tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48465201895289502712024-03-13T15:55:11.393-07:00Six in the NorthwestSix In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.comBlogger165125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-12725663642672393372012-05-16T11:13:00.003-07:002012-05-16T11:13:39.178-07:00Betting on Bento BoxesSometimes I spend way too much time thinking about the next best thing. That can be either good or bad. Sometimes it does keep your mind on the lookout for ideas though. And just sometimes, it pays off.<br />
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I have been agonizing over ways to make healthy food options just a little bit more appealing to the younger set in the family. Even though I'm down to only just one little person who needs direction in this department, she needs it the most.
I stumbled across <a href="http://primalkitchen.blogspot.com/2010/09/lunch-box-1.html" target="_blank">Primal Kitchen</a> where they do a wonderful job of blogging about the paleo/primal/whole foods approach they take to kids lunches. There are some great ideas there. And the most inspiring I think is the fact that they are using bento boxes to package up the offerings and make them unnumerably more interesting to little diners.<br />
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Further research led me to find <a href="http://laptoplunches.com/" target="_blank">Laptop Lunch's Bento Buddies</a> which are very cool modular, lidded bento boxes. As well I tracked down <a href="http://lunchbots.com/" target="_blank">Lunch Bots</a> stainless bento lunch containers. Without a budget to stick to, I'd take either one of those for H-Bob in a heart beat. But until I make such a purchase, I decided to do the next best thing and use some silicone cupcake liners that I had which fit perfectly into a lidded container. This doesn't make a very packable option as nothing is lidded, but it did provide a low cost introduction to breakfast and lunch presented in a more fun manner.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TQRl11-c6BhnOzHc7KFYKBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfRX1Qt12WgItaNoPZv3BT2nva8emTMPLaQH7JN6QIAQCxpAsUk0Lp06p6UJfKr73jXNGtYdXm3RWFch49IzpbEjH2kg2VKYdp0E40l5TnkwEnKCHrMuO2vvzcBzbtCKppikHA1UA2yPIG/s400/0516120832.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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Just for fun I decided to see what the library had to offer in this realm and found <i>The Just Bento Cookbook - Everyday Lunches To Go</i> by Makiko Itoh who also blogs at <a href="http://justbento.com/" target="_blank">Just Bento</a> which provided a lot of visual inspiration as to what I could adapt to our whole foods/primal food approach.
And as usual, another great source for bento lunch ideas I found was on Pinterest. More visuals there to delight the eye and inspire for sure.<br />
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Perhaps packing a lunch for a stay-at-home child would become just as bothersome as doing the same for my high schooler who has chosen to take lunches in order to have enough healthy foods to fuel his athletic needs. But on the other hand, I could set aside portions for her just as easily while tackling his lunch demands.<br />
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So my final take is that I plan on keeping my eyes open when school lunch boxes start to show up on the retail shelves this summer to look for something that might work, and most importantly, is BPA free. I tend to worry about some of the cheap, imported plastics that find our way into the food supply. Until then, we will experiment with my make-do bento box and see where that takes us. Based on today's enthusiastic response to breakfast that we needed to take on the go, we just might be on the right track.<br />
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Do you have healthy, whole food lunch dilemmas for either children at home or on the go? What's your favorite and most successful way to deal with them?
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-55598651260204575972012-05-14T08:51:00.001-07:002012-05-14T08:51:36.998-07:00Fortunately, It Was Mother's Day. Unfortunately...Today broke bright and shiny. Unusual for a Northwest spring morning.<br />
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But...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...it was Mother's Day. Nothing like some sun to put a spring in your step.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...that meant needing to remember to water my little seedlings in the greenhouse after opening it. A little too toasty for them.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...I decided to wear my contacts so that I could bring along my sunglasses for the drive into town.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...one of our daughters decided to ride to church a little later with her older sister, but never managed to pry herself out of bed to let said older sister know, and therefore got left at home.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...Big Country's girlfriend brought me lilies for Mother's Day. How sweet is that.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-p95H7Y8Ofxkl7CfXv0mdxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDY4yrPVILjaigTD2LnELfj2lghd4fV1WCDKc86TYQq6-aYSToTcSb05qkV1ChByYWZbwmbUuSTmRAIqzQpZvNtr8kTJwR4-gOenfXHaEFDf9bYqGU6IEtDaz1sDhPKmIN9mtJCGgMH5tK/s400/IMG_20120514_081909.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...I still ended up cooking dinner for the family and my mom. But that's okay, because...<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...there's nothing like having your beef brisket slow-cooked on the Traeger the day before to make dinner a breeze.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...while I was visiting with my mom, H-Bob thought my remaining piece of fabric for Goat Princess' Snow White evil queen costume collar, was a scrap...and turned it into a hand sewing project.
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...the fabric store still had the same material on hand to replace it with.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...while attending to all that, the horses stayed out in the very green, lush bottom field for a little longer than they should have. They had some pretty full bellies.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...it was Mother's Day after all, and I garnered a few little gifts from DH...a Teavana mug AND one from Starbucks. I'm set for drinks now.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/p_5vhgA1f_2pO8B-x7WqQBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwyM7_B8XmQaIsAqYjk3ehr7fauUpK4DNVydtz2_sVXZUBFm7huJsA2PvisRz0GVbUkFj_xd9sixuOV2g61Mi6W004IlFY1wIRmOek-x7HaYimVzotpwF3_kVWXNNpYAAON4l93Cv8q3jJ/s400/0513121527.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...we ran out of ice to make a great iced coffee to use one of those new mugs for.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>....I could enjoy another gift. H-Bob had convinced DH to make her/me a wonderful, rolling chicken coop for a few of her pullets that she wants to keep tame.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_fvcPZW9V1WewIvRcBayIxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5ovPF5JBaIKwl9sF6veHPA2WZniX2dBouCWbJmeMN4hjg-JM0_qd0e6joG8B4dvVK23CgrUollBnE3BqDncwhgfqgoXdwxRdFvfqa1W9D176bbFXyfradLHcIl8AERlEk6hyphenhyphenXLvsAeU7j/s400/0513121527a.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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It came complete with an ingenious little sign, designed by H-Bob herself.<br />
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/f5c4qr8GOLo6cFodn7Ql9xi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhre11A0z6EEanfd1W3obIpTz4G3RfKClaZd0Rw6kuQiZ9Nj8DcIZ77lhEnozW-WNZ6jj0e24FtgQjkhQXEsUezJ9onyHgzpbDiljWbxEgUA0bW3AooQLzwz8bYRQr9WXINSC4GQa3NAWaI/s400/0513121528.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...those same wonderful hens generate flies which made their way into the house in great numbers while DH was putting some finishing touches on the new door he replaced our broken sliding door with.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...the house cools down at night, and those buggers are sitting ducks.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...I didn't remember to open enough windows to really cool it down.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...Big Country gave me the most heart-felt card ever. He rather poured his heart out in this one. A real keeper.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZH8ZbbC2PvwbzOlfzskNDRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHPH9DECg598Az5gjDsF1eVVYxe1lfZ2o0k9eoH7imYeFOFA0dqKenBpD4fnuGJdheN66hjtRsf7Co5KiT406w1ARgG07pZ8dvxKjfbv2AtUZZgPwNX-vmHnbi9Z4VoQG64MF_2rTbkRxD/s400/0513121526.jpg" width="300" /></a>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately</span>...we had such a full day that the planned early bedtime for everyone really did not happen.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Fortunately</span>...it was a great day to spend with family and friends. And it's those moments that make everything worth it!<br />
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Hoping you all had a blessed time with your friends or family this Mother's Day.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-38666315558675552562012-05-10T10:31:00.001-07:002012-05-10T10:31:57.604-07:00J - O - Y Prayer JournalSeveral months back I was thoroughly inspired by a link I discovered that featured a <a href="http://www.amarthaheart.com/2011/05/31/prayer-journal-how-to/" target="_blank">tutorial</a> on how to put together a personal prayer journal. It spoke to my heart as this is something that I had wanted to put together for myself. So I bookmarked it.<br />
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But unfortunately there it sat.
Enter a book I picked up at the library recently entitled <i>Eat That Frog!</i> which I had originally reserved for some ideas on dealing with procrastination in my children. But at this point the most value came for myself. Did I have any goals set? Were those goals able to direct my day-to-day activities and priorities? Well, no, to be honest. So there I came full circle again to my desire to have a more structured prayer life.<br />
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So back I went to my bookmark and some searching through Pinterest. And yes, I came up with something even more inspiring for me. A simple composition notebook, decked out in scrapbooking papers and personalized tabs. So off I went to pick up these simple supplies. I decided that this would also be a great opportunity to introduce this concept to my ten-year-old, so she selected her themed papers as well. The <a href="http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/10/18/10-in-10-guest-bloggers-the-sisters-behind-eighteen25/" target="_blank">original post</a> does a fantastic job of outlining the steps to put together this personalized journal...hers was a Christmas planner...but here are the basic steps that I followed:<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1tEwSNLFgRKcDIli-HjzyBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimPeYLMMws_SluVWDzRmBrsC5m0NEcO8ReaD2O6ZOqERkikYYuw49O59ulmK0c2DPatySZ_p4Gy2JGl-IU2MPNpbmkVQPMiiFoDGzOvoO9iA-UGrLFhb41Hi-b6QNbSdmU4yy_pYbrc-Z3/s400/0413121622.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
basic supplies...composition notebook, scrapbook paper, ribbon to tie journal with, glue, and scissors</span></i><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IHGnFwDyVu6ONrwV0y78KBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5mwVvpbp1U5vKWjPe7B_pAKXARP1qFDg_xIFdpsQOefnHZ57v8qTHDxx4NshaWynfIN4XS6SK1x99lFOlbZDCArEwcH-RU7YkoMpuTPglFg-fB_zojRXpvhSaZvpWyMq5vyap1fSz0sey/s400/0413121633.jpg" width="300" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>although hard to see here, ribbon is glued to outside of book so that it will wrap around it and be able to tie. front and backs are covered with a piece of patterned paper cut to fit.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><br />
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/JQa2LvaruWJV2KFcweJlsxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjypiwqG0bj_wAQn4PBKOQEM9Jrq12XOpnrfcFOz3ZFQXn9B4q0xNkGhVHZ5WWuS9kkfC6ilH_7fx84BmXR9CGG9S7ZIjt3F29aCCCacGDfR-tjZ98xa5V_CLEFdYr27__sErXtBrjqebHH/s400/0413121654.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>more embellishments are added to the front and back covers to conceal the remaining surfaces. </i></span><br />
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The journal was finished up by glueing another sheet to the inside and back covers to conceal the printed information. And lastly, I doubled over small scraps of patterned paper and glued them to the outside edge of individual sheets to divide the book into roughly thirds in order to have some tabbed dividers. I know, hard to visualize but the <a href="http://ashleyannphotography.com/blog/2010/10/18/10-in-10-guest-bloggers-the-sisters-behind-eighteen25/" target="_blank">link to the original post</a> is very clear if you check it out.<br />
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So the big question...how to use this beautiful little journal? And then it came to me. The Sunday School song<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"> "J - O - Y"</span> whose chorus lyrics are:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Jesus first,<br />Yourself last,<br />And Others in between.</span></blockquote>
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How perfect.<br />
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The tabs would be labeled<span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><b> <span style="font-size: large;">J - Jesus</span></b></span>...a place for praise and thankfulness for what Jesus has done.<br />
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The second tab would be<span style="font-size: large;"> <b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">O - Others</span></b></span>...listing of ongoing prayer requests.<br />
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And the last tab would be <b><span style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace; font-size: large;">Y - Yourself</span></b>...how would you like Jesus to work in your own personal life.<br />
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So simple that even a child could understand which is exactly what I wanted for H-Bob. We decided to start a new page for each time the month changed and then review her entries weekly and add happy faces or hearts to those items that were answered prayers. Best idea in a long time.<br />
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If you've wanted something structured for yourself that you can use to track answered prayers and to keep others' requests in the forefront of your thoughts, this just might work for you. Plus it's a chance to be just a tiny bit crafty and creative even if you think you aren't. Have you put together anything similar? Has it helped? Would love to hear your thoughts.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-8611841256054324992012-05-07T11:47:00.000-07:002012-05-07T11:47:15.654-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part SixSo where have we come since October of 2011 in our diet and dyslexia adventure? An extremely long way since January of that same year upon diagnosing her vision difficulties, and an amazing journey since going gluten-free in August and finding the key to her joint pains, attention issues, processing skills, and reading ability. H-Bob will be coming up on almost nine months of eating gluten-free here soon. So here's where we are...<br />
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May 2012</h2>
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H-Bob has completed all necessary vision therapy. Her therapist has helped her complete all physical changes that were needed as well as activate those vision processing areas that had been on vacation for so long. This is in itself is remarkable in taking her reading level from a kindergarten level to reading books in the 850 <a href="http://lexile.com/" target="_blank">Lexile</a> range which is almost on track for grade level for her within that one year period. Although her therapist did not official endorse dietary changes as part of her protocol, she could only acknowledge that massive gains were made once H-Bob dropped the gluten and sugar. By the end of her sessions, she noticed things that I had not specifically picked up on as much...much more eye contact, confidence, the willingness to stick to a task, ambition, and general happiness. I couldn't agree more.</div>
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As far as her charter school studies are concerned, she was required to take our state reading and math testing this past spring as usual. The previous year she was quite a ways off from meeting state standards in third grade and had to complete her reading assessment in four or five sessions. This year she came closer to meeting those standards but had closed the gap considerably. I fully expect that by her fifth grade testing, she will be able to meet those standards. The fact that she did her testing in those subject areas in one or two sessions was a major accomplishment from last year. Again, diet definitely played a part in allowing her attention and determination to see her through those tests in larger chunks of concentrated time.</div>
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At home she is still the ever creative right-brained child excelling at sculpture and creative pursuits. She's so amazing at having a vision of something she would like to produce but is sometimes stymied by her abilities and supplies. However, we're excited to see that her frustration levels have evened out. It's hard to be a little person trying to accomplish great things. We're still working on getting her reading level up a little. She's got great comprehension for things heard orally but are working on this skill for that which she reads silently. She seems to have a flair for writing cursive...probably the artistic value of it...and her printed writing is so much more legible than it was. She is definitely more able to produce a written paragraph compared to the agony of her previously eking out a sentence or two. Her mathematical abilities took a great jump with her diet change, but anticipating struggles with Saxon when long division was introduced, we opted for Math-U-See for this year. But we still found out that this still became a stumbling block. It wasn't until discovering <a href="http://kahri.blogspot.com/2006/11/new-way-to-teach-long-division.html" target="_blank">double division</a> that we jumped this hurdle. I have a feeling that spelling will always be a bugger for her, but we are making progress there as well.</div>
