Historic Seven-Year Texas Drought

From 1950 until 1957, the first seven years of my life, Texas experienced a devastating stretch of seven long years with severely deficient rainfall—thirty to fifty percent less than average.

With the drought came the second, third, and eighth-driest single years since the Weather Bureau began keeping records in 1888—1956, 1954, and 1951, respectively. drought

Now, it’s my personal opinion—since I lived through it—the event shouldn’t be counted as history. I find it hard to believe I’m historic!

However, for the purposes of writing historical novels, anything happening right up to the Vietnam war is included by the powers that be. Whoever they might be.

The loss of rain devastated the state’s economy and changed lives, especially in the rural areas where ranchers and farmers were so greatly affected.

Cattlemen sold off their stock or moved them north to Kansas as watering ponds, lakes, and rivers dried up and feed prices soared while that of beef dropped by two-thirds from fifteen cents a pound to only a nickel.

And of course, they’d overgrazed the pastures, encouraging the growth of the unwanted cedar and mesquite trees. Scorching winds carried the topsoil away, causing dust storms that rivaled those during the Great Dust Bowl.

Over a HUNDRED THOUSAND Texas ranchers went out of business and moved to town.

Farmers didn’t fare any better. In 1940, almost thirty percent of the population worked on a farm. That number fell to twelve percent by the 1960 census.

Harvests shriveled, showing great losses when in some areas the crop yield dropped as much as fifty percent. The unprecedented agriculture economic losses exceeded even the earlier Great Dust Bowl’s.

And towns didn’t go unaffected. Some thousand communities strictly enforced water restrictions with many going completely dry and forced to haul water in by truck or train.

Dallas, the hardest-hit large city, reservoirs got so low, they pumped water from the Red River that damaged pipes due to its high salt content.

The drought spurred Texas’ modern “water planning” era that prompted the creation of artificial lakes across the Lone Star State.

From 1950 through 1957, losses were estimated to be over twenty-two billion in 2011 dollars. Funny how little it affected me. All I remember of it is the flood that ended it when it rained and rained, and the rain almost came into our house. It flooded the halls of Letot Elementary in Dallas.

Mama didn’t know when she took me to school that day. I remember walking through the halls in about six inches of water, and one basement classroom had filled with water completely.

(No second-grade class was held that day and for a few to come after! This photo was when I was in the first grade at Letot.)       

Temperatures soared over a blistering one hundred degrees for over eighty days straight in some areas. By 1956, ten states around Texas were also affected.

In the form of prophecy, this drought plays a part in one of my novels, SON OF PROMISE, the third ‘Companion Book’ to my Texas Romance Family Saga series, when God warns Travis Buckmeyer (third-generation from Henry in book one, VOW UNBROKEN) that it’s coming.

He sells off most of his cattle while the prices are still high and goes into the well-digging business.

I’ve made SON OF PROMISE FREE today for my readers! Just click "SON OF PROMISE FREE" to go claim your copy. I hope you enjoy it and would surely appreciate a review!

Here’s what one reviewer said about THE SON OF PROMISE:

  “This story shows that the love of God within can overcome all obstacles. Your past does not determine your future.  Such a gentle story of faith, love, forgiveness, and yielding the sinful man to a higher power.” –Judy Schexnayder

I fell in love with Cody Buckmeyer, the 'secret-revealed' son of Travis from a one-night stand that happened even before he met Emma Lee Harris and married her (in CHIEF OF SINNERS, book ten of the Texas Romance Family Saga series).

It's a sweet coming of age story with horses, goats, and Great Pyrenees guardians!

Bio: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ ratings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing several genres (FORTY-EIGHT published and counting) almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few.

Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-one years ago, and now they share four children and eighteen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

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Caryl's Published Christian Titles 

Historical & Contemporary Romance, Biblical fiction, Mid-grade and YA, and Non-fiction   

     

From the Republic of Texas to the Lone Star State

Texas is grand, and she is unique!

