Shirley had her rotator cuff surgery on Tuesday, September 19. The surgeon discovered that the tear was worse than expected, and he found two tendons which were damaged. As a result, Shirley's post-surgery recovery has been extremely painful and miserable. She had a good talk with Janet and was reassured about all the bruising, swelling, and pain she is enduring. It is NORMAL???? Her first physical therapy session was Thursday, and she will have two sessions per week for a while, the next one tomorrow. Her black and blue condition extends over most of the upper right side of her torso and has spread, something Janet experienced too. Shirley has a lot of sympathy for what Janet went through, and Janet's surgery required muscle repair and days in hospital.

Shirley has called upon Mark Goldman, who now rents the Oakland House, during recent days to come move a reclining chair for her. He first brought it up from the basement office to the first floor. A few days later she had him come move it to the second floor bedroom. Thank goodness for Mark! This one chair is the only place Shirley has been able to sleep or rest since last Tuesday. For those of you who know Mark, he has moved a lot of stuff for Rose and Shirley in the past, including his favorite--their concrete garden bench. The first time he tried to lift the top slab, he said, "What in hell is this??" And Mark seldom swears.

Donald and Vita's daughters, Julie and Jennier, own a restaurant/catering business in Plattsburg, MO. Here is the link to their website: http://www.cateringbyjjs.com/ We hope sometime this winter to make a trip to Plattsburg to see the girls, their families, and their business. Jennifer, as a child, always wanted to be Florence Jean Castleberry, a character on the TV show "Alice." She wrote me in a recent e-mail that she still does.

My son, Chris, for most of his life a 'couch potato,' ran a half-marathon last Sunday. His time was 2:17, most respectable for his first long race. He looks like the athlete he has become in these photos: http://www.backprint.com/go.asp?13634221 Click on this link to see by "Baby Boy." Needless to say, I am extremely proud of his achievement.

Chris has also given Maddog and me untold hours of computer help by phone. Maddog and I are such novices, and Chris, the expert, is very patient and NEVER puts us down because we are sooooo dumb about this stuff. My new computer has almost hit the lake several times. [I have no idea why they call it 'high speed.']

I came to St. Louis on Friday, September 15, to attend the St. Louis Jung Society Analysts' Panel Discussion that evening. Of course, Rose and Shirley gave the best of the four talks, and I'm not prejudiced, at least not much. I returned to the lake on Saturday to be with my weekend guests, Leslie and Sam, and Liz and Dave. Leslie was my neighbor in Springfield, and Liz is someone I worked with at GMAC. Sam brought a load of firewood for this winter. Sam is that "King Boy" whose relatives both Joe and Pete remember, hence Sam's nickname. In fact Pete told Leslie that he used to run Hugh King's hounddogs over by the James River, for which Hugh King paid him $.50. I'm not sure of the relationship between this man and Sam, father, grandfather, uncle?

More later. We are out of time right now.

Labor Day company - Suzanne, Doug, Josie,lucas, Goldman, Maddog, Mike Lynch, Derrington, Stacy, Riley, Eric Julie and boys, and Scott and his boys. Eric and Julie are interested in the house next door. It is a smart time of year to be buying a house in this area.

Scott went to Steely Dan concert Labor Day night and Shirley, Rose, and I got to keep the Brayden and Jalen.

Abbotts have been camping for weeks and only come home for laundry and grass mowing. [Probably tomatoes out of their garden if Sabrina hasn't beat them to it.]

Joe and his dog, Pepper, came for lunch one day. He didn't have pete's credit card so we had to eat in.

Sweat shhirt weather arrived this morning.

When something isn't quite right with the computer, Maddog accuses me of right-clicking.

Rose is in chicago. Shirley came back yestrerday. Goldman picked her up at the airport. Je was concerned about she would think of his car. Goldman left his car at Rose and Shirley's for a few days, and Rose caught a dog trying to hump it.

Jana and John took baby Ellie back to Kansas over Labor Day for christening. Cindy spent most of the weekend holding Ellie.

Sunday was grandparents day. I didn't hear from my grandchildren. Guess they forgot, or like me had never heard of grandparents day until today.

Joe sent us an obituary notice for Eddie LaFoe, who lived in El Paso. He died in July. When someone of us, probably Chris, figures out how, we'll post it on the Blog. Eddie LaFoe was the son of our paternal grandmother's brother. Eddie LaFoe's brother was the brother of Harry LaFoe who is Harriet LaFoe Natale's father. [Joe, let me know if I got this right, please.]