Hot Rod Cowgirl’s Fete A La Holiday

17 Jan 2012 2 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Cattle Ranch, Juniper T Ranch, Lifestyles, Photography Tags: , ,

Hot Rod Cowgirl’s fete a la holiday…in regards to yesterday…what is a holiday?

Hmmmmm…living in the country as a ranch wife or farm wife and eventually a hot rodders wife still living on the ranch/farm…

Means your life is pretty much committed fulltime to either the cattle and horses or taking care of the land or building and driving hot rods…oh what is a girl to do?

Growing up on both a large cattle ranch and wheat ranch meant I got to ride horses and take care of cows…and take care of the land.

Then I married “Wild Bill”…the crazy hot rod person:)

Follow me back in time before “Wild Bill” to the cows and horses. In the summers my parents and I moved to the mountains with 800 plus Black Angus cows…my relatives stayed here and took care of the land while my parents and I took care of the cows. Everyday we were either checking cows or moving cows to different pastures etc. and if that was not the case then we would be doctoring a sick cow or putting out salt blocks or fixing fence or building fence or looking for the leppy calf’s mama…or taking care of the horses and so on. As Fall made it appearance we began to gather cows…this took several weeks…once they were gathered…then my Dad began a 100 mile cattle drive to the low lands for the herd to winter on.

Through the winter months it was calving time and feeding time. I remember we would get done feeding the cows about noon…then we loaded trucks up again for the next day getting done in time to make one last check on first calf hefers…if we saw one that looked imminent it was either moved to the barn area or we would watch her through the night. In Spring we vaccinated and had a huge several day branding at the lower ranch…and June 1 we moved back to the mountains to repeat the summer pattern.

I know the rest of the world celebrates with several holidays a year but around here and to this country cowgirl most holidays are just another day…Thanksgiving and Christmas we take the day off but if we have cows or horses then we still have to feed them and take care of them .

Holidays?

Holidays were either working or moving cattle or cutting wheat after we were married and moved to the ranch.

Or doing Hot Rod Car Shows on Labor Day Weekends.

Or harvesting on July 4th…

And we usually do not want to see any fireworks!

Smile…smile….smile:)

Tack room wall of bridles and bits.

And working decor…yee-haw:)

Tonight as I close this sort of educating work verses holiday on a ranch post…we are under a severe winter storm watch…winds have been blowing all day…gusting to 45 mph…we are to be inundated with snow the next 48 hours…and it is snowing hard right now…we need moisture…but could we hold off on the freezing cold stuff as tonight I am dang cold.

Sleep well and I am wishing you a warm and gentle night:)

Sunday’s Fabulous Snow Follies

15 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Lifestyles, Photography, Storms, Weather, Winter Tags: , , , ,

Sunday’s fabulous snow follies did not show up as predicted…snow?  What snow?  Winter storm warnings….where?

This is what we woke up to…hmmm…Sunday sunshine and clear blue skies!

Tucker is sunning herself…she likes keeping her tan spots nice and tan year round:) She is quite a Diva around here too…she is Queen Meanie at times…the Boss…don’t cross her.

Ah-ha! The cast of characters are slowly beginning to mix things up a bit for a change around Juniper Canyon.

Clouds began to roll in on a mission impossible. The snow assignment had been accepted as their mission and it was going to go down.

Slowly the clouds snuffed the light of the sun out…it was time for the sun to take a nice winter nap.

And then…the onimous “Big Guy” showed up above…of course I was out with my camera clicking happily away with the ever changing shapes and rather threatening eerie light…perfect for photography.

 “Little Buck” here comes the snow instead of here comes the sun.” If you look close you can see his rear end across the road. He is a Buckskin and blends in with our scenery.

Melody is still truly wondering what Patio Horse is up too…why does he keep hanging around anyway?

And Kiah agrees…and wonders why am I shooting pictures in the cold…cuz I am obsessed Kiah and you are cute…kind of scary cute but cute.

