The Way We Roll

From Becky:

The way we roll... can ya fit one more kid on that thing?  Haha!  I remember my brothers cruising around Juniper like this all the time-I think we need to reenact this photo!  I can see it now you little cuties!  I love my little brothers!

From Ann:

Everything the Juniper boys did fit under the "don't try this at home" category!

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So fun to see old pics and hear stories about the Juniper way!  Let's get this blog going again!!!  I would love to hear from you all, long or short, all memories are welcome!  jami_c_hurst@hotmail.com

-Jami

Sheriff Without a Gun

This is a touching story from Doug.  I think we can all appreciate his sentiments.

“Sheriff Without a Gun”

              In “The Andy Griffith” show Sheriff Andy Taylor refuses to carry a gun. Many find this so odd and so outrageous that a Sheriff would not carry a gun that they; print newspaper articles about it, make TV shows about it and a movie about it. Andy Taylor is a man you can trust. He is a friend to everybody. And he will always do the right thing and never let you down. Andy Taylor does not need a gun, he is respected.

              Having been raised on a Dairy I was taught that when you die there are four Kingdoms of Glory. I would imagine that most are familiar with these but for those who weren't aware of the fourth let me just say that it is a special place prepared for the Dairymen. Where God having realized the hardships associated with dairy cows allows a few more things to slide. Most common among these is swearing. Now it is just impossible to work with an animal as stubborn as a milk cow and not cuss just a little bit, or so Dairy Lore would have you believe. Even more incredible to me than a "Sheriff without a gun" is a dairyman who will not swear. Earlier on it came to my attention that Uncle Ross did not swear. I had my doubts as to whether or not that was even possible for a dairyman so I began to pay close attention.  Ross has never let me down. As I saw his example I thought to myself, if he can do it then I can do it. Turns out as colorful as a milk parlor can be some nights, construction job sites can be much worse. And when I am in those situations, still, I think of Ross.

              This may seem like a very small and insignificant thing to some of you, but for me it is huge it has allowed me to have a much greater degree of self-respect and to think that at least in one thing no matter the situation you can count on me to do the right thing.

               I have often thought, “Wouldn't it be nice to raise my kids in Mayberry.” As I have pondered on this I have realized that I can. I just have to surround my kids with people like Uncle Ross who, like Andy Taylor, is a man you can trust. A friend to everyone. And who no matter what will always do the right thing and never let you down.

“The Dairyman Who won’t Swear”

Thank You Uncle Ross

Mini-motorist

So just a quick post of random things I remember about learning to drive Juniper style…

My very first memory of “driving” is sitting on my dad’s lap steering the tractor, I might have been 3 or 4… Dad?

Secondly I remember being in kindergarten and “driving” Old Blue while Dad loaded the back… that must have been the longest it ever took to load a truck… Dad would jump down and give it some gas (I couldn't reach the pedals) then he would hop on back as I steered down the center of two rows, and then he would hop off and give it some gas… and on it went.  Looking back, we must have been picking up a few leftover bales or something, it seems ridiculous to try and do a legit load in this manner.

Finally, in 4^th grade, when it was time to learn to drive for real, Dad taught me to drive in the Chevy Luv (what a great ride) we would drive in the field and around the farm.  Haha… I remember once heading to the barn from the house, apparently I gave it a little more gas than Dad thought necessary (yup, started right at the beginning!) so he yanked the E-brake part-way down the hill and saved the day. 

Later that summer, we were in the field near Henrie’s and Dad found himself without a needed tool.  So I got sent on my first solo trip.  I don’t know that Mom was nearly as impressed as I was.  So that was it… I was a driver.  And like every 4^th grader, I was now ready to show off my new skills to passengers.  So, Kristen in tow, we set off on an adventure…

However.

I got confused regarding the gearing… I was thinking I needed to be in 4^th gear to go up the hill.

Oops.

So again, down by Henrie’s, I only made it part way up the hill before it died… frightening.  But with my superb skills we backed straight down the road.

No we didn't. 

