Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Trick Riding

Hunting - Let me just tell you right from the get go…..I’m not a hunter. I have nothing against hunting but any of you that know me will very well know that …… Patient & Quiet…..well….they just aren’t my strong point!
Here is what I shot : ; )









I called my Dad when I got home to tell him that “Hunting” just wasn’t my thing. The whole Patient & Quiet ….just aren’t my thing. He replies ya, No kiddin! Remember the Trick Riding
Here is an ol’ story for ya. (To this day, this is one of my Dad’s very very favorite stories to tell)

TRICK RIDING ~
Dad, Matt D, and I head out with the pack horse to take some salt blocks up to the cows. I love Medicine Lodge now…..but when I was little….I hated it! I was terrified of heights and it took all the gumption I could muster to not worry myself to death. We are riding on a road…..so looking back at it logically….It couldn’t be that steep.
Well, we are out on top and the salt goes on the next ridge. We get to a big Up & Down in the road. On the other side is one of the biggest herds of elk you’ve ever seen! Dad says to me, “Let’s be really quite and see how close we can get to them.” The three of us head down the dip in the road. Roanie, my horse, and I are being very cautious. Ok, well, I’m actually holding him up. He is taking baby steps down the grade for me. Pretty soon, Dad & Matt get to the bottom and are making their way up the upside. I, however, am still only half way down. Well, ol’ Roanie decides that he has had about enough of that. (Or as my Dad tells it…He decided not to let this dumb girl get him lost & he better get with the rest of the herd)
Roanie & I take off like a race horse out of the gate! SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS as we blow by Dad and reach the top of the ridge! When Dad gets up to me he is mentions something about to Matt about “So much for being quiet” and then says to me……I SAW YOU TRICK RIDING!!!!
I had just survived what I thought to be a brush with death….and he was accusing me of TRICK RIDING!!! Oh, I was so mad! Don’t worry after him re-telling it thousands of times…I just nod, smile, and revel in being the star of the story : )

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  • Lil' Red Roan Party ~ October 28th ~ Dillon, MONTANA

Lil' Red Roan , Scentsy, & Mary Kay Party!

When: October 28th, 2010

Time: 6:30

Where: Jody Beck Siderius home

151 Mustang Lane ~Dillon, MT

Join us for food, fun, and friends!!!

  • Lil' Red Roan OPEN HOUSE PARTY~ November 11 & 13th!!!!

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Guys...perfect time to pick out something for your special lady! We will be making WISH LISTS too!

Come see are full lines of jewelry, pocket knives, headstalls, love letters, picture frames, western tales & much more!!!

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Stop in Thursday or Saturday & see some of the your local hidden treasures!!!

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Question #3 Principle I've Learned

Question #3:

Share a principle you have learned, or one you have taught.

This question was really hard for me. Maybe because I’m never really sure what I know. Just because it is true for me, doesn’t mean it is that way for you. After much thought, I decided to write on a principle I know to be true for me. (If you are writing to yourself, guess that is the only opinion audience you need to worry about ; ) I will state the principle and then give a lil’ back ground on how I came to learn this knowledge.

The best way to succeed is to discover what you love and find a way to share it with others ~ unknown

If you put your heart and soul into something it will show! I can see a smile when I talk to someone on the phone. Our work is no different!

Lil’ Red Roan is a company I started a few years ago. It is a small business carrying my Mom’s leather products, some of my creations, and a few other treasures. Lil’ Red Roan is one of the ways that I share what I love with others. Almost everything in the store….I LOVE!!!! I’m a horrible salesman & just can’t sell it if I don’t believe in it!

For example:

Lady Leg Pocket Knives : Since I was real young, my Dad has always been real adamant about packing a pocket knife so you had it when you needed it. Well, 3 or 4 years ago, I lost my favorite knife! I tried to replace it with an identical knife but it just wasn’t the same. The knife company had changed hands and the quality just wasn’t the same. The search was on! I set out to find a new knife that I loved & could pack every day. I found these lady leg knives and fell in love! The knives came sharp, held an edge good and durable! I loved them and had to share them with all my girlfriends! They each got one for Christmas.

