The Big Catch-Up

As another beautiful day dawns in Desert Aire will try to get you all up to date with the comings and goings of the Mullen family. Thanksgiving was a little different this year. With Jim, Kathleen and Zmo in Germany we celebrated with Cindy, Dave and Maggie. Cindy did a 21 pound turkey on the Traeger. We had it in brine for a day and then smoked it for about 6 hours. There was a little bourbon in the brine. It was one of the best turkeys we have ever had. We had a chance to have it again, New Year's Eve at the neighbors and the result was the same. Since my surgery on November 4th, I have been diligently working on therapy for my shoulder. We have a therapist in Mattawa which is five miles from here. It is an easy trip as compared to Yakima or the Tri-Cities. She is very good and I really enjoy her helper, who is a 49er fan. I had an old 49er sweatshirt that I had picked up from the lost and found at the Junior High in the late 70's or early 80's. It was like new and I gave it to her and she thought it was wonderful. It is an old style and I told her if she sold it on ebay, I wanted a cut. She said it was going on the wall. As you can see by the pictures, we get to see a lot of the kids in Germany. The sled that Zmo and her buddy are on was by the garbage one morning. Jim picked it up and reconditioned it and when the snow came it worked fine. The sledding hill is very close to where they live. As you can see Santa comes to Hamburg also. He looks alot slimmer than the one we have here. The kids went to Hamburg for Christmas. Jim has relatives there. They had a great time. After Christmas they went to the Hamburg Aquarium, which looked wonderful. The picture of Zmo on the Dodge truck was taken in that area. Can you imagine an old Dodge truck in Hamburg with one American on it. I thought it was a interesting shot. I don't know if Kathleen or Jim thought about that connection when they took the pic. We went to Cindy's for Christmas. Cindy is now living in Jim and Kathleen's home in Wenatchee. She really enjoys the change. She is working out of the house as a medical recruiter. She is caring for the dog and cat and I think they enjoy her too. We had a wonderful prime rib, with leftovers for sandwiches and soup. We didn't have snow for Christmas, but did get it for New Years. Cindy came here for the weekend and we had alot of football and food. Aren't the holidays fun. We saw the surgeon yesterday and everything looks good. I can use my right arm now, but can't lift anything heavier than a cup of coffee. I am proceeding with therapy and hope to be back in the swing of things in March. Hope all of you had a great Christmas and will have a bountiful New Year.

IS WINTER ON IT'S WAY?

It looks like a good weekend in Germany. Kathleen seems to really enjoy the new education process. We are slowly settling in for the cool season. We have had below freezing for the last few nights. The days have been very pretty. Fall is always a nice time of year. We had trace of snow on Thursday. It's a little early for that. My shoulder therapy is going slow. It was torn a lot worse than we thought. The surgeon said he had to search for the end of the tendon. He felt he secured about 75% of the tear. He said that there is a better than 50% chance that I could tear it again. If that happens, there is no repair. Needless to say, I am following orders very closely. I am writing this completely left handed. It's taking some getting used to.

The Fall is truly a beautiful time

It has been a beautiful fall this year. Weather has been pretty good. Man, I'm glad that don't live in Scottsbluff. 30"of snow and it was still October. The picture above was taken about the 2nd of November. Well here is the surgery update. I went in Wednesday the 4th and had surgery on the right rotator cuff. He scoped it, but found a much worse situation than the arthrogram had shown. He had to put a patch on the rotator cup and the surgery went for about 2 and 1/2 hours. Recovery was awful and I was in the hospital for two days. Evidently I was allergic to something in the antibiotics. After 5 days my tongue and back right part of my throat feel like I've been to the dentist. The shoulder has been fine, not much pain and I am working on the first of the PT assignments. They felt after the surgery, that I had sleep apnea and I took the sleep study last night. I see the Surgeon again tomorrow and hope that the road to recovery will continue to get better. Cindy was here over the weekend to help with both of us. She brought the dog and cat. Everybody loves everbody here. But, Doggy don't you ever try to get into my food dish again. We had some interesting confrontations this week end, but the cats certainly have the dogs number. Fun to watch. I'll write more in a day or two.

I've used this photo before , but it seems that it is time for the last rose of summer. And before long it will be on the ground. This was a big week. Our last two-day tournament and I cooked spaghetti for it. I had lot's of help and we had a great time. The surgeon's nurse called Tuesday and said that November 4th had been set for the rotator cuff surgery. She asked if that date would work for me and I said get it on. Now that it finally set we can start looking at time frames of recovery and possible trips here and there. The trip that Annette wants to take the most is to Germany, but that one will probably wait until Spring. They still have beer in the spring, don't they. Our power went out at 6:00 PM last night and we were without power for an hour and fifteen minutes. It was different, because we are seldom out of power. It seems that a group of Ravens got involved somewhere along the line and blackout. It covered a large area. Oh, well it was sure quiet for a while. Candles and flashlights. I thought we were going to set off the fire alarm when we blew out the candles. Peaches was really chasing shadows. Anything that moved was attacked.

Not a way to start Sunday

This is a picture of the slide that took place early Sunday morning. The highway there is route 410 from Yakima to Mt. Rainier. This happened about twelve miles west of Naches, WA. As you can see the river is finding a new path and the road will be closed for a long time. They say the slide is still moving and might for some time. Although there is another road to the west, this one is the scenic drive to Rainier. The Naches River as you can see will have to find its way around or through. It's really amazing what Mother Nature can do and She did it a lot faster than we will be able to correct the action.

Annette was at her Monday quilting at the Senior Center and the phone rang and it was Jim and Kathleen wishing Mom a happy birthday. We talked for about an hour. They had spent the weekend at the Canstatter Volksfest which is Octoberfest. The one in Stuttgart is the second largest in Germany next to Munich. They had a blast. It sounds like Zmo had a good time too. The tent is about the size of a football field and there were a couple others. Jim said they were pretty loud in the afternoon and didn't close till 3 AM. Probably a little more gusto then. The car behind Zmo is a Messerschmitt, which was built by the Airplane company before WWII. They drive with a joy stick and the insides are like a cockpit. Driver in front and passenger behind. Jim says he walks about 3 miles a day doing his shipping. He's going to be in good shape. I received a letter from L&I and they have OKed the surgery. Hopefully it will be done by the end of the month, but who knows. Annette and I went to dinner at Tendrils at the gorge last night. Wonderful setting and a great meal. Gary and Nancy know that if come by you'll get to go there. Dixie knows this place too.

All hooked up and ready to communicate

After I posted yesterday we caught the cat in interesting position. Annette has started to hand quilt her "Grandmother's Flower Garden" and it looks like Peaches has found a comfortable place to spend some time relaxing. And if she's bothered by the flash bulbs, she digs a little deeper. I think probably that Annette will find another place to leave the quilt when not working. After talking yesterday about the skype connection to Germany, we got connected this morning. It seems strange that Kathleen was having a beer after work and we were just getting up. We hadn't had breakfast and they were getting ready for dinner. Jim took the cam around their apartment and showed the living quarters and also the outside view. It was beautiful. Kathleen said they have about as much space as the house in Wenatchee, but not the basement. They still have some furniture to get, but are comfortable now. Kathleen has a 10 minute commute to school by bus and walking. She says she is enjoying the kids. The top picture is maybe the last rose of summer. Cindy took it after she trimmed the bushes last week. We were in the 80's and 90's last week and now we are in the 50's and 60's. Hopefully the heat will be back soon. We don't want to drop off that quickly. Generally it is nice here until the middle of November.