Holiday Greetings from our Outfit to Yours!

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have supported this blog and my articles. We will be introducing some new additions to the blog as the New Year begins. We hope you will continue to visit often and enjoy the additions. I never really expected this blog to receive so many views and for that I am thankful. Our first book published and available for purchase. The second book entitled Mescalero Vision is finished and is currently being edited. After that, it will go to the publisher and we will start that process. I would like to thank all those persons behind the scenes that have inspired me to continue writing and for all their help. I hope everyone has a safe and Happy Holidays and a healthy New Year.

Cake, Ice Cream, and Memories

Before I get to the meat of this post, I thought I would update you all on what we have been up to for the past month or more. We are in the process of developing a new website that will contain all the stories and blog posts that are here and some other information that will help us promote our books as they are published. We have outgrown this blog site and for the purposes I've mentioned, we feel that we can better serve our friends and customers with a new larger look. When it is complete we will leave word on Facebook, here, and other venues where you might find the site. At that point, all of my postings and stories will be on the website for all to read and enjoy.

I would like to thank all of you that have purchased the first book and for all the kind comments and compliments. It has been a total success and that fact alone has encouraged me to continue on with the other books that I have in the works. Walking down this trail in life has brought me to a greater understanding of how the publishing markets operate and what it really takes to see a book in its form and ready for the public to view. As I travel through this phase of learning, I'm beginning to realize that writing is only 1/3 of the process. There are many other hidden details and people behind the scenes that are responsible for making your words come to life so that people everywhere can enjoy your book. Going forward it should be much easier for the next book to become a reality and I look forward to the day when it will hit the shelves.
   

Saturday I had the pleasure of gathering with family to celebrate my father's birthday. This was not your everyday ordinary surprise party because my dear old dad has reached the summit of his life. I'm not sure how many more birthdays he will see the cake and eat it too. Sitting there watching my father as he enjoyed the festivities, I couldn't help but have a sense of sadness and happiness all in the same feeling. It was a weird feeling. One that I have not had in my life up to this point. I suspect God had that very same feeling when watching his Son as he lay at the hands of his enemies but knowing all well that the plan was nearly complete.
   
I was happy for all the great times in my life when my earthly father held me in his arms and used his beautiful mind to console and strengthen me. For all the memories that we have shared through our common association with one another and the trails we traveled together as I learned my way about. I was happy for his mentoring that was so vital to my being. For the loving hands that guided me through the ups and downs in this life so that I could learn to enjoy the rewards of this earth and it's people. I was happy and content in the fact that I was raised by a loving, caring father that loved my mother as well. This was part of the feeling that welled up in me as I spent time studying my father's face that day.

As this feeling reached a pinnacle of joy in my soul, another feeling crept in that contested the first feeling and that was sadness and sorrow. My dad and I are as close as a father and son could be and the thought of losing him in this life was more than I could take. Thoughts went wild in my mind and the fear of being alone without my father to rely on took hold of my mind and raced through me like a runaway train. Tears formed in my eyes and all I could think of was sorrow. I know everyone has or will go through this feeling in life. I realized that it is my turn on earth to grasp reality and try my best to live through the process.

After the party was over, the weekend continued with a two-fold for me as we were treated to our annual Mother's day celebration. It was a grand day for all the Mother's that are in my life. I have seven mothers in my life right now that all deserve respect in the highest form. My dear mother is the breath that I breathe each day. She gave me birth so that I was able to grow and develop as a man and write these words of thanks and admiration to such a wonderful person. Then there is my better half and all that goes into making me a complete man. My wife is the mother of my children and I have first-hand witness to her selfless devotion to me and her children. She is my rock and without that, I would be less of a person. Then we have my daughters, and daughter-in-law, each one different in their own ways. Mothers to the bone and it still amazes me that they have such energy to raise and nurture our 12 grandchildren like it's another day at the office. And last but not least our newest mother in time that has blessed us with another great-grandson.
   
My hat is off to these valiant women. Their continuous sacrifice and endearing efforts help each and every one of us realize that they are special angels. They were sent here to this particular family with the sole purpose of rearing, raising, and returning us someday with grace and tender loving care to our Father who waits for our return. Humility is a large word and as I grow older I receive more of it sometimes than I would like to swallow. Mothers can bring the humility fact to the forefront in a hurry.

When pondering the facts, we men, for the most part, are aggressive, selfish, greedy beings that could not sustain ourselves if given the chance out right. We have created every method of war and destruction that this earth has seen for the sole purposes of domination and greed. If we were left to our own designs and had it not been for grieving mothers and wives trying to put a stop to the madness, this earth would have long since been consumed by fire and destruction right down to the last man. History has proved this fact out time and again. Our mothers and wives are the only things that have stood between us and designs of evil since the beginning of time. I'm sure God knew that the only way for the preservation of mankind was a soft, loving, sweet voice to whisper in the ears of man as he trod about on this earth and tried in vain to destroy one another. So it is with great reverence and humility that man has been bent low and brought from his bloody throne by the gracious soothing of our mothers. To that, we owe our gratitude and never ending love on the day we celebrate these beautiful human beings and their presence in our midst. On this mother's day, love is all they know and all they will ever want.

