Word Play

The Most Fun You Can Have Doing Western Historical Research

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Hi! Nancy Fraser here! I’m so pleased to return to Petticoats & Pistols for another visit. Just last week, I uploaded my final book for 2025 and now I’m going to take a much needed few week’s off before I begin again working on 2026. Hard to believe we’ve almost reached another year-end, isn’t it?

Today, though, I want to talk about western research. There is a definite skill required to organize the information needed to accurately portray the wild west in the 1800s. So much we take for granted now, or assume is correct, wasn’t even heard of in the 1880s or before.

My favorite searches revolve around the following:

• When did my story’s location ceased to become a territory and attain statehood?
• When did my location first get a railroad? Iceboxes? Dare I say it… electricity?
• How far is my fictitious location from a larger city? (Of course that’s my decision, but I like to find a similar real location and pretend it’s my fake town for distance purposes.)
• What was the population of the territory in 1885?

All of the above are fun and often necessary searches. By far my favorites are these:

• What’s the old west slang word for “a handsome man”? (Answer: Belvidere)
• How would my crusty character say, “the end” or “closed”? (Answer: Eventuate)

I keep an ongoing list of western slang that I’ve sorted three ways: alphabetically, by subject, and by first-used date. Yes, I sometimes over-organize. At the moment, my list is over 150 words long.

I thought it might be fun to share thirty of my favorites in a Word Search. Go ahead and give it a try. Feel free to share your results in the comments below.


OLD WEST SLANG WORD SEARCH

Clothing styles are another fun search. The array of references out there is sometimes overwhelming (and not always accurate). Given I write mostly small-town settings with everyday characters, it’s hard to go wrong with a simple skirt and plain blouse, or a calico dress. Trousers (not jeans) for the men and a gray or off-white shirt. Jeans (specifically Levis) are okay if we’re into the mid to late 1870s. Even though plaid/flannel was created by the Welsh in the 17th century, the fabric didn’t become popular in the western U.S. until the late 19th century.

Because I also create a lot of my own covers, as well as covers for several multi-author series books, one of my biggest frustrations is finding the perfect outfit, but realizing the model is wearing far too much makeup for the time period. I’ve become an expert in removing telltale signs of red lipstick and eyeliner. Still, making that cover perfect is all part of what I consider research.

In this final quarter of the year, I’ve released two sweet, historical romances. Both books required extensive research, and both include a few of those colorful slang words or phrases. (What’s a long list if you don’t use it?”)

I’d love to give you a peek at both of my accomplished and feisty heroines, and the men who fall in love with them.

Addie: Mackinac Bride (National Park Brides Series)

Other than two years of college in Big Rapids, Adelaide (Addie) MacDonald has spent her entire life on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan. Just a child when President Grant designated Mackinac as a National Park in 1875, she and her family were at the dedication.

In the years since, many have left the island for bigger and better things, yet Addie stayed behind as one of the few civilian employees. It’s been her dream to someday leave the island and finish her degree in agriculture and one day own her own farm.

When Jonathan (Jon) Ferris first met Addie, she was only twelve, he was eighteen, and on his way to college. After graduation, his plan was to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the military. Now, ten years later, he’s returning to Mackinac to take over command of the fort and the park. When he first sees Addie again, he can’t believe his eyes. Gone are the freckles and bright red ponytail. In their place is a beautiful and confident young woman.

Will returning to the park be the permanence he wants for his career and for his life? Will verbally sparring with the opinionated Addie lead to something infinitely more interesting? More importantly, will Addie find a way to fulfil her dreams while keeping those she loves close?

You can find Addie and Jon’s story on #KindleUnlimited.



Dumplings by Daria (Old Timey Holiday Kitchen Series)

Doctor Daria Keller arrives in Whistler Falls Montana at the height of their first winter storm. With barely enough time to drop off her luggage, she finds herself whisked off to the clinic to help set broken arms and treat frostbite.

When Rancher Finn MacIsaac arrives at the clinic to claim his injured son, he mistakes Daria for a nurse and dismisses her instructions out of hand, preferring to wait for the doctor. When she informs him that she is a doctor, he still insists on waiting until he can speak to a man. Pegging him as a chauvinist, Daria rushes off to help other patients.

It’s inevitable that they’ll cross paths, especially when Daria and Finn’s housekeeper become fast friends. Daria settles into her new position as head of the town’s clinic and small hospital and earns the respect of all those around her. The only person she’s not become friends with is Finn.
As winter takes a firm hold on the area, Daria must make a house call north of town. A buggy accident causes her and Finn to be trapped in snowbound cabin with only their wits and Finn’s skill with an axe to keep them warm. They do their best to avoid one another until they realize they’re both hiding hurt from their past. Over a tin of beans, they finally open up and share their secrets.

