Dead towns tell tales.  Lies, perhaps, but stories worth listening to nonetheless.  The tales come from the whispers of changing times, lives that start and end or move on.

There are many ghost towns on the Plains of Colorado.  Keota is one.  Founded in 1880 by sisters Mary and Eva Beardsley, it was purchased eight years later by the Lincoln Land and Cattle Company.  It grew to support over 1200 area ranchers.  Situated over 100 miles northeast of Denver and almost 60 miles east of Fort Collins, Colorado, it was the only town for many days’ travel in the time of foot or horse and wagon transportation.

For a while, the town thrived.  In the late 1880s, the residents built a large schoolhouse on a gently sloping hill at the top of the town.  The view from the school is amazing.  The arid prairie rolls in shades of brown and pink in every direction, an ocean of empty land.  No trees, no streets or buildings beyond the handful that comprise the town.  The wind and dust were the town’s only constants.

In the end, the wind won.  In 1890, the post office closed shop.  The school continued on, though residents moved away when the railroad closed.  In the 1930s, the last graduation took place at the school. 

Standing in the streets of what was once an active, albeit small, town makes me curious about the brave souls who lived there.  They got to see the town grow from the dry dirt of a barren land.  The sisters Beardsley picked their hill and built their house without the benefit of trees or water.  Or even other residents. 

And perhaps they got to see their town die, too.  How frightening that would be.  It’s a theme I explore in my Men of Defiance series.  In my first book, RACHEL AND THE HIRED GUN, my fictional town of Defiance was a thriving village.  Situated at the base of the Medicine Bow Mountains, it had a lumber mill, a bank, several saloons and hotels, and a general store.  Sager and Rachel’s fathers are two of the area ranchers the town supports. 

By the second and third books in the series (tentatively titled McCAID’S WOMAN  and LEAH AND THE AVENGER), the town is well on its way to ghost town status.  The bank, the hotels and lumber mill have closed.  Only one saloon remains.  The town’s law-abiding citizens have abandoned it for the more prosperous environments of Denver City and Cheyenne. 

Left behind are two young women, friends of Sager’s brother.  They live at the mercy of the handful of decent citizens who remain–and the growing population of border ruffians and outlaws drawn to the empty town.  Can the Men of Defiance turn the town around?  Is love enough of a foundation for a future?

I hope you’ll visit my website (www.elainelevine.com) to get updates on my books.  RACHEL AND THE HIRED GUN will be released by Kensington Books in January 2009.  I’m writing a serialized prequel to that story which I’ll publish on my website in seven short video clips between now and the end of December.  You can also take a peek at RACHEL AND THE HIRED GUN by reading the first chapter on my website.

Elaine is giving away a T-shirt with her bookcover on it to one reader who subscribes to her newsletter this weekend.  If the drawing winner sends Elaine of picture of herself wearing the T-shirt, she’ll get an autographed copy of Rachel and the Hired Gun when Elaine gets her author copies in December!  Register to win and sign up for more news of Elaine’s new book here: www.elainelevine.com

What ghost towns have you visited recently?  If you stood quietly, with your eyes shut, could you hear the echoes of its former residents?

Found this video of Tricia Yearwood and had to share it with all the fillies.

This is one of the prettiest draonfly pictures I’ve seen–be sure to click on the picture for the full view. Can you believe Cheryl St. John took this picture in her garden?!

Absolutely gorgeous. Thank you for sharing, Cheryl!

On to our book winner – a copy of THE BOUNTY HUNTER AND THE HEIRESS and THE GUNSLINGER’S UNTAMED BRIDE goes to….

Anita Mae!!!

CONGRATULATIONS!  Please email me with your mailing address.

staceykayne@gmail.com

Wishing everyone strength, courage and happiness

Hello Darlings! We have a wonderful guest for you tomorrow–Miss Elaine Levine. The dear woman is arriving bright and early to spend the day with all you lovely ladies.

Miss Elaine is walking on air now that her first book is about to see the light of day. Rachel and the Hired Gun comes out in January and we can hardly wait. My goodness, have you ever seen a more handsome cowboy on the cover of a book? He looks like he’d be more than a handful of sexy manhood! Ah’m gettin’ plumb hot and bothered thinking about it.

Miss Elaine is going to be talking about towns that up and die on people. She knows more than a little about the subject believe you me.

Miss Elaine is also going to be giving away some wonderful prizes. Drop by and leave a comment and you’ll get your name in the hat for those. What’d be more fun than that? Join us right here on Saturday.

