We have a winner, and a spare

 

montana-rose-cover3-picture-managerThe winner of the signed copy of

Montana Rose

Roberta Harwell.

And, cuz I’m in a good mood, because I saw my brother tonight

who only comes home about once every two years,

I’m giving a second copy of

Montana Rose

to  Patricia Cochran. Please contact me at: mary@maryconnealy.com 

And thanks to everyone who stopped by today to talk

COWGIRLS!

Montana Rose Giveaway

Leave a comment today ABOUT COWGIRLS to get your name in the drawing for a signed copy of my just released romantic comedy with cowboys, MONTANA ROSE.
~
Montana Rose finds Cassie Griffin facing her husband’s death and living alone with her unborn child in Montana Territory. She finds herself fair game for every ill-bred, foul-mouthed suitor in town. That is, until Red Dawson steps in to make an offer.
 .
I moved from Texas to the Rocky Mountains for this series—a big jump. New plants, new weather, new challenges. For a while, I had this book set near Fort Laramie in Wyoming, but the research proved too confusing. I found that Fort Laramie (the fort, not the town) was moved twice and neither location was near the town that bears its name. This conflicting information was daunting to the point that I just moved myself completely out of the state and picked a fictional town.
I kept the romantic comedy with cowboys, though.
Two things about writing comedy:
1) I can’t stop myself. I just always go for the sassy answer. The woman is always mouthing off, and the man is always saying exactly the wrong thing. Humor is my default writing style.
2) Humor is really hard work. General humor that runs through the book doesn’t just come off my fingertips. I’ll write in my sass, but on the second pass, I’ll punch it up and then there’s a third pass and a fourth. I do lots of tweaking to get the pace right. There’s a rhythm to comedy that I find really complex. To keep the story moving can be really hard, especially if I have a scene that’s really wacky with lots of characters and lots of dialogue.
~
Sometimes when I know what I want from a scene, I almost shy away from humor because I know how much work it’s going to be to get it just right. Then, I build up my courage and just write it. The first draft is never good enough—not even close. I have to write it badly, then fix it.
The scene in Montana Rose when Cassie lets Red’s chickens go, nearly burns down the barn and almost gets killed by a furious mama pig—I rewrote that ten or fifteen times trying to get it to flow just exactly how I wanted it. I needed to portray Red’s controlled anger and terror for the safety of his wife, himself, his animals and his ranch. I also wanted to portray Cassie’s abject regret for all the trouble she’s caused and her fear of how her husband will react. So I had to get all that emotion right, along with the action of all Cassie was messing up.
~
And though the scene is riddled with angst, anger, terror, regret, and fear, in the middle of all that, I want comedy. I love scenes like that but I dread them too, because I want so badly to get it right.
.
Despite very serious underlying issues, my first hope is always that the reader will have fun. That’s always my goal, to write a book that entertains and draws readers in and makes them glad they picked up one of my books.
 ~
A brief look at Book #2 in this series is The Husband Tree, coming in January.
Belle Tanner buries her third worthless husband and makes a vow over his shallow grave. She’s learned her lesson. No more men.
Silas Harden just lost his second ranch because of a woman. The first deserted him when times got tough. Now he’s had to quit the whole state of New Mexico to avoid a trumped-up shotgun wedding and the noose of matrimony. He’s learned his lesson. No more women.
Belle needs hired hands to move a cattle herd late in the season and there’s no one around but seemingly aimless Silas. She hires him reluctantly.Silas signed on, glad for the work, though worried about a woman doing such a thing as hiring drovers, only to find out he’s the lone man going with five woman, including a baby still in diapers. After the cattle drive is over, he might as well shoot himself to speed up the process of being embarrassed to death.
A fast approaching winter.
The toughest lady rancher you’ve ever seen.
A cynical cowboy who has to convince five women he’s right for their ma. . .and then convince himself.
And one thousand head of the crankiest cattle who have ever been punched across the backbone of the Rockies.
~
And Book #3 in the Montana Marriage Series is Wildflower Bride, coming in May 2010.
This heroine, Abby, has never met a man she didn’t pull a knife on.
This cover is not finalized so I’m showing it to you but there may be some changes. It’ll be close to this, though.
Leave a comment about cowgirls, what’s your favorite kind.
Cassie is sweet and vulnerable. Belle is just plain tough. Abby is mean, of course to cover all her hurts.
We talk about cowboys here a LOT so lets talk cowgirls. Leave a comment telling me who your favorite cowgirl in books, TV, movies, whatever. And I’ll toss your name in the Stetson to claim a signed copy of Montana Rose.
~
   

