Opinion : Thank you, again

First, before anything else, I want to say a great big, humongous THANK YOU to everyone who sent in checks and notes toward the website rebuild. We have crossed the 40% threshold and are on our way to 50% of the cost being covered so far. I do appreciate your continued giving toward this project.

I always enjoy the sweet little notes that come with the donations. There were a couple out of state donations from former residents that like to keep up with the news, so it's fun to hear from those readers as well! Thanks!

Last week I had thought that since I was going to have 3 straight days without any granddaughter snuggles that I'd get some real work done offline this weekend and alas that was not to be the case. I receive a notice that the Instagram account that is linked to Vinton Today had been accessed by someone that was not me, so that took about 5 hours to lasso and reel back in. (There are two accounts out there under Vinton Today, if you follow the one with the red "X" that one is not the main account.)

An update on the site. We have made the settings so that you cannot access the site if you are outside the United States. Long story short, no one outside the borders needs to see it anyway and it seems to be cutting down the trouble that we were having with the site.

After 11 years of operating online, I've REALLY, REALLY chilled when it comes to launching a new website. EVERY time, there are bound to be glitches, and things won't function quite right...even after you take a site for a spin in secret, as soon as you turn it loose, something goes crazy. The difference is that I know I have a tech that knows his stuff, or knows how to figure it out. I'm not worried. It appears that things have settled down on the front end and now the work will begin on the back to add some features that will make my life easier, things I've never been able to do, so I'm excited about that.

I wanted to remind you again that if you'd like to donate toward the cost of the site, feel free to email a check to P.O. Box 7, Vinton, Iowa 52349 or zap a donation through Venmo, which I found amazingly easy to use for an old gal like myself! Venmo doesn't take a percentage of the donation like PayPal did either so that's another plus.

I have to tell you, this past weekend, I retrieved another batch of donations and notes, and again, those allergies hit me again, the eyes started watering and again, I was completely amazed by your generosity. There were small donations and large ones, and each and everyone made me feel a bit more humbled by your kindness. The notes were just as meaningful as the donation. Thank you for those as well.

So anyway, I wanted to remind you that if you meant to donate and just forgot to do it, here's your reminder.