Landscape | Hot Rod Cowgirl

The Tale Of A Wyoming Buffalo On Top Of Pinon Ridge…

16 Dec 2013 14 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Wild Bill, Wyoming Tags: Green River Lake, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Lifestyles, Photography, Upper Green River, Weather, Wild Bill, Writing, Wyoming

The tale of a Wyoming Buffalo, up on top of Pinon Ridge is one of those stories you live for and live to tell. I know it’s long but it’s worth it! Many of the photos that I have are not digital so the quality is not great…but the heart is:) Most of the photos will enlarge if you click on them…I added several landscape photos with incredible views so you can see the Wyoming I knew and loved…

I was not ready to pose for a picture when WB snapped this…looks like I am saying huh? He took this photo of me with my hair blowing to show the Wyoming Noon Express also known as the Wild Wyoming Wind! I had hurricane strings on all my hats when I was riding my horse or out and about…so hang on tight as here we go…with the tale of a Wyoming Buffalo up on Pinon Ridge.

It was barely daylight that late July morning when I unloaded my partner out of the horsetrailer, Lottie was big eyed as she looked around taking it all in, this was her third ride with me up Pinon. She had been in Wyoming about six weeks…the first month she was corralled until she was acclimated to the altitude. Then we took many slow and easy rides to build her stamina and overall health…she was doing great and she loved gathering cows!

We planned to meet where the Green River begins at the base of Square Top Mountain and Green River Lake (above) with our fellow cattle ranchers and neighbors to gather cattle for the twelve ranches we represented.

The ranches we rode with belonged to the Green River Drift or the Upper Green River Cattleman’s Grazing Association. A grazing association is a group of cattle ranchers who have permits to graze their cattle on public land for the summer months. Each ranch provides a cowboy for the summer to stay with the cattle once they reached the high country. The cowboys check the cattle daily, looking for illness or injury etc. and on this particular morning, we were meeting up with the cowboys to move the cattle to higher pastures up behind Yellowstone Park.

I tightened up the cinch and checked my gear out, while WB was saddling his horse next to me and doing the same. Lightning was dancing and flashing all around us as the thunder cracked overhead, playing crescendo after crescendo with ba-booms that drummed into a “Wild Wyoming Rumba In The Sky!”

I looked forward to the day as WB was able to ride with me gathering cows, however when your hubby is the ranch manager/foreman things can happen…one of our bosses arrived with several Argentina kids that were visiting the US to play polo at his ranch, in Jackson Hole. I looked at WB and then we both looked at Bob, who was the elder cowboy on our outfit, and before I could ask him, he looked at me and said “GO, get gone girl and get going…hurry up go, before you get stuck here, and miss out on riding and gathering!” I took his advice quickly as Lottie and I trotted off to join the group…I didn’t know our neighbors that well yet but Lottie and I caught up with them and we were off for a new adventure, new scenery, incredible scary weather and treasured memories of living on a cattle ranch in Wyoming, at the base of the Continental Divide!

Lottie and I, heading out to check cows here in Oregon on our mountain ranch…she was an amazing horse…so pretty and smart…calm, dependable and laid back but give her a cue and hang on as she moved like a cat when it came to cutting cows. My Dad would get so tickled and laugh at her as she would be in the pasture moving cows by herself so she could cut them out of “her” herd!

Wild Bill watched as our group rode up Pinon, climbing around 1500′, with lightning strikes all around us, it was something else to see! He saw jagged strikes hit the ground starting several small fires…about the time he was ready to call attention to it, the falling snow put out the fires as fast as the fire had begun. As we pushed on, the snow began coming down harder with a slight breeze that was blowing snow in my face…I pulled my Wild Rag up higher to cover my face up to my eyes, and pulled my cowboy hat down. I could not see the perimeter around me, due to the intensity of the snow, I could only see the cattle in front of me and Lottie’s ears.

I didn’t know the lay of the land or where we were going, I figured the cows would know where to go as they had summered here before so we stayed with the cows as we disappeared into the clouds of brilliant white lightning and snow, with rumbling cracks of thunder that boomed above us. WB and Bob took the Argentina group for a trail ride away from us so they would not accidentally spook the cattle we were gathering. Fortunately they were low enough that the storm and blizzard missed them, they had a little rain but not much.

We kept on climbing with our heads down and eyes squinting, gathering and pushing cows as we climbed higher. I continued to look both right and left for my neighbors…all I saw was a very serious snow storm with lightning strikes way to close!

This photo was taken earlier in June, it is about a quarter of the way up Pinon…looking back at Square Top and Green River Lake and the Green River flowing below…the country in Wyoming was HUGE! Amazingly huge!

The further we climbed, the harder it stormed and boomed! I found myself in a surreal world with near white out conditions, in the middle of summer…the end of July no doubt…while back home in Eastern Oregon my family was in wheat harvest and it was 105 degrees!

It was a total mind trip as I wondered if I had ridden into a parallel universe or something? I kept moving cows, hoping to break over the top.

Thankfully we rode into a lush green meadows up behind Yellowstone Park, the sun came out, the clouds parted and disappeared…just like that, we were out of the storm and my neighbors were either there or right behind me! Lottie and I sat looking at the incredible scenery and the cows we gathered…we had gathered a large bunch despite the storm. It was about 10:30 in the morning as we all sat on our horses drying out, basking in the warm sunshine while we watched the herd. One of my neighbors rode over to introduce himself and talk a bit and dry out…and then he said to me, “Hey look, whats he doing?”

