Tanya Hansen! 

CONGRATULATIONS Tanya!!!!!

Send your address to stacey@staceykayne.com and I will send you my LAST early copy of MAVERICK WILD 

Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by today to share your thoughts and comments!

Be sure to come by tomorrow — Kathryn Albright will be here!  Kathryn and I were Golden Heart finalists together and I’m super excited about her debut novel THE ANGEL AND THE OUTLAW — officially released tomorrow!

                                                                               Warm Wishes,

AMELIA RICHARD! 

Congratulations from everyone at Petticoats and Pistols! 

Please contact me privately with your address at charlenesands@hotmail.com.

Your prize is waiting to be shipped! 

I absolutely LOVE research.  I had a blast digging into the history of Sierra Mountain lumber camps for the setting of my July Harlequin western recently titled THE GUNSLINGER’S BRIDE.  I had an interest in logging camps long before I ever started writing.  There’s quite a few old camp towns and even an old working logging camp railroad in our area.  Every year we take our boys for a train ride through the tall timbers and glean new tidbits on the lives of the men who felled those giant trees–a hard and hazardous occupation. 

The lumberjack lifestyle required two sets of clothes – a set of work cloths he put on in the morning and a set of dry clothes he put on in the evening, because no matter the time of year, a logger always came in from the job dripping wet. He was either wet with sweat, rain, snow–or a combination of all three.  Timber crews were a rough-and-tumble lot and employed crew foreman’s called bull heads — men with fists heavy-hitting enough to enforce strict sets of rules every man was expected to follow for their safety and the safety of others. A slip of an ax or the wrong move with a saw blade could easily lead to a man’s death, as he’d often bleed out before any kind of medical attention could be sought.  Check out the picture below–see the planks of wood these tree-fellers are standing on? 

These thin, springy platforms were shimmed into the trees, sometimes ten to fifteen feet or MORE up a tree, creating a precarious perch as fellers swung axes, chopping away at the trunk.  Many a timberman fell to their deaths, giving these planks the nickname ”widow-makers“.

Most lumber camp crews were made up largely of immigrant workers–vagabonds and scamps as many were called, men without any real roots and lumber camps offered something other jobs didn’t – loggers could always count on a warm dry bed and a hot hearty meal after a grueling day of work.  Mealtime was the main event in any camp.  It was often said that a lumber camp was only as good as its chef.  A meager crew was a sure sign of a bad cook.  If a logger didn’t like the food, he’d move on to the next camp.

With camps scattered all over the Sierra’s, camps competed with one another by trying to hire the best chefs, often recruiting well-known chefs from San Francisco and other major cities.  While the men were well fed and could eat until they were full, meal-time also had strict sets of rules–usually requiring the men have assigned seating, and no talking allowed–this allowed for faster service, and the last thing a man wanted was to tick off the cook and get tossed from the cook house.

As often happens, much of the research absorbed during the planning stages of a book doesn’t make it into the final version.  Juniper and Lily seemed far too busy chasing bandits all over the mountain to really stop and smell the wood chips.  While readers will get a glimpse into the life of a timberman,  there wasn’t a ton of room to detail all the goings-on of a lumber camp that I find fascinating.  But research is never wasted—and who knows, maybe there will be a lumberjack hero in my future.  Although, for now, I have moved on from the Sierra’s and am knee-deep in research and snowdrift from the Wyoming blizzard of 1886 

To celebrate the arrival of my author copies for my third western (woohoo), one of today’s comment posters will win a copy of MAVERICK WILD!

My, oh my! I do declare, y’all are gonna get a treat. Kathryn Albright is saddling up and riding over to visit. She’s all fired up about her new Harlequin historical, “The Angel and the Outlaw.” Mosey on over Saturday and we’ll have more fun than the law allows or my name isn’t Felicia Filly. 

It’s the end of our Big Fall Bonanza Contest!  The winner will be announced tomorrow.  Stop by and see if you’re the lucky winner!  Stacey Kayne will be blogging. Don’t miss it!

Here’s a list of prizes:

Autographed books from all the gang here at Petticoats and Pistols.

Riflemen DVD

Red Cowboy Bandana

A $20.00 Barnes and Noble Gift Card

Cowboy Boot Candle

Cover Flats from Various Authors

Round Up Candy

Remember Gunsmoke?  The intro music with Matt Dillon on his galloping horse?  Miss Kitty and Doc and Chester and Festus and all the fine folks in Dodge?

Unless you’re a lot younger than I am, chances are this show was part of your life.  Not only was Gunsmoke (1955-1975) TV’s longest running Western, it was also television’s longest running prime-time series with continuing characters. In total, 233 half-hour episodes and 400 hour episodes were filmed.

Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas, between 1872, when the Santa Fe Railroad reached town, and 1885, when local farmers forced the end of the Texas cattle drives along the Western Trail. Dodge City, known as the “Queen of the Cow Towns,” the “Wicked Little City,” the “Gomorrah of the Plains,” had a reputation as a hostile, lawless town where the “fastest gun” ruled. As the opening of the show proclaimed: “Around Dodge City and in the territory on west, there’s just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers and that’s with a U.S. Marshal and the smell of gunsmoke.”

