#Free book + giveaway. Hearts of Owyhee by @JacquieRogers #western #romance #oldwest

Jacquie's Website | Pickle Barrel Gazette

Cowboy kisses is not for promotion, although we aren't at all averse to telling people about our books.  Still, every once in a while, the contributors do need to let folks know what we have available.  In my case, the rights to the entire Hearts of Owyhee series reverted back to me Dec. 31, so I'm reissuing the books--re-edited and with new covers.  In one case, Much Ado About Madams, I wrote a new ending.  Well, more like added-to.  

So for this month, I'm hauling out all the books for you to see.  Oh, that reminds me that I need to update my author page here at CK.  Better get to it!

And don't forget that Friday only (Jan. 9, 2015), Much Ado About Madams is free!  If you miss the free day, the book will be only 99¢ the next two days, so still a bargain.

Welcome to 1880s Owyhee County, Idaho Territory!  It was a hoppin' place in those days, and I've brought you several fictional adventures, both novels and short stories.  These can be read in any order, but here's the chronological sequence:

Much Ado About Madams
Hearts of Owyhee #1
by Jacquie Rogers

Amazon Kindle

5 Stars from Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews: "A story this good can only come from the imagination of Jacquie Rogers."

"A rollicking riot of a good read!" ~Ann Charles, author of the Deadwood Mysteries

Low-down on Much Ado About Madams

Oh my stars! Suffragist Lucinda Sharpe can’t believe she was hired to teach a bunch of soiled doves their letters. And what about the handsome brothel owner? Only a despicable cad would engage in such a business.

Blast that woman! Reese McAdams didn’t want the brothel in the first danged place, and now a suffragist schoolteacher is stirring up the works.

Can she reform the Comfort Palace ladies without losing her heart to Reese? Will her secret past ruin her future?

"A romantic trip to the Old West stamped with Jacquie Rogers' special brand of humor. ~ Caroline Clemmons, author of Brazos Bride

"Ms Rogers' clever western romance, MUCH ADO ABOUT MADAMS manages to enrousingly engage her growing readership while reminding us of the difficulties faced by the brave women who tamed the American West. All that, and did I say entertaining!" ~ John Klawitter, author of The Freight Train of Love

♥ ♥ ♥

Much Ado About Marshals
Hearts of Owyhee #2
by Jacquie Rogers

Amazon Kindle

NOR Top Pick
CTRR Award
Winner: RttA, Best Western Historical Romance Novel

5 stars from Laron Glover: Need a break? This is a FUN book (seriously--when's the last time you read a laugh-out-loud book?)! Turn off the iphone, kick off yer boots (or Jimmy Choos) and let Jacquie Rogers provide that mini-vacation you KNOW you need!

Low-down on Much Ado About Marshals

Rancher Cole Richards rescues his friend from robbing a bank, but is shot for his efforts, and now is a wanted man. His friend takes him to Oreana to see the doc, but Cole's mistaken for the new marshal!

Daisy Gardner is obsessed with solving crimes just like dime novel heroine Honey Beaulieu. But Daisy's parents insist she marry a farmer. Problem is, she can't be a detective if she's stuck miles from town. What better solution than to marry the new marshal.

Now Cole faces a dilemma few men have to face—tell the truth and hang, or live a lie and end up married. Either way could cost him his freedom.

5 stars from romantchick: Nancy Drew meets William Shakespeare ...hilarious characters, memorable colloquialisms, a clever, engaging plot and fine writing. All of which recommends Rogers' Much Ado About Marshals as everything to do about a charming, well-written romp.

♥ ♥ ♥

Much Ado About Miners
Hearts of Owyhee #3
by Jacquie Rogers

Amazon Kindle

"My biscuits are burning from this scorcher of a book. I will never be able to bake again without a wicked grin on my face.This is the latest installment of the Much Ado series, and it's as explosive as a stick of dynamite." ~reader Karla Eakin

"My biscuits are burning from this scorcher of a book. I will never be able to bake again without a wicked grin on my face.This is the latest installment of the Much Ado series, and it's as explosive as a stick of dynamite." ~ Agnes Alexander, author of Drina's Choice

Lowdown on Much Ado About Miners

Cupid’s bullet...

Hired gun Kade McKinnon interrupts a bank holdup and is shot by the teller, Iris Gardner, whose victims have a tendency to be the next groom in town. Will he be the groom this time?

Cupid’s bow...

Iris Gardner, a smart, independent bank clerk, fell in love with Kade when she was too young to know better. So when he walks back into her life and her bank, it's only fitting that she shoots him ... by accident, of course.

Cupid’s blindfold...

Kade doesn’t know Iris’s company is the one who hired him to escort a bullion shipment, and Iris doesn’t know Kade owns the security company, but they both know robbers are on their trail. Which is more likely to be stolen—the silver, or his heart?

"...if you love a good romance set in a fun western setting, and you love to laugh, you will love this book as much as I did!" ~ reader Terry Gregson

♥ ♥ ♥

Much Ado About Mavericks
Hearts of Owyhee #4
by Jacquie Rogers

Amazon Kindle

FIVE STARS! "Jacquie Rogers writes some of the best Historical Romances on today's market. Not content to simply write a plot and toss in a lot of bed scenes and/or filler, this author adds in subplots, humor, action, suspense, and some endearing strays." ~Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

"When you read a Jacquie Rogers book, you know you're in for a fast, fun ride!" ~BookwormForever

Low-down on Much Ado About Mavericks

Against the sweeping backdrop of the Owyhee Mountains, Benjamin Lawrence meets the one woman who'll rattle his derby forever.

