Seasons A Changing In Juniper Canyon As Summer Slowly Slips Into Fall

04 Sep 2011 2 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Harvest, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Juniper T Ranch, Photography, Ranch Life Tags: , , ,

Seasons a changing in Juniper Canyon as summer slowly slips into fall…where did summer go? Fall is whispering to us softly now as summer is slowly fading to a quieter time in Juniper Canyon…the business of harvest and life blends late August into September…school is back in session once again and Round Up is in the air as we begin to get ready for the annual rodeo…evenings have a chill now so we slip our jackets on to sit on the patio to grasp the last light of summer.

Time has sped forward and taken us from bright summer days and warm nights to my favorite colors of the earth…the colors of autumn…burnt rusty oranges, reds that are deep in color with a warm glow and yellows that are golden in the golden light…God’s incredible glory in the landscape…and yet as I try to hang on to summer I can feel the breath of fall, softly on my cheeks and I know that summer is tucked away until next year.

Harvest was late but it was a record harvest…the fields have turned from golden-yellow stalks with full heads to stubble that has turned into a deep golden auburn color…harvest is behind us now but we will always remember the harvest of 2011.

Before long the farmers will be seeding next years crops…as soon as we get some rain. Usually during Round Up week we get rain…and this country girl loves it as it smells heavenly on the parched dry earth.

Trucks have stopped rolling by our house and our days and nights are slowly returning to our usual quiet.

We get so little traffic out here that we can tell without looking whose pick up it is by the sound of the exhaust…we country people have big ears for listening!

Lazy dog days of summer are coming to an end…they love us sitting out in the summer months on the patio with them…throwing a frisbee for them to chase…or getting a good bone to chew on…which they are doing in this photo.

I feel a bit of melancholy when harvest is over as the land is dry and bare…sort of feels like the morning after Christmas…one minute you are celebrating in the moment…running from store to store to find gifts…cooking special family recipes and continuing on the traditions that were handed down to you…lots of parties and visits from family and friends…yet the morning after Christmas comes and you feel the let down…harvest can be like that as all through the crop year you have your eye on the crop looking forward to harvest.

From the beauty of the green fields in the spring after winter to the first of June.

When you begin to smell the wheat as the stalks are drying out and the head is filling with grain as it slowly turns from green to a golden yellow…you wait and watch and worry and wonder when you can get going with harvest…anticipation runs high as the farmers ready their equipment.

Finally it is a go and you as a family pull together and get the job done…long days…short nights but you are all in this together…in my family we had uncles and cousins doing the harvest together…for me it was great as I was an only child and I got to come down from the cattle ranch when I was old enough to drive wheat truck to be part of our family harvest…fun times and memories that I still hold close in my heart.

Finally the last day of harvest comes…and boom it is over…now we worry and wait for the rain to come so that next years crop can be seeded…and the cycle goes on. You can see our home down there in the picture…see the straight stretch of road…WB does burn outs there…he pretends he is on Pinks All Out!

With fall now upon us…soon winter will be too. I am already getting Christmas catalogs…I am not ready for snow or cold temps! One morning this last week I had the heat on for a few minutes to take the chill off the house!

Time seems to be going faster…the months blend together and the seasons rush by…I can not believe that 2011 is almost over…I miss the days of old when time was country slow.

Life seemed to stand still during the years of growing up on the ranch for me…summer lasted a long long time then.

Heading home for the summer to the Juniper T ranch…it was our home in the Blue Mountains…lots of green grass, cooler temps and fresh water.

Time was one lonnnggg day at a time…it was horses and cows…life was fine in my world. Oh sure in the evenings I would be bored sometimes, I would eat dinner and then go out and either hunt for rocks in the creek or fish in the creek or ride my horse bareback up the meadow…I would come back at dusk…my folks would be getting ready for bed…if I caught any fish I would clean them…with Mom’s help…by then Dad had “Ira Blue” on the AM radio and the talk show would be fading in and out…simple times…good times…time to go to bed…turn out the lanterns…poof the lantern said when I turned it off.