I looked and said “Who and what is he doing?”

My neighbor said, “Hey, yeah…it’s Sam, (who rode for our ranch) and he’s chasing after a buffalo in the herd.”

“WHAT?” I figured it was tease the newbie from Oregon…ha-ha…so I carefully asked him “Oh come on, are you sure its a buffalo?”

“Yep, I’m sure!” He figured it to be a young, maybe 3-4 years old but still sizable…we watched as Sam roped the Buffalo, while a bunch of cowboys and cowgirls gathered around to see what he was doing…and then my neighbor said “Hey, let’s go see what’s up.”

Sam had the Buffalo roped and down. A few cowboys helped him by catching the heels and several cowboys got off their horses to help, as now they had the Buffalo strung out. With the risk of Brucellosis developing, it was felt that the Buffalo had to be castrated to protect the cattle herd. No one said a word…not one word. I sat on Lottie watching the story unfold…wishing I had a camera and something to write on! Silence fell like a veil on us and time was suspended…finally one of the neighbors got off his horse and said “Look, we can’t do this, I’ll come unglued if you do this.”

Without a word, the cowboys dropped their ropes that held the Buffalo down…the Buffalo was a good size and he was mad! I knew what was coming…I asked Lottie to roll back and turn, moving it like “Sue Sally” as we galloped away!

I looked back over my shoulder wishing I had a video camera as it was a “Real Life, Charlie Russell Painting!” Once the Buffalo was free from the ropes, he got up snorting and madder than heck…he began charging towards the horses, and the cowboys yet on the ground. Several horses took off dragging lasso ropes, spooking themselves as well as other horses who by now were bucking and running to get away from the beast while the cowboys were running on foot as fast as they could away from “Psycho Buffalo!” Lottie and I galloped out of there in record time heading for the high country…at 11,500′ how much higher can you go? I didn’t know or care as we ran fast and thankfully escaped the crazy chaos!

About 30 minutes later we all gathered back again in the meadow and rode off the mountain quietly…thinking of our day so far…it was noon and we were headed for home, back down Pinion Ridge on that crazy day the end of July.

About half way down Pinon, one of my neighbors said “You know, I was born and raised here in Wyoming and that storm this morning was the worst one I have ridden through!” I could not believe it! I figured the storm must not be bad as no one said a word, they just buckled down and rode through it like me…ha! We made it through one of the worst storms on the Upper Green…me and Lottie. I miss her, she was my girl and my partner…we were a team and had a great time together in the 20 years I had her. She was a triple bred Leo mare and she was incredible…a deep red sorrel, except for her white blaze on her face, and three white socks. I would love to find another one just like her.

Once I made it to the trailer and my man, Wild Bill, I hopped off Lottie and hurriedly told WB about the Buffalo and he rolled his eyes and hooted on me. He thought I was teasing him so he would not listen to me…I said “No it’s true!” He said “Oh sure, I don’t get to go and you see a Buffalo” and I said “Yes I saw a Buffalo” he said “Yeah right”….so I marched over to my neighbors and said tell ’em….and they did, while they were hooting and laughing at both of us!

The reason for the concern about the Buffalo, was due to disease. Buffalo will breed cattle and they carry a deadly disease that can wipe out your entire herd of cattle called Brucellosis. We called the Fish and Game as soon as we made it home that day…and they dealt with the angry Buffalo up on Pinon Ridge…all on a typical day, gathering cows in Wyoming in one of the most beautiful places on earth!

A few footnotes on Sublette County and the Upper Green River Drift:

We lived in Sublette County which was the least populated county in the United States…Wyoming was the least populated state in the United States and we lived 8 miles from a very small town!

Local ranchers have grazed cattle on public land for more than a century in the Upper Green River Valley. Each spring, cattle are driven north to their pasture allotments and when it gets cold in the fall, the cattle begin to drift off the mountains to head home for the winter. The twice a year cattle drives have become known as the Green River Drift.

Ranchers who are members of the Upper Green River Cattle Association can be found moving herds of cattle south down the Green River Lakes road during the fall months, to the staging area next to Trapper’s Point monument area about 5 miles west of Pinedale. The large groups of cattle are then moved to the cutting grounds where each rancher’s cattle are sorted out by brand into their respective herds, to be driven in smaller cattle drives back to the home ranches. Our ranch where we lived was down on the flat meadow ground that you see as that was my view of Gannet and the Wind Rivers.

In the 1890s, the first cattle associations were formed in the Upper Green River Valley as a result of extremely harsh winters that decimated local cattle herds. The Big Piney Roundup Association was formed in 1890. In 1916, the Upper Green River Cattle and Horse Growers Association was formed. The name was changed to the Upper Green River Cattle Association in 1925. In the 1930s, the association added driveways which allowed them to bypass private land and more easily funnel cattle to desired pasture areas. For more than a hundred years, local ranchers have worked with government entities to manage the range allotments and cattle use with the best management practices possible. The Green River Drift, cutting grounds, and driveways have been a part of the valley’s history for so long now some people have suggested they be considered for historic recognition and designation.

As I close for now, here is where the Green River begins…it flows out of Green River Lake…and begins its winding way to the Colorado River. Square Top mountain is in the background…I often rode above it and could look back and look down to find it as it was so level. Pinon Ridge represents a pivotal ridge due to the three main water ways it represents. Depending on which side the waters flow from rain drops or snow melt, it will either flow to the Columbia River or the Colorado River or the great Mississippi River. Some call it Three Waters Mountain or Ridge…I first heard this the first time I rode up Pinon and it was raining! I loved it!!!

