So as directed in the email I did follow the link. It took me to the above webpage and after plugging in the code (wasn't very easy to decipher either) It led me to the next webpage which as can be seen (you can click on the image to enlarge it) asks me to follow the directions sent to me by email. But that put me back in the same loop!

Eventually after numerous tries (thankfully I was not locked out of my account) I did remember which of the 10 emails I have in the back of my head was the correct one and I was able to post. No thanks of course to the password help I received from blogger.com.