Harvest | Hot Rod Cowgirl

Country Life…Silence Of Time…It’s Time To Write!

20 Apr 2013 10 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Gratitude, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscapes, Photography Tags: Clouds, Harvest, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Juniper T Ranch, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, Photography, sound of silence, Sunset, Traditions, Weather, Wild Bill, Winter, Writing

Country life brings times of a silent hush across the land…I call it a Godly hush…a revered silence that softly fills your heart with the solitude of peace. It fills the air around you with the sounds of nothingness…memories drift back into my thoughts and I pick up my pen and write, hearing the old times and the memories playing in my head as the golden words begin to fall onto my paper from my pen.

Tonight as I lay my head down on my pillow and close my eyes, quietly reflecting my day…I hear the sound of nothing but stillness and a peace of holy silence fills my heart with peaceful rest…memories of life past and memories of life to come. And then the ultimate gift…rain drops began softly falling…on this century old farm house…falling on the same roof that has covered me all my life…a serene serenade of silence begins to play…as I close my eyes and let my ears hear…the words in my heart begin to paint a picture in my mind as my vision flows freely. Nothing can take the place of silence and the stillness of life…only silence…if the rain was not falling tonight, my windows would be open and I would hear a different sound of silence filled with the crescendos of crickets and the soft ribbet croaking of the occasional frog….or I would hear the soft knicker/sigh of my horses as they shift their weight on a quiet country night.

With all the crazy noise we have today…radios blaring satellite stations from all over 24/7, news, sports, music, church, talk shows…smart phones and dumb phones…trucks and cars with airplanes overhead and TV’s hooked to satellite stations with anything and everything…noise pollution has gotten out of hand. I love going to the big city to shop for clothes and fun stuff…to experience culture and the life of the city spinning fast…seeing a musical or a play but after a week or so let me come home to solitude…silence…rest.

The silence and the quiet glory of my world through the seasons begins with the first snow falling in a hushed silence, falling on all creation, both man and animal, with a holy pristine beauty full of God’s grace on the landscape. The sounds of life are muffled as the white flakes fall silently, beautiful with glistening sparkles as they cleanse the landscape with purity, peace and holiness…silence becomes a very different silence when it snows here…I do not know how to describe it for sure…but life stops…the world stops…no cars drive by…it is a holy silence filled with incredible quietness.

Spring months Spring upon us…we often have soft gentle showers to water the crops, my horse pastures and our yard etc. Everything turns from dried up dead weeds and landscape to a beautiful carpet of green…with all the different hues of colors! I love sitting up on the hill behind our house gazing out at the vast emptiness of the land and the ever so quiet gentle kiss of a breeze stirs the grasses and the trees…I am the only one who can hear it as I am alone up there…and it truly is beautiful to hear. New life is everywhere…the birds come back…I hear my turtle-doves every day and night…the robins are hopping around my yard looking for worms and bugs…quail families are nesting and raising their babies and we see deer out and about too and the sage brush begins to bloom along with everything else…all in the silence of miracles and holiness.

I love early summer evenings as you begin to smell the heads of wheat drying and it smells wonderful! Knowing that we planted a tiny seed last fall to grow wheat and now the first of June it has quietly grown, filling out the heads with kernels of wheat…slowly the colors begin to change from green to a soft golden-yellow. Harvest begins and once again the sounds of silence change somewhat as all the farmers now use big semi’s to haul their wheat from the field to either the elevator or down to the Columbia River loading it on a barge to feed the world. Still if you go out in the field and listen quietly you can hear the history of your family harvesting from the days of old.

And then by mid August or so the sounds of silence begin to change…the crickets sound different and the air feels caught between summer heat and cooler fall days. There is always a grief in my heart as the seasons go so quickly. I love each season and each year. Life brings good stuff if you look for it…and yeah I know it also can bring horrible stuff…bad stuff…hard stuff…but we take steps of faith and strength from God above…and we keep on a going.

I have weathered
Colder winters; Longer summers
Without a drop of rain
Push me in a corner
And I’ll come out fighting
I may lose but I ‘ll always keep my faith

Cause I’m country strong
Hard to break
Like the ground I grew up on
You may fool me
And I’ll fall
But I won’t stay down long
Cause I’m country strong

Seasons Of Weather On The Land And Spring Fun!

