Illegal Use of Your Blog Content

I am always curious how people find my blog and I take a look at the search terms in my statistics to see how it is that they find me. A couple of days ago, while looking at the search terms I Googled one particular phrase that led someone to my page. I just happened to look at the “images” and found one of my photos leading me to a website that was using one of my photos as their own. You might remember this photo from a post I did in March of 2012.

Toby #1

I was astounded when I saw this, and immediately looked for contact information on their site and graciously asked them to remove my photo as they did not have my express written permission to use my photos as is indicated on my blog page. They ignored my request.

So, I next turned to the WordPress Support Forum and the folks that responded to me were most helpful. What I want to share is the information passed on to me by helpful members of the WordPress community.

I needed to find out who was hosting this website so that I could contact them directly. I was directed to this website that can help you figure out who hosts the offending site: Who is Hosting This?

I was also directed to information that would help me with this issue. Here are a couple of links to articles that were very helpful! These articles are chockful of very useful information!

From the site “ManoloFood.com” I was directed to a really good article entitled: Whine Journalism and How to Bring the Splashback

From WordPress, more great information: Content Theft and What to Do

I have been contacted by the hosting website of the offender and had to send them a DMCA (Digital Millenium Copyright Act) notice, which I have done. This is a letter to the web host that you sign under penalty of perjury. It indicates the site illegally using your content and you add in the link to where your content was stolen from. It asks for the hosting website to immediately remove or disable access to “the infringing material.”

Currently, the offending site does not have any photos showing on the page where my photo was illegally used. I am hoping for a quick resolution of this violation.

A huge thank you goes out to Raincoaster, Happiness Engineer MacManx, and TimeThief!

Hopefully my fellow bloggers and followers, this will not happen to you. And if it does, I hope that the information passed on to me and included in this post will help you!

Have a great Thursday and thanks for visiting!

Read Full Post »

Triple Crown!

Inspiring is defined as having an animating or exalting effect. I have once again been honored with the Very Inspiring Blogger Award by three amazing bloggers!

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

My humble thanks go out to Susan at Gasm Travels; Julie at Cookie Crumbs to Live By; and to Shlehora at Shlehora!

The rules of this award:

1 – Display the award logo on your blog (top). Done!
2 – Link back to the person who nominated you. Done!
3 – State 7 things about yourself. This and the remaining are below!
4 – Nominate 15 other bloggers for this award and link to them.
5 – Notify those bloggers of the nomination and the award’s requirements.

7 things about myself:

* I love it when it snows!
* My first pet was a toad whom I name Ferdinand Magellen
* I love the patterns found on the Zebra
* I love a good avacado
* On our recent cruise I ate 3 lobster dinners!
* I love to write
* I love yellow roses and white carnations

Now I am to nominate 15 bloggers. This is where I cheat…with less than the 15! Here are my nominations:

Lily Mugford
Sustainabilitea
Julia Bailey
Ruth Nina Welsh
Cindy’s Art Blog

Congratulations to you all! You are very inspiring indeed!

Enjoy your Tuesday and have a great day!

Read Full Post »

Mountains – A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

I love it when I find myself in the mountains and usually have more photos of where I am in the mountains than of the mountains themselves. This week’s photo challenge at LetsBeWild.com has “Mountains” as the subject! Wandering through the archives I wanted to share these lovely mountain photos with you! Are you ready to explore some amazing views?

Our first stop is Yosemite National Park. I loved the grandeur of the mountains rising up above Yosemite Valley. Here is El Capitan with Half Dome in the background.

Yosemite

In contrast to the green beauty of Yosemite, outside of the painted desert, we came upon these mountains with some amazing ribbons of color.

Mountains rising up as we head into the Painted Desert

In my own backyard is the Sierra Nevada range. On a road trip in winter, my friend and I stopped along the side of the road admiring the vast expanse of the mountain range.

A view of the Sierra Nevada Range

Heading way far north in the little town of Leavenworth in Washington State, I could not help but admire the lovely peaks surrounding us. Here is one view that I really loved!

A mountain view from Leavenworth, WA

A post on mountains definitely needs to include the Grand Tetons! And grand they are! Here is a shot looking across Jackson Lake at these beauties!

The Grand Tetons from across Jackson Lake

Yellowstone was mostly flat, but there are mountains rising above the Grand Prismatic Pool that still held the remains of winter.

The mountain behind the Grand Prismatic Pool in Yellowstone

Please take some time to check out some of the other entries at the Let’s Be Wild site and please do leave me a comment on their site! You can get there by clicking here!