This was the bunk house for the cowboys…the front half was Mom’s kitchen…no power…wood cook stove…no running water…yes it was work…but that was what we all knew…it was life to the rancher and his wife…Mom was a cowboy’s wife…and the cowboy’s kid had to bucket the water for her so she could heat it on the wood stove to wash the dishes…it was simple yet peaceful…it was good… I miss it…I miss the beauty of life then….the simple of life then…the good of life then.

I grew up this way and could easily go back to it….Mom was a city girl…her Dad started one of the first Ford Garages in the Northwest…but before that he worked for Pete French on his vast ranch…I have Grandpa’s wool gloves and pipe…he went on to become a state rep for Oregon when Mom was growing up. She told me that when she married my Dad in 1939 she did not know how to boil a pot of water let alone cook…she learned though and was known for her cooking in later years on the ranch.

Mom loved my Dad and she was with him on all his adventures…their marriage was old-fashioned as it was forever…thick and thin…they taught me a lot about marriage and relationship.

We have an old-fashioned marriage too…thick and thin…no matter what…I am with “Wild Bill”  forever and he is with me…I am very blessed…and I love his adventures as they become our adventures.

Such as Photo Shoots with Holton Secret Lab and

Pendleton Woolen Mills…a wonderful rainy and cold June day on location.

Ok “Wild Bill”..where are we going now?

The show must go on no matter the rain and cold.

This is my hubby…the man I fell in love with…the guy…my WB…and I love him and his tenacity.

Here we go…Pendleton Woolen Mills 100th Anniversary Year Catalog Shoot…and they are using our cars!

I wonder what they are saying? Probably something like man is it flipping cold…yeah this is a total crappy day for a photo shoot…I like your cars WB…yeah thanks…how much are you gonna pay us?

The catalog shoot is over and we can finally dry off!

We are  loading up and headed home.

Ahhhhh…we are home….the sun is shining…warmth at last.

Our adventures will continue with this blog…we have Wyoming yet…in this photo the Wyoming wind was blowing so I was hanging onto my t-shirt…next to this monster machine…out in the high desert close to the Oregon Trail crossing.

This was my daily view…the Wind Rivers…and cows…LOVED IT…it was hard to move back to Oregon…the mountains we have here are mole hills compared to my view in Wyoming.

Green River Lake and Square Top Mountain…this is where the Green River begins…I rode above Square Top mountain many times on Pinon Ridge gathering our cows above 10,000 elevation behind Yellowstone…

Wyoming was HUGE country…the first time I rode up Pinion Ridge and looked back it took my breath away…you felt very small as the country was so vast…I grew up in the Blue Mountains but the Rockies were different…I can’t explain it…Wyoming was an ah-ha moment when you just shut your mouth and took it all in…it was a force to be reckoned with…I miss it and part of my heart is still there.

The rest of my heart is here….my home with Wild Bill…and we have beautiful skies and landscapes too.

Seasons a changing here in Juniper Canyon….

Seasons are a changing…constant color and light. Stay tuned….more on the Juniper T and more on HSL…lots of life to share with you…bookmark us and check back several times a week….

Ranch 101…AV Ranch…Post, Oregon

23 Aug 2011 8 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Cattle Ranch, Horses, Ranch Life Tags:

Today is Ranch 101 on the AV Ranch in Post, Oregon…I mentioned we would travel around through my life to different places and different times…so off we go on this post…some pictures are not as good as it was not the digital age yet…but they still show life as we experienced it…remember you can click the pictures to make them bigger…no not your heels…come on let’s go through the arch…hang on tight we are not in Kansas anymore Toto!

“Wild Bill” and I moved to a very isolated cattle ranch in Central Oregon located  on the Crooked River where he was hired to manage Aspen Valley Ranch in Post, Oregon

We lived 35 miles from the closet town which was Prineville, Oregon…Post was about a mile from us and consisted of a small store with a post office for the local ranching families out in our area. The ranch encompassed 36,000 privately owned acres and 15,000 leased from the BLM.

