My husband Walt and I did the original ice bucket  challenge, when we were forest fire lookouts in the Snoqualmie National Forest. A small lake about a mile below us had ice melting on it for most of the summer, and it produced a waterfall that was extremely cold. We would hike down, junp under the water, get wet, jump out, get soaped down, jump back in and try to stay under the waterfall long enough to rinse off. Really cold!!  One time my husband decided he would just jump into the lake to rinse off. Just about didn't make it back to shore, as it took his breath away and stopped his heart. Oh to be young and foolish again.

SISTERS OF SPIRIT, ROMANTIC SUSPENSE COLLECTION, Available on Amazon Countdown, starting Wed. September 4. 99¢   Suspense drives the romance in this wonderful collection of original stories about the Sisters of Spirit, those college friends who find romance amid danger.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IEPISIE

Now on Amazon, the story of Regan Trahern and Beatrice Thurgood. Regan is the tough kind of young man who survives despite all odds. When he, Beatrice and her little brother, Hamilton, are dumped off a raft into the river, Regan helps them all survive a trek out of the Rockies. Soaked in freezing snow-melt river water, attacked by grizzlies, they somehow manage to make their way back to civilization in Wyoming.

I now have the book cover for "The Toughest Man in the Territory." Have yet to finish it, as baseball season is here, and I love going to my grandchildren's ball games. That takes a lot of my writing time, but kids are more important than writing books.  

As the raft tipped, Regan Trahern saw the mother, daughter, and young son thrown into the swift moving river, then he himself hit the water, ice cold from snow melt. He grabbed a log and tried to hang on as it swung about, smacking him a blow in the ribs, taking away his breath, and then threatening to drown him with a blow to the head. The rocky island that stood in the middle of the river, overhanging the falls, looked to be his only chance, but could he reach it in time? He couldn't make the log go towards it, and he felt the strong current pulling him towards the thundering falls.