Let’s give a big, warm Filly welcome to Kaitlene Dee!
Hi everyone! I’m always glad to have time with you all.
I’ll jump right into today’s blog post. In my upcoming novel-length story, Augusta, (due out next summer) Augusta served time for a crime she didn’t commit but was framed for, and now discovers she’s in danger. Her presence also poses a danger to both her sister and to the newly found family of friends she’s made. The outlaw gang she briefly ran with is now hunting her down. She has no other choice but to leave the creature-comforts now familiar to her and hide while she bides time.
Her hiding place? A marriage of convenience to a man who is bent on defying his father while still working for him. His father sends him to work the winter in the shabby line shack the man built himself. He had cut corners when he built it, and now he’s the one having to live in the mess he created. Unknown to his father, he’s taken a wife, one who is an ex-con and who, strangely, wants to accompany him to the line shack for the winter.
A line shack was a temporary shelter located in a strategic remote place on the far boundaries of a ranch. Cowboys, or line riders, used the cabins when they were charged with patrolling the boundary lines of the ranch. They kept cattle from straying beyond the ranch property before ranches were fenced. The cowhand’s job was to bring the strays back to the ranch, no matter the weather. As barbed wire fencing started being used, the cowboy would ride the line to make fence repairs, as well as checking on any cattle grazing or stranded far from the rest of the herd, especially checking on them in severe weather. There was little time for rest or relaxation.
The shacks were simple, usually a single room. There were a few that were constructed of raised tents on wooden platforms, or of three-walled tents attached to a single wooden wall. Other types of line shacks were built into the side of a hill with a single wood framed wall, a door, and perhaps a window. You can see one similar to this on Pinterest by typing in the app’s search bar: Line Shack.
The shack had enough room for basic activities such as eating, sleeping, and storing horse gear, medical supplies, and water.
Some shacks were stocked just before winter with supplies for bread or biscuits, for dried meats, and for grains.
Sources of heat were a fireplace and/or a small wood pipe stove. While fireplaces could provide more lighting, they were not as efficient of a heat source as the flat top wood stoves one could cook on. In winter, one needed to have a good stockpile of split wood built up.
In Augusta, she and her husband of convenience need to learn to live together as she’s a no-nonsense gal; and he’s quite full of nonsense, that is, until danger comes knocking at their door. Then he, for the first time in his life, must weigh what’s really important to him.
I thought I would have Augusta done and ready for release by now, but this past year has been full of adventure with major life changes such as retiring, moving several times, buying a new home, and having some struggles with my mom’s health—she’s a feisty fighter, but thank you for keeping her in prayer.
With all that being said, I’m asking that you join me on my newsletter to find out when the first story in the series is re-released and goes on sale; and when this second story, Augusta, is on pre-order for a special price (I’m rewriting Josina, the first story right now). As a subscriber, you’ll get updates on all of the series pre-orders and releases for this Old West brides series (the Brides of Willow Creek).
Just for fun, please share your favorite Thanksgiving side dish.
Mine is my mom’s rustic cornbread dressing. Oh my, it is so tasty, it’ll knock your socks off! I’ll post the recipe in my newsletter next week (another reason to join!).
One of the side dish commenters for this blog post will be chosen to win a Thanksgiving platter from Amazon!
I’m not sharing a picture of a specific platter since this is the season when their in-stock items change so quickly.
Thank you all for joining me today! I always enjoy my time with Petticoats & Pistols readers. I’ve made my covered wagon story, Emma, free today and tomorrow. Please visit my historical pen name Kaitlene Dee’s Amazon page here to get Emma free for a limited time
Another interesting, lovely, and little-known fact (at least to me) was how many young African American women came to the Arizona Territory. The mining camps were filled with young black men and older black widowers—but they weren’t the one who came up with the mail order bride idea. That came from the married African American women already in the territory. They found the presence of so many unattached men in their community “unsettling,” according to Black Women of the Old West by William Loren Katz. “With too few women to go around, the wrong kind of women came to town, and fights among the men were frequent. The answer, they convinced unmarried men, including many widowers, was an arranged marriage to a mail order bride,” he writes. They advertised in newspapers and Eastern churches and many young ladies responded. “Filled with hope, young candidates set out from Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. Many left lives of poverty, family problems or personal tragedies. Each sought her American dream, a new beginning. They hoped to find the thrill of love, the warmth of family, and a new life.”
For as long as I can recall, my mother has traced our family history. Sometimes she makes slow progress, occasionally great leaps, but it’s something she has built for years. While her dedication and commitment have always inspired me, I must admit that I thought it was such a boring pursuit.
When I received a message asking me to join the 
I chose to give Mason the last name Barkey to honor my heritage. Although my great-great-grandfather did not order a bride via the mail, it was my way of honoring where I came from to include the last name in this story.
Orphaned at twelve, left to care for five brothers and sisters, Calamity did not shirk her duty. Most likely she did work as a prostitute early on to provide for the family. She left the lifestyle behind, though, by learning to shoot and throw a respectable punch. Everyone who knew Calamity did respect her courage and her kindness. She rescued a runaway stage from a Cheyenne war party and nursed some Deadwood residents back to health during a smallpox epidemic. The only thing Calamity couldn’t do was win Hickock’s heart.
Susan McSween was a shrewd businesswoman and she put all her efforts into frustrating her nemesis, James Dolan. Eventually, she became the Cattle Queen of New Mexico, at one point running nearly 5,000 head of cattle. Best of all, she outlived all her enemies.
My hero, Captain Corbett, is an arrogant Scotsman who believes women should have babies not opinions. How well do you think an attitude like that would have gone over with the rough-and-tumble Calamity Jane, or the fiery, refined Susan McSween?