Until next time…have a great Sunday night.

Starting 2012 Off With A Bang!

05 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Ranch Life, Weather, Winter Tags: , , ,

We started 2012 off with a bang with some target practice behind our barn. I would love to have an indoor target practice range as New Years day was a bit cold with a brisk breeze fluttering about.

Beginning with the cast of characters….hmmm…what one shall I shoot with first? The last month we have had several country crimes close to where we live due to drugs and various robberies. We have had a neighborhood watch out in our small canyon now for six years…believe me when you drive around out here to look at the country we see you and we write your license number down…then we send it to the County Sheriff and he checks you out. In this day and age, drugs and crime have become a common thing for all of us no matter where we live.

I aim to be a good shot…while I feel very good about being able to shoot good I also feel sad that I have to even worry.

Wild Bill is an excellent shooter…scary good.

This is serious stuff….grrrrrr…I shoot my gun in order to protect myself or Wild Bill and unfortunately  I will do it if I have to. Yes we have several alarm systems out here…we have various ways of knowing everything we need to know. Life has changed country folks in the last ten years with the growing drug crimes and addictions. With our actively involved neighborhood watch program; we all keep watch for each other with the sheriff’s help.

Okay moving on to other ranch happenings…Tucker was being optimistic by practicing her sunshine girl pose…wishing and hoping for that sun to come out soon…today would be nice!

One of our barn Lions made a rare appearance for me to catch a good photo.

Actually they both came out to see us….are they not cool? They are huge too!

“For I am ‘King of the Jungle’,
I am a mighty lion.
I am the one who rules the roost,
so don’t even bother trying.”

A winter view looking down the canyon…

“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.”

Winter skies above…

“All through the long winter, I dream of my garden. On the first day of spring, I dig my fingers deep into the soft earth. I can feel its energy, and my spirits soar.”

Ho Ho Ho Merry After Christmas And Happy New Years!

31 Dec 2011 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Holton Secret Lab, Lifestyles, Ranch Life, Weather Tags: ,

Ho Ho Ho Merry after Christmas hello and as we approach 2012 we wish you the best of the New Year! ! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas time with your families.

Our Christmas was blessed with family, friends and lots of good food. No we do not have this much snow…actually we have none…this picture was taken in 2009 in front of “The Lab.”

Christmas morning broke, gifting us with a beautiful Juniper Canyon dawn which was glorious.

I love the early morning mist in this picture just as dawn broke…you can see the soft swirls of it. You can see two of our horses too…Annie is standing up and waiting on breakfast while Melody is laying flat on her side taking a nap….she likes to stretch out for her naps…she trusts me enough that I can walk up to her to scratch her while she is down…she is so sweet.

Santa Claws brought “Minnie Mouse” a new play house…it even matches her fur:)

I wonder what Santa brought Wild Bill? It looks like something for his horse Buck…ok smile WB.

Looks like Buck got a new bit…Wild Bill is modeling it…hmmmm…I wonder if I can put this to good use?

A-ha…Minnie got a little catnip…yee haw…we try to do it right down here on the farm!

Merry Christmas Yippee Ki Yay Kiah…we love you lots and lots:) Did you like your new chew toys and bones? Ah it looks like you enjoyed the black bird…

Minnie Mouse had a good Christmas…she loved her new house and her cat nip too…ahhhhh life is good:)

Wild Bill welcome to the technology of a Mac…you will love it. As you see…he is enjoying it and playing with  it:) We both have the iPhone 4S with the Siri feature which is awesome!!! Both our laptops have a similar feature.

Speaking of  Macs…as I said they are cool!

These are farm country Macs…hay swathers that we are painting for one of the local farmers here. They are parked at my back door…Hot Rod Cowgirl is not figurative.

I am real…a bit hot rod…a bit horse gal…a bit farm girl….thats me:)

Right Melody?

My hubby bought me this awesome ring from ZPT Silver…notice the bucking horse? That is the Pendleton Round Up logo and I love it!

