More Defender Day Photos

Continuing on from yesterday's post, here are some of the other people and things we saw in Coffeyville on Saturday.

In downtown Coffeyville you can still see a few spots on the streets that were made from Coffeyville bricks. Melinda over at Mickey and Me says she has some Coffeyville bricks at her house that were left there by the previous owners.



Although it wasn't a huge car show, there were some pretty cool cars there.

Here's a pretty cute one.

Oh, man. Wouldn't it be cool to ride around in this beauty? Hmm - I sure took a lot of pictures of yellow cars. . .

Oh, here's a black and white Ford Fairlane.

To emphasize safety and show the power of the guns the re-enactors would be using, this Dr Pepper can was shot.

This guy would be the shooter. He came by periodically and shook up the can of pop.

I didn't quite click the button on my camera quick enough to get the can being shot but you can see the spray it caused immediately after.

This gentlemen was walking around the streets of downtown all morning. I think he looks like the pictures I've seen of Pawnee Bill. His jacket was beautiful (if you can say that about a man's jacket) and his rifle looked very heavy.

I took this close-up shot of him as he was talking to a woman that sat in front of me.

There were a few saloon gals, or "floozies" as I heard someone say, strolling around town. Right before the performance, they handed out ear plugs to those who wanted them. The gun shots were pretty loud.

I'm not sure they had sunglasses in the old west though.

There was a seamstress treadle-ing away on the street corner.

This gentlemen looks like he could be a judge or a mayor or a banker. That's one handsome gun case he has there.

There were square dancing demonstrations for everyone to enjoy.

This trailer was loaded with gorgeous pumpkins.

There were buggy rides too. I guess this would be called a "stretch surrey" in today's terminology.

While all of the events were going on these pigeons perched on the tops of buildings to get a bird's eye view of everything.

It was a really fun morning. AD and I had other things on our agenda for Saturday so we weren't able to stick around for the pie and hot dog eating contests. I'll bet there were lots fun pictures taken of those two events too. Maybe those pigeons were able to nab some crumbs afterwards too.

Dalton Raid Re-enactment

Every year on the Saturday closest to October 5, the town of Coffeyville, Kansas holds an event known as Dalton Defender Days. Some of the townspeople put on a re-enactment of the Dalton Gang's last raid. We took our kids years ago when they were little and AD and I thought it would be fun to go again this past weekend.

Saturday was a beautiful day and perfect for the event.

I snapped a total of 287 pictures - boy am I glad I have a digital camera! - and am going to try my best to tell the story matching it to a few of the photos I took. Note that there are variations on the story that you can find on the internet. That's understandable due to the passage of time and stories being handed down through families. Obviously there were also horses involved but they weren't part of the re-enactment this year. (There did use horses when we went years ago. Not sure why they don't do that now - maybe safety issues?)

On to the story -

The date was October 5, 1892. It was a Wednesday. Bob Dalton and his gang planned to rob not one, but two banks in the same town at the same time. Coffeyville, Kansas was the town they targeted. The banks were the C. M. Condon & Co. Bank and the First National Bank.

The Dalton Gang was made up of Bob Dalton, Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Dick Broadwell and Bill Power.


The town's streets were filled with citizens that were going about their business and paid no attention to the strangers as they rode in slow and quietly.


A little before 9:00am Bob and Emmett Dalton crossed the plaza


to enter the First National Bank.

Grat Dalton, Bill Power and Dick Broadwell entered the C. M. Condon & Co. Bank.

One of the townspeople walking past the bank saw what was happening inside and alerted others that the bank was being robbed.

The streets emptied quickly with people taking cover

wherever they could find it.

Some of the citizens quickly secured firearms from the two hardware stores in town and set about to defend the town.

The shoot out began

with the brave town defenders returning fire.

Bob and Emmett attempted to escape out the front door using three bankers as shields but as they appeared at the door the citizens started shooting at them.

Meanwhile inside the Condon Bank Grat, Broadwell and Power were coming under fire from the guns at Isham's. Grat was wounded as he left the bank and found cover behind an oil tank, from there he fired several wild shots. Power received mortal wounds and fell at the feet of his horse in the alley.

As the bank robbers ran for the alley and the safety of their horses, they came under a murderous gunfire from the townsfolk.

Some brave defenders lay on the ground wounded and some dying.

Emmett (in the white hat) who was carrying the money bag had reached the alley in one piece.

Emmett would later sustain wounds in the right arm, left hip, and groin.

Still the guns of defenders and robbers blasted away.

Even after Emmett sustained his injuries he went back for his brother Bob.

When he reached down for Bob, Carey Seamen unloaded both barrels of his shotgun into Emmett. Emmett then held up his uninjured hand and surrendered. He was taken to Dr. Well's office and given medical care.

The gun battle lasted less than fifteen minutes after the robbers had entered the banks. When it was all over eight men were dead and three were wounded.

The bodies of Bill Power, Bob Dalton,Grat Dalton and Dick Broadwell were laid out on the street for all to see.

Emmett Dalton had survived the raid even after receiving a total of 23 gunshot wounds. He was tried and given a life sentence in prison at Lansing, Kansas but was pardoned after fourteen years. He then moved to California and became a real estate agent, author and actor. He died at the age of sixty-six.

