Sunny Days

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been lovely, and we have enjoyed our walks with Kali, as well as working in the yard. The lawns took another cutting, and are looking about their best of the year. Wendy spied a fox on our street on Wednesday evening, but it appears to be a different animal from the one that bothered us last Spring. Anyway, we’re being more careful with Kali’s excursions. Wendy caught up with dental work getting a filling and cleaning on Friday. MLB heads to the final day of the regular season, with the Jays clinging to their hopes of a Division Championship. Playoffs begin on Tuesday. The first Grand Slam Curling event is underway in London ON featuring the top 16 teams in the world. Four Canadian teams advanced to the playoffs, but it was two Canadian and two Scottish teams in the semis, and they were playing each other. It was #4 Whyte over #1 Mouat, and #5 Dunstone over #2 Jacobs. I’ll be cheering for Dunstone, but the Scottish guys are playing great! On the women’s side, we had three teams in the tournament including my favourite #4 Kerri Einarson, but only #1 Homan advanced to the playoffs against one Japanese team and multiple reps from Sweden, Switzerland and Korea. The world is curling too well! It will be Homan against the Swiss team, #2 Tirinzoni, in the final. My longtime favourite, Kevin Koe, has slipped to a #27 ranking, and was playing in the Tier 2 event. He made the playoffs along with two other Canadian teams. He has advanced to the final where he’ll play USA team, #23 Casper. In the CFL, the first place Riders travelled to Edmonton for this week’s contest, but slunk home with a loss. My college football teams, #10 Texas, #7 Oklahoma were on the bye this week. 

Toyota Highlander

Erica writes, “This week brings us to Regina to pick up our new-to-us Highlander. We are staying with Erin. Liam and Mercedes plan to meet up with us on Saturday, and we will celebrate Mercedes’ birthday a few days early. She turns 20 on the 30th. On Friday, I sang for my supper at a community hall in Paddockwood. We had the full band for the first time in a few months and it was great! It was a busy week for both of us and we are looking forward to a break this weekend.”

Aside from hosting the Baileys this weekend, Erin is living and dying with the Jays in their final series of the season! Kristian continues with his coursework at Sask Polytech. 

Travis, Joanna, the boys and Marigold continue to thrive. Along with fielding calls from hopeful former Puckshot patrons, Travis keeps busy with Bucket Decal orders. Joanna is busy as well with work at Jangles. Andrew and Rosie push forward with their work and training programs. Gemma has her next practicum assignment lined up in Nanaimo. Jonas continues with his promising research at UBC. 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Equinox

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues to drift to the cooler side as we head into Autumn officially this weekend. We’ve had several showers, but enjoyed comfortable temperatures throughout. I have continued my woodwork on the FastTrack boards—only one completed so far. Wendy keeps busy with her two choirs, and especially with the business end of the Sweet Adelines. On Tuesday afternoon, I got my new partial plate from my dentist; it looks remarkably like the old broken one (and that’s by design!).Then, that evening, our chorus was invited to open the city council meeting by singing O Canada—that was an honour. We both had medical appointments this week, and I’ve supplied bloodwork for another visit later. My appointment was mostly good news, but I am being scheduled for another colonoscopy—not looking forward to that bottle of bad koolaid! Wendy’s prognosis was a bit troublesome on the blood chemistry report, so she’s looking to return us to our long-abandoned keto diet. Otherwise, both lawns received a fresh trim, but there remains plenty of yard work to do. The markets received quarter point cuts from both the Bank of Canada and the FED, so they rallied nicely. The FED acknowledged that Trump has accomplished the rare feat of raising inflation while diminishing employment—yeah, the USA economy is in trouble! Riders have the week off, but BC did them a favour by beating Calgary. #11-Oklahoma caught a tough, ranked opponent this week, while #8-Texas had a rematch with the Little Sisters of the Poor. Sooners rode a 10 sack performance by their defence to the win, while Longhorns had a blowout win as expected. The Jays are struggling to the finish line, still holding first place, but switching between poor pitching and bad hitting along the way. Their magic number to clinch first place is 5 and they have 7 games left. 

