Stephen Burckhardt's Blog: My Blog Ramblings, page 66

Friday Funnies

Hello Posse,This could be interesting. I’m trying to do this from an app on my tablet so I hope this works okay. I may have to redo this from my computer tomorrow.Since this is sort of a test post, I’m going to keep it short and get right to the funnies .Try not to groan out loud.

Remembering Granny Vlog

Hello Posse,I decided to make Granny's Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake to celebrate the anniversary of her birthday today. I always promised Granny that I would not share her recipe outside of the family but I found one on Taste of Home's websitethat is very close to Granny's and tastes almost the same and that is the recipe I am sharing with you. In this video, Making Granny's Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake, I make her recipe to celebrate the anniversary of her birthday. Arlene "Granny" Polk, November 6, 1915 – May 4, 2015. This is the first time I have made this cake for my husband. You get to see him try it for the first time and give his review of it. You can find a link to the Taste of Home's version of this recipe in the tagged related blog post. I hope you will give this recipe a try. Not only does it taste fantastic but it makes the whole house smell amazing while you are making it. The blend of spices just smells like home and holidays. Until next week,Dianne

My Favorite Western of all Time!

Hello Posse, Today, I want to share my absolute favorite western flick of all time. It is a serious oldie and another Republic release. Angel and the Badman staring John Wayne and Gail Russell. This film was written and directed by James Edward Grant and released in 1947. The film went into the public domain in 1975 in the us because the copyright registration was not renewed. This film follows notorious gunfighter, Quirt Evans (Wayne). He becomes injured and is found by a family of Quakers. Evans is nursed back to health by the oldest daughter, Penelope (Russell), who becomes fascinated with him. the peace-loving family welcome him into their lives despite his violent past. Their kindness and acceptance begins to influence Evans as he finds himself falling in lover with Penelope. This film was the first time Wayne not only starred in a film but took on a producer role as well. Wayne and Grant frequently collaborated on projects over the years. Since this is in the public domain, you can watch the full movie here. Enjoy!StephenSources:Angel and the BadmanYouTube

Friday-ish Funnies: Red Ryder Comicstrip

Hello Posse,Sorry I am a day late with this post I promised you. Still better than I normally do though, I feel like I'm always a day late and a dollar short, as my dad would say. I was hit with a horrible migraine about 3 PM on Halloween and by that night, I was very ill. I did not even get out of bed yesterday. But I'm up today and will share a bit about the Red Ryder comicstrip I introduced you to on Monday. Red Ryder was created by Stephen Slesinger and given life by artist Fred Harman. It was syndicated by Newspaper Enterprise Association and ran from 1938 to 1965. This Western comicstrip was very popular and spawned a large selection of Red Ryder merchandise, including the Daisy BB gun that was so prominently mentioned in the movie, A Christmas Story. (See the Monday Movie Madness blog for more on this.) Slesinger had written a new comic strip called Red Ryder and was searching for a Western artist to make his vision come to life. He met Harman in 1938 and brought him to New York. The pair worked together for some time before launching the comicstrip. The pair were able to expand the comic strip into radio shows, movies, a large merchandise line, and more. Harman, an authentic cowboy himself, did numerous personal appearances for the comicstrip. He went to charity benefits, civic events, school appearances, and was even the representative for Red Ryder youth enrichment programs. Slesinger was an innovator when it came to marketing. He was able to secure Red Ryder and Little Beaver character products, tie-in merchandise, and play clothing sales nationwide and even exported his signature line to Egypt, Europe, India, Japan, and Latin America.In 1940, the film serial, Adventures of Red Ryder, was released and was soon followed by several feature length films based on the comicstrip. It was even parodied in a Bugs Bunny Western cartoon in which Bugs faced off with the "Red Hot Ryder".Difference actors portrayed the Red Ryder and his young Native sidekick, Little Beaver, over the years. The most recognisable name to audiences of a certain age, is Robert Blake. Blake had a long career in television and movies starting with the movie, Bridal Suite in 1939 at the age of six. He is probably best known for staring in his own Emmy-winning TV show, Baretta, where he played the lead character, a hard-nosed, cockatoo owning, undercover cop. Blake took over the role of Little Beaver in the Red Ryder series in 1944 and appeared in 23 movies. He left the role in 1947. The last Red Ryder film to be released by republic was the Marshal of Cripple Creek in 1947. There would be four more Red Ryder films release by Eagle-Lion Films in 1949-1950. This entire franchise was born from the western comicstrip Red Ryder. You can still find Red Ryder comic books online through numerous sources like Heritage Auctions. If you collect comics, this would be a great piece of Western Americana to add to your collection.And now for a few extra funnies, enjoy!StephenSources:DVD listing on Amazon.comHeritage AuctionsMarshal of Cripple CreekRed RyderRobert BlakeWhat did the cowboy say when his dog ran away? Doggone! *************************************Why was the bow-legged cowboy fired from the cattle ranch?Because he couldn't keep his calves together!**********************************Why do cowboys always want to die with their boots on?So they won't stub their toe when they kick the bucket!

