I just spent an hour on the Donnie Moses Show on WBOB AM 600 in Jacksonville, FL, with Bill Carter, talking about PTSD. Within a week the podcast should be available at http://www.wbobradio.com/wbob-archives/podcasts/ scroll down to Donnie Moses show and click on today's date, 4/21/12. It looks like they only keep them online for a couple of months. You can either listen or download. Download if you want to keep it. That's what I plan to do and hope to put it on my website.
One guy called in to help us with PTSD by saying it was caused by chemical exposures and if we just read his book and went to these special doctors (because the VA doesn't treat it) we would all be fine. I tried to be polite, but I told him that PTSD is caused by traumatic events, and in soldiers it is caused by hundreds if not thousands of traumatic events. Then Bill, who was a helicopter pilot in the 1st of the 9th Cav, a unit that went looking for bad guys all the time and experienced much trauma, told him an abrupt goodbye. The rest of the broadcast was about PTSD and I got to say most of what I think is important, that it is normal to be affected by what you live through, that the symptoms of PTSD start out as survival skills built into the "reptile brain" which doesn't speak English or tell time, so that part of you does not know it is over, and that avoidance perpetuates it, which is why writing and talking about it help you heal. I also talked a bit about triggers in the family and how we can misunderstand and personalize things which leads to a lot of fighting and disharmony.
I thought it went well.
When I go on the radio or TV, I have a lot I want to say, so I just say it without waiting for questions, because usually the raido personality wants to know how I feel instead of what I know, but Bill Carter asked some good questions and then let me run with it. It was fun.

Bob sent our ABC book (my critters and words, photographs of the critters and layout by Bob) to his agency on Friday and I have been feeling depressed ever since and just realized from a post by someone else who just sent something off that maybe that's why. I am completely powerless over what happens from now on. I could actually publish it myself with my company Patience Press, but I would rather get professional editing and publicity etc. No shit! you are probably thinking.
Other than that I called the Korean War vet whose book I edited and now am going to publish to set up a timeline for what comes next. Bob has to make a cover. He is also making covers for the ebooks of Weapon and Solo.
My Goodreads giveaway is over and I need to ship 5 books, plus one I am trading to a woman who wrote about PTSD in WWII vets. Her dad treated concentration camp survivors towards the end of his war and it marked him, like my dad with his hospital becoming the frontline in the Battle of the Bulge. That's the third WWII doctor's daughter whose Dad had undiagnosed PTSD that I know of.


.

We had a birthday party for "Little" Jack, who needs to be called Young Jack, as he is as tall or taller than his dad. His oldest friends, Ryan and Renier, came along with JJ, Keith, and Hunter, three newer friends. They came out Saturday, played hide and seek in the woods and under the house and then again after dark. Then, by their report, they stayed up till 6:30 AM.
Karen brought Ryan, JJ, Keith, and Hunter out and Renier's parents, Roxanne and Mike brought out Jack and Renier because Jack had spent the last 2 nights at their house. We really like them, so we sat around and talked for hours while the boys were running around. Jack is turning 15 on Monday. Hard to believe. The first time I saw him, his dad was holding him in his hands and that is exactly how big he was, two handfuls.
I made an actual pound cake and a cheesecake at Jack's request, and then after supper they asked for brownies. Bob can't eat chocolate, so I never get brownie mix, but I found some baker's chocolate from the days when Bob could eat chocolate and followed the recipe on the package. They came out great.
I love having a crowd of kids around, even if they don't get up till 11:30. I made eggs and bacon. Then the video games resumed and Tara and Anando, Ryan's parents, came to hang out and talk. Anando has published a great book, Unfamiliar Magic, (RC Alexander) which I love. It is a brilliant takeoff on the usual magic story and has a great premise. He is starting an historical series for boys, so I pointed him towards Laurie Halse Anderson's books about colonial America, which I also love. He and Bob were talking about characters taking off on their own when they are writing, about ebooks, and we showed them the bug ABC which they liked.
Karen came out and she took Big Jack (Old Jack??), Little Jack, Hunter and Keith home after hanging out ant talking for a while. Tara and Anando took Ryan and Renier home. All of a sudden the house was very quiet!
We watched three Dexters. And now to bed.

