• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
  • Baseball ’19
  • Day Zero 3
  • Earl
  • My list
  • Photo Blogging Challenge

A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

contests

We have some winners!

June 13, 2019

We have some winners in the giveaway for my most recent pathtag!

First, thank you to all who entered. We had more than 50 entries, which was great. The bad part is, some people who had said they did something actually didn’t, which meant I had to disqualify them. The good news is – there are going to be more chances to win this tag (and maybe some of my others as well)!

The winners will receive this pathtag!

I have a bunch of my other tags I’ve had made and plan on setting several aside for giveaways, along with a few other items I’ve collected along the way. Maybe I’ll even look to give away some geocoins, as well as some non-geocaching items.

So keep following along and you will have many chances to win!

The winners are posted below (as well as on the RaffleCopter widget on the contest post). They will have until Sunday to respond to me with their address so I can send the tag; if we get to Monday and there’s no response, I will look to pick a substitute winner.

The winners are:

  • acdc&kc (followed on Twitter)
  • Leah Batchelor (liked a ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook)
  • Adam Chater (left a blog post)

I will be contacting each of you to get your addresses.

Thank you again! I look forward to doing more of these contests!

please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: blogging, contests, Geocaching, My world, Pathtags Tagged With: a ‘lil hoohaa, contest, geocaching, giveaway, hoohaa, pathtag, pathtags

2 Comments

Time for a giveaway!

June 5, 2019

In conjunction with my new look and logos and such, I’m going to do a little giveaway, too.

And though this might interest geocachers – I think the item is cool enough for non-geocachers, too. Especially if you like collecting little knick-knacks and such.

Late last year, I had a pathtag designed to show my blog. The idea of the tag was to show a lot of my interests, and also have something I can give away through the blog or social media. That’s the thing about this tag – it will only be available this way. I won’t be trading it and such. I mean, if somebody else does with one they win – that’s up to them. But from me, it’s win it or nothing.

It took almost 13 weeks to get here after I submitted. But it came out really nice!

For those who don’t know what a Pathtag is, it’s basically a colored, collectible coin. It’s about the size of a quarter, or a touch bigger. This one is in a custom shape.

And I only had 50 made. I will give one away for up to 10 entries; two away for up to 25 entries; and three away for more than 25 entries.

This contest will run until sometime after 9 p.m. on Wednesday, June 12. So about a week or so. You can gain multiple entries to the contest.

Ways to enter:

  • Comment on this post and let me know if you collect Pathtags, or just like this and want to win
  • Use the Rafflecopter system below to gain more entries by following on several social media platforms (liking the blogs Facebook page, following on Instagram and Twitter).
  • You can also gain an additional entry by going to the Instagram post for the contest and doing what that says.
  • Another way to enter is Tweeting it out. You can do this once daily (on entry per tweet), but please make sure the tweet is done as it shows so I can keep things in order.

One note with these: Some of you might already follow me on these platforms. If so, it should allow you to enter those still. Just make sure you fill out the items it needs in certain spots.

Whoever the winner(s) is/are, I will be checking to make sure the entries qualify.

I will be giving these out at random times for different things, too. So make sure to follow along with me on the blog.

Entries can be done via the Rafflecopter widget below! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Filed Under: blogging, contests, Geocaching, My world, Pathtags Tagged With: a 'lil hoohaa, a lil hoohaa, contest, giveaway, hoohaa, pathtag, pathtags

12 Comments

Book Review: Sheltered

February 22, 2013

(Note: I am in two challenges this month, so this is running a little earlier than I normally would publish a post. My 30 minus 2 Challenge post will be published early in the afternoon.) 

In 2011, I did a series of stories about people who had hiked the Appalachian Trail. It truly is amazing to hear people speak about their experiences.

One of the people I wrote about was Emily Harper, a Pennsylvania teenager hiking more than 2,100 miles on her own. It’s pretty amazing to hear about something like this. Late in 2012, she e-mailed me and let me know she wrote a book about her experiences and was curious if I wanted to read and review it.