13 Mar 2013 21 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Storms, Sunset, Weather Tags: Clouds, Custom Cars, Harvest, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Minnie, Photography, Sunrise, Sunset, Traditions, Weather, Wild Bill, Winter, Writing

Seasons of weather on the land and the hints of spring fun are coming! I love this time of year, as over the years of living my life on the land, I have gained the understanding of faith, hard work and the importance of being a good steward of the land.

I notice the seasons more vividly as you depend on them for the health of the land and often you are outside in the elements of weather everyday. Maybe it’s driving to your job 30 miles away in town or maybe you are blessed instead to be out on top of the hills gathering cattle…or farming round and round on a tractor.

Being in the middle of nature’s elements, you feel the weather on your face with each passing storm, while watching the seasons slowly change.

From long winter days cloaked in gray fog as you wait and hope for a good wheat crop, growing under the obscure ashen gloom that covers the land from your sight.

Finally the first breath of spring air comes, blowing off winter’s gray coat, revealing your hard work…your faith has been rewarded, with a beautiful green wheat crop underneath…

The miracle of life, with that one tiny seed of grain the farmer plants in faith, months before…has grown into a harvest bushel full of wheat.

Which also means with the changing seasons I will be doing the part that makes me Hot Rod

Cowgirl…and yes I love the cool cars my hubby WB builds:)

But, I will always be a cowgirl through and through that loves my horses and the life of a cowgirl…I do admit it is fun to drive the ba-bump-a-boom sounding cars WB builds, with the deep throaty sound of horsepower and a healthy cam:)

Seasons are a changing…March can be crazy and wild!

Minnie will be putting away her “Cat Operas” for the year as she will instead be watching out the windows and smelling smells through the screens of spring and then summer…already we have the nightly serenade sounds of crickets in the creek close to the house and lots of robins, doves, quail and various colored birds are flying about to her enjoyment:)

Hang on…as soon…

Faster than a speeding bullet…

Blasting off like a rocket! No silly…not the jet above…

“Its Lola!” She’s out of winter hibernation and on the road again:):):)

Lola’s my speeding bullet…”Lola’s my baby:)”

“Classic…Fast…Built From Days Of Old…” When they still knew how to build real cars…out of steel and real leather interiors and actual horsepower:)

Beautiful skies above and our little red car below…

Lola! La La La Lola…Love you Lola!

Springs a coming….sooooon:)

Hang on here we go!

As reported from “The Life Of Hot Rod Cowgirl living in the Wild West!!!”

God Bless The Red, White And Blue!

12 Nov 2012 20 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in God Bless America, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, United States Tags: Clouds, God Bless America, Harvest, Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, One Nation Under God, Photography, pledge of allegiance, Sunrise, Sunset, The Pendleton Round Up, United States, Wild Bill

God Bless The Red, White And Blue…As we salute our veterans, we thank the brave men and women who fought for our country, our freedom and our security.

Many gave their lives for our life and for America, may God Bless each one of them and their families.

Growing up through out my school years, each morning of school the first thing we did was say “The Pledge Of Allegiance”, while placing our right hand over our heart.

Please join with me below in reciting together “The Pledge Of Allegiance Of America.” Beside each of the verses is the meaning and definition of what it means.

“I pledge allegiance” (I promise to be true)

“to the flag” (to the symbol of our country)

“of the United States of America” (each state that has joined to make our country)

“and to the Republic” (a republic is a country where the people choose others to make laws for them — the government is “of, by and for” the people)

“for which it stands,” (the flag means the country)

“one nation” (a single country)

“under God,” (the people believe in a supreme being)

“indivisible,” (the country cannot be split into parts)

“with Liberty and Justice” (with freedom and fairness)

“for all.” (for each person in the country…you and me!)

God Bless The Red, White and Blue!

God Bless The United States Of America!

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: Animals, Award, Cat, Cats, Clouds, Family, Harvest, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Kitty, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Minnie, Minnie Mouse, Photography, Sunrise, You Make Me Shine

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:)

Heritage And Home Speaks Softly To My Heart…

01 Aug 2012 20 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Harvest, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscapes, Lifestyles, Photography Tags: Family, Harvest, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Photography, Stories, Writing

As I was standing this evening on my front porch…

Looking out at the same view I have looked at all my life…I was filled with a grateful heart that was full of honor for my parents and for my ancestors that came before me. I am so incredibly blessed to live where I grew up…where my family has lived forever, as my Great Grandmother would have stood on the same front porch looking out at the same view…as did my Mom.