Sortin’ Pens:In college, I received an award and part of that award was a Sortin’ Pen. It was an awesome award! It was commending being a good person (can’t remember what the specific words were but that was the jist) Well, this award did 2 extraordinary things for me! 1st in fueled a fire in me to want to commend and reward “People Caught Being Good”! I will elaborate on that later. 2nd , I was so proud of my new Sortin’ Pen that I started backing it everywhere with me….right next to my pocket knife! If you would have told me that I would pack a $30 writing pen….I would tell you that you were crazy! I started packing it and soon…It was a necessity! I Loved It! They are perfect size to fit in your pocket, writes in all types of weather, upside down, freezing, raining, all the time…It works! Perfect for anyone working in the back pens at a rodeo because you have it when you need it & it works!!! I loved them so much that I started getting them for all our rodeo crew members to say Thank You….and just because I think they make life so much easier! Now we are all packing them! They are a must have! Last twice as long as a regular pen, lifetime guarantee, and the refills are only five dollars!

Love Letters from the West: The most valuable thing I learned in my customer service class in college (or one of the only this I retained) was the importance of THANK YOUS! I took this to heart and when I started working as a sales representative for Stoecklein Publishing & had NO IDEA what I was doing….I tried to treat people as I would want to be treated and show SINCERE GRATTITUDE for taking the time for me in their day and every order placed. THANK YOU’s carried over into my rodeo career. Committees, Crew, Friends, Family, and all the people that make it possible to do what I love every weekend. If you can imagine, that is a lot of cards!

Well, my dear friends gave me a camera one Christmas & I started taking pictures in my travels. It seemed only natural to send a picture from the weekend to say “Thank You for Sharing Your Day with Us” ….and thus “Love Letters from the West” was born! I love my cards! I love to travel! I love to see beautiful things, capture them in my camera and share them with you!

I love to send love letters and brighten someone’s day.

I love to be able to give a sincere compliment. When you see something praise worthy or admirable….Let people know! (Trait that I learned from my dear college roommate, Tiffany Wagner)

I love when you can give the perfect gift…just what they wanted & even better than they expected! It doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive….sometimes just the kind words they needed to hear at the exact right time.

Time spent uplifting, encouraging, and serving others is always well spent.

I am constantly discovering what I LOVE! Lil’ Red Roan is one of the ways that I share it with others.

Another LOVE for me is writing! I love to tell stories! My blog, Rodeo Tales & Gypsy Trails is a great outlet for me. It is therapy for me. It makes me feel better, get it all out and starts a fire inside of me! I love to pair pictures and great quotes together! More and more I write as tho I am writing to myself. Seems that I can speak more openly when I’m the only one listening ; ) I think if you speak from the heart people will hear you and if what you say brings a smile to one other persons face then you are successful.

Discovering what I LOVE & finding a way to Share it with others….


Tuesday, October 19, 2010

One Day at a Time - #2 Brothers & Sisters

One Day at a Time ~ #2 Brothers & Sisters

Did you have more brothers or sisters? Did you get along with them? If not, why?

Good Mornin Mornin! Hello Sunshine! This could be a complicated question for me. Both of my parents are remarried and the number of siblings has surpassed what you can count on your fingers. I'm going to answer this question from the view point of my youth. Growing up I was the 1st born to Jay & Nancy Hoggan. Later, my younger brother Eric would come. Followed closely by my youngest sister Rita.


Left to Right: Eric, Rita, Mindy

We fought like cats and dogs it seemed like :) Usually over who was doing the most work or while we were doing chores. Whether any of us would admit it or not....mostly it was because we were all just too dang similar.

My favorite memories growing up with Eric were riding up in Medicine Lodge for the cattle association. Dad would go one way and send us together another way. We never fought on the mountain when we were alone. We had to work together to be able to make figure out where we were going and get our jobs done. (Truth be told, our old horses kept us from getting lost most of the time, I'm sure)

Eric and I rode alot when we were young. There wasn't a loading chute at our house so we rode to Grandpa's to load the rodeo stock on the semi. We had a good path beat down through the gutters as we trailed to Grandpa's. Our time riding together we visited, played, and were best friends. Pretty sure we even held up a train or too in our travels back and forth from house to house.