The fictional marshall, Matt Dillon, was modeled after the real lawmen who “tamed” (or at least kept a lid on) Dodge City: US Deputy Marshall Wyatt Earp (1848-1929), Sheriff Bat Masterson (1856-1921), Sheriff Bill Tilghman (1854-1924), and Sheriff Charlie Bassett.Gunsmoke began on radio in 1952 with William Conrad reading the part of Matt Dillon (I actually remember this great radio version).  The series was so successful that it was adapted for TV in 1955.  Conrad, who had a fine radio voice, was a portly man who didn’t fit the visual image of Matt Dillon, so another actor had to be found.  There is some dispute as to whether John Wayne was offered the role of Marshal Dillon, but he is certainly the one who recommended the quiet, six-foot-seven James Arness, brother of Peter Graves.  Arness proved to be the perfect choice.  Wow, what a man!

Other actors rounded out the cast.  Remember them? 
Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) ran the Longbranch Saloon where Sam (Glenn Strange) was the bartender; Chester Goode (Dennis Weaver) and Festus Hagen (Ken Curtis) were the deputies. Does anybody remember who played Doc?

The romance between Matt and Miss Kitty was clearly evident, but they didn’t so much as hold hands (hey, this was the Fifties).  And the likely goings on upstairs in the Longbranch weren’t even mentioned.   All in all, Gunsmoke was a sanitized version of what the real West must have been like.  But who’s complaining?  It was so much fun.  And so romantic.

Do you have a favorite Gunsmoke episode?  What was your favorite TV Western series?  I’d love to hear.

. . . has ridden into Wildflower Junction! 

Her name is Felicia Filly, and she’s going to be keeping folks informed on the happenings in town. 

Like who our weekend guests will be.

Or if we’re having a change in schedule.

Or if we have a special announcement to make.

Felicia’s going to be a busy little filly, so keep on checking back to see what she has to say!

My dear bloggers:

I love westerns, but as you know I’m presently not writing them. I enjoy being part of this group, but with my present schedule, I don’t have as much time as I’d like to devote to the site or as much time as the site and the other fillies deserve—so I’m not really doing my share to make this wonderful site a success. Therefore, I’ve decided that I need to ride off into the sunset.

Mary Connealy has graciously agreed to fill the spot that I’ll vacate. She’s been incredibly enthusiastic about the site, provides interesting and informative posts quite often, and I know she’ll be a terrific asset to the group and to our visitors.

I’ll drop by from time to time and y’all will be the first to know if I ever get a contract to write another western. Meanwhile, thanks for visiting me here. I’ve enjoyed spending time with you.

Now let’s give an enthusiastic welcome to our new filly, Mary.

Lorraine Heath

Wow!  What incredibly wise people we have on this blog.  If only we could influence leaders of our different countries.  I think the world might be a better place.  My thanks go out to Nance Miller, Bethlynn Hanley, Taryn Raye, Devon Matthews and to fellow Western Romance Authors, Elizabeth Lane, Mary Connealy, linda Broday and Charlene Sands.

Here’s wishing you all lots of LOVE!

Good Morning fellow writers and friends!

Today I thought we might talk about love — what’s it all about?  At this time of year, with the holidays and all the out-of-mind busy-ness that we seem to get into — I thought it might be good to take time out and talk about a subject that we all…well, that we all love.  Love.

It seems to me that there’s all sorts of different kinds of love.  There’s the obvious kind — the kind that we all write about.  The love of a man and a woman, the love of family, the love of children.  May this love always flourish and prosper in our society — I only say that because, if you go back in the blogs, you might discovere that I  believe that the family is under attack.

But let’s have a look at other kinds of love.                                                                           

How about the love between friends?  That’s love, too, isn’t it?  Of course it is.  I know you’ll all agree that we would, indeed, be strange beings if we didn’t have a close circle of friends that we love with all our hearts.  But it’s different kind of love, right?  But I think you might agree that it doesn’t make it any less a deep and abiding love.

There’s also the love for mankind in general — the love of those in other parts of the world that might be having a difficult time.   And how about the love we have for other life forms?  Our pets, for instance.  That’s definitely love, as well.                                           

   So love.  If I were to define love, I’d have to say that it seems to me that it is an intense feeling of admiration directed toward someone or something.  It doesn’t ask for anything, it is either freely given or it’s not really love.  It’s not a dominating or controlling force — wouldn’t you agree?  Isn’t it more of a giving force?  Isn’t it a sharing, a wanting to contribute to the other person?  To share and enhance their ideas and their life?

So if I might be so bold, I’d love to hear your ideas about love.  What is it to you?  What makes it most likely the most sought after emotion in our world?  So come on in and join our discussion today as we look at love, that thing that makes the world go ’round.  

 In closing I’d I have to share another picture of the man I admire so very, very much…my husband. 

 So again, come on in and tell me about your loves!