Erica writes, “Big news this week—Wheeler/Dealer little sister, Erin, wheeled and dealt! So, we are buying a new-to-us-Toyota. It’s a Highlander! It should be the same base as the Venza, so we hope it will fit in our not-a-garage. Our plan is the pass along the Venza to Liam and then we will need to sell the Jetta. It was a busy week with meetings and working Bingo. But, all in all, a pretty normal week.”

Along with Erin’s new career in car sales, this week she was featured as a Birthday Celebration organizer! Kristian’s birthday was on Tuesday, and the big score was a new phone—iPhone 16 which is a six generation upgrade for him. His XS has not been charging consistently lately, so he’s glad to move up. The birthday supper involved a trip to Dairy Queen. The contractors have returned and installed the other privacy fence on her patio. It looks good. 

Travis & Joanna, along with Andrew & Rosie joined us for pizza and cards on Sunday night. Marigold came along to entertain Kali. It was fun. 

And thatr’s enough for this week. 

Back Tracking

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been fine, with a few showers on some of the nights, so I also got in some more golf practice. I have completed one FastTrack board for Liam, and have two more cut out. I also completed two Pegs & Jokers sets, so Wendy and I tried out all the new games—fun! We got the company of Ed & Barb on Friday, and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day of touring with them today. Our choirs reopened practice sessions after the summer hiatus. Sweet Adelines practice Monday evenings, and Silver Sounds practice Thursday mornings. Those will form a part of our weekly program until December. The markets took a bit of an upturn as continued bad economic news from the USA has convinced the pundits that the FED will cut the prime rate next week which is usually good for stock values. We’re in the “Bad news is Good news” phase of things. Baseball continues its inexorable drive toward the playoffs with about 14 games left, and the Blue Jays holding a 3 game lead over the Yankees. The Riders put up a ghastly effort tonight, losing to Montreal in the rain. In college football, #7-Texas and #13-Sooners had easy wins. 

Erica writes, “It has been a busy week—back into the swing of work, and several evening meetings and events. We did enjoy one evening out at Christopher Lake. Eric and I led singing at The Quest's Golden Camp, for retired folks—which we aspire to become. It was wonderful and they blessed us with good food, many hugs and a wonderful gift. I also had the opportunity to play and sing at three Care Homes with Mystery Train. If only I could make a living at this! Thursday was the end of this year's accounting designation exam, named the CFE or Comprehensive Final Exam (former the UFE). We joined a group in Saskatoon and celebrated with the writers. They will find out their results at the end of November. Eric got some organizing done at the house in anticipation of our moving the fridge into the kitchen. This should be interesting as it will require the removal of the fridge doors—more to come on that next week. The news of Bonnie Baxter starting her Doctorate (way to go Bonnie) has also led Eric to a renewed interest in exploring his Doctorate. He isn't teaching this year, so it might be a good year to start. We have also been exploring our vehicle situation. The Venza is in great shape, but is also 11 years old. We can get a fairly decent recovery on a trade in, but the cost of a newer vehicle is more than our first house—yikes!! We are also debating whether or not Liam needs a different car. The Jetta, which is low in miles but high in years, has been very reliable. However the experience last winter with a delay in getting servicing done, and thus leaving Liam without a car, makes us wonder if we need to get something else for him. All this costs money, and we would rather not spend it, but it is what it is!”

Kristian has his school program pretty much locked in now, and is beginning to enjoy the experience. Erin has been very busily trying to catch up to artificial deadlines at work, and is succeeding. She also received the first part of the installation of her new privacy fence. Looks good!

new privacy fence being installed

Travis has been so busy with his BucketDecals contracts that he hasn’t had time to get his new desk built. I was thinking he had managed it without me, and that I was off the hook—but not so fast! He dropped by today with Marigold; we enjoyed the visit. 

And that’s about enough for this week. 

Cooling Off!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has taken on an Autumn-like mode with showers and cool days. I did manage to get over to the golf course for some practice, but still haven’t played since I returned from the trip west. We continue to catch up on our medical appointments and look forward to getting our next round of Covid and RSV shots as soon as they become available. I’ve progressed a bit on the game boards I’m building. Wendy keeps busy with her choir business, and is considering getting back to our renovation projects here. We still have the side entry and our bedroom to complete.