Hot Rod Cowgirl’s garage…”Jagged and Sadie Sue Suburban”…we name our vehicles around here.

Note my cool bug shield painted by my hubby with his signature flames…and “Jagged” looking mean and nasty…waiting for good weather again.

This cowgirl thing goes way back to when my Dad stuck me on a horse before I could walk…this is me at a horse show way back in the mid 1980’s…it was extremely hot that day and I was riding one of our ranch bred horses Sally…it was her first horse show and we did fine except when we rode by some little kids who dropped their full plastic cup of ice water…poor Sally jumped but we managed to maintain and finish our class in western pleasure:) I was so proud of her as she had lived forever way out in the country so this show was a big eye-opening experience for her. Personally I like riding  my horses out and working cows or gathering cows…but in the 80’s I thought ok what is this horse show thing…had to find out…and it was ok but not my thing. Note…look at the hat …notice the feather and the high crown? Styles have changed…thank goodness!

Hot Rod Cowgirl and Wild Bill along with Holton Secret Lab wishes you a Happy New Year! Stay tuned….I did a photo shoot today and will upload some new pictures on my next post.

Just As We Were Hurrying To Get All The Last Minute Christmas Shopping Done….

19 Dec 2011 1 Comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Lifestyles, Ranch Life, Weather Tags: , ,

Just as we are hurrying to get all the last-minute Christmas shopping done…holiday meals planned…and last minute details finished…we noticed a few days ago that there was an unusual amount of water on top of the road in front of our house. “Wild Bill” went out to look closer and found that we had a water leak under the paved county road.

After getting the necessary permits “Wild Bill” began the labor intensive job of tearing up the asphalt to get to the water pipe.

Not a fun job and rather over whelming to start this project now with freezing temps…but we needed water and we had to stop the leak.

“Yikes”….

This was rather serious folks…

As in trenches and “detours”…our poor dogs trying to do their job…barked and growled at every car that drove off the pavement to go through the detour…try to sleep at night…and no you do not.

Ask “Miss Melody”…she did not get any sleep either with the barking dog issue and “Patio Horse” was still staring at her too”.

And there is one of the culprits…and she is such a good girl..we love our Kiah…good good girl she is:)

Yes “Kiah my Kiah…you are a good girl!”

“Ok guys…what do you think?”

Since we fixed the leak of a 50-year-old pipe under the road it only made sense to fix the pipe all the way to the well…about 200’…to replace all the old pipe with new pipe….so Wild Bill dug and dug.  Dasher is the dog you see with Wild Bill…Dasher was born this time of year…perfect name huh?

The road is almost back to normal…the trench is filled with gravel…three days later all is well once again in “Juniper Canyon” and we have water in the house at last!

“Uh Dad….what do you think?” My two men…brings back memories of “Wild Bill” with my Dad.

Today we decorated our tree and got back to Christmas:)

And “Minnie Mouse said all is good:)”

This is country living folks…we is country folks…and we live it:)

Winter Wonderland Has Transformed Juniper Canyon Into A Twilight Zone

12 Dec 2011 4 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Horses, Lifestyles, Photography, Weather Tags: , , ,

Winter wonderland has transformed Juniper Canyon into a twilight zone of frozen earth and frozen air.

For several days now we have had heavy fog and frigid temps.

The landscape has become a monochromatic world of frozen tundra.

While the trees are clothed in a whiter shade of pale…and gray.

The heavy frost is slowly transforming ordinary things into weird shapes and  images.

The trees though held captive by the bleak grayness are beautiful in their own way…if you look for the beauty amidst the stark contrast with the sky.

Both man and animal alike is feeling humdrum from the gray days…as evidenced here from Melody to Patio Horse…. “What are you staring at me for?”

This kind of weather wears on you after a while and yet…there is still an odd beauty to the frozen days…our lone evergreen shrub looks frozen yet festive for Christmas!

