A Day in the Life of a Blogger

I am writing part of this post from the emergency room, where Terri is waiting to get her rabies shots.

There’s a lot to running a blog that I didn’t know about when I started blogging back in 2008. Honestly, I’m not sure I approached it very seriously until 5 or 6 years ago, after I’d been blogging for a decade. I launched this blog, The Devotional Guy™, around this time in 2013.

While driving Terri and an ailing feral kitten she had captured to the emergency vet, I actually wondered how I might celebrate if this blog were still running in 20-25 years.

Blogging done well requires an investment of time, money, and effort. For sure, running a blog involves key tasks and responsibilities to ensure it stays engaging, consistent, and successful. And there’s some housekeeping involved, too.

For instance, for several weeks I’ve been cleaning up the list of bloggers and blogs I follow because many have gone inactive over time. They quit blogging. A number of blogs that I unfollowed were around before I started blogging as the Devotional Guy. Many had quit blogging in 2016, 2018, 2020, and even before. I had been following one blog that hadn’t posted since 2014!

While we were at the Urgent Vet, we had let the kitten out of the carrier. Poor critter was experiencing what initially appeared to be an allergic reaction or pest issue (ear mites, we surmised) but later turned out to be severe neurological issues. She had a fever of a 104 and could barely stay awake. When Terri attempted to catch her and return her to the pet carrier, the kitten bit her.

Terri—always a tough trooper—flushed out the wound and we put some hydrogen peroxide on it along with some Neosporin. Good to go, right?

Not so fast…

The next morning, we decided Terri should go up to the urgent care near our house and get some antibiotics. The doctor there urged her to go to the ER and get a rabies shot.

And so here we are—the day after Thanksgiving—grateful for good medical care, even when plans take an unexpected turn.

Unfortunately, the ailing kitten didn’t make it. So for the second year in a row we found ourselves in an emergency vet clinic faced with putting down an animal. Last year, it was our sweet, beloved Delilah. This year, it was a strange feral kitten we didn’t really know but had compassion for as we tried to get help to ease her suffering.

I am happy to report what once was a list of over 400 has now been trimmed to fewer than 200.

That’s a glimpse behind the scenes in the life of one blogger simply seeking to glorify God online and in real life.

I’m a real person, not AI generated. My blogger friend, David will vouch for that.

Until my next post…

Grace and peace,

Rainer Bantau—The Devotional Guy™