Economy Cooling Off!

The markets are struggling into September as the USA economy continues to falter due to the Trump regime. As the chart shows, employment has been on a steady downturn all year. The Riders prevailed over Winnipeg on Sunday in the Labour Day classic and returned to beat Winnipeg, again, for the Banjo Bowl today. College Football featured Texas with an easy win this week, and Sooners won a difficult matchup over Michigan. Blue Jays continue to lead their division, but questions remain over their bull pen. 

Eric writes, “We came back to Saskatchewan after a week and a bit of travel. We did not get to do whale watching, unfortunately, because of weather, but we saw the Cabot trail before driving through Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to get back to Montreal and fly home. Eric had an eye appointment in Saskatoon on Thursday, so, we spent Wednesday in Regina where we met up with Liam and Mercedes and watched Jaws on the imax screen—celebrating the 50 years of Jaws. Friday, we were both back at work. Saturday was a relaxing day. Next week, we will start to get organized and back into our routine. Eric has had three new interns start this week, the last one joining on Friday. It is fun training new people. Erica’s band has some performances coming up soon.”

Kristian has struggled with both ends of his bus rides to school. The morning schedule calls for him to be off around 6:00, and the afternoon trip has a lot of options in northwest Regina where he could get off! Erin has been extra busy as some of her reporting schedules were moved up.

Kristian Patio Clear

An extra bit of business at home involved clearing away their patio developments so the condo people could install new privacy fences. They bought a new drill/driver, and Kristian managed the dismantling on Monday—good job! 

Travis and Joanna have decided to retire from their PuckShots business. It was a very busy time photographing all those teams (over 100), and dealing with all those people (over 1000), and they will now be able to focus their energy on the other parts of their business and lives. Trav is impressed with the production of his new printer, and feels it will facilitate even more BucketDecal business. Their boys seem to have returned from the kennel with some kind of cold, and now that Marigold is back home, she seems to have caught it as well. Tonight, they took us out for supper at Applebys; it was a great meal and a wonderful couple of hours of visiting—Thanks guys! 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Two Dog Week!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, The weather has remained great, punctuated by a couple of vigorous thunder storms, and we’ve enjoyed getting out for work in the yard and shop and walks with the dogs.

Granny & the Dogs

DOGS, you say?! Yep, Marigold has been visiting while Trav and Joanna were down to BC to visit Gemma and Jonas. They got back on Wednesday, so we’re back to our regular home-life with the two old dogs and Kali. Wendy has recovered from the spider bite, and continues with her usual business. I have been cleaning the shop a bit. I found a sale on 2nd-hand tools, and picked up two more routers. I have begun work on three more FastTrack games, and another Pegs & Jokers game—so, that’s lots of drilling holes! I’m also doing some repairs on the garage, while ignoring the weeds in the back yard!

New Hotel

A three-story hotel is going up just across the traffic circle from us, and we have been supervising that! It looks like it will feature 24 suites complete with kitchenettes and cater to folks needing longer term stays. The markets continue to be volatile as no one can predict where the feckless USA leadership will go next. August was another good month for me, but our economy is feeling the sting of tariffs against our trade into the USA markets which we have counted on over the years. We are now heading into September which is historically the most difficult month in the markets. College football has begun in the USA, but #1 Texas lost their opener, while #18 Sooners won easily. Still, you can tell from their ranking numbers that not much is expected from OU this year. Riders will take on the Bombers tomorrow in their traditional Labour Day game—Go Riders, Go! Blue Jays continue to lead their division as we head into the serious season of baseball. Lately, their bull pen has been faltering—need to get that fixed!

Erica writes, “We enjoyed a week of exploring the east. Old Quebec was historical. We did a lot of walking around the Plains of Abraham and practised a bit of French. From there, we spent a few days in PEI and Anne of Green Gables sites. Unfortunately, my cold that never seems to go away came back and I spent a day in bed on Thursday. Friday, we drove back across Confederation Bridge, through New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and landed in Sydney. The landscape here reminds us of Northern Ontario. Tomorrow we will go whale watching—it will be interesting to compare the experience from coast to coast!”

