Dan Antion

Hot Muggy Buggy

That about sums up last week here in the tropical paradise known as Connecticut. I know I’m not alone in reporting actual highs of 98°f (37°c) and “feels like” heat indexes as high as 117°f (47°c), but it’s my place to report so, it’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to. The bugs were worse than the heat. Maddie and I had to cut one of our walks short and turn around. It was my decision, but she didn’t fight me, the bugs were bothering her, too.

Speaking of bugs, the digital variety, WordPress has been working to understand the problem that is causing many of you not to be following me, despite your many attempts. I have seen messages stating that “so-and-so is now following NoFacilities” and then I see comments from so-and-so saying, “I didn’t get a notification today.” It’s maddening.

I have been encouraged by some recent comments by the Happiness Engineers. They haven’t exactly made any progress, but they seem interested. I’ve also been discouraged by some of the comments. For instance, this is one I received after I forwarded your comments from Thursday’s blog,

It sounds like there are two phenomenon happening:
(1) Users are still following the blogs but are no longer receiving notifications
(2) Users are unfollowing blogs they don’t intend to

Happiness Engineers

Note: For the grammar nerds out there, I pasted the comment in as written. I know, the plural is phenomena. I also informed the engineer that users are not unfollowing blogs by mistake.

In other news from the Happiness Engineers, I received an email from WordPress talking about new features. Did you know that you can post your blogging schedule to WordPress and they’ll remind you when you have a post that is due? Seriously, did you know that? The people who can’t notify subscribers when posts have been published want to notify authors when it’s time to write those posts. At least they’ve mastered irony.

The engineers have also been busy working on the Block Editor. Again, perhaps you’ve noticed, perhaps not, but Sidebar Widgets are now blocks. That’s recent. I know that because I edit a Sidebar Widget every Tuesday. The link for my upcoming Thursday Doors post appears in a Text Widget that I modify every week. When I tried to edit it last Tuesday, I was confronted with the fact that my widgets are now blocks. Although I use the Classic Admin panel, rather than the old-style widgets that seemed somewhat intuitive, I am forced to use the block-editor interface which is less intuitive.

  • I clicked this, expecting to see a full pane of widgets.
  • Every option now shows up under the Customization screen.
  • This is what the “widgets” work area looks like now.

I find it interesting that they are “improving” the Block Editor while they seem to ignore the problems that have been reported with it.

I’m still trying to cut these guys some slack. I know that in large IT projects, there are people assigned to maintenance and people assigned to development. These tasks proceed on separate timelines. There is no reason to delay the implementation of new features simply because every bug from the previous implementation hasn’t been squashed. On the other hand, perhaps the developers could spend a little more time testing these new features.

The thing that bothers me, is that every time a new engineer is assigned to the problem, I have to convince him/her that this problem is real. For the record, I have open issues about the random unfollowing problem, a variety of problems with the Block Editor Galleries, and the trouble liking and commenting on blogs (the problem Maggie has been dealing with recently). I and others have found workarounds for several of these problems, but the fact that in some cases, I’ve been using a work-around for two years is disheartening.

It’s Monday, as I might have told our daughter, “it’s a brand-new week!” Maybe good news is right around the corner.

If you have a song stuck in your head, the video is below the gallery.

Lots and lots of birds on Sunday’s walk.
Sunshine between apples.
A big spray and a gentle breeze.
The flag is at Half-Staff in honor of Firefighter Colin McFadden. I wasn’t expecting the giant flare.
Honeysuckle is blooming again.
I think this is a monarch.
Odd finding on our early morning walk. And, if you look closely, the shoes would have been on the wrong foot.
“This is getting out of control.”
She’s trying to sleep, but there’s a lot going on.
“You’re going to toss me a peanut, right?”
Peanut in hand, retreat to the tree to eat.
Mr. Bluejay.
Rockin’ Robin
I think this is our new friend, the European Starling.
Splish Splash
“Don’t make me clean my foot again.”

79 comments

  1. Thank you for crowding out “It’s My Party” with “Splish, Splash” and “Rockin’ Robin.” There’s quite the medley battling it out in my brain now. But it’s soothing compared to the struggle to understand everything — or anything — about WordPress and about people in general who have to fix what ain’t broke and can’t fix what is. I very much appreciated the comment about having mastered irony: I needed the laugh, which was loud. If there is good news right around the corner, may the corner be near!

    Liked by 5 people

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    • I hope that corner is near. I could use some good news about this platform we call home. I’ll do my best to match their irony with my best sarcasm. Sorry for all the oldies bouncing around in your head. I hope you have a good week.

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  2. I’m with Oddment, if there’s good news around the corner, may the corner be near! Dan, those shoes cracked me up. Me thinks the wearer was walking with them on the wrong feet, couldn’t master it, stepped out of them and walked away barefoot. Stupid wins again.

    The photo with our flag at half-staff and the plume of sunlight nearby seems quite fitting for a fallen firefighter.

    MiMi didn’t have to wash her footie again. Yaaay! But poor Maddie facing all those trash bags…AGAIN. Love the bird shots you captured, especially splish splash! I think if you put your mind to it, you could write an entire post using song titles!

