For most of September, I've lived with big foot. Me. As a consequence of a very bad ankle sprain the morning of the first market of the month. While my day job is sedentary, there are two, sometimes three days of the week when I'm mostly on my feet. A sore foot's not very helpful. Nor is being on the very wrong side of 50. That said, my left foot is not back to normal [size], but it's almost back to normal functionality. Timing is always interesting because last week was, as I've mentioned, ad nauseum a long market. I was in the kitchen at 6am and we left the market at 1pm, only to tidy up and sort out. How many hours is that? I don't know, but big foot was shouting...

Yesterday, I won't say kitchen day was a breeze, but big foot complained a lot less than last week and, not only survived today's market, but was able to fetch and carry and gad about like I haven't for the last three.

Back to the topic

My gig work picked up for August, but September was quiet; I've not been resting on my laurels, but as they say in the business, right now it's all about hurry up and wait. Continuing the off-beat clichés, I've got irons in fires, but how long the waiting is, is like the proverbial piece of string.

All that is a long way of saying that I will be starting a power down again. As insurance. And as I keep on saying: if I don't have to cash it out, I'll power it back up again. As I powered some up again this month.

Back to Hive Power Up Day business

In my usual Power Up Day ahead post the I confirmed the power of three (Silver Blogging Women) is a thing. We plan for it to continue for the foreseeable future.

As a reminder:

The Power of Three

From July 2022 - three qualifying redfish that meet my our criteria and the basic PUD criteria (read about it here and below) will get delegations of:

300 HP for 21 days

Each of us will (@lizelle, @coquicoin (herself a recipient of one of my delegations) and me (@fionasfavourites)) will delegate 100HP to the winning accounts for three weeks (21 days).

October Hive Power Up Day

For more about why we power up on the first of each month, check out this post from the awesomesauce @traciyork who pulls it all together.

Why I - and now my fellow collaborators - do this

We all have great empathy for noobs and redfish, and that's what lies behind this contribution to #HivePUD. Here's the rundown:

After all the numbers are done and official winners announced -

We delegate 900 HP, shared equally - that's 300HP per account - among three accounts that meet the basic Power Up Day Criteria as well as these additional criteria. They must:

• 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.
• have a reputation of less than 61
• have not more than 500 HP in their accounts before they power up - both on the first of the month

What if no accounts qualify?

As I always say, I don't make decisions on my own, so if, as has happened in the past, there are "slim pickings", I will be working via Traci with the @ocd team to make selections and will keep an eye out for those accounts that fall into the Silver Bloggers' league and who have joined that community. If there are no Silver Bloggers who meet the criteria, we will look for accounts that have been identified either as part of the @lovesniper curation initiative or as part of @zakludick's Hive Classroom of 2022. We will also, because of our declared bias, look for accounts that are either subscribers to the Silver Bloggers Community, or who fit that profile.

Of course, that's not all

Remember that in addition to the delegations, these accounts are added to my fanbase and receive a daily 100% upvote (if my voting power is still more than 90%; if it's not, I do try to pop over, but RL sometimes gets in the way). This is also why I ask @ginabot to notify me each time they post. If I have an opportunity, I pop over, have a gander and occasionally weigh in on whatever the post may be about. If you haven't had a vote, I then give a manual vote.

Remember, too -

Lightening does strike twice:

If you participate in this #hivepud and you still meet the criteria, you will go into this month's pot again, and stand another chance to receive a second delegation. It's happened before. I promise.

I have you powered up today? Have you?

As I have explained, twos yes, 2's, are significant this year, so I've set a goal for each of my monthly powers up: they will all be in multiples of 2.

Here's proof:

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.