I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs, and the sweat was pouring off me.  It was my first turn at riding the bull and its always amazing to me how high you can fly through the air upside down when they throw you off.  They run the bull through the barn, and all I had to do was drop down on him from the overhang near the barn door as he came thundering through and hang on for dear life.
  The bull came closer and closer to us as we gathered around the door.  Then I dropped onto his muddy bareback with only a hackamore to hang onto, and off into the barn yard we went with everyone screaming "ride i'm out." 
  My ride lasted all of three seconds -- just long enough for me to grab his neck, and off I went.  "What a ride"  I thought as I dusted the mud and dung off of my jeans. That was my first bull ride and I wasn't sure when I would ever take another turn again.  Suddenly we  heard the triangle bell clanging at the ranch house and we had to leave the barn to sing happy birthday to Honey!
  Wow!  What a birthday party we had at the ranch.  The ranch was known as The Fanita Ranch, or most commonly known to the locals as The Scripps Ranch.  A grand spread, up through Sycamore Canyon bordering the Federal property of Camp Elliott Marine Corp Reservation.  The late Josephine Scripps (Josie to her close friends) was the grandame and owner of the Ranch.  One of the kindest and most generous people in the valley to us kids.
  When Josephine got wind that one of the kids in the area (be they from Santee, Lakeside, or even El Cajon) had a birthday coming up, she would invite them and all the kids in the area to the ranch to join in their birthday celebration.  I loved visiting the ranch on a number of occasions in the late 1940s.
  To get to the ranch you had to leave Mission Avenue, now called Mission Gorge Road, and eventually what was to become Carlton Hills Blvd.  There was a narrow curving dirt road that ran north through the river bottom, through some cottonwood trees, and then turning west past a row of cabins built for the ranch hands.  Then a bend north to the main ranch house.  Just beyond the ranch house to the west was the old corn field lying in the Sycamore Canyon creek bottom -- now known as Carlton Oaks Country Club.
  This creek was fed by an artesian well located next to a small stone lined cabin about two miles to the north, very close to a point that quail canyon and Sycamore Canyon met.  This was sweet tasting very drinkable water, bubbling right out of the ground that originally filled Santee Lakes.  The area teemed with large herds of mule deer, lots of cattle, plenty of large rattlesnakes, coyotes, fox and bobcats.  And, a  large horse herd was led by one tough little white Shetland pony.  I watched this little

rascal keep those larger horses right in line.
  There were many stories about Josephine and the ranch.  My personal experience with her and the ranch is  very special.  She doted over us kids and made sure we did things right during our visit.  This particular day was special to Honey, as we all knew her -- it was her birthday we celebrated.  Josephine and the older girls made sure that we all had plenty of home-baked cake and home-made ice cream, yummmers!
  The ranch hands provided all the animals for us to ride for our mini rodeos.  We had goats, horses, young  Herefords, and even rode the hogs when we could catch them!  We had a great time celebrating Honey's birthday, visiting the ranch and experiencing the best in gracious hospitality.  Finally it was getting almost dark, the party was over and a number of us jumped into the back of Honey's old chevy pickup truck as she made the rounds through Lakeside, Bostonia and El Cajon dropping us off at our respective homes.  Thank you "Josie" for our wonderful memories of the area and the times.

PS Does anyone remember Honey's full name?