May you all have a blessed week wherever you are! Minnie is having a Mommy and me moment! HRCG over and out…10-4 good buddy!

This is a special mountain: at its summit converge three major watersheds. Every year during the late spring or early summer, a pile of snow at a certain place on this mountain melts into three distinct basins. When water from one basin finally reaches the ocean, it will be well over a thousand miles distant from the mouths of the other two basins. – See more at: http://www.usends.com/Explore/Elevations/3WM/index.html#sthash.0BimcudI.dpuf

Meltwater eventually trickles into Fish Creek, which is a tributary of the Gros Ventre River, which flows into the Snake River, which in turn flows into the Columbia River, which enters the Pacific Ocean near Astoria OR. The far side of Pinon Ridge, however, drains into the Roaring Fork, which flows into the Green River, then the Colorado River, which empties into the Gulf of California, which meets the Pacific Ocean way down somewhere between Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico – some 2000 miles down the coast from Astoria. – See more at: http://www.usends.com/Explore/Elevations/3WM/index.html#sthash.iupIQ4SI.dpuf

Wyo Why Wyoming Oh My Wyoming!

06 Dec 2013 29 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Cattle Ranch, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Wyoming Tags: Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, landscape views, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Photography, WB, Weather, Wild Bill, Wyoming

Wyo Why Wyoming Oh My Wyoming…became our song as we prepared to move to Wyoming to manage a vast cattle ranch of 100,000 acres. As I progress along with different Wyoming stories, I’ll show you my first look at where we were to live on the ranch…thankfully the Continental Divide was right behind the house and that is what I looked at…WB knew the mountains out my door would capture me…and it did for several months as we waited to move into our home.

The photos above and below were taken of my mare Shez Alotta Leo, “Lottie” with “my daily take my breath away view”. Behind her are the Wind River mountains, or the Continental Divide, and Gannett Peak. I could also see the Wyoming Range in front of Lottie and the Sawtooth Range behind the ranch as well…mountains surrounded us with the stunning raw beauty of the landscape wherever we went.

I loved Wyoming…it was a cowgirl’s dream. I never grew tired or bored with watching the mountains and the ever changing scenery of the awe-inspiring Continental Divide. We chased flood irrigation on the meadow that first summer, and could not stop staring at this view…it was incredibly surreal to be so close to such rugged beauty that you often wondered if it was a giant painting…guess now that I think of it, it was a giant painting, designed and painted by God above! Gannett was the highest peak in Wyoming and depending on the light of day it was both majestic and mysterious…what a view we had to look at!

Whether I was washing the dishes looking out my window at the Rockies or on horseback moving cows in various Wyoming weather, the views always took my breath away…I lived with a permanent jaw dropping, breathless “Wow” look on my face.

We lived at 7500′ elevation with beautiful clear skies that were a different color and depth of blue during the daytime, while the nighttime sky was filled with stars and different galaxies and more stars, it was spectacular. Due to the higher elevation of where we lived, we did not have air and dust pollution so the skies day and night were clean, clear and pristine. And Lottie is still coming to see me…her white blaze gives her away!

The small community we lived close to was like going back to the good old days where a man could trust in a handshake as truth and a man’s word was a man’s word. From day one we were welcomed into the community and felt like we had lived there a long time…it was a good fit. The closest movie theatre was 40 miles from us in a huge quonset hut building called “The Flick”…the movies you wanted to see usually arrived about a year after they were hits at the box office.

If Lottie could talk, she would be saying “Where the heck are we and why?” The year before we managed a ranch in Central Oregon and Lottie and I had to worry about rattlesnakes…and from rattlesnake hell we arrived in Wyoming skunk country! We had a crabby black Manx named Kalamazoo who was around 14 years old and he got out one evening at dusk…I was outside for an hour with a flashlight calling for him…and then I saw him under the house they were remodeling and went closer and all of a sudden I realized it was black like Kalamazoo but…it had a bit of white on him too with a big bushy tail! I took faster than a speeding bullet steps…running back to the house where Zoo had showed up anyway…he did pretty good for being an older kitty and moving all over with us.

Storms in Wyoming, were incredible as they moved in quickly to storm and then they moved out as quickly…there were no cloudy, overcast, gray days. Yes we had wind chills of -40 degrees and wind that usually began around noon with plenty of snow and lots of snow drifts.

This is walking out of our house onto the front porch…typical winter morning…blowing snow, making drifts…and -30 degrees or more.

WB’s heading out to blow the snow off the road in the early morning. I often rode with him on the tractor to see what type of drifts the night or day had conjured up. I wish I had the digital camera that I have now…this was back before digital but close…these photos would likely be our old Cannon…I still have it:)

Our driveway into the ranch was about a mile long with barrow pit ditches on either side of it…often we had white outs from the wind and blowing snow…you could not tell where the road was! After getting stuck a few times trying to find it, we put up stakes painted with orange paint on top.

I took this photo when we were caught half way down our driveway home by a sudden winter storm, it came in fast with wind as well as a blizzard…typical Wyoming weather. WB had blown the driveway out earlier that morning and by 10:30am it had blown shut.