Can two people who started off at odds make up for lost time? Or are they destined to be nothing more than friends?

Finn and Daria’s romance is also available on #KindleUnlimited.


With the holidays fast approaching, I’d love to know your go-to holiday side dish or your family’s favorite activity. I’m also giving away one eBook copy of each of my featured books. Just comment below for your chance to win.

Until next time, I wish you happiness, good health, time to read, and a joyous holiday season!

Nancy

NANCY FRASER is a bestselling and award-winning author who can’t seem to decide which romance genre suits her best. So, she writes them all.

Her preferred genres are sweet western historical and sweet small-town contemporary. However, she has been known to dabble in the most unusual settings.

 

When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five wonderful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people.

 

You can follow Nancy here:

 

Amazon Author Page            

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Bluesky Social

Goodreads

Fun Words and a Give Away!

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I was part of a Facebook party this last week and posted a fun little doo-dad entitled “Literally the Best Words Ever”. It was a list of words most of us have used at some time or another, and they’re fun words besides. I’ve blogged about cowboy slang and old west sayings, but there is also Victorian slang and phrases that many of us have never heard. So for fun, I decided to dig up a few. Believe it or not, a fellow by the name of James Redding Ware wrote a book of these words and sayings (in 1909) in hopes of preserving them. Let’s look at a few.

Afternoonified: A society word meaning “smart.” Such as, the goods are not ‘afternoonified’ enough for me.”

Bags o’ Mystery: An 1850 term for sausages, “because no man but the maker knows what is in them. … The ‘bag’ refers to the gut which contained the chopped meat.”

Daddles: A delightful way to refer to your rather boring hands.

Doing the Bear: Courting that involves hugging.

Enthuzimuzzy: A reference to enthusiasm. Created by a fellow named Braham the terror, whoever that is.

Fly rink: An 1875 term for a polished bald head.

Gas-Pipes: A term for especially tight pants.

Got the morbs: This 1880 phrase indicated temporary melancholy.

Half-rats: Partially intoxicated.

Nanty Narking: A tavern term, popular from 1800 to 1840, that meant great fun.

Podsnappery: This describes a person with a “wilful determination to ignore the objectionable or inconvenient, at the same time assuming airs of superior virtue and noble resignation.”

Now that I’ve shared a few of these, let’s take a look at the word list I posted in my recent Facebook party. We had a lot of fun with these and so, I wanted to share them with you! We’ve all used these and they’re probably more familiar than the above list. Now, for the fun. Try using at least three words from the list below in a sentence along with one from the list above and see what you come up with! I’ll pick a random winner from the comments to receive a copy of my latest release, A Match for the Adventurer!

Whatchamacallit,  Flummoxed,  Dingleberry,  Gobbledygook,  Canoodle,  Codswallop,  Discombobulated,  Cattywampus,  Malarkey,  Brouhaha,  Skedaddle,  Doohickey,  Persnickety,  Whatnot,  Gobsmacked,  Flibbertigibbet,  Tenterhooks,  Poppycock,  Whippersnapper,  Flabbergasted,  Shenanigans,  Lollygag,  Kerfuffle,  Nincompoop,  Pumpernickel,  Thingamajig,  Whatsit,  Whatchamacallit,  Flummoxed,  Dingleberry,  Gobbledygook,  Canoodle, Codswallop.

 A little more about A Match for the Adventurer:

 

A Man in Search of a Wife
A Woman in Search of her Freedom
And the greed that seeks to keep them apart …

Nell Elliott thought she had a good life. But when her stepmother begins acting strangely, she’s not so sure anymore. She’s coming to her wit’s end and doesn’t know what to do. Then the famous Mrs. Pettigrew comes to town and instead of helping, seems to make matters worse. Toss in the handsome Bennett Heston, and it’s all she can do to keep her heart in check. So what if she only met him a couple of times before now? He makes her days brighter and her heart sing!
Mrs. Pettigrew is keeping a close eye on them, hoping to make a match. But she’s not the only one. And a match isn’t in the making if they have their way.

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Game Day – Musical Word Play

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here. It’s Game Day!!  Always a fun time. And since I love word games (I also love math games but I’m aware I may be in the minority there 🙂 ) I thought we’d play one that combines wordplay and music.