Before the next books in the series I’ve got a Christmas romance coming, Cowboy Christmas.     

Click on a cover to buy on Amazon

 

A Good Walk Spoiled

 
Well I wanted to write about cowboy stuff this week.
Planned to in fact.
I’ve got a book coming out July 1st
I really ought to be talking about that.
But I’ve got to tell you all about an experience I had that is odd and upsetting and may lead to me making a fortune. I went golfing.
Golfing is a very old sport and while I’ve never heard of any cowboys playing it, I’m sure it had been invented so I think I slink within the parameters of the focus of this blog…try to picture John Wayne with a golf club in his hand instead of a Winchester and we’re good to go.
No, I don’t play well. I’m not going to make a fortune by joining the pro tour. I’m not good enough for that. And well, okay, not the women’s pro-tour. And no, not even the Senior Women’s Pro-tour. (Is there one of those?)
That’s not how I’m going to make my money.
Two words
SPEED GOLF
It is my idea. I officially patent it here before you all publicly today. I share it with the world and officially claim the fortune that is to be made with
SPEED GOLF
Here’s the thing I found out about golf when I was tricked into going.
It’s slow.
I cannot believe how long those people take to line up their bodies and clubs and balls. The title of this blog is a reference to a book written by John Feinstein about the ups and downs-vicissitude if you will-of golf.
And yeah, I’ve been dying for a chance to use the word vicissitudes in a blog post, so happy day for Mary. 🙂
 I cannot believe how many practice swings those people took.
I soon lost the will to live and–in order to cling to life, as well as to remain sane (shut up, Cheryl, I am too-all records to the contrary have been sealed)
I resorted to my usual pastime.
Sarcasm.
And planning a blog post.
 I got to thinking, if they’d just let me GO!
I’m mean sure I was only dribbling the ball out a few yards…
okay, a few feet…
okay, it sometimes went backward…
when I didn’t miss it entirely.
But mostly I was whacking it forward and it didn’t go far.
While all those show offs who’d fake swing over and over and over.
And line their bodies up and stare at the hole and test the wind–
while they were getting ready to hit…and I will admit that they hit it far. I’m not saying all that time and trouble doesn’t WORK. But still, I think I’d have been able to beat them if only we’d been playing for TIME instead of strokes.
I could have hit it ten times and I’d be on the next hole already. And I think you should be able to pass people, too, like a foursome that’s ahead of you. Hey! This is SPEED GOLF people.
Think Nascar.
Get your motor running.
Born to be wild
That’s when I got the idea for
SPEED GOLF.
I want you all to mentally add a deep, deep voice-James Earl Jones and make it echo when you read
SPEED GOLF
I think I’ll make more money if you do that, so play along.
It would require padding, but most sports do.
You’d just line four people up, yell GO! and first one done with 18 holes wins.
This could really catch on.
A helmet, shoulder pads, shin guards, steel toed boots, maybe a chest protector-and a STOP WATCH. All decorated with a neat little Nike Swish.
I want a cut of that money, too.
I am telling you this could be BIG.
We are a fast paced society. We time EVERYTHING.
Why not golf?
Why not
Speed Golf 
(James Earl Jones – echo – c’mon work with me)
That guy in the picture above would be FINE if he had a helmet.
Any golfers out there? What do you think?
I promise I’ll invite you all out on my yacht
just as soon as the money starts rolling in.
 
