Trapper's Moon 4 stars from Kam's Place

    As a free trapper, mountain man Kade McCauley is wary of the Hudson Bay Company. Their form of vengeance against those who are not part of the company can be deadly. When he and his partner are attacked, he fights back, only to discover one of his shots struck an innocent. A woman who touches his soul, and he will do anything to keep her safe.

   While searching for her Native American tribe, Blind Deer crosses paths with Kade—with near fatal results. Once she is patched up, she decides it is safer to travel with him than alone Their uneasy alliance turns to genuine caring, but Blind Deer’s past gets in the way, and she must choose between love or old obligations.

   But nothing in life is carved in stone except the mountains, and those formidable peaks have been known to change the course of a man’s life—or a woman’s. 

Full review from Kam's Place

  Throughout history, there’s been hate, violence, racism, and death. You can’t point your finger at any period in time and not find it. However, even in the darkest of times, there is light. No entire race, religion, culture is 100% evil. It’s not 100% good either. 

   Life is about balance. In Trapper’s Moon, Gini demonstrated how vile a human or group of humans could be. She also focused and reinforced the goodness in people. How different races can live in harmony. How love and compassion can and should triumph over hate and violence. 

   This message should be embraced and utilized in our everyday lives. 

   We can’t allow history to repeat itself. We all have the power to love, or at least tolerate one another. 

Trapper’s Moon was a historical story, but I genuinely believe its message pertains to the here and now. 

Kindle Purchase Link
Print Purchase Link

Barnes and Noble Print Purchase Link

Nook Purchase Link

Apple Books Purchase Link

Facebook Link

The Wild Rose Press Author Link

Toilet Paper 101 fun facts and a short history.

                            

With all the hording and freaking out about TP, I thought it might be fun to learn a little about this prized possession now worth its weight in gold.                                   

               Here's a nice video on how it's made. 
                          How toilet paper is made

     
     And remember, no job is done 
                 until the paperwork is complete. 

               
           Here are some historical and fun facts. 
1. The first recorded use of toilet paper was in 6th Century China. (Now it's their fault we're hording it.) 

2. By the 14th Century, the Chinese government was mass-producing it.

3. Packaged toilet paper wasn't sold in the United States until 1857. Known as Medicated Papers.
                         4. Joseph Gayety, the man who introduced packaged TP to the U.S. had his name printed on every sheet.

5. Global toilet paper demand uses nearly 30,000 trees every day.

6. That's 10 million trees a year. 
                  (Sad to hear about that statistic)
                    

7. It wasn't until 1935 that a manufacturer was able to promise Splinter-Free Toilet Paper.

8. Seven percent of Americans admit to stealing rolls of toilet paper in hotels.

9. Americans use an average of 8.6 sheets of toilet paper per trip to the bathroom.

10. The average roll has 333 sheets.

11. Historically, what you use to wipe depended on your income level.

12. In the middle ages they used something called a gompf stick which was just an actual stick. The Romans used a sponge on a stick.
                           
13. Wealthy Romans used wool soaked in rose water and French royalty used lace.

14. Other things that were used before toilet paper include: Hay, corn cobs, sticks, stones, sand, moss, hemp, wool, husks, fruit peels, ferns, sponges, seashells, knotted ropes, and broken pottery (ouch!).

15. 70-75% of the world still doesn't use toilet paper because it is too expensive or there is not sufficient plumbing.

16. In many Western European countries, bidets are seen as more effective and preferable to toilet paper.

17. Colored toilet paper was popular in the U.S. until the 1940s.
                      
18. The reason toilet paper disintegrates so quickly when wet is that the fibers used to make it are very short.

19. On the International Space Station, they still use regular toilet paper but it has to be sealed in special containers and Compressed.

20. During Desert Storm, the U.S. Army used toilet paper to camouflage their tanks.

                      

21. In 1973 Johnny Carson caused a toilet paper shortage. He said as a joke that there was a shortage, which there wasn't, until everyone believed him and ran out to buy up the supply. It took three weeks for some stores to get more stock.

22. There is a contest sponsored by Charmin to design and make wedding dresses out of toilet paper. The winner gets $2,000.
                        
23.. There was a toilet paper museum in Wisconsin, The Madison Museum of Bathroom Tissue, but it closed in 2000.

24. The museum once had over 3,000 rolls of TP from places all over the world, including The Guggenheim, Ellis Island, and Graceland.

25. There is still a virtual toilet paper museum called Nobody's Perfect.

26. In 1996, President Clinton passed a Toilet Paper Tax of 6 cents per roll, which is still in effect today. Obama tried to triple that but the House wouldn't pass it.

27. The Pentagon uses, on average, 666 rolls of toilet paper per day.

28. The most expensive toilet paper in the world is from Portuguese brand Renova.
                  
29. Renova is three-ply, perfumed, costs $3 per roll and comes in several colors including black, red, blue and green.

30. The CEO of Renova came up with the idea for black toilet paper while he was at a Cirque du Soleil show.
                   
31. Beyonce uses only red Renova toilet paper.

32. Kris Jenner uses only the black Renova toilet paper.
                   
33.  If you hang your toilet paper so you can pull it from the top, you're considered more intelligent than someone who pulls it from the bottom. How rude. (Wonder how this was determined?)

34. Koji Suzuki, a Japanese horror novelist best known for writing The Ring, had an entire novel printed on a single roll of toilet paper.
                
            Called Drop, it's a nine chapter Novella 
35. The novel takes place in a public bathroom and the entire story runs approximately three feet long.

36. When asked what necessity they would bring to a desert island, 49% of people said toilet paper before food.

37. Rumor has it Queen Elizabeth II wipes her royal bottom with silk handkerchiefs! 

              

                         

                Remember Mr. Whipple? 
             Please don't squeeze the Charmin.

          

                               THE END!

             

                      this information has not been fact checked!

Who remembers The Bremen Town Musicians ?

                          
     As a child, this was one of my favorite stories. I mean what's not to like. Talking animals, off on an adventure.  I still love it! They all ran away because their owners no longer wanted them. And now I've spent the last twenty years rescuing farm animals!
Who knew?

The story, first published in Grimms' Fairy Tales in 1819,  tells the story of four aging domestic animals, who after a lifetime of hard work are neglected and mistreated by their former masters. Eventually, they decide to run away and become town musicians in the city of Bremen. Contrary to the story's title the characters never arrive in Bremen, as they succeed in tricking and scaring off a band of robbers, capturing their spoils, and moving into their house. 

  I guess the moral of the story is supposed to be that separately they were old and weak and their future looked Grimm (tee hee). But together, as a team, they were unbeatable and happy. We all need our friends and family, and we all need to take care of one another. 
               
Now my donkey, Rosie, wants music lessons!

  The Medieval town of Bremen in Germany goes back before 787 and the rule of Charlemagne. Many beautiful buildings still stand as well as a statue commemorating the Bremen Town Musicians. 

                
                          
             A bronze statue by Gerhard Marcks. 
                            Erected in 1953.
                     
            The animals are also memorialized 
                in statues, stamps, pictures and toys