Arrivals

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We enjoyed above zero temperatures early in the week and the driveway melted and dried off. It has turned cold again this weekend, but we're promised above zero weather again next week. No new snow has arrived, so my snowblower has remained on the sidelines. It's the season of advent, but also of holidays and family coming home to celebrate. We have already enjoyed some Christmas parties with the various groups we are part of, and we look forward to more family times here this year. However, we will miss out on connections with our Saskatchewan family. The USA is already experiencing the beginning of the Musk/Trump chaos as they conspired to interfere in the feverish legislative activity to fund the government down there. We have plenty of sound and fury in government ourselves, but at least we don't have unelected billionaires trying to govern via text messaging! Combined with the FED rate setting program, there were an abundance of things to bother the markets, and we have now endured three weeks of difficult markets with only the Nasdaq in the green for the month. My guy, #27-Koe, not only made the curling playoffs in Swift Current, he went on to beat #4-Jacobs for the championship. As a result, his world ranking has improved to #15. My gal, #5-Einarson, did not make the playoffs which were won by #8-Schwaller from Switzerland. My hockey teams are thriving at present, although only Oilers won today. Football is into the playoffs with the favoured teams have an easy time of it today. #5-Horns beat #12-Clemson fairly easily, but it was closer than I expected. In basketball, #8-Jayhawks won this week, but play again tomorrow before the new rankings will be voted.

Gingerbread Village

Erica writes, "The season festivities continue. We have celebrated more with friends and coworkers. My office has been doing festive things every day this week including making gingerbread houses on Friday.  I was up in La Ronge for three days so I missed part of it, but we still had fun. Liam arrived on Thursday and as I type this we are in Saskatoon waiting for Haaken’s plane to land. Greg and Kiersten arrive on Sunday. It will be a very full house—how wonderful! Eric finished grading papers for his class and now he just needs to finish grading the final exam. He has next semester off, which will be a nice break. I got my stitches out this week. My right hand is feeling pretty good. It is noticeably more free of stiffness than my left hand."

Lego Projects

Erin has been sick most of the week and even missed several days of work. She's hoping to recover over the weekend. Kristian got his new lego kit, and, moments later, had it built and added to his collection. He also installed a Christmas tree on the cat tree. 

Christmas on the Cat Tree

Marigold visting Kali

Travis and Joanna remain very busy as they try to get as much product out before Christmas as possible. Still, Travis flew down to Ottawa to bring home his newest dog—a pretty little Pomeranian named Marigold. Joanna has had extra time at work trying to fill orders there as well. And Gemma & Jonas came home this week—busy times. 

Gemma meets Marigold

And that's enough for this week. 

Frozen

Blowing Snow!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The temperatures dropped into frigid values midweek, in the minus twenties, but, thankfully we recovered to melting temperatures this weekend, and Wendy was able to get out for a walk with Cali today. I had an infected toe last week, but a course of antibiotics and regular cleaning and dressing have it pretty nearly healed over. Wendy keeps busy with her music; I have had my final preparation for the Cantata scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Otherwise, we have hunkered down with the little dog while winter moved in outdoors, and were thankful for a warm, comfortable place to live. We got a dump of fresh snow early in the week, but the snowblower was up to the assignment. Yesterday, we had a volunteer opportunity, packing Christmas shipments at the Children's Aid Society. The markets are running in troubled fashion as they try to weigh the strength of the economy against what the FED might do next week. Pundits assure us that the FED will cut 0.25%, but I'm taking a wait and see approach. The curling event this week is in Swift Current and enough international teams have declined the invitation to allow #27-Koe in—they're doing well so far. #4-Einarson has missed the playoffs on the women's side. In hockey, all of my teams are doing a bit better. Leafs and Oilers are solidly in playoff positions, and Pens are close. Bowl season has begun in football, but Longhorns' loss last week dropped them down to #5, so they will play Clemson in the first round. #10-Kansas was dropped further than I expected in the new rankings in basketball, but they responded with a strong win today. 

Eric writes, "It's been busy: Monday, Erica had band practice, Tuesday, she had a Women of Rotary meeting. Wednesday and Thursday, she was in Saskatoon and on Friday, we had another office Christmas party. Today, she and the neighbour have been shopping. I had meetings Monday and Tuesday. On Thursday, I supervised the final exam for my class. Today, I wrapped some gifts and rested as I have not been feeling well. Tomorrow, life gets busy again with church, the Rotary Christmas brunch followed by the PACMA Christmas party and a jam session. Busy! Fun, but busy!"