Kristian has begun his school program at Sask Polytech towards qualifying as a Machinist. We wish him well in the program, but recognize it’s a job in itself. Erin got a notification this week that the privacy walls between back yards are being replaced, so she’ll have to clear away her irrigation and electrical developments in the back yard to accommodate that, but first she plans to enjoy a sunny weekend on the patio—good plan! 

Travis & Joanna had a great time in Vancouver and area. They drove up the coast to Whistler to enjoy the sights and activities there as well, and most importantly, they enjoyed time with Gemma and Jonas. Andrew and Rosie continue with classwork and work here. Rosie is preparing for another exam toward her hoped for qualification as a Registered Massage Therapist. Marigold is now back home with the boys and fighting for her share of food! 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Settling!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We arrived home last weekend, and this week has been consumed with settling in to the relaxed atmosphere here. The timing of our travel was to accommodate my appointment with the dentist/denturist on Monday. They have approved the replacement of my partial upper plate after its many years of service and recent breakage. Not to worry, I have it held together with crazy glue, and since the clips have long since worn out and broken off, it has only been serving as a decoration in recent years anyway. There was a time when I could eat apples or corn on the cob, and I hope to do that again once I get my new appliance. The dentist did a couple of chip repairs on lower teeth while he was in there, and then I was subjected to something entirely new to me. They did a scan of my teeth and gums, both upper and lower—no more trays full of goop to take an impression. She worked a probe around inside my mouth and gradually built a 3-D representation of my mouth from which they will create the metal frame to be the basis of my new plate. I thought to myself, “I’ll bet Eric would be glad to know about this technology!” Now, I’m waiting a few weeks to see how fitting it is!

Was much worse, it’s getting better

We have been doing a bit of yard work, during which Wendy received a spider bite. At least, that’s what we think it is. It looked very similar to the one I got a few years back—a stark white circle around a central red dot. Like mine, it was very uncomfortable and developed a red swollen area around it. Unlike mine, she did not have a niece sending her to the doctor! So, she’s still suffering, while the bite area is gradually reducing in swelling and heat. Meanwhile, there is still plenty of work to do in the yard to eliminate the weeds that keep coming back. The markets keep struggling along, and the DOW even made a new post-Trump high, after only seven months. This week was big for the markets as the central bankers gathered for their yearly confab in Jackson Hole. Investors and traders were encouraged by news from there, although the FED warned of the twin threats of higher inflation due to tariffs, and lower employment. We tread carefully. In the world of sports, the Jays continue to lead their conference and added a new pitcher to the mix this week—looking good! The Riders played the first half in Calgary tonight, but apparently it’s a 60-minute game! At least they’re still in first place.  

Erica writes, “It was a busy week of work, VBS, and getting ready for our next adventure. On Saturday, we left for the Maritimes. We are flying Air Canada and, fortunately, they have settled their employment contract so the planes are flying! We have started relocating necessary items from the front door to the back. Eric has put up a set of hooks for our coats and our shoe shelf is now at the back. We have purchased some sample paint for the bathroom, but have yet to paint a patch to determine whether or not we have found the right shade. Liam and Mercedes are back in Caronport. Mercedes has a few job offers for the fall. We are still hoping for one particular job to come through, but are thankful she has something!”

She built it by herself!

Erin took some time off to celebrate her birthday. Kristian chipped in with a couple of thoughtful gifts: a Lego Race Car, which she built, and a movie night to see F1, which they both enjoyed. Her garden keeps producing, but it appears to be on its last legs now. Things look already to go for Kristian at Sask Polytech. We wish him well, but understand that it won’t be easy. Work hard, buddy! 

We were glad to be welcomed home by Travis, Joanna, Andrew & Rosie on our return—thanks. Travis and Joanna left on Wednesday for some time in Vancouver visiting Gemma & Jonas. We are taking care of Marigold while they’re away. 

Trav, Joanna HotTubbing in BC!