Unlike the other forty-nine states, Texas came into the union by treaty. President John Tyler negotiated the first Treaty of Annexation in 1844, but it took two more tries and the support of President-elect James Polk, before it was ratified on March 1, 1845---subject to acceptance by the Republic of Texas. It still had to be voted on by the Texicans.

Back then Texas claimed parts of what is now New Mexico and Colorado. The long little sliver went all the way north taking parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and all the way up to Wyoming.

They fought for the Rio Grande to be the southern boundary in the Mexican-American war. In the treaty, the one-time Republic retained lands lying with her limits and a seven-mile boundary of her waterways.

The right to split into five states (four, plus Texas) if desired by Texicans was also written into the agreement that brought Texas into the Union as the twenty-eighth state.

This is Independence Hall in Washington on the Brazos. It wasn't big and fancy where the Texicans voted to give up being an independent nation.

Ron and I visited on a research trip. There's a wonderful museum there, too. A great place for a Texas family outing!

History is carved in stone, but what if Texas had voted to remain a Republic? Only God has the answer to that question, but it has intrigued a lot of folks for many years.

My husband is a native-born Texan and says one of the worse days of his life was, as a seventh-grader taking Texas History in 1962, when he learned of Texas giving up her sovereignty to become a state. He's been a successionist ever since I think. I have to admit, sometimes I think I'd be the best thing to do, too.

No wonder we called my newest release TEXAS TEARS and set its opening scene just before the Texas Congress voted in favor of annexation. In our story, a fictitious Republic of Texas Senator takes the floor in the one room Independence Hall and holds his hand to his ear.

“Can you hear it, men? All over our Republic, Texas tears are falling like raindrops in a thunderstorm of sorrow.”

Another fictitious senator and hero of my story Thomas Baldwin was called upon and asked what he had to say.

“This I know: I love Texas. I have ever since having the good sense to come here. As most of you know, I fought with Houston, then Monroe and I rode together as Rangers, proud to serve with the greats like Baylor and Rusk.
“I’ve been all over the Republic and sure would like to know how those who gave their lives at Goliad, the Alamo, or San Jacinto would vote. But they can’t speak from the grave. So, it’s up to us now.”

A compelling thought. While annexation is the backdrop for TEXAS TEARS, the story revolves around two young ladies, best friends who’ve grown up together, who fall in love with the same man—paralleling, a bit, Texas being pursued by two Nations, the U.S. and Mexico.

While it’s obvious how the people of Texas voted back then, who marries the new handsome young man remains to be seen. The one his domineering mother wants or the other his heart desires?

This is Arlene VanZandt on the cover, and I've fallen in love with her. She reminds me of my mother who was as good as gold with a servants heart that caused everyone around her to love her. She loved Jesus and wasn't afraid to follow Him through good times and bad. 

Plus, Arlene loves to write, too!



So, besides being book three in the Cross Timbers Romance Family Saga, TEXAS TEARS doubles as Book One in my treasured Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection.

The first one launched last fall in 2018 with Collection One, and continues this year with Collection Two releasing this week!

And it has all new authors! Davalynn Spencer, Mary Connealy, Samantha Bayarr, Liz Tolsma and Allison Pittman! with Collection Two with all new authors!

2019 marks the sixth anniversary of the “Thanksgiving Book & Blessings” November party, this year on the Thursday the 14th, two weeks before we all gather with loved ones to officially give thanks to God the provider of all good things in our lives.

Thanksgiving is by far my favorite recognized holiday of the year! 

The great migration from east to west, fueled by the lust for free land, gold, and adventure didn’t end in Texas as we know. It even caught up a few folks in the new Lone Star State. That’s the backdrop for LEAVIN’ TEXAS, the fourth installment of the Cross Timbers Romances Family Saga scheduled to debut in January 2020, God willing.

BLESSINGS, Y'all!

Bio: Award-winning Author Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory! And her best-selling novels are blessed with a lion’s share of 5-Star ratings! With forty-four-and-counting titles, she loves writing as well as singing the new songs the Lord gives her—listen to a few at YouTube. She and husband Ron share four children and eighteen grandsugars. The McAdoos live in the woods south of Clarksville, the seat of Red River County, in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door. 