Ben is a highly respected attorney in Boston, but in Idaho Territory, they still think of him as that gangly awkward boy called Skeeter.  When he goes back home to settle his father’s estate, he’s confronted with an outlandish will and a fiery redheaded head wrangler, who just happens to be the sexiest female he's ever met.

Janelle Kathryn O'Keefe, affectionately called "Jake," can out-ride, out-shoot, and out-rope any cowboy on the Bar EL, which is why she was promoted to foreman.  She's not at all amused that she has to teach an eastern greenhorn how to work cattle, no matter how handsome he is.

5 Stars from reader Claudia Stephan: "I can't even count the times I laughed out loud while reading this book. What are you waiting for? Give it a try!"

♥ ♥ ♥

Contest!

One commenter will win a free digital copy of 

Much Ado About Mavericks  

Drawing will be January 12, 2015, at 9pm Pacific Time

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Jacquie Rogers -- Sourdough Baking: Part 1

The Joy of Sourdough Baking
Part One
by Jacquie Rogers

While sour breads have been around for thousands of years, the term "sourdough" is relatively modern, coming from the 1800s American West. The folks in the California gold rush broadened the term to mean the starter, the bread, or the baker. To this day, "sour bread" and "sourdough" can mean different things to different people depending on from whence they hail.

That doesn’t mean that sourdough is exclusively North American. Northern European rye breads are nearly all made from sourdough starter because rye doesn’t contain enough gluten for baker’s yeast to work properly. Those recipes are hundreds of years old.

Sourdough Biscuits from
Discovering Sourdough

All sourdough breads and quickbreads begin with . . . ta daaaa . . . a starter.

Starter can also be called "sponge." No matter what you call it, it’s nothing more than yeast that you culture yourself. The starter is fragile and will die if frozen or overheated. In winter, the cook often slept with the starter to keep it warm. After all, without starter, he could only bake hardtack. 

How it works:

With flour and warm water as food, the yeast spores break down into starch and sugar, which promotes fermentation. Handled a little differently, you’ll make a fine pint of ale instead of a loaf of bread--a story better told by someone who brews it. The fermentation produces more yeast which is what makes the bread light and fluffy during the baking process.

From Beth's Bread:

Other terms for natural leaven starters are :
Levain (French)
Desem (Flemish
Barm (British) (not in traditional usage)
Lievito naturale (Italian)
Friendship Starter (if not yeasted)

The major distinctions between the various terms for natural leavens, other than the terminology, are the grain used, the degree of hydration and, to some extent, the storage medium and temperature, all of which affect the degree of complexity and sourness of each type of starter.

A note about taste:

In the modern day, sourdough bread tastes a bit sour and sometimes a lot sour, if you buy the more expensive variety. But in the Old West, they didn’t want their bread to taste sour and went to great lengths to make sure it tasted as sweet and good as any yeast bread, and as light, too.

Stay tuned for Jacquie's next article (October 12th)

Part Two: The Care and Feeding of Starter

Much Ado About Mavericks

♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ #3

by Jacquie Rogers

♥ FIVE STARS! Jacquie Rogers writes some of the best Historical Romances on today's market. Not content to simply write a plot and toss in a lot of bed scenes and/or filler, this author adds in subplots, humor, action, suspense, and some endearing strays.
~Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

♥ When you read a Jacquie Rogers book, you know you're in for a fast, fun ride!
~BookwormForever

Overview

• A sexy ranch foreman who just happens to be a beautiful woman
• A Boston lawyer who wants to settle his father's estate and go back East
• Rustlers who have another agenda in mind
• Mayhem endangers them all--but can the foreman and the lawyer ever see eye to eye?

Benjamin Lawrence is a highly respected attorney in Boston, but in Idaho Territory, they still think of him as that gangly awkward boy named Skeeter. When he goes back home to settle his estate, he's confronted with a ridiculous will that would be easy to overturn--but can he win the regard of his family and neighbors--and the foreman?

The Bar EL's foreman, Janelle Kathryn aka J.K. aka Jake O'Keefe, is recognized as the best foreman in the territory. But being the best at her job still isn't enough--now she has to teach the new owner how to rope, brand, and work cattle before she receives clear title to her own ranch, the Circle J. The last thing she expects is rustlers. Can she save her ranch without losing her heart?

Jacquie Rogers

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Romancing The West * Blog

♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ 

#1 Much Ado About Marshals 

#2 Much Ado About Madams 

#3 Much Ado About Mavericks

A fun short story: Willow, Wish For Me (Merlin’s Destiny #1)

Three New Stories from Jacquie Rogers #Christmas #western #romance @JacquieRogers

I’ve always written research articles for Cowboy Kisses, but this time not.  Why not?  Because I’ve been busy writing stories and books — lots of them.  That’s why I now have three new releases in just three weeks.  So today, I’ll tell you about them.

Christmas spirit, anyone?

Both Western Fictioneers and Prairie Rose Publications invited me to contribute to their Christmas anthologies.  It’s a pleasure and an honor to be included with such terrific writers.

