Friday, September 26, 2008

Some Statistics and a Wee Contest Winner


This post has been very time consuming to prepare, actually, all of this week's posts have been pretty time consuming and I hope you all have enjoyed them!

I went back to September 21, 2007 and tallied up all comments. Can you say WOW! All of the comments have been wonderful and I've enjoyed each and every one. I would also like to say I have responded to ALL of them but no, that is not true. In the early days there were some posts that had only one comment on them. Can you guess who that commenter was??? Skeeter. Skeeter has been there since day one. She has never failed this blogger in any way and kept me going in the early days. We all need a Skeeter sometimes. Thanks gal! And now she is a blogger too!

Okay some stats on the posts:

Total Comments (as of Wednesday's post) 7202!
(Thank goodness Blogger has a feature where I can count the comments from the dashboard)

Out of 402 posts (as of Wednesday's post) there is an average of 18 comments per post. (This of course includes my responses) Many of the commenters continue to comment here and have been long term commenters, as a benefit we have we have established relationships with these folks and really gotten to know them. (You all know who you are and thanks!)

The post with the most comments was "Who's In the Garden?". We had 56 comments on this post between all of the commenters talking back and forth.

404 published posts including this one today And that means Racquel at Perennial Garden Lover won the contest! She was not only the first commenter who got it right, but hit the number on the head-400 published posts as of Monday, our one year anniversary of blogging. Racquel, let me know what you would like and where to send it to. Thanks! Good job!

And thanks to all who guessed. All of you were very close and had excellent guesses. I had no idea how easy or hard this would be to do. When I first prepared the post I had the archives still up. Duh! It would've been pretty easy then huh? I don't know how you all came so close but all guesses were really on it!


7 posts out more than 400 posts have no comments (Introduction, PPS, Vegetable Gardening, Standardization, Dividing Perennials, Beautyberry, and How to be a Successful Blogger).

There has been at least one post EVERY single day since December 10, 2007. Rarely did we miss a day even before this date, but posting every day is important to me and this blog. There have been some days with two posts, but never one with three.

Out of the published posts Skeeter has posted 37, Dawn has posted 9, and Christine has posted 1. I posted 357 posts in the past year, including today's.

Average post length is about 1000 words. You do the math. This is a lot of writing on anyone's part.

We currently have 64 drafts in the draft section of Blogger, so we will be set for awhile. I try to post subjects as they are happening, but I think that might change with the backlog I have in the draft section. No boring times in the winter here at ....

in the garden....

The sulfurs have returned. One of my most favorite butterflies besides the Gulf Frittilary. The only problem is these clouds of sulfurs are camera shy and not quite the posers the swallowtails and monarchs are in the garden. I did manage to catch one though. It must have thought me pretty comical chasing it around trying to get a picture. I like these butterflies best because when they come in late summer, early fall, they come in large numbers. I have read the sulfurs are a migratory butterfly so I guess that they are migrating now. Thanks for joining us in celebrating our one year anniversary here at "In the Garden".

26 comments:

  1. wow that is alot of blogging.
    congrats on your year anniversary.
    and congrats to perennial garden lover, racquel for great guessing.
    i have seen these little sulfers alot recently and am enjoying them too. they are hard to capture so good job on getting your shot.

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  2. That's good numbers/stats, I knew you have alot in drafts, that's a good idea.
    I thought this butterfly was a luna moth AND I thought it was a professional pic. Chasing this little guy around was well worth it, beautiful photo!
    Congrats to pgl

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  3. Again, Tina congratulations for a year of fantastic blog posts! You are the Queen of Commenting in my book!

    I was so busy reading the stats that I almost missed the sweet sulphur! Lovely!

    See you next week I am off to RI to spend time with my kid, yeah.

    Gail

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  4. Marmee, I saw the picture of the sulfur on your blog and I thought, gee it is such a good picture maybe it isn't so hard to capture them afterall and it was just me. Thanks for letting me know it was hard too! I think these sulfurs come late summer? Migrating? Not sure but I love them. Thanks for dropping by.

    Dawn, Thanks but no professional photographs here. My camera is four and one half years old, it is miracle I can get any pictures but I have worked with it a lot. So many drafts, sigh, we'll be good for a while. It is easy to build up as I take pictures. That is what you should do. Especially with crafts.

    Gail, I certainly haven't counted anyone else's comments but 7000+ for one year? The first year too? I thought it pretty good. Hope it continues and thanks for the notice. You too are a hard worker on your comments I bet you have ton. Have a safe trip in Rhode Island. Say hi to Layanee for me. She has a fantastic garden from what I've seen on her blog. Enjoy visiting the PHD to be too.

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  5. Wow, you've really done your homework and those stats are amazing! I can't believe I was the winner! How exciting is that! Thank you very much. I'd like the custom garden marker Tina. After seeing the ones you made for your Tennessee Blogging friends, I was quite impressed with your creativity! :) I will email you my address shortly. Thank you! :)

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  6. Racquel, I kind of thought you would chose the marker stone. Let me know what you want on it too.

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  7. That's a lot of numbers! Congrats Racquel! Enjoy your plaque, I know we like ours. Tina did a great job with it.

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  8. Thanks Dave! You could put "Welcome" on it so I can place it at the entrance of my Arbor Garden. Thanks again!

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  9. Tina, was it your tender conscience working overtime, or did you consciously use the salvia in this post? It seems like a soothing, healing peace offering to all of us who didn't win. However it appeared, it's a lovely pic. Congrats to Racquel!

