by Kyra Stanhope
My town is Pendleton. It is in eastern Oregon. It's an "old west" type of town. It's not very big, but it's one of the biggest towns in this part of the state.
It gets really hot here in the spring and summer--even more than 100 degrees! It is always sunny and hot for my birthday, which is in June. It gets so hot here that most people stay indoors because they have air conditioning. If you stay outside you'll sweat like crazy and get a bad sunburn. You have to put on sunscreen before you go out to play.
My family and I live in a nice, big house. It's a two-story house. We keep it clean and organized. We have three big windows in the living room that go from the floor to the ceiling. We see a lovely view of our neighbor's fields, hills, and a highway. We have very pretty sunsets too. That is when our view is the best.
Our three acres of land are pastures for our horses. We have three horses and a pony. Two of our horses are paints. One is black and white and one is brown and white. The other one is reddish brown. He is a quarter horse. My pony is a yellow color. Her name is Popcorn. She is a POA. That means pony of the Americas, a Native American horse.
We have a part-Siamese cat with blue eyes, and we had a dog for a while, but we had to get rid of her because she chased our horses around too much. We still see her because we took her to my grandpa's ranch. She helps him herd his cows.
We almost bought a llama last year because we went to a llama farm for a little vacation. We got to walk the llamas. I even got to take mine in the house and go up and down the stairs! His name was Angelo. I really wanted to keep him. I was sad when I had to leave him. I even had a big candle on my birthday cake, which I called my "Angelo candle" and I wished for him to be my own llama as I blew the candle out. We couldn't buy Angelo because a woman in Montana had already put money down on him. He was really expensive anyway. He cost more than a thousand dollars.
Last summer I won two ribbons at Mustangers. That's a rodeo club for kids. Lots of people around here have horses. Lots of people here are cowboys too. We have a real rodeo in Pendleton called the Pendleton Round Up.
In September, after school starts, our town gets ready for the Round Up. We even get to miss a few days of school for it! Cowboys and cowgirls come from all over the country to be in it or watch it.
People that are in the rodeo come to our school and tell us stuff about it. The queen and princesses of the rodeo come and tell us what they do in the rodeo. They tell us how they do their event. They give us bumper stickers and things that advertise the rodeo. A rodeo clown comes and tells us about his job helping the cowboys so they don't get hurt by the bulls. He gives us wooden nickels to use to buy things at the Round Up. The cowboys talk about their event and show us rope tricks. Most cowboys get to do more than one event. They show us silver belt buckles that they have won at other rodeos. They can ride bucking horses or bulls or do roping.
There's a Native American village that the Indians set up beside the rodeo grounds. Lots of Indians come from all over for the Round Up too. We have many Indians living here in Pendleton. People can walk around in the village and see the tepees and Indians and eat some Indian food. I like the fry bread. You can buy Indian things that are made out of leather and beads and feathers. In the middle of the rodeo the Indians all come out and do a dance and sing. They wear lots of beads and feathers for this dance.
There is also a carnival that comes to town for the Round Up. Main Street is closed to traffic for the rides and food and souvenir stands. You can buy Indian stuff like necklaces made out of beads, or cowboy stuff like hats or silver buckles.
People around town dress like cowboys and cowgirls for the week even if they really aren't. Lots of people from out of town come and pretend they are cowboys and cowgirls. There are cars and people all over the place during Round Up, and it's fun!
In the winter Pendleton gets cold and has lots of snow. We usually get to miss school a few times because the roads get so slippery. I like to build snowmen and go sledding with my little brother and my friends. We have a long lane that goes up to our house that we can sled down. My dad pushes us down real fast! I get a little nervous right before he pushes us, but then I yell loud and it's fun!
We go cross-country skiing and snowmobiling too. We take drives up in the hills where it looks really pretty covered with snow. Sometimes we see deer and elk. My mom says I'm lucky because some years we have a white Christmas. It didn't do that in the town where she grew up, so she gets excited when it snows, too. Lots of people don't like to see it snow because it's hard to drive in, but my mom has a four-wheel drive Chevrolet Suburban and my dad has a pick-up so they don't really mind.
I like living in Pendleton because it's sunny and hot in the summer like summertime is supposed to be and cold and snowy in the winter like winter should be. We get to do lots of fun, special things for both times of the year. If I lived somewhere else I might not be able to do all these things.
Kyra Stanhope, 7, Pilot Rock Elementary School, Pilot Rock.
Lynnea Stanhope, sponsor.
Source: Treasures 3: Stories & Art from Students in Japan & Oregon [Orders]
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