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WANT SOME FUN? Here's a PUZZLE for you!  

Moving Dirt to Make Water

The invention of barbed wire brought the need for an easy way to water stock; man-made pools--ponds--stock tanks (whatever you want to call them depends on the region you live in) became necessary. Nowadays, if you need a new pool, the first thing you do is scout out the place by watching where the rainwater flows into a creek or river. The low side is dammed up with a levy built with the dirt from digging the new pond's depth.

Then we call the county agent to test our soil and be certain it even holds water. Some dirt won't if it has no 'clay' element. Next item on the agenda is to locate a good dirt man. He brings out the heavy equipment--dozers, scrapers, track-hoes and the like and goes to moving dirt. The last pool we had dug, it took them about a week to create a four-and-a-half acre mini-lake. BUT . . .

Back in the days of the pioneers, it was a whole different story. The ranchers or farmers used a team of mules to pull a 'scooper' or 'scraper' made of iron that would gather the dirt as it was pulled over the land then dump that dirt out the back. My husband met a man and saw a pool that his grandfather and great-grandfather had spent a whole summer digging.

Each man worked a team of four mules with a scraper six days a week--day in, day out--and managed to move about three yards of dirt every time they made a pass around the hole, then they'd dump it on the new levy they're building on the low side of the soon-to-be pool. A pick-up truck will hold about one yard to give you an idea.

This was a family affair. The wives and children would spread the dirt and pack it as the levy grew. Then once the digging was done, they'd plant trees on the levy to stay any erosion. To this day, that acre-and-a-half pond about thirty feet deep that he saw is still in place with mature oak and cedar whose roots have held the levy all these years.

Praise the Lord for the equipment available today!

Bio: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ rankings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few. Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-one years ago, and now they share four children and seventeen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door. 



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Privies and Plumbing

Even before Christ, Romans enjoyed hot and cold running water in their homes and indoor toilets that carried wastes to the Tiber River where it flowed on out to the Mediterranian Sea. The desire for cleanliness and other niceties of civilization were lost when the barbarian hordes overran Rome.

By the middle ages, sanitation in the cities still proved abysmal by today's standards. When the bubonic plague rolled around in the mid-1300s and over half of Europe's population expired, the Jews were blamed when it was in actuality their simple practice of washing their hands before meals kept them safe to a noticeable degree.

I love it that Queen Victoria is recorded as saying she took a bath once a month whether she needed it or not. I suppose cleanliness does have its different perspectives!

In the 1800s, while the east coast of the United States enjoyed indoor plumbing, those brave, adventurous pioneers who traveled west to settle the new lands dug privies, and those 'outhouses' chugged along in the rural communities all the way past the turn of the last century.

Fast forward to the twentieth century. A big advantage of city living in the 1920s to the 50s besides electricity was indoor plumbing, running hot and cold water and flushing potties with highly maintained sewer systems. Rural areas were slow to achieve the modern conveniences. Both my husband's and my grandparents still used operating outhouses in the 1950s. They considered indoor potties a luxury. We remember sprinkling the lime to keep the stench down!

Ron, my husband of FIFTY YEARS this June 22--Laaaaa! Golden Anniversary time! Anyway, he reported that as a teen, he and his brother dug a new septic tank for their grandfather . . . well, there actually wasn't a tank back then, just a hole in the ground. Nowadays, while rural living still has no sewer system, the science of septic tanks--large concrete or plastic receptacles buried in the ground has evolved to the point where at least we are no longer polluting the earth.

Running hot and cold water indoors for drinking and bathing is a wonderful thing in our lives taken totally for granted. While the most necessary product of plumbing is safe drinking water--acquired from wells using buckets, windmills, or hand pumps to bring the water up, the most luxuriest is without a doubt, indoor potties!