Part of the isolation was that we were not able to receive radio or TV due to iron in the mountains around us. Though we missed the news this was my view out my kitchen and dining room windows…ever changing scenery…which for this cowgirl was more incredible than the news. Can you see the bridge in the lower left of the picture? The main ranch complex sits about 1/2 mile back from the bridge…there was a hay-field in front of the house. The Crooked River is flowing under the bridge…if you cross the bridge and turn left you will go to the Post store and eventually Prineville…if you go right you will travel to Paulina.

Living secluded from civilization we often did not have access to newspapers either…nothing from the outside world…it was like growing up again for me on the Juniper T in the mountains every summer…our own world.

Home sweet home…Aspen Valley headquarters house where the manager lives and eventually we did. The previous manager and his family had been there for many years…it took them time to pack and move…we were thankful for their knowledge and wisdom that they so graciously shared with us.

In the mean time we lived in our camp trailer at the “River House” beginning March 1…once I had the house cleaned up we semi moved into the house and lived there until the end of May when we moved to the headquarters on Memorial Day weekend…this was my first big move and I had a lifetime of stuff crammed into several horsetrailers.

 Son Travis was a senior here at home and was graduating in June…as you see he was not impressed with living in “Cowboy Hell Land!” “Grrrrrr…how could you guys move to a more remote place than where we lived in Juniper Canyon?” It was almost 70 miles one way folks to drive to see a movie…not fun when you are 18! As a footnote: Travis married a woman who loves horses and the western way of life! I have an idea that she will get him on a horse one of these days!

I had to smile a bit as I grew up in a more remote place with no phone…no water…no power…just Mom, Dad and I…and Dad’s dogs and our horses…with 800 head cows and 800 babies to herd around through the summer. I am blessed to have memories that not many people have…that is why I am writing this blog!

Our other son Greg was a Sophmore…he was thrilled and excited to live the “Cowboy” life…he grew up to be 100% cowboy like his Dad and both grandpa’s. Since the boys were yet in school…they stayed here to finish up the school year so I traveled back and forth…a few days helping “Wild Bill” and then

I commuted home to Juniper Canyon to check in with Mom and Dad…herd our two boys around and plan Travis’s graduation party…then I hopped back into “Della Dually” and drove off to “Wild Bill”…600 miles round trip…I had lots of time to plan our new life and solve world problems! I even stopped and danced a bit along the way if I got tired…my stereo in “Della” was rock on sister!

Yeah I know…we moved from our  yellow house above to this…I am a cowgirl who loves her hubby…long suffering at times…but the adventure was where it was at…I loved every second of our adventures together…and I was with my soul mate!

“Wild Bill” mowing our yard…nothing like a cowboy with a mower to get my heart racing!

Of course we both had pick ups…the bright red pick up was “Wild Bill’s” and the pick up on the right was mine…we still have her here at the ranch…her name is “Della Dually”. We name all our vehicles…I know kind of odd…but that is what you do when you live in the middle of no where…you get creative! The F-100 Ford pick up on the far left was one that we built of course…we sold it and heard it went to Nevada…”Wild Bill” finished the frame off resto on it the winter before we moved…yes he converted it to a four-wheel drive…awesome and that is my husband. Oh yeah..his red pick up was named “Red”…good one huh? It took us many hours of thought!

My cowboys…my hubby and my Dad. The river house looked a bit rough but it was not that bad…or so I thought from first glance. Dad helped get us moved and was excited to see us back on a cattle ranch…Mom thought I was nuts but was supportive too…she did the same with my Dad for 52 years…that is another post to talk about as I do not know how mom survived it at times…she was one tough lady!

My folks knew the ranch owners as they had been personal friends for many years. They told my Dad when they hired us that they wanted us to put their cattle ranch in order and design it after my families ranch the Juniper T. It was a compliment to Dad as he worked hard to run a top-notch herd…we had quite a job a head of us to do. Another one of my daily views…easy to see why we lived there in the middle of no where…no news or people but we had scenery, weather and wildlife!

Apparently Dad had his own adventure driving to Post from Juniper Canyon…must of been a bit muddy by the looks of the trailer…he had a trailer load of ground squirrel poison as they were out of control in the hay fields. As you can see the Crooked River flowed peacefully by in front of the “River House.”  I liked living there as you could hear the water if you listened and we could view the river from our living room window….it was relaxing and cozy.