And no, I’m not getting invited back to go golfing next week,
why do you ask?
Montana Rose available for pre-order on Amazon.
Click on the cover to order

And the Horse You Rode In On

In my soon-to-be released novel Montana Rose, a side character, who will soon have his own book, has this stunning black stallion and he’s making money on stud fees. I have fun with this guy because his horse won’t let anyone near him except the owner…and barely him. And the owner is so cranky that man and horse, are two peas in a pod. Giving this man, Tom, a horse turned into research of course and that led me to today’s blog. Horse Breeds.
 
I’ll give you a quick run-down of Montana Rose before I start the very sane and lovely talk I have planned about Horse Breeds.

Left pregnant and widowed in the unforgiving west, Cassie is forced into an unwanted marriage to rancher Red Dawson.

No decent man could turn away from Cassie and leave her to the rough men in Divide, Montana. Red Dawson knows Cassie is beautiful and he’s interested in her, has been even when she was a married woman, but she’d spoiled and snooty and he’s purely afraid marrying her is a bad idea. But he’s too decent to leave her to a terrible fate.

He finds out real fast that Cassie’s not cut out to be a rancher’s wife. She keeps trying to help and Red has his hands full keeping her from killing herself with her efforts, and preventing her–in her attempts to be a good wife–from leaving his ranch in ruins.

While Red struggles with his overly obedient but badly incompetent wife, an obsessed man plots to make Cassie his own, something he can’t do as long as Red lives.

Now back to horses: The more I researched horse breeds for that small character, Tom Linscott, the more I wished I’d never started. There are over 300 breeds of horses. And I kept reading about ‘types’ and ‘breeds’. Those are different things. I think. I did find a few really interesting tidbits about some horse breeds we’d all recognize (by name if not by sight.)

Thoroughbred
Three foundation studs: Byerly Turk-from around 1690, Eclipse from around 1709, and Godolphin Arabian from around 1720. The Thoroughbred line was rooted in horses from the east, Arabians for example and they grew out of a desire to move away from the massive, powerful war horses bred to carry a knight wearing full armor.
Foundation studs? Does that strike anyone else as weird? That they can trace an entire breed of horses to three imported stallions? What about inbreeding? Didn’t anyone bring in a horse and just not mention it? How rare were horses? I’ll bet there are 400 foundation studs but only three guys bragged about their snazzy imported horses. The rest of the men probably had a farm to run.
 
Thorougbreds were lighter and faster but with great endurance. The main focus was on race horses and almost all thoroughbreds can trace their line to these original three horses.
This is a portrait of Darley’s Arabian, one of the Foundation studs but note that of course he is an Arabian, not a thoroughbred. A thoroughbred is what grew out of the cross breeding with Arabians and English horses.
The thoroughbreds came to America from the very beginning with the earliest pilgrims.
Is it just me or does the thoroughbred in the first picture, the portrait of Darley’s Arabian in the second picture and the white quarter horse below…all look a lot alike.
I don’t really understand horse breeds. I mean sure, I get Clydesdales. I get Shetlands, they’re different, Welsh, zebras…I get that. But the rest…pretty darned nit picky, I think.
That’s why I studied them. So would my hero have a thoroughbred? 
I still can’t decide and his book is half written. Maybe I’ll make that stallion a pure bred Arabian. That would be a little rare in America back then…right? The whole point is, he’s got this great horse and he’s making money on it. Well, that’s not the WHOLE point, but it’s important.
The other main choice is a Quarter Horse. They trace their roots to 1600.
The horses in America at this time were mostly of Spanish origin, with the greatest amounts of blood from Arabian Barbs (Barbs? I’ve got no idea what that means, must be a kind of horse breed though) and Turk lines. In 1611 the first significant import of English horses was made to Virginia. These English horses were of native, eastern and Spanish blood.
When the new English horses were bred to the native stock, a compact horse with heavily muscled hindquarters began to develop. But the horse owners also liked to race. Quarter horses were strong enough and fast enough to do both field work and win a race.
 
