Just for Fun

Depressing News? Let’s LAUGH! ~ Pam Crooks

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I tell you what. The news these days is a real downer. Between Covid, violent protests, riots, political bickering…it all makes me want to throw the television across the room and hide my electronic devices under the couch cushions.

Enough already!

Sure makes me wish for simpler times when we didn’t have such easy access to social media, endless replays, and too much journalism that is more about the ratings than it is the truth.

We all need to laugh more. Science says it’s good for our mental health. We all know it’s good for the soul, too.

Here are some cowboy funnies that will brighten your day. At least, they did mine!

     The cowboy lay sprawled across three entire seats in the posh Amarillo theatre. When the usher came by and noticed this, he whispered to the cowboy, “Sorry, sir, but you’re only allowed one seat.”

     The cowboy groaned but didn’t budge.

     The usher became more impatient. “Sir, if you don’t get up from there, I’m going to have to call the manager.”

     The cowboy just groaned.

     The usher marched briskly back up the aisle. In a moment, he returned with the manager. Together, the two of them tried repeatedly to move the cowboy, but with no success. Finally, they summoned the police.

     The cop surveyed the situation briefly then asked, “All right buddy, What’s your name?”

     “Sam,” the cowboy moaned.

     “Where ya from, Sam?”

     With pain in his voice Sam replied…. “The balcony.”

 

 

     Cowboy Joe was telling his fellow cowboys back on the ranch about his first visit to a big-city church.

     “When I got there, they had me park my old truck in the corral,” Joe began.

     “You mean the parking lot,” interrupted Charlie, a more worldly fellow.

     “I walked up the trail to the door,” Joe continued.

     “The sidewalk to the door,” Charlie corrected him.

     “Inside the door, I was met by this dude,” Joe went on.

     “That would be the usher,” Charlie explained.

     “Well, the usher led me down the chute,” Joe said.

     “You mean the aisle,” Charlie said.

     “Then, he led me to a stall and told me to sit there,” Joe continued.

     “Pew,” Charlie retorted.

     “Yeah,” recalled Joe. “That’s what that pretty lady said when I sat down beside her.”

     A cowboy appeared before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.

     “Have you ever done anything of particular merit?” St. Peter asked.

    “Well, I can think of one thing,” the cowboy offered. “On a trip to the Big Horn Mountains out in Wyoming, I came upon a gang of bikers who were threatening a young woman. I told them to leave her alone, but they wouldn’t listen. So, I approached the largest and most tattooed biker and smacked him in the face, kicked his bike over, ripped out his nose ring, and threw it on the ground. Then I yelled, ‘Now, back off or I’ll beat you all unconscious.”

     Saint Peter was impressed. “When did this happen?”

     “Couple of minutes ago.”

 

The only good reason to ride a bull is to meet a nurse.

 

Nature gave us all something to fall back on, and sooner or later we all land flat on it.

 

Don’t squat with your spurs on.

 

Never slap a man who’s chewing tobacco.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed reading these as much as I enjoyed finding them!  

Even more, I hope I’ve uplifted your day.  There’s nothing like a cowboy and his humor, that’s for sure!

Does all the bad news drag you down, too?

Do you have a favorite joke or funny story to share?

If not, that’s okay.  Just let me know that you’re smiling, and your day is now brighter, and my day will be brighter, too!

 

Nature’s Meteorologists

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My grandparents’ farm in Decorah, Iowa

As I’ve said a time or six dozen, my maternal grandparents were Iowa dairy farmers. My grandfather was a short, stoic German man who possessed a loud voice and strong opinions. Getting to know him and earn his respect wasn’t always easy, as my husband, Kevin discovered.

My Grandpa Walter saw my husband as a city kid who knew nothing of farm life. (Which was true.) As a child someone shared an animal proverb with Kevin. When a cat washes behind its ear rain is on the way. On one visit, Kevin noted one of my grandmother’s barn cats washing behind its ear, and shared the weather prediction with my grandfather. My grandfather naturally thought this city kid couldn’t know what he was talking about. A while later, Kevin set off to pick up my mother a hour or so away and asked my grandfather to ride shotgun. On their way back to the farm, the skies opened up. Not only did it rain, it poured. One of those driving rains that makes it difficult to see when driving.