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Overall, there is no doubt that our diet change and supplements for H-Bob are here to stay. Especially, as there have been secondary results there too. About three months after eating gluten-free with H-Bob, I noticed that I was feeling more and more light headed. Just before Thanksgiving it became particularly bad, and I decided to check my blood pressure as I had been on two medications for the past year after a dentist discovered that my pressure was through the roof. Low and behold, my blood pressure was in the 115/60 range...way too low...apparently due to the fact that dietary changes I had embraced along with H-Bob combined with my medication were keeping the levels too low. My doctor told me to drop my dose to half, and then finally had to admit that it needed to be completely taken away. He had to eat his previous words that blood pressure never comes down in an older person. Surprise...surprise...I say. </div>
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Realizing that H-Bob cannot go back to her old ways of eating for the remainder of her life and that it was currently my job to figure out how she was to accomplish that, I begin to investigate more thoroughly the gluten-free diet. I didn't like the idea of pumping sugar-laden, processed, refined-flour products, although gluten-free, into our diets on a long-term basis. Leads here and there took me to recommendations to go vegan, vegetarian, raw, or paleo/primal. I dabbled in the raw food diet for about thirty days but saw that H-Bob lost too much weight. I had more energy and woke up feeling incredible every morning but developed insomnia...later learning that I was probably became deficient in the amino acids from animal protein that promote sleep. Since that eliminated vegan, vegetarian and raw, I decided to see what paleo/primal was all about. </div>
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So since that time, we as a family began a <a href="http://robbwolf.com/what-is-the-paleo-diet/">30-day paleo/primal food challenge </a> in which our food choices included animal protein, vegetables, fruit, and healthy fats which included olive oil and coconut oil and other coconut products, along with avocados and some nuts. Sounds pretty good, right? Oh and did I mention what wasn't on the menu? All dairy, gluten, grains, legumes, seed oils and not a drop of sugar or artifical sweeteners. That was a pretty tough sale to the entire family I admit. But you know what? By the end of those 30 days, all of us realized that our abdominal fat just melted away...literally. DH lost 15 pounds or so without even batting an eye. No one ever went hungry. We embraced the idea that healthy fat is not bad nor is plenty of animal products. We filled up to the brim on veggies and fruit smoothies and ate enough protein and fat to feel satiated at every meal and just watched our health change before our eyes. Co-workers mentioned how great DH looked and noticed how much more energy he had. Our teen son's acne cleared. I could wake in the morning without feeling as if I'd run a marathon during the night. And H-Bob began to put some meat on her bones. I begin to notice that Goat Princess no longer had trouble falling asleep at night and did not drop off to sleep randomly during the day. Once everyone was over their carb-cravings, constant need to feel the need to eat every few hours, and sugar addiction so-to-speak, eating in a paleo manner was definitely a win-win situation.</div>
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Today Goat Princess still eats a pretty strict primal diet although she's beginning to allow herself a couple of cheat meals a week. She'll notice right away the carb crash that happens following those meals. I too follow a primal diet, allowing myself some dairy products such as butter and buttermilk and the occasional cheese garnish. But milk in the latte is a thing so the past...welcome my new friend, coconut milk. H-Bob still struggles with sugar and wanting the occasional gluten item. She'll have her treat but always pays the price of mood, attention, and leg pains. She's gradually learning that it isn't always worth it. DH eats out so much at work that he really tries to stay primal, but once going back to way too many cheat meals, he finds he doesn't have the resolve to stick with it. Looks like he needs another thirty-day challenge to clear him out again. Our teen athlete eats a pretty primal diet although he has no trouble dining out with friends on the weekend. You can tell when he's really overdone it as his acne will flare up and gets that total way-too-tired couch-potato syndrome again. But overall, it is a pretty win-win situation.</div>
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You know the silver lining they talk about? Well H-Bob's dyslexia has been that for us. Not only have we learned how to support her needs, but as a family our health and well-being have been affected in such positive ways that we can only be truly grateful.<br />
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</div>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-974729550385478692012-05-02T14:28:00.000-07:002012-05-02T14:28:03.423-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part FiveCliche as it is, it's hard to believe that this is the fifth post in this series. But bear with me as I try to lay out the results of our diet change with H-Bob in our attempt to clean up her diet and experience positive changes in her learning abilities. You can catch up by reading parts <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-one.html" target="_blank">one</a>, <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-two.html" target="_blank">two</a>, <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-three.html" target="_blank">three</a>, and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-four.html" target="_blank">four</a>.<br />
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<h2>
September 2011 </h2>
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By the time school rolled around, H-Bob was eating a gluten-free diet with very little amounts of sugar and dairy. Interestingly enough, once she lost her carb-craving associated with the gluten, she no longer felt the need to guzzle glass after glass of milk, and that empty space in her stomach could be filled with the fresh vegetables and fruit that had been missing from her diet. She was talking a multi-vitamin, an omega 3 supplement with DHA and EPA along with a probiotic. The last piece of the puzzle that I threw in was a supplement provided by Jarrow called Neuro Optimizer. This provided extra amino acids to support healthy brain function in an attempt to help her fill up any void that might exist nutritionally. But poor H-Bob. She had a cupful of pills every morning to deal with. We had our share of struggles over this, but when you can see such improvement, it sure helps to keep up your resolve.<br />
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During August when we saw that her ability to ‘see’ correctly had drastically improved, we started to think about finding a intervention reading program to help her get from her kindergarten reading level to something closer to her grade level which would be fourth grade this school year. We settled on Saxon Phonics Intervention Program as it skipped a lot of the fluff that you would expose a younger beginning reader to. It just hammered in the basics with lots of repetition and practice across all the different learning styles in a manner that would not be demeaning to an older student. Wanting to achieve success, I followed it to the last letter not skimming or skipping anything. Information I had read indicated that dyslexics benefit from intense phonics instruction to completely reinforce the application of phonics. It was amazing to see that by the end of September, H-Bob’s reading was phenomenally better. You have no idea how encouraging this was.
H-Bob’s charter school classes were beginning the end of September, and I was a bit nervous about her entering Orchestra I with her violin as she had the ability to play well but could not for the life of anything read music. Her great musical ear had bolstered her along all through last year. But to my surprise, there was vast improvement over last year. All of this was definitely paying off.<br />
<br />
<h2>
October 2011</h2>
<br />
By this time, H-Bob had settled into a pretty predictable routine of eating clean, whole foods without gluten. But if she were exposed to gluten accidentally, it was <b><i>so</i></b> obvious She would experience her leg pains again, but even more intense as it took only a little exposure now to affect her. Her attitude would flip a switch and she would become very emotional...whether angry or sad..and it would be intense. Her attention would wander and there would be zero focus. There's nothing like a glimpse back into the past to remind you that whole-food nutrition without gluten will be paramount to her life...and permanent.<br />
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I’ll never forget the morning H-Bob yelled from her bed upon waking that morning. “Mom, mom! You’ll never believe it! I actually had a dream last night! And there was this music. I could hear all of it. All of the parts. And there was color everywhere!” I suppose that shouldn't sound like too unusual of a dream, but for her it was. Due to her monotone diet and resulting lack of nutrition, it had appeared that there were neural connections that weren't being made just simply because she did not have the raw materials to support her neurological system. This tended to be expressed as her inability to envision things on an internal blackboard so to speak, difficulty recalling things, plus her various learning disabilities...all things that were frustrating for her. She was ecstatic over what her mind was now able to do. It’s hard to explain how significant this felt.
All of those nagging questions whether things were not quite right with her processing skills were now ironing themselves out. It was all becoming too clear that the typical SAD diet we had been eating, although healthy by many means, still did not provide her picky palate with what she needed. That combined with her supplements to support catching up her deficiencies seemed to help complete the whole pictures. The saying, you are what you eat, was really hitting home.<br />
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Her vision therapist had explained that now she had the physical ability to take in printed material, she needed to achieve proficiency in the seven visual processing skills needed to process information. Because she had lacked those many, many years of taking in and processing information, she was simply behind in those skills. The physical ability formed the base of a pyramid and the various skills would build upon the top of them. She was so great at coming up with exercises that kept H-Bob's motivation up when they could have been very repetitious. She built activities around her interest in art and animals, and it seemed that once those activities were introduced, she flew through the exercises and made huge leaps and bounds of progress. These activities helped all across the board with her reading that was progressing nicely as well as her handwriting skills, her focus, her mathematical abilities, and her reasoning. Pretty much everything in her life was positively affected. Here, finally, was the positive and ambitious girl that we knew existed.<br />
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I think I will be able to wrap things up with my final post as we move into where we are today. Stay tuned!<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-14453951857488436252012-04-30T11:24:00.000-07:002012-05-02T14:28:24.603-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part FourThanks for joining me on my series of posts about our daughter, H-Bob, and our discovery of her dyslexia and the effects of her diet. If you'd like, here are links to parts <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-one.html" target="_blank">one</a>, <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-two.html" target="_blank">two</a>, and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-three.html" target="_blank">three</a>. Read along and find out how we took the first steps to evaluate and tackle major changes to our diet.<br />
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<h2>
August 2011</h2>
<br />
Well...we bit the bullet. H-Bob and I were going to attempt to eliminate gluten, dairy and sugar from our diets. Just to see what might happen. Although most professionals...and remember, I'm not one--just a investigative type of mom...recommend at least a six week period of avoiding these foods, I was just hopeful to pull it off for two weeks. How could one exist without these food? What would you eat? The whole concept was very intimidating and daunting to me. That shows you just how entrenched we were in our standard American diet (SAD). The clincher that gave me the determination to see this through was that as I flipped back through her food journal, I could see the relationship of what she was eating to her outward actions.<br />
<br />
Nevertheless, just the thought of eliminating these foods from our diet made ME panic. Why was I so worried? I could go back to eating the same old way anytime, right?
The next week was the WORST of our lives. I can truthfully say that the two of us went through withdrawals that must be equal to anyone dealing with an addiction. I did not go through the cupboards and throw out the offending foods as there were four other family members who absolutely did not want to be involved in this experiment. But, oh, I wish I could have. To walk by the bread and butter. To not have milk in my coffee. No pasta. Not even any steel cut oats. Processed foods were out of the question as they usually had sugar. I thought I was going to die. And H-Bob basically did. There were tears and crying and yelling and screaming. But by the end of the week, something remarkable happened.<br />
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Our intense obsession over these foods was over. The storm of sorts was gone. And we did survive. Not only survived, but H-Bob was feeling good. Those unpredictable, daily multiple meltdowns were oh-so drastically reduced.
I will admit though, it did not have a perfect ending. I couldn’t keep H-Bob on that strict diet any longer than about ten days. I caved. Perhaps if I wasn’t trying to support her and eliminate the same foods from my diet at the same time, I could have kept up my resolve. But it didn’t happen. So I allowed her to choose…gluten or dairy to add back in. She chose dairy, thankfully, and we marched on for a second week without gluten.<br />
<br />
Then I began to start noticing other things. H-Bob’s several times a week ankle joint pains were a thing of the past. Her tic was gone. She smiled a lot more...was more aware of things around her...and seemed to have a veil or fog lifted from her being. She flew through her vision exercises. The roller-coaster emotions disappeared. All those things that made her life stressful were falling away. Maybe all those glowing reports by other parents whose children were on a gluten-free diet were accurate after all.
Now let me say here again before I forget...I am not a doctor or a researcher or a professional of any kind. I’m not making a suggestion that you or anyone else you know can follow in our footsteps and experience the same results. But just the same, I want to<br />
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<h3>
SHOUT ALL OF THIS FROM THE ROOFTOPS.</h3>
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It really did work for H-Bob.
Now after that required announcement, back to the diet thing. I was becoming a believer in gluten intolerance. Dairy did not seem to produce any undesirable effects. Sugar, on the other hand, seemed to exacerbate things but not on the level it was.<br />
<br />
Another aspect that I was delving in to was that of fatty acid supplementation. Although limited, there is research to support that many kids on the spectrum scale are found to be deficient in omega 3 EPA/DHA. Effects from this supplementation do not appear as quickly as a diet change and sometimes take up to a month before any positive results are seen. But I was still looking for a missing component and this could be it. H-Bob’s GF diet had eliminated many of the mood and attention issues but there were still the issues of the way her brain seemed to have difficulties in processing information. We noticed that short term memory was pretty non-existant. ADHD anyone? She seemed completely inable to visualize anything internally. Part of these issues her vision therapist commented would be addressed after her vision abilities stabilized to where they should be. So we added an omega 3 supplement that had roughly equal parts EPA and DHA in it.<br />
<br />
We were seeing such great improvement in other areas that I became a firm believer in everything else that naturopaths and other doctors of functional medicine had been using to help autistic, ADHD, and dyslexic children. So there were a couple of other things we did during this time. I began H-Bob on a probiotic as I became aware of the leaky gut syndrome that can cause autoimmune reactions to gluten in the form of her leg pains. We also added in a complete children’s vitamin. I have never felt totally secure in the fact that those gummy-type children’s vitamins actually are very potent, and due to her nutritional deficiencies (caused by her limited diet and malabsorption by her leaky gut) I tracked down a powdered vitamin recommended by Dr. Mark Hyman, author of <i>The UltraMind Solution</i>, whose nutritional advice was invaluable in helping to understand the dietary changes we needed to make.<br />
<br />
We were probably four to five weeks into these supplements and noticing that none of the other negative symptoms were returning. Besides that, there started to appear additional unexpected benefits. One day while working on her eye therapy practice work, H-Bob startled me by exclaiming that something ‘switched on’. She was so excited she could hardly explain it to me, but while working on her divergence and convergence exercise she said that her ability to cross and uncross suddenly ‘turned on’. Something she had struggled to overcome since the beginning of her eye therapy. From that point on, she was 100% able to complete those exercises. Her therapist could hardly believe the improvement she made that week. We noticed that she could grasp the meaning of numbers while working on math. Her thinking skills were improving as well. Everything was moving along on an inclining scale upwards.<br />
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But then, life took over. DH had a fishing trip scheduled with a buddy and his kids. They were to spend an extended weekend camping. Cooking their guy food. Buying treats. All the bad stuff. I tried my best to convince DH that gluten was out of the question but knew that he didn’t really see the day-to-day effects that her new food choices were having on her. The day they came home, H-Bob bounded into the house with a red licorice rope in one hand and a soda in the other. Oh my. It wasn't long until it was all too clear that there was a diet connection here. After a miserable couple of days getting her back onto track, we were once again back to gluten free.
