A lot is happening in my life, blog-wise, and several times a year, I ask for blog support. Sometimes, I forget. I was going to post this yesterday, but it felt inappropriate.

There is important news for us and the blog. We will have a lot to do in the coming year.

We expect 500 Afghan refugees to come to Albany soon, and I expect some of those students – the lucky ones –  will be coming to Bishop Maginn High School.

It’s the perfect place for them, the staff is experienced in traumatized refugee children who need to learn English quickly and acclimate to America in a safe environment.

I’m thinking this will be an important chapter in the blog’s life, which has seen so many evolutions and changes.

The Mansion now has to contend with the Delta virus, spreading more fear into facilities for the eldercare. As the winter approaches, the residents will need warm clothes. But I’m not raising money for the refugees or the Mansion residents at the moment.

I’m asking for support for the blog, the engine for all this, and its own substantial needs

The blog is growing and growing, and since it is free to all comers, it is also expensive in several new and different ways.

The range of the blog is growing, drawing new readers.

Politics remain a major concern to me and the blog readers; I will write about politics when it feels right. the Amish are here to stay,  and more are on the way. I love writing about them.

And the farm is.. well, everything to me:  Maria and her art, the farm. Dogs, donkeys, hay, wood, cats, sheep, the life and death of any farm. The farm has changed me, taught me, inspired me. I want to share that.

People keep telling me the blog is unique, and while I can’t say if that is true or not, I do feel it was a good decision for me to come upstate, start my blog and write my own living memoir.

I think people do get things of value from it. The blog is not about selling things, it’s about a life, now two lives.

Otherwise, you wouldn’t be here. I also have come to believe that people writers and artists should be paid for their work. This is my work now, it is what I live on, and donations are my salary, what pays the bills.

Last year, we concluded a $5,000 re-design that made the blog compatible with the many people reading it on their smartphones. This involved a massive structural re-design, as many of you were unhappy with the small type and scrunched-up columns.

As the blog grows, free subscriptions have grown, and the subscriptions were often not coming or coming in chunks or requiring time-consuming clinks and links. I hired a special and highly regarded online subscription delivery service to ensure the entire blog is delivered at once.

This service is free to my readers but not to me.

From time to time, the free mail service cuts out or needs support. It stings me when people think they are being cut off because they don’t donate to the blog. This is never true.

My blog is free and will always be free.

Donations are separate and have no connection to free subscriptions, or who can get the blog mailed for free or not. Please check your spam folder if the delivery is interrupted. If it isn’t there, e-mail me [email protected], and I will make sure the issue goes to the right place (our computer techs.)

In the face of online stalking and stealing, the blog has a top-rated security system. That costs money too, of course, but it is as safe an environment as exists for sites like mine. We’ve had no trouble.

I also want to make something clear: No one is ever canceled because they haven’t contributed or haven’t contributed enough.

My photography is also free. And expensive.

The blog now gets about four million visits a year, which is good news and bad news. The servers of my wonderful ISP could no longer handle the traffic and were slowing the blog down on my end and everyone else’s.

So I’ve moved to a new server, and that will cost about $150 a month.

Success is pleasing but not cheap.( I’ve also hired two very conscientious security companies to keep the blog safe.

No financial information of any kind is stored on my servers or my blog. And I have the best malware systems available and highly recommended by Apple. No one has ever penetrated them, and we mean to keep it that way.

Beyond that, I’ve now offered (for free) more than 45,000 photographs; they can be downloaded and printed out, used as screen savers, kept in folders. I don’t watermark or copyright my pictures; they are a gift from me to the people who like them and support the blog.

In addition, the blog is a full-time job and then some.

I post seven days a week almost every week and work well and late into the night. No complaints, but if you find the blog valuable, entertaining, or thought-provoking, please consider a one-time donation in any amount or a regular paid subscription in various amounts – $5 a month, $10 a month, $75 a year. We accept all major credit cards.

You can contribute easily and quickly on Paypal, [email protected], or Venmo, [email protected].

If you don’t like spending money online, you can contribute by check, also in any amount: Jon Katz,  Blog Support, P.O. Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816.

For years, I resisted asking for support for my blog. I’ve gotten past that. Getting paid for my work makes my work possible. Hopefully, you get something useful, and I get to have a centerpiece I love for my writing and creative work.

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I’m off for two days on a belated birthday celebration; I’ll be back Sunday morning. Thanks for your support.