Thanks everyone for your fun comments about poor old Elmer. I threw all the names in a hat and drew one out – And the winner is
Congratulations Katie! Contact me via my website and let me know which book you want and where to mail it to and I’ll get it right off to you.
When we headed out for our family trip to Bass Lake, up a little north of Fresno at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, my sister said she wanted to stop at the Indian casino along the way. She verbalized the name Chuck Chancey Casino and I thought, what a perfect name for a casino. Chancey is catchy and gives one hope of gambling and winning! It wasn’t until we drove by that I noticed it was the name of the Indian tribe…Chukchansi. Well, after I laughed at myself, I became curious about the tribe. Obviously, I had never heard of the Chukchansi Indians before.
As the trend goes on these days, you couldn’t help but wonder if the Chukchansi tribe had any involvement in the world of online sports betting. With the rise of digital technology, more and more people are turning to online platforms to place their bets on sporting events just like one of the popular online sports betting sites such as ufabet. Those sites are more reliable these days and are easy to play too as long you have correct entrance link for the site.
As we drove past Chuck Chancey Casino, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of games and slot machines they had to offer. I had heard about the new trend of high-paying rtp slot gacor machines that were becoming increasingly popular in the gambling world. Perhaps this casino had a few of those machines, which offered better odds of winning compared to other slots. The thought of hitting the jackpot and winning big was certainly tempting, but we decided to continue on our way to Bass Lake and enjoy the natural beauty of the Sierras instead. 
But they have been around over 12,000 years living in the San Joaquin Valley and the Sierras very near the small historic towns of Coarsegold and Oakhurst. They were hunters, farmers and gatherers. In 1849 during the Gold Rush, anthropologists grouped them along with sixty tribes with similar cultures and languages, but with different dialects in what was called the tribes of the Central Valley. They were known as the Yokuts, but there is no one tribe that goes by that name. “Yokut simply means “people”.
Unfortunately, their plight was no different than many other tribes, whose population was decreased by disease and displacement. Our government provided them “Rancherias”, small parcels of land with which to live, but without the benefits of a reservation, thus many tribal members reside in the Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi. After a class action suit in 1983 the Chukchansi became a federally recognized tribe. They remained landless until recently and have made great strides in keeping pride and stability to their heritage.
Today, the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino is celebrating their 10th anniversary.
From casinos to glamping, our trip had a bit of everything. Here’s a few pictures of Bass Lake, the patio boat we rented, the views and fun we had! We used to go to Bass Lake almost every summer when our kids were younger. It was a tradition to camp in tents and rough it a little. Now, we are reviving the old traditon with our expanded family, only this time in a glorious cabin with flat screen TV’s, dishwashers and full bathrooms. Twelve of us and two munchkins made the trip, and hopefully we can do it again next year.
What are your plans this summer? Are you a beach or mountain kind of vacationer? Do you have a favorite vacation spot? Post a comment to win a $10 Amazon Gift card! And be sure to check out my June release, Sunset Seduction.
Thanks to everyoine for sharing their thoughts on Anti-Boredom Month. I tossed all the names in a hat and randomly pciked the winner of the first two books in my Texas Grooms seried. And the winner is
Congratulations Lori. If you’ll contact me via my website and let me know your miling info I’ll get these books right out to you.
Hi. Winnie Griggs here.
Right now I’m a little bit brain-fried due to fast-approaching deadlines, frustrating writer’s block and other things going on in my personal life, so please forgive me while I deviate from the normal western-focused topics we normally discuss here and go off on a tangent.
The thing is, when I was trying to come up with a topic for this post, I stumbled on a reference to the fact that July was Anti-boredom Month.
My first thought was that it has been absolute eons since I faced anything approaching boredom 🙂
My second was how in the world did that come about? I mean, how does one determine that such a thing needs to be recognized on a national level with an annual commemoration? And even if someone decides that it does indeed deserve such recognition, how does one go about putting it in action?
But I’m not going to answer any of those questions today, I’m just going to talk about how I personally fight boredom.
So what about you? Is there something that gets you energized and refocused when you’re facing the ho-hum of boredom?
And to do my part to help stave off boredom during this month, I’m going to offer one commenter today the first two books in my Texas Grooms series Handpicked Husband and The Bride Next Door.
Happy Monday! This week at Petticoats & Pistols we’re revisiting five of our favorite blogs. I’m pleased to start things off with the very first gun blog I posted at P&P in 2009: The Chicago Palm Pistol. I hope you enjoy it.
Look what I discovered the other night. I’m always on the lookout for a proper weapon of choice for a character. While catching up on the to-be-watched shows on my DVR, I ran across one about old guns, including this little beauty:
istolOriginally called the Minneapolis Protector Palm Pistol, The Chicago Palm Pistol began as a copy of the French Turbiaux pistol, Le Protecteur.
The design for this palm-sized weapon was patented in 1883 by the Minneapolis Firearms Company, then sold to Peter Finnegan of Austin, Illinois. Mr. Finnegan created the Chicago Firearms Company and immediately contracted with Ames Sword Company of Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts, to manufacture the pistol in
time to introduce it at The Columbian Exhibition–The Chicago World’s Fair of 1892. Because of manufacturer delays, it didn’t make it in time for the Fair, and, in 1898, Mr. Finnegan ended up with 13, 000 pistols to sell.
The moment I saw it, I knew this would be an excellent concealed weapon for a character to carry, whether he’s the hero or the villain. Since it was billed as a small enough weapon to be easily handled by a woman, I suppose my heroine might have one tucked into a pocket or her reticule, as well.
