Barn Door's Open

You might have noticed the slowdown last week when trying to access the site. I had an all-time high of readers -- 13 in one day! Didn't know why until I was cruising around my normal sites tonight, and found a hat tip from Bird Dog over at Maggie's Farm.

It's startling every time when people I link to wind up linking back. I've stopped trying to keep QT a secret, but I sure as hell don't advertise. I get lulled into thinking that my half-dozen readers are the only people paying attention. Even though everybody keeps telling me the Web is 2-way, I still think of it as a 1-way thing, like the phantom books or newspaper articles I imagine myself writing.

Which is goofy; it's like nailing your manifesto to a telephone pole and expecting only the people you tell about it to read.

In addition to being surprising though, it's -- ok, I admit -- gratifying to know someone else is paying attention. I like thinking I might have an unexpected positive effect on someone outside my normal influence.

Maggie's Farm posters do not appear, on the surface, to be kindred spirits. They are quick and sure with their many opinions. I am often neither, and only occasionally in agreement with them when I am. Also, they are proud Yankees, and regardless of my address, I am a Southerner at core.

Nonetheless, I like reading the Farm Report! They help me think differently over there. Any time one of the regulars deigns to brave the Mid-Atlantic, door's open, y'all. Drop on by.