That day proved to be a turning point for my husband and grandfather. Kevin showed my grandfather he knew something about his world, and my grandfather developed a new respect for my husband. From that day on until the day my grandfather died, cats washing behind the ears predicting rain became a running joke between them.

Farmers and ranchers often looked to animals for indications of the weather, and reliance on these methods isn’t as silly as it sounds. While people might not have known when creating the proverbs, now science often explains the animals’ behaviors. For example, cats ears may be sensitive to changes in barometric pressure causing them to wash behind them when rain is coming.

Just for fun and to hopefully make your smile, here are some other animal proverbs from the Farmer’s Almanac.

  • If a cat sits with its back to a fire or sleeps with all four paws tucked under, bad weather is coming.
  • When a cat licks its fur against the grain, prepare for a hailstorm.
  • When a cat sneezes, rains is on the way.

 

But cats aren’t the only animal meteorologists…

  • If a cow stands with its tail to the west, the weather should be fair. If it stands with its tail to the east, the weather will turn bad.
  • When a dog eats grass or sheep turn into the wind, expect rain. (Based on how often my dogs eat grass, I should be building an ark, so I’m not a big believer in this one! ?)
  • If a bull leads the cows to pasture, bet on rain. But if the ladies lead the bull, the weather is uncertain.
  • The more brown a wooly bear caterpillar, the milder the winter.
  • (This one isn’t super practical since it requires a
  •  tape measure. I can’t see many farmers measuring mole holes! ?) If the mole hole is 2 ½ feet deep, expect severe weather. If it’s 2 feet deep, it won’t be as severe, and 1 foot deep indicates a mild winter.
  • When pigs gather leaves and straw in the fall, prepare for a cold winter.
  • Fat rabbits in October and November indicate a long, cold winter.
  • Bats flying late at night mean fair weather.
  • Wolves howl more before a storm.
  • Predict the temperature by counting a cricket’s chirps.
  • Hornets building their nests high in a tree means a snowy winter.
  • Cows laying under a tree in the morning means rain is on the way.

And from the plants:

  • When leaves “turn their back to you” and curl somewhat, watch out for rain.

To be entered in today’s giveaway for the Live Happy sink soap mate, a llama car air freshener and a copy of A Cure for the Vet, leave a comment on your weather proverb.

 

Reading Challenge for 2020

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I’ve been a book lover my entire life. Yet over the last decade or so, I’ve found that I am reading less and less. With a day job, writing full time, and family/church responsibilities, time is at a premium. Yet I don’t want to lose the pleasure of discovering new characters and adventures inside the covers of unexplored tomes. So I’ve started looking for new motivations to help me keep reading a priority. Last year, I attempted to keep a list of all the books I had read. I think I lost track somewhere around fall, but I did find satisfaction in seeing over 20 books on my list before I stopped keeping count. I know that’s small potatoes for many of you, but it was encouraging to me.

This year I’m going to try something with a little more accountability and hopefully a lot of fun. Inspired by many fun reading challenges circulating around social media, I decided to create one for my Facebook group – The Posse. I asked for their input in coming up with the categories, and nearly all the ones you see on my list are iterations of their suggestions. Here’s what we came up with . . .

We tried to create a list with a lot of flexibility to allow for personal taste and interest while still giving us the motivation to try something new or perhaps stretch our literary comfort zone just a bit.

You don’t have to be a Posse member to use this reading challenge, but if you want to participate with other readers and join in the discussion, we’d love to have you! We talk about all kinds of other things, too, including brainstorming ideas for my books. But at the beginning of every month, I’ll be posting the upcoming reading challenge category, and at the end of the month, I’ll create a post where everyone can talk about the book they read, how it fit the category, and what they thought about the story. It’s strictly for fun, so if you need to skip a month or two, that perfectly fine. Just join back in when you can. Personally, I’m hoping to use this as a motivation to read more as well as an accountability piece to keep me going even when life gets busy.