 
Another main kind of horse is the draft horse..such as Clysdale, Belgians, Morgan. Draft horses predate recorded history. Big strong horses were the earliest domesticated kinds because they could pull loads and work in the fields. In America, throughout the 18th and early 19th centuries, horses in America were used primarily for riding and pulling light vehicles. Oxen were the preferred because they: cost half as much as horses, required half the feed and OOPS and could be eaten when they died or were no longer useful. Oxen, however, were slow. So there were many who preferred draft horses.
An interesting and tragic detail I found. In the five years surrounding WWI, Europe imported from America over one million draft horses to be used in the fighting of that conflict. Two hundred came home. Many of course remained in Europe but the death and injuries to horses were staggering. British veterinarians in French hospitals are reported to have treated 2,564,549 for war related inflicted injuries.
 
 
 
Mustang- The Mustang is a wild horse that descended from Spanish horses. The name Mustang comes from the Spanish word mesteño or monstenco meaning wild or stray. They don’t have a real breed because over the years they became a mix of numerous breeds. These were the horses which changed the lives of the Native Americans living in or near the Great Plains.
Catching and taming wild horses was a good source of income for ranchers. To sell them or to save the money needed to buy horses for their ranch.
I heard a theory once about why Native Americans didn’t make scientific progress, didn’t invent the wheel, didn’t becomes more settled and build cities. Didn’t learn to work with metals or invent guns.
It might have been because they didn’t have pack animals that could be domesticated. In Asia and Europe they had horses and cattle. But the only suitable animal of that type in American was the buffalo and it was just too unpredictable to ever make a good domesticated animal. Pack animals made life so much easier for people who had them, they had more time for pursuits including inventions.
 
I’ll make one more comment about Montana Rose. Have any of you ever read Janette Oke’s beautiful classic romance, Love Comes Softly? That novel inspired mine in the sense that my novel begins with a widow, pregnant, penniless and alone in the west, who must marry to survive.  And the man who marries her because she needs someone and all the other choices are unsavory. (that’s not in Love Comes Softly I don’t think. I don’t remember unsavory?) Both novels are classic marriage of convenience stories. (okay, maybe CLASSIC isn’t quite applicable to Montana Rose…YET!)
Unlike Oke’s lovely, sweet, gentle-hearted novel though, mine veers almost immediately to mayhem, gunfire and comedy. So I think of it as
Love Comes … Hardly.
Or maybe-
Love Comes…Loudly.
Or possibly-
Love Comes Barely…except that sounds kinda dirty. 🙂
So, any horse lovers? Anyone have a horse? Anyone fallen off a horse? I got a story there.  Or two. And the x-rays to prove it.

WE HAVE A WINNER!

nosy-in-nebraska-cover The winner of a signed copy of Nosy in Nebraska is

Mare Fairchild!

Email me at

mary @ maryconnealy.com

and

tell me where to send it

and

I’ll get the book off to you.

And for those of you who didn’t win …

assuming you’re not just now

swiping your arm across your brow,

sweating with relief…

Nosy in Nebraska

is available for pre-order now on Amazon. 

<<<Just click on the small book cover of Nosy in Nebraska right here

Or find it in Bookstores Near You on June 1st.