However  “Dad and Wild Bill”  had much discussing to do and commiserating on how to NOT tell me that rattle snakes lived under the “River House”…and bats lived upstairs!  They were worried I would freak out which I did!

“WHAT!!!”   (this is “The Look” ) “NO way snakes”…ok fine bats…we have bats in Juniper too…BUT RATTLE SNAKES…both low land rattlers and timber rattlers…low landers are long…timber rattlers are not as long but they are fat and they coil and hang in the trees up in the higher elevations above the headquarters where we have cows to herd or gather…no matter where we went there were rattle snakes. Hay fields…mountain tops…hay stacks…under houses…corrals…rocks…trees…everywhere!

“Now honey I promise all will be ok and I will watch out for you with the dang snakes!”

“Yeah but…I have never seen or heard a rattle snake…it is kind of scary WB.”

Life can not always be choreographed the way we hoped for and best laid plans can change. “Wild Bill’s” heart was to protect me  however the  first time Lottie and I gathered cattle my hubby could not go with me…”But WB you promised me”…ranch duty had called him in a different direction that day…part of being the boss. After several of us got the cows settled into the new pastures we were headed for home moseying along the trail…we had spent a long day of gathering and moving cows…it was a beautiful summer evening and we had accomplished our job…we were heading home for dinner…little did we know.

Steve who also worked for the ranch…stopped directly in front of me on the trail that we were on to talk about something…when he stopped…we stopped too but Lottie and I had stopped right on top of a rattle snake that was coiling in the grass and ready to strike my horse. Lottie did not know about snakes either…Steve turned to talk to me and just about had a heart attack…Lottie and I knew something was wrong and we moved with warp speed as fast as we could…it was eye-opening for this cowgirl and her horse…we had our first lesson.

Heading back to the headquarters…AV cattle truck on the left…machinery shed on the right…what was called the milk barn in front of us…to the far left was a large red barn that you can not see.

Aspen Valley is a 100-year-old ranch…the house was built in early 1900 and was a stage stop at one time eventually becoming part of the main complex for the ranch. It had tremendous character and if I had the chance I would have restored the house. I fell in love with the interesting floors and the way the counters sloped in the kitchen…actually it was a charming house…once I got all my stuff moved in it was not bad at all…it was home…I like rustic decor and my things fit well in this house.

It was interesting to live there…each day was several adventures in one…and yes we had rattle snakes…the first summer we were there we killed 35 rattle snakes within a 2.5 mile radius around the main ranch complex. Our 6’5″  16-year-old son Greg, shot the head off of one…it was longer than him with 14 buttons…he had to bring it to the house to show us. He was turning on water for the flood irrigation when his four-wheeler came to a stop on top of the snkae…we all carried guns for this reason.

We had plenty of  bats and weird bugs too…century flash floods…more on that in another post…dull moments did not exist on the AV!

But there was this…incredible views would take my breath away.

Wild weather…ever changing skies and light.

We had fun times and made memories that still take me back. My Dad and “Wild Bill” in one of the barns…the ranch was large enough to have six houses and barns spread out…you never knew what you would find.

Like these old saddle trees…my man is cute huh? I love his hat!

Spring branding AV style

See the red hair…that is me “Hotrod Cowgirl”…filling syringes with vaccines and seeing what I could do to help…while Steve gets the branding iron hot.

My Dad enjoying the moment…and no he was not hitting the cows with the bat…he was hitting me (not really) telling me to not be a cry baby… rattle snakes were not that bad…”But Dad”…he once named a spring up on our cattle ranch in my honor…he called it “Cry Baby Springs”…I had trouble moving my herd of cattle by the spring up on top of this canyon when I was 11 and he found me crying under a tree…another story for another time…lets head back to the AV.

The buckaroo crew at break time…I am clocking you boys…no overtime…and I am watching for any screwing around stuff…hee-haw..like I have control!