John David Nightingale, my hero in JOHN DAVID’S CALLING, that launches in FOUR days, grew up with his MawMaw and PawPaw Harris in a little rural community in the Texas Hill country during this time! For a present one year, his parents hired a plumber to install an indoor toilet, sink, and bathtub for them. Boy did they think they were living in high cotton then!

This story is book one of The Revivalist Trilogy which are companion books to the highly acclaimed Texas Romance Family Saga. David, its hero, is the son of Buddy Nightingale and Sandra Louise Harris. He is the baby on Sandy's hip at the end of CHIEF OF SINNERS, but now he's all grown up.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Born in sin, but redeemed by the blood, John David Nightingale rejects his mother’s heritage and embraces his paternal grandfather’s faith. What price will he have to pay? Vietnam looms and his love, Hannah Rose, beckons, but the call of the Lord is so strong, David must answer.

Pre-order today! JOHN DAVID'S CALLING

Don't you agree we are so blessed to live in these days of bathrooms (several in our houses) and plumbing in general? Are you old enough to remember outhouses? :) 

BIO: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ rankings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few. Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-one years ago, and now they share four children and seventeen grandsugars. Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

Headrights for Texas Settlers

Even before Texas became a Republic, the Spanish then the Mexicans were giving land grants to encourage settlers to come to live in Tejas.

Moses Austin became an empresario, entering into a contract with the Spanish government in January 1821, agreeing to bring three hundred Catholic families to settle along the Brazos River lands. He selected colonists, allocated lands and oversaw the Mexican law.

When he died, his son Stephen F. Austin took over the contract. Other important empresarios were Green DeWitt, Benjamin Milam, and Sterling Robertson and several others. Each head of household was awarded a league (four thousand four hundred twenty-eight and four-tenths acres of grazing land) and a labor (one hundred seventy-seven and one-tenth cropland) and the empresario, for his compensation, received five leagues and five labors for each one hundred families he settled.

After Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, the Republic of Texas was born. The cash-strapped new nation used land grants to pay off the veterans of San Jacinto and other battles and awarded heads of families a First Class Headright—a league and a labor, over four thousand acres per man. That the settlers be of the Catholic religion was no longer a requirement.

As more pilgrims answered the call and journeyed to Texas for a new start, the Republic stopped giving First Class Headrights. Though the previous recipients who held the certificates could transfer ownership. The new owner could settle the land, survey it, and were required to live on it for three years in order to patent it—receive title deed to the land.

Up until October 1837, the second class headrights (Twelve hundred eight acres for heads of household and half that for single men were awarded) were offered, and after until January 1840, the grants went to third class giving half those amounts. After January 1840, fourth class headrights with the same acreage (six hundred forty to families, three hundred forty for single men) were issued by the Congress of the Republic of Texas.

This was why my fictitious families, the O’Neals, Van Zandts, and Worleys, headed to Texas from Tennessee in GONE TO TEXAS, the coming-in-September book one of my new Family Saga series Cross Timber Romances. It will also be a part of an exciting new collection fashioned around my favorite holiday—Thanksgiving! Be watching for more news about the Thanksgiving Books & Blessings Collection!
 
The headrights didn’t mean a man owned the land, only that he had a right to make it his own by following the  requirements. To own it, he had to mark the corners, live on it three years, farm ten acres in a crop, survey it, then take care of the paperwork at one of the thirty-eight Government Land Offices (GLO) across the Republic where the Texas settler became a citizen landowner, claiming his title deed for the land.

So if you’re ever driving through Texas and some ranches stretch on for mile after mile, like the Cross Arrow right down the Farm-to-Market from me here in Red River County, rest assured that once upon a time, someone like Henry Buckmeyer, the patriarch of my Texas Romance Family Saga (1832-1950, over ten decades and five generations—nine books strong) obtained vast properties by marking the corners, living on it, farming a portion of it, then taking care of their paperwork at the GLO (government land office).