    Hope this is the start of a good week for you.
    Ginger

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    • Thanks Ginger. The Top-40 kept rolling throughout this post, all firmly stuck in my head.

      Those bags are out at the curb. Maddie’s porch is clear, but I have to finish the fence, so there’s more pruning to do. Sorry pup. Also, I gave MiMi a good scritch today, so she’s cleaning the human off, again.

      I knew a firefighter had been injured at a very large fire (31 companies responding). When I saw the flag at half staff, I was worried that he had dies 😞

      I hope this is a good week for us all, and that that corner is nearby.

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  3. I appreciate your attempts to get someone at WP to fix what they broke. I know that it’s not easy to deal with people who deny reality, so kudos to you for trying to get them to wise up. I didn’t know that the widgets were now blocks. Sure, why not? Blocks are inconvenient and cumbersome for writing so why not put them elsewhere in the system? 🤨

    Liked by 4 people

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    • Thanks Ally. I was stunned to find that the widget was now a block. Worse, I was running late and I just wanted to schedule Wednesday’s post and go to bed. I didn’t want to learn a new thing. They weren’t blocks the week before.

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  4. Perfect title for an ugly week in temperatures. I also appreciate the WordPress irony especially when I tried to work through your photos only to not be able to. I could enlarge the first photo and then it stuck right there. Sure, let’s change everything to blocks since it is working so well. :-) Every week when I get that WordPress email about what they have changed, I groan and wonder if they have ever considered conducting a ‘user’ survey. Happy Monday, Dan, and that fence is looking good.

    Liked by 1 person

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    • Dan, I am happy that I can now comment on your blog one again without going through Reader, so I am still basking in that little ray of sunshine. They should consider themselves fortunate to have someone like you truly putting the system through it’s very basic paces. Most people would just shrug their shoulders and give up. Love the photos as always. Our local bear came through around 7:30 last night and pushed the feeder poles down again. Fortunately it is a medium-sized cub so the poles were not bent behind recognition. Thanks for keeping us all abreast of the progress on the WordPress issues. I see why you were so successful in your career. Happy Monday, Dan.

      Liked by 2 people

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      • Thanks Maggie. I’ve been commenting easily for months, but I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. The problem with using workarounds if that now you’re fighting multiple forces.

        Good luck with your bear. I hope he finds a better place to eat before he grows up.

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    • Sorry about the photo problems, Judy. I don’t know what works and what doesn’t now, and I don’t have time to 1) prepare a test post 2) test it in every browser and on all devices, and 3) ask you all to comment about it. We’ve done that at least twice! Why can’t the development team do that?

      I hope you have a good week, and enjoy the break from the heat.

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  5. Give the squirrel a peanut! He looks ready to rumble.
    As for WP bugs I think we all experience bugs now and then, but most of us are too lazy to report them. Thanks for taking up the cause.

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  9. If I can please chime in on your Monday morning complaints — the new “Chirp” font on Twitter. I mean….. no one asked for this. It’s giving MANY people a literal headache (myself included). And everything over there has all just gone to heck — harder to use, less intuitive, AND STILL NO EDIT BUTTON! I find it interesting how after every single bad design decision the platform has made in the decade I’ve been using it, they always claim to have done all these user tests, and supposedly all these users LOVED their new changes. Sorry, were the “users” in your study a cage full of blind gerbils, where you instructed them to blink once for “yes, I love the new design”, and twice for “yes, I also love the new design”?????

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  10. Such a great post, Dan. I had to laugh about the HE’s who cannot fix a posting problem but have mastered the ‘time to post’ issue. So funny. Poor Maddie–stymied by shoes and then her dad puts his trash on her porch! What’s a girl to do??! Have a great week.

    Liked by 1 person

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  11. Regarding testing new features, when I was doing software development part of the task was to construct an automated test suite to make sure it still worked after future changes. It has been a long time since I heard that Lesley Gore song.

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    • You’re like me, Frank,. You remember doing it right. These guys seem to think about things that work, but they don’t think about the things their new features might have an undesired effect on. My guess is their test suite is too limited, but I’m old school.

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  12. That’s not the song that popped into my head. 😂 Monday, Monday by the Mamas and the Papas did.

    You had some lovely, and an odd sightings during your week. I love the Monarch Butterfly, and the shoes on the sidewalk gave me a chuckle. Who doesn’t pick up their shoes to continue the walk or go inside? We may never know!

    The Block Editor is working a bit differently and editing a blog already scheduled for posting isn’t acting normally. I have one in the queue I want to edit, but it’s not showing me the edits in the preview! I have no idea what’s going to show up on the scheduled day! I suppose we’ll find out together. Sigh.

    I am a wee bit envious of your walks. It’s been so smoky here again this past week and starting out worse this week that I’ve not been outdoors at all since Thursday! I even had a thought rip through my mind yesterday that perhaps I should join the gym just to use the tread mill. That’s crazy thinking cause me and the gym…not compatible!! 😂

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    • You have my sympathy, Deborah. Maddie and I have had to cut our walks short on days when the smoke is bad here. Right now, the winds seem to be carrying it away form us.

