200 Fans on the Circle C Fan Page on Facebook!

OK, everyone! In celebration of reaching 200 fans on the Circle C fan page over on Facebook, I'm going to have a giveaway! Here are the "treats":

1. Your choice of any (one) Circle C Adventures book, personalized and autographed. To see the selection, go here: CIRCLE C BOOKS

2. AND a cool Circle C button to wear with pride! *grin*

3. AND your choice of one of the small plastic horses pictured below.

Yes, all three prizes for one lucky winner! Scroll down to see how to enter this contest . . .


Here's how you enter. Unfortunately, we can't have drawings and contests on Facebook any longer, but I've made it super easy to enter over here. No "spam" codes, you don't have to be a blogger, and you don't have to be a fan on my CCA Facebook page, either. Just join the fun!

To be included in the drawing, you need to:

1. Post a comment telling me which book you'd like to win.
2. Include your e-mail address so I can contact the winner!
3. Live in the United States (international shipping is a killer).
4. Contest ends next Saturday, February 13, 2010.

That's it!

Oh, and sign up for the Circle C Adventures Ezine so you don't miss out on all the news!

Trouble with Treasure has arrived!

Excitement is in the air, and some eager readers checked out the box of Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure books that arrived yesterday. This one is Nathan's (age 10) favorite installment (There must be something about outlaws and snakes that boys like). The little boys were trying to sound out words, and Ellie just likes to hold books.

Trouble with Treasure Book Trailer

It's time for me (Andi) to unveil the book trailer for my latest adventure: Trouble with Treasure! If you would like an autographed and personalized copy with FREE shipping, pre-order now from my website: CIRCLE C ADVENTURES




I would love it if you shared the book trailer on YOUR blogs, too. It's easy to do. Copy this embed code and paste it into the "Edit HTML" feature on your blog entry!

<embed wmode="opaque" src="http://static.ning.com/socialnetworkmain/widgets/video/flvplayer/flvplayer.swf?v=201001211600" FlashVars="config=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehomeschoollounge.com%2Fvideo%2Fvideo%2FshowPlayerConfig%3Fid%3D1983515%253AVideo%253A1903070%26ck%3D-&video_smoothing=on&autoplay=off&isEmbedCode=1" width="400" height="300" bgColor="#6F6559" scale="noscale" allowScriptAccess="always" allowFullScreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"> </embed>

Wanted Poster for Troy

Well, I found a Wanted Poster for that sneaky, good-for-nothing swindler, my brother-in-law, Troy Swanson. My sister Kate told us he'd been robbing stagecoaches, but to see that there's a reward (probably put up by the Wells Fargo Company) of $1,000 makes me almost wish he hadn't gotten away. No wonder he was in a hurry to skedaddle and leave the kids and me up by the creek.

I tell you what! That was the rainiest, coldest, most miserable night I have ever spent on my own ranch. Brrrr . . .

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you should pick up a copy of my adventure in Andrea Carter and the Family Secret.

A Fun Counter

Make your own Countdown Clocks

What's the Big Deal about Gold?

With Andi's new book coming out in a month, Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure, I thought I'd so a little "gold fever" posts. Why? Because Cory has a bad case of gold fever and Andi goes along with it. Is there gold in those creeks up in the mountains? Maybe.

What's the big deal about gold, anyway? So many people have gone crazy over it. We're not going to go into too much history (boring!), but gold has been the symbol for wealth since the beginning of time. It's shiny, heavy, can be spun as fine as thread (gold thread), rolled out as a paper-thin sheet, and etched on and turned into gold coins. It's beautiful. Even the streets of Heaven have been described as being pure gold. Wow! That's a lot of gold!

Why do the kids want to find gold? Because it is worth a lot of money. In 1880, gold was worth $21 an ounce. Today it is worth about $900 an ounce! Back in 1880, gold was needed to make coins. That's right. Most people dealt with real coins for money and didn't think much of the new "greenbacks" (paper money).






Gold coins were stamped as $5.00 (a half-eagle), $10.00 (an eagle), and $20.00 (double-eagle.








Next: The California Gold Rush!

This is a bad "head" day

We've all heard of bad "hair" days. This is a bad "head" day for a horse. This poor filly got her head stuck in a tree for real. It is not photo-shopped! Read on . . . the article follows . . .
This young filly needed to be freed from the tree after curiosity got the better of her. The horse, "Gracie," was unable to free itself and could have been in danger were it not for a passer-by who came to the rescue after he heard the horse whinnying. Jason Harschbarger, a neighbor in the town of Pullman, West Virginia, USA, arrived at the scene, which resembled the image of Winnie the Pooh getting stuck in the honey tree. Mr Harschbarger collected his tools and was able to carefully set the horse free by using a chainsaw to slowly cut the wood around its neck. Fortunately for Gracie, she was able to escape her ordeal with only a few minor injuries and, according to Mr Harschbarger, is on the road to recovery. Following his rescue operation, Mr Harschbarger told a local television station: "She has a few cuts on her face and ear."

It remains unclear why Gracie put her head into the gap.

Codes to link a Circle C graphic from your blog

I'm slowly moving posts from the old Circle C blog over to blogspot. I found this post, which gives the codes for a couple of fun graphics for anyone who would like to link over from their blog to Andi's blog.
Hint: Use the "select all" button to make sure you get the complete code from the box.

<a href="http://www.circlecadventures.blogspot.com/" _fcksavedurl="http://www.circlecadventures.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/9351/runninghorses2qx4.gif" border="0"/a><br/>

<a href="http://www.circlecadventures.blogspot.com/" _fcksavedurl="http://www.circlecadventures.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg" _fcksavedurl=""http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg"" _fcksavedurl=""http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg"" _fcksavedurl=""http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg"" _fcksavedurl=""http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg"" _fcksavedurl="http://img261.imageshack.us/img261/2941/ccisv8.jpg" border="0"/></a><br/>

It's never too early to begin!

It's never too early to learn how to rope your little "dogies." (Motherless calves). Here are a couple of small cowpokes learning how to rope the modern way. And the calf? Isn't "he" cute? Oh, by the way, you're never to OLD to learn to rope either. I roped that "calf."

Can a cattle rustler "fake" a brand?

I got a great question from my friend Kendra. Here it is:

"Hey, Andi,
Could a thief who wanted a cow brand his own name over it?"

I think you mean could he put his own brand over the original brand?

You bet those thieving rascals could do that! Of course, some brands were pretty detailed, so it would be hard to make a branding iron that could change the brand easily. But some simple brands could be messed with. For example, say your name is Larson, and your brand is a simple "L." A rustler could easily make a branding iron in the shape of an "E" that would completely cover up the original "L."

Hope that answers your question!
Here are samples of some real brands from the 1800s. How would you go about changing them if you were a cattle rustler? Good luck!