Author Archives: Nancy Radke

About Nancy Radke

A USA Today bestselling author, Nancy Radke grew up on a wheat and cattle ranch in SE Washinton State. She attended a one-room country school through the eighth grade. She learned to ride bareback at age 3 (Really! It was a common practice.) and when she got off or fell off, she would pull her horse's nose to the ground, get on behind its ears, and the horse would lift its head so she could scoot down onto its back. Nancy spent most of her childhood exploring the Blue Mountain trails that bordered the ranchlands. She and a friend once took a trail that turned out to be a two day trip. They always rode with matches and pocket knives, so made camp and returned the next day. These long rides worried her parents, but provided plenty of time to make up stories. Her first novel was set in the Blues, and is entitled APPALOOSA BLUES. TURNAGAIN LOVE was the first one published. It rated a four star review from Affaire de Coeur. Scribes World said "Turnagain Love has some fascinating twists and turns, unexpected complications, and charming scenes." It is light and humorous. Nancy currently has over 30 books written, both modern and western. All her stories are sweet and wholesome.  View website

MAKING LISTS: THE POWER OF PRIORITIZING by Nancy Radke

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When my husband and I were first married, we had just started our junior year at the University of WA. We had no extra money coming in and lived off what my husband had earned that summer working two construction jobs in Alaska (where the daylight lasts long enough you can do that.) I had kept my wedding costs to a minimum and we were able to live in a one-room home that his parents owned. We had a desk, table, three chairs, a hot plate and a hide-a-bed, as well as our wedding gifts. “Eating out” meant a picnic on a mountainside after a hike.

Making Lists

THE ESSENTIAL ITEM LIST:

There were lots of things we wanted and we made a list and prioritized it. A television set was on top as well as a clothes washer and dryer. I don’t remember what else was on the list, but the ranking of the different items kept changing. The list kept us on our budget. We never carried debt on a credit card, as we couldn’t afford it. It was easier to do without. The funny thing is, that many things we considered essential became non-essential over time and got crossed completely off the list.

We finally got the TV set when we moved to Hawaii six years later. At that time we also got a miniature clothes washer. Living in Hawaii, I hung the items out to dry (diapers on a clothesline, made soft by the wind). I bought my first full-sized washer and dryer after we moved back to the mainland. If we couldn’t pay cash for it, we didn’t buy it. We shopped yard sales and discount stores, especially for the children’s toys and clothes.

We bought used cars using money we had set aside for them, so we never had a car payment.

THE DAILY PROJECT LIST:

I also use lists to get projects done and books written that would never be finished if I hadn’t used a list. When the items are written down on a piece of paper, it helps me see what is important and what not so important. Then the items can be numbered, according to importance, which is the last step in prioritizing them. Do #1 first and so on.

I know I would never have built a house, raised three kids, and finished over 50 books if I hadn’t kept lists. I let my books slide this summer while I got other things done, but intend to finish two of them around the first of next year. One of them is #14 of the pioneer Trahern series and the other is the last Lucky Dog book. Both are done past half-way, they are just not high-priority at the moment.

The last complete Trahern book, #13, takes The Sunniest Gal from Tennessee on a train ride from Boston to Cheyenne, facing death and finding love.

Filled with heart, hope, and holiday traditions…it’s Christmas, the most magical time of the year.
So, what could be more romantic than breaking through the bah humbugs to find love with your own personal Scrooge? Check out Irresistible Scrooges!

Irresistible Scrooges

Learn a Trade by Nancy Radke

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All men and women should learn a trade, even if they go to college and get the education needed to enter certain professions.

Why it is important for a man to learn a trade if he studies to learn a profession? Because life isn’t static for many people. You start out in one job, switch to something different, then maybe something else as you grow older. Consider the apostle Paul who learned tent making as well as studying under the Law teacher Gamaliel, then later used that skill to support himself on his preaching trips.

Learn A Trade

Education Comes In Many Forms

A large number of folks seem to think that all students must get a college education despite the cost and the fact that the student might not be suited for any of the professions. Many trade skills can be used to make your life better, so even if you do end up in a profession such as doctor or lawyer or teacher, you can use the trade skill to enrich your life. For example, carpentry can be used to remodel your own home.

Youngsters who work at a job to put themselves through school often find themselves liking that work better than what they got an education to do. They become apprentices learning masonry, plumbing, pipefitting, auto repair, crab fishing, farming, gardening, electrical skills…and the list is endless.

One of my sons graduated with an English major. He discovered that it was very helpful when he entered law enforcement. When he left that, he tried other jobs, then formed a company and remodeled houses, building the house I live in. He had learned the builder’s trade working as a carpenter to get money to go to college. Now he’s back using his English skill, legal/officer skills, and construction skills in a different occupation that requires all of them.

My other son became a long-distance truck driver after entering the hospitality industry and not liking it. My husband taught drivers’ education, so had taught all the kids to drive stick-shifts.

Life Skills

Some of these skills, such as computer use, cooking, sewing and balancing a checkbook are called life skills. Even such a basic skill as learning how to tie different knots can be neglected when kids use Velcro fasteners. With You tube and online academies, you can learn just about anything, so help your children get a diverse education.

In one of my novels, Any Lucky Dog Can Find a Missing Child, the heroine continues her father’s mission of rescuing struggling farm families, helping them keep their farms or buying them outright and selling them to young married couples who want to become farmers. She knows that small family farms feed our nation, but as they are lost to giant corporate farms, less and less diversity in crops are grown. Youth who want to become farmers need to be encouraged to do so, so she does this in addition to helping the county sheriff solve a murder.

