As my blog reaches its 9th anniversary it is time to do some necessary housekeeping.

I began writing Getting More From Les in the summer of 2015. Early posts detailed the good and bad of home-building as Barb and I built our empty-nester dream home. Subject matter slowly expanded, and so did my readership when the blog joined ChicagoNow, the digital arm of the Chicago Tribune.

In 2021, Alden Global Capital purchased the Tribune Company. The cost-cutters at Alden axed the Trib’s great salaried columnists and then dismissed us unpaid ChicagoNow contributors. That left the blog with a satisfied and satisfactory audience of loyal subscribers, social media followers, and list-serve readers.

But over the last few months, many subscribers have asked why I have stopped writing my blogs. I haven’t! But new rules, regulations, and ever-diligent mail servers (Outlook, Gmail, and others) block subscribers from receiving notifications from a subscriber list or emails with an embedded link. It all becomes spam.

My low-tech way of keeping the blog subscription readership alive began this weekend. First, I sent individual emails to each member of all my subscriber lists asking if they still wanted to hear about Getting More From Les. Rewardingly, many of you replied, “Yes, please continue to include me.” Beginning with this post, all those lovely people will receive an individually emailed copy of all posts. No links to click–the blog will just be there. A little extra work on my part, but well worth it if it gets the blog to my readers.

For my many social network readers, nothing has changed. I hope you will all continue to read and enjoy new blog posts on Facebook, LinkedIn, and X.

And as always, I want to hear your comments and thoughts about the blog and anything else you want to tell me about. Any advice on the technical aspects of blog publishing would also be appreciated.

That ends the housework. Thanks for your patience. The good stuff (personal challenges and triumphs, politics, music, and more) will be coming up soon!

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