1. I have Bookbaby.com turning Recovering into an ebook. Got the first copy of it today and had forgotten to add the two new prefaces for the new vets to the table of contents, so they left them out... I added them and found some typos and places where the titles were no in italics, even though they were when Bob scanned it. Got it done.
2 I downloaded War Neuroses and Shell Shock from the First World War by Frederick Mott. I can hardly wait to read it.
3. I got more books out of the library including a new Maisie Dobbs. The author actually understands PTSD. Maisie has it from nursing in WWI.
4. Maggie could not find the ball this morning, and ran for 15 minutes looking for it. I had to laugh. I also gave her water twice during the run. It was funny that she couldn't find it.
5. I made a pound cake (pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of flour and 6 eggs) and a cheesecake for Jack's 15th birthday. He and his mom are coming out with 5 or 6 friends for a party tomorrow.
Not very exciting 5, but I am trying to post more. I have been ploggin a bit more too, well, blogging, at http://patiencemason.blogspot.com and doing a bit of facebook. I have been making a lot of typos lately. Scrambled brain, no doubt.

http://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/23380?utm_medium=api&utm_source=giveaway_widget
I am having a book giveaway at Goodreads, 5 copies. paperback, signed, of Recovering From the War. I am in the process of bringing it out as an ebook through bookbaby.com with two new introductions for the new vets, one by me and one by the mother of one of the new vets. I thought some people would like to have an actual book even though it won't have the new introductions.
Bob and I went down to the Sun N' Fun Fly in and hung out with the guys talking helicopters all Saturday afternoon. I love hearing helicopter talk. I think that makes me weird, because the other wife who was there was rolling her eyes and sleeping when she could.
We met a guy from New Zealand who was delighted to meet Bob and said he'd read Chickenhawk years ago and it got him into helicopters. That is always fun. I got talking to a guy who looked like he needed a chair, so I invited him to sit in one of ours in the shade, and it turned out he was in Vietnam as a grunt and then went to Cleveland State and knew my friend and mentor, John Wilson, who did the first study of the effects of Vietnam on vets. He could not get any federal, state, university, or foundation funding, but the Disabled American Veterans funded it. This guy also worked in the substance abuse field, and we got talking about how the 12 steps also work for vets and trauma. It was neat. I wrote down our books and websites for him so he could check out my free stuff and Bob' pictures. http://www.robertcmason.com and http://www.patiencepress.com
My cousin Kevin came by yesterday with his buddy whom he's known since kindergarten. They are driving back to Quincy, MA from Ft Meyers, FL. I made spinach with garlic, summer squash, and a salad to go with the potatoes Bob mashed and the chicken Publix roasted. They left this morning at the crack of dawn. Last night, we treated them to a double feature, Galaxy Quest and Moon, neither of which they had seen. We were screaming with hysterical laughter over Galaxy Quest and Moon didn't piss me off quite as much, although the idea of leaving clones of yourself to die on the moon one after another makes me furious.
Today Bob started the lawnmower for me and I mowed the path so I won't get chiggers. I also mowed the back yard except for my wildflowers which are naturalizing across the back yard. I started with one I pulled up and put in a pot... so seeing the thick clumps makes me happy.
I am also transplanting a bunch of small succulents I got at Wal-Mart. I like to mix them in a biggish pot and git them to grow over the edge. Hope it works. Last year's is still alive!!!
Off to the library.

We had a lovely weekend at the Trenton Fly-In. (Trenton, Florida)
One of the happiest parts of our life now is that Bob has helicopter pilot friends and Mr Science friends whom he has met through knowing Dwight Junkin (owner and designer at Composite-fx.com). It is like a big family over there, too, and all of them have gone down to Lakeland for the Sun N' Fun Fly In. We will be going down on Friday.

