In my usual Power Up Day ahead post I was delighted to announce that with effect from this month, and in collaboration with fellow Silver Blogger, @coquicoin, the delegations to redfish through my little initiative would double from 100HP to 200HP. Imagine my surprise when @lizelle and founder of the Silver Bloggers Community left this comment on that post:

Can I be a third wheel in your cog initiative Fiona? As it is my 5th birthday here in July, it's high time I did something towards Hive PUD, so I would also like to match your Hive PUD delegations. We can be The Golden Silver Girls, and put a smile on the faces of 3 redfish

My reaction?

And this is what Lizelle says about why she's doing this:

The generosity of the many HivePUD initiatives has amazed me ever since @fionasfavourites started creating awareness in our Silver Bloggers Community. That's when the seed was planted that perhaps I could also help in some way.

Fiona is celebrating her fifth Hive anniversary in July and when @coquicoin decided to collaborate with her as a way of celebrating her first anniversary, also in July, by helping a couple of Redfish, a flame was lit!

Since I am celebrating my Hive fifth anniversary...in July... I thought it's high time I did my little bit in helping someone starting their journey here on Hive, and what better way than banding together with these two awesome Silver Blogger gals.

Remember how The Golden Silver Girls used to make us laugh? Well, I'm sure that together we can put a smile on the faces of the three Redfish!

I am learning to be careful what I wish for - in the best possible way. I was wondering what I could do to mark my Hive anniversary this month - which seems to be a good month for my blogpals - and these two wonderful women have not just given me the best gifts ever, but they are helping to pay it forward.

The Power of Three

From this month - July 2022 - three qualifying redfish that meet my criteria and the basic PUD criteria (read about it here and below) will get delegations of:

300 HP for 21 days

When I was thinking about what I might do, tripling my contribution was simply not on the cards. What my idea was, doesn't matter, this girl power collaboration will make a really meaningful contribution to three new accounts and as they find their way around the social blockchain that is Hive.

July Hive Power Up Day

Back to today: I keep on saying that I'm hoping not to be digging into my nest egg, and I said last month that that hope is slowly becoming a reality. I'm not going to jinx things and will still I shall start a power down after handing out my delegations (more about that below), but I hope to be powering some (as I'm doing this month), if not all back up. So thank you to my posse of peeps whom I know send a lot of good juju my way - it's clearly paying off!

For more about why we power up on the first of each month, check out this post from the awesomesauce @traciyork who pulls it all together.

Why I - and now my fellow collaborators - do this

We all have great empathy for noobs and redfish, and that's what lies behind this contribution to #HivePUD. Here's the rundown:

After all the numbers are done and official winners announced -

We delegate 900 HP, shared equally - that's 300HP per account - among three accounts that meet the basic Power Up Day Criteria as well as these additional criteria. They 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.
• have a reputation of less than 61
• have 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 to make selections and will keep an eye out for those accounts that fall into the Silver Bloggers' league and who have joined that community. If there are no Silver Bloggers who meet the criteria, we will look for accounts that have been identified either as part of the @lovesniper curation initiative or as part of @zakludick's Hive Classroom of 2022. We will also, because of our declared bias, look for accounts that are either subscribers to the Silver Bloggers Community, or who fit that profile.

Of course, that's not all

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, 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.

Remember, too -

Lightening does strike twice:

If you participate in this #hivepud and you still meet the criteria, you will go into this month's pot again, and stand another chance to receive a second delegation. It's happened before. I promise.

I have you powered up today? Have you?

As I have explained, twos yes, 2's, are significant this year, so I've set a goal for each of my monthly powers up: they will all be in 2's. This month's is more than it's been for a while because I am returning some Hive to my pot.

Here's proof today's power up:

Happy July!

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

Photo: Selma

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

• re-vamping old recipes. As I do this, I am adding 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 here or on on the image below to sign up.

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

Original artwork: @artywink

• lastly, graphics are created using partly my own photographs, images available freely available on @hive.blog and Canva.