10/02/2010 - My laptop crashed again and I don't think it's fixable. I will try restoring it again but need different anti-virus software first. Thank goodness libraries have computers. Thank you to the person who nominated "Not The Way It's Supposed To Be" for a gatefic.com award. I appreciate it very much.

Did you see the survey on the gatefic site. Two of the questions ask people about how they decided what to read and what to vote for. How can you fairly judge the stories in a category if you haven't read all of them? I must be old fashioned because I don't think you can AND it never occurred to even ask a question like that. I hope they make those survey results public because I'd like to see how many people responded to "I look at only the works I'm familiar with, and do not view any new or unfamiliar works" and "I vote for a mixture of works/creators I'm familiar with and those I'm not, and am more likely to vote for the familiar." I thought people would read everything in a category and vote for the story they thought was the best one whether they were familiar with it or not. TTFN

08/28/2010 - I've been working on "Who Can See The Wind" but I won't post anything new until it is a completed story. That way the chapters will get submitted in a timely manner and nobody will be mad about being left hanging. I don't mean mad. Frustrated. So nobody will be frustrated. Zeilfanaat, my beta and creative consultant hasn't even seen anything from me yet. :)

About my beta zeilfanaat - please check out her stories. She's really an exceptional writer, in addition to being a beta reader and editor and good friend.

Happy Autumn to everyone who visits here.

Sites referenced in chapter 8 of the story "Who Can See The Wind?" Just copy and paste, replacing the word dot with a period. I think the addresses are still good but I'll check them when I get a chance.

Medal of Honor info - this site has info and is just one of many on the internet - www (dot) gruntsmilitary.com/moh.shtml#airforce

Air Force uniform project - you can read about it here - www (dot) tigerstripeproducts.com/airforcetiger.htm

Want to know more about camouflage? - www (dot) tigerstripeproducts.com/indextsp.html

Color blindness or more accurately, color vision deficiency was referenced in chapter 17. I went online, read a lot and took a lot of tests, and I found out that I have some color deficiency that I was not aware of. It does explain a few things though, now that I think about it. Anyway, after reading a lot and taking lots of these tests, I decided that the key card could be made to look different to a person with color vision deficiency. Listed below are two of the many tests I took. There are lots more online, just do a search or ask at your eye doctor's office.

www(dot)opticien-lentilles(dot)com/daltonien_beta/new_test_daltonien(dot)php

www(dot)toledo-bend(dot)com/colorblind/Ishihara(dot)asp

As revealed in chapter 19, here is one of my experiences with end of life documents. My Great Aunt Lucy had a living will, POA, POA for medical decisions and had signed a do not resuscitate order (DNR). I was 24/7 caregiver for her and my disabled parents and we'd talked about their wishes many times. Lucy got what the family doc called a bad chest cold with a serious phlegm producing cough and sent her home. She was 93 and on oxygen for COPD. That evening she was wheezing really badly so I took her to the ER. We waited almost two hours before she was seen. Three hours later, after a breathing treatment they sent her home. The whole way home she coughed. A deep guttural awful cough. We got inside the house and were making our way to her bedroom, it's 2:30am, and she all of a sudden stopped and said she felt like she was going to choke. Another step and she stopped with a funny look on her face. I asked her what was wrong and she didn't speak, didn't move, nothing, Then she just started to fall over. I caught her and laid her down. Her mouth was open, tongue kind of out and she wasn't breathing. I checked for a pulse and she had a good strong one.

I did a couple of upward abdominal thrusts and got nothing. I tried her airway but my breath wouldn't go in. I turned her, whacked her on the back as gently but efficiently as I could, she was 93 and had osteoporosis, to clear the phlegm from her airway. Then I put her on her back, pushed her tongue down and tilted her head and started breathing for her. In between breaths I yelled for my Mom and Dad to call 911. They were both in the 70s, Mom in a wheelchair and Dad on oxygen using a walker, but they got up and called. After about a minute Lucy took a breath on her own, coughed, breathed a couple of times and stopped again. I turned her, whacked her back again and then breathed for her. It was only maybe 20-30 seconds and she was breathing on her own and I turned her onto her side. I ran to her room and got her oxygen line from the compressor she used while at home and then tried to keep her comfortable on the floor. She was conscious and wanted to sit up and was asking what happened, so I helped her sit up and just kept talking to her until finally the rescue squad showed up. The police came too.

They asked lots of questions, didn't believe me when I said we'd just come from the ER, even though we both still had our coats on, didn't believe me when I said she had a mucous plug and completely stopped breathing. It was not a partial obstruction. They told me it happened because her portable tank was empty. I explained that I had turned it on high when we entered the house and the level was pretty low by the time we got home anyway. They didn't want to transport her, said for 93 that she was pretty good. I insisted they take her back to the same ER we'd just come from and they finally did. Turned out she had pneumonia and spent the next three days in the hospital and then came home with a nurse checking on her everyday for about three weeks. Now you're wondering what this has to do with a living will, a DNR and a POA for medical decisions. I'll tell you.

I caught hell for saving her. Not from her or my family, or even the family doc, but the rescue people, the ER docs, the inpatient hospital docs and nurses, and the medical ethics person who came to visit while Lucy was an inpatient. They all accused me of violating her wishes to not be revived. I don't know how many times I had to tell them that her heart hadn't stopped, that she was only choking on yucky phlegm and that all I did was help her get breathing again. Her heart never stopped. I did not perform CPR. There was no cardio at all. Her heart never stopped. It was the same as if she'd been eating dinner and choked on a piece of food. I performed artificial respiration. According to them I was supposed to just let her die. If it had happened in the hospital, they would have let her die so sending her home actually saved her life.

Be careful about what you sign. Be precise when letting your family know your wishes. Make sure you read everything carefully and ask your family members lots of questions so you know and they know. And make sure everything is documented properly. BTW – Lucy lived another 22 months, actually outlived both my parents and we took lots of walks and lots of drives and it's been four and almost five years and I still miss her like crazy. I still have her little almost 19 year old dog. I promised her I'd take care of him. :)