And here we ended up…WB was driving this time and once you get a tiny bit into a rut or in this case, snow that was drifting, its impossible to pull out of it…luckily we were almost home, but with the wind and wind chill factor and the white out conditions you had to be very careful…WB bundled up with everything we had with us, and I was a Nervous Nellie until I saw him coming back in the tractor blowing a trail to pull out our pick up “Red”…remember we name ALL our vehicles:)

Every morning during the winter snow months, WB had to blow open our road coming into the ranch as we had serious overnight snowdrifts that were deep and once again in the late afternoon so our son could get home from school in his Willy’s Jeep. Everyday the son would try to plow through the drifts in 4 wheel drive and get stuck so WB would blow the road open to where he was stuck, chain the Jeep to his tractor, pull the son out of the drift and continue to blow the road open, getting both son and Jeep home while blowing a trail home.

No matter what we had to deal with in Wyoming, it was all good to both WB and me…everyday was an amazing adventure:)

Happy Thanksgiving From Hot Rod Cowgirl!

29 Nov 2013 19 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Gratitude, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Thanksgiving Tags: Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Photography, Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all who read my blog…I hope you had a wonderful day with your family and friends! Thanksgiving is a time to stop and look at the many blessings in our life the last year or even years…it’s a time of gratitude, a time to be thankful for the life we have and the life we live, a memorable time for family and happy times with friends.

I’m going to try something different with this post. My part of the post will be the photography. I will insert photos that fit well with the words from one of my favorite songs. When I was going through breast cancer, this song is the one I sang in my head whenever I went to surgery or saw my oncologist. It has always touched my heart deeply and I hope it does yours too.

Blessed Be Your Name

By Matt Redman

Blessed Be Your Name

In the land that is plentiful

Where your streams of abundance flow

Blessed be Your name

When I’m found in the desert place

Though I walk through the wilderness

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I will turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed be Your glorious name

When the sun’s shining down on me

When the world’s ‘all it should be’

Blessed be Your name

On the road marked with suffering

Though there’s pain in the offering

Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out

I’ll turn back to praise

When the darkness closes in, Lord

Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord

Blessed by Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name!

You give and take away

My heart will choose to say

Lord, blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your glorious name!

By now you should be full of turkey and all the trimmings…trying to make room for desert and more desert! Wishing you a fun weekend shopping, decorating or just hanging out! We are to get snow beginning Sunday…with super cold temps as in 6 degrees at night with a ripping hot daytime temp of 15 degrees!

I have to comment on the flowers. Petunias are not perennials…and as soon as we get winter here they are gone. However the last two summers they have all come back into 6 of my patio barrels…and they came back beautiful! The summer of 2012, we were busy remodeling and the summer of 2013 the weather was colder in June so I was late in planting. By the time I was able to plant new flowers, I had petunias growing back by the bushel in my barrels!

May you be blessed by the joys of the season…HRCG over and out for now but never for long! I am yet working on the awards I was given…hoping to post them soon:)

And I’m off…stay warm and gobble gobble!

Dreams Call Softly…

09 Nov 2013 44 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscapes, Lifestyles, Photography, Uncategorized Tags: Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Life, Lifestyles, Photography

Dreams call softly to my heart as autumn slowly slips by…

I love the colors and the beauty of the land in my simple world! My imagination runs away as I can see and hear two young boys, my Dad and his older brother, riding horses bareback out here…galloping along playing Cowboys and Indians teasing one another back and forth…simple dreams and imaginations of two young boys playing in God’s country.

Often our sunsets are full of fire with licks of flame in the clouds above, double-click on the picture and you will see the flames, and maybe Puff the Magic Dragon…incredible beauty on a typical autumn night.

Dreams are so much a part of us…as children we believe anything is possible, I’m Annie Oakley in this photo:) And yet as we grow up, we often loose the ability to dream as we have been told to grow up and work to earn a living. But we long for our dreams and no I am not talking about a bigger house or a new car, I’m talking about life dreams…the dreams of who we want to be or what we want to do with our life.

Often we can feel the dream but do not know what to do with it…sometimes its right in front of you but you can’t see it or can you? I struggle with that at times as I have many dreams for my life and for my life with WB.

Instead of pursuing our dreams we go with the flow of the life we live, eventually our dreams get pushed to the back of our life…we have too much to do and not enough time to get everything done as it is…so we put off our dreams for a few more months that turn into a few years as time passes by…

What are my dreams? I have several but the biggest dream I have is to write a book of my life and the various chapters I have crammed into a few years time. Mainly I want to write and develop my skill more and just write. I also want to shoot photos and learn how to take the best shots, with the eye and ability to do it automatically…and it’s game on:) I tend to do that now every time I pick up my camera as it fits my hand like a glove:)

My dreams of writing are not to be famous…I want to help others by sharing the wisdom I have learned in my life. I have lived through a zillion circumstances…both hard times and good times with some great stories to tell. I became a family counselor in 1995 and the last few years since I heard of EAGALA, I have been interested in using horses to counsel people, which would meld my love of horses to helping others heal their hearts and would be very cool:) Those are just a few of my dreams…and I have had them for a long time:)

Hang on to your dreams, don’t let life and work crowd in causing you to loose them, keep your dream in your heart and believe that someday it will come true:) I do believe our dreams are God given to give us hope as hope develops perseverance which develops our faith in the things we can not see. The greatest gift we can give to ourselves is to dream, believe and to never give up our hope that yes we can develop those God given dreams, they can come true:)

What is your hope and your dream…no matter how outside of the box?

As I take off for now….I leave you with a verse that has played through my head all day…see if you can figure out what song it goes to?

All the leaves are brown,

And the sky is gray,

I’ve been for a walk,

On a winter’s day.