Of course!

Sheltered

She sent me two copies — one for me to read and review and the other to give away. So if you’re interested in winning this autographed book, see the bottom of this post for the details.

With all that in mind, this is an honest review of the book, which takes you along the Appalachian Trail through her eyes. Her details are quite strong, he writing is conversational and, the one thing I truly loved, she didn’t hold anything back. It’s a colorful tale of her time along the trail, off the trail, her experiences and the people she met and hiked with.

It’s not perfect by any means. It’s a self-published book and it has some errors throughout. I’ll touch more on those later. While it’s true that I probably gave a little leeway here because of what she accomplished at her age, I’m still a writer and reader first — and I had to put myself in each of those shoes throughout. The price seems a little on the high side at $15.50 for paperback (on Amazon) and $5.99 for the Kindle version (on Amazon). If you are an Amazon Prime member, you an borrow the Kindle version for free, which is a good thing.

Still, as somebody who claims he will eventually write a book or three, I know the dedication and time needed and understand what she went through. But there are a lot of basic things in the book that made me cringe a little, which sometimes makes it hard to continue, no matter how good the stories are.

In the end, I’m glad I got the chance to read it, especially knowing I had written about her before. This is probably a good read for younger women thinking about tackling this hike by themselves as Harper is really straight forward with things and shows you what it’s like for a woman on the trail.  Now, I’ll get a little more in-depth on my likes and dislikes.

The Good

There’s something to be said about not holding back any punches. Harper definitely doesn’t and that’s refreshing.

She’s candid about people she hiked with and met. She offers up her attitude on different things. She flaunts that hiking as a female can often be way better than being a guy. And she also shows a softer side in situations.

I liked that.

Many hiking books I’ve read don’t show that. They show you the eyes of the hike, introduce you to some people and make it sound pretty good. There’s no doubt that Harper’s hike wasn’t perfect. In fact, if you read the book, there might be times where you’ll say something out loud, wondering what she was thinking. Or that you didn’t like how she acted. I know I did. But I liked that. Because she didn’t paint herself as an angel. She also didn’t paint anyone else as being perfect.

Harper had some interesting hiking partners. From the ones she started off with and eventually was left behind by, to the ones she truly seemed to care about and wonder about what happened with them. She paints a picture in the reader’s mind of these people. She lets you develop your own thoughts. I like that.

The other thing I did like is this book is more like a journal. And, as somebody who read her online trail journal during her hike, it was nice to see that style in her book.

It’s personal, but can be impersonal at times. It’s written in a style that isn’t literary. Many people may not like this style. I don’t mind it with this book. It has to have a certain flavor for me to enjoy a style like this and I can dig it here. It’s almost like she handed me an old leather-bound book, handwritten for her long journey.

That, however, tends to lead into something that isn’t liked by most…

The Bad

Spelling. Grammar.

If one is to expect people to spend money on a book, the author needs to do everything in his or her power to make sure the book is clean in regard to spelling and grammar. I respect the self-publishing route. I’m not snobby like some who think self-publishing is a bad thing. In the modern day, some people need to go that route to get books published. And I’ve found many, many books I’ve truly enjoyed through authors who took that route.

That doesn’t, however, excuse one from doing everything in his or her power to make sure things are right.

There were a lot of mistakes in this book. I had started writing them down and finally stopped after a while. It was frustrating at times. Though I got through the book relatively quickly, there were moments I had to put the book down because I couldn’t accept the issues. I always went back, though, as the story was good.

The major errors includes punctuation, capitalization, and spelling.

A few examples including misspelling of things such as Willy Wonka, which was spelled Wanka. Or not capitalizing “Subway.” There were places where words needed hyphens, or needed to follow the right tense — one spot said “… but made my arms ached.” There was a chapter, too, where she spoke about some hiking friends and spelled the name of one person two ways.