To me that says a lot about living your heritage and breathing it in every day.

I live in my forever home…this is me when I was 3 or 4…it was taken on a snowy Christmas Eve as my folks and I were getting ready to join Grandmother T and all of Dad’s brothers and sisters with their families. I loved the family get togethers…I had lots of cousins my age and it was always fun!

And here is my beautiful Mom…she was such a lady…full of style and grace but mostly lots of love:) She would make homemade cut out cookies every Christmas and would take about 200 of them to the family get together as all us kids loved them! She iced them and decorated them…they were delights! I still have the cut outs…and guess what…she found a cut out of a horse so I could have horse shaped cookies too:)

And this is the front porch today…where I often stand to watch the weather or sit on the porch swing to cool off after a hot day…or watch the horses play in the pasture. It has always been front and center in the life of this house as when you want to see what in the world is going on outside…you go to the front porch. Right now it looks a bit bare as we moved all the furniture off the patio including the porch swing…and my pots of flowers as we are working yet on the patio as it needs some TLC.

Several years ago now I had the opportunity to travel to the Middle East with my sister in law…it was a gift of time for me to see another part of the world.

The above picture is of Jerusalem…we spent almost a week there touring the Old City as well as all the historic sites…it touched my heart and spirit deeply.

This photo was taken at the “Wailing Wall” in the Old City of Jerusalem, I am in the blue skirt and black t-shirt.

We were gone for three weeks and the night my plane touched down in Portland I was thankful to be almost home again…we saw many incredible sites in Israel and Jordan…Syria and Turkey…but the best site that I saw, was in NY at JFK Airport, it was a Burger King!!! Humus, strange meat and weird veggies did not cut it at all…I lost 20 pounds due to not eating unsafe veggies and meat…so an American Hamburger was “Manna” from heaven for this American Cowgirl:)

The first morning I was home I stood on the front porch and thanked God that He chose for me to live right here…where I have lived forever…and not in Syria or Jordan or Turkey or Israel…but here in Juniper Canyon:)

God blessed me with my parents and blessed my parents with me…they had waited a long time for me to finally make an apperence…I was their little cowgirl as I grew up and still a cowgirl today, we had lots of good times together and good memories…and then God directed my path to meet Wild Bill and we made a family together of our own…God was determined that we would meet…we came close to meeting many times when we were growing up!

What a blessing it has been to live here in the same old house my parents and I lived in with Wild Bill…we have made lots of good memories here…where my family lived before me…leaving me lots of heritage, traditions, hopes and dreams…mostly though they left their love for us.

Often when I stand on the front porch or saddle up my horse to go out riding into the country or be in the kitchen cooking dinner I will smile and laugh as God brings back some good memories of my folks and I when I was growing up…good memories of Wild Bill and my folks…and our family. Living in a forever house does that…it brings back comforting memories, sounds, smells and love.

I look out the same window that my Great Grandmother looked out of and the same view that my Mom looked out at…now it is my view of life today…but for some reason I would rather view life the way it was…being an only child I know that all the heritage and memories will be lost with me, part of my wanting to view both the past and future is to write all the history down.

I can close my eyes and imagine what my Great Grandma saw and felt…I can hear the sounds of horses and mules with the noise of harnesses…men talking about how many acres that can be done today in the heat…or maybe she was baking homemade bread and pies…or Norweigian potato cakes…maybe not simpler times but they did things the old-fashioned way…and created family times…working together on the land…with hearts full of heritage and hard work for the future of their families.

This photograph would have been in the late 1940’s or early 1950’s…pull combines pulled by tractors without cabs or air conditioning…no CB’s or communication…you had to watch the machines in order to tell where a combine was in the field…sometimes the pull combine would be down in a canyon so you could not see it…but if you listen and watch for a puff of smoke from the Caterpillar tractor pulling the machine up a hill, then you knew…truck drivers always sat on top of the hill in the field, trying to figure out where they were needed. Today’s truck drivers have the luxury of radio or cell phones…and they know where they are needed.

In todays techno world…combines are outfitted with a GPS, that can program the machine to drive themselves…and the driver does not have to drive it as the combine is satellite guided. We have come a long ways baby!

