Seaman, The Newfoundland Dog

 

 Seaman, the Newfoundland dog, was a remarkable companion to Meriwether Lewis during the historic Lewis and Clark expedition. Known for his loyalty, strength and intelligence, Seaman played a crucial role in the journey that spanned from 1804 to 1806. As a Newfoundland, Seaman was well-suited for the challenges of the expedition, with his large size, webbed feet, and excellent swimming abilities. He was not just a pet but an essential member of the team, providing protection and companionship to the explorers.

Throughout the expedition, Seaman demonstrated his value in various ways. He was known to have chased away buffalo that threatened the camp and alerted the team to potential dangers. His keen senses and protective nature made him an invaluable asset in the uncharted territories they traversed. Seaman's presence also provided emotional support to the men, who often faced harsh conditions and uncertainty. His loyalty and unwavering dedication to Lewis and the rest of the team were a source of comfort and morale. 

Seaman's journey with the expedition was not without its challenges. He endured the same hardships as the human members of the team, including harsh weather, difficult terrain, and limited food supplies. Despite these obstacles, Seaman remained steadfast and resilient, proving his worth time and again. His ability to adapt to the ever-changing environment and his unwavering loyalty to Lewis made him a beloved and respected member of the expedition.

The legacy of Seaman lives on as a symbol of loyalty and bravery. His story is a testament to the bond between humans and their canine companions, highlighting the important role that animals can play in our lives. Seaman's contributions to the Lewis and Clark expedition are remembered and celebrated, and his story continues to inspire admiration and respect for the incredible journey he undertook alongside Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery.

In case of emergency, delete my history by Rhonda Lee Carver

 

I'm sure you've heard the phrase, "If something happens to me, delete my browsing history." For most people, they're probably joking, but for a romance writer, we mean it. I've often wondered what someone would think if they saw my history: terrorists, guns, how to get away with murder, the best s$x position, conspiracy theories, and the list goes on. 

I was curious, what are the weirdest things people search on Google. (according to Jellyfish).

1. My cat wants to kill me
2.Who ate all the bananas and took a dump in the hallway
3.I accidentally killed my cat in the dryer
4.Are babies dishwasher safe
5.Is there a spell to become a mermaid
6.There is a deer in my car
7. Am I a vampire
8. Never put a wig on a dog
9.Germany is in what country
10. What to do if a dolphin wants to mate with me

Some of these are definitely creepy...

I had book released on 2/4/25. Have you grabbed your copy?

Sneak peek:

Buy here!

Up close, she was more stunning. A thin white scar along her left cheek made him curious about how she got it. If she had her scars, maybe she wouldn’t be so turned off by his. The story of that itty-bitty scar couldn’t compare to the baggage he carried.

“You’re missing out,” she said in a soft, semi-husky voice that lifted the hairs on his neck.

“Really?” He pushed away the remaining basket of fries and wiped his fingers off a napkin. “What am I missing?” He couldn’t stop staring at her sparkling eyes, reminding him of a clear blue sky on a pretty summer day. She had a scattering of light freckles across her nose and the tops of her cheeks, the same color as the bronzed highlights in her hair. And that smile…no doubt stole some hearts along the way.

He wondered how old she was? Thirty, maybe? Something about how she carried herself gave the impression that she could be older.

“The taste of that burger. It’s meant to be savored,” she said, showing off a row of pearly white teeth against her sun-bronzed skin. “You ate it in record time.”

“Anything that takes longer than ten minutes to eat is called fine dining, a luxury that I wouldn’t know much about.”

She leaned in slightly closer. “A burger and fries are considered fine dining around these parts.”

“Then pardon my bad manners, ma’am. How can I make it up to you? What are you drinking? It’s on me.”

“I’ll take my usual, Jenna,” she said to the bartender.

“You have a usual, so does that mean you hang out here often? Entertaining the crowd with your bull riding skills and dining etiquette tips.”

She looked at him while she tucked her bottom lip between her teeth. “You were watching, huh?”

“Who wasn’t?” He cocked a brow.

“I need to show these boys how bull riding is done.” She picked up her drink and slurped it up through the paper straw. “Sometimes they need a reminder that a woman can do anything a man can do, and most of the time better.” She twirled a long strand of her wavy hair around her finger.

“Oh, that statement does have its limitations, but I’m sure you’re right, mostly. These fellows won’t ever forget that you can ride a bull. I can damn well guarantee that.”

“I like to leave a lasting impression.” She locked her gaze with his.

He liked her confidence.

“Mission complete.”

Yeah, he most certainly wanted to learn more about this intriguing woman.