Here, you can see the actual size.
It wasn’t a very powerful gun, so no shootouts from twenty paces, but for an ambush, or a last ditch attempt at protecting the one the hero (or heroine) loves, it would be perfect.
So what do you think of the Palm Pistol? Would you like to discover a heroine carried one to defend herself? Or it is just too tiny to be taken seriously?
Thanks to everyone who left comments today – it was so fun sharing this little slice of history with you and learning about your experiences as well. I tossed all the names into a hat and have drawn out a winner, and that person is…
Congratulations Heidi. Contact me via my website with your mailing info and I’ll get a book out to you ASAP.
Hi. Winnie Griggs here. Today I’m celebrating the release of my newest book, The Bride Next Door. And in honor of that I thought I’d share with you one of those fun little rabbit trails I often head down when I’m doing my research. (And I’ll be doing a giveaway as well – more about that later!)
Daisy Johnson, the heroine of The Bride Next Door, is the travel-weary daughter of an itinerant peddler. Her biggest dream is to settle down in one place and open a restaurant. When she unexpectedly obtains ownership of an abandoned building in Turnabout, Texas, she figures she’s half way there. Her goal then becomes to earn enough money to purchase a state of the art stove. She undertakes to do that by working as a cook for the hero Everett Fulton.
But I digress. One of the things I needed to research for this book was what sorts of stoves would have been available in this time period (1895). As I looked at picture upon picture, I discovered something surprising (to me at least) some of the photos I was looking at were not actual stoves, but what were called salesmen samples. They were toy sized models of various kinds of stoves and ranges that traveling salesmen could carry with them to show the prospective buyer what the full sized appliance would look like. They varied in size – the smallest one I saw was 2.5”x3.25”x4” and the largest was 5.25:x7.5”x8.75”. It’s amazing to me how ornate and detailed these miniatures were and I thought I’d share a few of them with you.
Aren’t these nifty! In some cases I had to double check the caption or article to make sure I was looking at a salesmen’s sample and not the real thing. I think my favorite is the pretty blue one in the center. What about you – is there one you particularly like? And have you ever seen one of these outside of a picture?
Oh, and if you’re interested in what kind of stove my heroine had her heart set on, you can find it on my Pinterest board for this book, which is at this link: http://pinterest.com/wdgriggs/book-the-bride-next-door-06-13/
And now, the giveaway!!
In honor of the release of The Bride Next Door this month, I’d like to give a copy to one of today’s commenters. So leave a comment before midnight CST and I’ll throw your name in the hat for the drawing!
Love Thy Neighbor?
After years of wandering, Daisy Johnson hopes to settle in Turnabout, Texas, open a restaurant, perhaps find a husband. Of course, she’d envisioned a man who actually likes her. Not someone who offers a marriage of convenience to avoid scandal.
Turnabout is just a temporary stop for newspaper reporter Everett Fulton. Thanks to one pesky connecting door and a local gossip, he’s suddenly married, but his dreams of leaving haven’t changed. What Daisy wants – home, family, tenderness – he can’t provide. Yet big-city plans are starting to pale beside small-town warmth…
(If you’re interested in reading an excerpt or purchasing a copy, click on the bookcover at the left)
Miss Jean enjoyed today’s visitors and their comments so much that she decided to double her giveaway! So we reached in and pulled two names out of the hat.
And our winners are
Congratulations ladies!
If you will contact Jean at jean@jeanbrashear.com she’ll work out the details of the giveaway with you.
My newest book, Stealing the Preacher, releases June 1, but I received my author copies early and would love to give a couple away. But before I do, I thought it would be fun to share some behind the scenes secrets from the making of Stealing the Preacher’s book trailer.
The marketing director from Bethany House contacted me back in April, worried that they wouldn’t be able to get the trailer done in time for my release because of the long winter they were experiencing up in Minnesota. The snow just wouldn’t melt. Thankfully, God brought the sun out just in time, and one week after the thaw hit, the creative team grabbed cameras, donned costumes, and brought Crockett and Joanna to life.
Dan Pitts, the creative genius behind the camera, actually sneaked in front of the camera for a cameo. Rather “Hitchcock” of him, don’t you think? Dressed as Crockett, he became my leading man, lassoed by the pretty heroine in pink. One of the editorial assistants, Elisa, stepped in to play Joanna and reeled him in. I just love how everyone at Bethany House is willing to get in on the action. Such great sports.
The result is a fun trailer that carries an old-time silent movie feel. Enjoy!
If you’d like a preview of the first three chapters, they are available as an excerpt on my Facebook page. Anyone who likes my page will gain immediate access to the content.
You can find it here.
So now for the giveaway! Since Joanna Robbins receives a huge shock when her father presents her with the preacher he stole as a birthday gift in Stealing the Preacher, I thought it would be fun to hear about the most surprising brithday gift you ever received.
I will choose two winners from those who leave comments, so be sure to include your email address to make it easy for me to contact you if you win. Unfortunately, I can only mail to US addresses. I’ll post the winners’ names by tomorrow.
Wishing you all luck!
Hi again! Thanks to everyone for all the great comments today on my post – it’s so great to be able to celebrate with such a fun group. I threw everyone’s names in a hat and drew out the winning name, which is
Congratulations Laurie. Contact me via my website with your mailing info and I’ll get a signed copy of The Bride Next Door off to you ASAP!
