Gray Haze Brings Lazy Blahzay November Dayzes While Minnie Mouze Snuggles In!

27 Nov 2012 51 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Minnie Mouse, Photography, Winter Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Gray Haze Brings Layz Blahzay November Dayzes While Minnie Mouze Snuggles In For Winter!

With the ever changing landscape, normal objects look surreal as if held by a magical time warp…is it 2012 or 1962?

You are now entering….”The Twilight Zone…a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man, a dimension of imagination.” Oops, sorry I was getting a bit lost in the 50-60’s.

Minnie Mouse says “Not complaining about time warps-de-warps at ALL…I love my heat pad, good wintry zzzz’s…as I get more of both along with kitty strokes and loves…as Mom is finally stuck with me in the house:)”

Peekaboo sun shines out a morning “Hello” on a steely gray dawn…like a flashlight lighting the way for us to see our way for the day.

This year I had many incredible palettes of colors in the sky on warm summer nights and bright days of delight…now as we switch gears to seek out the colors and images of winter, we will find a different beauty.

Artistic skies that draw your eye into a different monochromatic world of color, with layers of gray-blue colors, blending magical shadows on the familiar landscape. A view that stirs a photographers delight and fills my heart with winter light, full of  quiet inspiration for the profound beauty that I see through the lens of my camera, of the land that I have lived on forever and all my life.

Fun winter images and great photo moments to play with light on gray frozen days:) Shooting memorable snapshots in time and exploring different angles with my camera…smile “Yippee Ki Yay Yah!”

Summer skies will return full of God’s glory and heartfelt colors…and once again, I will stop what I am doing, looking up and grabbing my camera, knowing that I am blessed to live here on one of God’s slices of heaven on earth.

“Fanny Annie” will be posing for my camera with her sleek and shiny red coat once again…she is “One Sharp Dressed Lady!

And then there is snow that comes with winter….hmmmm. I have to admit I like it for Christmas week as long as it stays firm and frozen. When I was young here we usually had a white Christmas as I remember sledding down the hills…for the last 30 or so years we rarely have a white Christmas. A few years ago we had a brilliant Christmas morning to wake up to and I was on the move early to capture snow photos! This is part of the shop frontage that we designed to look like an old-time service station, under the bat and board siding is a steel shop…Wild Bill restored the antique gas pumps and added the hitching rail for my horse…with the old Chevy Pick Up and drifts on the roof and on the ground…is it 1930 or 2012? I hear Rod Sterling again with Twilight Zone music…doo-do-doo-do-doo-do:)

A beautiful image of our classic farmhouse in the snow…until it melted and then we had a mega mud mess. I got stuck in four-wheel drive in my Suburban in our driveway by the house that winter, incredible for me! Our parts delivery trucks for the shop got stuck as well as WB so I felt better:) It was a different winter as the ground was not frozen enough when we had the snow hit and as it melted it was like Jello.

 This is my Melody and the fence is three rail…thankfully she did not step over it! Minnie said I got sidetracked as usual…writers…visions and memories and words…words and more words…sometimes I even wonder where they come from? Minnie what were you saying?

“Mom, get your warm sweater on, wool socks and slippers, then ahhhhh relax…it’s house time…now get that dang camera out of my face…see this paw and the kitty stink eye look?” “Well I am also giving you a cute love look too:)”  “Meow, now, where was I?”

“Oh that’s right…roll back to the right side…hang paw over the chair…look cute for Mom…and here come the kitty loves and pets:)”

The beauty of summer will return with nightly visions of iridescent colors…images that speak softly to our hearts.

And yet, despite the cold, there is a beauty in winter…with the colors of glistening silver, brilliant vivid whites and various shades of silver grays…crystal particles that sparkle and softly float through the air…as the snow falls silently to the ground. There is a purity to the landscape and a serene quiet to the land that feels divinely holy…all of a sudden the dirt, the sage brush, the weeds on the hillside, the tumble weeds and the trees are covered with a beautiful garment of white. I love every season, not too crazy about being out in the freezing temps, but with my Carharts on I am good:)

Tucker and her other two buddies all got new doggie beds and yet here she is outside doing her guard duty….she is such a good girl!

May you all have a blessed week and stay warm!!!

Minnie Mouse Won “The Shine On Award”….Meowsie Woo Hoo Award!!!

26 Sep 2012 51 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Award, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Minnie, Minnie Mouse, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Minnie was nominated for The Shine On Award by her buddy dog, Frankie at  http://emjayandthem.com/2012/07/01/shine-on/

Minnie’s Mom, who is HRCG, is buddies with Frankie’s Mom, MJ:)

Minnie is meowsie honored and humbled to receive this award….and she just grabbed my laptop and took off…Minnie what the heck are you doing?

