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    Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight: Tales of a '70S Rancher's Wife
    Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight: Tales of a '70S Rancher's Wife
    Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight: Tales of a '70S Rancher's Wife
    Ebook104 pages57 minutes

    Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight: Tales of a '70S Rancher's Wife

    By Audrey Keen-Hansen

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    About this ebook

    Expecting high adventure, a widow naively moves to Colorado and marries a widower, owner of Poco Reino, a small ranch in the mountain-clad San Luis Valley. Both have young children: she, a 13-year-old son; he, a 6-year-old son and an 8-year-old daughter.

    From day one -- with no prior experience -- the author turns into a stepmother and ranch hand. The results: often disastrous, other times quite funny.

    Close encounters with animals she's only seen or driven by before leave her screaming in terror, or feigning bravery beyond the call of duty. "Me, touch a chicken?" "There's a snake on my windshield!"

    The livestock sale barn, learning to ride a horse, raising a brood of 65 fancy-breed chickens provide surprising awakenings. And she never expected to be tramping in the mountains with a husband who is first, a biologist, and second (she discovers), a part-time rancher.

    The children share the adventure. Their fun, and not-so-much fun, activities are described thoughout.

    "Women are still pioneering -- and still venturing West."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateApr 2, 2007
    ISBN9781466926066
    Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight: Tales of a '70S Rancher's Wife
    Author

    Audrey Keen-Hansen

    In 1971, the author, Audrey Keen-Hansen, was a widow with a 13-year-old son for whom she very much wanted a father. She happened to meet a widower raising two children, ages 6 and 8. They needed a mother. The two parents decided to put the families together, but to do so, Audrey who had always lived in the city, had to move to her new husband's ranch in an isolated Colorado Valley. This book is about how she suddenly became a ranch hand and stepmother, and her adventures in doing so. Lots of mistakes; lots of laughs. A former broadcaster, news writer, and college professor. the author earned her B.A. and M.A. in Speech Communications from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and taught at Western Illinois University and the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. She currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She currently lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

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      Book preview

      Coyotes Always Howl at Midnight - Audrey Keen-Hansen

      Coyotes Always

      Howl at Midnight

      Tales of a ‘70s Rancher’s Wife

      Audrey Keen-Hansen

      Order this book online at www.trafford.com/06-2506

      or email orders@trafford.com

      Most Trafford titles are also available at major online book retailers.

      © Copyright 2007 Audrey Hansen.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval

      system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

      recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      Note for Librarians: A cataloguing record for this book is available from Library

      and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

      isbn: 978-1-4251-0748-2

      isbn: 978-1-4669-2606-6 (ebook)

      We at Trafford believe that it is the responsibility of us all, as both individuals

      and corporations, to make choices that are environmentally and socially sound.

      You, in turn, are supporting this responsible conduct each time you purchase a

      Trafford book, or make use of our publishing services. To find out how you are

      helping, please visit www.trafford.com/responsiblepublishing.html

      Our mission is to efficiently provide the world’s finest, most comprehensive

      book publishing service, enabling every author to experience success.

      To find out how to publish your book, your way, and have it available

      worldwide, visit us online at www.trafford.com/10510

      7-Copyright-Trafford_Logo.ai

      www.trafford.com

      North America & international

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      phone: 250 383 6864 ♦ fax: 250 383 6804

      email: info@trafford.com

      The United Kingdom & Europe

      phone: +44 (0)1865 722 113 ♦ local rate: 0845 230 9601

      facsimile: +44 (0)1865 722 868 ♦ email: info.uk@trafford.com

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4

      Contents

      INTRODUCTION

      PROLOGUE

      TALE ONE  Colorado, Here I Come!

      1  The Little Kingdom

      2  The Young Ranch Hands

      3  Changes

      4  Sure, I Had a Honeymoon

      5  The Gun Slinger

      6  Our Adobe Hacienda

      7  Chokecherry Moments

      TALE TWO  Critters, Cookpots, and Catastrophes

      1  Not All Food Comes from the Supermarket?

      2  Ham Hocks and Beans

      3  A Vegetable Garden Saves Money

      TALE THREE  Wild Introductions

      1  The Birdman of the Valley

      2  In His Mountain Habitat

      3  Bug-gy Moments

      TALE FOUR  Out in the Cold

      1  Shivering Timbers

      2  Whoops!

      3  Horse Games

      TALE FIVE  The Lady and Cleopatra

      1  A Kingdom for a Horse

      2  Horse Feat

      3  Call the Vet

      TALE SIX  Our Creatures, Large and Small

      1  Acres of Animals

      2  Adventure at the Sale Barn

      3  They Eat Hogs, Don’t They?

      4  Intermediate Thoughts

      TALE SEVEN  Finding the Rocky Mountain High

      1  Eagle Feathers

      2  Head-y Stuff

      3  Snowbound

      4  Height Fright

      TALE EIGHT  Ruffling Some Feathers

      1  The Trouble with Charley

      2  Cheaper by the Dozens

      3  But the Intruders Came …

      4  To Make a Better Omelet

      5  Of Mice and Hens

      TALE NINE  The Wiggly Ones

      1  The Hat Band Adventure

      2  Veryl’s Surprise

      3  The Windshield Caper

      EPILOGUE

      If one advances confidently in the direction of her dreams,

      and endeavors to lead a life that she has imagined,

      she will meet with success unexpected in common hours.

      (With apologies to Henry David Thoreau)

      For the children – Chris, Ann, and Mark – who shared the adventure.

      INTRODUCTION

      ONE DAY, in a contemplative mood, I realized that a piece of my life was becoming lost in the quick step of near–term experiences.

      Was it odd, I wondered, that a city person like me had joined the exodus to Colorado in the early 1970s – a time of hippies, John Denver’s songs, and Colorado High – and had experienced a Western life previously only conceived of in fantasy?

      Did it matter, I wondered, that I’d been widowed young and raised my son – from his ninth month through thirteenth year – alone, all the time pursuing a career, desperate to provide him a good life, pushing back loneliness that I had not had time to alleviate?

      I was 42-years-old, a veteran of the equal rights movement. I’d taught at a university and established the school’s first women’s program. I was independent. Yet I had thrown that life to the wind to become a rancher’s wife, a stepmother, and had entered a brand-new world in the West.

      I decided to save the memories. I wrote down those that caused so much happiness and satisfaction, so much anguish and frustration.

      Western literature is full of old-time sheriffs, wagon train diaries, cowboys and Indians. Could there be room for a woman’s latter-day experiences full of trial, error, and adventure?

      I wonder.

      COYOTES ALWAYS HOWL AT MIDNIGHT

      Tales of a Rancher’s Wife

      PROLOGUE

      SILENCE BLANKETED our valley on summer mornings, broken only by a meadowlark’s song or the crow of a distant rooster. Over at the crest of the mountains, bright lemon sunshine crept into a wide and empty sky.

      We arose early one such morning, my husband Veryl and I, determined to manicure our long–neglected lawn. A twenty–foot

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