Seasons Change in the Blink of an Eye

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 (102º) 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!

32 thoughts on “Seasons Change in the Blink of an Eye”

  5. We’re delightfully cool right now, sunny and low 70’s. Lack of rain has turned everything brown but I’ll take that over heat any day.
    I sympathize with you on having to switch platforms. Bloated piece of shit? That’s just rude. Doesn’t your boss realize we might like it that way?
    😉

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  6. The beach is nice but I do miss once a year wearing my long red winter coat handmade in NYC, Garment district. I will take it and visit in Christmas. You did put some effort into your garden. I always have a few animals munching on tomatoes down South.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  7. Pingback: Come Mr. Tally Man – Swinged Cat

  8. My co. is overhauling its website which means I’ll need to learn a new system for the sixth or so time. Ugh. But I almost manage to learn it, so why not a 7th? Hit 106 here in my town. That is insane for coastal So Cal. Cheers on the great garden! Ours? Not so much.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

      2. OMG, Mark! I’m trying to make a new blog post and I CANNOT figure out how to add an image in this new wordpress format! Why did they have to change things? And why are they making this so difficult to find?! Argh!

        Like

      7. Thanks a lot, jerk! (I don’t mean that.) But, seriously, I’m ready to pull my hair out. This is bonkers. And I can’t figure out how to make it go back to the normal style. Why did I not refuse to allow this new set up? Why, Mark? Why?!?!

        Liked by 2 people

      9. Woo-flippin-hoo, Mark. Hahaha. I just want my image to appear IN my post. Where is it? I’ve hit insert like 5 times. When I hit preview, I see it off on the side, but why am I not seeing it in the ACTUAL POST?! I’m curious now to see what happens when I try to insert a SECOND image, these bastards.

        Liked by 2 people

  10. “I don’t have to like it” is probably one of my favorite things to say when told I have to follow new rules ahahah… That kinda sucks, though, having to switch to a different platform during work’s busiest week :/

    As for the tomatoes–what about fried green tomatoes? I hear they’re pretty good.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply
  12. Pingback: Mob Mentality – Swinged Cat

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s