Thank you for reminding me of how blessed we are to be here in Colorado! The thought of counting the sunshine days on one hand reminds me of this fact!

However, we here in Colorado regions hold our breath and say a lot of extra prayers when we are awaiting moisture. Our terrain counts on it and without it we face wind erosion, drought, and perhaps the worst of all is fire. I know we surely don't have an exclusive on these matters as there are plenty of other areas in the news suffering from the woes of Mother Nature as well.

It isn't that we don't appreciate the sun filled, crystal clear, blue skies dramatically emphasized by the back drop of the awe inspiring, God reminding Rocky Mountains! I simply can't ever get enough of that... But the moisture keeps what should be green, green... The lakes that should be full, filled... The skies that should be blue, blue instead of crimson orange from the fires that burn miles and miles away... And so on!

Therefore, in our region specifically we are praying for moisture at the time. We are faced with a beautiful weekend and surely can't complain about that, but that doesn't stop our requests for moisture come Monday maybe, or Tuesday would be okay too.


Speaking of the weekend, I think we will go take in the first race of the season at I-76 Speedway on Sunday. I believe it's called the ice-breaker, for obvious reasons. However, in this particular year I think they could have held it a month earlier with the early spring that has arrived. It will be fun for all since at least two or three of our foster sons have never been there and in some cases never been to the car races regardless.

I found myself embracing the sport when Chad, our biological son raced on the local tracks. At first I wanted to kill his father for getting him going on racing. I was terrified that something bad was going to happen to him, as we had faced life threatening situations with him so many times over the years. I was curious if Ron was just seeing how far he could push his luck in gambling on Chad's life... But in the end, it's true I became the families biggest race fan... That is with only one other exception, my Mother who also held her breath when we watched our pride driving frantically on the round tracks!

I suppose it's like anything, you get around something long enough, become familiar with the in's and outs and before you know it, it has your interest as well. I imagine some day in the future, when finances afford the possibility, Chad may very well find himself behind the wheel again. The next time however, I tend to believe he will be driving in the IMCA division, unless I miss my guess. And of course, you can count on his biggest fans (Mom, Dad, Nano and of course his newest and no doubt biggest fan his wife, Kelly) all along side the track hooting and hollering for the world to hear; except maybe Chad himself who can't hear us yelling over the sound of the engines running.

It's a day out of school today and I just got the boys started on their self starting work on learning to ride or at least ride properly. It's always a bit of a challenge to work with the boys when they are first starting out and you never know for sure who is going to and who isn't going to maintain an interest in any of it. The first Palomino/Buckskin show of the season is May 3rd, a fair distance from home, so I suppose I will shuttle them over to have their first experience in the world of horse shows. In the past the boys have been incorporated into helping with the show, by opening and closing gates, grounds clean up, helping in the show office with entries and such. They have done a great job, so good in fact that we received a plaque and special recognition for our assistance at the Buckskin year end awards dinner, plus dinner too boot! It was a nice surprise!

So, with that much stated, I suppose it's time to go monitor them at a distance, giving them enough room to start to learn on their own, but close enough to save them from themselves or the horses from them in the process. Horses and youth.... It's a great thing you know!

Have a great Friday afternoon and/or evening and a wonderful weekend too!