 

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Cowboy Kisses News ~ Julie Lence

 

We have a new author to the blog, D.K. Deters. D.K. is replacing Melissa Maygrove. Please give D.K. a warm welcome and look for her 1st blog in March!

***D.K. is working on her author page, so be sure to check it out in the near future.

Plotting Along

Plotting Along

 When a writer stares off into space, that writer is usually working. A writer acquaintance of mine once told me about how her young daughter -- the child was about seven at the time -- piped up one day and said, "Mommy, I'm going to work like you!" And she sat down at her desk and stared out the window.

What we do takes place in our heads -- in our fertile imaginations. If you don't have an over-active imagination, you'll be hindered as a novelist. Although I had one sibling, I was, for all extents and purposes, an only child because my sister was almost 10 years older than me. Therefore, my closest playmates were in my imagination. In my bedroom or backyard, I acted out whole TV shows and films I'd seen. I was Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, and their horses.

Which brings me back to the point of this. It might look as if we're just sitting and staring, but there is more to it. We're imagining. We should wear a sign that states: Caution! Writer At Work.

I just returned from sitting out on the patio. I went out there for a minute to let the dogs do their thing and I ended up staying there for half an hour because I was working out a tangle in the plot I'm developing. Something about the story was wrong. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I knew that some element wasn't firing properly. Out there on the patio, I finally saw the trees and the forest. My antagonist was wrong. Not nearly frightening enough or disturbed enough. That pivotal character was coming off mild, and that's the kiss of death for a suspense novel. Problem solved. I blinked, realized that the dogs were dancing around me, wanting back inside, and I came back to myself and my desk and untangled the knot in my plot.

That's how it works. Half of writing a book consists of not writing. It consists of staring while your mind whirls, pulling up this plot thread, examining it, casting it off, grabbing another, until you finally find one that you can weave in and out seamlessly to tighten your story. The best outline ever still needs tweaking, revising, and bolstering. That's because as characters take shape and find their own voice in your head, plot points can change. What once made sense for a character is now out of character. Actions taken by a character now are preposterous.  Dialogue spoken by your protagonist suddenly seems forced. So, it's back to sitting and staring or jogging, doing laundry, vacuuming the rug -- it all works. Mindless activity to allow your brain to create scenes, conjure places, and pen dialogue.

As Dee Hock once put it: "Clean out a corner of your mind and creativity will instantly fill it." 

Artist Helen Chain

Post by Doris McCraw

aka Angela Raines

Mount of the Holy Cross
photo by William Henry Jackson - 1873 

There is a painting of the Mount of the Holy Cross in 50% of the Story Gallery at the Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum. From the moment I saw it, I was fascinated. 

The artist is Helen Henderson Chain. Born in Indiana in 1849, Helen attended the Illinois Female College in Jacksonville, Illinois. (Close to where I grew up.) She studied English and art., graduating in 1869. She married James Albert Chain in Indianapolis in March of 1871. The couple soon moved to Denver, Colorado, where James started a bookstore and print shop. Helen used a back room as her art studio.

Perspective: Helen Henderson Chain
 from Western Art & Architecture

Unlike other female artists, Helen loved the outdoors, and she and her husband spent many hours climbing and hiking. Helen was one of the early women, in petticoat, long skirt, and probably corset, to climb the 14,011-foot Mount of the Holy Cross in addition to painting the mountain. She also painted Pikes Peak.

Unfortunately, in 1892, while the couple was on a two-year world trip, their ship sank in a typhoon in the China Sea, killing the couple along with more than 100 others.

For more on this fascinating woman, here are some additional links:

https://www.historynet.com/helen-chain/ 

https://www.cspm.org/50-percent/mount-of-the-holy-cross-by-helen-chain/

https://images.app.goo.gl/7349dnNU4mRmmAhM9

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Henderson_Chain

Vacation leads to romantic/mystery series

Where should we go on vacation? In 2016, my husband and I decided on Montana.

Internet research revealed The Covered Wagon Ranch in Gallatin Gateway, Montana. They offered a non-rider rate, perfect for my husband. So we made reservations for July and planned our trip. OMG! It was fun—two days on horseback riding into the mountains, gourmet meals prepared by a chef and eaten in a rustic dinning room with other friendly “dudes.” The owners, wranglers and staff were just as friendly. We felt like we’d come home.

On the trip, I saw firsthand the mountains, canyons, and valleys that make that part of Southwestern Montana so beautiful. Sagebrush is real. And so are lodgepole pine trees and aspens with their silver leaves shimmering in the wind.