Any Lucky Dog can find a Missing Child

General Health Tips

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All during my life I have been allergic to one thing or another, such as dust and wool and polyester. I avoid what I can and learn to substitute, like always wearing cotton and using rice milk in place of regular milk. Some things I have discovered by trial and error, while others have been suggested by doctors such as a dermatologist.

Health

If you have someone allergic to laundry soap, switch to a more natural product, such as ECOS. If that doesn’t clear things up enough, run your loads through the rinse cycle twice on cold. When I was living in Anchorage in the early 60s, a woman said her husband was miserable as his feet were allergic to soap and she couldn’t seem to get the soap out of his socks. The co-op had an old-fashioned washing machine and I suggested using it to rinse out the socks. She would fill it half full of cold water and toss in all the socks she had just washed and agitate it for a few minutes. It worked splendidly and kept him from having to go barefoot (not a good choice in Alaska). She said I saved her marriage.

Also on the laundry.

Buy several net bags made for the laundry and put the clothes in them that you will wash, but want to keep out of the dryer. Then when your husband or kids help you by drying the clothes, they will know not to include those bags.

If you have anyone with a cold or allergies who has to blow their nose a lot, try putting out a roll of expensive toilet paper. It is by far a lot softer than the tissues they sell, and keeps your nose from becoming red and sore. If you have an empty square tissue box, pull off a long strip of toilet paper, fold it along its tear lines and put it in the box, just to look nicer.

For people with allergies to bar soap, switch to Dove for face and body. It has more lotion than soap and stopped the deep rashes that I still get when I use regular soap, like when on a trip (and I forgot to put my Dove bar in the suitcase.)

Another health tip.

Want to keep your skin supple as you age, but don’t want to pay the high price for collagen lotions? The membrane of an egg is loaded with the stuff. I’ve kept my wrinkles at bay by pulling off the membrane of an egg or two and tossing them into scrambled eggs or stir fries, or baked beans, etc. Some folks say to spread them on the wrinkles on your face, but by eating them (tasteless), you benefit the rest of your body as well. Just a few a week is all you need, unless you are really old and have almost no natural collagen. Then you might need a little more.

Allergic to chocolate? Buy some roasted Carob. This powdered alternative to chocolate can be sweetened with honey or your favorite sweetener. I always use it for my hot chocolate drinks. It stops the craving for regular chocolate. Make sure it is roasted.

MY heroine in Sunbeams and Shadows is a cook for a dude ranch. She has to make sure she cooks around the allergies of their guests. She makes carob brownies and other carob treats for a child allergic to chocolate.

 

Fluffiest Pie Crust Ever! by @_NancyRadke #Recipe

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Here is a recipe for the absolutely fluffiest pie crust ever.

August is blackberry time at our house. The vines are covered with berries, and we pick them as they ripen, usually getting enough for several pies. We make some pies and freeze the rest for berry pies all year long.

Years ago I taught my daughter how to make a pie crust and she tweaked the recipe a little to make it easier to handle. Her pies are raved about and people say they’ve never had a crust that good. She is asked to bring pies to wedding receptions and all gatherings involving food. Because the crust only takes minutes to prepare, she doesn’t mind making them. This recipe looks complicated, but it is just that you need to have things ready before you mix the crust (4 ingredients). Work as fast as you can once you put the crust together.

This crust will not hold. It will get stiff and unworkable if you make it wait. You need to prepare the filling FIRST, so it can be poured immediately into the bottom crust, then the top crust can be rolled out and put on.

  1. Preheat oven
  2. Make filling and set it aside
  3. Set out your rolling pin
  4. Cut off 2 pieces of Waxed paper or parchment paper, a few inches larger than the pie plate. Place these where you will roll out the crust.
  5. Make the crust.
CRUST: Ingredients for a two crust pie,  9 or 10-inch pie plates.
  • 2 1/2 cups white flour, LESS one Tbs of the flour. This makes the crust more pliable.
  • 1 tsp. salt

Mix the flour and salt together, set aside

  • 1/4 cup milk  (rice milk and others work just fine)
  • 3/4 cup oil (any kind but olive)

     Pour oil and milk into one container, but DO NOT MIX

When you are ready to make the crust, pour the milk and oil all at once into the flour mixture. With a fork, stir together as you would biscuits. Avoid over-stirring as this will make it stiff. Leave some flour not stirred in. With your hands, gather dough into two balls, one slightly bigger than the other. The bigger one will be the bottom crust.

Because this crust is so fragile, you will need to roll it between the paper, rather than on a floured board.

  1. Take two pieces of the waxed or parchment paper and put the larger dough ball between them.
  2. Roll out the bottom crust.
  3. Remove the top piece of paper and lay the pie plate upside down on top of the dough. Hold the crust in place as you flip the pie plate and crust over together so that the plate is right side up and the filling drops down inside of it.
  4. Carefully remove the second piece of waxed paper.
  5. Pour in filling.
  6. Repeat for the top crust. Seal the edge, vent the top, and bake.

The more you make this recipe, the faster you will get. Just never stop to answer the phone. Any extra dough left over makes great tarts with jelly filling. Let me know how this turns out for you.

My latest book, The Bend in the Canyon, is now alive and on sale on Amazon. It focuses on the joys of having a family. Be sure to check it out.

Nancy Radke