“Wild Bill” catching cows…and by the way…he did not know this at the time…but he twisted his ankle that morning when feeding…by the time night fell he was in a cast…it was broken! Rough and tough and hard to bluff….”Seriously hon…are cowboys smart or just rough and tough?”

Ooops…Dad Holton heard that…”I’m sorry I will never ask that question again”…”Of course cowboys are very smart…they are rough and tough and hard to bluff…cowboys rule!” I love my man who is a cowboy hot rodder…yep…he is a multi task man and did I mention a genius too! Ok you can smile Dad Holton…you win ok:)

The moment of truth and grimacing at the end of the day…WB had to cut off his boot due to extensive swelling and pain…he was willing at this point to get in my truck and off we went to the Dr. which was  35 miles away in Prineville. I remember the Dr. shaking his head saying something like “Cowboys…they never learn.”

We are not happy at all…not the way to end the darn day…but honey we are in the “River House” now…you can stretch out more…I will make you steak…potatos…garlic bread…carrot cake…and will wait on you 24/7…smile WB!

Meanwhile “Big Bob”…was plotting and planning how he was going to give these newbies heck…it was only the beginning…stay tuned!

Harvest…Hot Rods…Horses…One Hot Time In Juniper Canyon

12 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Harvest, Photography, Ranch History, Ranch Life, Storms Tags: ,

Harvest…Hot Rods…Horses…one hot time in Juniper Canyon…I am writing to you from a very warm and dry Juniper Canyon tonight.

Long days…hard work…dust and heat mean harvest is finally here!

Harvest memories flood my mind with family times…driving wheat truck with my cousins and my uncles running the combines…harvest lunches cooked by my aunts or my Mom…harvest was the best time of the year!

This makes me itch seeing the wheat chaff..we used to douse ourselves with baby powder so that the chaff would not stick to our sweaty skin. Wheat chaff was not fun but barley chaff was the worst.

When we would harvest a field of barley one of us cousins got to follow one of our uncles when they opened up the field…right behind the combine spitting out the chaff  into your truck…even if it was 105 degrees I would keep my windows rolled up tight…we did not have air-conditioned trucks then.

With harvest going full swing…semi trucks haul wheat out of our canyon night and day…when I was little the trucks coming up the canyon at night would scare me as I would see the lights coming on my bedroom walls…the road in front of the house had a large bump on it…so the trucks would hit the bump with a ka-bang rattle and pop!

The semi trucks either load the wheat out of  the elevator about a mile from our house or they load right out of the farmer’s field from the bank out wagon.

The wheat from the elevators is trucked down to the Columbia River which is not far from here….about 38 miles.

The wheat is then loaded on to a barge headed down the Columbia River to Portland Oregon…which is about a 200 mile trip…in this picture there are two barges loaded with wheat.

Harvest is a happy time of year for farm families…working together to bring in the crop…hoping for a good yield and good price. Harvest also means the season is changing.

We go from this view right before harvest gets under way as the wheat has turned golden and the heads are full of grain.

This is an early summer view and the fields look pretty as everything that you can see out here is green…the wheat begins to turn gradually over several weeks time until it ripens to the golden-yellow color.

Here is a view of the field bare…it’s bounty has been harvested and sold…we go from beautiful green fields to golden wheat fields to bare dry and dead fields…so the cycle of life begins again for next year. Our house is down below in the trees that you see. Wild Bill’s burn out strip of highway is visible too.

With true summer colors all around me I get to take great pictures…golden days and incredible evening skies.

August colors and light… templates paint the evening sky with golden crimson purple colors…every color you can imagine.

With ever-changing light…colors and views…we spend our summer nights on the patio enjoying the smells of the wheat ripening…the night sounds of crickets…every once in a while the cool breeze that comes up the canyon from the creek…warm nights that are filled with amazing skies and views!

Home truly is where the heart is and we love our history here…our home…ranch and shop…our life.

We live in God’s country…His beauty surrounds us!

Where anything is possible.

Such as a street rod shop on a cowboy ranch in a wheat field of dreams…

Not just any street rod shop…but Holton Secret Lab…your dreams do come true here!