If you’d like to join the Posse and our Reading Challenge – Click Here.

  • Have you ever participated in a Reaching Challenge? Did you enjoy it?
  • Do you have any reading-related book goals for 2020?

Amusement Park Fun Facts

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. I spent most of last week with one of my daughters at Disney World in Orlando. She had plans to run in the Disney marathon and I went along to cheer her on and to do some playing.

Spending time at the park got me to thinking about theme parks in general and I decided to look up some info on the history and trivia related to them. And while this is technically not Western Romance related, I thought I’d share a little of what I found with you.

Roller Coasters – my daughter is a big fan and rode quite a few of them – I chose to watch <g>. But here are some fun facts associated with these thrill rides

  • The earliest record of something approaching a modern day roller coaster can be traced back to 18th century Russia. It is said that Catherine the Great while in residence at the Imperial Summer Palace, devised a pastime where people boarded a vehicle which was then rolled down hillsides. She apparently got the idea from the ice slides that were popular in the region during the 16th century.
  • Another early precursor of the modern roller coaster were mine tracks. A coal mine in Pennsylvania created a gravity railroad for moving its product. On days when the facility was not needed to move coal, locals would asks for rides in the carts. Before long, folks were willing to pay for the chance to ride.
  • The world’s longest roller coaster is the Steel Dragon 2000 found at Nagashima Spa Land just outside of Nagoya Japan. It is 8,133 feet long. The ride lasts 4 minutes and reaches speeds of 95 mph
  • The prize for the world’s fastest roller coaster goes to Formula Rossa in Ferrari World Abu Dhabi. It can reach top speeds of 149 mph Its acceleration rate is even more impressive – it can go from 0 to 149 in just 5 seconds. It’s so fast that riders have to wear the same type of protective glasses that skydivers use.
  • The tallest roller coaster is Kingda Ka at Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey. It stands an impressive 456 feet in height it shoots you 90 degrees straight up and then plummets back down in a 270 degree spiral!
  • Some roller coasters get recycled. This is not done out of an effort to save the environment as to save money. It can cost as 80 percent less to dismantle and reuse an old roller coaster than to build a new one.  There is one roller coaster, The Tsunami has been used by four different amusement parks since 1986.
  • Cedar Point Amusement Park in Ohio bills itself as the Roller Coaster Capital of the World. It is home to a number of roller coasters that are among some of the world’s longest, tallest and fastest coasters.
  • The Smiler, a roller coaster located in the United Kingdom, holds the record for having the most loops – an impressive 14! The next closest count is 10.
  • There are currently approximately 5000 roller coasters in existence worldwide.

Ferris Wheels

  • Early precursors to the modern Ferris Wheel were around as early as the 17th century. During that period in Bulgaria there was a contraption known as the pleasure wheel which had chairs hung from rings and it was powered by strongmen.
  • The modern day Ferris Wheel made it’s debut at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
  • The oldest Ferris Wheel still in use can be found in Austria. It was built in 1897 and was scheduled to be torn down in 1916, but a lack of funds to carry out the demolition saved it and it is still in operation today.
  • The High Roller Ferris Wheel in Las Vegas is the world’s tallest – it stands 550 feet high

