MY BOOK IS DONE!!

TRAIL TO TOMORROW

My book Trail to Tomorrow is now at Amazon. com.

Westward Ho!

When Allie Jo's family sets out to move to New Mexico, she finds her dream of being a real cowboy isn't quite what she thought it would be.

Trailing in the drag position behind a herd of Longhorns, she learns about dust, tedium, storms and stampedes.

But none that is as hard as keeping her secret from a young cattle drover.

Allie may be riding as a boy, but her heart is still all girl.

Early Morning Cup of Coffee

My Mother, Margie, and her horse Boots likes to get attention.

She grew up on horses living on the family farm in Western Arkansas.

Margie has always had a passion for horses. She also has always had a passion for poetry.

She has written several poems over the years. My favorite is Early Morning Cup of Coffee.

EARLY MORNING CUP OF COFFEE

I'm sitting on the front porch in my swing

It's as if I can see almost everything

The birds are eating berries from the mulberry tree

They sing so sweetly, as if they're singing just for me

Two red birds just walked across the lawn

And 4 squirrels been playing out there since early dawn

They chase each other round and round

They scamper up a tree, and then scamper down

Sometimes they jump from limb to limb

I never get tired of watching them

Sometimes I see a Mother deer and her fawn

They seem so content eating grass from my lawn

They keep their distance, but still they can see

Me watching them and them watching me

All in all it's a great place to be

early in the morning, while having my coffee.

Written by:

Margie Howard Semiche

June 9, 2005

Happy Trails

Last spring (2008) my husband and I joined a cattle drive at the Burnt Well Ranch in Roswell, New Mexico so I could gain authentic experience and add it to my cowgirl story.

Kim Chesser, Owner of Burnt Well Ranch, www.burntwellquestranch.com leads us back to the ranch singing our cowboy songs. I admit, we did not know a lot of old-time cowboy songs but we did sing about Jed Clampet, Petticoat Junction and the like.

We had the most wonderful time. We slept out under the stars in our bedrolls and ate camp food cooked on an open fire by Patricia Chesser. She is one heck of a chuck wagon cook.

My name is Carrol Haushalter

I began earning writing credits with articles in the Co-op newspaper in Ponderay, Idaho.

After relocating to Molalla, Oregon, I pursued my writing in earnest, creating several children's stories. My most popular, Henry Goes to Church, is a regular feature of the story time I present, sometimes with Henry, my mini Nubian, as part of the Education Committee at my church, The Molalla United Methodist.

I am a member of the "Friends of the Library" and write a monthly article on the library for the local newspaper.

Stories of my great-grandmother's journey from Texas to New Mexico as part of a cattle drive inspired me to begin to explore the old west through my novel The Adventures of Allie Jo. Watch for publication date on www.bohobooks.com

The adventures of Allie Jo is about a young girl who finds herself part of a cattle drive as her family moves west. Allie Jo learns to cope with dust, stampedes and quick sand as she rides from Texas to New Mexico. Although she may be disguised as a boy, her heart is all girl in the presence of a certain cattle drover.

To add authencity to Allie Jo's story, my husband and I joined an actual cattle drive in 2008 with a ranch in New Mexico.

My entire family is from Arkansas which is where my great-grandparents moved to from New Mexico in 1912 when New Mexico became a state. It just so happened that my great-grandfather's mother was from Arkansas, the same area that all my family lives to this day.

However, there are a few of us strays that have ventured away from home, but our hearts still belong to our down-home cowboys.