We ended up in the sagebrush.  We were upright though, with no noticeable damage to the Luv.  Of course we had an audience… TJ, Tyler, I’m sure some of the Campbell boys, and I don’t know who else came by just in time to add to my embarrassment.  Don’t you worry though, I got the gearing all figured out and I was a pro by the time it came time for Drivers Ed the summer between 8^th and 9^th grade.

Side note: that summer I was also in 4-H… sewing was not my favorite thing.  I just wanted to be done, Dad came in as mom was trying to convince me to take my time and do a good job on my shorts (what???).  He told me that if I drove the sewing machine like that he would think that that’s how I drove his pick-up and he would have to take away my driving privileges.  Boo. :(

Mike and I took private lessons in Burley so we could get the lessons over quick and would be available to help on the farm (I think that’s why they put us in private lessons).  Anyway… the difference between the two of us and the “city folk” was striking to say the least.  I remember Mike and I looking at each other like “Is this guy for real?”  When we pulled into the gas station and the teacher wanted to know if we knew how to gas up the car.  We also heard horror stories about the other students.  Like when two separate students ran off the road into the same person’s front lawn… oopsie! 

One more driving story comes to mind, the city cousins came to visit, one who was a little older than me (I was 15) had never driven.  I thought “I’ll let you drive!”  Bad idea… I thought we were going over the hill by Crippen’s.

I didn't let her drive home.

Dad wasn't happy that I let her drive at all.

What are your best “learning to drive in Juniper stories?”  Or for you parents your best “watching kids learn to drive in Juniper stories?”

The Juniper Shelter

From Jerica:

At the Cassia County fair,  Juel told me it was my turn to write in the blog. I know it was a couple weeks ago but life has been...well, life. 

At my family reunion a few weeks ago, we were talking about how my older 4 siblings got to do a lot and the younger 4 got the shaft of "life". We never went on vacation, had swimming lessons, and many more. My dad kept saying stuff like "how horrible of parents" they were. It got me thinking about everything they did do for us. Sure we did the majority of stuff on the dairy or down at the flat but i learned a lot that other kids didn't learn. After living in a city since 18 yrs old i was able to see how different "city-folk" are. 

I recently got a job in Twin Falls and I am now outside of the Mormon bubble. I didn't know how much of a culture shock just moving to Twin is. I hear the stories and life styles my coworkers have chosen and I can't help but be happy for the examples my parents have shown. I have made some mistakes in my life but not as serious as those of my coworkers and I know I couldn't have the life I do now without the hard work and example of my parents. I have chosen what I did in my life for myself. Growing up in Juniper has built a huge shelter over my head but I wouldn't be who I am without my childhood/teenage years taking place in Juniper or without the parents I have. 

I keep thinking about those general conference Sundays when the kids would go outside and play soccer with two of us in tutus or playing softball by the grain shed or even those hot summer days filling up the "swimming pool" and freezing because the water was so cold but we swam anyway because we have tough skin. 

Being head butted, kicked, stepped on, etc has molded us to who we are. I don't know about you or anyone else but I take pride in who I am, who my parents are,  and where I grew up. 

Building Haystacks

Sorry it has been a while since the last story... you know how Summers go.  Here are some great memories from Crystal.  I can relate on all counts.  Especially the part about Uncle Ross... he was some kind of mind wizard with those bales... it was rare, but I remember getting him good once with Dad... I can still hear the  "hohhh... boy" as he attempted to lift the greenest of green bales... followed by laughter all around, including from Ross himself.  I also echo her thanks.  

Good times!

From Crystal:

I got to buck bales this week at work!  Okay, so the bales were something like 20"x10"x10" and covered in plastic wrap, but still.  We got about 50 of these little straw bales in this week in preparation for fall, they came with an assortment of scarecrows.  As I was throwing these bales off our conveyer belt as fast as I could ...stacking them with proper farm technique mind you, I couldn't help but be taken back to all those days on top of the stack having bales sent up the elevator at us as fast as the people below could send them.  The girls down stairs kept trying to turn off the belt cause they thought I had more than I could handle, but that farm pride had kicked in and I let them know that those things could come up as fast as they could send them.
 
