Last week was a mentally challenging one at work. This is our busiest time of year, with multiple titles coming out. In addition to our regular publications, we’ve got our biannual Visitor’s Guide, plus the annual bridal magazine and Southern Hills Vacation Guide. Factor in a brand new magazine, an overhaul of a client’s website, and some personnel changes, and it’s enough to drive one to drink. Luckily, I already do. So when our Digital Director announced late on Friday afternoon that he was “changing up” one of our sites, this sounded suspiciously like he was contemplating the unthinkable: ditching WordPress for a different platform.
“Hey, Jay,” I said. “You’re not contemplating the unthinkable and ditching WordPress for a different platform, are you?”
When he confirmed this was exactly what he was doing, it nearly broke me.
“But…but….” I stammered, trying to find the perfect words to express my displeasure over the idea and convince him to give it a second thought. “WordPress good.”
Admittedly, I’m not very eloquent under pressure.
“Only a blogger would say that,” he responded.
Gasp! Those are fighting words! Granted, I do not know much about the back end of websites. Load times and other things that take place under the hood couldn’t interest me less. I like the functionality of WP, the ease of use. I even like the block editor so many others are complaining about. Jay said those things are well and good, but—and pardon me here for using technical developer jargon—WP is “a bloated piece of shit.”
Bloated piece of shit or not, it’s my bloated piece of shit, one that I navigate every day at work with ease and comfort. Now we’re moving to Expression Engine, which I’m sure is more functional from a developer’s standpoint, but the little I’ve worked with it has left much to be desired. I don’t find it very pretty, if I’m being honest, which is probably a very poor reason to argue against change. When Jay called me a blogger, he wasn’t wrong. I’ve had WP blogs for over a decade. EE will take some getting used to, but I’m sure I’ll adapt.
I don’t have to like it, though.
Saturday was our hottest day of the year. We finally hit triple digits (102°) after flirting with the century mark several times. But the forecast promised a big change, so we decided to go for a drive on Sunday while it was still summer. We made a loop through Rochford all the way out to Newcastle, Wyoming, before circling back through Custer and Hill City. It was smoky from wildfires out west, but otherwise, a fine day for exploring the Black Hills and beyond.
Today is the first day of fall, at least for us. It’s going to be cool and rainy, only in the 50s. I switched the Nest thermostat to warm/cool mode, which means the heat and A/C will both come on depending on our programs. Fall is going to be mighty fleeting, though; tomorrow is the first day of winter, because we might actually see a little snow.
With the threat of frost and a widespread freeze tomorrow night, we were forced to harvest most of our garden this morning. We’re hoping the green tomatoes we picked will still ripen. What we do have, we plan to turn into blender salsas and tomato jam and pico de gallo. By the way, this was last night’s haul.
I would say our first garden in South Dakota has been a success! It took a long time for things to ripen, but once they got going, they didn’t quit. Tara has already dug out her charts and graphs and begun plotting out next year’s gardens. Plural, because one isn’t enough, is it?
Happy Labor Day/first-and-last-day-of-fall depending on where you live!
Mark My Words 
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