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!

Roundup Time: branding

Do you know what a roundup is? Well, the simple definition is: an activity where you gather up the livestock (either cattle or horses) so you can brand them, count them, and sell them. In this post, I'll talk about branding the new calves.
On the Circle C, the cattle are usually rounded up in the spring, so the new calves can get branded. Ouch! First off, the ranch hands have to separate all those babies from their mothers. The calves don't like it much (and neither do the mama cows). There is so much noise you can't think straight. Cows mooing, calves bellowing. But it's exciting.

Once the calves for that day have been sorted out, the ranch hands rope the calves (their back legs) and drag them to the fire. Yep, a fire is going out in the open. Once the calf is being held down good and tight, a ranch hand takes the branding iron (a metal rod with our ranch's brand on the end: A "C" with a circle around it), makes sure it's good and hot from sitting in the fire, and then pushes the hot iron into the calf's backside.
It smells terrible, but it doesn't hurt the calf as much as I used to think. They've got thick hides.

Then, quick as a wink, that little calf is let up, and off he races--you wouldn't know he'd even been branded--back to his mama. But how he can tell which cow is HIS mother I've not figured out yet. When there are hundreds and hundreds of cows standing around bawling, they all look alike to me.

So, why go to all this trouble once--or maybe even twice--a year? A burned mark in the cow's hide is the only way to tell who it belongs to. There aren't any fences way out on the thousands of acres of rangeland, and sometimes all the ranchers' cattle get mixed in together. But that's OK. Come fall roundup, the ranchers sort everybody's cattle out and give them back.

Branding also discourages rustlers from being too brave. If somebody is caught with a cow, one look at the brand will let the sheriff know who the cow really belongs to. This also works well with horses. And since horse-stealing is a hanging offense, it keeps most horse thieves either honest or very, very careful about which horses they try to steal.

Here is a sample of some different types of branding irons and the "mark" they make when burned into livestock:

Dime Novels. What fun!

I love to read Dime Novels! For one thing, they are full of excitement, Indian scalpings, captured settlers, adventurers, and all-around colorful places. The trouble is, most teachers and parents (like my mother) think Dime Novels are trashy. They don't contribute at all to kids' literary skills, so it's hard to get away with reading one. (Even though I tried to tell her that all sorts of adults and famous people read Dime novels . . . . like President Lincoln).

Mostly, my mother would prefer I read books like Robinson Crusoe and Little Women. I don't have anything against reading about a fellow marooned on a desert island, but he doesn't have anybody to talk to until his man Friday comes along. And I liked Little Women the first time I read it, but one time is definitely enough. (I told Mother that Louisa May Alcott wrote dime novels, but I don't think she believed me. But it's true!)

When I found one of Mitch's dime novels lying around, I snatched it up right away! I mean, with a title like Crack Skull Bob and an Indian fight on the cover, how can you go wrong? I sweet-talked Mitch into letting me read it, and when Mother saw me curled up on the settee, she just shook her head and sighed. I guess that means I can keep reading it. And a good thing, too! I was just getting to the part where the Indian was getting ready to scalp the settler, and I would have died if Mother had taken it away.

They call these paperback books "Dime Novels" because they cost a dime to buy. Mitch has a whole slew of them--he likes to read these kinds of books. Justin, he doesn't read anything but his law books and the newspaper. Chad . . . well, I don't think he likes to read at all. But Melinda and I? We both like Dime Novels.

But Mitch warned me not to ever, ever, ever take it to school. The schoolmaster will snatch it right out of my hands and tear it up in front of me. Then I'll probably get stuck writing a thousand sentences about only reading books that improve my mind. I want to read books that improve my imagination!

If you want to learn more about the famous Dime Novels of the late 1800s and early 1900s, go here: DIME NOVELS

We Have a Winner!

One Desert Rose has won Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home and the corresponding lapbook.

Congratulations, Desert Rose! I'll be mailing it off to you this week.

Thanks for joining me, everyone, and stay tuned for another contest in the coming months . . .

Ready for a Contest?

This contest has ended. Thanks for playing!

First of all, I'm going to show off the cover Kregel decided on for Book 5, Trouble with Treasure! Want to learn more? Go HERE.

And now . . . drum roll . . . A Journey Through Learning, a Lapbook company, has spent the summer creating delightful Lapbooks for all of the CCA books.