This is going to be super easy – take the letters in EITHER your first or last name (or both if you’re feeling ambitious!) and list a song that starts with that letter.  Here’s an example using my name – I used both my first and last names because I wanted to cover more songs (and yes I’m a BIG Randy Travis and Beatles fan 🙂 )

Whisper My Name (Randy Travis)
In My Life (Beatles)
Nowhere Man (Beatles)
Norwegian Wood (Beatles)
I Told You So (Randy Travis)
Eight Days A Week (Beatles)

Girl (Beatles)
Revolution (Beatles)
If I Didn’t Have You (Randy Travis)
Good Day Sunshine (Beatles)
Get Back (Beatles)
Somewhere In My Broken Heart (Randy Travis)

So now it’s your turn. I can’t wait to see what musical choices you make.

And everyone who plays along gets entered in a drawing for their choice of any book in my backlist

Will Rogers: Master of One-liners

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I just finished reading a delightful book by Will Rogers titled The Cowboy Philosopher on Prohibition. Using liberal doses of the Bible, Rogers made a thoughtful and humorous argument against the alcohol ban.  The book made me realize how little I really knew about the man and so naturally I had to do some research.    

Will Rogers was born in Indian Territory in 1879 to a prominent Cherokee family.  Rogers quipped that his ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower.  Instead they “met the boat”

He learned cowboying from the ranch hands on his father’s Dog Iron Ranch.  Cherokee freedman Dan Walker taught him roping, which later proved to be his road to success.

Quick to learn ranching, he was in his own words a poor student, saying that he “studied the Fourth Reader for ten years.” He was much more interested in cowboys and horses. Much of his later humor involved both.

“You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people.”

He left home to work on a Texas ranch, where he was known for his lassoing abilities.  He then tried to make it as a ranch owner in Argentina, but when he ran out of money, he traveled to South Africa.  There, he joined Texas Jack’s Wild West Circus.”  

He rode broncos, but his real talent was throwing lassoes.  He didn’t just throw one rope; he threw three, and his trick of lassoing a horse’s neck, legs, and the rider all at the same time earned rave reviews.

“Best doctor in the world is a veterinarian. He can’t ask his patients what’s the matter. He’s just got to know.”

He returned to America in 1904 and joined the vaudeville circuit.  During his trip to Madison Square Gardens, a wild steer broke out of the arena and began climbing the viewing stands. Rogers roped the steer to the delight of the crowd. The feat got front-page attention from the newspapers, giving him valuable publicity and an audience eager to see more.

At first, he worked in silence, but when he discovered that audiences responded to his western drawl, he began ad-libbing. Soon people were lining up to hear his words of wisdom.

“Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.”

His folksy style enabled him to poke fun at politicians, gangsters, prohibition, and other controversial subjects in such a way that no one took offense. People were too busy laughing.  Knowing that President Woodrow Wilson was in the audience during one performance, Rogers improvised a “roast” of presidential policies that had Wilson, and the entire audience, in stitches.

“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”
 

He went from being a cowboy to a vaudeville performer. Before long, he was known as a humorist, newspaper columnist, social commentator, and humanitarian.  As an entertainer, he traveled around the world three times and appeared in an astounding 71 movies.  He also wrote six books, and more than 4000 syndicated newspaper columns. 

Somehow, he still managed to marry and father four children.  Who knows how much more he would have accomplished had he not died at the age of 56 in an airplane crash? 

Fortunately, his witticisms live on and are just as relevant today as they were a hundred years ago when he first uttered them.  The man who cautioned us to “always drink upstream from the herd,” also had a lot to say about politics, which could just as easily be written today.   

  • This would be a great time in the world for some man to come along that knew something.
  • We shouldn’t elect a President. We should elect a magician.
  • Both parties have their good times and bad times at different times. Good when they are out. Bad when they are in.
  • I can’t see any advantage of having one of your own Party in as President… I would rather be able to criticize a man than to have to apologize for him.
  • So much money is being spent on the campaigns that I doubt if either man, as good as they are, are worth what it will cost to elect them.
  • The only difference between death and taxes is that death doesn’t get worse every time Congress meets. 

What is your favorite Will Rogers’ quote?

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Fall off that horse and come on in!

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In 2018, I wrote on western, and particularly Texas, sayings. Then all of you commented with others I hadn’t heard. You had me laughing pretty much all day. My favorite came from fellow filly, Pam Crooks. “He’s foolish enough not to realize he shouldn’t jump a barbed wire fence naked.”

