Yesterday was a beautiful day in Desert Aire. We reached the mid-eighties. I was on the 6th tee-box watching for a hole-in-one. This was the annual couples tournament. One of the Cart Dealers of the area puts up a cart each year for the prize of the hole-in-one. And again this year no one succeeded in getting one. We are getting ready for summer. It seemed to be a long cool spring. We have no garden started, but that might come later. I see the surgeon on Tuesday and hope he takes me off the therapy. The drive to Yakima twice a week is getting old and expensive. They say that I have full range of motion back and am improving as I go along. I still do not have much strength in the raising of the arm. I guess that will come with work. I spend abour 45 minutes to an hour a day on working out the shoulder. The golf game is coming back. It doesn't hurt to swing, so I am a happy camper. More to come.

The Glockenspiel

These pictures were taken in Munich and this is the famous Glockenspiel. If you have been there you know what a great experience it is to watch as the knights challenge each other in a joust that unseats the loser. It was raining, still a great sight. The entire process takes about ten to twelve minutes. It doesn't run every hour, just 11 AM, 12 N and 5 PM. The crowd gathers to watch. If you haven't seen the glockenspiel, go to Google and write in glockenspiel. Select the one from Munich and you will have the opportunity to watch as many people have placed this viewing online. The weather is finally warming up here. Wore shorts for the first time this year on Friday. Golfing is getting better. I very happy with how the shoulder is doing, but it will be quite before the strength is back. We had a Mother's Day Brunch with Cindy in Wenatchee. Went to a Bed and Breakfast called The Wild Ivy. The owners are friends of Cindy. He used to be a chef in California. Wow what a meal. We dined on the patio in the sunshine and thoroughly enjoy the food and the champagne. Talked to Kathleen yesterday morning. They had been to the Wilhelma Zoo and Bier Garten as it was evening over there.

These are two pictures from Heidelberg. The one on the left is a bridge over the Neckar River. There is a lock just above this bridge. The picture on the right is the local castle of Heidelberg. We spent the day there our first weekend. It is truly amazing to see the buildings that were built before the USA was even thought about. There is a high water mark on the bridge dating back to 1539. It was the highest mark of all. That must have been a wet year. I know that there is much more to see, so we'll probably have to go back.

The Food Was Good Too!

I asked Jim when we were going to have snitzel and he said how about tomorrow. We went to a little hole in the wall in Stuttgart called the XXL Snitzel Paradise. As you can see from the picture the servings were ridiculous. What you can't see is about 5 or 6 potatoes cut up and cooked with onions and gravy under the two snitzels on my plate. Jims's had mushrooms and gravy. Annette's was just the snitzel and the salad bar. There was a small guy at the table next to us that finished one of these. The three of us had about four big pieces left and we took the potatoes home for hash browns the next day. The two guys behind us looked pretty stuffed at the point of the picture. On the right you can see that Annette enjoyed the grits also. She did eat the whole thing. She said later that it wasn't very big and the bun was thin. Oh, and the beer was good as always.

Back from the Ashes

Here it is Derby Day and you can see we have already run the race and Zmo won by a nose. It was a wonderful trip and we really enjoyed spending the time with family and seeing a new world. It was an eventful trip from the start. We were an hour late leaving Wenatchee and were the last two seated on the plane to Amsterdam. The plane pulled out about five minutes after we sat down. During our second night in Stuttgart, they had an electrical fire in the elevator area. We had to go to the outside. What a Chinese fire drill. Imagine waking out of a deep sleep and going outside to hear only German. We had no idea what was going on. Jim kept us up to date. We finally got back into the apartment about 2 AM. The problem caused no phone or Internet from 4/8 to 4/23. We were in the dark about what was going on in to outside world. Annette and I traveled by train to Munich on the 14th for three days. When we got back, Jim said that maybe we would be staying longer. He was right. We got an extra five days in Stuttgart and the weather was wonderful. In the high 60's or low 70's each day. We enjoyed the extra time, but I'm sure that the household is more settled since we've gone. The top right picture is the apartment complex where Jim and Kathleen live. It was built in the early 1970's. They live on the fourth floor of the middle building. The building on the right has a top floor restaurant. We ate there one night. Very good food and you can see a long ways. The shoulder is continuing to improve and I am playing golf regularly. Annette has two quilts to finish for customers, so we are keeping busy. I will add more later.

Haven't posted anything in a while. My shoulder is getting better. I played five holes last Friday and five holes on Saturday with Men's Club. There is no pain when I swing, so I guess that all is going well. I am still doing physical therapy twice a week in Yakima. They say all is well, but I sure do notice the lack of strength in the shoulder. I feel it will be a long time before the strength gets back to normal. I am working daily to build that area. It gives me something to do with my time. As you can see the grass is getting green and we are having a very nice end of winter. This morning came too early with the daylight savings time change. We are having our first tournament this weekend. The Winter Best Ball. As you can see by the picture I took yesterday, the weather couldn't be better. You can also notice the trees missing on the right of the fairwayof #3. The picture on the right is the area between #4 and #5. It looks like the plantings are doing well. We are getting ready for the trip to Germany. We leave on the 6th of April. Annette can't wait. It has been snowing in Stuttgart and I sure hope it is gone by the time we get there.

Big week last week. We went to town about every day. On Wednesday the Elk were quite close to the highway and by chance we had the camera. It is such a beautiful sight to see. There were probably 250 to 300 animals. As you can see they are not concerned with the passing traffic. We also purchased a new vehicle on Wednesday. We stayed in the Korean group. This is a Hyundai Tucson. Hopefully it will be as dependable as the Kia. I see the surgeon again March 2nd. I am hoping that he will let me start hitting a few shots. I am chipping and putting now. He said that in March he would probably turn me loose. We'll see and will keep you informed. We leave for Germany on the 6th of April and return on the 20th. We are looking forward to the trip and the sightseeing. We have never been across the pond. Stuttgart has had a hard winter. There has been snow on the ground quite a while. We are hoping that Spring will come before April 6th.