I hope that you have a wonderful Thursday! The weekend is almost here! Enjoy and thank you for visiting!

Read Full Post »

Many Thanks to You!

Wow! I have once again been honored with yet another Audience Choice Award from the viewers at LetsBeWild.com, and I have also been honored to receive the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award! I am overwhelmed! Thank you for these awards!

From the Let’s Be Wild, Wild Weekly Photo Challenge #24, Reflections, here is the award!

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #24

And the winning photo…

The Grand Tetons

Please do take some time to check out the other winners from Challenge #24 by clicking here! There are some truly amazing photos by some very talented folks!

A huge thanks goes out to Chole Barker from It Starts with a Picture! Thank you for bestowing this honor on me! And here is the award:

Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award

The rules of this award:

▪ Provide a link and thanks to the bloggers who nominated you. Check and done!

▪ Answer 10 questions. And, the questions are:

1. Your favorite color? — Blue
2. Your favorite animal? — The Elephant
3. Your favorite drink? — During the day – water; at night: Cranberry Vodka, or a really great glass of wine!
4. Facebook or Twitter? — I am not really into either as I would rather talk to my friends the good old fashioned way, by phone!
5. Your favorite pattern? – Zebra stripes
6. Do you prefer getting or giving presents? – Giving!
7. Your favorite number? – 3
8. Favorite day of the week? – Thursday as it is the end of my work week!
9. Favorite flower? – A beautiful, fragrant yellow rose
10. What is your passion? – Food and Photos!

▪ Nominate 10 blogs that you find a joy to read.

I cheat on this one! Today, I would like to pass this on to a few women bloggers who have some really incredible blogs that I really enjoy! In no particular order, they are:

Sharla at Catnip of Life

Penny at The Why About This

Lisa at Zeebra Designs and Destinations

Joanne at What’s on the List?

Christine at Somethingville

You are all winners and writers of some truly enjoyable blogs!

▪ Provide links to the blogs and inform the recipients they have been nominated. Links are above and I will notify them as soon as I publish this post!

▪ Include the award logo within your post. Already done!

Thank you to all for the awards! Congratulations goes out to those who I am bestowing this award upon! Welcome to the Sisterhood!

Thank you for stopping by today! Have a happy Monday!

Read Full Post »

In the Distance…A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge!

This week the topic of the Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge is “Distant.” This topic brought to mind a number of places I have been and seen where I snapped off photos of something off in the distance! Let’s go check it out!

As the sun was setting in the west, as I stood on the deck of a cruise ship, the light perfectly highlighted the town of Mazatlan!

An ocean view of Mazatlan

From the same trip when we were in Cabo San Lucas I found myself caught up in watching this hang glider as he floated around in the sky!

Watching the hang glider

Hawai’i was a perfect place for distant shots. If you look closely, this next photo features a wall in one of King Kamehameha’s compounds. The palm trees draw your eye back to the wall!

Near and far

Sunsets in Hawai’i can be spectacular when there are a few clouds in the sky, and you catch the sun as it sinks in the west!

The sun sets in the west

I love the breathtaking view that we had when we visited the Grand Tetons! For as far away as we were, their majesty cannot be beat!

The Grand Tetons from afar

Closer to home, a friend and I took a drive into the mountains, and went off on this road to see what was there. It gave us a bird’s eye view of a great place for boating and camping: Union Valley Reservoir!

Looking down on Union Valley Reservoir

Walking the streets of a town is certainly different than seeing it from the air! Flying with a friend, we headed towards Georgetown. Here is a shot from the air of the town with the Main Street on the right!

Georgetown, CA from the air

In my backyard, I happened to be on our local airstrip and caught a black hawk helicopter taking off, throwing up dust as it went.

Take off!

One last shot…From across one of the lakes by my house, I spied a red bridge in the distance, and the colors in the reflection on the water were pretty amazing too!

Reflections of a distant bridge

Thanks for stopping by to see my submission to this photo challenge! Be sure to check out what others are posting by clicking here!

Have a wonderful Thursday!

Read Full Post »

And the Winner Is…

I am once again honored with more awards! So, I thought that I would write a note of thanks to all, and to pass on two awards to other bloggers!

First, I would like to thank my readers and those who visit the Let’s Be Wild Photo Challenge for honoring me again with my 7th Audience Choice Award!

Audience Choice Award – Challenge #22

The winning photo:

A wolf in the wild

Many, many thanks to you all!