Wolf Creek, Book 9: 
A Wolf Creek Christmas

This is a traditional western.  I mostly write western historical romance and this is only my second trad western story, but have always loved reading westerns so it’s only natural that I’d eventually end up writing them.  And of course I love Christmas stories; hence, two of them in one year.

The other authors in A Wolf Creek Christmas are Pulitzer Prize nominee Jory Sherman, Spur winner Meg Mims, Jerry Guin, Peacemaker and Spur winner Troy D. Smith, and James J. Griffin.  Here’s my story: 

’Twas the Fight Before Christmas 
by Jacquie Rogers

Gib Norwood owns a large dairy operation outside town, along with his brothers Peter and Paul (whom his late father conceived with a slave, Glory, who also lives with them.) Christmas finds them in a dispute with the troublesome ranch hands of cattle baron Andrew Rogers — a dispute that involves a wagonload of prostitutes from Abby Potter’s School for Wayward Girls, including Miss Abby herself.

When I came up with this idea, the notion of a Confederate veteran, a fifth-generation slave owner, whose only remaining family was his half-aunt, a quadroon who was his father’s and his slave, and her twin sons, who are also Gib’s half-brothers.  So here we have a man who fought for the South, but now his family are all considered “colored” even though the octoroon twins look Caucasian as long as they keep their hats on.  Gib sees the injustice here, and his goal is to create a prosperous living for his family, even though he knows they’ll never be accepted in white society.  But money always talks.

Abby Potter is the madam and owner of Miss Abby’s Boardinghouse, the high-class brothel in Wolf Creek.  She’s short in stature but tall in business acumen.  No one puts anything over on Abby.  And no one needs a Christmas more than her, either. 

Amazon and soon at other online stores and in print.


Wishing for a Cowboy

The other story is in the Prairie Rose Publications anthology, Wishing For a Cowboy, and these stories are western historical romances—eight of them.  The other authors are Phyliss Miranda, Cheryl Pierson, Sarah J. McNeal, Kathleen Rice Adams, Tracy Garrett, Tanya Hanson, and Livia J. Washburn.

A Gift for Rhoda 
by Jacquie Rogers 

A mail-order bride disaster!

Rhoda Johnson is stranded in a lonely cabin without a groom.  The townsfolk say she's better off without him, but her drunken groom sends a message that he'll claim her as his Christmas bride.  Gunman and ex-Confederate soldier Nate Harmon comes to Idaho to make peace with his abolitionist preacher father.  When half-frozen Nate reaches the cabin on a snowy Christmas Eve, instead of finding his folks, he's greeted by a pretty blonde with a shotgun who keeps calling him Mr. Snyder.  Will she shoot him, or melt his heart?

My first vision of this story was a huge bear of a man, Nate, huddled over from the cold, trudging up a mountain trail leading his tired horse.  What I didn’t know was why Nate would endure so much to get wherever he was going — but I knew his personality and how much he hurt inside.  I wrote the first scene and before I finished it, I saw Rhoda peeking through the cabin window.  She’s of mostly Swedish ancestry, a natural blond, but has had little available to eat so is thinner than she’d normally be.  Once I saw her, she jabbered in my ear to convince me she was the right woman for Nate — because I had my doubts.  She did sway me to her side, and I think Nate and Rhoda complement each other very well.

Bonus!  Each story in Wishing for a Cowboy is accompanied by a recipe — yes, eight delicious recipes!  Mine is Rhoda’s Wedding Custard.  And if you’re gluten-free, try my grain-free crust.  Yum.

Amazon | Smashwords | Print

And then, not Christmas related, I have a new western historical novel out, Sleight of Heart.

Sleight of hand? or
Sleight of Heart

A Straight-Laced Spinster

Lexie Campbell, more comfortable with neat and tidy numbers than messy emotions, is determined find the sharper who ruined her little sister and make him marry her. When his lookalike brother Burke appears, she greets him with a rifle and forces him to help her. Can she resist his magic charm? 

A Gambler With Magic Hands

To claim the family fortune, smooth-dealing Burke O’Shaughnessy has to find his brother Patrick, despite being saddled with an angry spinster. But when Lexie shows an astounding talent for counting cards and calculating odds, he figures she might be useful after all. Can he draw the queen of hearts?

Recipe for a hero: Take one Maverick, add in a little Remington Steele. Blend. Maybe throw in a little James Bond (shake, don’t stir), and mix in some of my dad’s unique brand of humor. Go off half-baked, and there you have it — Burke O’Shaughnessy, a ramblin' gamblin' man.

Available on Amazon (and other stores soon!)

Happy Reading!

Where to find Jacquie Rogers

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest

Romancing The West

Jacquie Rogers -- Sourdough Baking: Part 3, Sourdough Biscuits

Sourdough was the most common yeast used in the Old West.  Believe me, it wasn't a hardship.  Delicious!  My family prefers it over regular yeast bread.  By far. One of my family's all-time favorites is sausage gravy and sourdough biscuits.  We don't have it often but it's sure a treat when we do.

So now let's get cooking. :)  

If you have a sourdough starter, go for it.  If you don't, check out Sourdough Baking: Part 2 to make one.

Sourdough Biscuits

Truly, truly, a Food of Love!

(Feed starter the night before: 2 cups flour and 2 cups water, if you don't have enough.)

