Delightfully Disarrayed Summer Ends In Blogger Blowout

This little post has been waiting to get published for two weeks.  When Kasse asked me to "guest post" for ruralwomenrock.blogspot.com, I put it aside.  But, by golly, I'm not wasting it...remember, I don't waste anything. So here it is...

Fickle blogging has taken a toll on my site hits. Somewhere between this summer's drought, and life's interesting and unexpected little curves, bumps and multiple blessings, my attention to social media has waned a bit.

I was totally blindsided by the fact that grandkids (10 of them!) could utterly-completely capture your heart, absorb your time and thoughts, and unselfishly rearrange your priorities.

I've continued to write--- constantly---in my head. I’ve just had a problem finding time to get it on paper or computer.

Last month a tweet from Monsanto Blogger, Janice Person ended my dry-spell when she extended an invitation to Jeff Pulver's Small Town 140 Conference in Hutchinson, Kansas. Janice and I became friends last year in Chicago at Ag Chat 101.

After some begging, daughter Kasse agreed to jump in. She made some last minute business arrangements to leave her flower shop, Miss Duffy's Floral and Gifts, for a day and we were off.

Jeff Pulver, founder of Vonage, is an amazing individual whose touching story reveals the reasons for his graciousness and concern for the success of others. Jeff's co-host was Becky McCray city administrator, small business owner, and a nonprofit executive. hailing from neighboring, Hopeton, Oklahoma. Jeff and Becky’s awareness of the huge technological shift happening around us along with their serendipitous encounter created the Small Town 140 Conference. 40 plus speakers were given 10 minutes each to tell how social media had changed their lives. Take a look at one of these great speakers, Kevin Honeycutt. Kevin gave us a glimpse of the seriousness of staying globally competitive.  Others shared impacting stories including saved lives, changed lives, saved businesses, urban renewal and improved public education to name just a few. This trip not only gave me a kick in the pants to start writing again, but it set a huge fire under Kasse who has now started the blog, http://ruralwomenrock.blogspot.com a site dedicated to consolidating the voices of rural women through social media and teaching other rural women to blog.

The energy was contagious. When we returned home, Lenne, our youngest daughter- farm wife and mother of 4 started her blog http://nevernap.blogspot.com/. Daughter-in-law, Cara at vintage183 blogspot.com jumped in and we’re nudging Mandy- oldest son’s wife, and nieces, Amber and Kim to get their feet wet.
One of them asked "Why would anyone want to know what I'm doing?"  If you take a look at the Small Town 140 Conference site the message is clear, a changing world wants to know.