Whatever Wednesday: Halloween Edition!!

Hello Posse,I'm taking over the blog today because I LOVE HALLOWEEN!!!I am not exaggerating when I make that statement. I am that person with the full graveyard in front of their house. I have motion activated props that scream, move, and glow. I am that person who always comes to the door in full costume and gives your kid the full size candy bar. In short, I have the house all the kids love and the parents dread. Every October, I dig out my complete DVD sets of all the old Universal Monster Movies to start setting the mood. I start at the beginning of the month and watch a different monster movie every few nights until Halloween night when I must watch Halloween 1, 2, and H20. So you can well imagine that I am looking forward to tomorrow night. I will have popcorn ready with some M&Ms tossed in (something I picked up from my brother-in-law) and I'll be ready to have my Halloween movie marathon as soon as the last Trick-or-Treater is gone.So what are your plans for Halloween? Do you have an traditions you just can't imagine going without? Be sure to post your favorite things about this holiday and share some of your costumes and decorations with us. We would love to see what you've come up with for the holiday.Happy Halloween,Dianne

Adventures of Red Ryder

Hello Posse, Today, I want to introduce you to another Republic serial movie that comes from the 1940s. As you know my book serial is based on this movie concept so you can well imagine I love these movie shorts.Today's pick is special. You might actually be familiar with this serial in a way and not even realize it. This western short serial is Adventures of Red Ryder. It is based on a comicstrip of the same name by Fred Harman. It was the first of two 12 episode comicstrip based serials that Republic produced in 1940. The second was King of the Royal Mounted.This serial was given a budget of $144,852 (which I found to be a very odd number to come up with) and was filmed between March 27th and April 25th, 1940 , that is 29 day to film 12 episodes that run about 25 minutes each. In the end, filming ran over budget to the tune of $1.109. Now that may not sound like much but keep in mind this was 1940. In today's terms that would equal $19,901.24 not a huge sum by movie standards but still significant for that time period. Now, if this serial sounds familiar to you but you just can't figure out why, let me ask you this, have you ever seen the holiday movie A Christmas Story? In case you are one of the few that haven't, in this movie we follow little Ralphie and he tries to find someone who will agree to get him an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle for Christmas. At every turn his request is rejected as he is told, "You'll shoot your eye out."Just like in the Christmas movie, Red Ryder spawned many popular merchandise items including a Daisy Red Ryder BB Gun. This Friday I will share more with you about the Red Ryder comic strip in the Friday Funnies blog. Happy trails!StephenSources:Adventures of Red Ryder on Wikipedia.Red Ryder Comicstrip Denver PostiCollector - Red Ryder BB Gun

Friday Funnies

Hello Posse,First, a brief update. As we head into the weekend before Halloween, I wanted to remind everyone I am giving you all a treat this weekend. October 26th and 27th you can download a free eBook copy of Into the West: The Orphan Train. I would like to ask a favor. Even if you do not want to read the eBook version, I would like to ask that you still download the free copy. The more downloads I can get, the higher it will push my books in the search algorithms. The higher it goes the more discoverable my books will be. I need all the visibility I can get. Thank you in advance.Since I did not get around to finishing the ghost story in time to make it a bribe to get new people to join my mailing list, I'm just going to post it on my website for all of my current followers to enjoy before Halloween. This story has really taken off and ended up much longer than I originally planned. It's a modern day tie-in to the Into the West Saga Serial. I hope you will like it. I will be writing another short story about holidays on the plains that is also a serial tie-in. It will start on it now so I can use it as a giveaway to anyone who is currently on or joins my mailing list.And now for your Friday Funnies. Enjoy!StephenA cowboy rides into cowtown in Oklahoma.He goes straight to the saloon where he seen an artist setting out his art supplies on the table. The cowboy quickly pulls out his pistol and shoots the artist. The Sheriff arrests the cowboy and asks him why he would do such a thing.The cowboy said it was self defense, he knew the artist was going to draw. What do you call a retired cowboy? De-ranged.A city slicker went and stayed on a dude ranch for his vacation. He had never been on a ranch before and was fascinated with all the animals.He spent his first day hanging out near the barn with watching the horses and cattle. Pretty soon the ranch foreman noticed the city slicker and came over to say hello. "Hey, there. Welcome to Bar None. Are you enjoying your stay here?" he asked. "I am. Thank you but I noticed there are a lot of flies buzzing around all your horses and cows, do you ever shoo them?" asked the city slicker.The foreman snorted and said, "Aw heck, no. We just let them fly around barefoot."