2 ¾ cups Flour
1 tsp Sugar or Honey
½ tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Salt
1 Tbs Baking powder
¼ cup Butter
2 cups Starter
½ cup Milk

Cut butter into dry ingredients. Stir in milk and starter. Knead on floured surface about 30 seconds. Pat to ½" thick (or a little thicker, but not thinner), cut into biscuits, place in greased pan. Let rest at least 30 minutes (or a couple of hours--sourdough isn’t picky). Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes depending on your oven (I bake them at 425 degrees for 18 minutes). When done, turn out on rack so the bottoms don’t get soggy.

Don’t forget to feed starter for tomorrow!


New covers!  Yes, the ♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ books all have new covers now, so here's the unveiling!

Much Ado About Marshals

5 stars from romantchick: Nancy Drew meets William Shakespeare ...hilarious characters, memorable colloquialisms, a clever, engaging plot and fine writing. All of which recommends Rogers's Much Ado About Marshals as everything to do about a charming, well-written romp.

Much Ado About Madams

A romantic trip to the Old West stamped with Jacquie Rogers' special brand of humor.

 ~ Caroline Clemmons, author of Brazos Bride

Much Ado About Mavericks

FIVE STARS! Jacquie Rogers writes some of the best Historical Romances on today's market. Not content to simply write a plot and toss in a lot of bed scenes and/or filler, this author adds in subplots, humor, action, suspense, and some endearing strays. ~Detra Fitch, Huntress Reviews

Country Cookin' with Jacquie Rogers

 

Cooking on the cattle trail, cooking at a round-up, and cooking at home were three entirely different disciplines. Camp cooks might not necessarily be great bunkhouse cooks, and round-up cooks might not cut it on the trail. For this article, I'm going to talk about round-up cooking.

 

First, a confession: I don't measure or use recipes as defined by those things called cookbooks. My mama didn't measure and neither did her mama, so that's just the way it goes in our family. But it's a real advantage when you read old-time recipes that call for a pinch of salt and two handfuls of flour. We know just what to do. But telling someone else how to make a dish is a wee bit more difficult because of it.

 

Tonight, after the cattle are all bedded down and the horses put back in the remuda, the cowhands are in for a real treat. We're having beans and cornbread. As my husband is the bean cook around this outfit, I had him write this up for us. Warning: he can be...well, indelicate at times.

 

Mr. Rogers' Ham and Beans Recipe

(simple and very tasty)

Ingredients:

One or two hambones, hamhocks, or better yet ham shanks, smoked.

1 lb dry navy beans

3 bay leaves

3 or more cloves garlic, crushed.

4-6 shakes of Tabasco Original or a few dried cayenne flakes.

One large white onion, or medium yellow. White is best.

Pinch of dry mustard.

One small squirt of catsup (modern addition).

• Soak beans overnight (at least 4-6 hours), be sure to use lotsa water, drain and rinse in collander.
• DO NOT COOK IN SOAKWATER, unless you live alone and enjoy your own farts.
• Put ham in pot, dump drained beans on top, add new water to cover plus 1 inch.
• Cover and bring to simmer. DO NOT BOIL HARD.
• Chop onion and add to pot. Reserve some chopped onion for topping.
• Add bay leaves, garlic, mustard.
• Simmer another hour and half or so. DO NOT BOIL. Add more water as needed to keep beans covered. (Note: What Mr. R actually means is a gentle boil.)
• DO NOT ADD ANY SALT. AND DO NOT STIR, IT BREAKS THE BEANS.
• Remove ham bones to chopping block. Remove meat and separate from fat, skin and gristle. Chop meat and return to pot. May also return bones, if desired, and marrow can be extracted and added to chopped meat. Discard fat, skin, and other crapola. Continue to simmer slowly, covered, while doing this. DO NOT BOIL.
• When beans are tender, add Tabasco and catsup (if desired) and stir carefully. This will break a few beans, but not too many, and will thicken the sauce.
• Did I mention the beans must not boil?
• Serve immediately, topped with more chopped onions, fresh pepper to taste, and hot corn bread.
• Some people also add salt to taste, but you should not need any as the ham will have imparted more salt than you should be eating anyhow. Unless you can find salt-free ham, good luck with that.
• If you are Jacquie, put your cornbread in bottom of bowl, ladle beans and ham over, top with onions and dot with catsup. If you are not Jacquie, do not do this as it ruins the beans and makes the cornbread soggy.

 

Now for the cornbread. These days, most cornbread os more like yellow cake. Also, people get fancy and put kernal corn, jalapenos, cheese, and every other thing in their cornbread. That's fine, but first it's good to know the basics. I make the cornbread, so here goes.

 

Mrs. Rogers' Cornbread

 

Oven: 425 degrees

Grease a 9"x9" pan and dust with cornmeal

 

Mix dry ingredients together:

2 cups Cornmeal (we prefer blue but yellow or white are fine)

3/4 cup Flour (I use spelt)

1/4 cup Sugar or Honey (to taste)

1 1/2 Tbs Baking powder

1/2 tsp Salt

 

In the dry ingredients, put:

2 Eggs

1 cube soft Butter (or 1/2 cup oil)

1 to 1 3/4 cup Milk (depends on the type of cornmeal and flour--should be a nice batter, like pancake batter)

 

Mix (not too much!) and pour into the greased pan and bake for um, well, that depends on the kind of flour and cornmeal you use. If you use yellow cornmeal and white wheat flour, then 25 minutes ought to do it. If you use blue cornmeal and spelt flour, baking time will be closer to 35 minutes. Depending your oven, of course.