   

****Book Giveaways****

This week I will be giving away a free copy of my book They Looked West. Simply become a fan of my Facebook page and follow us on Instagram in order to enter the contest. @theylookedwest

A Little Introduction

I am the author of the novel They Looked West. I have many years of time and research into this series of novels. I have brought to the reader a culmination of events that transpired on the frontiers of this nation in 1869. The plot is gripping and the reader can take a trip in time back to the days of old. The stories of the Indians and the scouts were put together from research and folklore collected over time. The characters in the novel were sculpted from real-life heroes and villains of the plains era. I have spent many countless hours in the saddle traversing and riding the windswept plains and badlands of Eastern Wyoming and Western Nebraska. Taking notes on the terrain and conditions that the characters portrayed in the novel must have witnessed and lived. 

The setting for the novel is a vast expanse of prairie, small waterways, and rugged badlands. Even today the areas described in the book are fairly barren of civilization. In writing this book, I used what limited skills I have developed through college and life’s hard lessons. I used my expertise on horses to a vast degree. I have owned and taken stewardship of horses and mules since an early boyhood age. The techniques of trail life with horses as displayed in the novel came from a lifetime of riding and packing these animals in the vast wildernesses of Western America. I have explored the Trader’s Creek area many times in search of the lost gold nuggets only to come away empty-handed. But the lure of the treasure is real and the ghosts of the fallen still haunt the area to this very day. 

My goal in writing this book is to have people from all ages and all walks of life, take a few minutes out of their busy lives and read this novel. It will take them back to a bye gone era of true values and heroes along with a mind witness to the perils that the expanse of civilization brought to those that trespassed nature's course in frontier America.  

I Looked Out the Window and What Did I See?

Like the title says, I did look out the window after hearing a small knock on the screen door and the exhaust roar of a UPS truck leaving my front yard. As I opened the door, I nearly fell over as I knelt next to a set of brown boxes sitting there on our porch steps. I carefully examed the boxes to see that it was clearly marked with a large marker that read, They Looked West.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest! The feeling brought me back to the days of old when I sat next to the Christmas tree looking at a large present with my name on the tag. That present was a new pair of Tony Lama boots back in 1964 and that was a great present back in the ole days. Little did I realize at the time, but my feet would outgrow those boots in less than six months, but it was the thrill of the moment when I spied that big wrapped box that is important here.

Kneeling on my front porch, I touched the boxes with a firm but careful hand. Nobody was going to lay their mitts on these precious treasures. As I looked around to see if anybody was watching this spectacle of grace, I realized that it was just me and the beautiful Utah morning that was present to witness my actions. Suddenly the door opened and there stood my better half with the phone in hand, ready to snap a picture of the display before her. She knew the importance of the moment and with a beautiful smiling face, the camera came to life.

Now you might ask yourself what is the big fuss over two paper boxes delivered by UPS. Well, the contents of those two boxes are this author's labors for the past 18 months. This whole story started back in 1981 while I was driving down a winding prairie road in the middle of Eastern Nebraska. I was employed by a Metal building manufacturing company in Utah as a Construction services manager. My job was to iron out any and all problems if they arose with buildings that had been shipped to all parts of the United States. This job put me in every state but four, including Canada and Mexico but those stories, are for another post. This particular trip had me driving down a road looking at the vast prairie that had stood the elements of time. Looking to the north that day, I noticed a small gray silhouette about one hundred yards out in the grass on a small hilltop overlooking the valley below. At first, I thought it was a coyote sitting on his back legs watching me from afar, but after looking through my binoculars I realized that it was something man-made.

I decided to have a closer look, so after trudging my way through thick tangles of knee high buffalo grass, I finally reached a place where I could see the gray object. It was a very old marker of sorts. I couldn't see the inscriptions on it because of debris and time that had worn the face down. I went back to my truck and retrieved some water and after washing the facing several times on the monument, I could glean part of what was being marked by the stone. It was a marker for the upper Loup river trail head from Omaha to Fort Laramie. Clear out there in the middle of no man's land, here sat this forgotten marker. Feeling like a fool for the effort, I left the scene and never looked back.

Years later I was in the same area and I tried to find the marker once more only to come away empty-handed. This time I was more mature in age and the little gray stone had my mind racing with questions. I sat down that day and made some watercolor pictures and notes and wondered all about the travelers and things that had wandered through that part of the western plains until my mind was finally worn out. I never returned to that spot but I can still feel the wind and hear the grass as it moves back and forth, along that lonely prairie hilltop.

Many years later, a thought came into my mind and I decided to investigate that lonely little stone, and with that single thought, an avalanche of events turned into two brown boxes on my front porch. That little stone monument led me in a direction I had never before experienced. After many years of research and effort, I finally have a novel that I fashioned after the little gray stone. My heart is happy and my mind is full of thoughts as I post this article this Sunday morning. We are just in the first stages of production and I was sent a primer of 50 copies of the book. Details are being worked out for E-book and other methods. I have neglected to post since the first of the year because I thought the book would arrive any day, but publishers are another story altogether.

This morning I woke up and opened my laptop and went to the website we have constructed. There in big black letters was a reminder that 25,047 views have been taken of our website just since September 22, 2016. I felt a heavy obligation to tell all of you that have supported me in this endeavor thanks for your support and kindly comments. This is why I started the blog. And for all those closer to me like my better half Patty, and daughter Kallie, I could never have done it without you two beautiful people!