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This was definitely a turning point in H-Bob's life. From here on we experienced positive gains. But our journey was far from over. School was about to start. Would any of these changes be evident once structured learning took over again? That will be the topic of Part Five.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-77363591778503846202012-04-26T15:49:00.000-07:002012-05-02T14:29:11.895-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part ThreeThanks for joining me on my series of posts about our daughter, H-Bob, and our discovery of her dyslexia and the effects of her diet. If you'd like, here are links to parts <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-one.html">one</a> and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-two.html">two</a>. Today we delve into the issue of diet which kept surfacing everywhere I turned while researching learning disabilities and attention issues.
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<h2>
July 2011 </h2>
Since the concept of diet being more than just what one puts..or doesn't put...into their mouth kept haunting me, I started to maintain a food journal, just for kicks, recording what H-Bob ate and what moods, attention span, cognitive abilities she expressed. Simultaneously I began to read everything I could about diet and ADHD. At this point I had already come to terms that all of our children had exhibited ADHD symptoms and had different learning patterns that enabled them to learn better in a homeschooling situation. But H-Bob combined all of the other three children’s most difficult traits into one bundled-up child. Not only did she maintain a short attention span when it came to reading-type work (even though we had a partial explanation for that with her vision difficulties), she also had intense phobias that would change from time to time along with other conditions that would fall under the label of compulsive disorders. At time she would have tics involving various parts of her body (the current one was blinking her eyes which was getting quite intense). There were violent mood swings with extreme bouts of crying over melancholy music or recalling sad memories. She really was the poster-child of a difficult child to raise.<br />
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So as I began to actually record these items, we began to realize how intensely they controlled her life.
There were many many books and on-line sites that I gleaned information from. The evidence was overwhelming. Children experiencing these conditions seemed to be directly affected by their diet. These issues would drastically improve once they eliminated foods that they could not tolerate, cleaned up their systems of toxins, and began supplementation with DHA and EPA Omega 3 fatty acids. But how could this be true and not once have had it cross my information path? I’m a pretty well-read person and this had been completely under the radar to me. Even the fact that her pediatrition never threw out this information floors me.<br />
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Here is a list of some of the most compelling books I read through that summer while standing in the gardening watering and simultaneously trying to read a book in the other hand.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Kid-Friendly ADHD and Autism Cookbook</b></i> - best concise explanation of how dairy, gluten, and sugar can affect your child. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Digestive Wellness</b></i> - a more in-depth read detailing how digestive issues can have a far-reaching affect on all body systems.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Healing the New Childhood Epidemics</b></i> - very detailed information on special diets, intolerances, nutritional deficiencies, and toxicity and the role they play in ADHD, autism, Aspergers, and dyslexia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>The Ultra Mind Solution</b></i> - another very detailed book on nutrition that applies mainly to adults and the concept that diet is a contributing factor to any and all conditions detrimental to one's health and overall well-being. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>The LCP Solution</b></i> - this provided more support for the role of Omega 3 in the diet and the effects of its deficiency. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Brain Allergies</b></i> - an older book that first opened my eyes as to how food sensitiveness can provoke psychological responses. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i><b>Changing the Course of Autism</b></i> - this book is specifically targeted at those on the autistic spectrum, but the diet, nutritional deficiencies, and toxicity issues are still applicable to dyslexics. </span><br />
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So much information crammed into so many different books all to be inhaled and interpreted into what I began to feel was a very short window in order to begin to consider drastic changes in our diet. I must say that various encounters with friends whom I learned were making dietary changes for various reasons gave me the hope to travel down this path and that just perhaps we weren't alone.<br />
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Next up...the results of our food journaling...and what we discovered.<br />
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Links to and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-four.html" target="_blank">part four</a>.Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-31841257396366473712012-04-25T08:58:00.004-07:002012-05-02T14:29:23.399-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part TwoThanks for joining me on my series of posts about our daughter, H-Bob, and our discovery of her dyslexia and the effects of her diet. You can catch part one <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-one.html">here</a>.<br />
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<h2>
June 2011 </h2>
<br />
It all started with a Tweet. Someone who mentioned that she had just purchased a copy of <i>How to Raise Your Strong Willed Child</i>. It sounded like a good title to investigate. We used to tweet back and forth how H-Bob and some of her children exhibited over-the-top, strong-willed-child attributes. I tracked down a copy at our local library and started reading. It confirmed that I indeed have a strong-willed child. As an infant she cried continually...was sensitive to light, touch, all sounds, and motion. As a toddler, she was still whiny, a picky eater, always in motion. These all fell under the different personality traits outlined by the book. Fascinating and affirming that H-Bob was not the only such child on the planet.<br />
<br />
Not so much a personality trait, but we noticed as a preschooler she had no interest in the printed letter although she loved to be read to and became skilled at drawing. Beginning reading lessons were met with resistance. Being able to distinguish sounds seemed difficult. It seemed as if she could not understand the concept of rhyming words. What we learned one day was forgotten the next. And forget anything that had to do with math. But back to the book. Sprinkled through the book were those disclaimer comments…if your child exhibits this or that, you might want to consider the possibility of a learning disability. Those little things that pricked at my insides and said, “What are you going to do with that information, now?”<br />
<br />
There were references to several different other titles and online information to consider as follow-up materials to the book. I promptly checked out stacks of titles from our local library (just check my Shelfari shelf on the left-hand side of the blog) and entered the world of dyslexia. It didn’t take much more than that to clinch the fact that this was what we were dealing with. School was out for the summer, so we proceeded with what we had on our own. I brought it up with her wonderful vision therapist who told me her son was dyslexic and had eye abnormalities similar to H-Bob when he was young. She had already suspected that H-Bob was dyslexic but didn’t mention anything. H-Bob’s eyes needed to ‘see’ effectively before anything else remedial could be introduced. Interesting that she did not consider dyslexia a liability at this point. I would learn in time that dyslexia is a gift and not something to be feared.<br />
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As I mentioned in my much briefer posts <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/overcoming-dyslexia.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-dyslexiaso-now-what.html" target="_blank">here</a> at the time, I’m not one to take things lying down. There simply had to be a reason for her dyslexia. Current information seems to point towards a hereditary link. To my knowledge that did not exist in our family. What else could there be? Here began my search. I first scoured the web to find more information that I knew where to start with. Luck had it that the first book I picked up at the library was <i>Disconnected Kids</i>. If I thought that <i>Raising Your Strong Willed Child</i> was an eye opener. This was a life-changer. Dr. Melilo outlines his take that dyslexia and anyone on the austism/Asperberger spectrum are dealing with conditions on just one front, with individuals with dyslexia being extreme right-brained and autism/Asperbergers on the left-brain scale. Due to various conditions, the two halves of the brain can become disconnected and either of those conditions can occur. One section of his book outlines how to test at home for those conditions, and the dyslexia became very clear. These situations can be reversed according to his protocol with retraining the brain to communicate to the other side through occupational therapy activities and by a diet change. We promptly started with activities that started communication between right and left brain and could see that anything left-brained oriented was so difficult for her. She lined up true to the symptoms of someone who has limited use of the left hemisphere...not too coincidentally, the language processing side of the brain concerned with reading.<br />
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There is way too much information to condense here…I’m already feeling like I’m rambling even there is so much to say…but getting to the diet part. That seemed like a bunch of crock. How could eliminating gluten, dairy, and sugar change the way one felt or thought? That’s all H-Bob lived on as she was such a picky eater.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>BINGO. </i></span><br />
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That was the key, although we didn’t yet realize to what extent it would change her life.<br />
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Next up...food journaling and a new side to nutrition that we had never been exposed to.<br />
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Links to <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-three.html" target="_blank">part three</a> and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-four.html" target="_blank">part four</a>.Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-89326452454987175892012-04-23T19:58:00.000-07:002012-05-02T14:29:35.531-07:00Of Diet and Dyslexia - Part OneAs I sat with my mother at her optometrist appointment a few weeks ago, we started talking about an <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/living/index.ssf/2012/02/focus_on_gluten_avoiding_it_re.html" target="_blank">article on gluten sensitivity</a> that was published in our local newspaper, The Oregonian, that I had brought along to read...a full-page spread in their Living Section on gluten sensitivity issues. My mother has always been interested in nutrition and has tried to follow my train of thought on our discovery of gluten intolerance with H-Bob after her dyslexia diagnosis. It seems so foreign to her that wheat…the substance of America’s breadbasket…could be so offending. It was then that I realized that was my exact sentiment nearly a year ago, and it would seem that I should share our story. I wouldn’t have believed where we are today from the viewpoint of a year ago. Not one tiny shred...even to the point I would have bet my bottom dollar on it.<br />
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As I previously blogged in <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/overcoming-dyslexia.html">Overcoming Dyslexia</a> and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/07/its-dyslexiaso-now-what.html">It's Dyslexia...So Now What?</a>, H-Bob’s learning difficulties seemed to stem from a dyslexic situation that I finally allowed myself to follow down that particular rabbit hole. After all, who wants to admit their child has a learning disability. But the evidence was there, and I had been choosing to ignore it.
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She’ll grow out of it.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Just a delayed learner.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">She’ll catch up next year.</span></b></blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
But it never happened. So hang on. Here’s our wild ride.<br />
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<h2>
<b><i>January 2011</i> </b></h2>
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I had scheduled a vision screening at H-Bob’s charter school for her realizing that part of her reading difficulties could be based on her visual tracking. We had a similar experience with Camo Queen back when she was in sixth grade that was easily resolved with vision therapy. At the end of the screening, it was apparent that we were on to something. H-Bob’s tracking was off as was her ability to cross and uncross her eyes. And quite a bit at that. Her initial appointment with the optometrist revealed that her visual processing speed was at that of a kindergartener. He was amazed that she was reading at all. In her world, the words would be overlapping, dancing on the page, and coming in and out of focus. No wonder our attempts at reading were stuck at the beginning Bob Book levels. At this time H-Bob was nearing the end of third grade...at the age where the effectiveness of reading intervention hangs in the balance scales. After several months of therapy, H-Bob had been working hard at the different exercises that were prescribed. They were hard, strained her eyes, forcing them to behave in the way they needed to. But there was progress. Things were going to work out.<br />
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Well, things have a way of working out, but perhaps just not the way you envision.
