The year is eight days old and, for me, it had a less than auspicious beginning. I shall, however, save that story for a personal post. Crypto is still playing with the bears and the pundits suggest the game will go on for a good while. "They" are saying that crypto's going mainstream which means it's here to stay.

A personal digression and long term Hive goals

With that in mind (and this isn't financial advice), now's not the time to dump Hive or bale from the crypto social blockchain. Now's the time to use your sweat equity to create content and build your Hive wallet and a little crypto nest egg. Let me explain: I joined this crypto social community nearly six years ago and have invested not one penny of fiat. I have invested time and energy and I have seen both social and financial returns. The latter have kept me a float during the very difficult times of the last year, especially when it hit an ATH in November 2021. As I am not going to jinx either the sentiments or the hard work I've put into my RL writing work over the last year, I am hedging my bets by keeping some Hive and HBD liquid in case it needs to come to my rescue - again. My preferred option? To convert all my HBD to Hive and power every little bit to grow my account asset. Ultimately, that's my goal: a nest egg on which I can draw when I am no longer able to work and earn. It's a reality that I have to contemplate as I approach the conclusion to my sixth decade of life.

Hive Power Up Day Delegations

Because I know how difficult it is to get going on this blockchain and because I had a lot of help when I started, I'm paying it forward. Each month, this involves three, three week delegations of 100 HP to redfish who participate in #hivepud. Also, this is a social blockchain so community, communication and engagement are key - all of this takes resources that are scarce for red fish. It's also a mostly caring community and it's caring gave rise to this collaboration. I am glad because truth be told, as much as I'd like to be increasing the size and/or number of my own delegations, RL demands on my liquid Hive and HBD don't allow. When that changes, this will, too.

In the meantime, Power Up Day is all about numbers and strength. For individual Hiveans, it's about adding Hive (numbers) to your wallet. This strengthens your presence on the blockchain: the resources you need for voting, posting and engaging (commenting).

January Power Up Day

If you don't know what happens on Hive Power Up Day and how accounts stand to gain, read @traciyork's Power Up Day post and join next month?

The Power of Three delegations - if you didn't follow the link...

Each month I, and now @coquicoin and @lizelle, set aside 300 HP each - a total of 900HP. Then we each individually delegate 100HP to the three accounts that meet the basic Power Up Day Criteria.

In our case, though, and given our focus on redfish, the accounts must also be -

• be less than 6 months old
• have at least two qualifying posts since the previous power up day.
  Posts that qualify must have 200 words or more and exclude posts for Power Up Day, and Actifit.
  As a reminder, the reason I added the second criterion is because -
  Hive is a social blockchain: it's for socialising, ruminating and just generally hanging out.
• a reputation of less than 61
• not more than 500 HP in their accounts before they power up - both on the first of the month

Qualifying accounts for January

Despite expectations, participation in the first Hive Power Up Day of 2023 reached an all time high, as did the number of accounts that qualified for Traci York's initiative, there were only four accounts that met all the criteria for support to the power of three.

So to make it fair, I used the nifty online random result tool to select the winners as follows:

The three accounts to which each of us will delegate 100HP for 21 days are:

@mayt, @cryptomaso and @jordy0827

Evidence of Delegation - @fionasfavourites

Here is proof of my delegations:

Lizelle and Eli will do their delegations, themselves, so keep an eye on your wallets.

But that's not all

In addition to the delegations,@mayt, @cryptomaso and @jordy0827 have all been added to my fanbase and receive a daily 100% upvote (when my mana remains above 90%).

I also ask "my" Bot, Friday, to notify me each time they post. If I have an opportunity, I pop over and have a gander and occasionally weigh in on whatever the post may be about. Oh, and if I've got less than 90% mana, and the autovote hasn't happened, I will manually upvote.

An aside

@ginabot is not doing all she should, so although I said she was alive in my December delegation post and more of that when my life has calmed down to a panic), she's still not letting me add accounts. I am waiting for @neander-squirrel to get back to me and will report back when he does.

A last word - or two

Thanks as always to @traciyork, @victoriabsb and @hivebuzz for all the hard work they do each month - and around the blockchain, generally.

And...

Until next time, be well
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma
Post script

If this post might seem familiar, it's because I'm doing two things:

• re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I am adding them in a file format that you can download and print. If you download recipes, buy me a coffee. Or better yet, a glass of wine....?
• and "re-capturing" nearly two years' worth of posts.

I blog to the Hive blockchain using a number of decentralised appplications.

• From Wordpress, I use the Exxp Wordpress plugin. If this rocks your socks, click here or on on the image below to sign up.

• Join Hive using this link and then join us in the Silver Bloggers' community.

Original artwork: @artywink

• lastly, graphics are created using partly my own photographs, images available freely available on @hive.blog and Canva.