My log fence is dressed for the holidays with its white garland…can you say brrrrrrr.

Melody is still not sure about “Patio Horse”….”Annie did you see that weird horse over on the patio….I tired to talk to it but it just looked at me with its frosty glare and icy hair.”

” Patio Horse” is a bit threatening with its eyes staring at you.”

Ooooops the grayness and surreal twilight zone pulled me into a warped sense of reality for a moment…sorry for the lapse…ok moving on to decorations….let’s forget weird and dreary for a minute!

This is one of our traditional decorations…not sure where my Mom got this Moose but she loved it and I dig him out every year.

And this is my Christmas Angel that I have had since I was little. She is one of my keep sakes and yearly traditions…the first decoration I get out right after Thanksgiving.

“Wild Bill” brought the tree home last night on “Melody” who was not thrilled as you can see by her look. I am hoping to get the tree decorated tonight!

The front porch wreath is up to welcome visitors…with a cherry Merry Christmas!

However our handrail looks a bit hairy and icy today and not too welcoming.

One last tree shot…despite the mundane days if we look hard there is beauty to be found all around us:)

Could not resist this fun shot…Happy Monday!

Last report I heard was that “Patio Horse” was running wild….keep your eyes open for him!

Crazy…Fast and Furious…Unpredictable Life Filled With Many Blessings!

08 Dec 2011 4 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Heritage, Juniper T Ranch, Lifestyles, Photography, Ranch Life Tags: , , , ,

Crazy…fast and furious…unpredictable life filled with many great blessings…I often experience a mix…and even though it is fast and furious I find myself grabbing on to the important seconds that tick by….filing them away in my heart and trying to see every little detail of God’s world that we live in.

Prince was my first horse and best friend. Prince carried me for several years all over out here where I still live…a heartful of memories in a young cowgirls life.

I grew up behind my Dad’s back…where Dad went on a horse I went too…that was life to me…being on the back of a good horse…riding behind my Dad…and I miss his back.

Cows and horses or horses and cows…how I grew up and what I saw daily, normal everyday cattle ranch life…my history filled with many memories.

I am sure you all have those early life memories of daily life with your parents and where you lived…how you lived and what your life was about…moments that will live on forever and yet often, only live on in your memories.

My life was growing up here…on the Juniper T Ranch…various family and friends were around during early summer when we moved the cattle up to the mountain ground and again during the fall gathering. Three of my Aunt’s are in this picture…and this is where my Mom cooked for 20-30 men every day on a wood cook stove in this log cabin…no water except hauling it by bucket…that was life back in the late 60’s for this redneck girl.

  With this post I am writing about life chapters…old times and new times…old memoreis and new memories.

A glimpse of the special moments.

Experiences of a lifetime…Hobby and I playing with a cow.

She was just learning to hook on here.

And then she got it!

I loved the feeling of a horse under me moving and dancing with a cow…nothing quite like it! Hobby I miss you girl…miss you lots.

From work to play on a simple warm trail riding kind of day. Sitting on top of the Blue Mountains…the best place to be on a horse around here in the summertime!

Life with many adventures and well-worn chapters in the book of simple times.

Chapters of buying a new horse and bringing her home…our time getting to know each other….Melody you are the song in my heart:)

Turning golden worn pages to another chapter of life…grandkids and fun times with friends at the beach.

Moments with our sons…ocean views…happy times…family memories.

Special birthday times with our youngest son who is a “Moose”…Hot Rod Cowgirl is 5’9″….youngest son is a “Giant” at 6’5″.

Snap shots of a funny moment of “Jagged and Wild Bill”…silly, crazy times!

Of course “Smart Alec Times”..I think Hot Rod Cowgirl is picking on Wild Bill:)

Birthdays and grandkids  helping me celebrate…two granddaughters…lots of resemblance in our eyes and mouth…you can see that we are family:) Ok guys you can close your mouth…Wild Bill…Natalie…Becca…ok I know the cake is looking yummy and all but come on for the picture…close your mouth like me and smile big:) Oh Becca…where oh where are you??? Come back to reality girl.