Farming has gotten as high-tech as my office is high tech…smart phones…satellites…gps…computers and all the incredible bells and whistles.

Todays equipment does not compare to yesterday’s equipment…today they have 40′ headers that flex in the center, with their own wheels to help drive and turn them.

This is a Gleaner combine with the 40′ header…you can go with a 42′ or a 45′ header as well.

The smaller John Deere combine next to today’s machine is a 1955 model…no cab and a 10′ header compared to the 40′ header…it held 40 bushels of wheat while todays model holds 400 bushels of wheat…when I was driving truck we had one of the JD 55’s and my uncles always used it to open up fields and draws or canyons…I can not imagine the 40′ header today…WOW!

Harvest has changed a lot since my Grandfather homesteaded the land out here…often I wonder what he would say today if he saw the equipment and how much our way of life has changed.

Back when WB and I farmed the land, the machines we had were considered the art of technology…20′ headers and a bulker that held 120 bushels of wheat. Here the combine is leaning as it is using the automatic leveling to unload the wheat into the back of the truck.

The first summer I drove wheat truck, I was 15. Our harvest started June 25th on the winter cattle ranch…if all went well with good weather and no huge equipment breakdowns, we were lucky to be done by my birthday in late August. We had a total of about 5000 acres to cut…we ran four pull combines with tractors and two open cab combines that at the time we called pushers as they were the first of the machines you see today. Harvest took a long time as the machinery moved slower and the headers were small…as were the wheat trucks. My little truck held 2.5 dumps from the combines and I would be off to the elevator to dump it…my truck had a hoist which means I would stay in the cab of the truck and would activate the hoist which would lift my truck bed up into the air at an angle so that the wheat would dump out the back of the truck, falling into the grate on the elevator floor, going into the elevator bin below, where it would be stored until we sold it. Today, the old cab of my truck sits out in one of our fields behind the house…someday I hope that we can restore it…I loved that old truck!

As the world of farming evolves each year with new farming practices, along with equipment that has all the bells and whistles…I am blessed to have the old memories of farming during a different time when life was a bit slower and time seemed to stand still…and with the old stories that were passed on to me about my Grandfather coming to America when he was 13 years old…eventually homesteading 10,000 acres.

My imagination carries me back in time when he was here farming and my Great Grandmother was seeing a whole new world as she stood on the front porch watching her son farm…I am reminded of the past and how hard my ancestors fought for this land, working long hours and days to leave a lasting legacy that today blesses my life.

I was born country right here where I live today…with a 100 years of down home, filled with rural heritage and hard honest work…I was born country and this country is what I love!

Born Country

By Alabama

Clear creeks and cool mountain mornings

Honest work out in the fields

Cornbread in my momma’s kitchen

Daddy saying grace before the meal

Family ties run deep in this land

And I’m never far from what I am

I was born country and that’s what I’ll be

Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free

I got a hundred years of down home, running through my blood!

I was born country and this country’s what I love

Moonlight and you hear beside me

Cricket’s serenadin’ in the yard

What more could two people ask for

Laying here in love beneath the stars

Now this is where I wanna raise my kids

Just the way my mom and daddy did

I was born country and that’s what I’ll always be

Like the rivers and the woodlands wild and free

I got a hundred years of down home, running through my blood

I was born country and this country’s what I love

I was born country

And I will always be that same country cowgirl, farm girl…this is what it is all about. Traditions, family heritage and the incredible land and soil of the ranch. I thank God for His blessings and His incredible beautiful land and scenery…His animals and His world:) For harvest time and the blessings of those who went before us and those who someday will follow in our footsteps after us.

In remembrance of Donna Goff…she was a great lady and a good friend.

The Mighty Columbia River Gorge Of Oregon…Round Two!

23 Jul 2012 18 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Ranch Life, Weather, Wild Bill Tags: Clouds, Family, Harvest, Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Minnie, Minnie Mouse, Odd beauty, Photography, Sunset, Weather, Wild Bill

As side note…if you click on my photos they will enlarge so you can see them better if you choose.

Last weekend we attended our niece’s wedding in the small town of Carson, WA.

This was our view out the window in our very classy hotel room…we loved seeing the green trees and the mountains cloaked with weather…and hey…there is the Columbia River!