If it isn’t there, I give you permission to kick up a fuss.

http://www.maryconnealy.com/

Nosy in Nebraska. . .or. . .Naptime

Drawing today on Petticoats & Pistols for a signed copy of

 

Nosy in Nebraska
releasing June 1st.
And I baby sat last Sunday for my granddaughter Elle. So, trying to pick which of those was most important to write about…….well, that’s a killer. Because while it is true that I worked thousands of hours, chained to a computer, the sun rose and set without notice while I was immersed in plot, character, murder, fear of mice and caffeine, and all that is very important, still, Elle’s really cute.
So the book Nosy in Nebraska contains three books. The books first released in a book club my publisher has for cozy mysteries. They were really nice to let me in on it because contemporary cozy mysteries aren’t really my thing. I write historical westerns in case you didn’t know.
BUT I really think of myself as a writer of romantic comedy. THAT is my genre. The fact that the romantic comedy lands in Texas in 1880, is just incidental. So, Nosy in Nebraska is romantic comedy for sure. Still, be warned if you read it, no one at any time in this book, pushes the front of their Stetson back with one thumb and says, “I reckon this is shootin’ trouble, little missy.”
So it’s important that you know what you’re getting if you want to win a copy of this book.
But…is it MORE important than the fact that Elle seems to be getting a little SLEEPY? I don’t THINK so!

I wrote Nosy in Nebraska with pretty much two things in mind.

ONE…that Algona, Iowa is the Home of the World’s Largest Cheeto. (I am NOT making that up) .

TWO…that I have a nice list of quirks that I’ve never used in a book before…personal quirks. Why make quirks UP if I have my own. So Of Mice. . .and Murder has, as the heroine, a woman who is terrified of mice. And she just happens to be living in Melnik, Nebraska, The Home of the World Largest Field Mouse. (see I couldn’t copy Algona exactly, right?) So that’s Of Mice. . .and Murder…the first book of three short cozy mystery, romantic comedies in Nosy in Nebraska.
And I worked really hard on that book. I’d never written a cozy mystery before, so I had a steep learning curve and I HATE learning, such a nuisance and my head is somewhat atrophed from age so it’s painful for me.

But did all that hard work equate to the hard work of rocking poor sleepy little Elle? I mean a grandma has to have her priorities, you know?
 Then the next book, Pride and Pestilence, I needed a new murder. This isn’t all that convenient because there really aren’t many murders in small town Nebraska. So we’re sort of pushing the envelope of reality here. Of course the story is set in a town full of quirky characters who adore a really large field mouse, so I suppose reality has already been sacrificed, so sure, let’s kill off someone else.

I found out something about myself writing these books. (horrible to find out new things, I’m in a comfortable spot with my current self-image, sure I’m lying to myself but who doesn’t do that? Denial is a beautiful thing). What I found out is, I really hate killing off good people. It just makes me feel bad. So, I created CREEPY people to kill off. Seemed like the right thing to do. I could just snap them like twigs.
In Pride and Pestilence I went with the shy, insomniac bookworm historical society museum curator as my heroine. Another one of my quirks, the book worm, the social dork, also I’m an insomniac. My heroine was just so happy sitting in her museum full of artifacts and books–late at night. Re-reading The Count of Monte Cristo and contemplating revenge.
So, in my writing I’m dealing with murder, vengeance, comedy, True Love, and a giant mouse, but when Elle goes limp in my arms and I get to hug her close and brush my cheek against her soft, sweet smelling face, and hold her dimpled little hand, well a whole novel full of laughter and drama could just pass me by without notice.
I cropped the picture above so tightly because it created a sense of intimacy, warmth, love, peace and beauty….also, I could cut off my extra chin without expense or pain. If only real life was so easy!
And the final book in the anthology, or 3-in-1 collection, which you will have a chance to win if you leave a comment is–The Miceman Cometh.
This has a heroine who is an anthropologist…also a klutz. Trust me the part of my personality that is reflected in Dr. Madeline Stuart is NOT the highly educated scientist. I chose an anthropologist because I think it’s a funny field of study because nobody really knows what it is (or maybe I just don’t) and they mix it up with archeology and I saw some opportunity for comedy there. I have a niece, Heidi, who is an anthropologist and I could ask her some questions, learn about this misunderstood field and shed the light of truth.
I COULD have done that.
Instead, I just made stuff up. But it’s NICE to know I could. By the way, Heidi is as gracful as a butterfly wafting on a summer breeze. Maddy tumbling down stairs and tripping over her pant leg…alllllll me.
So yes, it’s true and important that I’m bringing light into the darkness of anthropology, but look how completely asleep Elle is, she is so CUTE. That is so much more fun and important than anthropology and science and even a murder mystery.