 
As my logo may indicate, I love dragonflies.  Growing up in the country I was surrounded by them in the summertime–the tiny blue ones, the giant green ones–they’ve always been my favorite insect. When coming up with a logo I wanted something I’d enjoy seeing and sharing with others and since I write dusty westerns I asked my graphic designer to give my personal dragonfly a snake-like tail. He did, and I love it. 

Not long after, my cousin saw my logo and said “Oh, Snake Doctors!” I had never heard the term and was instantly fascinated. She told me that while growing up her whole family called dragonflies “snake doctors” and she’d never heard the term dragonfly until she was much older. This got me to wondering about dragonfly lore. If there’s anything I love as much as westerns and dragonflies it’s lore, myths and legends!  Must be the storyteller in me, but I love Greek Mythology and while researching Indian tribes and cultures I became fascinated with Native American folklore. Surely the term “snake doctors” had to be connected to some interesting legend.  Well, my search did not disappoint. In fact, dragonflies are connected to a variety of lore and legends all around the world!

Some Dragonfly Lore accordiing to Wikipedia:

• The Southern United States term “snake doctor” refers to a folk belief that dragonflies follow snakes around and stitch them back together if they are injured. (Seems in the south when dragonflies are about snakes are nearby *g* )
• In Europe, dragonflies have often been seen as sinister and known as ”devil’s darning needle” and “ear cutter”, link them with evil or injury.
• A Romanian folk tale says that the dragonfly was once a horse possessed by the devil. This is also seen in the Maltese culture as the word for dragonfly which is “Debba ta’ l-infern” literally means Hell’s mare.
• Swedish folklore holds that the devil uses dragonflies to weigh people’s souls. Another Swedish legend holds that trolls use the dragonflies as spindles when weaving their clothes (hence the Swedish word for dragonfly trollslända, lit. “troll’s spindle”) as well as sending them to poke out the eyes of their enemies.
• The Norwegian name for dragonflies is “Øyenstikker”, which literally means Eye Poker. They are often associated with snakes, as in the Welsh name gwas-y-neidr, “adder’s servant”.
• The Lithuanian word “Laumžirgis” is a composite word meaning “the Lauma’s horse”, while in Dutch, Aeshna mixta is called “Paardenbijter” or “horse biter”.
• In some South American countries, dragonflies are also called matacaballo (horse killer), or caballito del diablo (devil’s horse), since they were perceived as harmful, some species being quite large for an insect.
• In East Asia and among Native Americans, dragonflies have a far better reputation, one that can also be said to have positively influenced modern day views about dragonflies in most countries.
• For some Native American tribes they represent swiftness and activity, and for the Navajo they symbolize pure water. Dragonflies are a common motif in Zuni pottery; stylized as a double-barred cross, they appear in Hopi rock art and on Pueblo necklaces. It is said in some Native American beliefs that dragonflies are a symbol of renewal after a time of great hardship.
• In Japan dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness, and they often appear in art and literature, especially haiku. In ancient mythology, Japan was known as Akitsushima, which means “Land of the Dragonflies”. The love for dragonflies is reflected by the fact that there are traditional names for almost all of the 200 species of dragonflies found in and around Japan.
• Vietnamese people have a traditional way to forecast rain by seeing dragonflies: Dragonflies fly at low level, it is rainy; dragonflies fly at high level, it is sunny; dragonflies fly at medium level, it is shadowy.

Some Dragonfly Facts:

• A dragonfly is a type of insect belonging to the order Odonata, the suborder Epiprocta or, in the strict sense, the infraorder Anisoptera.
• It is characterized by large multifaceted eyes, two pairs of strong, transparent wings, and an elongated body.
• Dragonflies are our largest and most ancient of insects.
• Dragonflies typically eat mosquitoes, and other small insects like flies, bees, ants and butterflies. They are therefore valued as predators, since they help control populations of harmful insects.
• Dragonflies are usually found around lakes, ponds, streams and wetlands because their larvae, known as “nymphs”, are aquatic. Adult dragonflies do not bite or sting humans.

Also found a fun article on Clinton Journal, here’s a short clip:

“Glimmering, shimmering, glittering, shining, iridescent – these graceful children of the sun are especially loved for the beauty of their long membranous wings and colorful bodies. Their brilliant colors, bold, acrobatic flight, complex behaviors, and ubiquity around bodies of water in mid-summer are making them increasingly popular subjects for study.

