The Rain is Finally Here

Finally it started raining today. We are currently under a Winter Storm Warning and could get 7-10" of snow. Okay then!!

Yesterday was the opposite of last week. I just can't seem to get enough sleep. This type of weather is condusive to good sleep. Am thinking my iron levels are low, so have been trying to eat iron rich food and taking my vitamins religiously. I can't take iron supplements-I found that out when I was pregnant with Megan. They bind me up and I am more miserable than before. So it has to come from food. Good thing I like liver and spinach. Megan hasn't been very happy with my cooking that last couple of days though-LOL. She has pretty limited tastebuds, as most kids do, but because she does have some attention deficit problems has to be limited on the amount of refined sugar she can eat. We pretty much have it down to a science now. Cereal is limited to once a day. Milk is limited. All foods are cooked with cold-pressed olive oil. We try to incorporate as much fish and protein as possible. Fresh veggies and fruit are a must. Thank goodness for Sara Lee wheat bread that looks like white bread. Funny-candy doesn't bother her. Of course we don't keep a lot of that around anyway. And the most amazing thing of all - a cup of coffee every morning. The caffine works differently in the brain of someone with ADD/ADHD. Sometimes we get off track, but as soon as I notice her "hearing impairment" taking hold, it is right back on the diet, that isn't a diet. Hearing Impairment you ask? Well, when her ADD kicks in it is like you are talking to a deaf person. She sees your lips moving but she isn't hearing a thing. All I can say is that thank goodness she is going to school here in this tiny little school where I know all of the teachers and am fortunate enough to be able to communicate with them on a regular basis. If they start noticing her not following up on assignments or having problems following directions they let me know and we work on it at home. It doesn't get out control the way it did at other schools. It has made such a difference in Megan's life. Because by the time she is all grown up, she should have a firm grip on this or may have outgrown it all together.

Speaking of ADHD/ADD - I think my barrel horse suffers from the same syndrom. I have started having to stall him because he just walks and walks. He is so insistent on being on the move that he won't eat his hay. I am shoveling enough beet pulp, rolled oats and complete feed pellets into him to feed 3 horses and he just keeps looking gaunt. We added ground soybean, ground flax and alfalfa pellets to his feet for fat. That has helped a little. He is also on a basic mineral supplement, A-Z vitamins and another supplement that is supposed to help nervous horses. Locking him in the barn the last couple of nights has forced him to clean up his hay and as long as one of the other horses is next to him he stays pretty relaxed. I have taken mental inventory of our herd thinking that if I could put one of the big, gentle, easy going geldings with him he would learn to relax a little. Unfortunately, any of them that are capable of putting him in his place would surely cause a constant battle between the two. The others would just be kept on the constant move by the bully. So it is looking like stall city for this dork. I have to say that if this horse did not have the capability to run the barrels the way he does, he would have been down the road. His back-on-track training is taking hold though. He is starting to approach 1st in a straight line again and is maintaining his right lead. A nice square stop and he is staying upright around 1st. No problems picking up his left lead to 2nd but his stop at 2nd still isn't square. Still wanting to kick that hip out a little. A little flat going around the barrel and he is wanting to tear out of there too early. Third is about the same. But we have seen improvement. That is all that matters.

Thanks to Callie and Lacy for the Equine Award. I have saved it onto my computer and will get it posted. I am having problems with my computer again. The screen isn't showing pictures the way it should. It is like the colors are all wrong. I have done everything I know to fix it. Don't know what is causing it, but only have to wait until I can get to the ranch to get the rest of my old computer. A friend of mine went through my old home computer and updated the motherboard, added new RAM and lots of other stuff that I have no idea about, but it sounded good. Now I just need the monitor, keyboard and speaker assembly and I can get it set up. So I have to deal with this for a couple more days and then we will see what the other one runs like. I hate to have this little old laptop die on me though. I really like this one, so will have to see about getting the screen fixed.