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Next up...fast forward to June 2011 and an encounter with another life-changing book.<br />
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Links to <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-two.html">part two</a>, <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-three.html" target="_blank">part three</a>, and <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2012/04/of-diet-and-dyslexia-part-four.html" target="_blank">part four</a>.Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-20135110189858281592012-03-16T10:30:00.001-07:002012-03-16T10:30:32.270-07:00Things to do at Abernathy Creek FarmBusy, busy, busy with our outdoor chores. Hop over to our <a href="http://abernathycreekfarm.blogspot.com/">Abernathy Creek Farm blog </a>to get a peek at what needed to be done, <a href="http://abernathycreekfarm.blogspot.com/2012/03/spring-chores-on-farm.html">Spring Chores on the Farm</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/u-F6X9Zbs5_eKroUSoowgpy4KrzNLzl4ElIaEORFatQ?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOIAMssIkDT_J7jflSqlRsIt8mzqTPT7EJRoPq3hxJqRx0oHub9yNH_1FQAcfXxh0RHK66uylqZzMLkTZU_igLVsnPFkf72-PIsGLBy-CYKcL6QxXFSnGEUb2nfocf_ipkhtKVnS3d-o_C/s400/P1060678.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-20855386157393951602012-02-28T20:12:00.000-08:002012-02-28T20:12:50.954-08:00Waiting for SpringI'm dusting off the farm blog again. Here's the link to today's post...<a href="http://abernathycreekfarm.blogspot.com/2012/02/waiting-for-spring.html">Waiting for Spring</a>. Enjoy!<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-16994672268059138242012-02-20T20:33:00.002-08:002012-02-20T20:37:45.507-08:00Razor clamming on the Washington coast<table style="width: auto;"><tbody>
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Five layers. Hood up. Rubber boots on. Outside in the wind. Sloshing through surf. Whatever would voluntarily drive someone to those extremes? In our family, it was the call of trying out something new…razor clam digging on the Washington coast during the last day of its season at the advice of a friend. Notice I didn’t mention anything about rain. And it’s a good thing it held off because eventually I was soaked from the knee down and dragging around forty-degree sea water in my boots, all because I got a little preoccupied watching my nine-year old harvest her very first razor clam by herself. That surf has a way of sneaking up on you and catching you off guard. Never turn your back on the ocean or look down for an extended period of time, I tell you.<br />
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Anyway, we had a blast. Between the five family members and two friends that we took along we had purchased only four tags but had a haul of over fifty clams...fifteen-clam limit per tag holder. And these guys are big…about six inches long and several inches wide. Not bad for only having two clamming guns. Hopefully the photos will give you a little better idea what’s involved...scanning the wet, receding surf for signs of a clam digging in deep, popping the clamming gun over the top, getting it wiggled down through the sand, and then sealing the air hole while pulling it up with the clam hopefully trapped inside.<br />
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Cleaning them was an adventure for my husband about midnight last night, but I left him with the suggestion of checking YouTube for a <a href="http://youtu.be/EBtk5k3eV-g"> tutorial </a> while I took home a friend. Good thing, since the video’s advice was a little more specific than that he had been casually told. A pile of shells and innards later, there was a nice bag of clams waiting for the refrigerator. <br />
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Now I’m anxiously waiting returning from the girls charter school to start a fire and sit in front of it for an extended period of time to get warm down to my bones. And tackle the sandy, wet laundry and the dishes heaving out of the kitchen sink...but that's beside the point. I haven’t been able to really get warm since yesterday. Then it will be off to try my hand at throwing together some sort of gluten-free breaded and fried razor clams for dinner. Here’s hoping those guys will be delicious!<br />
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For those of you who might have noticed, this blog posting might be considered a bit of a celebration at least on my part. I have truly missed the chronicling of our hectic life. I just can’t seem to fit it in. Partly because my perfectionistic procrastination takes over…WANTING perfect photos...WANTING witty renditions of our family’s adventures…when all I really NEED is the recording of little fleeting memories to hold on to in some tangible form other than in photos and our aging memories. Our little day-trip has only been one of a million activities that has kept me away from my blog. It and a radical diet change for the entire family…supporting our catch-up learning of our little right-brained, creative learner who had been struggling with dyslexia…getting our senior son on track for deciding a college and applying for athletic and academic scholarships…being an active member with my husband in our fifteen-year-old’s musical theater program involving building sets and sewing costumes…keeping our livestock happy through the winter…all while trying to keep our focus real and on those matters that really count.<br />
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So…look for a blog post…once a week…once a month…whenever I can steal a few moments. I certainly will be relishing the opportunity.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-4032554085548999182011-08-29T09:44:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.909-08:00County Fair - Day Six and We're DoneAll good things must come to an end, right? So does county fair. Today was promising to be another warm one for us, relatively speaking of course compared to the rest of the country, but still what one would call 'hot' here in the Northwest. Agenda for the day included the Master Showmanship Contest of which Goat Princess would participate in, the 4H Awards Ceremony, and then the task of dismantling our club decorations and the tedious job of getting all of the livestock and participants out of the fairgrounds in an orderly fashion. Full day.<br />
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But not before I took H-Bob to get her face painted. I had been promising her that all week...<br />
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and a ride around the fairgrounds on the little train...<br />
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and a stop at the frozen lemonade stand.<br />
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The contestants for the Master Showmanship Contest started out by taking a written test covering various aspects of the different species they were about to show: dairy goat, meat goat, fiber goat, pygmy goat, dairy cattle, beef cattle, sheep, swine and llama. Goat Princess felt it was a breeze and was up from the table in about 20 minutes.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CVaZL7AbjD4AnrDAXeO9uxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI7G-aWaO96VzAK_vFaLYNxejfZm0fk_Q1tJGFyVUmwH9VFiBjtodixToA30hWzvoN02linX_9BQZno85G_c9BmkvYhY6mXQ8Lwe5yW1-kuw4naLsjIk345T6oGLqtevLUZmKelLmRyzAL/s400/DSC_3062.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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Next came rotations through each of the species with each of the age categories, juniors grades 4-6, intermediates grades 7-9, and seniors grades 10-12, plus those in FFA. Here they were being judged on their ability to show their given animal to its best advantage for the judge. And the fun begins. Some kids who raise more than one species find this contest simpler than those who concentrate on just one. For example...<br />
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When your swine decides to lay down in the show ring, then what?<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/B9mKwse-OWznNf-vyl15WRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYs4ruof_29aLNjSVyzFDEq4EwHjtjm46f1fwCbp9rjbvl6OaOP3Clxpchh7DaYCw4lyLdZ8v2TO3pxaSOUUrF3ocokGA-chAE5ezexyh47FrmznVTr4RhtyoLDp6PYsOdsMW1juJgC8y/s400/DSC_3089.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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How do you handle your monstrous dairy cow who decides she's stopping at the bale of straw in the ring next to the panel gate and about pancakes you against the metal bars? Of course I'm not quick enough to capture that on film. I was feeling a little panicked actually.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/q9UC7kmMFHwwEr4z69otJhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh255grLb_tjS80djPUr6VXUlg5wgjxdwlTVdp6IYY46leq0F8_ew_2C-SDle-GYuxPoCfXQ8ZKAEwNMhHTi4Ue8hcm67jg4U1WAMuuEwx-kdQRR8NMdENp1NWPl4BVf0d6BtOcrxBSZFhx/s400/DSC_3066.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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Or the market goat that attempts to swipe a piece of your face while setting up her feet? Ditto with this photo. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or be worried when I saw that head swipe at her face.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XAYDnzKZohWsL6_MqFitMxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUvxz8CbPCOC6B8KOpQGmVdzgFkXTP6utSIouvkUsJqI2PeRhgOCAIGfzALjaHNbFImLmTMkdFwlDsF34ioonDpGHU3bnS41NAMUTHbDG3jMOAM29u8ZrtGDvIo6KVtSDUijs5CM1C5Lwt/s400/DSC_3073.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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Did you notice some of the intense eye contact those showmen were making with the judge? A key factor for sure.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6lkevvpsz79y2gAa40gMexi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjul85Cz_nDSXRiRy60jjdLQc2jPYzE-pkTjEvHVRgyjeDsBtBJ15EBdznMVycL0-eIWnG6i6oDfTdmsKvuYQI4WdOGRkjeKMYw2aiAWmJHBWwXNsJSMp7waeQ61Pifx0FDThzqcexLDQSV/s400/DSC_3106.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/1x_fInpT0mUv6qPMpEYojRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZkvfOAEepkvEae_qay9hbLuhiRhRSt6nYXhmTtDVCd7Wk0wbP5AFWcP4X8otGdkQoHaf3lFExu8mM2Ox-0pChsJE9bnTZTW3gdn8-IMncYLH_XKeBWnWggcDf-h2hr5svtcYO5Nx-jc2c/s400/DSC_3120.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/4OaoufsozD5LWQ9kNQtNrhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEga_8kFI_qghrpEppfhNxFRZ1vFv67inyiHhC65W0j0rIJIQ8dUIZ0onpOLjNieCSYqsSFLB5hFy0U89D2gD4-I2khhRSIjVr51pRQAVSysZMrwNaHzjhnwKFCKjtzDd2aUpSwux5D25n0_/s400/DSC_3129.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Ubmy1gjAKjiKYxuU5Oa3Xxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXecTXlpb-NHaM68LEUZpwB1TqugEwMufaK8XlFjxBhwwTZJSAEUb_Xf0OMYmYxfaPlvOnHc7Wgg6gkvmnz_WvFcC0XKAVBX9Yn3GNW2i9GeP3xuR1lbSGDy_7ix4bdGfSflKx_Ss87IOv/s400/DSC_3134.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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All fun and games in the toasty heat. Those kids had the sweat dripping down their faces for sure. But in a couple of hours, it too was over. This became the first time all fair that Goat Princess felt she could actually enjoy herself without the pressure to show, study, or be otherwise productive. So off she took with some friends who were visiting her at the fair and had a great time for a couple of hours before the awards ceremony.<br />
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It was a proud moment seeing her in the lineup of Master Showmen participants, sporting her newly won Champion Showman belt buckle. She didn't win the overall Champion or Reserve Champion title but did find out that she nearly aced the exam: 51 correct of 53 questions is pretty impressive.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CTusq8zsODsMdU1HFdtvghi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL4V1QZd-tQDY7Xtow5qNSwGaKO9VUIIm-4LgRtbFsKm8gAPxM4kSrpcvOJMeByKi-RfT971NTkz6DXgKUtyjm0jsjB_66TkEn7tYrv3Li5XNiagjd05snQx8ST1xAOtP5yU6-2hhXdYgj/s400/DSC_3145.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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So the hard work of dismantling the club barn decorations began and the job of keeping the club's goats corralled once some of the stall backings and dividers were being removed. But it was handled. The goats were led out to the trailer once our turn came to load, the supplies from the tack barn loaded up as well, and home I headed with Goat Princess and H-Bob while Hubby stayed back to help load up the club decorations with the rest of the guys.<br />
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The way home was almost magical...our first warm evening of the year where there was a slight warm breeze, a gorgeous sunset, and the feeling of relishing the memories of the best county fair ever.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-61083582173901515372011-08-25T12:25:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.911-08:00County Fair - Day Five and Feeling the HeatHave you ever woke up...felt suffocatingly hot...but still too immobilized to do anything about it? Well that was this afternoon in the tent at the fairgrounds campground. Today promises to be the warmest of the year for us here in the Northwest...perhaps reaching 90. That shouldn’t be a big deal. But since we have hardly cracked 80 degrees and only since the middle of July, our bodies are not ready for it...or at least mine...it would seem. So long story short, I found myself feeling a little worn out and decided to take a quick snooze in the tent this afternoon not realizing that the windows were zipped shut. The sun had apparently moved over the tent where it had been in the shade before and bumped up the temp. I truly though I just might die but was still too groggy to do anything about it. Not fun. <br />
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But here I am now...in the shade with my Via iced coffee looking out over the scene where the cowboys and cowgirls are warming up their horses, ropes out, and seemingly oblivious to the sun while putting together this post. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/F5LY3rCgqIMqhrl_XNgAehi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1xz7Yko_EWPkc-S6rPQ7KRsmEMgaKX0CrVXbDC9zfMKEVumX0H7FFQK2QBDa6yBL0M4E0Mo0ZGryayCDjFyLfadXA5NMjWYqDCC1HrWsjdbPeJnxONCI-BkIH3LbCBaUPCm7PpGB5QaIs/s400/DSC_3019.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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I’m relishing the thought that I am lucky to be a 4-H mom. I would never have reason to experience this otherwise. Even though it is quite the draining experience, at times, it is one that sticks with you in a positive way for a long time. <br />
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Today’s main event...although Goat Princess was still working on studying for her Master Showman Contest tomorrow...was the 4-H and FFA livestock auction. The members purchase, raise, fit, and show a particular project animal with the end goal being to sell it to a community member for a profit and then some at the Saturday auction at the end of fair. Steer, lamb, goat, and hogs are the main auction animals though there have been some pens of fryer rabbits and poultry lately. Our oldest raised a steer two different years through FFA for the auction and Goat Princess took a market goat one year for 4-H when she was in fourth grade. The experience at that time was too much for Goat Princess to go through again. It was agonizing as a parent to maintain your own composure watching your child lose it emotionally in the show ring with their market animal as the auctioneer is trying to bid it up. She made a decent profit but at a emotional expense. She has not repeated it since and would rather fund her project by breeding and selling goat kids instead. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/hXunjL4r0SJ0qlFWysWm9Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi-zs_uL8Zw9Oo4GdL3nAU5k-oarzKu8DGYmvy0cpbut2NJghWcaVwZH4IKrGR58vRynHIyd3ASw2W7kK7rCUduFwQwHq-4xCAme3atXMhlyJE-Edmt6UOHuxDDYxKeGZXm1KIWEAdAnWt/s400/DSC_3037.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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But here were tears again just a few minutes ago when the mother of a first year 4Her who had an auction goat this year just came up to me to be sure I knew that Goat Princess had stood with her daughter in the auction lineup while the member was bawling her eyes out and being as supportive as she could. The mom herself confided that she couldn’t be there for her daughter because it was too emotional for her as well. Those are the things that warm your heart and make you realize that this is why I’ve encouraged my kids to be involved in 4-H. It is definitely a positive experience. Chalk one up to life experiences.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Etc5fM7HRQ7scP3hR3Pj7xi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAcr30bbN-7Pt7iHKd55g7SD7dm_zJKHqcTX8SeHPimIzH6EF_n5e3M576qMa6kKFdQ6t7XvBFykX-PYzqnjNMGLKMd1AQUNJ6m1Bu0f5EipGU_q-F_Pm_HQGjtxgh6bREarq8m9K6b_w-/s400/DSC_3049.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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The breeze is glorious. The view straight up into the towering firs is mesmerizing.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mXs1oKSWn_tAGl66PioK7xi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHbaYt0Ul_WZKAaWJXyfkVPJQpgfY75yl3HqIW06S-LdZiYkeG9GRIDPJwMKphfWiOQ0dxeE3n7zn5So6sFKOBewWqMImw3SaAMHYTzL5Xr1qjJP1xDrnvtMi8_qkCLfiPkUaOm_NwyBdU/s400/DSC_3022.JPG" height="400" width="268" /></a><br />