Oh ok I think Minnie wants to be in control of the keyboard…oh heaven help us…I did not know she could type???

Hey she may be working with me in the office tomorrow…Min Min…I love my girl and you rock on girl:)

She loves attacking her red mouse…Minnie loves red…it makes her go into her tigress mode!

Minnie loves her Navajo blanket…she likes to roll up in it and hide or she hides her toys and attacks the lumps:)

This is the Minnie exercise known as the “scratch my kitty back on my Navajo” meow yeah this feels good!

Be sure to head over to check out MJ’s blog…she is a great writer and she asks questions that you think on.  http://emjayandthem.com/

 Frankies a cuty patooty too…

Thank you MJ and Frankie  for passing the Shine On Award on to meowie me Minnie….Mes truly appreciates it:)

These are the rules for receiving this award:

1.)  Thank the person who nominated you and link back to them in your post.

2.)  Share 7 things about yourself.

3.)  Nominate 10 or so bloggers you admire.

4.)  Contact your chosen bloggers to let them know.

5. Answer some questions too:)

Seven Things About Me:

1.) My Mommy feeds me treats everyday and I feel very special…she tries different ones too:)

2: I loves belly rubs by my Mommy year round:)

3: I feel very loved when my Mommy prays over me and she does all the time:)

4. I work on keeping my stripes straight each day along with various dots and white areas as I am a very fastidious kitty:)

5.) I love love love my Mommy and Dad…they are the very best ever:)

6.) I love my toys…and sleep! Love love love it when Mom has a blanket on her lap for me to snuggle up on:) I do not like it when she wears shorts…her skin does not snuggle very well!

7. And I do not hunt mice…ewwwww….ick!

Hummmph…I need a cat nap…get that dang camera out of my face!

Here are my nominations:

1. My gf Sundae who is beautiful with all her colors and her beautiful heart:)  http://thesedaysofmine.com/category/family/sundae/page/2/

2. And then there is my amazingly hunky handsome friend Sam…what a cute guy he is  and fun! http://onespoiledcat.wordpress.com/

3. Zoey the cool cat is really cool too….check them out:)http://russelrayphotos2.com/

4. A very fun and hip kit cat blog… http://catfromhell.wordpress.com/

5. Love this blog and you will too:)   http://isobelandcat.wordpress.com/

6.  A fun kitty cat blog as she has lots of kitty cats to love and blog about:)  http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/

7.  A blog that has something for everyone:) http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/

8. Minnie loves Slash…thinks he is quite the cool rebel kitty:) http://catpurrology.com/

9. And she loves Tux as he reminds her of her sister Satchmo who was a total tuxedo kitty… http://sophisticatedkat.wordpress.com/

10. Speaking of Satchmo…Minnie likes hearing about the adventures of this Sach…with all those pretty stripes like Minnie’s… http://satchmothecat.wordpress.com/

11. We love reading about Texas and Milou…Minnie and her Mom thinks they are truly beautiful with beautiful kitty hearts:) http://texascatny.wordpress.com/

12. Minnie and I both love reading about beautiful Savannah…she has such a sweet heart and has been through a lot. http://savannahspawtracks.com/

13. Minnie loves the three Moggies! http://mythreemoggies.wordpress.com/

14. Both Minnie and her Mom love this site as Kitty Blogger has a great sense of humor and she makes us laugh:) http://kittybloger.wordpress.com/

15. Tigger is cute and fun….we loves reading his blog of wisdom and Zoe is very pretty too:) http://tiggersteachings.wordpress.com/

Questions To Answer:

What is my favorite color?

Well…tan, black, white, carmel, gray…you know…my beautiful coat of many colors! And red!

What is my favorite Non-Alcoholic drink?

Nice cold fresh country water…love it when Mom fills up my bowl with it:)

What is my favorite animal?

Well…cats of course…hello!

Do I prefer Facebook or Twitter?

I love my face and my Mom and Dad’s face:) And a twit is annoying!

What is my favorite number?

I like 7 but I also like being 18 this year too:)

What is my favorite flower?

Is catnip a flower?

What is my passion? 

Keeping tabs on Mom and always being with her no matter what…I love my Mommy!

Thank you so much for nominating me Frankie and MJ:)  You are awesome…go see them at http://emjayandthem.com/

 “My Name Is Minnie Mouse…I Am The Queenie Of The House…I’m The Cat Who Knows Where It’s At.”  Mom has a complete song about me:) She loves me lots and I could be a model too:)

Congratulations And God Bless You!  All God’s Animals And People Shine!