Next, I am honored to have been nominated for two awards by Sharla over at Cat Nip of Life! Many thanks to you Sharla! The awards:

Beautiful Blogger Award

Very Inspiring Blogger Award

Now there are rules for these awards. They are:

1. Display the award logo on your blog. Got it!

2. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you. – Thanks again to Sharla over at Cat Nip of Life! Be sure to stop at her site for some wonderful poetry!

3. State 7 things about yourself.
* I love to cook
* I love to read a good book
* I am interested in the paranormal.
* I work at a local winery.
* I love taking photos
* Naps are essential on the weekends
* I love a challenge

4. Nominate 7-15 bloggers for this award.
5. Notify those bloggers of the nomination and link to their blog.

And the winners are:

The Unorthodox Epicure
Fabulous 50′s
What’s On The List?
Canadian Hiking Photography
All Food, All Drinks, All Love
Life is Unwritten
Au Naturel Essence

Congratulations to you all!

Thanks for stopping by, for finding me and following me, for commenting, and for all the awards!

Read Full Post »

My Neighborhood – A WordPress Phonography Challenge

This week’s WordPress Challenge is a challenge of taking photographs with a cell phone, ergo “Phonography.” Not possessing a cell phone that takes good photos, I am opting to use my regular camera, which has been OK’d in this challenge. The topic is my neighborhood. So let’s take a look at what is in and around my neighborhood!

Let’s start with some shots of my neighborhood from the air!

My neighborhood from the air

Here is another view.

Another shot of the neighborhood

As we come in for a landing we fly over my house. See if you can find it!

Can you find my house?

We are surrounded here by ponds and lakes, and here are a couple of the neighborhood lakes.

The lake behind my house

Another lake nearby

Here is a shot of one of my neighbors…

Deer Face

Check out other entries by clicking here!

Thanks for stopping by today! Now go out and enjoy the day!

Read Full Post »

Love – A WordPress Photo Challenge

This week’s WordPress photo challenge is Love. Love can encompass so many things. It is an emotion that we feel for one another. It is emotion we feel for the animals we keep around us. It is found in the passion we have for living life. It is found in the passion that we have those things we love to do. Real love is unconditional and is boundless.

One of my passions is my love for food! The most important ingredient in everything that I prepare, and leave out of my recipes as it is a given for me, is love! I prepare food injecting it with the love I feel for those I cook for. So this post is focused on my passion and love for food! Recipe links follow!

Cupcakes

Carne Asada Burritos

Asian Beef Skewers

Fresh fruit salad

Gregg’s Italian Chicken

Grilled Ham and Cheese

Hot Sour Soup

Pepperoni Pizza

Pinot Lamb Chops

Pork Loin in Raspberry Pear Sauce

Pork Piccata

Sauteed mushrooms with garlic

Slop

Tequila Lime Prawns

Are you interested in the recipe for any of these? If you are here are the links to the posts that featured these recipes!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bottomed Cupcakes – A-La-Kat
Carne Asada Burritos
Hoison Beef Skewers
The Salmon Fishing Queen Cooks Salmon
Fruit Salad
Gregg’s Italian Chicken with Orzo
Grilled Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
Hot Sour Soup
Pepperoni Pizza
Pinot More Lamb Chops
Jammin’ with Pork Loin
Pork Piccata
Sauteed Mushrooms with Garlic
Slop
Tequila Lime Prawns

Did I give you enough recipes? Each link gives you the recipe and you can print them too! Check for the print button at the bottom of the blog post.

I love cooking, and thank you for taking the time to read and view my post on Love. Please be sure to check out some of the other interpretations of love in the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge. Click here!

Thanks for visiting today, and if you try any one of these recipes, please let me know how you liked them!

Read Full Post »

Outside – Now! A Wild Weekly Photo Challenge

I have waited for days for the rain to let up for a bit so I could participate in this week’s Wild Weekly Photo Challenge from the website LetsBeWild.com. As Friday wound down, the clouds parted and the skies partially cleared. The rain has moved off to the east. Once I arrived home I grabbed my camera to head outside to take some photos. The topic of this week’s challenge is: Now! The challenge requires photos taken outside, and taken this week…

When we had our last rains, I had noticed that our little pile of rotting wood had some pretty cool looking fungus growing on it, and there were some incredible patterns and textures in the wood. I also spied the unusual seed pods on our liquid amber tree, which when you look closely are a work of art! I decided that these two areas would be the focus of this week’s photo challenge entries.  Let’s start with those seed pods first!

The spiky seed pods are a reminder of the last growing season, and what could be a better contrast of old and new than a seed pod next to a bud that will become this season’s leaves?