We stayed at Skamania Lodge…in Stevenson, WA. I highly recommend it…they have spa services and excellent restaurants for small snacks, as well as nice dinners or maybe just a relaxing sandwich at noon…we missed out on their Sunday Brunch which is famous for the food and atmosphere…next time WB. They offer a golf course, swimming and lots of great trails to hike that are mapped out from easy to difficult.

When we walked into our suite and saw the view…we instantly relaxed:)

Looking back across the Columbia River towards Cascade Locks, OR. The bridge you see is called “The Bridge Of The Gods”…it is one of the many bridges that crosses the Columbia River into either Oregon or Washington.

Looking East towards home for us…the Columbia River is a river that you respect as it is wide, deep and fast-moving. We have boated on it lots as our ranch is only about 30 miles from it…being able to make a quick drive to the river during the hot summers always appeals to you…I love boating, as long as the boat is big enough to ride out the waves with a V-Hull!

It was truly beautiful to see our niece look so very happy…you know without a doubt they are soul mates…like WB and me:)

Before we knew it, time passed quickly and it was time to head home. We decided to travel home on the Washington side of the river until The Dalles, where we crossed another bridge to reach the I-84 freeway…seeing the river from both sides is worth it, as the views on each side are vastly different.

We had quite a bit of wind on the way home and look who is out on the river…the windsurfers…they pray for windy days like this!

They fly across the river with the wind…they are true athletes and fun to watch…often we see 100’s of them on our trips down the Gorge to Portland.

I am enjoying the view but, I would not care to be on the water with the white caps…as you can see the wind is blowing pretty good…and about perfect for the windsurfers!

I was standing down there on the concrete deck when WB took my picture.

Looking West…pretty view huh?

One more view of the Gorge Wind and my flaming red hair!!! What a great hair styling job…ala natural…which I love anyway:)

Another stop for photos…we are getting closer to The Dalles and home…

The closer we travel to our neck of the woods…the Columbia Basin of Eastern Oregon…Cowboy Country…Let Er’ Buck…Yee-Haw…the less trees and green. Western Oregon receives several inches of rain a year, where we usually have around 9-10″ a year…we are on the dry side of Oregon.

Crossing back over the Columbia at The Dalles Damn…tried to grab a quick shot of the spillway…could not talk WB into stopping in the middle of the bridge so I could take pictures…geesh…he said something about cops and mumble mumble…hmmm?

And then we drove on another 100 miles into Eastern Oregon…to our home…to the North Country of Juniper Canyon…into wheat country:)

As far as you can see wheat fields…that are almost ready for the harvest of 2012!

Once we were home we had lots of petting and loves for all our animals, as they missed us…our dogs are so protective of us but so sweet to us too:)

And our horses came over to see us as soon as we pulled in the driveway…it is funny that they know the car…

And the real “Boss!” I know she missed us….right?

“Minnie….I missed you!”

Minnie said back to me “Oh sure…what am I chopped liver? Going to see the dogs first…hurumph!”

And then she took pity on me as I love her very much…”Well ok…just this once I will forgive you about the dang dogs!”

“But do not let it happen again Mom…”

“Ok already Mom….I am so glad you are home:)” Me too Kitty Girl…my Min-Min Kitty Angel:)

We had only been home for a short time when the incredible clouds rolled in for a rock and roll thunder storm…

The summer of 2012 has gone down in history with different weather and clouds such as these…

Reminds me of Wyoming weather and not Eastern Oregon where for the most part we have mild weather…with four seasons.

It keeps it interesting and keeps me grabbing my camera trying to capture the strange weather…how about you…is your weather odd this year too or is it just here that it is a bit crazy?

Hope you have a great week! Enjoy your summer with warm days and magical nights! Find time to relax and take it all in as summer will be gone before we know it!

Harvest Traditions and Family Heritage In Juniper Canyon

08 Jul 2012 77 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscapes, Lifestyles, Photography Tags: Family, Farm Families, Harvest, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Juniper T Ranch, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Photography, Sunset, Traditions, Wheat, Wild Bill

The smell of the wheat is in the air tonight…that smell speaks to my heart and soul:) It is a smell you never forget…much like a cattle truck pulling up to the barn or corrals to load out cattle or deliver cattle…I can hear the trucks as I write…familiar sounds…smells…memories that bring comfort as…

Times past speak softly to me of heritage and family…traditions and hard work.