It made me stop and think about everything I do.  I think everything I do I'm still just building haystacks.  I work with the same competitive speed I learned from competing with Douglas and trying to live up to Jami's reputation.  I maintain the same pride I had in trying to make sure my part of the stack was not the one weaving and lopsided.  I know I didn't always succeed in this, but I also learned in the act of building haystacks how to maintain a positive expression no matter how hot and tired I was.  I learned to enjoy my work and how to have fun when I worked.  Ross had an incredible ability to make light bales look heavy and heavy ones look much lighter.  This was horrible on the back, but good for the spirit.  I couldn't help but laugh every time I about threw a hay bale over my head or didn't even manage to move it in my first attempt because I had unconsciously judged it's weight based on the way Ross had given it to me.  I leaned that to sit down is the kiss of death, it is much harder to get going again after you have rested.   

I maintain pride in knowing I can do hard things and receive the same satisfaction when I look over my work.  There is no better feeling in the world then looking over a well completed haystack and knowing all the work you put into it.
 
Thanks to all who taught me how to build haystacks.

Forts

I love, Love, LOVE this one from Crystal.  Forts were a big part of growing up Juniper style.  Where else would kids be allowed to exercise such creativity?

From Crystal:

I think we should give mention to the many clubs and clubhouses/forts that accounted for so many of our days.  I particularly remember being a small child and being excluded from the “big” kid’s club house.  Where if I remember right Jami was queen and Aaron was king ….dang they were cool. 

But I do believe that when we became the “big” kids (Doug, Brad, Laura, Jerica, Myself and occasionally the younger boys Jason, Forest and Levi) is when the real fort building took place.  The “old house” or old church farm grain bin was really a carpentry experience training facility.  We were not shy about stealing old slabs of wood and less old buckets of nails and hammers to turn our “old house” into a three story mansion.  

Of course accomplishing this feat did not come without some painful learning experiences.  For example: If you slip while standing on the bar which stretches across the rooms (the only way to reach the third floor area with your hammer) you should make sure to gracefully fall in front of or behind said bar and not take it up the center.  

When building a swing use enough twine.  

When building a floor use enough support boards and nails.

The best feature of our fort was the trampoline swing.  We found the frame of an old one man jumper; you know the kind the little trampolines that are about two feet wide and 8 in off the ground.  The frame had only two legs remaining.  Simply by hanging the legs on the bar that ran through the center of the house we had the best swing man has ever built (we just had to remember not to swing to high or the entire thing would jump of the bars….which happened many a time).  

Second best feature was probably the toilet in the corner …don’t know what that was ….Doug?

Does anyone have a picture of the “old house?”  Remember the lean on that thing?  …haha, and yet we had no qualms about standing on the roof.

The “old house” was not our only fort, just the most popular.  We also had “the valley,” and old pig pen …the one where we lost the hammers and made Dad and Ross not too happy, we had forts in the mountains and forts in the straw stacks (remember picking buckets of carrots, who knew that 10 gallons of carrots was not a feasible lunch for 5 kids).   

P.S.  If any of you do have a pic of said house send it my way and we will get it attached to this post.  jami_c_hurst@hotmail.com

Fireworks

From Jerica:

Laura and I were reminiscing on the good 'ol days in Juniper when we remembered the story of Brock and the firework.  I'm not sure what it was but I think it was one of those bloom flower ones. Anyway, we were standing at the end of the sidewalk where the two bushes were, lighting these fireworks when one burned a hole in Brad's shorts and went up my shirt and making its own exit. It was my favorite Scooby-Doo t-shirt too. My mom just found out about that story last night and the look on her face let us know she wasn't too thrilled about it happening, but just laughed it off anyway.

Thanks Jerica.  I remember lighting one of Kristen's night shirts on fire with one of those party poppers.  And, if I know Brock and the rest of the Juniper boys, there are plenty more "fireworks" stories to be shared. ;)