Some of the wire gates were too tight for us to get open so I would get off my horse and put Eric's rope around it and hand it back to him. He would dally up to the 'Old Blonde Bomb Horse and pull it tight so I could get the wire off.

Don't get me wrong....we fought alot & hard sometimes. We didn't stop until we drew blood. Sure miss that lil' guy and the fights we could've got in if he had stuck around a lil longer.

Rita was another story. She was younger and didn't go with Eric and I as much. (I was always pretty certain that she was the favorite!) There is 5 years between Rita and I. It wasn't until I went off to college and we had some space that we appreciated we other a little more. We are SO MUCH ALIKE! That is part of the reason we still can drive each other crazy! To this day, certain mutual friends won't hang out with us together. :)

Regardless, I love her. We have had hundreds of miles of fun, rodeos and road trips. Boy crazy rants, alive at 25 driving advice and conversations that only a Hoggan girl could understand :)

Probably gonna have to send her a Love Letter today and remind her how awesome she is!

Thank You for reading and taking the time to visit Rodeo Tales & Gypsy Trails!
THANK YOU!!!

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Monday, October 18, 2010

One Day At a Time Challenge ~ #1 Chores





Over 10 years ago, I was at an activity where we did a “ONE DAY AT A TIME” jar and journal. The concept is this:

One Day at a Time :

This little jar celebrates something important – YOU! If you will follow this simple plan, you will find that before this time next year, you will have a personal history finished.
All you need to do is draw out one slip of paper a day (or once a week but it will take longer to finish)

On the paper you will find a question. Spend a few minutes just enjoying the remembering! Then paste the question to the top of your blank page and begin to tell about it. TELL YOUR STORY!!!

Well, that is great in theory but over a decade later….I’ve only done 3 or 4 slips. SO…I’m going to give it another try! Here on my blog I will post a question and my story. Anyone who wants to take the challenge….TELL YOUR STORY!!! Strength in numbers : )

Here goes with question #1

Growing up where you responsible for any household chores? What were they? What did you most enjoy? What did you least enjoy?

Growing up was I responsible for any household chores? This question made me giggle. Oh man, my Dad felt it his person obligation to try to keep us kids with “SOMETHING TO DO”! He was always threatening to buy a milk cow so that we could get up in the morning and milk it. Thank the good Lord above he never came thru on that one.

I had a variety of chores ranging from bottle feeding bum calves to pitching up hay to the bulls. One year hay was expensive & grain was cheap so Dad filled the grain bins. We would take the wheel barn, a coffee can, used grain bags to bag our own grain and feed all the horses. It was such a pain but geez was I strong at the end of that summer!

Probably the coolest was another year of high hay, Dad bought old bread from the Day Old Store. We would bring home pickup & trailer loads of old bread, pudding pies, twinkies, ect. It was pretty cool for awhile….made for a cool story any ways : ) One time the grain bin was a couple feet deep in DAY OLD products and it rained….leaking in on the breads. You can’t stand knee deep in moldy twinkies without having reprocustions! Just seeing that stuff at a gas station would make me want to puke for about a year!

It’s hard to say what my least favorite was…..

Shoveling manure out the big semi trailer by hand, having to scale a big loaf bale to get to the top to pitch hay to the mangers, cleaning & oiling saddles…. They all seemed to be pretty miserable at the time. I did appreciate the sense of accomplishment when you finished & had done a good job.

Now looking back I appreciate the fact that my parents made me do them all. I’m glad they show’d us how to work. Lol….I know I was a lot handier in high school than I am now : ) Just got soft at college I guess. Last winter when I helped Dad hook the teams to feed with the sleigh….my 10 year old brother knew more about hooking the harnesses than I did.

