What happened on this day...

Hi everybody and welcome to August 23rd. 

Gosh where has the time gone.

Most everybody has kids going back to school already and I have to say i'm a bit jealous.  I still have 2 more weeks with my kiddos.

It's a bittersweet year for me though.  My oldest graduated high school in June and in just 3 days, i will be transplanting her into her new dorm room at college. 

I feel so old :( and I'm sad.  She and I are very close so it'll be hard for both of us i'm afraid.  Feel free to send positive thoughts that this emotional mama keeps it together :)

Anywho, when i was researching info for my blog day, i ran across an interesting fact that i didn't know.

Does everyone know who Annie Oakley is?

Well on this day, August 23rd in 1876, she married

traveling show marksman Frank E. Butler

and below are 11 interesting facts about Annie !

1.  She made her first shot at 8 years old.

Born on August 13, 1860 in a rural part of western Ohio, Phoebe Ann Moses grew up poor. Her father’s death in 1866 meant that she had to contribute to help her family survive, so she trapped small animals such as quail for food. At eight years old, she made her first shot when she killed a squirrel outside her house. “It was a wonderful shot, going right through the head from side to side. My mother was so frightened when she learned that I had taken down the loaded gun and shot it that I was forbidden to touch it again for eight months,” she later said.

2. She used her shooting skills to pay off her moms mortgage.

Despite Oakley’s top-notch shooting skills, her widowed mother struggled to make ends meet. She sent Oakley to work for another family in exchange for her daughter getting an education. As a teenager, Oakley returned home (after working as a servant for an abusive family) and continued to hunt animals. She sold the meat to an Ohio grocery store, earning enough money to pay her mom’s $200 mortgage. She later wrote: "Oh, how my heart leaped with joy as I handed the money to mother and told her that I had saved enough to pay it off!"

3. She beat her future husband in a shooting match.

At 15 years old, Oakley participated in a shooting match on Thanksgiving with Frank Butler, an Irish-American professional marksman. The match, which happened in Cincinnati, was a doozy. To Butler’s surprise, the teenage girl outshot him by one clay pigeon, and he lost the $100 bet he had placed. Rather than feel embarrassed or emasculated by his loss, Butler was impressed and interested, and the two married the following year.

4. Despite her profession, she emphasized her femininity.

At the end of the 19th century, shooting was a predominantly male activity, and Oakley certainly stood out. But rather than dress or behave like a man to fit in, she emphasized her femininity. She wore her own homemade costumes on stage, behaved modestly, and engaged in "proper" female activities such as embroidery in her spare time.

5. She was only 5 feet tall. (I feel her pain lol)

In addition to Oakley’s gender, her diminutive stature made her stand out in the world of sharpshooting. In 1884, the Sioux chieftain Sitting Bull befriended Oakley when the two performers were traveling across the country. Acknowledging both her height and her shooting skill, Sitting Bull nicknamed Oakley Watanya Cicillia (English translation: Little Sure Shot). The American Indian warrior liked Oakley so much that he gave her his special moccasins to "adopt" her as his daughter.

6. She performed for Kings and Queens in Europe.

Although the concept of the Wild West is firmly rooted in Americana, Oakley showed off her shooting skills across Europe as part of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. In 1887, she performed for Queen Victoria at the American Exposition in London, and the queen reportedly told Oakley that she was a "very clever little girl." In 1889, Oakley performed at the Paris Exposition and traveled to Italy and Spain. The press loved her, the king of Senegal wanted her to come help control the tiger population in his country, and Italy’s King Umberto I was a fan.

7. She offered to lead female shoots in World War I.

Wanting to use her shooting skills to serve her country, Oakley wrote a letter to President McKinley in 1898. She offered to provide 50 female sharpshooters (with their own arms and ammunition) to fight for the United States in the Spanish-American War, but she never got a response. Similarly, in 1917, she contacted the U.S. Secretary of War to offer her expertise to teach an army unit of women shooters to fight in World War I. She didn’t hear back, so she visited army camps, raised money for the Red Cross, and volunteered with military charities instead

8. She sued the press for publicizing her (non-existent) drug addiction.

In August 1903, two of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers in Chicago reported that Oakley was a cocaine addict who was arrested for stealing a black man’s pants. Other newspapers ran the story, and Oakley—who was neither a drug addict nor a thief—was horrified. "The terrible piece … nearly killed me … The only thing that kept me alive was the desire to purge my character," she said.

