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Last Valentine’s Day we posted a vintage Valentine’s Day card and asked you all to write captions for the card. We had such an outstanding turn out, we’ve decided to present TWO vintage Valentine’s Day cards, and see what captions you can come up with. Hilarious? Poignant? Traditional? The only rule to participate is that you must head over to our Facebook pages (DOUG and Double D Ranch) to officially submit for our Valentine’s Day Card Comment Contest!

                     
                  2011 Valentine's Day Winner!

This Valentine’s Day we will announce 4 winners! That’s right! Both our DOUG Facebook page and our original Double D Ranch page will have 2 winners (1st place comment & Fan Favorite).
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The winners from our Valentine’s Day card on our DOUG page will win DOUG tees! The winners on our Double D Ranch page will receive dress/tee (1st place) and tee/tote (Fan Favorite). You may submit as many comments as you’d like.
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In order to win the Fan Favorite prizes, send your friends to your comment on our page and get them to LIKE your comment! Our Valentine’s Day Contest ends February 14 at midnight CST.
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Below are our 2 vintage Valentines Cards, but in order to be in the running for our Fan Favorite totes, tees, and/or dress, write on our Facebook walls!!

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                               Double D Ranch Facebook

                  
                                    DOUG Facebook

Check out last year’s Valentine’s Day Post to get your creative juices flowing! .

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Well, at least we know SOMEONE likes the Sporting Girls Top!

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Meet Sophie!

Maybe she’s got an inside look into 2013 fashion!!
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Take a look at a few interesting Guerrera Bios:

Coronela María de la Luz Espinosa Barrera (how would you like to print that at the top of your school papers?) was one of the very few revolutionaries who received a pension as a veteran of the Mexican Revolution.  Having served the effort with distinction, peaceful times however brought a less forgiving stance in her life. For one who “smoked, drank, gambled and feared no man” to revert to the timid submissiveness expected of women was unthinkable. Like many veterans, Maria found conformity impossible and spent the rest of her life as “a restless soul,” an itinerant peddler dressed as a man and carrying a pistol.

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Margarita Neri led a force of more than 1,000 in 1910, sweeping through Tabasco and Chiapas looting, burning, and killing. These were hardly unusual events in wartime, except for the fact that this particular group’s commander, who brandished a bloody machete and vowed to decapitate Díaz, was a woman. Margarita Neri earned such a reputation for ruthless slaughter that the governor of Guerrero, on hearing of her approach, hid himself in a crate and was sneaked out of town. Some say that she served as an officer under Zapata. The judgment of popular history is that she deserves the accolade of “a superb guerilla commander.”

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A different sort of bravery was exhibited by the heroic nurse of the Dorados, Beatriz González Ortega, who refused to distinguish between federales and villistas despite being whipped and threatened with death. Pancho Villa eventually treated González with respect, and numerous primary schools, nursing schools, streets, and villages carry her name, a public acknowledgment of her courage and humanity. (Nobel Bandits)

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The rural and urban lower class women found it more productive to be proactive as soldiers than to continue being the victims of the Revolution.  Double D Ranch™ views the  hard and soft side of these women as a visual dream. Our Guerrera’s Revolution Jacket mixes feminine lace with masculine military for a distinctive rebel look.

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WILD JUSTICE – doncha’ just love the name?

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Here’s our Rio Grande Rattler post from this September,
complete with a brush up on some history!

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Here’s the rest of the story:

In January 1914, Gen. John Pershing was assigned to command the Army’s 8th
Cavalry Regiment in Fort Bliss, Texas, responsible for security along the U.S.-Mexico border.

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Pancho Villa was banking on American support to receive the 1915 presidency of Mexico. However, the U.S. Government supported the new government of Venustiano Carranza. Villa angrily, though quietly, vowed revenge against the United States and sent his pistoleros to raid American border towns. Villa connected US/Mexico intervention with discrediting Carranza and ultimately raising himself to the top of the Mexican popularity ladder.
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On January 11, 1916 Villa’s bandits (known as Villistas after this most violent raid) stalled a train out of Santa Ysabel. On board were 17 Texas mining engineers who were traveling by invite of the Mexican government to reopen mines were executed by the Villistas. One man faked his death and managed to escape by rolling down an embankment and crawling back to Chihuahua City where he informed authorities of the massacre led by Pancho Villa. The chase was on.
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In March 1916, under the command of General Frederick Funston, Gen. Black Jack Pershing led the 8th Regiment on the failed 1916–17 Punitive Expedition into Mexico in search of the revolutionary leader Pancho Villa. Pershing and Villa had actually met 3 years earlier in 1913, when Pershing invited him to Fort Bliss.

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1914 photograph of Pancho Villa, and General “Black Jack” Pershing, in El Paso, Texas

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Pershing’s Calvary crossing the Rio Grande River (hence Black Jack CROSSING)

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Side Note:

Downtown Yoakum, Texas is centered around an area called Pershing Square named after General John Pershing.  It is a tradition that on the first Monday after Thanksgiving, a huge Christmas tree is placed smack dab in the center of Persing Square divirting traffic until after the holidays.  Local school kids decorate the tree with handmade ornaments, paper garland, and other trinkets and Santa Claus does the honors of lighting the tree at the annual Tree Lighting Ceremony.

In 2003, Mom spearheaded Yoakum’s downtown revitalization campaign to help bring in over $2 million worth of street and sidewalk renovation to preserve Yoakum’s business area and historical background. Streets were re-done, drainage added, landscaping and light posts were installed. Pershing Square was brought back to life and marked with giant star of inlaid brick pavers.  Now, once again, Pershing Square is the proud focal point of downtown Yoakum, Texas.

If you ever get the chance to visit  Yoakum, stop and stand smack dab in the center of the Pershing Square star.  If you face due South, you are just a few walking feet from Double D Ranch’s headquarter offices.  Please stop in and say “hi”!

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Black Jack Crossing from the Lajitas: Outlaws and Outposts collection is our tribute to General Black Jack Pershing and Yoakum’s Pershing Square and is perfect for “Cross” lovers everywhere!

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