If you're not sure what a Lapbook is, it's a hands-on approach to learning, made from 3 file folders and a packet of colorful booklets students cut out, fill out, and paste into the constructed file folders. The study guides and booklets tie in history and writing/literature with the novels. I wasn't familiar with Lapbooks before this summer, but I'm impressed with AJTL's professional look and full-color booklets. Here is an example from the Lapbook for Long Ride Home.




And now for the contest! I am giving away a Lapbook AND a copy of one of my CCA books. YOUR CHOICE!

Here are the rules:
1) Leave a comment here, telling me which book and matching Lapbook you would like to win. Here are your choices:
#1- Long Ride Home
#2- Dangerous Decision
#3- Family Secret
#4- San Francisco Smugglers

2) Leave your E-mail address so I can contact the winner (if I can't find your contact info, I will draw a different name from the "hat")

3) I can ship only to U.S. or military addresses. Sorry!

*** Contest ends August 30 ***

If you would like to learn more about the Lapbooks for the Circle C Adventures, go to A Journey Through Learning, where you can buy them as a download to print out yourself!

Or you can see them on my website's Lapbook page and order a book and a Lapbook from there.

Good luck with the contest!

The 2009 WHO homeschool convention!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Real-Life Photos from the Past

It's great fun when you can find pictures of real kids from history and can use the pictures without worrying about copyrights. Going through old family pictures, we found these real-life relatives that work well to depict a couple of the characters. First, here's Andi at age 9, courtesy of my real-life great-aunt Nada. And a great picture of Chad, courtesy of my grandfather Hubert (Nada's brother).
Just for fun!

We Have a Winner!

Yesterday I printed out and cut up all the entries for the cover contest. Then my grandson folded all the little strips up. I put them in a bowl, and he drew out one name. Ready? Drum-roll:
The winner is Felicia Straley!
Congratulations, Felicia! I will send you The Trouble with Treasure next February 2010, when it is released, along with a vial of real gold flakes.

Thanks, everyone, for playing along. I sent my publisher a summary of your feedback. As soon as Kregel decides on the cover (yes, they get the final decision), I'll post the cover here.

Again, I hope you had as much fun entering as I had reading your responses!

Book 5--Cover Contest!

The draft covers for Circle C Adventures Book 5- Andrea Carter and the Trouble with Treasure are here. You can vote for you favorite cover by leaving a comment. Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered into a random drawing to win a copy of the new book when it is released late next fall. The lucky winner will also receive a small vial of REAL gold flakes. Why gold flakes? Well, Andi's friend Cory gets hold of an old survey map of the mountains, which shows gold diggings. Together with Andi's older brother Mitch, Andi, her new friend Jenny, and Cory head for the hills. But instead of finding gold, they find a heap of trouble!

Take a look at the covers, and then read the "Rules" below to enter:





Cover #1 (map)





Cover #2 (horse)












~ Leave a comment with your "vote" and why you picked it, along with your E-MAIL address, so I can find you if you win.
~ Invite your friends to join the fun!
That's it! Have fun. Contest ends April 20th.

My Brother Chad

My big brother Chad has one ambition: to run the Circle C ranch. He loves horses and is the best horseman in the entire Valley. He's a year younger than Justin, but he's the one who's definitely in charge of the ranch (Justin likes to do his lawyer stuff more than rope cattle). Chad was really upset when Father died, because he looked up to him. He wanted to have many more years working alongside him before having to shoulder all the responsibility. Luckily, our long-time foreman, Sid McCoy, helped Chad through the transition from a son to being in charge.

Chad has black hair and blue eyes, and he's pretty tall--about six feet. He thinks he knows everything, and tries to tell me what to do all the time. That makes him bossy, and I don't like it at all. He's got himself a temper, and I've been on the receiving end of it more than once. I sometimes feel that I can't do anything right. He's got no patience for work sloppily done or not done at all, and a cowhand caught mistreating a horse is sent packing, along with a few scorching words from the "boss."

But Chad has his secret, kind side. Behind his quick tongue, he really does have a tender heart. After all, he went out of his way to give me Taffy, and he was mighty patient when we were raising her. I've seen him carry a newborn calf just as tenderly as a mother would hold her baby. And he is funny, too. He knows how to make me laugh when I'm feeling down.


All in all, I wouldn't trade him for any other brother. I know it's partly my fault for getting him riled up on occasion. I guess we're too much alike. I think he yells at me sometimes because he's just downright worried about me getting into another fix. I love him a lot!