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But I should probably wrap things up and see what’s happening down in the barn. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/95UCUo8yKgSFydV8eY8L0xi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinuxN_gdwTWPxgtv3UKSPlotoe93mS0rr4moFH4wEBVEn6jBzuz20L-NZ-ibdCjG6V2htTsmIf4oJNyX7UC4WRGjHC3TzIkFNV1PtuvrQWI13muIUQSaJXXUU_JoZeFN45va6ZFMzhDNhQ/s400/DSC_3040.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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Take another look the piglets on display.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sZWPJiE-MvFipDZDkJ4QSRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgA4mVJfwmE5wFjiT3adbOubeFq3zXLu6tuJBO1HTEkLE0i-YnaRnkJ6C9I6VoPnOd2MWApjvhd_37urNEK_rsYlDFK6e8sBijeBCyHl4MxPDlAwD7WW594fKVuPhzukCUBZIG1RDv-WzX0/s400/DSC_3050.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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Tomorrow will be a long day with packing up camp, the Master Showman Contest, and breaking down the club display and pens in the barn before we take our animals and memories home with us from yet another year well spent at the fair. But you know what, I'm not going to miss these...<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/y-hND3cLOv4OVjtvB6LkCxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8REHbsVzSon_XvlV7rK3-Ha_9n4XP4Rf6qmvKKdDtbJ-GPoRdKCR7ZKYintXHfD9G6BgZVTH4tq7cefoBlGcmh8g5x7p8bZFdHYHInwf83VdgAZSiwiSbQaLCCt78z_t3SVXomRptg1Y0/s400/DSC_3048.JPG" height="268" width="400" /></a><br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-69443957166921784052011-08-20T22:54:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.914-08:00County Fair - Day Four and Still FunctioningBy day four of the county fair, things start to feel a little routine. Not even much motivation to photograph anything. It’s all too familiar to be interesting at this point. <br />
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Of course there was a goat obstacle course that I missed Goat Princess partaking in which was a bummer. It makes for some funny scenes watching naturally agile dairy goats trying to maneuver some of the creative obstacles they come up with. There was also a milking relay contest where local personalities, law enforcement, and the like are teamed up against the 4-Hers. Rules are simple: get as much milk as you can into a plastic water bottle and return it to a quart jar. First team to overflow their quart jar is the winner. But again, somehow I unfortunately missed that as well as that makes for some great video taping. I believe the first time I attempted to milk a goat or any dairy animal for that matter was in that same contest. <br />
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Today I seemed to be mainly occupied with keeping H-Bob busy and by being the support staff for Goat Princess who needs to be reminded to eat and keep hydrated. She has been studying for the written test portion of her upcoming Master Showman Contest she qualified for by taking the Champion Intermediate Showman title the other day. In addition to the written test, they show the different species...beef cattle, dairy cattle, llama, swine, sheep, dairy goats, meat goats, fiber goats, and pygmy goats. That requires the 4Her to connect with the other top showmen of the other species to learn from them the ins and outs of their species' showmanship. It can be a draining experience. I've sure got to give her credit for doing her homework. <br />
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Other than that, the day flowed as usual. Wandering the exhibits with H-Bob, checking on the little dairy calves,<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/g9W-n5Xcj0DXHiZ12Uncjxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC4cLNlL28wX5cFfKQ1K-OM-5OAWa5oL82NgecHBFKXFK08nEfP-46xM8uji9qyKDH-tx-qPsRLuA4LazcIKZL4jtMpc9TPNcoYIO6DhCZp_n6j_s2IiXg3ruFaV6jikflzfSN4okk8VwE/s400/DSC_3025.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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making trips back and forth between home and fairgrounds, admiring the handiwork of others who obviously have more time than I,<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/r0ECIge7tPkIa1MY1vfD0Bi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDX-QjrLneayOgs9WgDVuoGOmSux8GQtitq7LcEoPlsU_x-xKacemz9uU7WeLeHcpCGvViH9Xm9RUDZtHuhwoqmGG2qV2Cfajx7BhY8AqSebR5tYiPUvE5WCAbiMvxkhoEI9d1fKZNJRCM/s400/DSC_3027.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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stopping by the OMSI booth and making some goop,<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cVOIjraYm8Va1YAHwa96Uxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywVM0m8UIydRo-QDuTfS5JwDinuC4WwSu6AhaAFp5lgXGeZtAIUZ8RPncnQ9bIIjLbhnlKVc06fhnaZfcoL5YaItBFf_fyKwlITLAZmv2wsvGx8kVVwiDDZY3DisF86WTmG5CKDuVo_g0/s400/DSC_3036.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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and avoiding the temptation to gorge myself on fair foods...that gets reserved for the final day of fair on Sunday, and just generally killing time, even if it was hanging out in front of the fans.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/WDobeZPnhI15_bUQQleUGBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbeZxmdUB0ksbuchLRS5zTFeVPaoyrYCEcr4fwuK2gdiUQOZZl7hjWmRWmVVh6qOV1wqUszSZ4XBmHrwjcKyqj2t22alAT5EgLyDcEpb6ihzVToWdRjb75hn9W1izduf4ZvYuhZhlDGS1q/s400/DSC_3029.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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One of the goat kids from this year’s kidding that is at the fair on exhibit is looking a little punky. I need to remember to bring some grape leaves from home in the morning. For some reason it tends to perk them up a bit. It is always a worry that they will pick up a virus or the stress of the fair will affect them negatively. Tucked tails and hunched backs are not a good sign.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qyBcGgAGKTUdQY1hSaH8jBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="269" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaKXXBBfH2vR1fNR4XZF7JZevHkAec6V9GabGENDTxprb0J7JiYDQA093M_rgwOKdEhc4v99-FwcJ2gQe8rfMieCvu5elQM0OI3DCI4CtdwbcVCYjrVo5448fCHAL_LKRc_cNRLr8dtpby/s400/DSC_3045.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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I will admit that it is fun to share our knowledge about goats with the fairgoers. Some people are curious. Others are serious to-be owners. All seem to be amazed at the personality that goats have. I tell them it’s their personality that got us here in the first place. Be careful.<br />
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Stayed tuned. There are two more days until County Fair is over. <br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-77869317414986719842011-08-18T22:20:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.915-08:00County Fair - Day Three...Keeps Getting BetterWell I had my goat milk latte this morning and sweetened it with some cinnamon dulce de leche from said goat milk then headed down to the county fair to see how the producers of that milk would do in today's 4-H conformation dairy goat classes. While yesterday's classes focused on the showman, today's classes focused on how well the 4-H member's project animals fit their purpose...in this case as a dairy goat, their milk production and breeding capacity. Pretty simple.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/UPz7xCZi2CoAVrUnS6WQ2Bi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnqs9yA4KO6mT6xPde9orwYz6LEp79MJ17j_4N7o8TLH_vHv3i98MdXktz66ihYy0SOAbMQcmna0IQNR1p1ins8DXw__T9meuVKVhRhsyoWyeV55MLcGKj7a2lDMKkE0ePzmrLTF0trmx/s400/DSC_2957.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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Of course before I could head out there were <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/of-horses-and-stalls.html">horses next door</a> to tend to, things to remember to take back to fair, camera memory cards to clear, and the like. Today was another one of our non-summer mornings and required a sweatshirt to stay warm. No complaints though. County fairs with temperatures in the 100s are definitely no fun for anyone.<br />
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Upon getting to the campgrounds, I found Goat Princess in her sleeping bag catching forty winks and trying to warm up. After getting up at 5:00 a.m. today, she bathed the four goats that hadn't been shown in the showmanship class yesterday and got them prepped for their show. I guess it was a pretty chilly morning to get wet, both for her and them. I noticed that they were all sporting their 'blankets' won from previous shows.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/lcBaPtlQAiz8ubLNes0bzhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKPEClyFUue05EGcw48zKGHea0MvOqfgFde5ztt-6EVDYachrg3Ele8tWL9EBt_tah2GkD2l78bl_v_-UNWMF4RTk_P05wmEk75Lzb8ORHGPVUsgBYXAyyyU2puSjO_ISid6CJ9Q8tnFis/s400/DSC_2942.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/A-u3lTBrKI594g-JkVt7qhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCFrBbsrY4ma56H0PRzpBf5IiU-xPzaCeAhurcA8X0TJ-dud_lJsMFjxVcb7qVyzXjcFrJjCK1v0qfKb8oVUqrw93xCXOjgWtWP0s0K6nRFOyIEYBCzVn8Zv3Cm7ACu30ga6UYpLQ_Qlzu/s400/DSC_2941.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a><br />
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As you never know exactly when your breed of goat will be called into the show ring, parents and spectators have to just hang around in the area and keep tabs on things. Thank goodness we weren't going to walk all over the fairgrounds again. My feet probably couldn't take it again. There were still the butterflies to visit in the same vicinity, or the cattle to watch<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/GNlZxF83evrG_YaGkdvBwxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjM43RXE0PB3Gq2ZilIKcGMMvrntMUZY0cyHgEX25Z1lf5XZdx8HvY2UObN1-iUhmhtUUc3xVtkg7pW2j2vq3BMNEMhL7OhbYQp_5VoIjpTq-MAGeCO3C4eOhZhY-5yAfQ2_FF4cyxTPY8k/s400/DSC_2946.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a><br />
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or the llama agility course<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3N8p-x_jtmeybXtKTKFuIhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhafnLE6bh2TviWsbqt6sHTPSVvXQNxNvyqV43RxxCwOUM1xJKBQuEZuHIKhitFbG3iED1vq-q_fh9EJ0vwdc8Gdtnp9M7XnhJjqiMyv5FtPbjM87p4Ldh8B0ToCojErSGqiGEFXAi6d5FJ/s400/DSC_2973.JPG" height="268" width="400" /></a><br />
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or check out the sheep, dressed in their jammies to stay clean for their show<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/gLziERva21_11T4N1ObU1Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9mB2FGZWOY0EWh2i09z0SONhihlgcy8iPeOWqQLEg6T7eOX0Vvu6ZrDwqEde8ESr5r8wxW3AhmPI-r8EnWCdvPm8lE1SEo0YwbAdqF-XmIInKMZYc193XKXGGm8iAXM_PX_MImHnk1QJ7/s400/DSC_3020.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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or the rest of the club members to watch show.<br />
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When the miniature dairy goat classes were called, it became apparent that there were not a lot of entries besides the ones from our family. Too bad. Plenty of competition is a good thing. But the judge did an excellent job commenting on each of the five does Goat Princess brought to show and had nothing but praise for several of them. She walked away with Grand Champion Miniature Dairy Goat Doe with her primary breeding doe and Reserve Grand Champion Miniature Dairy Goat Doe with her dry yearling from the aforementioned doe. Lots of blue ribbons, purple championship ribbons, and cool looking signs to hang above their pens.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/l5HT7UVlIOIDjT1j4R6KEBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7osQi0gS-S1NOvZ6DSp6GG8A4qucbaYtWo5JkCi2e8NB182JafT7WSWJMUEK9-Knw8IXFQ4Ltf8JNoPSFPYo2f9ULtpR_P6viGR6PURyECfY4g3kGqylBoIuIvDPgxOwxDBbO8VVp0bJ3/s400/DSC_2963.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/6actZFbaGAMaYTGOrv-giBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8E7016Ghyxo4Le6EtuvIg_QOtfVLRL2HLWDgTJ7IRr1EfcnCJB9qz5CyFO9pvwmtO2IAC9YojLFUesfTYL0l-Sp92vA6nbQQbJLYCJ776D4lwoy_k26qGzkJFFlysvnQdP9g4kecDEEv/s400/DSC_2964.JPG" height="268" width="400" /></a><br />
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With the showing done for the day, Hubby and I along with H-Bob headed home for awhile. Goat Princess had a four-hour barn duty shift and wouldn't be free until evening. At home time flew as I fed and cleaned next door, fed our animals, tried to squeeze in a little watering, make dinner, and scoot back out the door in time to return to the fairgrounds for the Parade of Champions.<br />
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Any 4-H or FFA member who took the Champion Showmanship title for their age category and species was invited by the Fair Board to parade around the rodeo arena before tonight's rodeo. Quite a sight. It's one of those opportunities that I hope each one of those kids will remember. Their moment of glory was due to nothing less than a lot of hard work and skill. Congratulations to all of them!<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-UYFK9dGiGuXdYGxbW06XRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjWMc8cNm58WWaLn1Vk8AwJNnbX7myNuCQvINtdwbsftfkcU5kfgfWJdqwXyp_7IABMz3pAfOYsQvlN_b6t9e8YBc1afOWA-waeucT52h76y5IQ5PWWq_zISojhmA04zr-J6ibP5VSKQfR7/s400/DSC_3002.JPG" height="400" width="267" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/_knd7RU78Qi-v2wRVevejxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTg0GkpYnMiEpQ40wBdCkH-BajkjEN5sOSMNz-i7L4Ez-qHszqLgyLU_EPA8NqaipX7b616x7gRm5u4c9HdEF8Eo1VoWnHjfykSIw1Q_QjGe_4mwMIxe5_yynhWlHSVtoV-vMZjzmogEmC/s400/DSC_3003.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a><br />
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Hubby and H-Bob stayed to watch the rodeo <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rz_WUeUPzAQBJ3UkAxvvcRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFSU9WNmGZB1i_XFMhuuxFtJkcDjNdmg0_Rw52quu2eGHxJNifGSG1Apmiczouis6q9gfgBgw-QiIPAB8bCzPp_6RAgMV38DkIJu7DNdgRYpLvU0ytOU3vaEiX6Wg0dOEgmAfaZhAKqLYI/s400/DSC_2999.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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while I became the sounding board for Goat Princess's hectic day. Nothing greater than the feeling that your teen can unload to their parent. Worth every minute of my time. Then it was back home to wash a load of show whites, deal with the kitchen and baskets of unfolded laundry before whipping up this post.<br />
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Tomorrow should be a fun day of sorts. Classes like milking relays and obstacle courses. Pictures should be worth a thousand words tomorrow, I hope!<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Gw3BdifVTKSWHusGrVP5axi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYea42bZaK0lIrYyn3NM1FFR6-A2Zjzid7-OIoSDnQBZ2I8ri_UNEJM9xGvrUvnT5zSlP7F5hhYjT6CBkXZPXUe84xoPab2c4_WRyBrEDagFO6xd4LoFFFpWN0_1n0nRChnp6cOJ1mS8lk/s400/DSC_3010.JPG" height="268" width="400" /></a><br />
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<table style="width:auto;"><tr><td><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/U1PlwQvwvxTLUSzfiSe0KNQ_j1-eRaMp_cuPnKIRs28?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_gtBazDXELpY/S89EHl-f8LI/AAAAAAAAFpg/sY8j26F-1YI/s800/livesignatureconnie.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td style="font-family:arial,sans-serif; font-size:11px; text-align:right"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sixinthenorthwest/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDIwaOzzvutrAE&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr>
</table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-62815698037571093832011-08-17T21:52:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.917-08:00County Fair - Day Two and a Great One at That!This morning opened the second day of our county fair. <br />