Bio: Caryl McAdoo prays her story brings God glory, and a quick scroll through her novels’ rankings by Christian readers attests to the Father’s faithfulness. She loves writing almost as much as singing the new songs He gives her—look her up on YouTube to hear a few. Her high school sweetheart husband won her heart fifty-two years ago and in June 2018, the McAdoos celebrate their Golden anniversary. Blessed with four children and seventeen grandsugars, Ron and Caryl live in the woods south of Clarksville, seat of Red River County in far Northeast Texas, waiting expectantly for God to open the next door.

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Taking a Break from Sun-to-Sun

The Word & the Music is my new blog persona that I'll be using across the internet on all the blogs I post! :) God is the Word and the Music, the song that I sing, the melody and harmony! I pray my story gives God glory, but also my blog post and everything I do! If every post includes "the Word" and "the Music", how can I go wrong?

TV, the Internet, Electronic Video Games, Professional Sports Teams, Social Media, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera! (I loved the King of Siam portrayed by Yule Brenner, didn’t you? Etcetera three times always makes me think of The King and I.) Anyway . . .

Once upon a time, these forms of entertainment we enjoy today—if available at all—usually included a ride far away and proved very costly. Especially for those settling the west. So out of necessity, pioneers provided their own fun activities. Church socials with all day meetings and dinner on the grounds occurred regularly and often crossed denominational barriers.

Quilting bees brought ladies together for catching up on all the latest news and provided a necessary commodity for cold winter nights. A part of the fun, aside from the actual quilting time, would be the hours spent prior for decisions on patterns and fabrics. Oft, while the ladies poked and pulled their needles, the men pitched horseshoes or washers. Some played mumbly peg.

Barn raisings might not be considered entertainment, but with several families participating, the day or three spent with ladies cooking, serving, and cleaning, children playing tag, hide and seek, or kick the can, and men sawing and hammering away, all those in attendance had a great time together, enjoying the fellowship while doing a good deed. The neighbor with the new barn definitely got blessed!

For big community fish fries, the men would seine the river for the main course, and the whole community gathered with side dishes and desserts. Much of the pioneer entertainment revolved around food. As early as the 1780s, a game of townball or rounders (similar to baseball) might add to the afternoon’s fun.

Camp meetings, sometimes lasting a week or two, drew the faithful to come from miles around to hear the preaching of the Word, praise, and worship God together. Others—often from more traditional denominations—came strictly for the show, an accepted practice on both sides of the coin as some of those spectators would get saved!

That’s how it happened that in CHIEF OF SINNERS, Sandra Louise, from a Church of Christ family came to the holy rollers’ revival tent meeting to see and hear the renowned Buddy Nightingale sing. When she entered, it was love at first sight for the both of them, and thus the Texas Romance family saga begins again in book ten of the series that launches in early September. It will introduce the fifth generation and bring the series into the 1950s (from 1832).

COVER REVEAL TOMORROW! Come by the CRAVE HIM! (Christian Readers & Authors Visitation Event! He Inspires Me!) Multi-Author Party tomorrow! Starts at 3 pm Texas Time (CDT). Games and prizes!

THE GIVEAWAY

I’m happy to share it with you and would love to offer a copy of book one in the series VOW UNBROKEN to one of my commenters!

To tell you ahead of time----for some reason, I can’t reply to comments on any Blogger site. I write them, and they just disappear, Have any of you experienced that? But I do sincerely appreciate and thank you for your comments! Blessings to all!

THE WORD

THE MUSIC

JOY IS THE FLAG FLOWN HIGH

✞♪♫•✫JOY is the flag ♥ flown high!✞♪*•from the castle♫♪*♪•of my heart!♪*•♫♪ from the castle✞♪of my heart! ♫•.♪♫ from the castle of my heart! ♫✫JOY is the flag ♥ flown high!✞♪*•from the castle♫♪*♪•of my heart!♪*•♫♪ for the KING! ♫•✫♥ *♪ is in residence there!♪♫•✫✞ ♪♫✫

THE QUESTION

What's your favorite source of entertainment?