      The shoes are a mystery. Maddie gave them a quick sniff and moved on.

      Monday Monday is a good song, but I’ve used it before. I do like the Momas and the Popas.

      I hope the smoke clears and you get a chance to walk. I love seeing the results of your adventures. I hope your post turns out the way you want.

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  14. Well now I have gone and done it. There are about 16 ‘Monday’ songs playing inside. It still seems to hot for ‘Here comes the sun’. ‘Morning has broken’ lost out to other tunes. And ‘Rainy days and Mondays’ is not gonna fly. Like we need more rain… Is this April or August showers bring September flowers…Still lets go with Happy Monday.and maybe even throw in “It’s getting better all the time” for the song

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  16. Great pics….the video took me back in time….oh I so remember that song and we’d use it as kids same as your using it!! :) (I think our parents got sick of us singing it all the time) The quirks of WordPress…..oh happy day!! Have a great week!!

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  18. I once got an error message that read “this block is having problems and can’t display.” What? The block editor is pouting? It’s not that hot out here but the smoke is awful. Can’t go outside without getting a sore throat.

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    • I am sorry about the smoke. We get a little of it over here. It’s bad but nothing like what you must get. I’ve gotten that message. I had to start over with the post. I was only trying to edit the text.

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  19. The world of WordPress changes daily. I just noticed the widget blocks yesterday. I am reminded that life is in a constant series of changes. I think there is a equation that goes along with that thought…. Always a joy to meet up with you. I heard about your heat wave. We are finally getting rain today after days of sun and heat!!

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  20. Alrighty then. I think I’ve had about enough fun here at WP. Almost as much fun as I had at work last week, when the outside temps were at all-time highs and the AC died (apparently for the entire week; thank heavens I only work 3 days). As always, I love your photos – that peanut-seeking squirrel made me chuckle.

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  21. When it comes to WP, I’m on your frustration team. Some of the blogs I follow disappeared from my email and now I have to search for them. I have no idea why, but I suspect it was an update of some sort. Loved your photos, Dan. The mystery shoes photo is a favorite! It’s worthy of investigation and blog follow-up. 😊

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    • Thanks Gwen. I think Ginger may be right. The owner’s feet hurt because they were on the wrong foot. They abandoned them and walked home barefoot. They were gone today.

      I have lost track of several blogs as well. It is frustrating.

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  23. OK, well thanks for the two songs I now have in my head! When I see a large gathering of birds like that, I think of the movie The Birds And then I wonder if they’re eating your bugs! I hope so, I don’t want them sneaking over the border. As for your Hopeless Edjits . . You are much kinder than I am.

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  24. Hi Dan – yes I had bugs here too – as you saw on the local College lawn – I thought the school was debugging – maybe I should contact WP and send them ‘my commenters’ suggestions to help?! Brilliant post – just so so irritating … Blogger isn’t that good – but usually it’s relatively stable – until something happens and then it’s a pain. I just keep things simple – but I’d like to be a bit more professional – but I’m not bothered, no point in fretting. Also it’s muggy here and cooler – thankfully no smoke … great ear-worms though … cheers Hilary

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  25. Hi!
    You got some super shots of birds there!
    I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t get notified. I cleaned out thousands of post notifications from my email, and when I didn’t see any from you, I panicked and logged in so that I could REfollow you. Unfortunately, I had done this back in the spring as well. My thought then was that I had somehow accidentally unfollowed you in a clumsy phone scenario. Apparently not, as I have no new posts from you since. I’m glad the Happiness Engineers are working on it and I hope they resolve the problem in this brand new week!

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  26. I love the sunshine through the apples! I don’t tell you but every time I respond to your posts I get routed to a signin page no matter how many times I click the ‘keep me signed in’ tab. 🤦‍♀️

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  28. I’m just really happy that I could come here and use the like button. That doesn’t always happen 😏

    Hot, muggy, and buggy here too … although we had a wonderful reprieve from the humidity for a few days and it was glorious. Now we are back to the steam bath. Ahhh – summer. This is the year we decided to do the much-needed overhaul on our pool. I’m really missing the pool the past few weeks … and I don’t envy the poor guys sweating it out in my backyard.

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  29. I didn’t play the video because I know the song by heart, and it would have been stuck in my head for the rest of the day. On the WP front, I was looking for you to write “Just shoot me now.” There, I said it for you. 😀

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  30. Hi Dan, I am sorry you have so many problems with WP and the block editor. I haven’t really had any issues but I must have been luck as lots of bloggers complain. Some even planned to give up blogging when the block editor came into play and I think some probably did as some bloggers have just vanished. I enjoyed your pictures.

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  31. Hi. A fellow blogger told me I should check out your site, so despite the warnings of technical issues, I liked it and so I’ll try following. Plus I’m from Muggy, Buggy CT myself, love doors, and random stuff.
    If you’re interested, I post occasionally, mostly about science and nature related stuff, and mostly in a humorous vein. Also have my first book coming out soon, called Hold the Apocalypse, Pass Me a Scientist Please. It’s a bunch of like minded essays.
    The site is http://www.boblorentson.com

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