Random Facts about the Disney theme parks

  • The Pirates of the Caribbean Ride originally used real skeletons. The original ride’s creators were dissatisfied with the quality of the fake skeletons that were available at the time. So they contacted the UCLA Medical Center who were willing to provide some actual human skeletons.  Eventually the real skeletons were replaced with fakes and the real ones were “returned to their countries of origin and given a proper burial,” according to former Disney producer Jason Surrell.
  • Since fireworks are classified as explosives, Disney is the second biggest purchaser of explosives in the US, second only to the US government. Estimates are that they spend upwards of $45,000 per show.
  • A restaurant at a Disneyland park is credited with the creation of Doritos. The story is that rather than wastefully throwing out unused tortillas, they created the crispy treat.
  • Disney makes two times as much money from their amusement parks than they make from their movies.
  • You may already know that there are a series of tunnels that run under the parks. These are used to help the cast members get from place to place without setting foot in the ‘wrong’ place – so a character from Toy Storyland will never show up in Star Wars land. But did you know that those tunnels in Disneyworld were actually built at ground level? Because it was built over a swamp, it was set on the surface and then excavated dirt from projects like the Lagoon was spread on top.  Most of the attractions are actually on the second or even third story of the park.
  • The world’s most expensive roller coaster can be found at Disney World in Florida. Everest Expedition, because of the attention to detail used in fashioning a replica of Mt. Everest, cost $100 million to construct.

And just for fun – here is a picture of me and my daughter at Hollywood Studios

So what about you? Do you have a favorite amusement park or park ride? Do you have any fun bits of trivia that I missed here? Did any of these tidbits surprise you

Join the discussion to be entered in a drawing for your choice of any book from my backlist

 

How I Spent My Summer

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. Happy Labor Day!

Since I’ve already done a post on Labor Day history and trivia in a previous post (you can read it HERE ), I thought I’d do something a little different this year – take a look back on my summer.

As you may or may not remember, I had foot surgery back in mid-February. It was a long healing process – 12 weeks where I couldn’t let my foot touch the floor and another 2 weeks where I could walk, but only if I wore a medical boot.  This was me at the end of those 14 weeks.

That took me to the end of May. So as summer began I was ready to make up for lost time.  I made a trip to my hairdresser – such a relief to get rid of 4 months worth of shagginess!  Then we made a trip down to my Mom’s – so good to be able to visit with her and some of my siblings again.

It was also in June that my future daughter-in-law invited me to accompany her and her bridesmaids (which included my daughters) to shop for their dresses. The wedding gown she picked is breath taking and the bridesmaids dresses are lovely and I was very happy I got to tag along and be part of the day.

Another thing I was once more able to do was have all my kids and their families over to my house, which is just what we did to celebrate my husband with a Father’s Day family lunch.

The month of June ended with me dogsitting for my daughter’s sweet and frisky Dean while she and her husband went on vacation. Dean made sure that I got my exercise, no matter how hot it was outside!

July was all about the Romance Writers of America national conference – something I look forward to every year. Preparations included getting my notes together for the workshop I was scheduled to present, making sure I was prepared for the board meeting (I’m currently a member of the RWA board), doing a little shopping and getting my hair and nails done.

But I also began to feel that something was still not quite right with my foot. A visit to my doctor three days before my scheduled departure for Denver confirmed my fears. He told me to resume wearing my medical boot and he scheduled a CT scan for the week after I returned.

Determined to find the silver lining, I posted this picture, saying that it had definitely lightened my suitcase to only have to pack left shoes!

Despite having to wear the boot, I had a great time at the conference in Denver.  My agent, the fabulous Michelle Grajkowski, along with her associate Cori Deyoe, invited all their clients who were at the conference to tour the fabulous Molly Brown House Museum with them. The place was a fabulous step back in time and I learned a lot of things I hadn’t previously known about this remarkable woman.

The rest of the conference went equally well. While there were some things I couldn’t do – no dance party for me – I focused on the things I could do.  The workshop Renee Ryan and I presented was well attended and well received. I had opportunities to visit with several editors I’d targeted, my agent and I had a productive career planning session and I was able to meet all of my volunteer obligations. But one of my favorite parts of the conference is getting to spend time with friends, some of whom I only get to see this one time a year. Here are pics of just a few of those friends I reconnected with this year.

