Isis

North West Native, 4th generation. My Great, Great , Grandmother on my fathers, Mothers side and another one from my Mothers ,Fathers side came over on covered wagons over the Oregon trail. My Great Grandfather was a riverboat captain in the Yukon, in Dawson ,Alaska..................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ............................Fir trees , salt air ,rain and foggy days are in my blood. Born 1953 in what once was a much smaller city,Seattle. I LOVE SunShine! I crave sun shine....................................................... ............................................................ ............................................................ ..................................I Grew up in the Pacific North West, near a cattle ranch. " The Boone Ranch". I owned a horse and herded cattle every week and rode daily. The cattle ranch was one of the last, large working, western cattle ranches on the west side of the cascade mountains, closer to the seattle area. They raised Herford cattle in a big beautiful valley of hundreds of acres. They had three barns and manys different pastures with "North Creek" that went running down through the middle of the ranch. They raised their own hay too. I rode western, and was and still am a Cowgirl at heart....................................................... ............................................................ ...........................................They had a cattle round up once a year where cowboys and gals came from all across the northwest states to be there and help out with the round up. I remember the horses trailers and cowboys. When it came to the branding time, with hot from the fire branding irons , burning cattle hair and flesh. I would ride away put some space between me and the cattle ring- they Also gave them shots if needed and castrated the young bulls. I still remember the horrible cry of the calves.UGH :(((((...................................................... .........................................................One time Slim Pickins even came up with his horse.It was a fun and exciting event for a 10 year old. Lots of cattle roping and cutting horses. There was a big B.B.Q. at the end of the round up with a whole cow buried in the ground, under a bon fire. They took it out many hours later when it finished cooking for the dinner and party. They also had what they called Rocky Mountain Oysters.The big joke. I Never wanted to eat them . Ugh.. I never did learn to rope a cow, and never used any spurs on my horse, but was a cowgirl anyway...................................................... ............................................................ ...When I wasn`t herding cattle ,I loved to ride bareback on my horses, no western saddle, No saddle sores on your knees etc. Many times when I rode bareback I pretended to be a Native Indian Princess or Annie Oakley. I always felt some how a bit connected with the Northwest Indians, I think their spirits are still here, and where I grew up. Funny because I am a mix of Mostly Swedish , Norwegian, English, Scottish, and then some, French, Dutch, but it was rumored there may be a tiny bit of Indian from the french candian side.? Hum I`m Blond and Blue eyed. I have much respect for the Native American Indians and their culture. I love their Art.I love how they revere nature.I remember haying time in the lower fields and following behind the tractors on the horses, and watching the field mice run out., the little dogs would chase after them, but not catch them. The handsome cute high school boys that would throw the hay in the trucks, in the summer. Alot of hard work for them............................................In the winter the lower fields would flood and freeze over, enough that we we go ice skating. In the late summer the hay barns would be full of fresh hay. I love the smell of fresh hay in the barn. There was one barn that was prefect for playing in. The hay was stacked high with a loft that had more hay. From the loft there was a knotted rope that you could jump off from the loft and hang onto the rope and go for a swing then jump down on the pile of hay below. This was really fun! North creek was a creek that ran through the fields in the valley that ran into the Sammamish slough. That river had a beautiful wooden bridge that went across it. We would sometimes go fishing in North creek. There were trout and crawdads to play with. My brothers made Hobo stoves out of coffee cans with rolled up cardboard inside of them with wax pouded over the top. When you lite the cardboard it worked great for cooking the trout at the side of the river, for lunch. I have five brothers and two sisters. Always someone to play with. I had a horse named Lady Blaze, she was 17 hands tall. A brown and white Pinto, she was beautiful and gental, and a wonderful jumper. I would take her up to the riding ring with my sister and her horse and we would spend the day jumping them. She seemed born to jump. I would jump her over barrel height and bare back. I won a blue ribbon barrel racing. I road bare back when I wasn't herding cattle. I could jump up off the ground onto her bare her back and ride off in the blink of an eye, I loved the freedom and adventures. I still do. I was a bit of a free run wild child and a bit of a tom boy, to do all the things in the country, and also still very much a girl. In the summer the grass along the river would grow about five feet tall. Walking through it beside the river you would hear a very low loud Ribit sound, and wonder what could make that sound? Sneaking through the grass to find the creature. It took many trys , they were fast, but with the help of my older brothers we caught one, It was a Giant bullfrog. The river was a wonderful place always changing, but the same too. It the summer they had the Hydro plane races. They started at lake Sammamish, came racing down the slough, under the Bothell bridge and then down lake Washington to Seattle. We would make a big day of it in Bothell with the whole town down at the bridge and the river to watch. There was always the fear that one of the boats would mash up on the supports of the bridge, and they did one time. In the summer when the grass was so high along the river we would ride our horses and be able to just fall off of them into the grass. The grass was so tall , thick and soft, that this could be a game too.............................................. Old Queenie lived down by the river too. She was very old and hunched over and kind women. She had a glass eye and lived in the first house that was built in Bothell. She let us play in her back yard , she had beauitful grape arbors with 30 different kinds of grapes she let us eat if we wanted. Bothell did have it share of ecentrics, Bottle Annie, Elmer Carlberg and others. Mr. Lebo also lived down the hill from us by the river. He raised exotic chickens and pheasants. He would take some of his roosters to the Vetulli Farm across the valley, on Saturday nights ,where they had cock fighting. Across the road from the Libows house was an old shut down log house. It was surrounded by over grown fields and Rhododendron bushes that had grown into 30 foot high trees. There were magic yellow stepping stone pathway that lead through the woods and down to the creek. Another way to get there....................................................... ............................. Across from our Home was a old pioneer cemetery. My Great grandmother and Grandfather are buried there., They were from Sweden and Norway but immigrated around 1910? The cemetery was almost another play ground. We always respected they graves, but it was a old and mostly unkept and overgrown. The graves had elaborate iron fences around the different family plots. There were trees that were perfect for climbing and sliding out of. Tons of little brown lizards,and baby gardner snakes that baked themselves in the hot summer sun. Across the fence and the sloping wooded cattle field was the Magic Pond, where many summer days were spent , boating on old logs and dreaming and playing the summers away........................................................ ............................................................ ............................................................ .......................................When I was around 12 years old I was given a small turquoise transitor radio for my birthday, this was a fairly new thing back then, and obsolete now. When I was suppose to be asleep, at night, I would listen to the radio in bed. I found the Best radio station that I had ever heard. It was KRAB Radio. It was a alternative radio station in the 1960s. They played music from around the world. They played Old Blues Music, I fell in love with old blues music, and all kinds of music. One thing led to another, I heard FATS WALLER sing "I want some seafood Mama", I was hooked. Then I started collecting 78 records, before I knew it, I had stacks of records and Lps and 45s.....................................................Oh My, I still need to take the time and get help with setting up a turn-table to my computer to add them to Mp3s . It is an amazing collection, some rare. I don't have any time for it yet. It will have to come later in my life ............................................................ ...............................................