Pam’s saying reminded me of my four Wishing Texas Series heroes, because that’s the kind of friends they are. When one is being a jerk, the others call him on it. As my heroes aren’t traditional cowboys riding on the ranch, I often add western or Texas sayings to add to their western character. I had to find a way to use Pam’s saying. I’m writing Book 4 now, To Marry A Texas Cowboy, and Zane’s best friend says to him, “I suppose you think jumping a barbed wire fence naked is a good idea too.”

As I sat to write today’s post, I realized I needed a laugh. With everything going on in the world, I figured you could too. So, here are some sayings I found but didn’t have space for last time. I hope they make you smile and maybe even chuckle.

Might was well. Can’t dance, never could sing, and it’s too wet to plow.

So crooked you can’t tell from his tracks if he’s coming or going.

If I say a hen dips snuff, you can look under her wing for the can.

He’d argue with a wooden Indian.

He’s the only hell his mama ever raised.

He may not be a chicken, but he has his henhouse ways.

So dry the trees are bribing the dogs.

Better to keep your mouth shut and seem a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

He’s got a big hole in his screen door.

She’s two sandwiches short of a picnic.

He always draws the best bull.

He could sit on the fence and the birds would feed him.

My newest foster Bella, to make you smile!

If a trip around the world cost a dollar, I couldn’t get to the Oklahoma line.

He’d steal his mama’s egg money.

He could talk the gate off its hinges.

She speaks ten words a second, with gusts to fifty.

You were too hard to raise to take chances.

Anytime you happen to pass my house, I’d sure appreciate it.

You smell like you want to be left alone.

If brains were leather, he couldn’t saddle a flea.

He couldn’t hit the floor if he fell out of bed.

Looks like he was pulled through a knothole backwards.

There’s two theories to arguin’ with a woman. Neither one works.

To be entered in today’s random drawing for the scarf, car air freshener and a copy of Home On the Ranch: Colorado Rescue, leave a comment about your favorite western saying. If you don’t have a favorite, tell me which saying above spoke to you the most. Thanks for sliding off and letting your saddle cool while you spent some time with me today. Stay safe until the next time we meet around the corral. 

 

 

Interesting Language and a Christmas Movie

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Language is such an interesting subject and I’m always intrigued by the older terms and words. Our forefathers sure had a more colorful way of speaking. In fact, the vivid words drew pictures a lot better than today’s jargon. Since I write historicals I love finding one or two to throw in. Too many can make for difficult reading though. See how many you know. Some may be familiar.

 

Tub-thump – a forceful or violent way of speaking such as a politician

Carking – causing distress or worry such as: the carking of the homeless

Purse-proud – a showy or arrogant manner

Thunderstone – flint arrowheads or axes turned up by a plow and thought to have fallen from the sky

Slang-whanger – a political rant or a noisy talker (I know a lot of these!)

Sixes and Sevens – a condition of confusion or disarray

Mercurial – sudden or unpredictable changes of mood or mind

Omnishambles – a situation full of a string of blunders or miscalculations

Blue Skins – Presbyterians

Black leg – a gambler

Stanchion – a strong or durable support or barrier

Snipper-Snapper – an insignificant but pretentious person; a trifler

Booklore – book learning

Cactus-bloomers – longhorn cattle

Corpse and Cartridge Occasion – gun battle

Not born in the woods to be scared by an owl – not easily frightened

Do you have any to add to these? I’m giving away a 2019 calendar to two people.

* * *

Now that we’ve had some fun, I want to tell you about a Christmas movie that John Wayne starred in. How many have seen or heard of “The 3 Godfathers?” It came out in 1948 and was about three bank robbers running from a marshal when they stumble across a woman alone in a covered wagon giving birth. Before she dies, she makes them promise to take care of her baby and get him to the town of New Jerusalem. It’s a story of redemption. I watched it when I was young and remember some funny scenes as they try to take care of this infant. So if you’re wanting a different Christmas movie, you might try to find it. The trailer is on YouTube and the movie is on Amazon.

 

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.

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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.

Crossword Puzzle Fun Facts

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Hello everyone, Winnie Griggs here.  I hope you all had a very joyous Christmas and a fun-filled New Year’s celebration.

Last year I took a break from writing western historicals to pen a contemporary short story. It is titled A Crossword Puzzle Christmas and is part of the Christmas Roses anthology.  As the title of the story hints, my heroine is a crossword puzzle enthusiast. Which got me to wondering about the origins of the crossword puzzle itself. So of course I immediately dug in and did some research on the subject and here are a few tidbits I found.

