Funny how the first of the month comes around with annoying regularity. Especially when one is busy. It has been a busy month, but somehow I've managed a post virtually every day. Now, I've committed to another of @traciyork's awesomesauce initiatives - posting every day for a month. Read about #HiveBloPoMo here. Last April - I can't believe it's a year ago - I faded for reasons not important now, but I succeeded in November. It's fun and at the end of it: power up and see what a difference it makes to your stash of Hive!

Back to the business of the day: Powering Up on the first Day of the month

A year after Hiving off from that other blockchain and starting another crypto currency, Hive seems to be flying. That means we really are sitting on appreciating assets. Right here in the blockchain. Cryptos remain volatile, but even so, there seems to my layperson's ken, a general and steady appreciation. As they (and blockchain) are becoming more mainstream. A mixed blessing in my opinion. But that's a conversation for another time.

When I powered up in March, I celebrated 2k in my wallet which came from an additional 1k in my wallet over a two and a half month period. In congratulating me on that milestone -

The next one thousand will be quicker

they said.

I thought

guess what?

Looky here:

And if you didn't look properly, and skipped everything, that is

5,043 HP

They were right!

I admit that I took the plunge, late in March, and converted nearly all of my HBD into Hive. This the biggest personal power up I can remember. That said, with both Hive and the Hive Based Dollar continuing their upward trajectory, I am thinking I might like to keep the latter liquid. Again.

The thinking behind (Hive) Power Up Day

From @traciyork who quotes @streetstyle, the brain behind the original power up day, the thinking -

On the first day of the month...
• ...we ask that everyone who can do so, power up any amount of HIVE they are holding on the first of the month.
• ... we ask accounts that are currently powering down to please pause the powerdown during the hours of the first of the month.
• ... we ask that those who are trading and/or selling Hive, not to do so during the hours of the first of the month (and if possible, cancel any type of sell order on any exchanges for the same hours).

To qualify for prizes

Your reputation must be above 39 and below 70.
Your total Hive Power (before the 1st) must be more than 100 and less than 8000.
You must power up at least 10 Hive on December 1st.
You must write a post about your power up on December 1st with the tag #HivePUD (International) or #HPUD (Spanish).

Continuing to help redfish to establish a power base

Many of you will know that in celebration of my third anniversary on the blockchain, I started offering delegations to three deserving accounts each month. After a couple of months, I increased that from 50 to 100HP per account.

Criteria for winning a three-week 100HP delegation for a month from me

accounts must meet the base criteria for Hive Power Up Day as set out in Traci's post

And accounts must

be less than 6 months old

have at least two qualifying posts since the previous power up day. Posts that qualify must have 200 words or more and exclude posts for Power Up Day, and Actifit.
As a reminder, the reason I added the second criterion is because -
Hive is a social blockchain: it's for socialising, ruminating and just generally hanging out.

a reputation of less than 61

not more than 500 HP in their accounts before they power up - both on the first of the month

If fewer than three accounts meet the criteria, the delegation will be allocated either

to a curation initiative or
to noob accounts (randomly selected) from @minnowsupport's #inroduceyourself curation posts or from @pifc's #PYP selections and/or
to accounts from communities that @acidyo has identified as part of @ocd's community incubation program.

No longer eligible

Not only have I hit the Big Five, but not long into March, I hit the big Seven Oh which means I no longer qualify for prizes in this challenge. That, though, clearly hasn't stopped me from powering up, and I will continue to do so each month.

And I plan continuing my support of this initiative.

As an aside: My not being eligible to win is one of the reasons that I have decided to post this on 2 April (although I powered up yesterday). The other is that instead of posting twice that day, I "banked" the post for today's #hiveblopomo edition and which I talked about at the beginning of this post (and again in the footer, so scroll down...).

For me, it's never been about the prizes (or the badges)

Here she goes again...

I hear regular readers, thinking.

she doesn't do challenges or competitions

So?

It's never been about that or the @havebuzz badges, gorgeous though they are, it's because the initiative made me pay attention to my wallet; to building an asset. Also, what this means in the Hive, is that the bigger the pool of Hive Power in one's wallet, literally, the more power one has on the blockchain -

for votes
for curation
for commenting and reblogging
for building your asset and because the interest (yes, check your wallet, you earn interest) compounds.

Oh, and I have to add, at the risk of repeating myself, ~~again,~~ I have not used fiat to buy Hive. I have reached this milestone through posting, curation and participating in initiatives like this. I was also identified (happily) by the @pifc team when it was still active on the other blockchain; they delegated to my account and held my equally little fin with comments and upvotes until I became a minnow and could swim more strongly on my own.

Earlier this year, and when Powering Up seemed impossible, I had a #hivepudhelper angel to whom I shall always be grateful. I shall not hesitate to return the favour should he ever need.

For those celebrating traditional or religious festivals this weekend, may they bring blessings and peace.

Until next time, be well
Fiona
The Sandbag House
McGregor, South Africa

Photo: Selma

Post Script

Twice a year Traci York hosts a challenge to bloggers to post daily for a month. I've participated (or tried) for three years I've known her via the blockchain. Twice I've succeeded. It's that time of the year again, and I'm giving it a go - on the Hive blockchain. Wordpress bloggers are also invited to participate.

Image: @traciyork

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If this post might seem familiar, it's because I'm doing two things:

re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I plan to add them in a file format that you can download and print. If you download recipes, buy me a coffee. Or better yet, a glass of wine....?
and "re-capturing" nearly two years' worth of posts.

I blog to the Hive blockchain using a number of decentralised appplications. From Wordpress, I use the Exxp Wordpress plugin. If this rocks your socks, click on the image below to sign up -