Catching Up

So, it has been such a long time since I have had time and patience with myself to sit down and write - or had a single coherent organized thought in my head!  I was very recently diagnosed with Adult ADD.  Ironically, the medication I am on now is essentially the same stuff I used to take to cram for exams.  What  a difference it makes, the most notable of which is that I can usually lie down to go to sleep at night and actually go to sleep instead of making lists of stuff I should do, stuff I forgot to do, stuff  I promised or offered to do for people and haven't gotten around to yet, books I want to read, things I am worried about, things I should worry about, great ideas to solve the world's problems.....you get the idea?

I think the loss of my beautiful mother was the motivating event for me getting to a counselor and eventually a doctor, which resulted in my diagnosis.  Mom's passing was not a huge surprise, but it was a huge loss, certainly to me, but to an awful lot of other folks as well.  The single most repeated comment I heard about Mom was that she was a lady.  She was beautiful, kind, loving and never had a harsh word for anyone.  I miss her so much.  On the right there is a picture of my mom with three of her her grand kids.  My daughter, age two at the time, is in her arms, and my niece and nephew are standing by.  Mom's huge smile is a great reflection of her heart, she loved her family and it showed on her face every minute of every day.  Her grandchildren and great grandchildren where the light of her life and she just loved to play with them and laugh with them.

It has been my goal for a long time to reduce the number of foster dogs here to just one.  A recent spate of illnesses made it obvious that I had to reduce the number of fosters here sooner rather than later. We finally managed it and  our one remaining foster dog is Salty the old coonhound over there on the left.     Salty is still reliably housebroken as long as he gets outside right after he eats and his favorite pastime is sleeping in the sun.  He is not a bit of trouble and hopefully he will find a forever home soon. In the meantime he is welcome to stay here as long as he wants.  He is a great old guy.

We have an adorable little mini-horse now at DogRush. A new friend gave us Breyer, the blind mini, in the hopes that the little horse would bond with my herd of goats and sheep. Well, it didn't exactly happen, but the little horse has found her way into my heart and I have bonded with her! Evenings, sitting on my milk carton stool in Breyers stall with a lap full of hay for her to eat are the highlight of my days. Breyer loves to have her eye ridges scratched and also begs for treats. She is a joy to be around and I am so glad she is here. I promise to post photos as soon as we have some spring color outside to make the little dun horse show up in the photo!

My new horse friends have been taking me trail riding and I am hooked.  I tried to learn to ride "english" some time ago - but my back and neck were not happy with me for my efforts.  However a gaited horse provides me with a very comfortable ride, so, I guess I am a cowgirl now.  Over there on the right is my official cowgirl's mount.  Loverboy is the horse I fell in love with and bought for trail riding.  He is a ,gentle eight year old Spotted Saddle horse and appropriately named indeed. I am looking forward to many, many hours on Missouri's trails while we explore the woods together.

There is a lot more catching up to do, and some more sad news, but it can all wait till next time.