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: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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!

My New Favorite Day!

17 Jul 2012 23 Comments

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

Good Morning To My New Favorite Day!

Grab your coffee and read on:)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

http://mynewfavoriteday.com

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

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

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

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

We just have to make that one choice and decision…

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

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

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

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

Along with my horses…

And Minnie too:)

And my hubby Wild Bill:)

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

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

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

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

Spooky And Stupendously Spectacular!!!

25 Jun 2012 61 Comments

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

Wild Bill and I decided last Saturday that we need to get more of our outside projects done…I would mow yards and deal with weeds etc. while he uses the trencher to dig a trench for the new pipe for the new well…as you can see in the picture below it is quite a process.

We have 2000′ feet of new pipe to install for the house, shop, barn, irrigation etc…it is a huge job with trenching, running the backhoe as needed, and laying the new pipe and fittings etc.!

As I was finishing up the mowing I looked up on top of the hill behind our house and saw these ominous black clouds drifting in overhead.

There was no doubt that a storm was imminent…I got WB’s attention and pointed towards them…then I ran into the house to grab my camera!

Why is it that when I see clouds like this that I think of ET or Jabba The Hut???

I couldn’t seem to fit the incredible clouds into my lens…the cloud cover was massive and I knew I had a short window of time to capture the magnitude of the storm…I needed to get as far back as I could!

Finally I ran hard down into the pasture across the road and I captured this photo…you can see how the clouds were transforming the blue sky into night…at 2:00 in the afternoon!

Ok Toto this is not looking good…HRCG get your buns back to the house!

The storm slowed to a stand still overhead…something was going to happen as I could feel the temps dropping from warm to cold…which was an odd feeling.

I ran back to the front porch…whew…pant-pant…whew. Running is not my thing…walking fast is good or riding a horse!

I could feel a brisk breeze on my face as the air got colder and the dark clouds began to turn white.

And then the heavens opened and all hail broke loose!

Thankfully the hail began to turn to rain within a few minutes…heavy rain where you could almost not see through it like a fog…we actually got 1/4″ in 10 minutes!

By late afternoon we were back to life is good in Juniper Canyon…blue skies with the sun shining and birds singing…I could not help but break out into song:)

The hills are alive,
With the sound of music
With songs they have sung
For a thousand years

As the day slowly ended, God blessed us with one of His beautiful sunsets…I never grow tired of seeing all the incredible colors of nature and the world God created all around us:)

Buck says the day ended well:)

Minnie says…hmmmm…ok well kiss my stripes…why…no reason…remember I am the “Cat” and my goal is to keep you guessing:) I know Minnie Mouse and I loves you lots!

With that said…follow your heart…take along your forever friends and family…they will keep an eye out for you as they travel along with you…they are your heart and a blessing from God to your life:)

Wishing you a Sunny and Shinny Day:) Happy Monday wherever you are!

Whoa…Slow Down…Summer Times A Flying!

13 Jun 2012 35 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lots of weird but beautiful clouds…

Funky ones of every kind:)

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

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

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

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

Ranch House Remodeling…Hang On!

28 Apr 2012 25 Comments

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Humph…

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

Spring Has Sprung Forward…Onward We Go!

11 Mar 2012 26 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Clouds, Landscapes, Life, Photography Tags: , , , , ,

Did someone say “Clouds?” I love clouds with their amazing creative shapes and their colors but the best part is capturing the clouds playing on the landscape.

I strive to capture images that tell their story in the image. Seeing a picture that is part of the story…and the story is in the middle of the picture is incredible.

I love writing, writing, writing…words, words, words to paper…and camera to the eye, click, click, click. I am addicted and can not seem to get enough…I am always scanning my surroundings…outside or inside looking for a creative image to shoot pictures of…thinking the whole time of words to write with it

I love capturing that shot that draws you into the shot…such as this group of beautiful clouds that hang and build as I take shot after shot of their incredible majestic beauty.