It occurs to me as I write this that you all hang around Petticoats & Pistols because you like western romance…that’s the whole point right? So, as a salute to the true interests of our beloved readers at P & P, I did get this one picture of Elle and her Aunt Shelly, in cowboy hats. I think that’s enough to unite us all. Can’t we all just get along?

I will leave you with a bit of math so this entire blog is about education,

literature and cuteness.
Nosy in Nebraska + Grandma + Elle = Bliss.
Leave a comment to get your name in the drawing for a copy of
Nosy in Nebraska.

http://www.maryconnealy.com/

Or buy it here:

We Have a WINNER!

horse-earrings-sm

RobinL is the winner

of the pair of sterling silver earrings

from Heidi Thomas.

You’ll look like a cowgirls for sure, darlin’.

Email me your mailing address, Robin

contact me at mary @ maryconnealy . com and I’ll get it to Heidi.

Artificial Insemination~And that’s NO BULL

  Mary Connealy

To my surprise I mentioned to some friends (well, FORMER FRIENDS, the wimps) that I came home the other day and there was semen on my front porch. (Note the warning to keep the tank upright…I’m guessing that there is NO ORDER concerning a semen tank that anyone would dare disobey.)

~
 
 Their reaction – a cross between horror, amazement and completely tasteless jokes—made me think this might make a good topic for Petticoats & Pistols.
Now stick with me all you CITY GIRLS while I tell you about Artificial Insemination of cattle.
~
    My husband is a rancher. He has cows that give birth every spring. The next winter, he sells off the year’s calf crop and then in the spring, here come more babies.
    They are unbelievable cute. And it’s a sign we are true country people because we can love them and fuss over them and coddle them and then. . . without batting an eye. . .we can eat them.
    So these are beef cattle. . .not to be confused with dairy cattle. . .and my husband mainly raises Angus.
~
Angus are black (although there are RED Angus-one is pictured above left) but for the most part when you say Angus, you mean a black cow.
The majority of his cattle are just nice, run-of-the-mill angus cows, but there is this special side to raising beef cattle that can lead to big money.
~
No, it hasn’t led us there yet, but my husband has a dream, a cool dream, that he’ll raise that magical perfect, beautiful animal with all the right ancestors and all the right lines; wide butt, broad chest, deep belly, (uh-oh, I just described myself) and this animal will be valuable and have valuable babies and maybe even, if it happens to be a BULL it might be marketable for it’s semen.
~
The pictures of the calves are from our herd and that’s my husband on the right, this picture doesn’t capture my husband’s basic cuteness. The hood really wrecks it but the man wasn’t about to pose and smile for the camera.
~
    So, to that end, my husband buys semen. He buys registered Angus cows and semen from snazzy Angus bulls and breeds the cows using artificial insemination.
~   
    I just heard Cheryl St. John scream and faint, toss some water on her, bring her around, she’s not going to want to miss the rest.
 ~
First he has to pick out semen. And for that he gets catalogues. Catalogues full of the most beautiful pictures of these magnificent, heavily muscled, shining black bulls.
   With really amazing names like (these aren’t all Angus-but they’re real bulls):
Hornster, Rib Eye; Red Hot Poker; Romeo; Grand Slam; Ladies Man; Bullicious; Rapid Response; Powerhouse; Red Hot & Rollin’—I could go on forever.
~
    They seem to have a naughty bend. . .at least quite a bit of the time. Hmmmm I guess I’ll forego a comment on that, nothing I’m thinking bears repeating.
 ~
   So he buys the semen and he makes his choices on this list of things, attributes that the bull owner promises. (Many of these bulls are dead-we can talk about that if you want). Here are some sample promises:
~