THE BIO

Caryl McAdoo loves God and writes four series praying each story gives God glory: the historical Texas Romance; a contemporary Red River Romance; The Generations a Biblical fiction; and the Days of Dread Trilogy for young readers—all with a strong Christian sway. Known as the Singing Pray-er, she loves praising with new songs the Lord gives her and counts four children and seventeen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings. She and high school sweetheart-husband Ron live in the woods of Red River County five miles south of Clarksville, the county seat, in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State.

THE LINKS

Website  /  Amazon  /  Facebook  /  Blogs: HeartWings  CRAVE HIM!  Stitches Thru Time  /  Twitter / GoodReads  /  Google+  /  LinkedIn  /  BookBub  /  Southern Writers Magazine  /  YouTube   

Man Power Multiplied

L-R: Cecelia, Gwendolyn & Bonnie Buckmeyer

In DAUGHTERS OF THE HEART, book 5 of my Texas Romance family saga—and by the way, it's FREE today and tomorrow--one of the Bubckmeyer girls’suitors, Elijah Eversole is a blacksmith / millwright / inventor. He creates whatever his friends Moses and Jethro need for their goldmine (in book 4 SINS OF THE MOTHERS).

Mary Rachel Buckmeyer

He knew nothing of farming, but on his trip to Texas, so hoping to meet and determine if Mary Rachel’s younger sisters were cut from the same cloth since he thought she about hung the moon. Of course, his spoken motive was to build a steam engine for the father of the beautiful lady he held in such high esteem. Henry Buckmeyer wanted to upgrade his sawmill from water power to be steam powered.

During that visit, Elijah observes Levi and a gang of freedmen planting cotton by hand. Voila! He instantly got an idea for a mechanical, mule-drawn planter that would allow two men to do the work of ten. Got a patent onm it, too. Historically, the advancements in agricultural machinery proved phenomenal because one invention led to the need of another.

Thank Wikipedia for this image

For instance, the increase in acres planted meant farmers needed a faster way to harvest so as not to lose crops in the field. Thus the mechanical cutter that replaced the scythes of yesteryear eventually became today’s combine was imagined and built. Two men, a wagon driver with the second cutting ears of corn could harvest about an acre in one day.

Nowadays, it's nothing for the giant combines to cut two hundred acres in a day, provided they have grain carts pulled by tractors driven alongside to empty regularly. It can hold two to four hundred bushels of grain itself—two hundred bushels to the acre in the northern plains isn’t unheard of.


So in the 1850s, what would take a small army of men weeks to accomplish, can now be done in a few days with only three or four men with the right equipment. Advancement is built on need, and innovation advances rapidly where freedom to innovate is encouraged.

Hasn’t God blessed America? 

***FREE*** Don't forget to click over and claim your FREE DAUGHTERS OF THE HEART

Bio: Award winning, bestselling author Caryl McAdoo currently writes four series: the historical Christian ‘Texas Romance’; a contemporary ‘Red River Romance’; The Generations, her Biblical fiction, and a mid-grade Days of Dread Trilogy. The prolific hybrid novelist loves singing new songs the Lord gives her and painting. She counts four children and seventeen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings, believing all good things come from God. Praying her story gives God glory, she hopes each one will also minister His love, mercy, and grace to its readers. Caryl and Ron, her high school sweetheart-husband live in the woods of Red River County a few miles south of Clarksville in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State.

Well Water's Plenty Important

In Part One of Old Time Technology, we discussed how our ancestors cured meat in a smoke house. Makes my mouth water just thinking about it! But in those bygone days, what rated much more paramount than a tasty ham or smoked turkey was having clean drinking water.

Settlements first rose around rivers, springs, and ever flowing creeks, leaving the second wave of pioneers to either dig themselves a well or purchase potable water. Hauling enough from whatever the closest source might be could take one person a good portion of their day. The time and effort to dig a well and secure its walls with brick or boards—two of the more common methods then—took much longer, but ended the daily treks.

See me waving from the top of an old well on the McAdoo Ranch?