Kristian assures us that not much new is happening in Regina. He located a Lego set on line. He has made the purchase, and is awaiting the delivery. Erin is off to an office Christmas party this evening, but otherwise the week has been mundane. 

Travis and Joanna continue to recover from their illness, and to catch up on work. They have pumped out an amazing amount of product on the PuckShots side recently. Last evening, we enjoyed getting over for Pizza and Cards evening with the dogs. Cali and the boys had a busy time and all slept soundly afterwards. They have purchased another dog, Marigold, who should be delivered next week. 

Coming soon: Marigold

And that's enough for this week! 

Concerts!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. Winter continues to move in; this week we received a bit more snow, not really enough for the snowblower, but I wanted to give it a try anyway! Last night, we got more snow, but now it is above zero and has been raining all morning, so this became be quite a mess by the time the rain ended and I finally got at it. I'm pretty sure the snowblower did not like pumping out that slushy stuff! We had our Silver Sound concert on Sunday. Wendy is singing tenor in the top left of the choir, I am in the centre of the top right area. We enjoy this choir a great deal, and plan to rejoin in January aiming toward a Mothers' Day weekend concert. Wendy had another concert on Wednesday evening with the Sweet Adelines choir—you can see her in the third row, right side.

Sweet Adelines Xmas Concert

She has another set for next Monday, and I am continuing to practice for the Cantata which is scheduled for Dec 15th. The market indices set new records again this week as some of Trump's more egregious cabinet choices are being rejected by the Senate, so folks are encouraged. The big economic fears centre around his rhetoric on deportation, tariffs and deconstruction of the civil service. I continue with my "wait and see" approach. In the world of sports, the Grand Slam of Curling ended with both #1 teams prevailing. Homan is having another phenomenal season on the women's side, and that Mouat team from Scotland is just amazing as well. In the NHL, the Leafs have ascended to first place in their division, Oilers and Pens have moved into a playoff position, so we keep cheering and hoping. My #1-Jayhawks suffered their first loss of the basketball season, so they may get dropped when the new rankings are published. In football, #2-Texas played #5-Georgia in the conference championship game this afternoon and acquitted themselves well, but lost in overtime. I still expect them to be highly placed in the college football playoffs. I won't be surprised if they win it all, but they've got to open up their playbook in the scoring zone—cannot continue to settle for FGs. 

...and presents under the tree...

Erica writes, "I had carpal tunnel surgery on Wednesday. Now, I have to figure out how to do everything left-handed while my right hand heals. Thank goodness for voice to text applications. Eric taught his final class of the semester and now he’s busy marking papers. We are slowly getting the house ready for company as all three boys and one girl will be home for Christmas."

Erin and Kristian continue to wait and cope in Regina. The wintry blast has been severe in Saskatchewan so far this season, with very cold temperatures as well as several blizzards. This weekend the weather has turned nice, the sun is shining, and the snow is melting—vive la différence! Earlier in the week, she suffered RAV4 failure as the battery inexplicably died. At least it's eligible for replacement under warranty, but it is a reminder of how much these modern vehicles and their computers rely on a very well functioning battery! We had a similar failure with ours where it just suddenly would not do anything, not even shift into neutral for towing! Kristian is completing his drug trial, but has signed up for a continuation of the treatments, so he'll remain in the trial for some extended time. Still nothing on the employment front for him. 

Travis and Joanna continue to recover, albeit slowly. As a result, we haven't been seeing them as neither they nor we wish to have us participate in this virus. They do summon the energy to get the boys out for walks from time to time. They are also needing to reserve some energy for the photo shoots that continue to be booked. Get well, guys! Gemma continues with an adventurous and educational posting on Vancouver Island. 

And that's enough for this week. 