Whatever Wednesday - Kansas Ghost Stories

Hello Posse,As we get closer to Halloween, I thought it would be fun to share some ghost stories. Since the main bulk of the Into the West Saga Serial will end up being in Kansas, I thought I would share some from Kansas. Now, growing up I heard many good stores but I have a special fondness for Theorosa's Bridge in Valley Center, Kansas. I graduated from Valley Center High School and it was often a rite of passage to go to the bridge and call out her name and tell her you had her child. Many people came back to school with stories of strange lights, their car shaking, and other odd occurrences. One night two of my friends and I tried to find the bridge but we got the directions wrong and ended up out in the middle of nowhere, which is easy to do in farm country. Our misadventure started when we ditched the car. I forget exactly how it happened but the driver swerved into deep sand that had been grated up in a pile on the side of the road, she lost control, and we ended up in the ditch. I was in a skirt and heels that night for some long forgotten reason, but still the other passenger and I got out and pushed the car out of the ditch and got us back on the road but then the car wouldn't start.Now keep in mind, this was well before cell phones and GPS. We had no idea where we were or how far from home we had gone. It was pitch black, near Halloween, out in Kansas farm lands where there were no street lights. Off in the distance I could see a farm house and suggested we should walk there. Our driver was in no shape to walk. She wasn't hurt but she was having an anxiety attack worried that she had broken her car and what she was going to tell her folks we were out there doing. She didn't think searching for a haunted bridge to tease a ghost would go over well. I asked the other passenger, a boy who was wearing jeans and tennis shoes, if he would walk to the house and call for help while I stayed there with the driver. He was a little younger than us and did not want to make that walk alone but I didn't think the driver should be left by herself in her state. So had the boy stay at the car and I set out on the dirt road in my heels and skirt. To make a long story short, I had to trek to two houses to get someone to open the door to me. Halfway to the second house the boy caught up with me. He said the driver had calmed down and sent him to come check on me. The second house belonged to one of our schoolmates. We used the phone and called the driver's parents to come get us. I figured her father was the best option to call for a rescue seeing as he was a mechanic and could possibly get her car going. Her parents, of course, asked us what we were doing way out in the farm fields. When we told them, they just laughed and informed us that we were no where near the bridge. Now, funny thing, the driver's cousin owned the newspaper at that time in Valley Center, the very next week a personal ad showed up in the classified section. (Driver), Dianne, and (Boy), Stay away from my bridge!Love, TheoHappy Halloween everyone!DianneIf you want to know more about the Theorosa's Bridge legend, click here.

Friday Funnies

Hello Posse!After a long stressful week, for me anyway, I though it would be great to kick off the weekend right with something funny. I hope these bring a smile to your face and and lighten your soul for a while.Stephen

Whatever Wednesday!

Hello Posse!As we work to figure out better ways to engage with all of you without boring you to death with just information on Stephen and his books, we are trying new things in the blog. One of our new additions is Whatever Wednesday.On Whatever Wednesday, we might post a guest blogger, recipes, info on other historical fiction/western books we recommend, basically just whatever we are think of at the time. Today, I (Dianne Burckhardt) wanted to share a recipe with all of you. Our family's version of this recipe comes from the WWII era of the USA when things were rationed. My granny often made this cake when I was growing up. If you like spice cake, this one is soooo good! And for those who have food allergies, it is vegan so you can avoid a lot of allergens. If you change the flour, you could even make this gluten free. The recipe link that I am posting in this blog is not our exact family recipe because I promised Granny I would never share hers outside of the family. However, I found one on TasteofHome.com that is very close and should taste the same. This cake is called the Eggless, Milkless, Butterless Cake (. People in my family used to beg Granny to make it for every holiday, birthday, or just a normal day, it is that good. I hope you will give it a try and let us know in the comments what you thought and don't forget to get your from Stephen. On October 26th & 27th, Stephen is giving away a free download of the complete ebook edition of the first book in his Into the West Saga Serial, Into the West: The Orphan Train which is a 2019 finalist in the TopShelf Indie Book Awards. So mark your calendars and don't miss out! Enjoy!Dianne