Three days after I got home from the conference I was back in the doctor’s office listening to the results of the CT scan. It seems one of the metal screws they inserted in February had shifted and was causing problems that only another surgery could correct. A week later it was done and I was back in a post-op cast with strict instructions not to let my right foot so much as touch the floor. This time I was a little more prepared for the process, but cabin fever is what it is. The only time I get out of the house these days is to visit the doctor. On the bright side, I’m enjoying being able to being able to do a lot more reading guilt free 🙂

Since my surgery I’ve gone through two more casts.  The doctor lets me pick my cast color so I tend to pick colors that make me happy.  I think my next one will be a bright blue 🙂

 

However, there was a wedding shower scheduled for my son and his fiancee down at my Mom’s (a 5 hour drive from me) that I was determined not to miss. So my three daughters agreed to drive me down in my van and get me there.  It meant packing up my wheelchair, knee scooter and assorted other paraphenalia, and setting up the van so I could sit with my foot propped off the floor for the entire trip.  Here’s what the back of my van looked like for an overnight trip.

But it was well worth it!  The shower was lovely, the guests were all family so it was great having a chance to visit. Here’s a picture of the happy couple along with the cake my very talented sister made for them.

So that was what my summer was like.

How about you? Did you take a fun vacation or stay-cation? Have any memorable moments? 

Leave a comment and I’ll pick one person to win their chice of any book in my backlist.

Who Said it Best?

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It’s hot and my brain is mush, so I decided to do something that wasn’t too taxing.   Take a look at these Old West quotes and tell us who said it best or which quote is your favorite.

  1. “A pair of six-shooters beats a pair of sixes.” —Belle Starr

        “Never run a bluff with a six-gun.” – Bat Masterson

Belle or Bat?

  1. “I never hanged a man that didn’t deserve it.” Judge Parker’s hangman

        “I never killed unless I was compelled to.” –Belle Starr

Belle or George?

  1. “You all can go to hell. I am going to Texas.”  — Davy Crockett

       “Leave me alone and let me go to hell by my own route.” –Calamity Jane

Davy or Calamity Jane?

  1. Aim at a high mark and you will hit it.” Annie Oakley

       Shoot first and never miss. –Bat Masterson

Annie or Bat?

  1. “The grimly humorous phrase about our town was that Tombstone had ‘a man for breakfast every morning.’” — Josephine Sarah Marcus

      “Tombstone is a city set upon a hill, promising to vie with ancient Rome in   fame, different in character but no less important.” —John C

                                              Josephine or John?

  1. “I have no more stomach for it.” – Tom Horn, resigning as a lawman

       “At my age I suppose I should be knitting.” — Poker Alice

Tom or Alice?

  1. “For my handling of the situation at Tombstone I have no regrets. Were it to be done again, I would do it exactly as I did it at the time.”—Wyatt Earp

       “I do not regret one moment of my life.” —Lillie Langtry

Wyatt or Lillie?

  1. “After being so bad I could hear the angels singing.” —Lillie Langtry

      ”People thought me bad before, but if ever I should get free, I’ll let them know what bad means.”-Billy the Kid

Lillie or Billy?

    9.  “Talk low, talk slow and don’t say too much.” – John Wayne

               “Never miss a good chance to shut up.~ Judge Roy Bean

                                                  John  or Judge Roy?

 

 

New from Margaret Brownley!

Cowboy Charm School

When buying a horse don’t consult a pedestrian;  

When courting a woman don’t ask advice of a bachelor.

Amazon

B&N

iTunes

 

 

Thank You Bees and Lady Bird Johnson

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A couple weeks ago, my neighbor discovered a bee swarm on one of our fence posts. (When I first saw it, the swarm was twice the size of the one pictured.) Being a conservationist, I was concerned the swarm was honeybees. Being a paranoid dog owner/foster, I was worried what could happen if dogs and bees met. Thankfully, my ever-calm hubby hopped on the Internet and called Little Giant Beekeepers.

The woman he spoke with said the swarm was probably resting after their hive had been disturbed. They’d send out scouts, find a new home and move in a day or two. But, if we wanted, they could send a beekeeper. With me imagining one or more dogs not having the sense to leave the bees alone, getting stung, and having an allergic reaction, we opted for the beekeeper.