A dragonfly can hover, fly sideways, stop on a dime, change direction, and even spurt backwards at astonishing speeds. Rather than slipping air smoothly over sleek airfoils as birds do, dragonflies create furious vortices which swirl much faster than the surrounding airflow around the surface of the wings. The speed of the air immediately adjacent to the wing produces lift in both planes. The wings vibrate as fast as sixteen hundred times per minute, allowing the dragonfly to reach speeds of over thirty miles per hour…

Ferocious, voracious, carnivorous, insatiable – darting above the prairie, dragonflies are searching for food. The “Odonates,” the toothed ones, are voracious predators with serrated jaws. Plucking winged pests from the air, devouring them in flight with an almost insatiable appetite, the dragonfly captures and eats hordes of flying insects by skimming through the air, scooping up its victims in a basket formed by spine-fringed legs.”

For those who stop in over at Writers At Play this may be repeated info, but last week my mom sent me a card that rekindled my focus on dragonfly lore. When I opened the card and saw this gorgeous hand painted dragonfly on the front I thought, “My mom is the best.” (She really is *g*).  I read on, expecting a delightful birthday message.  But what I found was this:

Having flown the earth for 300 million years, dragonflies symbolize our ability to overcome times of hardship. Sighting a dragonfly is meant to remind us to take time to reconnect with our own strength, courage and happiness.

(on the inside:) You’ll get past this, your heart lifted by dragonfly wings. Followed by a handwritten “Get this book done! The dragonfly will help to give you strength and reconnect. I have faith in you. ~Love Your Mom”

Needless to say, THIS has become my favorite of all the dragonfly lore I’ve uncovered so far

What about you?  Do you know dragonflies by any other name?  Any interesting nature terms or nicknames or insect lore in your neck of the woods that may be new to an easterner, westerner or southerner?

 Today one comment poster will win a copy of THE BOUNTY HUNTER AND THE HEIRESS – a great western by Carol Finch!

Wishing Y’all a dragonfly sighting

Available Now!

Often when I’m in the kitchen, either cooking or doing dishes or baking or painting, I check out the movies on TMC and AMC. It was western month recently, and there was no end to cowboys, horses and shootouts. Yee haw!  A couple of Saturdays ago, I tuned in just as Rio Bravo was starting. I hadn’t seen it in ages, so I clicked on all the TVs and did my chores from room to room while watching.

I can’t be the only one who does this.

My husband and I were talking recently about when we were kids and there was one television in the house, and that television had three channels. Elijah asked me the other day on the way to school, (you know how kids always ask questions about the old days!) “What was on TV when you were a kid? Nickelodean? Cartoon Network?” He couldn’t quite grasp the fact that we had The Mickey Mouse Club on weekdays and cartoons on Saturday morning only. Talk about the dark ages!

Watch a favorite scene here:

Rio Bravo is probably one of the most well known and best loved westerns.  It’s sure  fun, and it’s one of my favorites. It was financially successful for its day, earning over 5.5 million in 1959. Of course what movie staring John Wayne in a cowboy hat wouldn’t have been successful?

It was filmed at Old Tucson Studios just outside Tucson Arizona. During the filming, a saloon, bank building and doctor’s office were added to the western sets. Earlier westerns filmed there were McLintock, and El Dorado, and much later Tombstone and The Quick and the Dead used the same soundstages and sets.

Sources say that because Howard Hawks was offended by High Noon and he didn’t believe the marshal in that film, played by Gary Cooper, would ask the townsfolk for help, so he made Rio Bravo to tell the same story his way.

Here’s the basic plot:

In his efforts to jail the brother of the local bad guy, sheriff John T. Chance, played by John Wayne, enlists the help of a cantankerous cripple named Stumpy, played by Walter Brennan, a disgraced drunk named Dude–probably Dean Martin’s best ever performance, and a singing gunfighter, the adorable Ricky Nelson, to keep custody of a murderer whose powerful rancher brother is trying to help him escape. After a friend is killed trying to muster support for him, they must find a way to hold out against the rancher’s hired guns until the marshal arrives. In the meantime, matters are complicated by the presence of a young gunslinger – and a mysterious beauty who just came in on the last stagecoach.

 I already loved Ricky Nelson from the Ozzie and Harriett show, and to this day I listen to his CDs. He wasn’t such a great actor, but Colorado’s character is great–and we get to hear him sing.

The mysterious poker playing beauty is of course the lovely and very very young Angie Dickenson and John T. Chance’s love interest.

 One of my favorite lines:

John T. Chance: Stumpy?
Stumpy: Yeah?
John T. Chance: Going over to the hotel for a few minutes.
Stumpy: Well, if’n ya don’t come back, me ‘n’ Joe’ll have us a good cry.