 

Yum! Hot cornbread smothered in beans and ham. Life is good.

 

Might not be so good if that's all you ate, though, which was often the case on a trail drive--only you'd have beans with wild game meat (if any meat at all), and sourdough biscuits. We'll get into sourdough cooking next month.

 

I don't have any excerpts in Much Ado About Mavericks about round-up cooking that make any sense without going into a lot of detail, so here's a scene where Ben Lawrence comes home to the Bar EL Ranch for the first time in thirteen years. He's greeted by Teddy and Homer, two "strays" Jake picked up. Yes, Jake's the heroine. Her name is Janelle Kathryn, aka J.K., shortened to Jake. She's the foreman, hired by Ben's deceased father. "Skeeter" is the detested nickname foisted on Ben by his father.

 

This isn't exactly a romantic scene, but it gives you a little insight to Jake, who likes to think of herself as a hardened cowhand, no more, no less.

 

Much Ado About Mavericks (♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ #3)

by Jacquie Rogers

 

The towering, lone cottonwood was the first thing Ben saw when he turned the team onto the Bar EL lane. The tree had nearly doubled in size since he’d left for Harvard—but then, so had he. Grass had replaced the sagebrush around the house, lending the two-story frame building an air of peacefulness.

 

The fragrance of the newly mown lawn intermingled with the familiar odor of cow manure. “Smells like money,” his father had always said. Ben didn’t agree—he’d made piles of money in Boston without ever once shoveling shit.

 

He had known no peace in Henderson Flats, or in that house. His shoulders tensed more the closer he got, relaxing only when he assured himself he’d be stuck here only a short time.

 

“Jake! Jake!” Two small boys shouted and ran, arms waving, to greet them as Ben pulled the wagon into the yard.

 

“Who’re these boys?” he asked, wondering if they weren’t his half-brothers. He wouldn’t have put it past the old man—just to spite his mother.

 

“My strays. Found ‘em, kept ‘em. Good boys.”

 

The older boy grabbed the harness and the younger one scrambled up to the seat. “Are you Skeeter?” He studied Ben. “You don’t look like no ‘skeeter I ever seen.”

 

Ben held out his hand. “I’m Ben Lawrence.”

 

The little boy jumped on his lap. “I’m Theodore Somethin’ Somethin’, but you can call me Teddy.” He pointed at the other boy. “That there’s Homer Franklin Collingwood. I just about can’t say it in one breath.”

 

Ben chuckled. “Yes, Homer does have quite a sobriquet.”

 

Teddy frowned, then smiled. “Aw, yer joshing with me. Homer ain’t no drunk.” He scooted off Ben’s lap and onto Jake’s. “So where’s Skeeter? You was supposed to bring him back.”

 

Jake patted the little fellow, who couldn’t have been more than five or six, on the back. “Folks change sometimes, Teddy. He went away ‘Skeeter’ and come back ‘Ben.’ That’ll happen to you someday, too. You won’t be ‘Teddy’ no more—you’ll be ‘Ted,’ a fine man’s name for the fine man you’ll be.”

 

Ben hopped down from the seat, smiled, and shook hands with Homer. “You’re a sharp looking boy. Glad to meet you.”

 

“I ain’t no boy,” Homer retorted, scowling. “I’m a cowhand at the Bar EL and the Circle J. Teddy is, too. Jake’s our boss.”

 

Teddy ran beside Homer. “Yeah, we gots jobs and make money and sleep in the Circle J bunkhouse. Don’t want no wimmen, though. Them old fellers, well, they’s always talking about wimmen.” He hawked up a wad and spat, seeming mighty pleased with the six or eight feet it traveled. He grinned, showing his baby teeth. “Can you do that?”

 

Ben swallowed a chuckle, then shook his head and grinned at the boy. “I’ll need some practice, and probably a good teacher. Maybe you can help me later.”

 

The boy puffed out his chest. “Sure enough. Ain’t nobody can spit farther than me. Not even Jake.”

Much Ado About Mavericks available at the Kindle Store 

Jacquie Rogers

Website * Twitter * Facebook * Romancing The West * Blog

♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥

#1 Much Ado About Marshals 

#2 Much Ado About Madams  (FREE July 13!)

#3 Much Ado About Mavericks

A short story: Willow, Wish For Me (Merlin’s Destiny #1)

 

 

 

 

 

Outhouses in the Old West by Jacquie Rogers #western @JacquieRogers

Outhouses in the Old West

by Moriah McCormick 

and Jacquie Rogers

Have you ever wondered about outhouses? Growing up, my family and I did a lot of camping and at most camping sights there were outhouses available for use. My grandpa even had one on his farm. To me, outhouses were just a part of life. Nothing else.

It wasn’t until I moved to “The Big City” that I realized that not everyone thought that outhouses were commonplace structures. My friends would look at me strangely when I mentioned my grandpa’s outhouse and they’d tease me about how I was living in the wrong era, but invariably they’d start asking questions about them. I didn’t know how to answer these queries because an outhouse was a place to do your business and that was that.

When I was seventeen I went on a week long camping trip to Silver City, Idaho, where I saw a two-story outhouse. It triggered every question that my friends had ever asked me and a few of my own as well. For instance, what about that poor fellow on the ground floor? It was time to find some answers.