  • Crossword puzzles are a relatively new pastime. The first one was published on 12/21/1913 in the New York World newspaper. The creator of this first puzzle was a journalist by the name of Arthur Wynne who hailed from Liverpool.  You can see a reproduction of his original puzzle below.

  • Arthur came up with the idea for these puzzles when he was trying to think up a new kind of game for the newspaper’s Christmas edition. He adapted it from a popular children’s game called ‘word squares’, transforming it into something more challenging for an adult readership.
  • The original puzzle was well received, so much so that Arthur created new puzzles for the next two Sunday editions. In fact, when the New York World tried to drop the feature, readers complained so strenuously that the owners of the paper decided to make it a permanent part of the puzzle page.
  • Arthur Wynne originally dubbed his puzzle a Word-Cross puzzle. However, several weeks after the puzzles debut, typesetters accidentally transposed the title and printed it as Cross-Word.  For whatever reason, the name stuck.
  • Though readers loved the puzzles, newspaper editors had the opposite reaction. The puzzles were difficult to print and they were prone to typographical errors. It was such a problem that no other newspaper wanted anything to do with them. As a result, for the next decade the only newspaper to carry the popular crossword puzzle was the New York World.

  • Believe it or not, the crossword puzzle was responsible for launching publishing powerhouse Simon & Schuster. Popular lore has it that Richard Simon’s Aunt Wixie wondered aloud to him whether there was a book of these puzzles that she could purchase for her daughter. Simon, who was trying to break into publishing with his friend M. Lincoln Schuester, latched onto the idea as a way to kick start his business. The pair approached the New York World’s crossword puzzle editors and reached an agreement with them. For $25 each, they purchased the rights to publish the best puzzles in a book.  They then sunk all their money into printing The Cross Word Puzzle Book.  By year end they had sold more than 300,000 books and Simon & Schuester had become a major force in the publishing industry.
  • As you can see from the puzzle above, the grid was originally diamond shaped. It wasn’t until the 1920s that the puzzles began to take the block form we’re familiar with today.
  • It was also in the 1920s that crossword puzzles really took off in America. The puzzle craze inspired a Broadway plat titled Games of 1925 and a hit song called Crossword Mama, You Puzzle Me (don’t you just love it!).
  • Despite their 20th century origin, crossword puzzles are said to be the most popular and widespread of word games in the world today.

There you have it – a brief history of the Crossword Puzzle.

So which of these tidbits surprise you the most? And how do you feel about crossword puzzles –  do you love them? Hate them? Feel indifferent? Are there other types of puzzles you prefer?

And since this is my first post of the new year, I thought I’d celebrate by doing a giveaway.  Everyone who leaves a comment on today’s post before noon on Tuesday will be entered into a drawing – the winner will have their choice of any book in my backlist

 

 

Think Like a Horse: 10 Favorite Cowboy Sayings

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Kathryn Albright Kathryn Albright &Margaret Brownley

Margaret Brownley

wish Petticoats and Pistols

a Rip-Roarin’,

Yippee Ki-Yay

Son-of-a-Gun Birthday

Celebration

To help celebrate, we decided to share some of our favorite words

to live by–cowboy style!

So pull up a log to sit on, prop yer feet by the fire,

and consider the wisdom of the West ~

Kathryn’s Favorites:
(It’s so hard to choose only five! There are so many good ones.)

 

1.  Before you go into a canyon, know how you’ll get out.     
2.  Never straddle a fence. Build one, or tear it down.
3.  You can’t tell how good a man or a watermelon is till you thump’em.
4.  If you want to stay single, look for the perfect woman.
5.  A mail-order marriage is trickier’n braidin’ a mule’s tail.

Margaret’s Favorites:

1.  You don’t have to attend every argument to which you are invited.
2.  Too little temptation can lead to virtue.
3.  If you come home with a hair on your vest, you better have a horse to match.
4.  Love your enemies, but keep your gun oiled.
5.  Never approach a bull from the front, a horse from the rear or a fool from any direction.

Now it’s your turn.  What are your favorite words to live by?

Leave a comment to be entered into a drawing for a $10 Amazon gift card

(in celebration of our 10 years here!)

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P.S. Don’t forget to enter the giant birthday bash giveaway. You can find all the details along with the entry form HERE.

Celebration

Running from trouble, Maggie McCary signs up to be a mail-order bride.

She doesn’t intend to actually marry…but one sensational kiss changes her mind!

Mail-Order Brides of Oak GroveAmazon

B&N

iTunes

There’s a new sheriff in town and she almost always catches her man!

A Match Made in Texas

Amazon

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iTunes