Horses are another one of my favorite subjects as they are so spiritual…so intuitive to your thoughts and your spirit….horses are God’s gift to us or maybe we are God’s gift to our horses. In this shot Melody was waiting for her breakfast, standing in a headwind with full expectations of her food and knowing that first she would get loved on as we greeted each other…she is so incredibly perceptive…and has such a huge heart of love for me…I am truly blessed by her each time I see her and spend time with her:)

And you know how much I love Minnie Mouse…she also is one of my favorites to take pictures of…she is very photogenic and lots of fun…she will fetch her bouncy ball toy and pack it back and forth to me as she wants me to throw it again…loves her red colored mouse and also her squeak brown mouse that actually looks like one…and she loves to throw her toys up in the air to catch them and then she will roll all over with them…Minnie is an amazing part of our lives…she has our hearts…and she thinks I am weird with my camera taking pictures of her but she lets me and just loves me back…my blessing kitty girl:)

I was experimenting with my camera when I noticed the clouds and sky were doing incredible things but the sun was right in my face…after debating I thought well ok lets just go with it and shoot anyway:)

Clouds, light and colors…stir my creative juices into a frenzy and my writers brain kicks into overdrive with ideas.

Ethereal images speak deep to my heart as the soft light of eternity falls from above.

Magical moments softly shinning…

And then because it is now spring in Juniper…the wind picks up blowing the dark clouds up and away…replacing them with beautiful colors and golden light.

My ethereal clouds are almost gone but the sky is clearing and the clouds are changing to new views of…

Magical incredible clouds that are artistically wispy and perfect for a shot.

I love spring weather and clouds…you never know from minute to minute what to expect!

And I never get tired of our views, our crazy weather and incredible clouds…the landscape and our life here in Juniper Canyon!

Minnie Mouse Is The Queenie Of My House

09 Feb 2012 10 Comments

by Hot Rod Cowgirl in Family, Life, Lifestyles, Minnie, Minnie Mouse, Minnie My Cat, Photography Tags: , , ,

Minnie Mouse Is The Queenie Of My House  and My Life:) She is my constant companion and bestest ever friend.

Today Minnie wanted to add a blog entry… so I’m turning it over to her:)

 Uhhh Mom can I finish my bath first…I am so embarrassed that you caught me…I am very fastidious about my coat and stripes not being crossed up anywhere.

Meow and Hello, my name is Minnie…Mouse…and I am the Queen of My Mom’s House…I am a Cool Cat who knows where everything is at!

 I will be 17 years old on Mother’s Day this year…am I not the most precious and extremely wise kitty you ever saw? Emphasis on “Precious and Wise…”

I love rolling and playing on my Navajo blanket as it scratches my fur…and it feels sooooo good!

I’m a tiger…no a cheetah…a cougar…I’m bold…I’m rough…and tough… “I’m A Country Cowgirl Cougar Cheetah Cat!!!”

Ohhhh that feels so good to roll around and make my Navajo into a big fat wad with me inside it:) Hee hee as Mom then has to find me and straighten it all out again…kind of fun to make her work:)

Whew I had a workout…stretch…roll…romp…meow…I worked on my obliques and kitty muscle!  I hope Mom has the heating pad nice and warm for me:)

And of course I have several cat tv movies to watch on my laptop under the table…I love my Cat DVD shows with lots of birds and cool squirrels…wowie zowie meowie!!!

See how pretty I am…my heat pad is very complimentary to my colors and I love laying on it next to Mom is her office. Whenever I see Dad head towards the office I race ahead of him to be sure he does not take “my chair”…sometimes he tries to race me but I always win:)

I hate being picked up…I let Mom do it but no one else…she likes to cuddle and hug…uh…hurry up and put me down:) I love my Mommy and even though she gives me hugs like this and sometimes takes me to see the vet in the Burb…which I hate….I know she loves me a lot:)

I am the “Queenie of Mom’s House”…my name is Minnie Mouse….I know where it’s at cuz I’m the cat!!!

Hope you all have a meowie zowie day!!!

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