Crescent Moon

In modern day, there are men’s and women’s restrooms, but in all the pictures you see only one outhouse. Why? Also why was there a crescent moon on all of the outhouses? Conveniently for me those two questions can be answered at the same time.

An outhouse was made for privacy, but without a window how would light get in? Cutting a shape above eye level let in light but still allowed the users their modesty. In public places, a person could usually find two outhouses next to each other: one would have a carving of the crescent moon the sign for women, the men's would have a star.

Apparently the sanitation and maintenance of the men’s outhouses were not always on par with the women’s, and sometime in the early to mid 19th century, men began using the women’s outhouses and leaving the star behind.

But wait!  What about toilet paper?  Corncobs or paper (from whatever magazine or catalog available) had to suffice in the first half of the 19th century.  

Toilet Paper

In 1857, Joseph C. Gayetty introduced the first paper specifically for this purpose, Gayetty's Medicated Papers, also called therapeutic papers.  Rolled toilet paper wasn't invented until 25 years later, and wasn't commercially available to the mass market until the 1890s.

How did you keep down the inevitable foul smell of an outhouse so that a person could use it without throwing up? And what happens when it fills up?

Controlling the odor of an outhouse was a full time job. A bag of lime with a scoop was usually placed in the corner.  After every use you sprinkle a scoop of lime in the hole as a chaser to keep down the smell.  As for what happens when the outhouse gets full, easy—you simply dig a new hole, move the outhouse over it, and fill the old hole with dirt. This is a good place to plant a flowerbed or a tree.

Two-story outhouse in Silver City, Idaho

The two-story outhouse perplexed me the most. How in the world would you use the top without making a mess on the person below? It turns out that the seats were staggered and the top seat was placed farther back than the one on the bottom.  In the lower outhouse there was a wall placed behind the seat so that the occupants wouldn’t be defiled by the contents falling from above (thankfully).

Apparently I’m not the only person who thinks about outhouses. I Googled “outhouse” and was slammed with thousands of sights.

Do you like music?  Here's an outhouse song:

Anything you want to know about outhouses, you'll probably find on the Outhouses of America Tour website. Don't overlook the trivia and FAQ pages.

You just know Legends of America will have something to say on this topic. Take a look at their Outhouses of the American West pages (five of them).

A fun site to visit (and to send your outhouse photos and anecdotes) is OutHouseGraffiti.com. They refer to the Legends of America site for the history, but this site offers photos, stories, and "misc. crap" (which has nothing to do with anything, but fun if you like disgusting humor).

Outhouses have long been a convenient source of good old American humor, the most often used is privy-tipping.  Outhouse scenarios are frequent in shoot-outs because they lend a little comic relief to an otherwise very tense "sit"-uation.  Yes, there's outhouse humor in nearly all my books--didn't realize that until now!

Here’s a snippet from
Much Ado About Madams
by Jacquie Rogers

Reese took aim, but lowered his rifle when he realized Buster was stabled just the other side of the wall. The .54 caliber bullet would go right though the man and the barn wall. Desperately, he searched for another way to take out the gunman. He ran to the outhouse and threw himself to the ground.

Gunfire stopped, and Reese’s skin crawled. Maybe his men had been shot. Maybe they were reloading. Praying for the latter, he positioned himself into a crouch, ready to spring. Seconds passed. The odor of the privy didn’t help his patience a bit. He made a note to tell Sadie to use more lime. Lots more lime.

♥ ♥ ♥

Hearts of Owyhee
Where the Old West really happened!

Much Ado About Marshals

Much Ado About Madams

Much Ado About Mavericks

Showdowns and Shootouts in Western Fiction by @JacquieRogers

Romance in Traditional Westerns

by Jacquie Rogers

Most Cowboy Kisses readers are dedicated Western Romance Historical (WHR) fans, as am I and the other CK contributors. But we also love anything that has to do with the Old West. Lately, I've been reading Traditional Westerns just to get a taste outside our subgenre.

Guess what? Nearly all the traditional westerns I've read contain a significant amount of romance even though there's no way these novels could be confused with a WHR.

Or is that true? If you've read Hondo by Louis L'Amour, you know that the spine of the story is the relationship of Hondo Lane and Angie Lowe. Hondo happens onto a homestead looking for a place to light. Mrs. Lane and her son soon worm their way into his heart, and everything he does from there on out has to do with her in some way. All this leads up to the classic romance happily ever after ending.

Robbers Roost by James Reasoner features a protagonist who’s so full of himself that you wouldn't think any author could make him likable. Preston Fox is out for glory and to prove himself the best army officer ever, even though he's been busted. His thought processes are warped at best. He’s egotistical, misguided, impulsive, and vain. Nevertheless, once his heart is captured by a young Chinese woman who just happens to be a prostitute, we actually start rooting for the guy. I read this book a year ago and still, after reading many books in the meantime, this character is still vivid in my mind. Now that’s good writing.

I just finished a book written by Monty McCord, Mundy's Law. This is a very traditional western where the entire book leads up to the final shootout, yet Marshal Joe Mundy is smitten with the previous marshal’s widow, who’s now a prostitute. This relationship is the spark for several events and the book and is not just window dressing.

This sort of relationship is nothing new in the western genre—look at Gunsmoke’s Marshal Dillon and Miss Kitty. While their relationship was never spelled out (except in one episode late in the series), we always knew that that the marshal was Miss Kitty's special man. Marshal Dillon never seriously messed around with any other woman and in our hearts, we knew that the two of them were made for each other.