An ordinary life filled with times such as this with family…love…happiness…that incredible moment when time stands still and you know….this is beautiful life.

Life takes you to places you have been before and places you have never been before.

Like “The Portland Roadster Show” in 2006 when we took three customer vehicles and won three Best Of Class!

And snow storms that drift and give you great photo ops!

Christmas is coming sooner than we expect…and before we know it…less than three weeks!

Just ask Ms. Minnie Mouse:) She likes sleeping under the tree when we put it up…now on to decorating it.

Christmas with Grandkids:) on our antique red sofa…long story for another post….the sofa is 1940’s vintage red leather  and I love it!

Good Night where ever you are…it is super cold here tonight…snuggle down with your loved ones and remember to look for those special memories and moments in your life…may you be blessed by the season at hand.

I Felt The First Breath Of Winter Today…

24 Nov 2011 Leave a comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Breast Cancer, Clouds, Lifestyles, Photography, Storms Tags: , ,

Today was the first day that I have actually felt the first breath of winter…artic cold wind…and dark clouds.

We were out this afternoon worming our three horses.

It was cold with the wind blowing out of the North…the outside lights were on at 2:45 in the afternoon and it looked like it would either snow or rain any minute.

Melody and Annie were good with the wormer…I am sure it tastes like ick…but once it was down I gave them treats..and lots of rubs and luvs.

Here at our house our horses…dogs….cats…are our kids and we love them 1000%.

Buck was great with his shot and then the wormer too….he is so polite and quiet.

As soon as we were done, I hot footed it back to the house…brrrrr.

It snowed here a year ago on November 21st…so will it this year too?

I wrote this a few weeks ago….was going to shoot more pictures and get it posted…I know if I am going to blog I need to do it once a week at least or more often..then I got busy and did not get this posted.

 I have disappeared the last few weeks from the blog/web world. Where have I been? This was the last picture you saw of me taken in October.

I had surgery in Portland last week at Oregon Health Science University  so I was a bit detained from my computer! I picked up something way too heavy for me to lift and ended up with a hernia.

Some of you know that I am a breast cancer survivor and almost have six years under my belt now…I went through lots of surgery in 2006…20 hours in one week and then another 5 hours four months later. We had been very proactive as I was high risk and when they caught it on the mammogram it was the size of a small orange…the Dr. recommended a mastectomy.

Wild Bill and I had already discussed this as I had 8 biopsies from 2001 through 2004….had one year off and then was diagnosed in January of 2006. It was wide-spread but not yet invasive and caught early so I feel I was lucky. We chose to take both breasts and at the same time do the reconstruction with a double free tram flap as it was the most proactive thing we could do for my survival. The first surgery was 16 hours and then 48 hours later another 4 hours. It was a miracle…no infections and yes the healing time was six months but I came back good as new….I was working out at the local athletic club with a trainer at five months.

This is me today…I look the same…but I have to be careful and not lift over 10 pounds as now I have a mesh screen in my belly as a tram flap is using your own belly tissue and muscle for the blood flow for the new tissue to form new breasts.

 I was afraid I would puncture implants doing ranch chores or riding horses. Out where we live it is a different life…you do what you have to do when you have to do it…if you have never lived in the middle of no where or the country that may not make sense.

As it is, I ended up with a hernia from lifting something when Wild Bill was not around…I know stupid on my part…but seriously I do not think and I forget…this has been a new normal for this country girl.

Here we are coming home from OHSU after the surgery last week….I love the city but I am always thankful when we get on I-84 and we are headed for Eastern Oregon…..home.

Ok well forget November 21st on the snow…this is November 16th…oh what a fun drive we had.

It went from a bit of snow to…

Serious snow…I am not thinking this is looking good…I was not worried about us as we had four-wheel drive and are used to driving in winter conditions etc. but being on the freeway with lots of traffic is not good with icy conditions.