Some people might be able to overlook issues like this, but I couldn’t. It was hard at times. A few things like this is one thing, but having it littered throughout makes one wonder if it was ever proofed or edited. If not, it could use a good edit and then maybe put out “a second edition” to update things a bit. Having two or three people — ones who aren’t afraid to tell the truth — edit a book before hitting the publish button can be worth their weight in gold.

I also would have liked a little more explanation at times, such as telling the reader what “root ball” is, besides it being a game some hikers played during their time on the trail.

Rating

Taking everything into account, I’m not going to lie that this was an extremely hard book to rate. There were so many good things, but then the issues with grammar and spelling really took the wind out of my sails.

I just didn’t know.

The reality is, I’d probably split this one down the middle. In other words, I’d give it a 2.5 or so. But that’s not based on the content. So, with that in mind, I’d bump it to a 3 out of 5 and would be more than willing to go a bit higher if a second edition came out with a bunch of edits. The 3 is worth is on content and style alone. But I couldn’t go more with knowing the issues with common things, some of which probably could have been avoided with a slow spell/grammar check in Word.

Artwork (For The Artful Readers Club)

This book is also one I’m reading for The Artful Readers Club. In this club, we read one book per month and also have to so some sort of a piece of art to go with it. For the second straight month, I went with an advertisement. I wanted to use a hiking shelter, but I couldn’t find any in my archived. I thought I had some. Instead, I just went with a trail photo.

For the Artful Readers Club.

Book Giveaway

I have a signed edition of this book that I’ll be giving away. So for the next two weeks, I’ll accept entries. Just drop a comment down below and you’re automatically entered in the drawing. Note that the book will be shipped via media mail to the winner.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Filed Under: Books, contests, Hiking, My world, Writing Tagged With: amish, amish trail, appalachian trail, book, book review, emily harper, emily harper amish, emily harper sheltered, hiking, hiking the AT, sheltered, sheltered an appalachian trail story

23 Comments

Contest: Give and win

February 28, 2012

A hand-made quilted scarf.

The above image is a scarf that was made by my mother. It’s flannel and quilted.

And it can be yours!

Every year, I come to the blog in hopes of soliciting some donations for my Relay For Life fundraising. It’s the one time of year I really try to give and get people to give.

After all, I would say the majority of us have all been touched by cancer in one way or another.

This year, it’s the scarf.

To win?

Donate.

For every $5 that is donated to my personal Relay For Life page, you’ll get one entry to win this scarf. It’s as simple as that. So if you donate $20, you get four entries.

Our local relay runs this year from 6 p.m. April 27 to 9 a.m. April 28.

Therefore, I’ll say that this contest runs until noon on April 28, 2012. Don’t wait until the last second, though! If that happens, I’ve found people forget. And with this, every dollar counts when fundraising!

When that time comes, I might be sleeping after being up so long! But at some point that day, I’ll do a random draw for the winner. I’ll likely use random.org by putting every entry in and then hitting the button 10-20 times to really randomize it.

I’ll then mail the scarf to the winner.

This counts for any way of donating, as long as it credits to my account. So you can buy luminaries in honor of or in memory of someone you care about. If you let me know who you did the luminary for, I will also try and get a snap shot of said luminary for you. I can’t make promises, because sometimes it’s hard to track them all down. But I will try my hardest.

I thank you in advance for helping with this fundraiser.

You can donate by going to my personal Relay for Life page.

Some other photos of the scarf:

The more the scarf is washed/dried, the more frayed and "worn" it gets as part of the look.

Folded up.

Another view.

Details about the scarf: 

  • Material: Flannel.
  • Dimensions: The scarf is about 5 1/2 inches thick and about 58 inches long.
  • Who is it for?: Unisex.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Filed Under: contests, Fundraising, My world Tagged With: contest, fundraising, giveaway, quilt, quilted scarf, quilting, relay for life, scarf

43 Comments

Giveaway: Flickr Pro account

November 30, 2011

Last year’s winner: It’s cold on cemetery hill… (by BMGrace)

It’s that time of year again.