I took notes about things on the guest ranch that being a city dude I didn’t know:

• Cowboys hang hats on antlers or posts when they come in for dinner.
• The dude ranch is family-oriented with many returning guests.
• Fishing is a big thing in Montana.
• One wrangler is hired only to break and train young horses.
• Some horses are allowed out at night to graze around the cabins. All the ranch is fenced in with log fencing.
• Horses are run up to high pasture for two days a week to allow them to graze and be horses.
• Special attention is given to the care of horses, so they won’t sour. Horses have a long season. Horses go in the winter to lower pastures.
• Rides are arranged every morning depending upon what guests want to do.
• Sack lunches are provided for daylong rides.
• One female wrangler came from Oklahoma and got the job via the Internet
• Before a ride, horses are sprayed with fly spray.
• Besides the saddle, a horse carries a saddlebag for water bottles and lunch, and a rain slicker. Wranglers put a rope halter on the horses and leave it on.
• Wranglers carry bear spray.
• Horses are branded with the ranch brand.

Returning home, I brought together what I’d learned with my imagination and created a romantic mystery series called Ghost Mountain Ranch.

You will find these books as eBooks, a paperback set, and audio books.

Will the revelation of more shocking secrets from the past destroy their hopes for the future? The Ghost Mountain Ranch is a 3-book series blending mystery and romance.

https://books2read.com/Darby

https://books2read.com/SladeGhostMountain

https://books2read.com/Kelsey

Just Google It

This one’s for all those researchers out there.

True confessions: I am old enough to have used microfiche.

Yes, I know. It’s not cool to be that old, and certainly not cool to admit it, but I know I’m not alone, and I do consider it quite an accomplishment to have survived all the way from microfiche and card cataloguing through the traveling encyclopedia salesmen at my parent's door, all the way to googling (it’s a verb) and commanding Siri to look stuff up. Right here is where I’d like to insert the wide eyed emoji displaying my shock at how much the world has changed in my lifetime. 🤯 ( Also, an exploding head.)

While many losses of the good old days could be lamented on a topic like this—such as flipping through 30 volumes of the Britannica before bed—we’ll save those for another more nostalgic day. Instead, today I’d like to revel in the sheer madness of now having the world at our fingertips.

The information superhighway—or the internet for those who don’t like fancy terms—is literally full to the brim of everything you might ever want to know about. This is excellent news for those of us authors who like researching while writing our books. Even better news if your library card is expired. (Mine is not. I’m just saying.)

I am always highly entertained by the social media posts where authors reveal their google search lists. The index of weird stuff people look up when writing books is in some cases more interesting than the book itself. The memes about how we are authors, and not serial killers could crack me up for days. (The large number of people being harmed in books, though, is something to ponder.)

Of course, I don’t need to know about toxic gas that smells like sulfur in my real life. Even though this is obvious to me, if my neighbors saw my list, would they be worried? Would I be the focus of the evening news interview where the whole neighborhood is surprised? She seemed so normal. Do the police have a tracker on my search bar? Could they show up at my door some afternoon wanting explanations? (Just because I use the internet doesn’t mean I understand how tracking my search bar works.)

These questions should give me pause, but do they? Nope. I just google away, fingers racing over the keys, learning about everything from guns with silencers to how fast a car can drive before it explodes into small pieces. Where do criminals attach under the car bombs? Which wires exactly need to be touched together to hotwire a car? (Can you tell I’m writing a suspense novel?)

Siri doesn’t judge me when I ask what’s considered a misdemeanor in Oklahoma or if you can wear your hair long when you’re an inmate at a super max prison. It’s none of her business. She just sprints out to find the answers and brings them back to me lickity split. I’m pretty sure I would’ve had to look through a lot of microfiche to find those answers. (I think Google has made me a smarter person. For real.)

So whether you’re a spry young tech lover or an old dinosaur like me, I’d like to recommend you give Siri and Google a try. You’ll be amazed at what you can find out there in the wild wild west (www) of knowledge-land and if you’re lucky—you’ll even find a video on how to hotwire a car because readers LOVE those realistic details. (Don’t get me started on the videos. They are amazing.)

Here’s a few search terms for my recent WIP:

Average income of Mendocino County California

Distance from Tonga to Hawaii

Polymetallic nodules

Is it called a highway in Virginia?

How far into water will bullets travel (There’s a video! A guy tried it in his backyard pool. 🤣)

Are assault rifles legal in California?

Can large ships evade detection?

Where do Navy SEALs carry their weapons when parachuting?

Have you been googling lately?

Drop some of your searches in the comments so we can all wonder what in the world your next book is about. (Plus, when the cops show up we can vouch for you and tell them you’re just an author.)

Until next time!