Rio Bravo Trivia:

There were two remakes of this classic movie:

The first remake, El Dorado, was released in 1967. In this film, Robert Mitchum played the Dean Martin role, Arthur Hunnicutt the Walter Brennan character and James Caan the Ricky Nelson role. Director Howard Hawks again named the Nelson/Caan character after a state (in this case, Mississippi) and in a wry, humorous twist on the original film, Hawks made him inept with firearms, but skilled with a knife.

The second remake, Rio Lobo, was made in 1970 and also directed by Hawks. This was a remake, beginning with a Confederate train robbery of a Union gold shipment during the American Civil War, then moving to a Texas town under siege, which was central to the original film. This film starred John Wayne, Mexican film star Jorge Rivero (as Frenchie), Christopher Mitchum (Robert Mitchum’s son), Jack Elam, and Jennifer O’Neill.

Film footage from Rio Bravo was later incorporated into the opening sequence of John Wayne’s last film, The Shootist, to illustrate the backstory of Wayne’s character.

Ricky Nelson later paid homage to both the film and his character, Colorado, by including the song “Restless Kid” on his 1959 record Ricky Sings Again.

Sources: Internet Movie Database & Wikipedia

 Have you seen Rio Bravo lately?

 ORDER  COPY FROM AMAZON!

My random number generator picked WENDY as the winner of Dolly Parton’s new CD.  Yee-haw!

Wendy, email me at pacrooks@radiks.net with your snail mail addy, okay?  I’ll get it out to you asap.

Thank you, ladies, for sharing how you’d spend your millions.  Lots of good causes out there, and I suspect there will never be enough money to give them all the support they’ll need!

Don’t forget to enter our Sizzlin’ Summer Contest, too.  Only a few weeks left before we draw our winner. . . .

I’ll close with a few more tidbits about Dolly:

**When she was a little girl, she stepped on a piece of sharp metal and nearly cut her toes off.  She credits her mother from keeping her from being crippled.  With no doctor available, her mother poured kerosene into the wound and stuffed it with cornmeal, then sewed her up with her everyday quilt needle and thread.  It took a whole group of men to hold her down while she screamed and writhed from the ordeal, but she healed just fine–and can still wear those 5 inch heels!

**While filming “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas”, Dolly had been struggling with weight gained from personal and medical issues.  One scene required Burt Reynolds to carry her across the screen, which (in the normal course of shooting a scene) required several retakes.  Afterward, poor Burt had to be hospitalized with a double hernia.

**Her next film was “Rhinestone” with Sly Stallone.  It was a financial disaster, but it was while working with Sly–who was and is incredibly body-conscious–she was finally able to buckle down and control her weight.  She threw out all her diet books and now eats what she wants, but only takes a few bites and leaves the rest.

**Her association with Sly during the movie made her fodder for the tabloids.  She learned that there was one person who was feeding the trades lies for money–a distant aunt who’d moved away from the Smokies when Dolly was very young, but who’d gotten into a snit because Dolly didn’t invite her to a big Hollywood party with the rest of the family to meet Sly and the rest of her Hollywood bigwigs.

Ah, the life of a real-live Barbie doll! 

Brand new author Elaine Levine will arrive bag and baggage in town Saturday. The Fillies are rolling out the welcome mat and hope to make the dear lady feel right at home. We’re inviting you to join us to make sure that happens because we durn sure can’t do it by ourselves.

Miss Elaine will give us the low-down on ghost towns on the plains of Colorado. She says they’re scattered all over that area.

She’ll also talk about her new upcoming book, Rachel and the Hired Gun. It sounds like a wonderful story. Love the title! My mind is picturing all sorts of sexy images involving the lean tough cowboy. Ah’m gonna have to get my rope and start practicing how to lasso! Ah do declare! 

So, get on your best Sunday-go-to-meetin’ clothes and hitch up your buggy. We’ll expect to see you bright and early right here on Saturday.

I have long enjoyed country music, so when I found out earlier this summer that Dolly Parton was coming to town, almost without thinking, I bought a couple of tickets.  For weeks, I looked forward to going, and since I’ve been ver-ry deep in a book deadline, I knew going to her concert would be a nice break.

Last week, the day finally arrived.  At the last minute, Doug balked about going, but my mother was thrilled to take his place.  As soon as we pulled into the stadium parking lot, I was shocked at how few cars there were.