Bob forgot to renew his driver's license, so we had to find four papers, birth certificate or passport, something with his social security number on it (the 1099 for his royalties from Chickenhawk. He doesn't have his ss card any more) and two things with our street address, which we never use because all our bills and stuff go to the PO Box. I had to tell him to go sit somewhere else while I eventually found two things.
I didn't get much done which always gets to me. I did pick some native azaleas and some of this fake dogwood which grows in lovely sprays, so I have flowers lined up in the kitchen by the sink. I also trimmed out one of my big azaleas which is overgrown. Have to do the other another day. It is hot down here.
By the time he got back from Starke, where he went to get the license because it would have taken days to get it in Gainesville, it was too late to work on the book. We were both tired. I'd sorted some of the twigs and acorns I've collected to make my bugs and made a couple. That was fun.
My friend D came for supper and actually helped me cook it because Bob and I were both looking on GoodReads and Amazon to work on authors pages. We are going to put all our books on as ebooks on both sites. Try to get more interest. Weapon is already up on Amazon I believe but with no Author page, or not a very interesting one. I want him to put the video of him flying the mosquito helicopter on there, plus a picture. On Goodreads, I tried adding the paperback version of Recovering and joining as an author, but don't know if I succeeded. It was a bit frustrating.
Still, I guess, after writing it out, it doesn't seem so bad. One of my lj friends gave me ideas for my ABC book which I like so we are going to redo the layout. It should be fun. I once made Bob a little helicopter out of a hickory nut and two oak leaves (the long oval live oak ones) for blades, twigs for skids, an long skinny acorn cap for the tail rotor with tiny maple keys for the blades... It is very funny and I want him to photograph it and put it in with the Fly family (hovering in the background).
This weekend is the fly-in out at Trenton. We will get to see all our mosquito friends. There's a cookout Sat night and Robin is getting a cake so everyone can sing happy birthday to Bob who was 70 yesterday.

I prefer cats and dogs. When I need unconditional love, I go to my yellow Labrador retriever, Maggie, and she looks up at me like I am the greatest thing since the beginning of time. Whenever people tell me God loves me just as I am (which is rare...) I just think, "Too bad you can't spell. God has rules. Maggie doesn't."
When I need a bit of character, arrogance and something to laugh at, I go to my cats. Missy, who is 16 and has been running the house and my husband for 16 years, has suddenly decided she likes me! Have to laugh at that. Spike (otherwise known as Adora Belle Dearheart, a Terry Pratchett reference) sits on my lap on the swing in the morning and growls at me if I try to move her into a more comfortable position or dare to lift her up. Itty Bitty won't come, doesn't want to be petted, yet when I walk in the morning, my half mile through the woods, he runs along in front, mewing, and then lies down and rolls around and lets me pat him, over and over. What the heck? Red, the other tom, looks like a meerkat when I'm around. He stands up to be patted, purring so loud you can hear him, yet I can't pick him up. Spike, Red, and Itty were strays. All three of them walk with me in the morning, half a mile...  We got them fixed and they decided that meant they live here. Missy doesn't like them much, but is too old and little to fight, so they don't come in and if she gets out, she howls like a banshee whenever she sees them.

I just joined dreamwidth.org if any of you are members, too. I have not figured out how to find out who else is on there. Used the same name.
I'm roasting garbanzos with siracha and lime for Bob's birthday party tonight. I already made 4 cheese pies... would be called cheesecakes except I couldn't find my other cheesecake pan so I got four graham cracker pie crusts and made them in those. There's a big hole in one of them where the hanging oven thermometer was sitting in the pie, but I think it adds character. My recipe is simply 2 lbs of cream cheese, 4 eggs, 1 1/2 cups of sugar, and the rind and juice of 2 lemons. Bake at 350 for 1 1/2  hours, leave in the oven for an extra half hour. This time they didn't fall, but they always do in a cheesecake pan.
I also roasted sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and new crop pecans from the local farm stand. The new crop pecans are divine.
Made a huge pot of chili, too. Got stuffed vine leaves in the can from Felafel King, oil cured olives, and some weird looking pickled eggplants just for fun. Gotta put out the cheese so it will warm up. My friend Dawn who has goats is bringing herbed goat cheese and home made feta. I am really excited about that. Jack, my grandson,is coming with his mom, Karen. Big Jack is coming with his Aunt Suzi and Uncle Bruce since he has no car! I finally get to give Suzi and Bruce the rest of their Christmas presents. I could not find this huge book of paintings of WWII airplanes (it was in Bob's office on his chair) and I made Suzi pierced earrings and her ears have grown shut so I remade them as clip-ons. The Woods People are coming and some of our Gainesville friends and some of the helicopter guys from Trenton (FL) who make experimental one seater Mosquitoes http://www.composite-fx.com if you want to see what they look like. They let Bob fly them.
Bob actually turns 70 on Wednesday. It actually seems old to me, and I'm 68. I find that peculiar.
Time to go work some more.

I don't eat them any more, but I buy the sellers a box of their favorite and give it to them. They appreciate it and I don't have to eat them to support them.