My heart can hear the sounds of my families history…the sounds of the horses pulling the combine…with the men it took to run it…dry dusty hot days for man and animal alike.

Before the farmer had a truck to haul the wheat into the elevator he had men who would sew the sacks of wheat shut…can you imagine harvesting thousands of acres and having to put the kernels into gunny sacks and then sew them shut…then you loaded your wagon and went to the elevator to unload the sacks of wheat…often driving your team of horses with the wagon several miles to reach the elevator.

My Dad remembered having to take the wagon loaded with sacks of wheat to Vansycle Elevator which is 8 miles away…16 miles round trip…he said it would take the day to take one wagon and the horses or mules would be exhausted when you reached home…all of Grandpa’s horses and mules were very well cared for and loved…they had to do their job but they were cared for. Dad used to come here to the barn (our barn is older than our house) and ride some of the work horses bareback…he spoke often of the various ones he remembered…Grandpa kept around 80 head.

Today we have semi trucks with double trailers hauling wheat out of Juniper Canyon…night and day.

Heading on down the road to the Columbia River…

Where the kernels of Juniper Wheat are loaded onto a barge…and they begin the journey to feed the world:)

Self leveling combines…hillside machines…can you see how the combine is leaning a bit…it is leveling itself.

This photo is better so that you can see how the combine keeps itself level rather than leaning…I heard that most farmers do not buy the combines with the automatic levelers anymore due to the price…

Wild Bill is showing how the leveler works as he is touching the spout. I could not imagine not having the machine level as we have some really steep hillsides!

Here is an older picture of the land when we farmed it…sorry this is a scanned image before digital…the house complex is our home and the green fields are the wheat crop of that year…see the road over in the dirt?

That is WB’s air strip for his plane…looks cool sitting in the wheat…actually it is on the strip.

Tucker is hiding in the grass…she follows me everywhere keeping an eye on me:)

Soon farm families will once again put in long days to bring the wheat crop in…as has been done for over a 150 years.

150 years of country strong…we dig deep when it comes to toughing it out.

And if the going gets tough…the tough get tougher:)

No matter how hard!

Harvest is a time of hard-working families working together for the same reason…the goal to get the crop in…harvest is like gathering cattle with my Dad in the mountains…we shared our work effort together to round-up the cows and that is what makes memories and heritage!

It is the working together and sacrificing…and harvest time is a sacrifice…husbands leave the house before sun up and come home when it is dark…often putting in 18 plus hour days in the heat of harvest.

I grew up driving wheat truck through my high school years with my other cousins…then after WB and I married, my Mom taught me (no this picture is not of Mom and me…more like my Grandma and Great Grandmother) the tradition of cooking a large lunch for our men and the crew. While it was a lot of work to cook a huge meal by 1:00 each day it was my family…I came to enjoy hearing about what had happened in the field and then all the joking and funny times too…I felt very much part of the harvest crew and was always sad when they finished the fields around our ranch moving on to the fields around my Aunt and Uncles homes.

Food was in abundance when the crew came in for their hour lunch break…we had home cooked meals with meat, potatoes, gravy, salad, vegetables and desert…and home made ice tea…no not sun tea or tea made by a tea maker…real deal tea!

Here is the recipe:

Get a small sauce pan and fill with cold water…buy Lipton Black Tea…loose leaves….put 2-3 heaping tablespoons in the pan and boil…then cool it and strain out the leaves…dump the tea water into a gallon jug and fill with ice-cold water and ice and you have real ice tea…all the good caffeine and antioxidents…and so refreshing!

Harvest skies and harvest heritage…have a good night wherever you are! HRC has her eye on the land…will post new pictures as soon as harvest begins….stay tuned…I keep hearing the song Country Strong going through my head…in fact I am going to go listen to it now!

Country Strong

I know you see me, like some wide-eyed dreamer
That just rolled in, off a dusty Midwest bus
Yeah on the outside, Hallowed fragile
But on the inside something you can’t crush

I’m Country Strong, hard to break
Like the ground, I grew upon
You may fool me, and I’ll fall
But I won’t stay down long
‘cause I’m Country Strong

I have weathered, colder winters
And longer summers, without a drop of rain
Push me in a corner and I’ll come out fightin’
I may lose but I’ll always keep my face

‘Cause I’m Country Strong, hard to break
Like the ground, I grew upon,
You may fool me, and I’ll fall
But I won’t stay down long,
‘cause I’m Country Strong

It’s Tawanda Day! Tawannnnda!!!!!!