Birth weight of 56 pounds (that’s small-which doesn’t matter and is in fact good IF the calf gains quickly, a small calf is easier for the cow to deliver and complications are reduced)
–Progeny are Strong-topped, Deep and Sound with Ample Eye-appeal (this is NOT in English, do NOT worry if you have no idea what it means)
–Structured bull who possesses loads of bone substance, base width, muscle mass and volume.
— one of the most talked about bulls in the business
— Over 100 calves ratioed 97 for birth wt. in nine herds, 103 for weaning weight, and 60 calves ratioed 102 for yearling wt (this is actually something to really brag about but I don’t have time to define all the terms, just trust me)
— This may be the most powerful “878” son you’ll see with plenty of muscle and bone. (878 is the name of another bull, in this case, this bull’s daddy.)
 ~
 He gets these full color beautiful catalogues with pictures of bulls that (this is secret so don’t tell my husband I said it) ALL LOOK ALIKE.
~
     I’ve put up pictures of black angus and other types of cattle, you’ll note the black angus are all BLACK, try picking one of them out of crowd. The weird thing is, my husband can do it. We have about 250 head of cattle mostly all black, a bunch of them baby calves and he KNOWS THEM APART. This from a man who can’t seem to remember it’s my BIRTHDAY, but that’s a topic for another blog.
 ~
    They all look NICE, but c’mon, they’re black angus bulls. Of course they’re not all “the most powerful “878” son you’ll see—”, but those details don’t exactly show up in the snapshot.
 ~
   Then he buys it and it’s shipped to our house (do NOT ask me who does this for a living. The vet maybe? Is there an actual ‘semen delivery man’. Does UPS handle this stuff).
    The tank which looks a little like a teensy spaceship, arrives. It’s brutally killing cold inside. My husband transfers this to his own brutally killing cold tank and then bides his time. Waits for the cow to – well, let’s just say ‘express an interesting in–uh–well, falling in love and getting married and going on a honeymoon–for one day’ – when this happens, my husband is ready.

    It’s actually pretty tricky. I’m skipping details that you’d THANK me for skipping if you just knew what they are. Don’t even TALK about Gomer Bulls, that’s just too weird.
 ~
     And I listen to words like cervix and ‘in heat’ and servicing and settling, and hear my husband say, “I’ve got to go breed a cow” with my Wheaties in the morning and think nothing of it.

   Until I mention to some city girls (Please unblock me from your email. I promise not to bring up what’s on my porch again-although I’ve got a rabid skunk story that I think you’d love. And there’s a REASON it looks like there’s been a drive-by shooting on my porch. And does anyone know where to buy large quantities of wood putty?).
~
And that’s what made me realize this little slice of my life might be of some interest to others.
Any questions?
If you want to know what a Gomer Bull is, Google it. I am NOT going into that. Ick.
  And here for your enjoyment, a few captions
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Gomer Bull has had surgery WHERE?
 
 
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m being replaced with a frozen tank? I don’t think so. Bring it!

 
 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I have the best job in the world!
 
 

 

 

 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Mama and baby 

 

A new series begins with Montana Rose-coming in July

A departure from the westerns with a cozy mystery in a small town

Nosy in Nebraska coming in June

Book #3 Lassoed in Texas Series-available on Amazon-click the covers to purchase

Find out more at www.maryconnealy.com

 

We have a Winner

shotgun-brideMinna is the winner

(wow, that’s almost a POEM!)

of B. J. Daniel’s book

SHOTGUN BRIDE

I’ll email you to get your mailing address, Minna.

And thank you EVERYONE

who stopped by Petticoats & Pistols.