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After feeding the <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/of-horses-and-stalls.html">horses next door</a> and gathering up more loads of things to take down to the fairgrounds...boy, those reusable fabric grocery bags from the story come in mighty handy...it was time to see what the day had in store for us.<br />
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Wednesday is a fairly important day in the life of a 4H dairy goat showman. This is the day that the junior, intermediate, and senior showmanship classes are held. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ZB476qrClk4Jx4J_xoM9Whi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqGYtTLL28BEwWO96ac3vwtvKgWAT7bzGg4ULAbcAjc_fO3nc9H6k4zaz9ZU-UYkbx4Gd6Kcfzmxl019DfChPJRy8VEXB34rTLwETWk50oCy9Fg0wk3UcuMYVOwfCaP3fTirzxBhbjtbuE/s400/DSC_2807.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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Showmanship classes demonstrate how well you fitted out your 4-H animal and yourself, how much knowledge you have learned about your species, how well you have trained your animal to be calm and responsive in the show ring, and as well, is the time to put on your "show" face and be confident in your communication with the judge. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/qqdJkwvebBqbzLrHZ9aX_Bi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4jem94zcGmuIjlJ1nOHMGqKLKM5mFlTsaQdHWEjjVmlDGn32QkhRuVFZj-_c63MOPRvEepjTjB7pJkAocNw4dd4HBfWIgoGZoI_2B3HI8eGJeqI_HfwVhTKBCP3S9_26V4rNR7tyh44vo/s400/DSC_2841.JPG" width="268" /></a><br />
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It really is a lot for these kids to work on throughout the year. I have always told my kids not to put all their eggs in the same basket and use their showmanship class as the end-all pinnacle of their yearly 4-H experience. If you're not thoroughly enjoying your day-to-day responsibilities of raising your animal, then you're missing the whole point of being a 4-Her. One hour of the entire year should not make or break you. You can be mightily disappointed. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VZTWLAoHmUtPUlW-0LSQ2Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3tUOrFkmAp_HZlzHUk_9yef9jnBs8a0GdKTGtASbcd82u_QP3ek1U1GfYpYyFzeGcEPQT3Iv1gLoIxmb65R9XV0XOKTwUKg2YlYkzLWFxqVv6SeioJqAE8UBbpz_PEVFffTwu9vVtH_iM/s400/DSC_2847.JPG" height="400" width="268" /></a><br />
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But sometimes, it all comes together for them. It did today. Goat Princess took home the title of Champion Intermediate 4-H Dairy Goat Showman of the 2011 Clackamas County Fair and earned herself a spot in the coveted Master Showman round robin contest. She now has the shiny belt buckle to prove it. It's quite an accomplishment, and we are pretty proud of her.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/c1eqjQEPYMevla-sEtmmbhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCYQIHrpwBYQDtYZkMPBDbtBDSb0LZ9qVCw_WwL78YrsztLz0t6EEw0GxVFfhJx28PJlY5IZOpqI4okLVgsovGvu13zmHNTu8G2nbh6hFD2kCjS3Qa9gJTx7vYIm6UH3k0iCqGsFsBaYt/s400/DSC_2870.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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The rest of the day consisted of last night's dinner leftovers at camp for lunch, a most fabulous Starbucks Via iced coffee...make it up with milk versus water and you won't be disappointed, more time in the butterfly exhibit, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/0L7X7IiXhusWjwM8mKHQxxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh58yuDp6tRCEnNUADBDDoqvezoDd98Vz2Lk1R1eyZ4Fs3WQcjzw8nacPASbRtm_tGZ2mZBf2QhXvIC7gDcYc3auihTurMwHmMEKlXqcjKF9skgTpBN2g6eb9nKHDi1fBk6MtTPV2QPrpON/s400/DSC_2882.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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an extended time in the pioneer village and Indian encampment, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DyVAPKPWz-ZwXpotspbKjhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6xC6Eh7skUin6NCUPyt-9T76eR1_uw9tlC6pl7tZzsMggDg7ZZf_k0iTgkQjQunA3w4QyoxLAcxBUONhHW6n_v2hrAbN4uid8NvTDpu7x2Kjgoqc1nPsHNrsKBcXUy3KFoipGnS02q9y/s400/DSC_2932.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/rv-H4OG86OfKW9O56yHgfhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWx4ePTE298F-YwXpQNY9j5lKc7XKpDKBrKasqG0-RYKuKWJ2ag1k9Dzla4JwdgBFs7WpiGgchrwe7Vtk6OZcd-eHiDc_EwMXkPcKF4I-TqYW7-YLy-Kkd0mQ_t4iLBXogc8j7-hGNU083/s400/DSC_2934.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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and H-Bob's purchase of an ermine skin with her saved birthday money. Of course we wandered over to see the llamas, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XFzTgg48VStCxmkoqG7tKRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzFxb-ZBcDOe48sKhCNnj64Dga4yWaP5ZUjoorYHgczMvim2-mZuashXoNIMLGL5lnUHiSrfXFkpioWLaHPiV0B9B6o10P2X3taHIZcRshAkjfg9kcgyLSrk4YgMSi9fepoxhWrqnCfIh_/s400/DSC_2902.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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pigs, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Os7hADkTlbimOeRdtnJSHRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo_AMQoGggNawh3EiyqR1cL65iGGsWi-es__usKtgXq9uf5X5tafsmJ9uo7FSW_8yngFXbnlFuiug_pCDCzC6Ln-kjrjnFD0Nr_ELLih57U_E3sz8xRQzfD50RNrcKlzBmiEVYuZOtjMoX/s400/DSC_2898.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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three of the cutest little dairy bull calves that must have been only a few days old, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TBs9aLc3Ig6uBVXOHCfdRBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT_sCjJRu0N8tOhgXxEat6F86RkTOYU1eiLPk0qbx7Ywe9O6kK0-BxKnDG9AyQSPLVnrDCvn7Top6pVpy2xZh2olOFXu8GSQPR9c3xfIht98hYwQayynxkOPuNwefvX4NJwmva6Yi2PSu_/s400/DSC_2919.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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more trips through the goat barn to visit with the littlest goat kids that were on exhibit, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/5aibmm_S-fQiwMZeb1j-Ehi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwpptSSTfNMnoRHANvllZQWxJ9gP4KxNcAklNVCV0zvXAp7Cv2-zlcgorNVCHtoQkL93ZKxK5P6WkgQhT0x61Cyo9n9T2cevC7RkHdEqUI5lTctdmx1ZfvfC1ZCbUfiHLCO3wn0mYWqO4m/s400/DSC_2811.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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of course visiting with our own miniature dairy goats,<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/K5uSI9oAPLkBHplrsvDm5Bi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR0A6QZ6lrZpyQZDh12pK8TUjD_Yfd-D4TJjcnib3nsq7wpfRxmIVx5yxdy6Go2ZCR3wDD71l24Sy9xTuOBygaDRy3OKgMYUQ6CzLsnXeqnpG3wg6cnI8YjGcvM_2T3eF8mt6i8YD4JAgK/s400/DSC_2805.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/XeJu8duIpqejHPWEdIf23Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEw3zqq8RHZ98cQRWviE8js1t-RS-vaTXuGcR_8x2Tjw1G2vntgRQQT8j0nidEUA5WSlYUr-54Kcq6pW-CKypp23tWoeURlT3IeOlnC7JwC_ePpEdIXcIiXuZd_y57ZLPDiDpgc3Pj178b/s400/DSC_2806.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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visits to make the turkey 'gobble' back, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/PdLOxqTsVVzCzI0HilIrqBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9lQo3XKEEcUZkCxn1qliBmKsZMpjO83himGVvWcEb9YspLlY-xk-8hLw0mriYixlFCNvw-IMlkAHl9tc_0OKTpmnmiWzHzt-Chan828YcT7z6UCDLLm5dsuV3ZjtVLaGY2f_c02wXoKk/s400/DSC_2782.JPG" width="267" /></a><br />
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trips through the campers on display...enough to make Hubby quite envious of them, took a gander at some of the vendor displays, <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/ocL3Xc5yo1T-YEefSCEMExi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-wh0HszkCe3E8fhDsn5ILWbyF5rk63qeuFT5B2tPeqFIzLi85M6KwrbUZF1LTF-ZuHt0ZshxZhicNDSIdvpTGQTcvd1TzcGc0069fT0oJ6IJahVTHE5jhb_9pN6i7mxOhKdB3bSQ78uMV/s400/DSC_2803.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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and made a visit to the Kitchen Pantry where they had the most marvelous looking baked goods on display. You can tell I've been supportive of H-Bob's gluten free diet and have been refraining from baked goods that she can't have. They looked mighty good today. We even watched the dog agility show one more time.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cuHYT52Evrjmiaw8vT-u5Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQeeHNSHXVLFbZHBmm44zKpbNvawZ3_v2pVaveHLdGST3ZJuYDO3T2oX9TRRXILI4G4PXldtRIMVLpCu7fILHEyDkVIpsIbHqcjyMq40fP1PGccEz25LDwwp9kRnSG7gAFxf2axMzTXOmk/s400/DSC_2821.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Lzx8YxlVfhdhq19V5WG0nhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJAI_KaOjX_LByuKbW55tcCCY4TYVaLd3phylPYWFcjiScr5rLqhPPCVVbUkf5D6eAZc0NDofr5dRIsLbC1AMIcxCJSiZYvPk9uqTUMwQWdnOy8C6f5X2rTYrFXBTktaydxyEv4TneFKuN/s400/DSC_2827.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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I'm pretty sure I developed several blisters and know for sure that my feet were aching after the day standing and walking, so it felt good to head back to camp and sit for awhile watching the rodeo contestants get ready for the night's event while waiting for the noodles to boil. Tonight's camping entree...spaghetti with Alfredo sauce and pesto along with bagged salad. Not too shabby.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/pgHpeA-L9OMeTowttdj8jhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilGjLXnt-HdOxNs5ostg3NyJ4GEPGB2VGsEhf5dF88RkCGR3mwxTIjE0f6oUKHp_EWzCafX02ugKilqB8aOTSTZPRGganZRd3RlduWctnLoqaYnPRa4Jw8JBS1g3kEAbt0ym36jEVV_r3d/s400/DSC_2779.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><br />
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Now that I'm back home and Hubby is there with Goat Princes and H-Bob, I'm tending to the dishes at home, washing show clothes for tomorrow...dairy whites do not stay clean for long, and wishing I had time to water and see what's growing in the garden before dark. Perhaps in the morning.<br />
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Congrats again to our great little showman! A job fantastically well done. <br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/piTAdJLMfCzQL2zTba5bCRi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrzmfuPVNbtpsSRg9UgIzfKnQATLFBOdQ8Yo0NkgVRnb1NfopSCIHr0MBCN1J8nySA-KJMPa0ZLOM8oSGH_w2GTvINQBYYK1RYcv9C_Ca3hYIbkIyBUgXjP25vXhALcVJNqypnZ58eYYxa/s400/DSC_2938.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sixinthenorthwest/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDIwaOzzvutrAE&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-91560065534596500792011-08-16T22:40:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.919-08:00County Fair - Day One and CountingCounty Fair.<br />
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I can vividly remember taking the family to our county fair every summer. We would see the sights, have some food, and invariable end up wandering the aisles of the livestock barn...wondering what it would be like to own a couple of animals...wondering how much fun it must be...wondering how that would ever be possible based on our living in a major metropolitan city.<br />
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Now fast forward to today. It's County Fair time again. But this time, as has been the case for the last six years, we're there not just one day, but six, and not only six days, but six nights as well. All because our little 'wondering' came to be, and our girls bring their 4-H dairy goats to exhibit as well as any other static exhibits they have prepared during the year. It's amazing how things do change.<br />
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Without spending the entire 'day one' post on how we got to where we are, let's just dive in to today.<br />
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But it really started last Saturday with paining the pen panels that the goats will stay in for the week, and as a 4-H club, decorating the area for the benefit of the visitors to the county fair. There's an amazing amount of background work done by an awful lot of volunteers in order to put together what you see when you visit the livestock barns. <br />
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But in getting back to today, the fair opens on a Tuesday each and every year. Our 14-year-old did not have a show today or even barn duty so was free to wander the fair with me and our 9-year-old. And wander we did...through the goat barns to see each and every little goatkid...many, many times. Through the butterfly exhibit four different times. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/HBxzJ3qrK_HgR6fcntUp9Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZCWyxzFQIS3J1pSuAMiGLol74fNxwmSmhPq_hjCNWiexbOsmrPU0BGwM44uy3lI4vB4VVxC342P1BWGi0YtOdtIFfiJCQzCkYGQWsoJJz2CTJC3DRRAwl-TZp9_OvueT192EOHEdlhh9H/s400/DSC_2749.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">600+ Monarchs in one tent.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-RUwJtT2-2rAQcfzKvqsoBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijd-nqpMQ8S6fHKUydCXx02R0BQBWfQH-wXBBvnbQ8hN6lbf8wSL5IQU46347IWYX8CQYmldefBtQidQoGqcflL0JBXYEIBmqcDm9rsEqt23ycWccG4dKFtLdYuDXs_BQ7U0q7LhoJ61B_/s400/DSC_2750.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They were everywhere!</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/TIyXpcSTY4lIQbyiY2MEeBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaB0iNOsxKDs0dJMexHofkx033qyc9_BJLPeDOY8rxKtRXjo2BvckFLAI0TCwjOGPytwVxEBdpCfNoNSEn7FYuJurZHZCPSKZaNHllfBX-YobSYsBBCV4cxbz01vSYLWvh5r_iFo6lnioy/s400/DSC_2754.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This says it all!</td></tr>
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We washed our hands with the most wonderful goat soap from the 'soap lady's' exhibit. We spent a lot of time in the pioneer village and Indian camp looking through the exhibits there. We wandered over to the the OMSI exhibit. And I believe all that was before lunch back at our campsite. Then we of course had to make several trips through the 4-H exhibit hall where the girls had photography exhibits as well as H-Bob's Clover Bud exhibits. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/iSxVjOItCaQ0SLjezCXFVBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiczlMor-q0oIY_NRFxlfO1dt90z-_6n1O0DLqeMLidfFVmrufdsjeZCfePe9WMw17GNR-O7cjhZMr8vR9N1EOBF-FvUhOTYA0UmKGSWP3oE5OGFadpuCi-EgUlQLE1_aalWC2Bt_SshVQq/s400/DSC_2720.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover Bud sewing exhibit</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/AceCvSizY8lbHipUlNeMTxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRiWcxxBgu3HzS791Qpuk-NZ5KdDiVpaw6YH-0oVI5FSE56HBOFZswbDnxtKaRWw22qfVe_AMMDqnqks2IdiBo0gAAx69VsQOAvmzzNiC_hl8Y-Tx3lTzOH7jEbAbFLBh03qfi4zlSD8qR/s400/DSC_2721.JPG" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover Bud Photography exhibit</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/L24LP2f99y9Kie-Ur3LdNxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjslG_auBhubqrGJY5a4G8NC3rR4XZ0bR1d1qcn4iphUilANaj66e4TeFWWw78oMzQJ8BjK5tDvnogoXaS-HWWRiKgPD7kHqtcyWuqnwkLDGAxf5-i1G8hwpoN9iMMxGel-ef314obe1JIw/s400/DSC_2722.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover Bud Expressive Art and Natural Science exhibit</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/99ySw2GHKAwPb9wvqRkJsxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM05p9twcIjfhWC4zEWTpHNxQuoiq6zWZPWVg1co13IgsVatH7JvTh48OoLzEhOShCPYdE4utVDLcxf_qHckW7FKYmfCt2wGlQvm_RSbKTsAMhojnCERK7_DllVh_ZmECkvFz0MVG7yKjC/s400/DSC_2724.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover Bud Drawing exhibit</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/cYDTbW7Hi9rTB_pulzIojhi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NPIqZDb4TJkCOxF0T9JfuVn0QHNwIGGrUdQJ_xBadB2zEOJXm4P7g_7ghQiG72ehkwi5_8lyMGM8Jtca4I_5emf_W5Yx5GeNgvtueR1FBv9i7nB667fkk0JR5S6HkJ2DongjanXV4H-8/s400/DSC_2725.JPG" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover Bud felting and finger knit scarf</td></tr>
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There were cool things to see in the Main Pavilion that the various vendors exhibited, plus no day is complete without going through both the rabbit and poultry barns and then on to the beef and swine exhibits. One of H-Bob's favorite shows to watch was the Flying K-9's...a Frisbee and agility demonstration by various herding and rescue dogs. They are talented. Although it seems like it, we haven't seen everything that there is. That's why there's tomorrow, and the next day, and the next...but it's hard to convince a 9-year-old of that at times. County fair for us equals an incredible amount of walking.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/mtTlpQj0U2KP7umUVryt8hi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCK4s3tgqunwpdP1JJUfEy2b9ZEIxsAQcI__kCvRibZ0AGPuH81Fb8-Jipe31RsU7uHxusPZlV4sGbZfHcneYINYZXzQIspomWZF_u0bOUqNEBXtfMoq7pOGardi9NGqFFOEhI0rkPZqnT/s400/DSC_2727.JPG" width="267" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">H-Bob, sporting our club t-shirt.</td></tr>