05 May 2012 44 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Landscapes, Photography, Storms Tags: Clouds, Harvest, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Juniper T Ranch, Landscape, landscape views, Life, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, Photography, Sunset, Weather

Do you remember the movie “Fried Green Tomatoes”? I loved that movie…and Tawanda! So every once in a while it is Tawanda Day here…why…because it represents a sense of freedom and complete silliness!!! Which I personally need and love…we all do. In our busy crazy lives, wherever we live, we need to remind ourselves to take time out of each day and dance…laugh…let your hair down…be you…and just do it:) Tawaaannnnndaaaa!!! Yee-Haw!!!

We had rain this morning…with this amazing ground rainbow….I have never seen a ground rainbow…it was quite curious to me.

At noon we had a small break and now the clouds are definitely building…looking a bit ominous too.

A FEW THUNDERSTORMS WILL MOVE ACROSS THE FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. SOME OF THE STRONGER STORMS WILL

PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH…HAIL…AND HEAVY RAIN.

Well that does not sound fun!

I need to go check on my girls…Melody and Annie…they have been at the real barn since we began moving their portable stalls across the road…I miss seeing them out my window…the barn actually is very nice with quality stalls etc. for them but they miss me too…that is why we bought the portable stalls so they could be closer to the house.

So because it is a Tawanda Day…I had Wild Bill take me for a drive last evening to grab some shots of our landscape…I wanted to shoot the Canola now while it is yet blooming as in a few days it will drop the blooms…right now it is a vibrant yellow…this is for you:)

I loved taking these shots…could not stop as it was beautiful with the colors, the clouds, the light…it was magic time!

This is above our house…yes we can see into forever here…we live in a beautiful pristine land…most of the families that live here are like us…our ancestors came to America over 100 years ago to settle the land…to farm and begin a new life to pass on to their families and they did. Now we are the caretakers of the land and we all seek to do it right.

The view behind me….

And to my right…back towards the Blue Mountains…the carpet of green is this years wheat crop growing.

Incredible huh…golden clouds above a golden-yellow field of Canola.

This particular field has lots of memories for me…it is up the road from our house and joins our land…my cousins farm it. I ride my horses on it when there is stubble or no crop for the year…I love it as it has lots of hills and draws to explore. When I drove wheat truck in it…well it was never boring…very steep hills and draws to climb with one long 45 degree hill that lifts the back wheels on a self leveling hillside combine off the ground!

One year when Wild Bill was driving combine, I rode with him for a day sitting on a bean bag pillow on the floor, my back was against the glass and my view was either looking at WB or looking at the back wheels of the combine. As we came down the steep hill, I saw the back wheels lift off the ground…the only thing that kept us from rolling was the header! Of course my cousins and WB thought it was so dang funny as I was pretty wide eyed…no make that hysterical…oh wow what a ride…yeah!

Back to the Canola…this is how your Canola Oil becomes oil…next time when you look at your oil…think of this incredible yellow field…the seeds are there in the head of the flower. After the blooms fall off, the stem dries out, then the farmer pushes it over and harvests the seeds.

And this is what makes “Hot Rod Cowgirl” get excited with her camera!

The ever changing light, the colors, the landscape…beautiful and incredible:)

Country clouds and….

Wide open spaces…perfecto!!!!

Annnd…HRCG is on the move!!!!

Have a great weekend!!!! Taawwwaannndaaa!!!

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: Harvest, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Juniper T Ranch

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….

Wild August Storm In Juniper Canyon

29 Aug 2011 4 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Harvest, Photography, Storms Tags: Harvest, Hot Rod Cowgirl

Wild August storm in Juniper Canyon was incredible to see and be a part of. Harvest was late but once it started it was over quickly and now we are headed into fall. It is hot here today…almost 100…however the light has changed from bright summer light to a softer light. I knew a storm was building but had no idea what I would see or experience…thankfully I was home and had my camera ready…hope you enjoy the pictures! They open large if you click them and may take time to download as I wanted to leave them in a size that you could appreciate and experience the storm and colors as I did…it is worth the wait:)