And that’s enough for this week. 

Home Again!

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior and our hometown. We drove over to Winnipeg on Friday where we enjoyed a delicious feast of pan-fried pickeral (sans dill butter!) courtesy Tom & Mariette—thanks folks. We still have Kali, so we hotelled it overnight, and continued home today. The weather was mild (under 20°), so we did not get a test of our newly repaired AC. It has been a lengthy and very successful summer trip of project work and visitation in Saskatchewan. We feel blessed to have the health, strength and ability to be useful even as the years add up. We certainly felt the encroachment of time this summer, as we probably overdid it, and definitely felt exhausted even before the end of it! Anyway, we got the garage/shed assembled (mostly by Kristian and Liam. We got the dining area, kitchen, laundry room and bathroom demolished (a lot of lath and plaster hauled to the dump). We tore up the floor in the old kitchen area, revealing an interesting mixture of hardwood and plywood flooring that had been surfaced with multiple layers of linoleum and underlay. The installed electrical was torn up, capped off, and eventually redone to serve the new purposes in the new main floor bathroom, laundry room, and kitchen. The kitchen exterior wall was blasted away to make way for a back door (great addition) accessed via the deck. A new wall was built to support the upper floor (Liam's bedroom), then a drop ceiling was added and fixtures were installed to serve the new bathroom and the new laundry room. Most of the wiring was reactivated, but some knob & tube had to be deactivated, and other troubling wiring remains to be addressed in the back entry area. Thankfully, we also got to attend the World Mens Softball championships in the first weeks, and that provided an enjoyable break each day. We also enjoyed attending a few of Erica's gigs with Mystery Train (but no Jim Croce!). The last weeks we have rehabbed at Erin's place. That was great and very much needed. While there, we removed the pedestal sink from the downstairs bathroom and installed a much nicer vanity—turned out great! 

New Vanity for Erin, Kristian

Meanwhile, world affairs are not going so well. After meeting with Putin, Trump has determined that the path to peace is to give Russia more control over Ukraine—in what universe! And, he has finally initiated many tariffs at ridiculous levels. Thankfully, we, along with Mexico, are still protected by the North American free trade agreement, but we are certainly feeling some pain. The USA citizens are getting it the worst as they have to pay all these import taxes, and it's already showing up in their inflation (up), productivity (down), employment levels (down). Luckily for them, TACO came through for them, as he chickened out on installing tariffs on Chinese trade for another 90 days. Mexico, China and Canada (in that order) are the top trading partners of the USA, so USA is fortunate that most of that trade is protected from import taxes. In sports, the Jays and Riders continue to play well and stand at the top of their leagues. Yay!

Erica writes, "Glad to hear you guys are home safe and mostly sound.We enjoyed whale watching and high tea at Butchart Gardens last weekend. Then, we returned to PA via the #3. We stopped at Ainsworth Hot Springs in BC and the Sandhills near Leader, SK on the way home. We also enjoyed gluten-free Chinese food from Smileys! It was a good trip, but it’s also good to be back in our own beds and home to admire all the amazing work that was completed in our absence. Thank you Mom, Dad, Liam and Kristian, and Mike! Liam and Mercedes returned to Caronport today (Saturday). Mercedes has leads on some jobs for the next year and Liam is registered for classes. Tonight, Eric and I will head to Candle Lake as I am singing at a show there—I’m doing some Jim Croce!" Yay!

Erin has been celebrating her birthday for over a week already, but that continues. Kristian is working through a checklist of activities to complete before classes start at Sask Polytech. Kristian and I got out for a golf game on Sunday—we played much better than we had endured in Prince Albert. Erin did not take part as she was feeling ill. This has been a part of her traditional birthday celebration and we were sorry to miss that. I suggest that she and Kristian go for a round of golf this coming week. 

New Fancy-Dancy Printer!

Travis took delivery of a new printer. This will be third in the line of specialty materials printers for his BucketDecals operation. Each purchase provides significant upgrades in productivity. Joanna maintains her busy schedule as well. We are looking forward to catching up with them and their dogs. 

And that's enough for this week.