curiouser and curiouser

OK, I admit it--I check the stats of this blog pretty regularly. Is anyone reading it? I rarely get comments, so maybe I am not very provocative. I have a dedicated fan or two (you know who you are!!) and I love to hear from you, but this blogging deal is tricksy.

When I go to all-time favorite posts, two very strange entries continue to be top-rated: "The Panic of 1837, Part 3," and "The Erie Canal Changes Everything." One other, "Tired," gets constant hits as well.

Really? These are not my best writing, for sure, and they are tangential to the main topic of the blog--Elmer Ellsworth--but they stay at the top of the list each time. I wonder. I thought the topics were fascinating, but I am a history wonk.

To write biography is very demanding, and I have had to learn so much about so many things just to better understand the world in which my subject grew up and lived in.

But only Part 3? How is it better than the other two? And the Erie Canal? Railroads had pretty much taken over by the time of the Civil War, except for local commerce in upstate New York.

"Tired??" Now that post is just me complaining about having too much to do one summer day. I even got a personal email from a friend who told me not to whine on the blog, but to be positive and informative. I took his advice, but "Tired" still gets hits--who knows why???

Well, it is what it is. I am loving this blog, and even go back and read older things myself. One of my favorite parts of the blog are the illustrations. The one above is a shot of Fall leaves, but not just any leaves. These particular leaves are in Mechanicville, New York, home town of the late Colonel Elmer Ellsworth!!

So there! <3