Oh well, never a bad age to learn again :)

Pictures from 1998 0r 1999 ~ Doing chores :)






Here are some of my favorite chore stories:

Onery Bull

Mom & Dad had went to Hawaii with a bunch of friends on vacation for a week or so. I was in junior high but couldn't do they chores all by myself so they hired a baby sitter to come watch help. Stephanie Brown (now Hagenbarth), was in high school and she was my sitter! This would be the start of an amazing friendship. There was lots of wild stories from our week together but I'll save those for another time :) Back to chores...

The corral right in front of the house had some bulls in it. One person opened the gate and kept the bulls in while the driver pulled the pickup in. The gate opener then hopped on the pickup and pitched hay into old tire feeders as the driver navigated from feeder to feeder.

Well this one bull was just being onery! He started hooking the flatbed while we were on hit trying to picth hay! We were trapped on the back & couldn't get out of the pen ....or pack in the cab for that matter! Lol....what an onery old bugger anyway!

Aliens

One time when I was in elementary school I had a bottle calf to feed. I got up super early because I wanted to have time to shower with out smelling like stinky calf milk. I go out in the dark of the morning to feed my calf that was penned under the old lean to room in one of the corrals. All of the sudden...there were RED LIGHTS FLYING THROUGH THE AIR towards us! It was HUGE! Flying low and right down the road towards us! I was certain it was aliens coming to get me and my baby calf! I grabbed it and hid in the back corner as far as we could get! I was just sure they were coming to get us!!!!

After it passed, I ran to the house just as fast as I could!!!! Mom & Dad were pretty sure that it was a helicopter ...but you'll never fully convince me :)

This assignment brings a whole slew of stories to mind! Like hitting my horse with the tractor, riding at the sheep station, Twizzler straws and many more that will have to wait for another day :)

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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Magic Spring Water

Flash back in time with a story that I wrote in high school. …..K, it was going to be exactly what I wrote in high school….but it was driving me crazy! I left it pretty much the same but some typos were more than I could handle :)

The assignment was:

Places in Your Life

October 31, 1998

Magic Spring Water

Medicine Lodge has been a great place in my life. It is possibly the most uncivilized place I’ve been to, but it definitely has close knit people in it. The neighbors are always stopping in to check up on you, see how you’re doing, or just say “hi”.

When I was young my Dad worked for a cattle association as a range rider. Eric & I would have to go help him. We would stock up on food in Dubois and stay up at one of the two cow camps for weeks at a time. I hated to go up there. I would bawl and bawl until I was almost sick because I was afraid of heights. I would try to bribe my way into staying home with offering to wash the dishes, mop, and even the contents of my “Big Boy” piggy bank. However, It hardly ever worked.

The fun had just begun! I usually got car sick on the way to the ranch from going back and forth on the windy canyon road. When we got to cow camp, we’d head out for the day’s ride. Upon returning, we’d unpack all of our groceries and set in for the night.

The eating situation was VERY interesting. My Dad would fry up some butter with a little bit of food. When we were riding, usually we wouldn’t eat. If we did eat, it was food and water we packed with us. It was usually a “Ring of Red” (baloney) and a loaf of bread. However, every once in awhile we got delicacies. I remember one time when Eric, Dad, and I rode to the Divide Creek Lake. Dad had Spam right out of the can with the jelly still on it and plastic imitation cheese. We got a slice of cheese and a slice of ham…..that we HAD to EAT….in order to get the PRIZE PIECE of Pepto Bismo Pink Peppermint Candy!!! It was awful but I gagged it down…mainly because Dad made me. (Truth be told, I think I fed some of the cheese to the fish ; )

When we got back to cow camp that night, Dad fixed big nice hamburgers. He said we could only take a Hamburger Bun if we would eat it! I took a bun and promised to eat it! Not only did I not eat it all….I only took 1 bite before I decided that I didn’t feel so good.

Dad placed a cooking pot next to my green army mummy sleeping bag. That night I not only puked up all that awful spam and pink peppermint candy, but I missed the pan! Ugg, the inside of the canvas cover on my bed roll was filled! The next morning my Dad made me clean it out and I almost puked again. I ran to the outhouse and there was a snake on the seat!