Winter!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned decidedly colder, as we remained below zero most days this week. We also have received our first skiff of snow—not enough to shovel, but enough to see it in the grass, so we are convinced of the changing season. We are in the final throes of preparation for our Silver Sound concert which is scheduled for tomorrow. I plan to post a YouTube link of the concert once it is ready. Wendy has two more concerts with her Sweet Adelines chorus, and I have joined another choir for a cantata: Touched by a Child, Touched by a King; that one is on YouTube as well. Then, we have tickets for a Steve Bell concert in the middle of December—busy, musical times. We love it! Kali continues to mature and cause mischief, keeping Wendy very busy. The markets have completed another excellent month, and I remain on quota for an excellent year—thanks Uncle Joe. We got a further taste of the chaos associated with the new guy as he posted threats of tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products. That crashed USA markets for a day, but then, sensibly, folks recalled that he's not taking over for a couple of months, and that he seldom follows through on his threats. Mexico is the USA's biggest trading partner, and we're pretty high up on the list as well. 25% tariffs would be a tough pill for Americans to swallow on all those food stuffs and manufactured goods. The initial conclusion is that Trump likes tariffs because he can rake in that tax money in a targeted way while using carve outs to exempt his corporate friends and the other rich folk from having to pay it. In the world of sports, I managed to get out for my first curling practice, yesterday. That went okay, I didn't fall down, or experience any pain, and I had a team invite me to join them! Still no pain today, so I plan to keep at it. The curling event this week is the National in St Johns. My guy, #22-Koe is, as I feared, too far down to get an invitation, so my new favourite team is #8-McEwen who made the playoffs. My gal, #5-Einarson also made the playoffs, but both lost in the semi-finals. It will be #1-Mouat vs #5-Jacobs in the Men's final, and #1-Homan vs #6-Hasselborg in the Women's final. In basketball, my #1-Jayhawks continued their winning ways, moving to 7-0 on the season—Rock Chalk! College football is closing the regular season with conference championship games; #3-Longhorns prevailed today over their interstate rival #20-Aggies. My Sooners lost to LSU. In hockey, my teams are performing a bit better. Leafs have moved near the top of their division, Oilers are about in the middle of the pack and Pens are still vying for the #1 draft pick! 

Eric wrote,"We haven't erected the snow shed as it has been cold. The car enjoys when we go to work and it gets to sit in the underground parking. This week was the calm before the storm. On Friday, the local professional association (SK Branch of CACFT held its AGM in Saskatoon. I have stepped down from being president (staying available as VP to assist the new president). We stayed overnight as Erica had her regional Christmas party for work Saturday night. We used the opportunity to finish some Christmas shopping in Saskatoon." 
Erica added, "We spent some time Christmas shopping and managed to get clothes for both of us, but I guess the rest of the family is out of luck this year!"

Erin wrote, "Nothing really new in Regina. The weather has been pretty gross. The RAV is wonderful, but other drivers aren’t so great, so it takes way too long to get to work and then back home, stuck behind them. Long days, but we relax at the end. I'm thankful it’s American Thanksgiving as there’s extra football to help the relaxation inside at night 😊 Kristian’s still sleeping today, as he was up late doing chores. Machining classes don't start until August, so he’ll still need to find something to do until then. For one of our hangouts, he gave in and watched some F1 with me. I taught him to like Ferrari. Then, I gave in and watched some Cobra Kai with him. We’re pretty boring this week, but mostly keeping warm, at least. "

Happy 43rd Travis!

This was Trav's birthday week, although I told him that he's too young to celebrate for a full week! On Monday evening, we went out for Novemburger (local fundraiser for United Way) at Outlaws. The burgers were great—first time there for us. Wendy prepared a birthday cake for his actual birthday on Wednesday, but by then Trav had fallen ill, so they decided they shouldn't pass that along to us. They stopped by to pick up the cake & ice cream, and let us sing happy birthday to him. Joanna has joined Trav in the illness brigade, and they are still not feeling well. 

That's about enough for this week! 

Wizard Card

Facial hair so much lighter now.

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues its slow descent toward winter. Most nights see freezing temperatures and daytime highs struggle to reach double digits. There is still no snow here, but we did have a big dump (88mm, about 3.5") of rain on Tuesday. Otherwise, the days have been pleasant and we've been able to get out for walks with Kali. She is gradually building up her comfortable walking range; those 10cm legs take a lot of steps to get anywhere!

Happy Birthday, Rauni!

Wendy took Kali to visit Rauni for her 93rd birthday. She was delighted by the visit and to get acquainted with Kali. We both continue to be busy with music as we have choral presentations coming up in December. Yesterday, our routines were interrupted by a plumbing emergency. The shower control had failed. I discovered a replacement cartridge among my plumbing supplies, so the shut down was not lengthy. When I reported to Home Depot, they informed me that these cartridges were a free replacement, so I gathered that they have been seeing lots of such failures! The chaos of Trump is already being felt in the USA, despite that he won't take office until January 20th. He has been making wild picks for his various government officials—an accused rapist and sexual predator for Attorney General?! Fortunately, the Senate played the Wizard card and over-trumped that one, but dangerous candidates remain! The markets have been a bit wild, but remain buoyant and we continue to test record highs. This is producing another good month of gains—thanks, Uncle Joe. The world of sports is rolling out plenty of surprises, not as I expect and hope. The Oilers, Pens and Leafs which I follow in the NHL are performing well below expectations. The Grey Cup was won by Toronto in a pleasing upset of Winnipeg. At least Jayhawks keep winning, and retain their #1 ranking. Today, #3-Texas and my unranked Sooners played. Texas had an easy time of it against unranked Kentucky, while OU was up against perennial powerhouse #7-Alabama. Surprisingly, the Sooners put up a great fight and won that game—they are now qualified for a bowl game!