The woman who had been arrested in Chicago was a burlesque performer whose stage name was Any Oakley. Most newspapers published retractions, but Hearst didn’t. He (unsuccessfully) hired a private investigator to uncover anything sordid about Oakley. Oakley sued 55 newspapers for libel, ultimately winning or settling 54 of them by 1910. Despite winning money from Hearst and other newspapers, costly legal expenses meant that she ultimately lost money to clear her name.

9. Thanks to Thomas Edison, she became a film actress.

In 1888, Oakley acted in Deadwood Dick, a financially unsuccessful play. At the Paris Exposition the next year, though, she met Buffalo Bill Cody’s friend Thomas Edison. In 1894, Oakley visited Edison in New Jersey and showed off her shooting skills for the inventor’s Kinetoscope. The resulting film, called The Little Sure Shot of the Wild West, featured Oakley shooting a rifle to break glass balls. Although she didn’t continue acting in film, she did act in The Western Girl, a play in which she portrayed a sharpshooter, in 1902 and 1903.

10. Two serious accidents halted her career.

In 1901, Oakley was injured in a train accident while traveling between North Carolina and Virginia for a performance. Although reports differ about the severity of her injuries, we do know that she took a year off from performing after the accident. Two decades later, Oakley was injured in a car accident in Florida. Her hip and ankle were fractured, and she wore a leg brace until 1926, when she passed away from pernicious anemia in Ohio at age 66. Frank Butler, her husband of 50 years, died 18 days later.

11. Her name became an idiomatic expression.

You know you’ve made it when your name becomes an idiom. Because of her shooting skills, the phrase "Annie Oakley" acquired a meaning of a free ticket to an event. Performing with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Oakley shot holes in tiny objects, making targets out of everything from playing cards to a dime to a cigar dangling out of her husband’s mouth. Because free admission tickets for theatrical shows had holes punched in them (so they wouldn’t be sold to someone else), these tickets came to be called "Annie Oakleys."

Thanks for visiting and have a great day !!

***

Krista Ames was born and raised in Indiana. She now resides in 

Northern Michigan with the love of her life and their 4 children. 

She is a full time stay-at-home mom and pursues her writing career 

when she's not chasing kids, cooking or doing laundry.

Krista would love to hear from you any time via krista@kristaames.com

and can be found at any of these places !

Website:   http://www.kristsaames.com

Blog: http://www.apassionforromance.blogspot.com

Review Blog:  http://www.fallintoreadingreviews.blogspot.com

Paranormal Blog: http://bittenshiftednotnormalbooks.blogspot.com

Author Promotions Blog:  http://www.bridgingthegappromotions.blogspot.com

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Cowboy Kisses Author Page: http://cowboykisses.blogspot.com/p/krista-ames.html

Manic Readers: https://www.manicreaders.com/KristaAmes/

U.S. Marshals of the Wild, Wild West

Breaking the law with the

I've always had a thing for a man in uniform, especially policemen so I thought it might be interesting to research U.S. Marshals of the West, specifically the 1800's.  It actually looks like lawmen date back to the late 1700's.

When I think of U.S. Marshals, I automatically picture weathered cowboys riding the range or chasing outlaws in a gunfight and in reality they really did do those things.  I think I was born in the wrong era lol.  I do know it was a rough life, however they really didn't know any different.  Oh to learn the ways of the old west.

* * *

Let's start with a brief timeline:

1789:  Oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency  On September 24, President George Washington appointed the first 13 U.S. Marshals following the passage of the first Judiciary Act. 

Until the creation of the Secret Service in 1865, Marshals were frequently called upon to pursue counterfeiters.