That brings us to a whole other part of the Lodge. There is tons of amazing wildlife. Almost every day we would see deer, elk, and antelope. There was also porcupines, moose, skunks, beavers, mountain goats, mountain sheep, bears, cats and the occasional raccoon. Not to mention the mice and squirrels that would run around in the cabin ceiling & as you tried to sleep. We had a few scary run ins with wildlife, like our dog getting eaten by a bear. Usually we just got to enjoy their presence. If they watched, I’m sure we were rather amusing too. We had our fair share of cool wrecks, small farm accidents, and rolling down hill sides.

It has wonderful scenery. The water runs crystal clear as it bubbles down the mountain sides. The vast lakes are breathe taking as they reflect the lush mountain side in the rippling waves. The trees are gorgeous green with the scent of pine or sagebrush in the air. The most breath taking is probably the canyon in the fall. It is illuminated in gorgeous reds, yellows, and oranges.

Medicine Lodge being the wonderful place it is, you just have to share it with others. We have had numerous friends come join us for pack trips into the Lodge. Now that I’m older, I gather up friends and we go in by ourselves to go exploring. I have to point out all the spots that awed me as a child. The old mine, homesteads, miner cabin, Indian half moon rocks that were used as fighting barricades, Indian paintings or the St. Bernard on the wall of the canyon.

I’d recite stories of the Magic Spring Water. When I was little, my brother, Dad and I had been riding all day. Eric had got bucked off or something and I didn’t feel good. We were tired and the day wasn’t over. My Dad took us to this stream and told us it was magic spring water that makes you feel all better. We drank it and we cured. We made Dad take us to it all the time so we could drink the Magic Spring Water. When I think back, it was kind of gross. It was water from down in a valley. Even though it was clear and cold, the cows still drank out of it. However, if I was back in that spot today, I’d probably still drink the magic spring water. I hope I’ve let you in on a little piece of my paradise. You can almost taste the cool, cold mountain spring water and your problems magically being cured.

“These mountains are our temples, our sanctuaries, and our resting places.

They are a place of hope, a place of vision, a place of refuge,

a very special and holy place where the Great Spirit speaks with us”

Chief John Snow

Grandma Elaine Hoggan ~ Gathering cows in Medicine Lodge

Fall 1996

So these pictures remind me of another funny story! Grandma, Dad, and I were riding together for gathering the cows off the mountain. We were up on the top and Dad starts to head off the mountain. When I was little I was pretty sure that my Dad picked the worst spot to go off the mountain. I decided I was big kid now and I didn't have to follow my Dad!

Well, Grandma and I took off on our own path. It was fabulous. We were floating off the mountain, right down a nice easy draw. Next thing I know we are between a rock and a hard spot..literally! I have lead us into this spot where we can't go back, can't go sideways, and not really sure that we can go forwards! There is a rock that we have to slide thru and jump sideways a few feet to get past.....??? Ya.....hmmm??? Well, I had to get off my horse because there wasn't enough room for my legs to fit through this sideways jump obstacle. My good Lil' Red Roan made it throw. Pretty sure he would go through fire if I asked him too. Grandma really wanted to go back but he made it back down the mountain.

Admittedly, I've gotten myself into much worse jams than my Dad ever did :)

Looking back reading this made me laugh. I realized how much my writing has changed....& stayed absolutely the same. My writing is me! It is very much like having a conversation with me a.... lil' random but all me! Medicine Lodge is definitely not the most uncivilized place I've been now! May, Idaho & South Ranch are definitely front runners ;) It made me appreciate my Dad taking us kids with him...even though I was a huge bawl baby.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings! Thank You to everyone who takes the time to visit Rodeo Tales & Gypsy Trails! Over 4, 600 views! Crazy!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

Have a great night

Mindy

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Monday, October 11, 2010

All that We Love Becomes a Part of Us

What we have once enjoyed,
we can never lose. All that we love becomes a part of us. ~ Helen Keller

Just a few pictures from a quite sunset drive in Idaho this fall.













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