I’d be safe and warm…

New Beginnings And Speedy Lickety-Split Endings

25 Oct 2013 48 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Family, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography Tags: Clouds, Family, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Juniper T Ranch, Landscape, Life, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, Photography, Traditions, Wild Bill, Writing

New beginnings and speedy lickety-split endings are part of life here as time passes by on planet earth…we have seasons of life much like the earth has weather seasons. There’s a time for everything…a time for hello and a time to say goodbye…a time to seed and plant the crops and a time to harvest in July…a brand new day begins each dawn and the end of day comes as the sun sets each evening. The last few weeks with the end of summer and the beginning of fall, beginnings and endings have been on my mind a lot, as time passes by so quickly…we get busy and forget to focus on the important people in our lives or the important blessings we have, until one day they are gone.

As I dwell on this simple truth, Ecclesiastes: Chapter 3: Verse:1-8, comes to mind as God spoke of a time for everything. I began to see how every part of our life has seasons or beginnings and endings. It’s how God designed life and yet, a new beginning comes and before we know it the ending sneaks up on us…from loosing those we love, to coming home after a week’s vacation, to giving birth, you blink and the baby is grown up with babies of their own…sometimes the ending comes with great pain and grief, while other times it comes with celebration upon college graduation with your diploma in hand…well deserved with true happiness!

I believe that life has a rhythm in all parts of it…a constant beat full of heart and passion with the joyful energy of our soul. Maybe because I love music and love to dance, counting double time or half time with ease, it makes sense to me that God would give rhythm to His earth and to our lives…two steps forward, one step back. The dance of life can be one of incredible joys, contrasted by times of great difficulties. Milestone moments in life can take our breath away, as we either accomplished our dreams or we lost someone or something very dear to our heart. It’s up to us how we choose to live our life and how we maneuver the times of highs and lows…as we keep dancing with all we’ve got.

I try to see the positive in life…the glass is half full and not half empty. I believe anything is possible when we put our mind to it…I laugh as I have said under my breath since I was in grade school “Where there’s a Marcy, there’s a way!” Even when things look their darkest, I hang on to my faith as I know but I know that somehow, someway, things will work out. Going through breast cancer 7 years ago was scary at times, but God told me I would survive and I knew if God said it, He meant it, and I believe it and that is that. We have many areas in our life today that we can not count on…but I know I can count on God with all my soul and all my heart.

This time of year for me is bittersweet as I lost my Dad in October and lost my Mom a year later in December. It doesn’t seem that long ago and yet it has been 16 years…the painful memories are softer now…but every year beginning in September, I begin to reflect on my life and the life around me, as I ponder the last year of our life here. Being a writer and a deep thinker, I process life circumstances deeply in my heart as I ask the hard questions and seek the truth of life events and how those events have effected me. After I ponder the last year in the innermost part of me, only then after I have come to some conclusion will my thoughts fall onto paper with sincere and sometimes crazy writers abandon. I ask lots of questions in order to wrap my understanding around whatever it is…but yeah…I seek the answers to life’s deepest, greatest and toughest questions. I know I will never know all the answers until I get to heaven someday, but I feel life deeply and think on things a long time…before I can give the answer to those questions.

As I am writing this afternoon, the light outside my window is full of golden softness as my world is filled with an amber glow, fall has truly fallen on Juniper Canyon. When I write I often look out on the land, watching the shadows of the clouds above, play on the landscape, making new odd shapes…and I remember old times, simple times and good memories. This week as I reflect more on memories of my parents, I can hear Dad’s voice in my head. One of the first times he was deathly ill, we called 911 for help…it was scary for all of us. I was very thankful we were not living in Wyoming, and instead lived next door allowing us to get there in a hurry if we were needed. Once Dad was stable and loaded into the ambulance on that clear blue sky morning, I sat with Dad while Mom and Bill got her jacket etc. for the ride to the hospital.

I noticed Dad was looking out and up the hill, and then he said “Have you and Bill decided if this ranch is home and is this where you will put down roots and grow old?” I was taken back with his direct question as my thoughts were not on Wild Bill and me…my thoughts were on Dad and Mom. I stuttered and stammered saying something like “Dad, I know this is home and yes we will put down our roots and build our life here.” He kept pondering his life and the landscape and said ” I sure hope I come back home again, as I will surely miss this place.” I hugged his neck and said to him “You will Dad, you will.” And he did many times, from several near death emergencies, over the next four years…his doctor told us “Your Dad is one tough cowboy.”

The crazy thing about our lives is that often we do not recognize the beginning of something great in our lives until the end of it. Growing up I lived on a vast cattle ranch, I did not understand that living on private land was a gift and a privilege of life. I thought everyone had a cattle ranch in the mountains and that we all owned land somewhere. I also thought everyone had a horse and lived the same life I lived! I had an active imagination growing up as I was taught that everything was possible if we believe…and today I still believe in the impossibilities of life:)

Learning to look at the glass half full instead of almost empty, was one of the simple truths of life my parents taught me…having a positive attitude instead of a bitter one has carried me through some tough times and still carries me today in my life, as I still have tough issues to deal with in our lives here.

Our lives are a gift to live with love, joy, hope and faith that tomorrow will come as it will. When one door closes and the season is over…you may feel a pang of sadness, but you know there is always hope for a new beginning and we will find it if we seek it out…as we will never give up! Beginnings and endings…sunrise and sunset…summer began and summer ended, as fall began. I felt a moment of grief for the warm days of harvest and the magical summers we live here and yet as soon as the moment passed, I saw the beauty of fall and I was at peace knowing this was the beginning of a new season that would be filled with wonder and home spun days of gold:)

I leave you with one of my favorite bible verses…it is so true as it is the heart of life!

