🤠 Howdy, !
This first email of October brings a little fun.
An update for Trouble in Tacoma.
Some fun (or horrifying), random facts about milk and butter "in the olden days."
The ever-popular What Am I guessing game. Win a Circle C journal or gold/fool's gold.
GOOD NEWS & BAD NEWS
GOOD NEWS: You spoke loudly (200+ votes), and my publisher listened. They agreed with the photorealistic direction you all voted for regarding the Trouble in Tacoma cover, and they liked the samples you helped choose. They created the final cover. I love it. I think you will too.
BAD NEWS: I'm dying to show you that final cover. But my marketing manager says I can't reveal it until the first week of December. Hang tight, because that's also when you'll be able to preorder Trouble in Tacoma on Amazon. I think that will be amazing and will show my publisher just how excited you are about this new series.
THE GOOD OL' DAYS . . . THEY WERE TERRIBLE! 😱
Years ago, I came across a book titled, The Good Ol' Days, They Were Terrible. At first glance, I could not believe what was written in it, but apparently it is true. This month, I want to highlight that delicious, healthy food called MILK, along with one of its by-products, BUTTER.
The book focused on city dwellers (namely New York City) in the 19th century, and it is my hope that ranchers and farmers had a better experience. However, I'm pretty sure many western cities (like San Francisco) and gold-rush towns (like Goldtown) experienced much the same as the city folks. Anyway, read the blurbs and then thank the good Lord that you live in the 21st century. For all of America's problems, at least food is not one of them.
MILK
I found this quote in the book: "If water became in short supply, the milkman would go out of business." Sound crazy? Not so much. Half the milk in New York City was diluted. That's right (half-and-half back then was not the half-and-half we put in our coffee today). It meant half WATER and half MILK (okay, so "skim" milk might taste like diluted milk to us, but really, it's not).
And if you think that was the end of the mischief, think again. To make this disgusting liquid look like "real" milk (especially when it came from--horror!--sick cows), the milk sellers added chalk powder or plaster of paris (the stuff you make casts from for broken arms). Some of the cows were so sick they were held up in slings and fed garbage. (I wish I was making this up, but I'm not.)
BUTTER
Folks making butter for the city dwellers had exceptional talent--but not for making butter. For making MONEY. They sold butter for 19 cents a pound, but it wasn't the butter some of you have made from raw milk (or cream from the store) and shaken up in small jar to watch that delicious butter form. No, sirree! (as Andi would say). This "butter" was a mixture of the proteins (only) from milk, mixed with calcium, gypsum (what's inside sheetrock), gelatin fat, and mashed potatoes.‼️
They made fake butter (margarine) too (as if the "real" butter was real?) from (hold your nose): hog fat, along with every animal part you can think of that is left over from the slaughterhouse. Sometimes they added bleach 😱 to give it the appearance of butter. It was so toxic that the workers creating this mess found their hair falling out, and their fingernails came off. But the grocers took the fake butter, ripped off the margarine labels, and replaced the labels with "Western Butter" or "Best Creamery Butter."
I shared this history moment to go along with this Bible verse for October. When things get tough here in 21st century America, and you wish you lived back in the "olden days," remember how many were stuck with these kinds of things to eat. (I've got some more zingers for you at a later date. Bet you can't wait!)
🙏 1 Thessalonians 5:18 🙏
"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."
Are you ready to be stumped? (ha-ha. I can't seem to stump you). This month's prize is either some cute "horse" socks and a light-up Circle C flashlight, or gold and fool's gold (choose one or the other).
👉 NOTE: For those who might have missed the "memo" last month . . . Have I ever made it clear that this is a game where you MAY NOT use "Google lens" or the Internet to get hints? That's actually not considered playing fair. This is supposed to be a fun brain-teaser to help you exercise your observation and thinking skills. If you just "look it up," now where's the challenge in that? Thanks for playing fair!
Last month's mystery object was a basketball! Kudos to the 69 of you who guessed correctly (out of 124 total entries). Finally! A tough one but not impossible. A number of you guessed "football," and I had to dig deep to find out if I could accept that answer. But apparently, the patterning (more than the color) definitely limits this mystery object to a basketball. JOSHUA I. won the drawing. He chose the gold and fool's gold packet. Congratulations, Joshua, and thanks, everyone, for playing!
Here's the difference. Even I learned something today!
. . . loves to hear from readers! Just click "reply" to ask me a question or just say "hi"! By the way, you're getting this email because you signed up for it, entered a giveaway, downloaded a freebie, or purchased something from my webstore. You may unsubscribe at any time (but I hope you'll stick around!)
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