Erica writes, "The snow has arrived and our carport is still in its box, not doing its job of keeping the snow off our car! Our neighbour helped us out by shovelling our driveway and walk—good neighbours! Mystery Train (the girl band I’m in) played at a few care homes these past two weeks. Today, we played at a seniors' condo. There was a lot of dancing and singing along. At one point, we said we were going to do a more modern song—from the 1970s! Maybe not so modern after all. It has been fun and I’ve learned some more keyboard parts to play as well. Eric has brought up the Christmas Tree box and cleared a space, so I guess we will be putting that up this weekend. I got a call for carpal surgery on December 5 so this week included appointments with the surgeon and a pre-op with my doctor. The procedure is about 10 minutes and done with local anesthetic so nothing to worry about (mom!). No news from the rest of the clan."

Not much news out of Regina, except that the snow has arrived with a vengeance, and more is coming this weekend. No developments on Kristian's potential employment, but he did some fancy electrical work this week to repair an LED pot light downstairs, and he's thinking about taking more training. Erin is doing a bit of posting work from home this weekend, but unfortunately she's getting some help from Elly—LOL. 

Big help from Elly

Travis and Joanna are very (make that extremely) busy as the postal strike has them reconsidering shipping options. Some orders had already been sent, and now may need to be redone completely. We did have them stop by for soup one evening, but no time for games. They also came by today, but that was mainly to visit Kali! Travis and I also take some time to commiserate over our NHL teams as he also follows the Pens, Leafs and Oilers. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Trumpy

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained nice and we have enjoyed that.

On Neighbour's lawn!

Wendy and Kali get out regularly for constitutional walks on the lawns. However, Kali continues to experience some failures on her indoors programming! And her sleep pattern (getting up very early in the morning) is quite a problem. Wendy is finding it exhausting! Today, we went for her first long walk. Kali made it for the first 500m, but then wanted to be carried! Meanwhile, Trumpiness is already being felt south of the border as he makes his suggestions for cabinet level appointments. A few of them are raising eyebrows on both sides of the aisle. We shall have to wait and see whether the Republican senators remain true to their constitutional oath or if they give in to the MAGA threats. They have already been told that they will lose their jobs that they don’t knuckle under to Trump. I have to start focusing on what might happen next year, as there are only two months left of the Biden gravy train. Fortunately, the markets continued to post gains during the last Trump term, so that part may be okay. This week was a bit shaky as the combination of solid economic data and fear of the Trump chaos led the FED and investors to pull back their bets on further rate cuts and the soft landing. In fact, some are suggesting the Trump recession could begin in 2026, and some as early as next summer. In his first term, the markets continued to thrive, so, I'm still hoping. In the world of sports, the Grey Cup game goes tomorrow. The Riders are out, and I'm expecting the Bombers to beat Toronto. The Canadian Open of Curling ended on Sunday with Homan bringing home the gold for us, while Gushue was outcurled by the Scots as Mouat brushed up an easy win on the men's side. This week in curling there's the European Championships, so our event in Red Deer is lacking some lustre. #22-Koe, defending champion there, is trying to pick up some points to raise his ranking. So far this season, his refurbished team with a changing lineup has not been challenging for championships and is steadily dropping in the rankings. In the NHL, Oilers are playing a bit better; all three of my teams play today, and since two of them play each other some one has to win—Pens and Leafs won. In college football, #3-Texas had a rather tougher time winning than I was expecting. My unranked Sooners had the week off. In basketball, #1-KU Jayhawks rock chalked up another win today. 