Now the Qwest Center where her concert was held has really made a reputation for itself in the past few years.  Omaha has drawn big name entertainers and sports events, and more recently was the site for the Olympic swimming trials.  (And yes, Michael Phelps was as much of a star here as he was in Beijing.)

So I expected the parking lot to be packed, as it usually is for high profile events–which I thought this one would be.  We walked right in and found our seats, and like the parking lot, the scattering of people in the auditorium was surprising and disappointing.  In fact, they’d partitioned off the upper seats, since they obviously hadn’t been sold.  After checking with the ushers, Mom and I ended up moving to much better seats, front balcony and center.  The stadium was maybe half filled.

The show didn’t have the flash like others I’ve seen.  No runway for her to walk down, no big screen TVs for those in the nosebleed section to watch, no fancy electronic videos. 

But Dolly fascinated me.  The concert was part of her ”Backwoods Barbie” tour which she’d been on since February, to promote her first country album release in 17 years.  She truly looked like a glamorous Barbie doll on that stage, with her blond wig, sequined dress, tiny waist and big boobies.  And of course, her five-inch heels, which gives her the height she’s always longed for.

She didn’t look 62 years old.  Not by a long shot.  Her voice rang sweet and clear through the microphone, and between songs, she shared with the audience tidbits of her life.  I marvelled at her rags-to-riches story.  At how far she’d come from growing up dirt poor in the Great Smoky Moutains.

The next day, I found her autobiography at the library.  I looked her up on the Internet.  Here’s a little about Dolly that I found:

*She grew up the fourth child of twelve.  Her mother was only 15 when she married; her father 17.  They’d had all twelve of their children by the time they were 35 and 37.  Yet Dolly has never been pregnant herself.

*She was the first one in her family to graduate from high school, but just barely.  Her singing was more important than her studies, and she cultivated her voice by singing with her sisters at Pentecostal revival meetings.  Yes, preachers with cottonmouth snakes coiling around their arms while they (supposedly) spoke in tongues.  Her mother had a strong faith in God; her father rarely went to church.

*Her hit song, “Coat of Many Colors,” was inspired by a coat her mother really did make for her, painstakingly piecing together fabric scraps.  Dolly loved that coat, but when she wore it to school, the other kids made fun of her, calling it a coat made of rags.

*They lived in tiny, ramshackle cabins with newspapers pasted to the walls to help keep out the cold.   She and her siblings learned to read from those newspapers.  And the models in the pictures showed Dolly what women who lived beyond the holler looked like.  Every time her family moved, they looked forward to reading different newspapers on the walls.

*Her father refused to let any of his daughters wear makeup, which made Dolly only crave it.  She found ways to sneak her beauty products in, with her mother’s reluctant knowledge.  Dolly would powder her face with flour to hide her freckles.  Lipstick especially intrigued her–she used Merthiolate (which burned and turned her lips orange) and Mercurochrome, which was a nicer red and didn’t hurt as much.  Both left her lips colored for several days.

*She left home the day after she graduated from high school and moved to Nashville.  Almost immediately, she met her future husband, Carl Dean, at a laundromat.  She married him at age 20.  Forty-two years later, they’re still married.

Now of all the things I learned about Dolly, Carl Dean was the most interesting.  He shuns publicity and rarely travels with her.  He stayed home while she cultivated her career with men of power and attitude and probably more than their share of greed and lusty hormones.  He never refused to let her travel for days and weeks with male friends.  Nor did he seem to mind that when Dolly traveled with her best childhood friend, Judy, they always slept in the same bed because Judy understood how Dolly hated to sleep alone. (the pair have been accused of being lesbians but she denies it.)

 What kind of guy is content to spend more time away from his wife than with her?  They seem as different as night and day, yet during the concert, Dolly spoke of him often and always kindly.  In her memoirs, she mentioned how she truly believed Carl has never been with another woman after her.  I couldn’t find where she’d said the same thing about herself.

*She is godmother to Miley Cyrus, Billy Ray’s daughter, aka Hannah Montana.

*Her father never learned to read, but he was more proud of her Imagination Library than her music career.  Imagination Library, a literacy program, began in the county in Tennessee where she was born, and it mails a preschooler a book a month until he’s five. 

*Dolly hasn’t forgotten her poor upbringing and has given back to the region generously.  While she is especially noted for contributions to literacy, she has also raised money to build a new hospital and cancer center in Tennessee, in the name of the doctor who delivered her.  Her Dollywood theme park has provided jobs and revenues in an area hit hard with poverty.  She has also helped to preserve the bald eagle, assists the Red Cross and other charitable causes.