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Since we are camping, dinner is put together at the campsite...teriyaki chicken, zucchini and onion skewers, and rice. Good and simple.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DcZOzJpN1AN6-1dmYrO_phi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFZiTUWucdIjKQ0ddhb9_YhT42-ccmObK_vEhuQHIH1PZpvxDkJZaJzl3C-H_hnStO8zNMMmb3dK29f2Tirvb2RPPXCfERX3Grou_P8Hys13x2JxAljjDiRhp_Y9JGIOQal2Oq7ejQJN6i/s400/DSC_2775.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, home sweet home for the week.</td></tr>
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We still have the horses and other goats at home, so I take off each evening to care for them as well as take care of my <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/of-horses-and-stalls.html">horse barn duties next door</a>. Our other two kids are at home, so there is dinner to put together for them, laundry, watering, and rounding up what we will need for the next day. It does make for one long day.<br />
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But here I am finally trying to chronicle it all after all these years. Someday we won't be in this position, and we'll be back to being spectators...although we'll be all-knowing and more appreciative than ever. And I do want to remember what it was like. <br />
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Do you attend your county fair? What's your favorite part? It would be fun to find out.<br />
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Stay tuned...day two should be coming right up.<br />
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<tr><td style="font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 11px; text-align: right;"><a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/sixinthenorthwest/BloggerPictures?authkey=Gv1sRgCKDIwaOzzvutrAE&feat=embedwebsite"></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-60851139092563505202011-07-20T10:55:00.000-07:002011-07-20T10:55:20.949-07:00Breakfast Menu for Visual Learners or Non-Readers<a href="http://wearethatfamily.com/" mce_href="http://wearethatfamily.com/"><img 300"="" alt="works for me wednesday at we are that family" height="198″ width=" mce_src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300.png" src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300x198.png" width="300" /></a><br />
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Technology is only as good as the practical use you can apply it to. Right? Not sure where that leaves Facebook...ha ha...but at any rate there are some great concepts out there just waiting to be utilized in creative ways. I hardly consider myself creative, a mimicker for sure, but original thoughts sometimes are few and far between. I have noticed lately since reading up on my dyslexic learner that combining activities will often stimulate both hemispheres of the brain. My most brilliant thought moments can be found while I'm <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/of-horses-and-stalls.html">working next door at the barn</a>. This week's light bulb concerns Pinterest.<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sEWYQmnSk7JGK6qk6mEa_Ri6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="111" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2aYIrAr551WQ7HKK0bF_3z0Wr0o4M1y7AOGPjQbotBib-bG4ER1RYmSv6asPu7KTrbl5g2exmAM-rrXbUx7wjDhSqZ8giZd4YvF0YkhFel_ecLeRmqUppfySPIbIytfMgE_DIuXuHBBQk/s800/Pinterest.png" width="261" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://pinterest.com/">Pinterest</a> is new to me, and I've only had a little bit of time to figure it out. It's a site where you can 'pin' photos found on the web on 'boards' that you define. Fun to play around with for sure. But practical? Now it is. Enter the visual menu for young kids or visual learners. The menu I have in mind is there to help me remember as well as show H-Bob what gluten and caesin free, low-sugar items we have on hand to eat on her elimination diet. We're trying to focus on 'what there is' as opposed to 'what you can't have'. I'm starting out with breakfast...although there are a few pins on that board that need to go to their own separate GFCF board...lemonade for breakfast? Probably not. Click <a href="http://pinterest.com/sixinthenw/gluten-free/">here</a> to see what's there so far.<br />
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<div style="line-height: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/71916465/" target="_blank"><img 300'="" border="0" src="http://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/71916465_8emTW2b4_c.jpg" width="400 height =" /></a></div><div style="float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px;">Source: <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2009/02/all-right.html" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;">sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/sixinthenw/" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Connie</a> on <a href="http://pinterest.com/" style="color: #76838b; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div></div><br />
<div style="line-height: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/71914496/" target="_blank"><img 300'="" border="0" src="http://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/71914496_32l44tPq_c.jpg" width="300 height =" /></a></div><div style="float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px;">Source: <a href="http://s57373.gridserver.com/blog/?p=532" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;">s57373.gridserver.com</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/sixinthenw/" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Connie</a> on <a href="http://pinterest.com/" style="color: #76838b; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div></div><br />
You can see that by pinning photos of the cereal we selected or the fruit and granola recipe, that we have our own 'menu' of sorts to get the day started on a fun, positive note now that choices are a little bit limited. Not only can H-Bob see them at a glance, but as the board continues to fill up with GFCF products and links to similar recipes, I will have a reminder as well since my cluttered mind tends to overload at times. A step in the right direction for us I hope.<br />
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What fun use have you discovered for Pinterest? <br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-41239503254638409792011-07-18T09:53:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:42:49.840-08:00Happy Homemaker Monday - July 18, 2011<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb77tpNmAt66qf5oi2sANciJDaBJTHs74y7QwKLumTz7fnCvw8cqfLQQzVFUTAHxkd1EuZE36ElcXXwLZlAhEbys2RVo_Gx53cb7dEVBrQqCqETf8owv4Z8QQVSfJseg2n8hWEyt9uVNl/s1600/happy+homemaker+monday.+%2528Small%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="359" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzb77tpNmAt66qf5oi2sANciJDaBJTHs74y7QwKLumTz7fnCvw8cqfLQQzVFUTAHxkd1EuZE36ElcXXwLZlAhEbys2RVo_Gx53cb7dEVBrQqCqETf8owv4Z8QQVSfJseg2n8hWEyt9uVNl/s400/happy+homemaker+monday.+%2528Small%2529.png" width="400" /></a><br />
<br />
I'm linking up today with <a href="http://familycorner.blogspot.com/search/label/happy%20homemaker%20monday">Diary of a Stay at Home Mom and Happy Homemaker Monday</a>. <br />
<br />
<b>The weather in my neck of the woods:</b><br />
<br />
It's is the 60s right now. Forecast is for high 60s and rain AGAIN. (This was taken verbatum from my last post three weeks ago. Not too much progress towards summer here. Though to be honest I think we're supposed to get into the low 70s.)<br />
<b> </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=zmw:97045.1.99999&bannertypeclick=wu_bluestripes"><img alt="Click for Oregon City, Oregon Forecast" height="90" src="http://weathersticker.wunderground.com/weathersticker/cgi-bin/banner/ban/wxBanner?bannertype=wu_bluestripes&airportcode=KUAO&ForcedCity=Oregon%20City&ForcedState=OR&zipcode=97045&language=EN" width="160" /></a><br />
<br />
<b>Things that make me happy:</b><br />
<br />
Our relaxed pace of life for the next few weeks is definitely welcome. Things start to pick up again once County Fair gets closer.<br />
<br />
<b>Book I'm reading:</b><br />
<br />
So many since my last post...<i>Overcoming Dyslexia, Disconnected Kids, Brain Allergies, The LCP Connection, The Kid Friendly ADHD Cookbook</i>. Pretty heavy stuff.<br />
<br />
<b>What's on my TV today:</b><br />
<br />
Not much as usual.<br />
<br />
<b>On the menu for dinner:</b><br />
<br />
Hubby and our nine-year-old spent the last few days camping and brought home pink meat trout. It's a little like poor man's salmon. There's no fishy trout taste at all, so time to get creative with it tonight.<br />
<br />
<b>On my To Do List:</b><br />
<br />
I really need to get a handle on the weeds in the garden. This rain and temperatures that encourage weeds has made a mess of things. We also ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO finish cleaning out the goat shed. That becomes my mulch material for the paths between the raised beds in the garden and a great weed suppressant.<br />
<br />
<b>New Recipe I tried or want to try soon:</b><br />
<br />
Since we're starting a sugar-gluten-casein free diet for H-Bob to see if that has an impact on her dyslexia and attention, cooking will be real interesting. I've armed myself with several gluten-free flours from Bob's Red Mill and a handful of cookbooks. I am probably dealing with this harder than she will since I feel like I can either cook two batches of things or be creative enough to keep everyone happy with only slight modifications to what her menu needs to be. <br />
<br />
<b>In the craft basket:</b><br />
<br />
There are only wishes...<br />
<br />
<b>Looking forward to this week:</b><br />
<br />
Our Marion berries are beginning to ripen. With the rain this year, they are fantastically plump. Now if we could only get a little sun to ripen them. I'm itching for a pie...guess it will have a gluten-free crust and ice cream? GF crust, yes; ice cream, no since that is a weakness of H-Bob's, but I did come across a recipe for slightly sweetened whipped coconut milk to replace whipped cream.<br />
<br />
<div style="line-height: 0px; padding-bottom: 2px;"><a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/69420121/" target="_blank"><img 500'="" border="0" src="http://d30opm7hsgivgh.cloudfront.net/upload/69420121_1ixmLsjd_c.jpg" width="309 height =" /></a></div><div style="float: left; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px;">Source: <a href="http://cleangreensimple.com/2011/03/coconut-milk-whipped-cream/" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;">cleangreensimple.com</a> via <a href="http://pinterest.com/sixinthenw/" style="color: #76838b; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Connie</a> on <a href="http://pinterest.com/" style="color: #76838b; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Pinterest</a></div></div><br />
<b>Tips and Tricks:</b><br />
<br />
I had started to use gallon ziplock bags to bundle up individual craft supplies with instructions taken from <i>Family Fun</i> magazine in a type of kit for H-Bob to grab and work on when I'm involved in something else. They're rather picked through at this point. Time to refresh them. It does a great job of keeping her productively occupied when I can't be there.<br />
<br />
<b>My favorite blog post this week:</b><br />
<br />
In my search to learn how to prepare gluten-free foods, I stumbled across this post outlining what is gluten-free, how to use substitutions, what does and doesn't work. Thank you <a href="http://glutenfreemommy.com/gluten-free-grains-101-the-best-flour-blend/">Gluten Free Mommy</a> for sharing your experiences.<br />
<br />
<b>Blog Hopping:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://glutenfreegirl.com/">Gluten Free Girl</a><br />
<br />
<b>On my mind:</b><br />
<br />
Now that we've diagnosed H-Bob's dyslexia, we will obviously be continuing with her vision therapy, have started following the home sensory-motor correction program in Dr. Melillo's book <i>Disconnected Kids</i> to fire up her connections to the left hemisphere of her brain, are getting going full swing on an elimination diet to figure out her food sensitivities, as well as tackling a phonics intervention program to bring up her reading level. Lots and lots to keep my mind busy for sure.<br />
<br />
<b>Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:</b><br />
<br />
From my <a href="http://www.apostolicfaith.org/Library/Devotional.aspx">devotional</a> that I have sent to my feed reader daily:<br />
<br />
<blockquote>We can trust that God knows what is best for us and He will work to make it happen. When we seek the His will and do things His way, not our own, God will bring about the best outcome possible.<br />
<br />
"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." - Psalm 37:5</blockquote>Enjoy your week!<br />
<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-65033442847305421092011-07-14T09:58:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:42:15.619-08:00Keeping up with your blog reading<a href="http://wearethatfamily.com/" mce_href="http://wearethatfamily.com/"><img 300"="" alt="works for me wednesday at we are that family" height="198″ width=" mce_src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300.png" src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300x198.png" width="300" /></a><br />
<br />
I love reading in the blog-o-sphere. It keeps me centered...inspired...informed...you name it. But some times it takes effort. Through trial and error, this is the system that works for me.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/o2foxDG14Sw_0NYOPxQCFxi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="50" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjLOcHp62uEpA0i277nW6bzi9HbdGZRd6nacYgtCh-vTToF31hd7H1gAv2kxyx7Xa9-gu3FnZIF5rJP54igFfb6V1RDW8Z8rP8LttR5jCQunbWpvoH9Mo4zMmFhOmWK73Nh56-zyG2Jaoa/s800/RSS-gloss2.jpg" width="45" /></a><br />
<br />
When I come across a blog that I would like to follow and read on a regular basis, I look for an RSS feed icon. That usually takes me straight to where I can choose a feed reader and get started there. I happen to use Google because it seems to be universally available, but that's only my preference. There are many others to choose from as well. Within my <a href="http://www.google.com/reader">Google feed reader</a>, I can set up folders for different categories...home...gluten-free...gardening...homeschool...and have the new posts automatically routed there. Easy enough then to go to a particular folder if I want to see what's been happening at my favorite photography site. That's a big bonus to me over receiving posts by email. And there's always that "Mark all as read" button for those overwhelming weeks you all know about.<br />
<br />
But here's the other fantastic thing I do. I have an <a href="http://instapaper.com/">Instapaper</a> account. This is a nifty, actually ingenious, way to mark things that you find on the web so that you can read them later. I just happen to use it mainly for my RSS feeds. A click of the button, and it is added to my Instapaper account. But it gets even better. Instapaper is also an app. And that means...my inherited iPod from my kids can be synched with Instapaper and always affords me reading material no matter where I am. No wi-fi needed when I'm out and about. Now if I had me an iPhone, I probably wouldn't be so excited about this, but it sure works for those of us who haven't moved up to that level yet. I'm to be found reading through blog posts in a long grocery line, waiting to pick someone up, car rides, just about anywhere. Do I dare say I've been tempted while driving? Well, no...but you could just the same.<br />
<br />
The only downside is that while you are reading blog posts on an iPod, it is a little cumbersome to comment on a great post. Sometimes you just want to throw out a little, "Me too!" or "Have you heard about..." or "We're thinking of you." It would obviously require you to have a wi-fi connection and nimble little fingers.<br />
<br />
Overall the system works for me. How do you keep current on your reading? Do you just randomly skip across the internet to get your fill? Do you even have time to read blogs? Just curious.<br />
<br />
<i>For more great Works for Me Wednesday ideas, visit <a href="http://wearethatfamily.com/">WeAreThatFamily.com</a>. </i><br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-47901381216297934232011-07-12T10:29:00.000-07:002011-07-12T10:38:11.807-07:00It's Dyslexia...So Now What?The past two weeks have made a mess of my mind...information...opinions...decisions. But I feel I'm on the right track.<br />
<br />
Here's the deal. Our nine-year-old H-Bob has lagged a grade or two behind in her reading since the beginning. Writing and spelling have been atrocious. No word attack skills. She's had attention issues. Looking back she never 'got' rhyming. Lessons taught one day were forgotten the next. Math...similar issues. Now that I know, those are hallmark tags of a dyslexic learner. Not the backward letters or writing that I incorrectly had been told were the signs to look for. <br />