Turned out the bees were honeybees. When Miguel came, he suited up, and with an Amazon box and brush in hand, he swept them into the box! He accomplished the task amazingly fast. (Miguel later told us once the queen is in the box, the remaining bees pretty much follow.) Then he taped the box shut and said the bees would be relocated.

The bee incident made me thinking about Lady Bird Johnson’s legacy. This time of year, wildflowers, particularly Texas’ state flower bluebonnets, bloom along highways and in medians, continuing the conservation efforts she started decades ago. According to http://www.pbs.org/ladybird, on January 27, 1965, Lady Bird wrote in her diary, “Getting on the subject of beautification is like picking up a tangled skein of wool. All the threads are interwoven—recreation and pollution and mental health, and the crime rate, and rapid transit, and highway beautification, and the war on poverty, and parks—national, state and local.”

I’ve always felt passionately about issues. Rarely am I on the fence. These days, two of my soap box issues are conservation and saving honeybees. I keep thinking about planting bee friendly plants–sage, salvia, lavender, clover and native wildflowers. Honeybees are struggling to survive. I believe we all need to do our part to help. After all, as Lady Bird said, everything is interwoven, and honeybees pollinate most plants, including our food. No bees? Life will get tough for other animals. Humans included.

I think the bee swarm was the universe telling me to quit talking about it and improve my garden. This weekend I intend to take a tip from Lady Bird Johnson and plant flowers, because like she believed, “beauty can improve the mental health of a society,” and of course, I’ll choose bee friendly plants. We should be kind to our planet and its inhabitants, honeybees included. We’re in this together, and we should keep the Earth healthy. As French president Macron said, there is no Planet B. 

Tonight I’ll select one reader who leaves a comment to receive a Book Club wine glass and a copy of To Catch a Texas Cowboy, where my heroine runs a B&B, The Bluebonnet Inn.

Bested by a Buzz Wagon

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I’ve spent many hours the last few weeks combing through digital editions of old newspapers from Pendleton, Oregon.

As I was browsing through the news on one front page, a headline caught my eye.

Buzz Wagon Proves Too Much for Ted

The first thought that popped into my head was “what’s a buzz wagon?” The second was “who’s Ted?”

If, like me, you haven’t been exposed to the early 20th century slang term, a buzz wagon is what some people used to refer to an automobile. (Presumably from the noise emitted from those early vehicles.)

On a lovely June day in 1912, a cowboy named Ted and another cowpuncher brought 300 head of horses to Pendleton to sell.

According to the newspaper, Ted could ride anything that had two ears and a tail, but the “golderned buzz wagon” was too much for the buckaroo to handle.

While they waited around town the evening before they were to set to sell the horses, Ted and his fellow cowpuncher wandered down to the Pendleton Round-Up grounds to see what amusements they might find.

What they found was an automobile left sitting in the arena, unattended, while members of the Elks club tried out teams for an upcoming chariot race (wouldn’t that be fun to see?).

The two cowboys thought the seats of the auto looked inviting, so they slid in to watch the proceedings. After a while, Ted landed on the brilliant idea of taking the auto for a spin. Although he’d never been in an automobile before, let alone drove one, he asked his friend to get out and give the car a crank to start it.

The car started but ol’ cowboy Ted found he couldn’t control the “red devil” as it traveled across the track of the arena. He whipped the wheel one way then the other, touched every button and pulled every lever to no avail. The auto stopped when he bashed into a pole at full speed.

When the owner of the car arrived on the scene, Ted offered to buy the man a new automobile. The owner thought he could have the auto repaired and they settled on $25 payment.

Ted declared he was through with man’s inventions, much preferring a bucking horse than the unpredictability of a “buzz wagon.”

To find out more about the happenings in Pendleton during 1912, be sure to attend the Petticoat Ball on April 12 on Facebook! The fun begins at 10 a.m. (Pacific Time) and runs until 2 p.m. Guest authors, games, giveaways, and details about my latest Pendleton Petticoats book, Quinn, will be shared!

 

How am I? Same trailer, different park.