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  10. Dave, I am thinking you are right there too.

    Racquel, That is great! Small one with stands or large one? I know, questions and decisions!

    Walk2write, Ah, salvia to salve the ones who did not win. Wish I had thought of it-but it is a good idea! Thanks!

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  11. Great year Tina with a great week of honoring a year of hard work and dedication.

    Dawn, I also thought for a mintue it was a luna moth.

    Congrats Racquel. You will enjoy it. Tina made me one 2 or 3 years ago with our last name on it and it has been on the railing of my deck by the entrance ever since and I love it. Good choice!!

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  12. Tina, your anniversary series has been very interesting. Congratulations once again. It took dedication to keep at it--more than 400 posts in a year.

    Frankly, I'm a little concerned about the coming winter. I'm wondering if I can come up with anything to talk about.
    Marnie

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  13. What a fun weeks read with the Anniversary! Wow, I thought I had written more then 37. That number seems low to me, maybe it is all the words and pictures with those 37 make it feel like the number should be higher! lol....

    I am seeing the sulfurs in our garden also...

    Drizzle rain and cool today. TN temp will be higher then here in GA. Was a cool 70 for the high yesterday. Going from hot humid 95 to 70 is down right cold for us! lol....

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  14. Ops, forgot to say congrats to Racquel so Congrats! I am glad you picked the maker, they are a wonderful keep sake and reminder of Tina in our own garden.... :-)

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  15. Mom, I don't think the sulfurs look anything like the lunas. These are much smaller and yellow, the lunas are chartreuse. Funny how you and Dawn both confused them. They are so pretty and come in 'clouds'. Glad you like your marker stone. I love making them for folks.

    Marnie, Yes, dedication-maybe a bit much. Don't worry about winter postings, just look around and there is always something to talk about garden or life related.

    Skeeter, Now I may have mis-counted-feel free to check as I'm not doing anymore counting! I know it seems like a lot and really is a lot you, Dawn and even Christy did to help. btw, Christine is leaving for boot camp in 10 days. Should be interesting. You all wish her luck! She is taking after me and her twin I guess. Gotta go water. Talk to you later.

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  16. Tina: I have been 'catching up' reading blogs as work as taken precedence and you are, surely, one of the hardest working bloggers! Love the before and after post and imagine my surprise when I read 'celebrity' in conjunction with my name. Still chuckling but honored. I am looking forward to a couple days with Gail of Clay and Limestone and comparing gardening stories. Keep up all you hard work.

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  17. Tina What an achievement! And congratulations to Racquel--you'll have to post a picture of your marker stone. Tina, thanks for identifying the sulphur--I'm learning a lot about butterflies since I started blogging--now I have to get close enough to figure out whether I'm seeing sulphurs or lunas (they've just shown up in the past week).

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  18. Well hi Layanee! Long time no see. I have been hearing all about Gail's visit to your beautiful garden and I told her just this morning how lucky she is to be able to visit! I love your garden. Of course you are a celebrity! And a well respected one too! Thanks for dropping by.

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  19. Ah Cosmo, That is so funny! My mother and sister also thought the sulfur was a luna. Totally different to me but that is the beauty of blogging-surely learning about butterflies is great? At least for me. Hope your workweek was great-now an even greater weekend with some nice rain to work in the garden. Not like here-yuck!

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  20. Tina, I am in awe of anyone who can post every day, especially such interesting and informative posts as you have! Amazing that you have posted over 400 posts, but even more that you have 64 drafts! That and paint your bathroom and everything else you do:) You are truly a superwoman!
    Congrats to Racquel. If she chooses a marker stone, will you show us what you make, pretty please?

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  21. Good Afternoon All,
    Tina, Thanks for IDing the Sulfur. I have those too. I like to watch them.
    I can tell that you've worked very hard on your blog just since I started to comment. I really don't know how you do it every day.
    Congrats to Racques. You will enjoy the plaque. I really treasure mine.
    Gail enjoy you visit in RI. It will be fun for you.
    Skeeter, thanks for answer.
    What happened to Anonymous? Haven't see her on here in some time.
    I hope all have a very lovely evening.

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  22. Thanks Rose, What I didn't tell you is it has taken me four weeks to paint an itsy bitsy bathroom! Almost done now-Whew! No superwoman at all. It just needs to be done. I will post a picture of the stone just for you. Sending those seeds soon as I collected a bunch today. One day at a time....

    Lola, I would be curious to know when you first started commenting? Do you remember? I did not look at the individual comments for you Anonymous, Mom and Dawn. Skeeter was on the second or third post I think. Anonymous is pretty busy. I know you all miss her and I bet she'll come back on as soon as things slow down. Boy 1 is into cross country, piano and so on. Boy 2 into scouts and the Girl Model's school keeps her busy. Let's not forget sidekick. I keep in touch with her periodically thru email. Nina is preparing for her father's 99th birthday party the last I heard. She is well though a bit under the weather when Skeeter came for a visit. You have a great evening too.

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  23. Tina I don't remember exactly when I began to comment but I think it was sometime at the beginning of Feb. or last of Jan. I had been reading your blog for a couple weeks before I tried to comment. I should have written it down somewhere. I was & still am very anxious to read your blog. It's the first thing I do after checking my mail.

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  24. You have such a wonderful blog. It is not surprising to me that you have so many comments. I am amazed that you have 64 posts in draft already! Wow!

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  25. Cindy, THANKS! Lots of drafts for sure. I really need to get rid of them as if I do this each year I'll have too much of a backlog:) Maybe I can send some to you?

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