Maverick and Paladin were both womanizers and most of the female viewing audience wouldn't have minded either of them putting their boots under their beds. And these shows, the romantic relationships—even though temporary—was either the inciting incident or a major turning point to get to the big showdown.

The major difference between traditional western and western historical romance is that in the latter, women are equals and half or more of the scenes are told using the heroine’s point of view, whereas the heroine’s viewpoint is often (not always) ignored in traditional westerns. In a WHR, the hero and heroine are both strong and the little woman doesn't sit around twiddling her thumbs as she waits for the big rescue.

None of that precludes the Big Shootout. Some WHR’s have one and some don’t. Mine nearly always do just because that’s the way the stories come to me, and often that scene flashes in my mind right after the initial story concept. My books generally have other showdowns and minor scrapes as well. The excerpt below is borne of the hero’s frustration with the heroine. Kade and Iris had kissed in the previous scene, and worse, one of her friends saw them.

Excerpt
Much Ado About Miners
♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ #4
By Jacquie Rogers

Kade ordered drinks for Phineas and himself. The hotel bar was noisy, and no one paid them any mind, which was good considering how his business partner was carrying on.

“I told the ladies not to go up there until you was done firing. Guess I’d better tell ’em what kind of firing.” Phineas laughed at his own joke.

Much Ado About Miners
by Jacquie Rogers

Kade didn’t.

“I’m telling you,” his old friend continued, “were it me up on that hill with a beautiful woman, I would’ve been kissing her, too. And whatever else she let me do.”

“This ain’t Lollie.”

“It’d be a lot easier on you if it was.”

Kade couldn’t argue with that.

“Might we ought to find you a woman, get some of that vinegar out of your veins.”

“Might.”

Harold poured their whiskeys. “Leave the bottle?”

Kade threw out some coins and waved the barkeep off. His head was scrambled enough without the sauce.

Phineas grabbed his glass and saluted Kade with it. “Then again, it’s hard on a man—thinking of one woman and pokin’ another.” He downed the whiskey in two gulps and slammed the glass on the counter. “ ‘We should be woo’d and were not made to woo.’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 2, Scene 1.”

Kade pulled his hat low over his forehead and pushed himself away from the bar. “Phineas, you are a trial of a man’s patience. Think I’ll head over to the sheriff’s office.”

“You are too blasted grumpy these days. I might just go back to the hotel and see if Lollie needs some entertaining.”

“Do that.” Kade tromped past the banker and his cronies, shoved past the bat wing doors, and took off to see if Sheriff Adler had anything interesting going on. He needed to forget all about the kiss, that woman, and her breasts pressed against his chest. And he was tired of being Phineas’s source of amusement.

Two roostered-up young men, doubtful they were over eighteen years old, walked down the boardwalk toward him. They evidently thought they required the entire boardwalk. In no mood to coddle big-headed whippersnappers who hadn’t learned to hold their liquor, Kade determined to stay his course. Not surprisingly, they tried to shoulder him off.

He leaned into the taller one and knocked him on his can. The other one pulled his pistol, cocked, and jammed the barrel in Kade’s side. Kade slammed his elbow into the kid’s solar plexus, grabbed the weapon, then kicked the upstart’s feet out from under him.

“You need to learn to respect your elders.” He waved the pistol at them. “Now get your sorry carcass up and come with me. It’s time for you to explain to the sheriff why you think you own that piece of boardwalk.”

With a little luck, they’d put up a fuss and he’d get a chance to work off some of his frustration. Unfortunately, luck wasn’t on his side, and they meekly walked to the sheriff’s office just as he had told them to.

When they got to the jail, Adler wasn’t there so Kade locked them in separate jail cells. The taller one, with a hang-dog expression, stood at the front of his cell with his hands wrapped around the bars. The other one headed straight to his cot and flopped down on his back, groaning. Kade gave them each a bucket of water.

“What are we supposed to do with that?” asked the taller one.

“You can drink it, wash in it, or piss in it—your choice.” He woke up Wilfred, the other deputy, who slept in the sheriff’s chair. “You have prisoners.”

Wilfred snorted and slid his feet off the desk, sat up, then took a swig of cold coffee. “Foul-tasting crap. Who made this?”

Kade tossed the jail cell keys on the desk. “You did.”

♥ ♥ ♥

♥ Hearts of Owyhee ♥ 

Much Ado About Marshals

Much Ado About Madams

Much Ado About Mavericks

Much Ado About Miners

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Silver City, Idaho Territory: Rowdy, Raucous, & Rich

Current boundaries of Owyhee County, Idaho

by Jacquie Rogers

Copyright © 2012 Jacquie Rogers

The Much Ado series and many of my other western historical romances are set in the Silver City area of Idaho, in Owyhee County, a large county in southwest Idaho with area about the same as New Jersey, but with one person per square mile.  The county was considerably larger in the 1880s, when my stories are set.  This remote county was a wild and wooly area of the West. 

The gold and silver strike sent prospectors, gamblers, painted ladies, merchants, Chinese miners and merchants, bankers, and newspapermen to Ruby City.  Problem is, the creek liked to flood there so the residents packed up the town, buildings and all and moved them to the Silver City site, where it still stands.