Oh great!!!!!

And then…we finally broke out of it as we hit the edge of Eastern Oregon.

Biggs Junction and Maryhill…they have excellent wines at Maryhill Winery.

And then…God smiled….and brought us home to Juniper Canyon…with peaceful views and the blessing of “home.”

Melody and Annie said hay hay hay! Mom’s home…we missed you…come see us and give us some luvs…rubs and apple asses:)

Minnie missed me too…she and I have spent the last week on the sofa under the quilt recovering. Of course I have my laptop and a new phone to play with…which is fun of course…and lots of well wishes and my hubby who has been awesome to be my nurse and my cook:) I have several weeks yet to go with recovery but we are on the road.

I am thankful to be here and to be healthy…to have life and years yet to live. Please be sure to take care of your health and know that your life is your  life and your health is your health…do all your yearly exams and be aware of your body and of your health. I am living proof of doing that as with the cancer I had you could not feel it…and yet the area was the size of a small orange. Both Wild Bill and I saw it after the biopsy. My Doctor did not want to wait on doing a surgical biopsy as he wanted to get it out…so six days later after the mammogram he did the biopsy in his office where I was fully awake. Seeing the size of the lump, and yet I could not feel it, helped me understand that you may not always be able to feel a lump with breast cancer. Doing your yearly exams and in my case a digital mammogram saved my life.

Moving on to Holton Secret Lab News….as soon as I am feeling a bit better I will be updating the new web site.

The Portland Roadster Show is coming…March 2012. This is a picture of our display at the Roadster Show…10 Customer Cars…12 Awards.

What’s that sound? It’s a V-12 1928 Dodge Coupe…”Jagged!”

Holton Secret Lab…need I say more?  Check out…www.holtonsecretlab.com

Come see what is so dang secret about “The Lab”…You Will Not Be Disappointed!

Happy Thanksgiving 2011…From Hot Rod Cowgirl…Wild Bill and Holton Secret Lab LLC.

Hot Rod Cowgirl Celebrates A Birthday!

25 Aug 2011 1 Comment

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Family, Life, Lifestyles Tags: , , , ,

Hot Rod Cowgirl celebrates a birthday…time passes so quickly…I was 30 a few days ago…what happened???

My birthday is also the day that

“Wild Bill” asked me to marry him August 23 1976, when I turned 23. WB always tries to surprise me and he sure did that year…it was the best day of my life!

My birthday in my 40’s…waiting to be able to reverse my age to 39…there is a magic birthday for that!

I think I found it….yeah….perfect!

Today I am 39 years old…never mind that we have a son who is 37…apparently he is aging!

Family…friends…grandkids and nephews…gathered today to celebrate with me….I am very blessed!

Granddaughter Natalie  is ready for cake and ice cream! Granddaughter Becca is trying to figure her camera out.

Make a wish and help me blow them out Natalie!

Grandson Cody and “Wild Bill”…cutting the cake…he has been working for us this summer…he is like his Dad and his Grandpa…he understands mechanical stuff  and is quite artistic.

I am liking this 39 thing…I can have my cake and eat it too!

We had a fun celebration…good company and good food.

And the cake was really gooooood…right cowboy? Ry is my cowboy buddy…he comes over and works with Cody…they clean stalls and mow the yard and this year restained the log fence.

See here they are…our fencing crew! Looks like they painted their jeans too…ok boys why did you do that?

Wonder what Cameron said to her Mom and Greg…maybe something like “I am going to drive us home tonight and I am having more cake too!”

Hey Jos…Go OSU! Wow did I get a goober in my throat and ouch I felt a thump on my head from the heavens!!! For those that do not know, we are very serious U of O fans…my folks meant there in the 30’s.

WB is dishing up the rest of the HUGE cake…so that we can send it on home with our grandkids.

Annie says where are my Apple Assess? You gonna have cake…well I want cake too! OK Annie I am getting them for you:)

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