A Time for Everything

There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

May You Have A Fantastic Fall Weekend And A Fabulous Frivolous Friday!

Crimson Skies Of Amber Bring Golden Days Of Fall!

09 Oct 2013 14 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscapes, Photography Tags: Clouds, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, Photography, Sunrise, Sunset, Weather

Crimson skies of amber bring golden days of fall,

As God paints the celestial heavens above me with glorious light and vivid colors.

I love watching the magic in the skies just before dawn and just before sunset.

The heavens are full of glorious colors and ever changing magical light…

Clouds shimmering with layers of gold as they drift by over my head…

I grab my camera, hoping to capture what I am seeing, to share with you!

I am drawn into God’s creation outdoors but also in the animals I am blessed to love and care for…

My camera clicks away taking hundreds of pictures in order to capture that one incredible shot!

I can not put my camera down any better than I can put my pen down.

Seasons comes and seasons go but God’s beautiful world remains a constant, every day and every night, in my life here.

It is ever changing with different scenery…

Full of incredible moments that take your breath away, as you pause to take it all in!

May you have a blessed Fall as you enjoy the seasons of life and God’s amazing creation!

Solitude On The Land Is My Solace Of Fall

30 Sep 2013 29 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Gratitude, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography, Ranch Life Tags: Family, Heritage, Holton Secret Lab, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Juniper T Ranch, Landscape, Life, Lifestyles, Photography

Solitude on the land is my solace of fall….

Every year this time I find myself reflecting on the harvest of summer as the seasons change and once again, silence falls like a veil of dignity on the land as it rests..

I love it as I love the quiet…the solitude of silence. I love walking out into God’s beautiful world. The land sleeps and yet when I walk it I can hear the stories of summer…stories of harvest and the history of family.

I grew up in a world of silence a third of the year, living on a remote cattle ranch in the mountains, without electricity, telephone, TV or even radio…the hectic life of the world disappeared and a new world of solitude became my life on the ranch. My world and daily life was my parents, our horses, the cattle and our cow dogs.

Life was simple. Get up. Go catch the horses, saddle up horses with Dad while Mom packed lunches into the saddle bags for us…follow Dad out of cow camp into the frosty meadow and head up Coleman Ridge…which was a mountain with a mountainous trail that we rode up…about half way up Coleman the trail disappeared. We had to pick a way to get to the top so we just zigzagged up the ridge breaking over into either the direction of Bear Creek or head off in the direction of Young Camp depending on which pastures we planned to gather and check.

If Dad chose for us to go towards Young Camp and on towards Jordan Creek, we rode a few more miles to get to Young Camp and then we rode over another ridge from Young Camp that dropped us into the Upper Jordan area. Riding down the ridge of Upper Jordan Creek, you got off your horse leading the way down the ridge to the bottom as it was steep with heavy under brush, loose rocks, rock walls and logs…you took it slow and easy zigzagging your way over logs and brush. If you ran into cattle, you shooed the cows out of the brush and pushed them along in front of you trying to get to the bottom. Once you hit the bottom, you stopped for them to get a drink, while keeping an eye on them in case one decided to make a mad dash, as usually there was always one that did. As soon as you could you drove them on up another ridge into Whiskey Creek or if you steered them a bit different into Brown Miller and Elk Mountain country.

After we got them settled for the night, we turned back towards home, cow camp, where Mom kept the home fires burning…we would get in just about dark and in time for dinner. Dad would say “We rode about 35 miles today Marcy, you did a good job with the cows, taking it slow.” After dinner and a couple of card games of double solitaire with Mom, I usually hit the hay as I knew we would be up early, saddling horses and heading out once again to check on more cattle to be sure they had plenty of water and good feed. Never a dull moment on a cattle ranch as each day was a new adventure filled with good memories:)

Life was simple. It was quiet and peaceful…solitude…I learned to survive being alone…doing without worldly stuff and things…one depended more on God and the incredible beauty of His sky…His land…His weather…His animals…and you expected less. Life was good. I miss it….I miss it a lot.

Stay tuned as I am working on my next Pendleton Round Up post:)

Sharing The Memories Of Our Hearts Becomes A Golden Tapestry Of Our Life…

21 Aug 2013 36 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Farm House, Heritage, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Photography Tags: Animals, Farm House, Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Life Scenes, Minnie, Photography, Sunset, Wild Bill

Sharing the memories of our hearts becomes a golden tapestry of our life, as we wrap ourselves in the heritage of life that makes us who we are.

Often I wonder why I have this writing bug and why it took me so long to discover my intense love of photography as to me the images that I capture and the words that follow, tell a story of a very simple life. Although I have to say at times, my life is not that simple…it has been pretty exciting in certain seasons and also difficult during various circumstances.

What I have learned is that hard times and difficulties bring out more of your character while deepening your resolve and strength…building your gratitude for getting through them and over them, as you go on with your life…while never looking back at what was or could have been, but looking forward to whats ahead.

It’s not how you ride through the mountain top moments, but how you climb out of the valleys of hard times that count.

When I am hit with the desire to write, I grab my pen and write with my heart, letting the words tumble out of my pen onto a simple tablet of paper…I go with it, as writing is part of what makes me, me.