1865 - 1900:  U.S. Marshals were instrumental in keeping law and order in the "Old West" era and involved in apprehending desperadoes such as the Dalton Gang, Bill Doolin, and Ned Christie. 

October 26 - Tombstone, Arizona Territory - Marshal Virgil Earp and his deputies, brothers Wyatt and Morgan Earp, and Doctor John H. Holliday, gunned down Frank and Tom McLaury, and Billy Clanton in a vacant lot just down the street from the O.K. Corral.1881

1896 : July 1 - The fee system of paying Marshals was abolished.  The Marshals were put on annual salary.

1917:  Marshals and World War I: While American troops fought in the trenches of Europe, United States Marshals protected the home front against enemy aliens, spies, and saboteurs. 

*There's alot more but i only wanted to focus on the 1800's primarily.   

*   *   *

Type of badge from the 1880's.

During the 1880's & 1890's Marshals also carved badges out of coins

This picture is listed as just a few of the 

U.S. Marshals of Garvin County, OK.

Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch

Lawmen of Dodge City and Ford County, Kansas

(which includes Wyatt Earp front row, 2nd from left)

Read more HERE

Earp Brothers & Doc Holiday

Ned Christie Cherokee Outlaw

The Dalton Gang

Any of these that you would like to go back in time and meet?  I think i'd be particularly interested in meeting Wyatt Earp.

Thanks for stopping by today !

Chow Time !!!

Chow Time in the 1800s by Krista Ames

Have you ever wondered how people did it in the old days?  

How did they store food to keep things good long enough to eat? How did they cook?

In this day and age, we are all spoiled with refrigerators and freezers to keep our food cold or frozen and stoves and ovens or microwaves and grills to cook our food.

What do you think it would be like to live on and run your own farm providing for your daily living essentials?  The basis of food was pretty similar in the 1800's to what it is now, only the preservation and preparation have changed with time.

Today our meals are planned around the family’s schedule, but it didn't work that way two hundred years ago. In fact, two hundred years ago, families planned their schedule around meals!

During the early 1800s, cooking dominated the time and energy of the average housewife. There were no big grocery stores where families could go to purchase food, and eating out was truly a rare treat, usually possible only when traveling. Most fruits and vegetables were grown on the farmstead, and families processed meats such as poultry, beef, and pork along with wild game. 

People were basically forced into seasonal diets. In the spring and summer months, they ate many more fruits and vegetables than they did in the fall and winter. During those colder seasons, families found ways to preserve their food.

 Often vegetables were preserved by stringing them up to hang by the fireplace or in another warm, dry area to remove moisture. To prepare the vegetables for eating, people would soak them in water for a while. Beans prepared in this way were called “leather britches” because of their toughness after drying. Fruits, pumpkin, squash, and other foods could be kept in this way for months at a time.

Most homesteads years ago had a root cellar, where families kept food in a cool, dry environment. They stored apples and other foods in piles of sawdust or in containers filled with sawdust or similar loose material. 

One method rarely used today for preserving root crops such as potatoes and turnips was called “holing in.” 

People would dig a pit that was lined with sawdust or straw, place the items in the pit, and cover it with more sawdust or straw. Finally, they would place boards, tin, or a similar material on top.

Before refrigerators, the spring house was a fixture around some homesteads, providing a place to keep milk, butter, and other perishables from spoiling. Running spring water kept temperatures cool enough to preserve foods even on hot summer days. The “house” was a wooden structure with a roof built directly over the spring. It protected the food from animals and severe weather. 

In earlier days, people simply kept foods down in the water itself. Items like butter also might be kept down a well.      

By the mid-1800s, a method of refrigeration had taken shape that seems rather crude when compared with today. People would dig ice houses into dirt banks in areas deprived of sunlight, line them with sawdust, and fill them with blocks of ice cut from frozen rivers and creeks. With proper care, the ice would last until summer.

The three main ways of curing (the process of preserving food) during this time period included drying, smoking, and salting. Each method drew moisture out of foods to prevent spoiling. Fruits and vegetables could be dried by being placed out in the sun or near a heat source. 