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If you’ve read my books, you know I love pairing a cowboy with a city girl. My characters usually wonder how they can be attracted to someone who fails to hit even one item on their this-is-what-I’m-looking-for-in-a-potential-date list, and this creates great conflict. But another reason I love throwing cowboys and city women together is it creates great dialogue and can even increase sexual tension.

Here are some sayings that have great dialogue potential. I’ve tweaked some a little the way I would if I used them in dialogue. ?
• Woman, you’re as friendly as a fire ant.
• Darlin’, I’m so country I think a seven-course meal is a possum and a six pack. (I can see my hero saying this one with a wry grin.)
• If a trip around the world cost a dollar, I couldn’t get to the Oklahoma state line.
• You look like you were sent for and couldn’t go. (Can’t you see the sparks flying if my cowboy hero said this to a heroine?!)
• You’re so skinny you have to stand twice to make a shadow. (More sparks flying, I think as my heroine wonders if this is a compliment or a diss.)
• You look like the cheese fell off your cracker.
• Honey, you make a hornet look cuddly.
• Woman, you talk any faster and you’ll catch up to yesterday.
• You look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet. Or, it’s twin, you look like you’ve been chewed up, spit out, and stepped on. (This one has potential for a tender moment, as the hero asks her what on earth happened. When she asks why he thinks something is wrong, he uses a soft husky voice and says, “Sweetheart, you look like you’ve been chewed up, spit out, and stepped on.” Of course, what he says shatters her control. She confides in him. He understands and consoles her. Bond forms, and there you go, sexual tension.)
• Woman, you could talk the legs off a chair.
• Are you two sandwiches short of a picnic?
• Don’t dig up more snakes than you can kill. (Can’t you imagine a city girl trying to understand what the hero means by this one and him trying to explain it?)
• Don’t write a check your ass can’t cash.
• He’s all hat, no cattle.
• You can put your boots in the oven, but that don’t make ‘em biscuits.
• Same trailer, different park. (In response to being asked how you’re doing.)
• Dang, if you aren’t double-backboned (I can see my hero saying this to a heroine when he’s impressed with her strength of will or character. Of course, she won’t quite get the compliment, and when he explains it, she’ll just melt all over his boots.)
• Woman, you’d charge hell with a bucket of ice water.

Not only can a western saying add color and realism to a story, it can add humor, reveal character or even create sexual tension. But best of all, it’s fun as all get out to write.

Now mosey on over to leave a comment about one of the sayings above or your own personal favorite and be entered for a chance to win the snack set and a copy of To Catch A Texas Cowboy featuring AJ, a Texas Aggie cowboy and New York City girl Grace Henry.

They Should Be Cowboys

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Ask any of my friends who really know me and they’ll tell you I like to watch TV. I find a lot of inspiration in good storytelling and, let’s be honest, physical inspiration for heroes. And though a lot of the actors aren’t cast in cowboy roles, I could easily see them with a cowboy hat and boots, a nicely worn set of Wranglers and sitting astride a horse as he rides the range. So I thought it would fun to share some actors I think would be good as cowboy heroes.

Because of photographers’ copyrights, I won’t be putting the pictures of the actors on here. But I’ll link their names to a picture so you can check them out and see if you agree. I’d also love to hear who you think would make a great casting for a cowboy hero. I’m always looking for inspiration to drive my creation of those sexy cowboy heroes in my books, and I’m sure our blog readers wouldn’t mind the visual treats as well. 🙂

My picks:

Matt Barr from Valor and Sleepy Hollow

Sam Heughan from Outlander

Matt Lanter from Timeless

Noah Mills from The Brave (He’s actually the inspiration for the hero in the book I’m currently working on for Tule.)

Idris Elba from the Thor movies

Oscar Issac from the new Star Wars movies

Jensen Ackles from Supernatural

Juan Diego Botto from Good Behavior

Eric Dane from The Last Ship

Now it’s your turn. Tell us who you’d like to see play a hunky cowboy hero. Let’s see how many awesome choices we can come up with today.

 

 

 

Petticoats & Pistols