Minnie and her Mommy, HRCG,  Hope You Have A Meowsilly Terrifically Tigerifically Thursday:)

My New Favorite Day!

17 Jul 2012 23 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Life, Lifestyles, Photography, Wild Bill Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Good Morning To My New Favorite Day!

Grab your coffee and read on:)

I recently had a chance to meet Shannon Pruitt, of My New Favorite Day…here is a link to her blog http://mynewfavoriteday.com/.

Shannon is an incredible wife, mom, daughter and friend….she brings good into life with a beautiful attitude and she is one awesome lady! She lives in CA. with her husband and their children. Here is Shannon’s introduction of herself from her blog.

“My name is Shannon Pruitt and I am a childhood surviving, divorced, now happily married, IVF success story, working mother of 2 amazing babies who were born 12 weeks premature. While my children are now 2 years old, my son, Q, has thrived while our daughter, E, has had a much more difficult journey.  She is considered special needs with a tentative diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy, and so as she grows, so do we as individuals and as family. How to help her, how to celebrate our differences while allowing ourselves to cope with the challenges that we never knew to expect.  So while much of this blog is based on our experiences (good and not-so-good), it is also based on how we must not let ourselves become victims of our circumstances but rather advocate in our own lives.”

“After being in a bit of a self-imposed emotional isolation for about 18 months, 6 months ago an ordinary moment in our living room became extra-ordinary and I thought perhaps sharing these stories of hope and inspiration can help and motivate others going through similar circumstances.  So that night, with my nerves on fire, I created my first post for ‘mynewfavoriteday,’ and what I found out from so many of you was that these emotions and feelings were not unique to us or our circumstances, but rather permeated all of your personal experiences through your relationships and situations with parents, conception, siblings, IVF, prematurity, parenting, children, special needs, terminal illness, and everyday stress.  It became very clear that we are all united by common emotions of love, fear, hope, faith, sadness, happiness, strength, and joy and most importantly, we are all doing the best we can, how we can.  We all need one another and if we can remember to find the little nuggets of inspiration and motivation we can try to make each day ‘ournewfavoriteday’.”

A very good friend of mine who lives in Central Oregon sent me a link to Shannon’s blog site last winter as she knew Shannon’s best ever friend who lived down the street from her. I clicked on the link and the friendship with Shannon began developing that night. She grew up in Ashland , Oregon and has been to my neck of the woods in Eastern Oregon…and has attended the Pendleton Round Up.

I felt a connection to Shannon immediately as we share a lot in common with life and an artists heart.

So today July 17th Shannon interviewed me on her blog and if you go to her web/blog site you can see the interview:)

http://mynewfavoriteday.com

I am humbled that she wanted to interview me…my life is truly just like yours with both good and bad times…we just keep a going and find something each day to be thankful for and grateful for…then we look for a really good belly laugh to get some of those feel good cells moving:)

And there you have a pearl of wisdom from Hot Rod Cowgirl…and Melody:)

Shannon calls her blog “My New Favorite Day”, as it is her choice each day to find something amazing in her life that day and that one day becomes her new favorite day!

What an awesome way to look at each day as we roll out of bed…no matter if we have something fun to wake to or something hard to wake to, each day “CAN” be our new favorite day if we want it to…

We just have to make that one choice and decision…

At times with serious determination…we can choose to be upset or we can smile even when life seems to hit us hard…there is always a way to find hope…the choice is ours…

To either let it ruin your day or your life or choose instead to carry on and find a way to survive it with grace and a can do attitude with heart.

We can survive the whatever it is with the belief that things will get better and life will go on…and we can survive with strength and joy.

Hot Rod Cowgirl and her dogs choose to find a good belly laugh each day:)

Along with my horses…

And Minnie too:)

And my hubby Wild Bill:)

Be sure to check out My New Favorite Day at http://mynewfavoriteday.com

Ok this 4:00 am stuff is not bad usually but I have been up for 24 hours…I gotta go take a nap…yawn…we have had terrible lightning storms nightly and various other things like wind, hail, more thunder and last night was four hours solid of every kind of lightning there is over the top of our house from 10:00 pm-2:30 am…kind of scary when you think about it.

We have an abundance of dry fuel with dried out cheat grass and mustard…the right combination for a raging fire…and an 80 plus bushel wheat crop waiting to be harvested…which was postponed again due to heavy rain and flooding last night…pins and needles for the farmers around us as well as for us too.

Our small town is under water tonight…this was early yesterday morning…once the water recedes then the clean up of mud begins…it has been a long week here…and harvest is on hold. This is a place where we have a choice of giving into the negative or we can choose to have a brand new day become our favorite day…I am gonna choose a brand new day:) How bout you?

