterfly said...

These problems cropped up for me in the last couple of weeks. I would like to look into Chrome to ensure it is something viable for me. In the meantime, I may switch over to Firefox so I can comment easily. Thanks for the post to discuss...was very helpful!

And I love the photos of these giant pumpkins. It is amazing how these grow so large.

NHGarden said...

Those pumpkins are amazing! I hate it when I try to comment on a blog and the whole comment just disappears!

Island Threads said...

I see what you mean Marguerite hadn't thought about using other computers, if it's only (or mainly) IE that has a problem with blogger (which is really google) then it looks like war! or at least a contest between 2 of IT's giants, google and microsoft, Frances

Marguerite said...

Diana - the pumpkins are eaten by livestock. Thanks for the link, hopefully this is something that gets fixed.

Sage Butterfly - glad this was useful to you. I hadn't even considered others were having the problem until I saw Debra's post. It's good to share the information so we can all learn.

NHGarden - it's so completely frustrating isn't it?! Trying to remember what I just wrote and if I can recreate it. I was also confused because some blogs hide the comment until it's been authorized. It was tough to figure out what was going on.

Frances - I think this could mean some big changes in computers since most PC's come loaded with IE making it the most common browser.

Anonymous said...

Hi Marguerite, I'm sorry to hear about the comments problems. I was about to note that I don't have any trouble commenting on Blogger sites even though I don't run Google Chrome -- but then I saw the explanation; I switched over to Firefox as my browser many years ago. This really is an easy switch. One advantage (besides better security) of Firefox is that it is open-source software and so techie-types love to write add-ons for it. Many of them are really helpful. -Jean