Historic Silver City Idaho writes:

During its "heydays", Silver City had about a dozen streets, seventy-five businesses, three hundred homes, a population of around 2,500, twelve ore-processing mills, and was the Owyhee County seat from 1866 to 1934. Some of the largest stage lines in the West operated in the area, and Silver City had the first telegraph and the first daily newspaper in the territory in 1874. Telephones were in use here at least by 1880, and the town was "electrified" in the 1890's.

So let's take a tour.  On the right is the sign that tells you how to get there.  I'd advise not to miss the sign.  Oh, wait, there's only one road.  I'd advise you to stay on that road.  If you get lost, you have to pay Owhyee County to hunt for you.  They had to implement this because so many city people got themselves into fixes they couldn't get themselves out of.  Costs mounted and the budget just didn't have room for people's errors in judgment.

These pictures are all taken by my daughter, Mercedes Christesen.  Special thanks to her husband, Rodney, for using his day off to chase after pictures for his mother-in-law.  Yes, you get points for that.

Drug Store

Here's the Drug Store.  She wasn't able to get any history on it, but it was either called the Knapp Drug Store or the Model Pharmacy.  Or maybe it was one and then the other.  I think it's just called the Drug Store now, and not open for business anymore.  It's currently a residence, as are so many former commercial buildings. 

There's an open house the weekend after Labor Day every year.  I've been there--really interesting, and I urge you to go if at all possible.  Make sure your car has decent ground clearance, though, and don't get too worried about the one-lane road (meaning room for only one car) because seldom does a vehicle come from the other direction.  And well, if that happens, someone will have to back up for a mile or two.  It's all fun.

Silver Slipper Saloon

To the right is the Silver Slipper Saloon.  This is a 20th Century saloon, open from 1918 to the early 1940s but it still looks cool so I included it.  Silver City had many, many saloons and of course also had cribs and a street called Virgin Alley where ladies of ill-repute plied their trade.  On Ghosttowns.com, you can see an older photo of this saloon and the drug store above.

Oh yes, there were Cyprians--the ladies of the evening. Men out-numbered women at one point by 200 to 1 so every woman, no matter what her status, was highly regarded. The women, however were not so impressed with one another. From The Owyhee Avalanche, February 26, 1870:

FEMALE PUGLISTS One evening this week be observed two frail females in the vicinity of Catalow's stable, engaged in commintting assault and battery upon each other. For some time the fur flew in all directions. They finally sank down in the snow through sheer exhaustion. Jealousy was the cause of the muss.

Silver City Trivia:

Houses at its peak, 400: now, 67.  Businesses at its peak, 125: now, 2.  Working mines at its peak, 250: now, 1.  This informaton comes from a sign on the menu at the Idaho Hotel.  The building was constructed in Ruby City and moved to Idaho City in 1866.

Even though Silver City had telephone service by 1880, the telegraph business thrived for longer distances.

Silver City, Idaho Territory, never did have rail service, but the train service was within a stage ride.  Here's a Union Pacific train ticket:

May 10th. 1869

GREAT EVENT

Rail Road from the Atlantic to the Pacific

GRAND OPENING

of the

Union Pacific Rail Road

Platte Valley Route

Passenger trains leave

OMAHA

on the arrival of trains from the East

THROUGH TO SAN FRANCISCO

In Less than Four Days, avoiding the Dangers of the Sea!

Travelers for Pleasure, Health or Business

(full size photo)

Life was hard in the Old West, especially when you're a couple hundred miles off the beaten path, at over 6,000 feet in elevation.  But this wasn't empty country. A long-standing population of Native Americans from the Bannock and Paiutes were not all that happy about Europeans coming in and ruining their livelihood and cultures.  The next photo is the gravestone of Oliver Hazard Purdy, born September 12, 1824, and killed during the Bannock Indian War in 1879.

Sometimes bad things happen but instead of dying, the perpetrators were put in jail.  It looks as if this jail wouldn't be too secure these days, but it was formidible in its time.

For more cool photos and accompanying descriptions, I highly recommend EdnaPurviance.org and GhostTowns.com.  You can see the school and the church, too, where services are still held.  The Masonic Lodge is still in good condition and is in use as well.

I'll leave you with the coolest hotel ever.  I mean EVER.  This is the Idaho Hotel that I talked about above (menu board trivia).  Yes, you can still stay there--they have 13 rooms in service (and I've even heard that it's haunted!).  Go to the hotel's website for more cool history about Silver City.

Idaho Hotel, in Silver City, Idaho

The Much Ado series takes place in Owyhee County, and most books are set in or near Silver City because it was the county seat, the largest city in the county (maybe in the territory), and was the hub of activity for a couple decades.

Much Ado About Marshals takes place in Oreana, Idaho Territory, but the pre-story takes place right here in Silver City.  Stay tuned because another book in the Much Ado series, Much Ado About Madams (February 2012), is be set near Silver, in Dickshooter, Owyhee County, Idaho Territory.  No, I didn't make that name up, but I did move it closer to Silver City to suit the story purposes.  The third Much Ado book (June 2012) is set in Henderson Flats (modern day Marsing) and the fourth book, still in the planning stages, will be set in Silver City proper.

Several stories on my backlist are set there, too.  Owyhee County has a rich history and it's fun to share with others.

Where to find Jacquie Rogers:

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Would you like to give Much Ado About Marshals a try?  One commenter wins a smashwords coupon for a free copy.  Be sure to include your email address in the comment.  Drawing will be held 19pm Pacific Time, January 31.  Good luck!