It is the same with my photography, I don’t know all the ins and outs of aperture and ISO or all the terminology yet, but I will. In the meantime I grab my camera and happily click away with that creative spirit full of heart, only this time, the story I write is through my eyes…

I love capturing the exact moment when you know that, “Yeah baby I got it!!!”

Writing is often like life, as we write and write only to find out that it totally stinks so we trash the hours and pages into the shredder and we move on. As a writer, no matter how many revisions you go through…no matter how much criticism you get…you can not stop…you write and write and write. Determined to write the darn best story you can write!

It’s the same with taking pictures, no matter how many I take, it is never enough!

Everyday when I get up and look out my kitchen window I am doing what my Mom did for the 42 years she lived in the house and I am doing what my Great Grandmother did for the 18 years she lived here…I can feel what they felt and hear the words they may have spoken, with the views of country life and the circumstances that come out of country living.

When we pulled up the carpet on the main floor of the house, it was the first time I saw the wood floors, as Mom kept them covered. I had no clue there were solid wood floors on the main level of the house. I was overcome with emotion as I could see the foot traffic worn into the old floors, where my ancestors walked. I walked in their literal footsteps in my bare feet, feeling the solid wood and hearing the same creaks and squeaks under my feet while hearing the echos of a time long ago.

Mom keeping the floors covered was perfect in preserving them. When we got down to the last layer of linoleum in the kitchen we found that it had burlap on the back side of it…I had never seen flooring like that and thankfully the burlap kept the floors in good condition.

The old house was revealing its glory! The floors turned out beautiful…and each day that I walk on them, is like stepping back in heritage and time. History and heritage are important as we are the only ones who know the memories and emotions of the generation before…writing down their memories, their histories and the heritage they passed on to us is so very important.

Switching gears…we have a new baby and she is keeping us busy…isn’t she cute!!! That’s why I have not posted for a few weeks…life has been fast and furious!

I was wondering if anyone knows where the summer went to? I can not believe that fall is in the air!

A Day In The Life Of Hot Rod Cowgirl For Oregon Dayshoot 2013!

03 Aug 2013 29 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Photography, Wild Bill Tags: Animals, Barn Cats, Cat, Custom Cars, Harvest, Holton Secret Lab, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Hot Rods, Jagged, Landscape, landscape views, Life Scenes, Lifestyles, Minnie, Photography, Sunrise, Wild Bill

A day in the life of Hot Rod Cowgirl begins in the dark dawn of July 15th for the Oregon Dayshoot 2013! The Dayshoot first began 30 years ago in 1983 to depict life in Oregon on any given day of everyday life. It’s a way to record Oregon history and what our lives were like in 2013 compared to the first Oregon Dayshoot in 1983.

It’s 4:30 in the morning on July 15th and I am excited to be a part of Dayshoot 2013! I’m ready with my camera…a nice clean card, along with a spare one and extra batteries too. And its time to begin as I step out to capture the sunrise…it was well worth it but I wish the stars had shown up in the photo too!

Yard sprinklers were doing their thing…I lightened this photo up so you can see the drops of water! A fun time of day to be up and taking pictures of life in Juniper Canyon!

Here comes the sun…I do truly love this time of day anymore…used to not be crazy about it but then I got into photography and I love the sunrise and the sunset…the two enchanted times of light and capturing images with hues of color that knock your socks off!

Yard Bath or Showers! We have had the sprinklers only 1 year and I love them. It is so much easier to water the yard with a switch instead of dragging around hoses all over. WB said too he thinks all our gophers have left due to the water!!! Yeah!!!

Finally daybreak…I am the only one up and I need coffee soon…it is now 5:30 in the morning! And its going to be a beautiful day! I love it as it is so quiet and speaks deep to my heart of God’s beauty all around us if we will look and observe.

Annie was up and wanting her hay breakfast…”Morning Mom, dayshoot or is it dayhoot-cares…I’m hungry and yeah yeah about taking pictures…just gimme my hay and I will pose for you later ok.”

And here’s Pat and Jack putting in their two cents since Annie got to. “Well really Mom, you need to sit down here and pet us, rub and love us and feed us treats!” I miss Jack so much as he was beautiful inside and out!”

“No way Mom….what are you doing outside at this time of day….get in here and I need treats too and lots of pets and kitty loves!” “And who cares about this dayhottenany or whatever it is called!” “Humph!”

As the day slowly wore on, it was over a 100 degrees and too darn hot to be out very long. After lunch I figured I would go check out the shop…WB said to come down and grab some photos of the guys working for fun! So here I am in Wild Bill’s shop wondering if I can catch some sneaky action photos of the guys working on cool cars:) And I LOVE Corvette’s!

Here’s Bryan working away but I think he is hiding…Hey Bryan…quit hiding and smile!

Come on Clay, look up and smile at the camera…geez! Clay is working on a very cool 1935 Ford Pick Up…it is going to be very classy when it rolls out of the “Lab!”

“Ahhh HA! I caught you Wild Bill! Smile for me and what are you doing now? Hmmm, well I am having trouble getting the guys to smile like they are having fun with all these super cool cars to work on!!! At least you will smile at me if I try to capture you working on one of the cars right?”

Apparently not…and hmmmph…hey WB come on and look up!!!! He gets all obsessed over Corvettes too like I do! This is a 1976 Corvette…hey WB LOOK UP Dang It!

I know maybe Nathan will look up and smile….by the way this is a 1958 Metro…cute huh? Nathan likes to draw and he drew the smiley face on the Metro and at least it is smiling, and looking at the camera!

