fun with incoming searchers

My creative well seems to be running dry these last few days; I haven't thought of any compelling new subjects to blog about. Or maybe the fingertips on my left hand are too sore to type because I've been playing mandolin so much! I've probably played more in the last four days than I have in the last four years combined, and it feels wonderful. I'm getting psyched for the mandolin workshop with Mike Compton and David Long at Fred's house this Sunday.

So, taking an idea from one of Troutgrrrl's recent posts, I have investigated some of the search terms that have led people to this blog. In the last 100 visits, at least 22 people came to this site by using a search engine. The top search terms, tied at four hits apiece, were "deer butchering" (What an incongruous picture: someone sitting in their remote deer shack, with a freshly killed deer hanging up outside, searching the Internet with their wireless laptop for instructions on what to do next!) and "snowball launcher" (And Calvin probably provided detailed enough plans to satisfy these folks).
The remainder of the searches I have grouped into four categories: Music (4), Literature (4), Wildlife (4) and Other (2). Four people, from California to the UK, were treated to my set list by searching for "kate wolf red tailed hawk chords" (simple--A minor and G), "home by bearna", "bouzouki", and "john prine fair and square tour set list (By the way, I saw him on Austin City Limits Saturday night. Awesome show!) I don't write about literature much, but Aldo Leopold brought in two hits, "Leopold Sky Dance" and "a sand county almanac agree". Yes, I agree! The other searches covered "the river why david duncan" and "on the road the dharma bums". I wouldn't be surprised if both of these searchers were first led to the dharma blog, and learned more there than they did here.

Under "wildlife", I had everything from "owls minnesota" to "game bird gazette how to protect pheasants from owls" (I hope my great gray owl post gave them a good idea what NOT to do!) to "ferns" to "ruffed grouse". And, now for the "Other" category, whose search terms certainly defy categorization:

"carpe momentum" (from my very limited knowledge of Latin; I hope it means something similar to how I used it!)

AND...

"paper on why nascar is like a religious experience"

hmmmmmm....on THIS blog?

Strangely, the last 100 visitors did not have among them a single one searching for "I hate dogs". I usually have one of these per day, thanks to my tribute to Lady and Annie.