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.