That's our history lesson for the day.

Class dismissed.

Fall Comfort Food

One of the things I love about fall (and winter for that matter) is making soup. I'm going to share one of my favorites.

First, the background of the soup recipe -

A couple of years ago one of my co-workers told me about a little place in our town that serves a different soup Monday thru Friday. She particularly liked the soup they serve on Thursday. Needless to say the next Thursday she and I and another co-worker were there for the soup. It was out of this world good!

We discussed the soup and what all we thought was in it. I wrote all of the ingredients down that we could easily tell were in the soup and then some ideas for what made up the rest.

It took me a couple of tries before I was satisfied enough with my "knock off" soup to take it to work for a taste test. Everyone who tried it thought it was pretty close to the one that's served at the little cafe. Some even said it was better which is pretty high praise as far as I'm concerned.

And that's not to say we quit going to the cafe on Thursdays. In fact, while I was working, you could pretty much find me there every Thursday.

One thing about it is that you have to get their early on Thursdays. Otherwise you might not get any. Some people (me included) have been known to call ahead and reserve a bowl. There's pretty much a line everyday but especially on Thursdays. I had lunch with one of my friends a week ago yesterday and we planned to meet there for lunch. By the time I arrived the line was out the door and it wasn't moving. So in the interest of time we went to a nearby hamburger place to eat.

I was a little disappointed but not to worry. I knew I'd be making my version soon. Last night was the night.

I call my soup Awesome Southwest Chicken Soup. (Note: I entered the recipe in an area contest the year I concocted it and while it didn't win the grand prize it was a finalist.)

The line up of ingredients:

See the chili powder bottle on the left with the words "Taco Seasoning" written on it? I make my own taco seasoning and keep it in that bottle. I'll include that recipe at the bottom of this post.

Oops! And I left the green chilies out of the picture above. Sorry!

Cut the chicken breast up into bite-sized pieces and coat it with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet and add 1 teaspoon of dried minced onion and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder. (You could opt to saute some onion and garlic in the butter. It's up to you.)

Meanwhile in a large pot add 1 can chicken broth, 2 cups of half-and-half and 2 cups of Velvetta cheese that has been cut up into small cubes. Heat the mixture on low to medium low in order to melt the cheese slowly. Be sure to stir it occasionally so it doesn't scorch.

While the cheese is melting, brown the chicken in the butter mixture until the chicken pieces are no longer pink.

Drain the chicken on a paper towel.

Stir the chicken into the pot with the half-and-half, chicken broth and melted cheese.

Drain and rinse 1 can of pinto beans and 1 can black beans. Add the beans, Rotel tomatoes, green chilies and frozen corn to the soup.

Heat through.

Serve with corn chips if desired.

Enjoy!

Awesome Southwest Chicken Soup

1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast cut into bite-sized pieces
1 teaspoon dried minced onion
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
3 tablespoons butter
1 1/2 teaspoons taco seasoning (mine or packaged will work too)
1 can chicken broth
2 cups half-and-half
2 cups Velvetta cheese, cut into small cubes (I've used Velvetta lite too and it works just fine.)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can diced green chilies
1 can Rotel tomatoes

Melt butter and add dried minced onion and garlic powder. Coat chicken pieces with taco seasoning and brown in the butter until the chicken is no longer pink in the middle. Drain on paper towels.

While chicken is cooking, put chicken broth, half-and-half and Velvetta cubes into a large pot and cook on low to medium low until cheese is melted. Be sure to stir occasionally.

Once the cheese has melted and the chicken has been drained, stir the chicken into the soup base.

Add corn, black beans, pinto beans, green chilies and Rotel tomatoes.

Heat through and serve with tortilla chips if desired.

Taco Seasoning

1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon dried onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon corn starch
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon beef bouillon granules

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl and store in an airtight container.

Note: I usually quadruple the recipe because I use this taco seasoning in lots of dishes.

Oh, and you might noticed the evidence in the pictures - I am left-handed.

Our October Birthday Boy

If you've followed my blog for awhile you know that one cold late afternoon last March we found this guy using his tail to knock on our back door. He'd decided that our house looked like one that would take him in.

And we did. Some say he must have heard about our house through the doggie grapevine.

Folks stop by from time to time looking for lost dogs, cows, etc. No one ever came looking for Mikey.

He was one cold, hungry, thirsty boy that had no collar when he came to our door. What he did have was a wound in his side that AD thought might have been caused by someone pushing him out of a car or truck. Tears come to my eyes just thinking about someone doing that to any poor animal they can no longer take care of or want. There are other means of finding homes for unwanted pets.

We fed and watered him, AD doctored his wound and fixed him up with a nice soft bed and warm place to sleep. He never offered to leave and that was just fine with us. He's a loving, wonderful dog.

A few days later AD discovered he also had a case of worms.

On his first visit to the vet we were told he was approximately 18 months old and his records were set up showing his birthday to be in October.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mikey! We're proud you chose us to be your family.

We love you.

AD, Elliott, Smoke, Dani and Me