Meat products could be preserved through salting or smoking. A salt cure involved rubbing salt into the meat, which was then completely covered in salt and placed in a cool area for at least twenty-eight days. During this time, more salt was constantly added. When the meat was no longer damp, it was washed, then shelved or bagged and left to age. Families would hang meat preserved through a smoke cure in rooms or buildings with fire pits. For a month, the meat was constantly exposed to smoke, which dried it out while adding flavor. Using different kinds of wood for the fire, such as hickory or oak, could produce different tastes.

A typical day on the farm would begin very early. Women built the fire based on the meals planned for that day.  The kitchen often was hot, smoky, and smelly and  the hearth provided the center of home life and family activity. With no ovens or electricity, women prepared meals on the hearths of brick fireplaces. They used different types of fires and flames to prepare different types of food. For example, a controllable fire was used to roast and toast, while boiling and stewing required a smaller flame.

To use all of the fire’s energy, families shoveled coals and ash underneath and onto the lids of Dutch ovens. Standing on three legs and available in a wide array of sizes, the cast-iron Dutch oven was one of the most important tools found on the hearth. It was used to prepare several types of food and allowed cooking from both the top and the bottom. Dutch ovens evolved into woodstoves, common in homes of the later 1800s and early 1900s before most people got electricity at home.

Preparing meals was not just a matter of starting a fire for cooking. Spices, such as nutmeg and cinnamon, and seasonings, like salt and pepper, had to be ground up with mortars and pestles. Milk had to be brought in from the family dairy cow and cream and butter made from it. After someone brought in the milk, it usually sat out for about an hour. The cream rose to the top, separating from the milk. Women placed this cream into a butter churn and beat it until it hardened, first into whipped cream and eventually into butter!

Every family member contributed to the production and preparation of meals. Men and boys spent most of their time outdoors. Chores included working crops in the fields, feeding larger livestock, and hunting. Diets included wild game, such as deer and turkeys. Women and girls worked mainly in the kitchen and fed smaller livestock.

Clearly, meal preparation two hundred years ago involved several more steps than it does now. Much like today, families usually ate three daily meals. The main meal in the 1800s, however, was not the large evening meal that is familiar to us today. Rather, it was a meal called dinner, enjoyed in the early afternoon. Supper was a smaller meal eaten in the evening.

A big difference between the way people eat today compared with long ago is the work and time needed.  Two hundred years ago, food and food preparation stood at the center of the family’s daily lifestyle. Without the advances in technology that help us store, preserve, and prepare food, men and women would spend much of their time getting meals ready to eat. 

 Sounds tiring doesn't it?  Or refreshing, rewarding?

I think i'd jump at the chance to at least try it :)

My very first post....

...and this is totally my fault !  I should have posted a couple months ago on my day but you know, life happens.

Anywho, i'm so glad to be a new member to Cowboy Kisses !

I am a wife to a really ornery man and mother of 4 high energy kids ranging from 8 to 14.  We are a blended family, my stepdaughter(left pic, bottom right corner) and my 3 have had a bit of adjusting over the last few years but we love them dearly.  They do however, test me on a daily basis :)

As far as my writing history, i guess i started sometime around 2007 to 2008.  After a few houses closed after contracts got signed, i published  short stories with Turquoise Morning Press.  They have since all been reverted back to me so those will be re-writes and submit !  I also have three current works....

Take Me Home, Cowboy from The

Western Escape line at Decadent Publishing    

Harper's Wish from Roane Publishing

Second Nature from The Wild Rose Press

I definitely have a few(20 or 30) WIP's but i think the one furthest along is Morgan's Mountain, a Montana Series book set to go to Roane Publishing.  Of course there are also follow-ups in process for both the other two above as well.

In addition to being an author, i also run a promotion company called Bridging the Gap Promotions.

With all that said and a handful of kids, it's a wonder i have any free time lol.

Feel free to visit me anytime at my Cowboy Kisses author page and feel free to shout out your hello's right on this post !  I promise the next time i blog here, i'll be all Western :)

Have a great day and happy reading !!

Krista