I know what they are saying….”Here she comes again, so look like we are discussing something very serious” “Ok Terry and WB come on and look at me you ding-dong guys!!!”

And one last picture of Bryan working on a 1949 Chev. Pick Up…

Guess I will head back outside to see what is going on….Hey heres Jagged, our 1928 Dodge Coupe! WB likes louvers can you tell?

The landscape view in bright light of day! This is the view of the sunrise photos I was taking at dawn…looks way different huh?

Typical scene outside the shop…lots of kooool custom cars in front of our old-fashioned service station!

And the day is winding down…horses doing the nuzzle after their dinner

Hey Dash what do you think? Hmmm…he not looking at my camera either….geesh!!!

Enjoy the summer as soon…it will be gone…and big fat WAH! I LOVE nice warm 80 degree days and the sunshine! Have a wonderful weekend and peaceful night wherever you are and a Simply Sunshiny Sunday! Smile and…click click click!

Hot Rod Cowgirl Ropes In An Award!

30 Jul 2013 36 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Award, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Lifestyles, Photography Tags: Award, Barn Cats, Clouds, Heritage, Horses, Hot Rod Cowgirl, Landscape, Lifestyles, Odd beauty, Photography, Sunset, Weather

Hot Rod Cowgirl ropes in an award!

I am always so very humbled when fellow bloggers and readers, photographers and writers, present HRCG with an award. When I began doing my blog I had no idea that we would be given awards by our peers…the best part is that I also get to pass them on to other well deserving bloggers too!

The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award Was Given To Me By

http://chasingtheperfectmoment.com/awards/

Go check out Ginny’s wonderful life-giving blog…she writes with honesty and her true self as she seeks to encourage any who read her blog about life and memories. She loves to laugh and shares her life through her words and the different pieces of her life…and she hopes we will share our life pieces too:)

Telling our story, our history and life, can bring us a sense of peace down deep in our souls. Being a born writer at heart most of my life, I know the power of writing out our thoughts, our worries, and our memories. Writing our thoughts and worries down truly helps to empty out our concerns and emotions. There is something cleansing when we write our words and thoughts down on paper when we are struggling. Interestingly enough, when we do that, the struggle becomes less of a struggle and we find peace in our hearts instead of obsessively worrying. Writing out our worries helps make them less controlling of our thoughts. I know for me, once I get my worries out on paper, I can get on with life and not dwell on them so much. I am more at peace with whatever it is that I am worrying about, and somehow the answer to solve the worry comes to me…now if I kept on fretting, I don’t think the answer would be clear to me. Writing is good and it is healing:)

To accept this award, I have to follow some rules and,

Here are the rules for this award:

1.The Nominee of the Wonderful Team member Readership Award shall display the logo on his/her blog.

2.The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days, all at once or little by little.

Minnie is licking her lips in time for a treat!

3. The Nominee shall name his/her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during 7 days.

Here are my nominees for

The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award!

1. http://witlessdatingafterfifty.wordpress.com/

2.http://singleworkingmomswm.wordpress.com/

3. http://mythreemoggies.wordpress.com/

4. http://shakespearesgal.wordpress.com/

5. http://hopedog.wordpress.com/

6. http://emjayandthem.com/

7. http://visitstothepark.wordpress.com/

8. http://teepee12.com/

9. http://throughmylens365.wordpress.com/

10. http://onespoiledcat.wordpress.com/

11. http://passionforcats.wordpress.com/

12. http://philosophermouseofthehedge.wordpress.com/

13. http://godssceneryandpromises.wordpress.com/

14. http://catfromhell.wordpress.com/

Annie was watching the sunset with me a few nights ago. We have been getting some of the smoke from Central Oregon’s fires and the sunsets, sunrises and last night even the moon have been spectacular.

Thank you again Ginny for this awesome award, I truly appreciate it:):):)

Be sure to check out Ginny’s blog Chasing The Perfect Moment, she has a wonderful way with words and sharing her heart, leaving you with something to ponder on and apply to your own life.

Here is the link to Ginny’s blog http://chasingtheperfectmoment.com/

Our on fire sunset last night…you can see the smoke cloud over us. I am hoping and praying the fires will be out soon and no loss of life.

Be sure to head over to Ginny’s blog at http://chasingtheperfectmoment.com/

I end this post today with remembering Jack…our barn kitty who was more than a cat, he was Jack The Attack Cat…and very much loved!

God Bless You Jack The Cat….we will miss you and forever hold you in our hearts. You were our Mighty Hunter and Mighty Warrior…now you can run through the fields of heaven and play with all kinds of God’s glorious gifts.

I know God is holding you tight, loving on you right now rubbing all your special places…we love you very much Jack and I know we will see you again our Kitty Angel.

May you all have a Terrific Tuesday Evening wherever you are:) HRCG over and out for now but not for long:)

Hot Rod Cowgirl

The Tale Of A Wyoming Buffalo On Top Of Pinon Ridge…

Wyo Why Wyoming Oh My Wyoming!

Happy Thanksgiving From Hot Rod Cowgirl!

Dreams Call Softly…

New Beginnings And Speedy Lickety-Split Endings

Crimson Skies Of Amber Bring Golden Days Of Fall!

Solitude On The Land Is My Solace Of Fall

Sharing The Memories Of Our Hearts Becomes A Golden Tapestry Of Our Life…

A Day In The Life Of Hot Rod Cowgirl For Oregon Dayshoot 2013!

Hot Rod Cowgirl Ropes In An Award!

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