After the performance, as Mom and I crossed the street to return to the car, a sleek silver bus with smoke windows slowly drove by.  We couldn’t tell for sure, but we had a strong suspicion it was Dolly’s tour bus.

Even though her welcome to Omaha was lackluster, the dirt-poor girl from the holler had certainly made it to the big-time.  Though she says she sometimes feels guilty for buying expensive things for herself and others when so many in this country are poor and hungry, she has given generously to help others in need.

If you had a rags-to-riches story, would you share your millions?  What would you donate your money to?  What cause is near and dear to your heart?

If I had a few million bucks to give away, I’d have to pick cancer research.  Not a particularly unique idea, I suppose, but it’s a disease that is rampant, and finding a cure is imperative.

Share your philanthropy ideas, and since I haven’t given away a prize lately, I’ll send a copy of Dolly’s CD, Backwoods Barbie, to one lucky winner!

I’m a collector. Yes, I confess. I’d be a member of Collector’s Anonymous is there were such a thing. In fact, I’d probably be their president.

My collection tendencies involve coins minted in the U.S., rocks, postage stamps, books, and dust bunnies. You may think the last one funny but you should see the dust in my house. I can usually write my name on the furniture. But really, I’m way too busy to clean.

I have collecting to do and books to write and fun to be had.

I began collecting Morgan silver dollar coins way back when I was a teenager. I love holding them in my hand and imagining them being in the pocket of a cowboy or outlaw. It was the currency of choice in the West. My most prized are an 1883 minted in Carson City, Nevada and an 1881 that came from the mint in San Francisco. Over the years my collection has grown and it’s given me immense satisfaction. I’ve collected all the state quarters up to date and now I’m collecting the new president dollars. I also have the Sacagawea dollars, the Susan B. Anthony ones, and also the Kennedy half dollars. I guess I just like money.

Some of my postage stamp collection includes Elvis Presley, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, and the presidents. Can’t list them all here.

And I love my rocks. I can’t go anywhere without picking up more. I’m just fascinated with stones of all kinds. I have several prehistoric ones that have small fish imbedded on their surface.

My books. . .you should see my shelves. But then maybe it’s a good thing you can’t. I have my prized autographed collection, my romance section, and then I have a good-sized portion of research books of every subject you can imagine. I wouldn’t take a million dollars for my books. It’s taken me years to get them. I have a 1930 copy of Little Women, a 1933 Zane Grey, a 1942 Emilie Loring romance called “Rainbow at Dusk,” and the second book Nora Roberts wrote called “Sacred Sins.” Plus, I have a ton of others by Jodi Thomas, Lorraine Heath, Sharon Sala, Pam Morsi, Johanna Lindsay, and on and on.

Research books take up two complete bookshelves. I have ones on life in the American West, a set of Time Life books on the West, books on ships, horses, birds, plants, clothing, and food. Most are used very often and they’re crucial in creating my stories.

But, I’m not the only collector out there.

Michael Phelps is a collector of Olympic gold medals. Yay! He’s the owner of eight gold medals in the 2008 Olympics. I’d say he did us real proud. What a guy and what a swimmer!

Then, there’s the heroine in my new anthology, “Give Me a Cowboy.” Tempest LeDoux collects husbands. Yep, she’s had five and is looking for her sixth. All she wants in life is to find one good man to love who won’t up and die on her and she’ll use all the tools at her disposal to get him. She just never figured to run up against someone like McKenna Smith.

He wants no part of marriage. . .especially when the lovely widow has already buried five husbands. Makes a man real skittish.

But Tempest is bound and determined to get what she wants. And she wants McKenna Smith real bad. He’s not only the most handsome man she’s ever seen, he makes her feel like she’s the most desirable, the most beautiful woman in the world. My, how he can kiss!

But, back to collecting. . . .

Not only does Tempest LeDoux collect husbands, she also collects and surrounds herself with the finest of everything – expensive cut crystal glassware and chandeliers, buttery leather furniture, designer made clothing, and a ranch that is unequaled in the Texas Panhandle as she tries to prove she’s as good as anyone in Kasota Springs. She has everything she wants except a husband who won’t die on her. Go along on the journey and see how she remedies that.

My story in “Give Me a Cowboy” is titled Texas Tempest and it comes out in February.

Are you a collector? If so, what things do you collect? I’d like to know. You can borrow my collection of dust bunnies if you want ‘em. They’re real easy to take care of.

   Click on book to order from Amazon.