As part of my Day Zero Project, I decided I would give away a Flickr Pro account every January for the duration of the project. That comes out to three straight years.

This is year two!

Last year was a small turnout, but that’s expected. Hopefully there will be more this year. I’m excited to see what people come up with.

If you are already a pro account holder on Flickr, no problem. If you win, this will extend your time with a pro account!

Before I get on with the contest, if you take photos, Flickr is one of the best places to host your images. It’s a great community and there are so many fantastic images. The free account is pretty outstanding, but it’s obviously limited. You get 300 megabytes of uploads per month and two video uploads. However, you can only view the 200 most recent images and only the smaller sized images are accessible.

By shifting to a Pro account, you get unlimited photo and video uploads, unlimited storage and bandwidth, the ability to replace photos and ad-free browsing and sharing. You also get other items, which are too numerous to list here. For the $24.95 yearly fee, it’s well worth it.

To show you how awesome Flickr is, especially a pro account (and you don’t need to be a pro to get that account!), I am giving away a one-year membership. Hopefully, you’ll love it enough to keep going with it.

So, how do you win?

First, make sure you are a contact of mine on Flickr (yes, to enter this you must be a Flickr member). Go to my Flickr account and add me as a contact.

Next, join the HooHaa Flickr Contest group.

From there, you’ll be submitting one photo sometime during December. The entry period is from Dec. 1-Dec. 31. Anything in the group before Dec. 1 or after Dec. 31 will not be considered and will be removed from the group.

There were two other judges last year. I will use those two again and plan on adding two more, which would give me a total of five (including myself). Each person will look at all of the images sometime after Dec. 31 and rate them 1-XX. The XX is the number of images we receive. So, if there are 20 images, they will rate them 1-20. Points will be assigned based on the rating. So, if it’s voted No. 1 (again, thinking 20 images), that will receive 20 points. No. 2 will receive 19 points and so forth.

Only one prize will be given. The committee will reserve the right to not award a prize should we feel no images meet a certain level, but I’m quite sure we won’t be worrying about that.

Judging will be based on personal taste. Some people will like one image over another. There’s no criteria for style, form or processing. It’s basically a personal judgement of favorite images. So, the better the image, the higher the vote. Judges will consider detail, framing, composition and clarity, however. Keep it all in mind. We are still looking for a good image!

Rules to consider:

  • There is no subject. That means you can submit a photo of anything — sports, nature, people, activities, animals, scenery, self-portrait — anything! My only restriction — keep it clean. No nudity or illegal activity photos, please.
  • One entry per person.
  • The photo must be taken between Dec. 1-Dec. 31, 2011. And ALL EXIF data must be able to be seen on the image in Flickr.
  • You must be a contact of mine on Flickr. If you are not, your entry will be deleted from the group before the judges look at everything!
The reason  am choosing to keep it so that photos must be taken this month is because it is a photo contest, not a photo search for your best image from the year. This is a fantastic time of year to take photos. Go find something great!

How to enter: Take your photo and post it to Flickr. Tag it with “HooHaa2011Contest” (all one word) so it can be searched. Then, make sure it’s in the HooHaa Flickr Contest group.

The winner will be notified within the first two weeks of January 2012. The winner and runner-ups will be announced in the Flickr group and on this blog.

FINE PRINT

All the normal stuff: The winner of this contest is decided by the head of the contest and a selected committee. All decisions are final and no reason is needed to award someone the prize. The contest ends at 11:59 p.m. Dec. 31, 2011. To guarantee a chance to win, you must be be a contact of HooHaa Photos.  The committee also reserves the right to not award any prize if it feels the photos entered were not at a high enough standard (though we don’t see that happening). Entrants also agree to allow HooHaaPhotos to use entries on his blog (www.hoohaablog.com) when talking about the contest, past, present or future. One entry per person. Thank you and good luck!

—

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook by clicking the button on the right side of the page!

Filed Under: contests, Day Zero Project, My world, Photography Tagged With: Flickr, flickr pro account, flickt contest, photo, photography, photos

5 Comments

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Older Posts

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Welcome to A 'lil HooHaa!

