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.

Wow, I woke up this morning to fall. We've been having such good weather you just didn't think about having to wear long pants. I didn't today either, but it was certainly cool enough. I saw the surgeon last week and he felt the physical therapy was not accomplishing what he wanted, so it looks like surgery sometime in the future. He said that L&I sometimes takes two months to OK the procedure. So, with that in mind I'll probably not have anything done till December. At least I should be able to get back golfing in the Spring. Cindy is working hard developing a client base for her recruiting. Hopefully she will get a placement soon. She thought she would have one by the end of the month. That's today. Kathleen is thoroughly enjoying the teaching in Germany. Sounds like a great bunch of kids and a good climate to teach. She has 5 classes. She has two planning periods some days and three planning periods some days. Hopefully, they will get their skype fixed so we can share online. We are looking forward to spending some time in Germany next year.