When I wrote my post in advance of June's Power up Day on Hive, I reflected on how, just a year ago, we had just begun emerging from a hard lockdown. How things change in just a month: a third Covid wave is breaking - in more ways than one. The numbers are rising exponentially and the health system in at least one of our provinces is overwhelmed. It's just been announced that the current dominant variant is the Delta which emerged in India. There were more than 17,000 new cases in the last 24 hour reporting cycle. At the market this morning, we were told of two people down with it. One in the village and one in Cape Town. The latter, our elderly neighbours' daughter-in-law; someone who, by all accounts, is particularly careful about potential exposure.

The vaccination programme is suffering from a serious case of hiccoughs. For a host of reasons. The Husband who's eligible and registered has not been "called". Yet, just yesterday the government opened up registrations from 1 July (and jabs from 15th) for the 50 and over cohort. That includes me and for this, I'll have to deal with my needle phobia. It's the best reason; not just for me, but for the people I care about.

Even so, by the time 1 July arrives, we may be in a harder lockdown.

But I digress - as usual.

Hive reflections - what goes down must go up

Also year ago Hive was in the doldrums, and to which it has returned. It's a good time to just leave one's Hive where it is. A year ago, nobody thought Hive would go up, but it did. My opinion - and it's a lay person's opinion with a lot of gut feel uneducated guessing - is that crypto's here to stay. That Hive, via its various iterations is now in its fifth year says something. Twenty years ago, and when I was "poked" - who remembers that? - to join Facebook, nobody thought it would last. It did and it's like chicken man: everywhere.

So, like a year ago, I continue hodling my Hive for a rainy day and as I said last month, and because although we're short of rain, I'm dealing with figurative rainy days - the clouds are heavy and the sky is grey, so I'm making use of my HBD.

Blockchain anniversary ahead

The fourth anniversary of my arrival on the blockchain is in July. It's also the first anniversary of offering three three week delegations to participants in the monthly Power Up Day initiative. Had things been a little different in RL, and were I not having to liquidise my HBD, I'd have been upping the ante. That said,the status quo remains...

Hive Power Up Day is approaching

Before I get to my usual blurb:

A word of thanks and congratulations to @traciyork who took over this initiative a year ago this month and has taken this initiative to new levels, all on the firm foundation set by @streetstyle. It's weird that he's been off the chain for a year. I do hope he and his family are safe and well.

Now, as I always say -

As many of you know, increasing numbers of us stop what we're doing on the first of each month and power up liquid Hive. Some people buy Hive, and others save it through the month to power up in one big lump. Others do it daily. There's no right or wrong, just opinions.

That said, powering up 10 HP or more on the first of the month, any time in the 24 hours UTC - as set by @hivebuzz - not your local time, you could score a fabulous bee badge. In addition, @hivebuzz offers one-off delegations to regular Power-Uppers

And here's a re-cap from @traciyork who manages this initiative:

Hive Power Up Day has been taking place since @streetstyle came up with the idea on that other blockchain back in April 2019. Essentially we all get together and power up (stake) our Hive on the first day of every month, and some offer prizes to smaller accounts to help them grow.

What does it require? Essentially, we ask that: On the first day of the month...

... anyone who is able to, powers up some Hive on the first of the month.

... accounts that are powering down, pause during the 24 hour span of the first of the month.

... anyone who is trading/selling Hive, pause those transactions during the 24 hour span of the first of the month (and possibly even cancel any type of sell order on any exchanges during that time as well).

The rules for winning prizes

Please see the specific details of the prizes and a great summary from @nickyhavey about the impact of powering up, in one of Traci's announcement post.

In case you haven't clicked through, the requirements are:

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 the 1st of the month. You must write a post about your power up on July 1st with the tag #hivepud (International) or #hpud (Spanish). To be included in the winners list, you must meet all four requirements above. The order of the list (first place, second place, and so on) will be determined by the biggest PERCENTAGE of Hive powered up, not necessarily the most Hive powered up.

As usual, and continuing what I've done for 12 months -

There will be three 100 HP delegations to qualifying accounts each month.

Criteria for winning a three-week 100HP delegation

• accounts must meet the base criteria for any Hive Power Up Day prize, 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

What if no accounts qualify?

As I always say, I don't make decisions on my own, so if, as has happened in the past, there are "slim pickings", I will be working via Traci with the @ocd team and making selections from the @lovesniper noob curation initiative. I will also be keeping an eye out for those noobs who fall into the Silver Bloggers' league and who have joined that community - there's a link at the end of this post.

June winners

The month, there was a great selection to choose from with @sofs-su, @cibersk8 and @flordulceysalado receiving delegations for three weeks, and which will expire on 28 June. So when 100 HP disappears from your your wallets, that's why!

But that's not all

Oh, and remember that in addition to the delegations, these accounts are added to my fanbase and receive a daily 100% upvote (if my voting power is still more than 90%; if it's not, I do try to pop over, but RL sometimes gets in the way). This is also why I ask @ginabot to notify me each time they post. If I have an opportunity, I pop over and have a gander and occasionally weigh in on whatever the post may be about. If you haven't had a vote, I then give a manual vote. Which will mean a bit more once Hadfork 25 is implemented on 30 June 2021.

A last word - or two

Thanks to @traciyork, @victoriabsb and @hivebuzz for all the hard work they do each month - and around the blockchain, generally. A shoutout, too, to @abh1234 whose Traci's go-to numbers man.

Finally, as know that there are some of us who are blockchain and life veterans, I am reminding you about Hive Silver Bloggers community and its twice monthly challenge: Blog of the Week. Read about #bow, here and join in?

Lastly, I will be powering up my liquid Hive: I am pleased at how much I've accrued by just being active (posting daily, commenting (not a lot) and curating - manually and automatically) on the blockchain. Consistency is everything.

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

Post Script

• In search of English writing, research and editing services?
  Look no further:  I will help you with writing emails and reports, academic and white papers formal grammar, spelling and punctuation more information here.

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

1. 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....?
2. 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

Image: @traciyork

• Join Hive using this link and then join us in the Silver Bloggers' community by clicking here.

• I also share my occasional instagram posts to te crypto blockchain using the new, and really nifty phone app, Dapplr. On your phone, click here or on the icon, and give it a go.

Posted Using LeoFinance ^Beta

Posted using Dapplr