Whoa…Slow Down…Summer Times A Flying!

13 Jun 2012 35 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Farm House, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Minnie, Photography Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I know I know I need to do a post about life here instead of awards….I am sorry to be so dang slow!!!

We have been busy busy with the house remodeling job and doing all the various summer chores….

Wild Bill was taking a picture of me mowing the yard…a country yard is sort of dirty work…out here we do not have manicured yards as we have various visitors such as gophers or critters that dig holes and then when you are innocently mowing the yard you accidentally hit a dirt mound and poof:)

It seems the days fly by and here it is almost half way through June!!!

Yikes I want summer to slow down and stay for as long as possible with warm sunny days:)

With this post I would like to show you how the old house has changed over the years. This is a picture of my parents right before they got married in 1939…when they returned from their honeymoon, Grandpa moved them into the house here in Juniper Canyon…where we still live today.

The house has changed the last 100 years, but it started out like this in 1920…with a full basement and the upstairs. It was a typical white clapboard farm house…built really good as it is very solid. When they poured the concrete for the basement they poured it deep…and the wood they used for the structure was solid good stuff as Grandpa spared no expense as he wanted the best for his Mother. This picture would have been in the 1950’s…about 35 years after the house was built. I think that is my Dad on the tractor on the left, he is moving dirt in prepping the site for the concrete patio…and I think that is one of my uncles off to the right.

Fast forward to 2007…the patio runs the whole side of the house wrapping around to the front porch. The yellow siding was added to the house by my parents in the 1970’s…the windows were changed out in the 1950’s the first time and eventually replaced with storm windows. In 1980 we moved into the house as  Mom was tired of the stairs…she wanted a one level newer house. I was delighted as I loved growing up in the house…it was home to me. Over the years Wild Bill and I have done various remodels and upkeep to the house.

This year it was time for some major upkeep remodeling with a new roof, new siding, a floor upstairs and revamping our master bedroom and re-doing the concrete patio…along with a new well and all new water pipe to the house etc. This was about a month ago…we have the new roof on and the old siding off.

We added blow in insulation to the outside walls and roof…and then they wrapped the house with insulation…so we have double insulation now and I can tell the difference already!

We chose a Hardie Plank Red Cedar siding as it matches our log fence and also the cedar bat and board shop. I love how it came out!!!  The garage doors need to be painted yet…and we still have to re-do the patio.

Oh my the patio…I roller skated on this patio…had lots of birthdays on it…swam in my swimming pools over the years on it and have loved it…still do today as we live out there during the summer. Our contractor feels they have to tear out the concrete on the side of the house and re-pour it….it has aged a lot the last ten years and it is time to address that too. Ok Minnie…you and me need to head to the high country as this will be very noisy!

Ms. Melody is not impressed either…she is down at the barn…good water and nice stall but….she wants her old stall back right outside my window at the house…when we drilled for water it was in her old stall so I had no choice but to move her to the barn for a while….its ok Mel…we love you lots and we are setting up new stalls for you, Buck and Annie close to the house:)

Me and Mel when she was three a few years ago…first night she spent here after I brought her home. She is a very social horse:)

I will update photos over the next few days to show you what we have done inside the house too:) This is the new floor upstairs…it is Acacia Wood and I love it!

And Ms. Minnie Mouse says “Remodeling stinks…why Mom does this I do not know…of course I am the cat…and I know where it is at…my name is Minnie Mouse and I am the Queenie of the House…Humph!”

We have had several beautiful sunsets….with intense and incredible colors!

Lots of weird but beautiful clouds…

Funky ones of every kind:)

And then there was this big boy…it seemed like it was sitting on us…it was just beginning to rain a bit when I got this picture.

But then it did this and the day ended beautifully once again here in Juniper Canyon…ahhhh.

Minnie had a good day too as she had a nice sun bath before it rained…whew:)

Have a good night wherever you are:) Minnie says “Bye for now:)”

Ranch House Remodeling…Hang On!

28 Apr 2012 25 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Minnie My Cat, Photography, Ranch House, Remodeling Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Before we began the remodel…before the siding was off…we had a yellow house.

Today our house looks like this…a rather naked tongue and groove house, almost a 100 years old. When I was little, I vaguely remember it being white…my parents put the first siding on it when I was 6…and then the yellow siding when I was 19. Today the insulation guys came and blew the walls full of insulation to help with being energy-efficient and to lower the electric bills next winter.

I think Minnie is ready to start her own blog about how “NOT” to remodel your house!

Between the pounding on the roof and the various people who come each day….”Geez Mom can you please stop it!”