Though a well could be dug alone, it was no easy task. To dig even a twenty-foot well by hand, the property owner would enlist help from his new neighbors. Those helpers might also shed some light on how deep they would probably have to go. If they dug thirty feet without striking water, they’d usually give up on the hole and try elsewhere.

After only a few feet, the walls had to be braced to prevent a cave in. Once the shaft opening got down to the layer of water, the diggers had to keep on going, usually with someone up top manning a pump.

Only a few inches of water wouldn’t meet the family’s need.

Throughout history, man has sought ways to make his life easier. Eventually, they’d build a house right over a well and install a hand pump right in the kitchen. Having running water might win a man his special sweetheart, especially if hauling water had been one of her childhood chores.

My husband’s great-grandparents on his mother’s side still lived in the south Texas house his grandmother was born in when I first met the family. A windmill right outside the kitchen window filled a water tank about half-way up that fed the house. Pressurized sweet water no less! Even had an overflow that ran out to the stock tank for the cattle.

Talk about spiffy keen! It’d been in service from the eighteen hundreds. Shame back then, Ron wasn’t interested in the history of such things, but he still talks about that water! No chlorine or fluorides, just pure, clean water straight out of the earth!

By HEARTS STOLEN, book two in my Texas Romance family saga set in 1844, Henry Buckmeyer had water in the house and a wonderful bath house with a system to even warm the water. What was an extreme luxury in those days, we take for granted today, turning a faucet and soaking in a hot tub full of refreshing, rejuvenating, cleansing water!

Speaking of the Texas family saga, book eight just debuted this week! COVERING LOVE starts off in Texas, but takes its readers to the Alaskan frozen tundra, New York City's high society, the tropical paradise of Hawaii and back to the Lone Star State. Quite the deal with four romances in the one story :)

Y'all be blessed!

Bio: Caryl McAdoo loves writing stories for all ages that glorify God and is thrilled Christian fiction fits her life purpose so well. Bold not bashful, she’s quick to share the Bible principles she lives by through her characters and hopes each title ministers His love, mercy, and grace. Known as the “Singing Pray-er”—with a YouTube channel to prove it—the prolific hybrid author also loves praising Him with new songs He gives her. Her high-school-sweetheart-husband moved the family from the DFW area—home for fifty-plus years—to the woods and seat of Red River County. After Ron, Caryl counts four children and sixteen grandsugars life’s biggest blessings. The McAdoos live a few miles south of Clarksville in the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State with two grandsons.

Links :  

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Old Time Technology: Part One, Where’s the MEAT?

With no refrigeration, meat preservation posed some challenges to the early Texas settlers, but offered a paramount source of protein. Most commonly, one of the first things built along with the main cabin would be a good, old fashioned smokehouse. On the morning of the first frost—early November to mid-December—the whole family went to butchering hogs.

With the meat hung in the smokehouse, usually a windowless log structure, they built hickory, pecan, or oak, depending on taste preferences, fires. Conduit—often clay pipe—ran six to eight feet from the fire to the structure. For the duration, the community kept the fire going twenty-four/seven until all the meat cured properly, sometimes upward to fourteen days.

This procedure is mentioned in more than one of the historical Texas Romance Family Saga series. It provided a good way to sustain their families. I put Sue’s smokehouse exactly where the first cabin we built on the nine hundred acre McAdoo ranch south of Clarksville, Texas. 

I’d love to share book one VOW UNBROKEN with a commenter. It's book one in the Texas Romance Family Saga series, when Suzannah Baylor meets Henry Buckmeyer an dhires him to help get her cotton crop to market.

I’m offering to draw from those who  leave a comment for a blessed person to send a print book to!

Bio: Christian author Caryl McAdoo prays her story gives God glory! With four series—each a different genre—the award-winning, best-selling hybrid releases at least three new titles each year, steadily adding to her total of twenty-seven books published through 2016. She also loves singing new songs the Lord gives her, her husband Ron, and two grandsons live five miles south of Clarksville, in the far Northeast corner of Texas.

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