We are here to build your dream…we understand dreams…we have the qualifications and history to support what we do and our talent that we sell.

Visit our web page and see for yourself…call us…come tour our shop and facility  www.holtonsecretlab.com

On a side note…at Holton Secret Lab we require our employees to know how to ride a horse…in case we need flesh and blood horse power…yep Cowboy Flame is on a mission!!!

Son Greg works for Holton Secret Lab too…I know I have a picture of him on a horse…hang on I will find it!!! He volunteers at the Pendleton Round Up…he used to rodeo himself…my baby boy all 6’5″ of him! Go Ducks!

This is our other cowboy son Curt…he knows how to ride and throws the “Big Loop”…he works for Microsoft…very smart cowboy he is:)

Circa 1930

No Wild Bill This Is Not When I Drove Truck!!! WB tries hard to make me be his age…sorry WB you are older…neener neener!

See This Look….He Is Being A Smarty Pants!

Wild Bill…I have the last word…you know…what I said about our employees…yah you have to ride them ponies with real horsepower too!

Wild Bill is getting his own horse in a month!!! Yee-Haw!!! Ride Em Cowboy!!!

Hey Leonard…I have not forgotten you….stay tuned!

Horses and Hot Rods

05 Aug 2011 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Holton Secret Lab, Horses, Hot Rods, Photography, Ranch Life Tags: , , , ,

Horses…Hot Rods and Howdy from Juniper Canyon…..where Juniper T Ranch and Holton Secret Lab are located.

How many Street Rod Shops are located in the middle of a wheat field on a century old family ranch?

Remember the movie Field of Dreams?

Build it and they will come…and our customers have.

Two Graduates From “The Lab”

A beautiful Chevelle With “Wild Bill” ghost flames….”Wild Bill” or WB is my husband and he is a wild artist and inventer…and a cowboy too in his heart but these days he is riding the shop and herding all those pretty cars around and building outrageous customs and doing complete frame off restorations.

This is our Hot Rod, “Jagged” that Wild Bill is building. It is a 1928 Dodge Coupe with a V-12 Jag motor in it….WB had to invent the intake manifold…then he had to reconfigure the carb to work with an American Edelbrock Carb…he made the headers and fabricated the vehicle to fit the engine…totally “Wild Bill”

More HSL Graduates

Moving on to cowgirl stuff….do you know what “Hooking On” is with a horse? I am going to show you a sequence with my horse Hobby and I in the round corral.

As you see I am in the middle of the round corral and I am sending Hobby to go the direction that I chose.

Here I have asked Hobby to reverse directions…you want your horse to reverse direction by turning  towards you. If they turn away from you then send them on and do not let them reverse until they stop and turn in towards you. This is a matter of respect as you want them to look at you.

I asked Hobby to stop and she did….she turned towards me and is standing still waiting to see what I will ask next.

Hobby is hooked on…which begins the foundation of trust…she wants to stay close to me  as she feels safe  with me as her leader.

No matter what direction I turn and go…Hobby is with me…this is what you want to see…she has no halter or lead rope and she is choosing to stay with me.

Smile Hobby…I love Ya!

We are both getting loves! Since these pictures were taken we have added sand to the round corral, which helps with the (cough cough) dust!

Fanny Annie is enjoying the cool evening after a hot summer day…what a view we have here….it is truly incredible to watch the colors change throughout the day and into the night.

You never know where I will be taking pictures…..see you on down the dusty trail and remember to smile!

Hello World…MJ Here!

04 Aug 2011 2 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Cattle Ranch, Heritage, Horses, Hot Rods, Juniper T Ranch, Ranch History, Ranch Life Tags: , , , ,

Hello world…MJ here…my name is MJ for the most part….although my husband calls me Lucy and my actual name is Marcy….I live where my Norwegian Grandfather homesteaded back in the late 1890’s. The house we live in today was built by my Grandpa Gunder in 1920 for his mother, my Great Grandmother Anne-Marie , my Dad remembered hauling lumber for the house with his Dad when he was 10 years old by horse and wagon from the small town of Helix 8 miles from the house.

