Why We Live Where We Do Part Two

Last time we covered part of the reason that we live where we do being Juniper T Ranch...cows, horses, mountains, family. This time I want to tell you about the house we live in....which is next to the HSL Shop we built on the ranch here in Juniper Canyon.

The house was built in 1920 by my Grandfather Gunder for his mother, my great Grandmother Anne Marie. Grandpa came to America the first time when he was 13 years old from Norway. He came alone and ended up shipwrecked in the Azores. He finally made it to Nebraska for a few years and then came to Oregon in the 1880's. He began homesteading the land here where we live and eventually had a large farm to support his family on.

This picture of the ranch was taken late 1940's. The barn was built in 1909, my Dad remembered his father having around 75-80 head of work horses to work the land. Today there is a large shop between the barn and the smaller building...I remember before the shop was built in 1960...my shoulder was broken when I was two years old in the corral in front of the barn...I wanted to go see the horse's...and I did on my own and then fell and was stepped on. The house is hidden by trees...which I wish we still had.

This was my Grandparents house in town. On the porch is my Grandmother Karen and the two little boys are my Dad and his older brother. This would be around 1916.

This is our home around 1958....my parents were adding the patio that we still use today.

When Grandpa built the house, he had 7 kids and two yet to be born. My Dad remembered hauling lumber to build the house from Helix which is 8 miles away by horse and wagon with his Dad. Grandpa wanted to bring his mother over from Norway...he had already brought over his brothers and sister. When the house was finished Anne Marie came to Juniper Canyon when she was 76 years old. Can you imagine how this new world looked to her then? No electricity and dirt roads....with few neighbors....yet she came to be with her family. She lived here in this house until 1938 when she passed away at 94.

My parents got married in 1939 and Grandpa asked them to move into the house. This picture was taken at the U of O around 1938...they make a cute couple...they were married for 59 strong years.

Harvest behind our house August 16, 1938. Machinery had replaced work horses by then.

My Mom in her Norwegian apron in the front yard of our home. She was beautiful to me.

The picket fence was replaced with a log fence.

Eventually I came along....this is my first horse Prince...I was 4 years old in this picture with the house in the background. My Dad had me on a horse by the time I was 2 years old and that began a lifetime love of horses for me.

There is a familiar pattern to our lives here. Much like many of the vehicles we restore, there is a history woven into the fabric of HSL and why we chose to build our shop here...we are home.

Something about history...and family.