Days gone by and days to come

Let’s look at this a bit closer shall we?

Doing the Cancan!

The spikes remind me of dancers doing the Cancan!

Moving over to the wood pile, check out the amazing fungus!

Layers

Ears of fungus

The fungus in this photo reminds me of the skirts of dancers! What do you think?

The dancers skirts

Now how about the textures that one can find in wood?

Wood patterns

Check out the rings on this piece of wood!

Ring patterns

Compare this to a newly cut piece of wood. This photo shows the remains of my blue tree that sadly died! It was 5 years old as you can see from the rings.

5 years old

Well, I hope that you enjoyed my entry into the Let’s Be Wild Weekly Photo Challenge! Please do leave me a comment on their site! You can do this by clicking here. Scroll down to my gravatar:

and click on the reply button that is underneath it to leave your message!

Have a great Saturday! Thanks for stopping by!

Read Full Post »

Twenty Twelve, Blog of the Year!

I cannot possibly express to you the loss of words that I have, and how overwhelmed I am with emotion to have been nominated not once but twice in the last few days for the Blogger of the Year Award – 2012! I am honored and I am truly humbled!

This is the season of giving and it is also a season to be thankful. My purpose in life is to give to those around me all I have to give. I live this purpose every day. I am thankful for a number of things. My family, my friends, to have good health, and to have a following of folks who want to read my blog! I am also thankful to the two amazing women who have nominated me for this award!

Penny Howe, of The Why About This and Sharla Lee Shults, of Catnip of Life have both nominated me for the “Blog of the Year Award – 2012.” I thank you both, with a bow, for the nominations!

Penny’s site is amazing! And, so is Sharla’s! These women have been an inspiration to me in a number of ways. Penny, with her words of wisdom and her creative influences which have given me a different perspective of life; and Sharla, with her fabulous poetry, which touches my soul with her beautiful words the images those words create. If you have not read her poetry, which paints the most incredible pictures in one’s mind, then you are missing out! Both are truly gifted women who I treasure. I consider myself so lucky that my little blog, Life in the Foothills, has given to me the opportunity to know these amazing women!

My award:

Blog of the Year Award – 2 Stars Earned!

The rules of this award differ from others, and here are the details:

Blog of the Year 2012 Award

Do you know a blog that deserves an award? For me the answer is yes!

Do you have special blogs that you love to read? Absolutely!

Which blogs do you bookmark and follow? I have a huge list!

Would you like to give them an award this year? Well, I told you what my purpose in life is!

Then the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award is for you!

The ‘rules’ for this award are simple:

1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award

2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.

3 Please include a link back to this page Blog of the Year 2012 Award and include these ‘rules’ in your post (please don’t alter the rules or the badges!)

4 Let the blog(s) you have chosen know that you have given them this award and share the ‘rules’ with them

5 You can now also join The Facebook group – click ‘like’ on this page ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Facebook group and then you can share your blog with an even wider audience

6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…

Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!

Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!

When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!

There are a total of 6 stars to collect.

Which means that you can check out your favorite blogs – and even if they have already been given the award by someone else – you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!

‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award Badges

There are six badges for you to collect – you can either ‘swap’ your badge for the next one each time you are given the award – or even proudly display all six badges if you are lucky enough to be presented with the award six times!

Need to know more? Check out the FAQ page. From the same site you can click on the thumbnail for the number of awards you are given! I have two! Again, thank you Penny and Sharla! You are both dear to my heart!

My wish now, and my desire to give, tells me that I need to pass this award on. I am passing this award on to:

One Man’s Meat Conor Bofin has some incredible recipes and I get totally caught up in his lovely narrative! Cooking with humor!

Zeebra Designs & Destinations While Lisa and I live quite a ways away from each other, her artwork and posts are inspiring!

Mike’s Look at Life The title of Mike’s blog fits what he shares. It is a pretty cool perspective, and I am glad that Mike found me, so that I could follow him!

One last one:

Yummy Lummy I never thought that I could ever find anyone who can eat as much as I can, or now hitting over double nickels – could, and then I met Gary! Gary has an amazing appetite, and an amazing blog that is also worthy of passing this on!

Hugs to you all! Again, Penny and Sharla, you are both very dear to me, and I thank you with all my heart! To those that I am passing this on to: Congratulations! You all deserve this award and have kept me entertained with your blogs!

Thank you for visiting today, and please do go check out these amazing blogs! Penny – Sharla — Hugs to you both and thank you for the honor!

Read Full Post »