Eric & Erica are musing about putting up their Shed-in-a-Box. I sent them some videos so that should clog up their browsers with a lot more videos and advertisements! They went shopping for some hooks to hang the guitars, but Eric bought a 6-string Uke (Guitar/Ukelele), so that was the end of work for today. Erica writes, "This week Eric and I have been talking about retirement and plans and investments, so we consulted our financial advisor, aka Dad! He gave us some advice… hopefully it’s sound. Eric is nesting in preparation for the kids coming home. He’s cleared out the dining room and hung up some of the guitars to give us more floor space. We are hoping to get the garage-in-a-box up, but it didn’t happen on Saturday. We are both on for worship team this Sunday. We had a quick chat with Haaken. He is progressing on his book. We suggested sticky notes to organize his thoughts and he says that has been helpful."

Erin had another productive week at work. It's looking like she has the new protocols pretty much nailed down—congratulations!

Yowsah! 

Kristian continues to wait for his employment call. I really thought when the folks at Franks began to inquire further, that his hiring was imminent. He got his haircut this week, and added some non-natural coloration—that's bound to help attract employers! 

Travis & Joanna remain very busy by design. Bucket Decals keeps perking, and PuckShots is ramping up. Still, they took time to host us for lovely supper and games night featuring stuffed pork chops and scalloped potatoes—delicious! Thank you very much! 

And that's about it for this week. 

Trumped!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been very nice, although we've had a few showers and some windy days—that's Fall here.  We have caught up on things here and completed a number of appointments as we settle in to these familiar routines. 

New dog, or new cat?

Wendy is spending a lot of time with the new dog, Kali, who seems to be fitting in well. For a tiny dog, she surely is a busy creature! I had chiropractor and dentist appointments early in the week. We are both back into choir practices as we prepare for Christmas concerts in early December. We're also on the worship team this Sunday, so we've been rehearsing for that—we do enjoy singing. I continue to recover from my back injury, and I am finally getting close to 40%—about peak performance these years! I am back to exercising and planning my reentry into curling. I've taken down the screens from the windows and Wendy has cleaned those in preparation for winter storage. We love our new windows. Clearly, a lot of people believed Trump's lies about the situation in USA, and refused to vote for an incumbent administration, or maybe it was because she was a woman. As a result, we now face the daunting prospect of another Trump administration. Last time around, he actually lost 3 million jobs and raised unemployment to as high as 14%, all while adding 7 trillion to the USA national debt. Under Biden, the USA economy is currently the best among the top industrialized countries, unemployment is at 50 year lows, and inflation is down to about 2% although the national debt keeps climbing. The FED cut the lending rate again this week, and the markets continue to roar higher, making a new record high for the fiftieth time this year. So, another good week of gains for me, thanks Uncle Joe. Playoffs are highlighted in the sporting world. Riders lost to the Bombers in the Western final while Toronto beat Montreal in the East. The Grey Cup game is next Sunday in Vancouver. In college football, #5-Texas had an easy time of it over unranked Florida. My unranked Sooners played #24-Missouri and put up a good showing, losing in the final minute. Basketball is underway; I got to attend a KU win last week, and to watch their win last night. RCJH! In the NHL, my teams are not doing well in the early going, but at least the Leafs are winning over half of their games. C'mon Oilers, Penguins! Curling this week featured the Canadian Open. My guy, #19-Koe did not make the playoffs, and at #19, he is at risk of not even being allowed to play in these top level tournaments, since only the top 16 are in automatically. #1-Mouat will play #3-Gushue in the final. On the women's side, my gal, #4-Einarson made the playoffs, but has lost out. #1-Homan will play #2-Tirinzoni in that final. 

Erica writes, "This weekend I’m in Edmonton with 'the girls' and visiting with cousin, Margaret. We have plans to see the farmers market, the Rocky Mountain Food Festival and the Deadmonton Haunted House. Plus, we might do some shopping. Eric is busy fitting in hockey games with his card hockey league. I’m hoping we get the carport up soon. It’s getting cooler and snow is in the forecast."

Erin and Kristian are waiting to hear back on his job application—nothing yet. He has been emailing with Patti (support person with DHHS), and made more applications. Erin continues to gain comfort in her new job—she's about a week ahead of schedule on the current monthend reporting. They got some snow last week, which made for icy roads, but it has melted away, and all is dry again. Kristian is trying to get his mom into the Lego construction hobby, so he bought her a lovely project. 

Not your father's Lego!

I think he helped her!

Travis and Joanna remain very busy with Bucket Decals, and are getting more and more photoshoots scheduled for Puck Shots. We barely got to see them this week. Andrew was home from Toronto for a visit, but otherwise, their other boys (their dogs) are doing fine. 

And that's about enough for this week.