Of course Minnie thinks it is her house…and it is….the floors are old and original…pretty huh? We exposed them in 2006, the entire main floor was this beautiful red fir tongue and groove. It is funny that when my Mom moved into the house with Dad in 1939 she spent her time here making the old house modern…I grew up here and did not know that the floors were wood and beautiful…thank goodness Mom had them so well covered to protect them!

Because of the old red fir floors…when we remodeled the kitchen…we had a local cabinet-maker come give us a bid. The first thing he noticed was the old red fir floors…he said “Would you be interested in antique wood red fir cabinets for your kitchen? He told me he bid on a stack of old red fir wood about 30 years ago and it has just sat in his studio….I said YES YES YES…that will restore the kitchen to the original cupboards! I have refinished the pass through cabinet to the original dining room and also have refinished the bar in the middle of my kitchen…it used to be by the sink as I remember my Mom and I rolling cookie dough on the wood bread board that is still intact. That is the bar you see by Minnie!

Isn’t the kitchen incredible…it turned out beautiful! My neighbor painted and fired all my tile for the back splash. I had purchased the tile behind the range several years ago.

Juniper T Ranch Brand

I lost my Dad in 1997 and my Mom in 1998…they were married almost 60 years… they had me late in life…..it was very hard loosing them as I am an only child. I miss them everyday.

Bill and I looked at moving our shop to Portland or Seattle or Bend or Boise or Spokane or Bozeman or Billings but we finally saw that this is where we are to live….most Americans do not have the family history or heritage anymore due to the world we live in and that we have the heritage here and family is huge…so we decided in spite of great odds we would stay right here and market our shop as “The Secret Lab”. Notice that I am making a joke…we were being interviewed for TV.

I do all the marketing and ads for us as well as run our office and I am the Quick Book expert and do all our financial bookkeeping etc. I knew if we got out and showed who we are…that Wild BIll who is an artist and a one of a kind professional car restoration builder that the business would work here….and it has.

We still do get the deer in the headlight look when potential customers at shows ask us where we are located….as the marketing person I have had to fight that misconception about us….that yes we are located in an isolated area that means you will have to drive a few miles to get here BUT Holton Secret Lab is worth it as we are a destination that you want to reach….that is if you want quality and perfection with attention to detail….your call…just do it…you know you want it right? We are worth it…you will not be disappointed!!! We are a one stop shop as we do it all right here in our state of art 8000′ shop with three full-time employees.

I am a cowgirl by heart and spirit. My Dad ran over 800 head of Black Angus cows…each year at the end of school my parents and I moved to the Blue Mountains to take care of the cows for the summer…I was my dad’s right hand man so to speak…he had me riding a horse before I was 2 years old.

To this day I am still riding my horses…running cows and riding hard was my life before I meant and married Wild Bill…and some of his early life was that way too…he buckarooed out in the Owyhee Desert on several large ranches….his Dad had a body shop in Vale and Bill learned how to paint cars by the time he was 16…he worked on  old cars back in the 60’s and 70’s so he knows exactly how to restore them.

This blog will be more about my life as a cowgirl and as a hot rodders wild and crazy wife too…..I hope you will enjoy the memories and way of life I grew up in….I hope you will also enjoy my blogs about Holton Secret Lab too….we have fun out here in Juniper Canyon…so come on in and sit a spell! Welcome to our home and our life!

My parents and I…and our horses up at the cattle ranch in the mountains on Beaver Creek.

Wild Bill and I at the Wyoming Cattleman’s Ball In Pinedale, Wyoming

Riding With Friends Is The Best Medicine For The Soul…Thank You Lana!

Summer Nights Feels So Good…Love You Melody!

Cowboy Son with Hobby and Bo

Cowboy Son Rubbing On Buck…3 Years Old

Cowboy Son On Buck’s Back For The First Time!

Buck is coming to live with us in a month or so…we are very excited to have him come home…and our Cowboy Son will always know where he is at and can come ride anytime…Yep!

So Hey Ya All…Hang On Tight…We Will Travel to Wyoming and To Post Oregon…and To Beaver Creek And To The White House…And To Juniper T Ranch!

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