<br />
On original suspicious that she could have vision tracking problems, we had her tested and eventually enrolled in eye therapy sessions every other week which have helped tremendously. Her ability to perceive...not just physically see...written letters or numbers on a page was in the 10% range. They were amazed she was even reading. Six months later her abilities are vastly improved. But her reading and math have not caught up. <br />
<br />
Enter my contact with <i>Raising Spirited Kids</i>, and a comment there on determining whether certain temperaments were exacerbated by learning disabilities portrayed a more accurate definition of dyslexia, and I begin to read some more. After inhaling <i>Overcoming Dyslexia</i>, at H-Bob's next eye therapy appointment I asked her therapists some questions. She ran a few diagnostic tests and confirmed that there were also visual processing deficiencies...in other words dyslexic tendencies. A later component of her therapy will address those. But that wasn't going to address my questions I had now. If we have a diagnosis, I need to know the best way to support the situation.<br />
<br />
There seem to be several ways people attack dyslexia. <br />
<br />
It's there. Let's find a remediation phonic program and hammer in those phonemes until they're firmly rooted in long-term memory. <i>Good approach. You have to have sound association in order to sound out unfamiliar words. We're now working with Saxon's Phonic Intervention program designed for fourth grade and above.</i><br />
<br />
Let's work around it. I was thoroughly impressed with the information on <a href="http://www.diannecraft.org/">Dianne Craft's</a> site. Dyslexic learners are extremely right-brained. Let's teach them using materials that appeal to their creative right brained sides and utilize the photographic memory that resides there. <i>This also makes sense. H-Bob expresses many tendencies of an overly dominant right brain...great large motor poor poor fine motor skills; excessively cautious; very visual learner. I was also intrigued by her Brain Integration theories and nutritional aspects that she writes about</i>.<br />
<br />
Control it with diet. Studies have shown that many neurological disorders such as ADHD, autism, and dyslexia can be improved through diet. There may not be food allergies present that cause outward symptoms that come to mind when you think 'allergy' but there can be food sensitivities. Those sensitivities are part of a complex cycle where nutrition absorption is compromised and brain activity is affected. I read <i>Brain Allergies</i> which mainly deals with food sensitivities and psychological issues. At the time it was written, research had not applied it to the epidemic level of kids with ADHD, autism and such but the process by which the brain is affected holds true. <i>I've come across people in my life recently who have restricted their sugar, gluten, and dairy for various reasons and have personally reported tremendous changes. The evidence is too hard to ignore that food sensitivities are real, and it too is a path we should take with H-Bob.</i><br />
<br />
Fix it. Yes, that's right, fix it. I sat and cried as I read <i>Disconnected Kids, The Groundbreaking Brain Balance Program for Children with Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia, and Other Neurological Disorders</i>. They were describing my child. Very right brained. Disconnected left brain. No communication between the two to process...in her case...reading and writing. The results that have been had with this program which was tailed for home use in this book or performed at their <a href="http://wwww.brainbalancecenters.com/">Brain Balance Centers</a> makes you want to shout from the housetops, "You have to try this!"<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0ibbsBSia7X3tpPQOI5NP8ziFcMYY2R2LX9yz3FueXtYd0QYMv0MzVlIgUUM0xZ2RK0EU53ZaMLG7sHlGcpD4P6-_AB3U52FhRE4Aozb18L1hXKJpAHNnEV-5XXplgjxcvHQgYUp1bNM/s1600/disconnectedkids.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP0ibbsBSia7X3tpPQOI5NP8ziFcMYY2R2LX9yz3FueXtYd0QYMv0MzVlIgUUM0xZ2RK0EU53ZaMLG7sHlGcpD4P6-_AB3U52FhRE4Aozb18L1hXKJpAHNnEV-5XXplgjxcvHQgYUp1bNM/s400/disconnectedkids.jpg" width="400" /></a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Here's an excerpt:<br />
</span> </span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">These disorders may manifest with different symptoms but they are really one and the same problem: a brain imbalance. There is even a name for it--Functional Disconnection Syndrome, meaning areas in the brain, especially the two hemispheres of the brain, are not electrically balanced, or synchronized. This electrical imbalance interferes with the ability of the two hemispheres to share and integrate information, meaning the brain cannot function as a whole. The result is that a child with a brain imbalance has normal or even unusually good skills associated with the higher-functioning area or side of the brain, and unusually bad skills associated with the underactive area or side of the brain. The problem seems to come about because one side of the brain is maturing at a faster rate than the other. As the child develops, this imbalance becomes more significant and the two hemispheres can never fully function as one. The brain is functionally disconnected. Fix the disconnect--that is, get the immature side of the brain to catch up to the other side--and the symptoms go away. So does the disorder.</span></span></blockquote><span style="font-size: x-small;"> <span style="font-size: small;">We've just started the home version of Dr. Robert Melillo's program, so I cannot say personally that we have achieved success. But I'm positive and hopefully that it will make a difference. There are different facets to his work. One is to physically trigger just the left-brain, in H-Bob's case. (Autistic children have a right-brain disconnect and would work to connect it.) Sensory exercises make that left-brain wake up and communicate. It has become silent in the "use it or lose it" concept after originally becoming unsynchronized during the developing process. The other portion of the program is diet and getting the body nutritionally balanced. Here it is again. Start an elimination diet to figure out if there are food sensitivities and get the system off to a start with a clean slate. Interestingly he writes that these food sensitivities will leave once the brain hemispheres are reconnected. The last component is a Behavior Modification Plan which to be honest I haven't absorbed completely yet. It deals with appealing to the deficient side to reward/punish, once again to stimulate the hemisphere that needs to reconnect rather than continue to build the dominant side.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
So...there's a lot here. We've started our sensory motor exercises. We've initiated our no-sugar week while keeping our food diary before starting the elimination diet next week. An boy oh boy, there's some research to be done there. I'm in a panic wondering what in the world there will be left to feed poor H-Bob. We're continuing our vision therapy. We are going to start the phonics intervention program. <br />
<br />
There will be tears...over no-sugar items already. Next week might...no WILL be...ugly as well. I am going to need the patience of ten thousand saints and the prayers of a multitude to get through this. But we will. And the results are bound to be worth it.<br />
<br />
It's your turn. Advice? Comments? </span><br />
<br />
</span><br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-70635891683383548132011-07-08T11:58:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:42:15.621-08:00The Homeschool Mother's Journal - July 8, 2011<a href="http://www.thehomeschoolchick.com/about-the-homeschool-mothers-journal/" title="The Homeschool Mother's Journal"><img alt="The Homeschool Mother's Journal" src="http://www.thehomeschoolchick.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Summer-Edition.jpg" /> </a><br />
<br />
<b>In my life this week...</b><br />
<br />
I have been filling my head with information on dyslexia and food allergies. Amazing how one simple discovery can dictate the route your life starts to take.<br />
<br />
<b>In our homeschool this week...</b><br />
<br />
We have discovered <a href="http://www.lexile.com">Lexile.com</a> which is a resource that assigns a numeric value for books in their system. It is more finely tuned than just giving a recommended grade level. I am using this to come up with reading material that is below H-Bob's current level so that we can work on her fluency.<br />
<br />
<b>Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share...</b><br />
<br />
Dig in deep yourself and educate yourself on the options there are for your children's education. There is no cookie-cutter approach and each one is definitely wired differently. In doing so, you will learn more about yourself than you imagined.<br />
<br />
<b>Places we’re going and people we’re seeing...</b><br />
<br />
We have one more weekend of church convention activities that will pretty much fill up our weekend, but the following week looks wide and clear. Yeah!<br />
<br />
<b>My favorite thing this week was...</b><br />
<br />
It's great to see the garden flourishing even though the temps are moderate. Even the tomatoes are beginning to look as if they're taken to their transplanting. The peppers, maybe not. But more warm weather has been promised. We also set up our pool. Now if the weather would cooperate.<br />
<br />
<b>What’s working/not working for us...</b><br />
<br />
I'm considering our diet. If the thought of going sugar-free for even a week sends me into a panic, it is probably a good sign that I have a little sugar addiction I should address. Big thoughts going on here in that direction.<br />
<br />
<b>Questions/thoughts I have...</b><br />
<br />
I asked for wisdom to figure our how to best address H-Bob's dyslexia. And the books and materials that keep falling in my path deal with diet. I'm pretty sure I should grab the bull by the horn and head that direction.<br />
<br />
<b>Things I’m working on...</b><br />
<br />
The kids should be getting exhibits ready for our county fair which is held mid-August. After our busy two weeks with church activities, that is going to become a priority. What will I be working on? Well, probably just helping them stay on track.<br />
<br />
<b>I’m reading...</b><br />
<br />
Well <i>Brain Allergies</i> turned out to be focused on food addictions, allergies, and nutritional deficiencies that affect the psychiatric health of the population. But the information was startling. What gets me is that with evidence which appears so strong in books such as these, why aren't more people seeking those avenues? Are we always skeptical? Do we not trust our own gut feelings because mainstream medicine does not follow suit? More food for thought.<br />
<br />
<b>I’m cooking...</b><br />
<br />
The brisket I mentioned last week was beyond incredible. Even though it's not our usual elk or venison, I'm going to have to purchase one every few months. Such a treat! In the meantime, we've plenty of lettuce, greens, broccoli, onions, radishes and strawberries from the garden to fill our plates with.<br />
<br />
<b>I’m praying for..</b><br />
<br />
I'm finding answers that relate to H-Bob's learning difficulties. Now I still just need to know which path to travel first.<br />
<br />
<b>A photo, video, link, or quote to share…</b><br />
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Want to read what others are reflecting on? Head to <a href="http://www.thehomeschoolchick.com/about-the-homeschool-mothers-journal/">The Homeschool Mother's Journal </a> hosted by <a href="http://www.thehomeschoolchick.com/">The Homeschool Chick</a>.<br />
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Enjoy your weekend!<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-58860159255544726392011-07-06T10:27:00.000-07:002011-07-06T10:27:44.450-07:00Waffles, Anyone?<a href="http://wearethatfamily.com/" mce_href="http://wearethatfamily.com/"><img 300"="" alt="works for me wednesday at we are that family" height="198″ width=" mce_src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300.png" src="http://wearethatfamily.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/wfmw-300x198.png" width="300" /></a><br />
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Waffles, anyone? Here what works for us...<br />
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<a href="https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/RP07G7v-1SRt-3MlLHSXUBi6UJ9QpZkT2qkDJuANaVU?feat=embedwebsite"><img height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3L-4jr3fL5oSM2i_WBLcDv0SWWqeGbyr-y-F5q96Ujy4UHFHwdjmxnOsGfIp1KdnzZBvBOVNcvN11F61xumCq7yZbamw7F60mIn8NqxLrM5GvcYwOLjCkKEUemC-H-WLqbmfD44nlM5ox/s400/sourdough%252520waffles.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
I took my favorite waffle mix, mixed up a 6-batch bulk mix of the dry ingredients, and put it inside of a large storage container. Nothing new. I'm sure you can find something similar in a lot of kitchens. <br />
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But taking it one step further, I used my handy-dandy Dymo machine, the one I have to keep hidden from fascinated small children, to print out strips with the rest of the ingredients...egg, oil, etc...along with how much of the mix needed in order to whip up a batch of waffles. Kinda like my own personalized waffle mix. I keep referring to it as waffles because that is what we prepare mainly, but it would work just as simply for your pancake recipe. As far as that goes, the same concept would apply for any dry mix that you might keep on hand.<br />
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And if you're curious, here's the bulk recipe I use along with the individual batch guidelines:<br />
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<i><b>Bulk Batch Waffle Mix</b></i><br />
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<i>6 cups flour (I use 3 cups whole-wheat pastry flour and 3 cups unbleached white flour)</i><br />
<i>6 tablespoons sugar</i><br />
<i>3 teaspoons salt</i><br />
<i>1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda</i><br />
<i>3 tablespoons baking powder</i><br />
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<i>To make a single batch of the waffles use:<br />
<br />
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons waffle mix<br />
1 cup buttermilk<br />
1 large egg<br />
2 tablespoons oil, or melted butter if you prefer<br />
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Put together in your mixing bowl and whisk until just combined. A few small lumps are just fine.<br />
</i><br />
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It works for me. It might work for you. The ticket to waffles that anyone can prepare.<br />
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I'm wondering if you keep homemade baking mixes of different types on hand. If so what unique storage and preparation ideas do you use?<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4846520189528950271.post-71743369741729958552011-07-04T10:26:00.000-07:002012-02-20T13:48:30.921-08:00FreedomToday is Independence Day. The day we celebrate freedom. I don't want to take the topic of freedom lightly. No siree. It has given our country the right to worship, to educate our children as we see fit, to have free enterprise, to elect our leaders. We can complain here and there. Yes, of course, but today we celebrate. <br />
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It's just that today I'm celebrating freedom too. I do believe I have the majority of the day to myself. Hubby and the kids are out sturgeon fishing. Just so happens that I needed to still be here to take care of the <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2011/06/of-horses-and-stalls.html">ponies next door</a>. Oh, and I'm not too fond of using the five-gallon bucket. Don't ask. So now that that is over and done for the morning, I'm heading to the garden to catch up, while a brisket slow cooks on the Traeger for when everyone returns. So I get to experience freedom from others' schedules...freedom from the kitchen...freedom to spend some time reading with an <a href="http://sixinthenorthwest.blogspot.com/2010/06/demerara-sugar-and-french-press-iced.html">iced coffee</a> after I broil myself outside. It doesn't come often, so I'm going to relish it. <br />
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Hope you all have a glorious Fourth with friends and family.<br />
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</tbody></table>Six In The Northwesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01918067113227793208noreply@blogger.com0