I know Minnie I know but we have to finish it. It looks sort of old and pretty bad except for the new roof:)

The last time we remodeled we started here in the kitchen…

And found out we had a chimney that was hidden. Mom did not tell me about hiding the chimney when she remodeled the original kitchen. I always wondered why she had a funny shaped closet over there and we found out:) The wall that you see beside Bill we opened up…

To the living area so that when I was cooking I could still visit with WB or guests…this is looking back from the living area.

Yes we saved Mom’s GE steel kitchen…I will show you in a minute.

But first I want to show you one of the original 1920 red fir cupboards with the breadboard still intact. When Mom remodeled the kitchen in 1960 taking out the original kitchen she saved this cupboard and also the pass through cupboard for storage down in the basement…they were painted a mint green with pink trim….along with several other paint colors that I found when I refinished them. I remember my Mom making pie shells and cut out cookies on the breadboard…I would stand on a chair next to her and help:) I do have the original red fir top but switched it out with this awesome piece of pine from one of the old mills around here.

Both cupboards are back in the kitchen where they began…when our cabinet maker came to our home the first time he immediately noticed the old growth red fir floors…he said 30 years before he bought a bunch of antique red fir wood at a lumber auction and the wood was old then…would I be interested in having him make the kitchen cabinets out of it? Yes…Yes…Yes! I strive to return the house to the original build and era of 1920 and the kitchen turned out beautiful…classic and simple as he modeled the cabinets after the original kitchen cabinet.

Minnie was really “NOT” impressed with totally re-arranging her kitchen either…the carpenters left for the day and she came out of hiding to see what was going on…see how amazed she looks:)

Here is Mom’s steel GE kitchen in the shop now…and in this picture, T and I are making Norwegian Lefse…also known as potato cakes. Yummy and very good:)

We have a ways to go but before we know it, the house will be done:) I can plant my flowers…Wild Bill can sleep better again…and Minnie will be happy having her house back in order:)

Until then…she is staying on the coffee table keeping an eye on me:)

Humph…

Blue skies smiling at me
Nothing but blue skies do I see
Bluebirds singing a song
Nothing but bluebirds all day long…Nothing but blue skies from now on:)

Our Barn Cats Pat And Jack…Are The Lions Of Our Barn And Hearts!

29 Feb 2012 16 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Animals, Barn Cats, Cats, Life, Photography Tags: , , , , ,

Our barn cats Pat and Jack…are the lions of our barn and of our hearts!

Bobtail Jack was born with a bobtail…while Pat came with a tail option…yet 100% brothers.  Fluffy golden balls of ferocious kit cat…rock solid under their fluffy hair as they work out to” Bob and Jillian’s” work out routine!

With top of the line cat condos upstairs in the barn and heated automatic waterers downstairs…a continuous supply of kitty food and love…this is premium first class ta-ta living kit cat style of the Rich and Famous Cats!

 Both NTO (No Tail Option) and TOI (Tail Option Included)  have managed to kill the mouse community in the huge old barn…thank goodness! I hate seeing something dark and moving quickly in a corner or under my feet…Eeewwwwwww…with a shriek on the end…Fanny Annie agrees.

Can you see the small cut out hole in the door frame on the right…WB cut kitty doors into the outside doors so they can come and go through the outside and the inside doors. No coyote or dog can venture into the barn unless they want to die and go to heaven.

Both cats used to get into fights with each other as they had not been altered yet and often it sounded like the barn was possessed!!! They would scream at each other and growl LOUDLY. It would be hysterically funny if you were outside talking to someone who did not know they were in the barn and the screaming escalated…the person talking to you would stop and look at the barn and ask you what is going on in there? WB and I would get a huge snicker out of that…we country folks is weird when it comes to playing jokes on each other or someone else:)

Jack is the shy one and the biggest one by a smidgen.

Pat is taking time to give me a kitty pose. They both have pretty green eyes…go ahead and make their day!

I leave you with “Mary Ann Kennedy’s” song “Barn Cats”…I love her music…true heart of the western spirit…look her up…I have all of her CD’s:)

“Barn Cats By Mary Ann Kennedy”

I”m a barn cat, not an alley cat

Or a house cat, I don’t sit on laps

I got a real job…I catch mice

It’s a tough life…I”m a barn cat

Meow this is my territory

Bow wows…look out

I got sharp claws

And a king size bed made out of straw

I’m so glad, I’m a barn cat

I got a feed room, and a tack room

And 4 stalls I stalk em all

Don’t need a litter box, I got a round pen

60′ of sand…I’m a barn cat

Have a great Wednesday!

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