This is a personal website covering many topics! We host a monthly photo blogging challenge, and then every January hold a fun writing challenge.

Thank you for stopping by and hope this becomes a stop for you!

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Follow

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 872 other subscribers

Instagram

hoohaa29

A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Bingham A great bark in the park day Sunday at the Binghamton Rumble Ponies. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. All in all, four dogs walked away with balls! 

@rumbleponiesbb #baseball @milb #dogsofinstagram #barkinthepark #dog #playball
One year ago today, I put a down payment on this g One year ago today, I put a down payment on this goof. Two weeks later, she came home … look at her now! 

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #harperdublin
She’s a goof… but she’s my goof. #goldenre She’s a goof… but she’s my goof. 

#goldenretriever #dogsofinstagram #dog
Load More... Follow on Instagram

Twitter

P.J. Follow

Today is a great day to be amazing. Be happy, smile, and say hi to people. Blogger. Photographer. Explorer. #isles #ringthebell

softball29
softball29 P.J. @softball29 ·
3 Jul

New blog post: Photo Blogging Challenge (June 2022): Water. #PBC #PhotoBloggingChallenge #Photography #Challenge https://hoohaa.com/?p=15668

Reply on Twitter 1543425608990035974 Retweet on Twitter 1543425608990035974 Like on Twitter 1543425608990035974 Twitter 1543425608990035974
softball29 P.J. @softball29 ·
30 Jun

Sharing a hot dog with Harper at bark in the park at @SyracuseMets ! #baseball #barkinthepark #dog #dogsoftwitter #hotdog

Reply on Twitter 1542300787715579907 Retweet on Twitter 1542300787715579907 Like on Twitter 1542300787715579907 1 Twitter 1542300787715579907
softball29 P.J. @softball29 ·
27 Jun

A great bark in the park day Sunday at the @RumblePoniesBB. Harper got her first foul ball (as you can see she enjoyed!) and we also had the chance to grab a couple others and give them to some other dogs. #baseball #dogsoftwitter @MiLB

4

Reply on Twitter 1541402082447589377 Retweet on Twitter 1541402082447589377 Like on Twitter 1541402082447589377 Twitter 1541402082447589377
Load More

YouTube

P.J. Harmer

P.J. Harmer
When these boxes come, there usually some excitement. But this one ... is the ultimate unboxing! 

#cielovideo52 #52weekchallenge #week5 #weeklychallenge

Music: Happy to be Happy (Dapun)

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softball29
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog
Unboxing: 5/52
YouTube Video VVVaaDlySXg4aGFrRlJzWVVwZlNYcXNnLnhfZ3NXRWY3QTJF
I hate being in front of the camera, but also realize sometimes it's not the worst thing in the world. So, I'm getting better with it. Week 4's theme was all about us and having us in front of the camera, so I tried to come up with a creative way to do it. 

#cielovideo52 #52weekchallenge #week4 #weeklychallenge

Music: Infinite Wonder (Ben Fox)

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softball29
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog
All about me: Week 4/52
YouTube Video VVVaaDlySXg4aGFrRlJzWVVwZlNYcXNnLmhGbjVMYURXWG9n
The theme for Week 3 of the 52-week video challenge was "Show your process of making something." Alas, I didn't get the time to do what I wanted to do, so I attacked something I filmed over the summer that I kept putting off. 

► My blog: http://www.hoohaa.com
► Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hoohaa29/
► Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/softball29
► Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HooHaaBlog
Show your process: Week 3/52
YouTube Video VVVaaDlySXg4aGFrRlJzWVVwZlNYcXNnLmxRbDMyUjVhRzdN
Load More... Subscribe

Archives

Categories

Calendar

July 2022
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Jun    

Search The Site

Site Information

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

A 'lil HooHaa © 2022 · Created By Coded Creative

Copyright © 2022 · Ava Mae on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

 

Loading Comments...