Clipped

We’ve had a rainy week here on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, but at least the temperatures have been comfortable. We enjoyed an evening at Trav & Joanns’s on Sunday as we celebrated Thanksgiving with a wonderful meal, and a good visit. Andrew and Rosie were also there. On Tuesday, we enjoyed taking a Tucson for a test drive. It pretty much checks all the boxes for us as we continue the search for our next vehicle. Best of all it sports excellent fuel economy, and an expected range of 900km on a tank of fuel. Our 2014 Santa Fe continues to serve us well, but it is over 225K now, so we’re looking!

On Wednesday, Kali got a haircut. She has noted the cooling effect of the hair loss and we often find her under the covers with us! Wendy fasted in preparation for her updated bloodwork on Wednesday; that returned much improved numbers and she is encouraged. The markets had a bad week as Trump was back on the trade war path against China. He threatened 100% increase in tariffs, but finally relented on Friday when he noted that 100% increase was unsustainable, and seemed surprised that anyone had suggested such a thing! (You can’t make this up!) In the world of sports, I’ve had a big week of curling in the Tour Challenge. My long time favourite, #26-Koe had a sponsor’s exemption into the field, but it seems his crew is not up to it as he failed to make the playoffs. My gal, #6-Einarson made the playoffs, but fell to #1-Homan. Homan will play #2-Tirinzoni in the final, while #3-Dunstone takes on #1-Mouat in the Men’s final. In baseball, the LA Dodgers have swept the Milwaukee Brewers to advance to the World Series. The Blue Jays dropped the first two, but have come back to force game six tomorrow in Toronto. (So, you’re saying there’s a chance?!) After the Riders clinched first place, they rested many of their starters but still held the Bombers down for most of the game last night. The early season in the NHL is also running, but I’m struggling to find time to watch much. In college football, the expected re-ranking took place. Today, #14-Sooners had an impressive win to improve to 6-1. #21-Horns snuck by Kentucky, in overtime, to improve to 5-2.

Erica writes, “It’s been a busy week—band practise on Monday for both Eric and me, as Eric came to learn the sound board, Rotary on Tuesday, Bingo for me and Elders meeting for Eric on Wednesday, Gig at Mr Mikes on Thursday… on Friday, we got an invite from a friend to watch the Rider game and declined—our social batteries were done! We have been making plans for a trip to Montenegro with our neighbour. She and most of her family were refugees from the former Yugoslavia. However her oldest daughter was getting married at the time of their departure and stayed behind. So, our neighbour hasn’t seen her daughter for 26 years. The last few years, her daughter has been very sick and our neighbour is worried she is running out of time. So, we accompanying her to go visit her daughter. Please pray for a safe trip and for our plans to come together.”

Erin’s Thanksgiving Feast

Erin prepared a Thanksgiving feast that lasted through several days. She has had a good week at work, but her home life is not so smooth as Kristian is having difficulties in his Machinist courses at Saskatchewan Polytechnic. We hope they will be able to work out a plan for the way forward. 

Travis and Joanna hosted the Thanksgiving meal—thanks guys. After supper, we just enjoyed a quiet evening of visiting and playing with the dogs. Trav is keeping very busy, and is glad that post office deliveries have brgun again. He is also following his Penguins in the new NHL season. We often chat about that. And, like the rest of the country, they are living and dying with the Blue Jays! 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Frosty!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We spent the main part of the week in Winnipeg (thanks Tom & Mariette!) as we drove up there on Wednesday, and returned home today. We got frost Wednesday morning as we headed west, so there goes the vines in the gardens. I was privileged to a game of golf on Thursday in wonderful weather. It was a tiring walk—guess I’ll have to do that more often!

Congrats Caleb & Talitha!

On Friday, we took in the wedding of our great niece, Talitha! Congratulations Caleb and Talitha, we wish you well! The markets suffered a disastrous week as the Orange Felon failed to even keep the government in operation in the USA. Then, on Friday, he exasperated the situation further by announcing an additional 100% tariff on imports from China. USA businesses are crying foul over this additional tax, and the stock markets collapsed. Oil price has fallen below $60, so the rig count continues to drop, and the potential for USA oil production continues to be threatened. In the world of sports, #1-Homan and #3-Dunstone won the PointsBet Curling event. Blue Jays won their series over the Yankees, and will now play Seattle for the American League championship. The Riders won their game last night, and confirmed their first place standing, so they will host the Western Conference final—well done, Riders! In College Football, it was the annual Red River showdown between #6-Sooners and the unranked Longhorns. Clearly, the experts did not believe the rankings and established the Horns as slight favourites in the game. Horns widely outperformed that projection to win easily based on four turnovers by the Sooners. I expect the new rankings will come somewhat closer to reflecting reality. The NHL season has officially begun. I continue to favour the Edmonton Oilers, along with Pittsburgh and Toronto. 

Erica writes, “We are back at the hockey rink tonight… Raiders are playing Kamloops Blazers. It’s off to a good start: 3-0 at 4:50 of the first period—yes, I mean less than 5 minutes have been played and 3 goals have been scored on our opponent. And now we have a penalty shot… 

Earlier this week, we celebrated Aunt Alice’s life with the rest of the Brown and Bailey family. Eric spoke on behalf of the Bailey side of the family and I led hymns. Other than that, it’s been a normal week.”

It say VW, but I say it’s a K-Car!

Erin completed the purchase of a car on Kristian’s behalf. He is delighted! It has been quite a process getting this done, and Kristian was fully surprised! Well done, Mom! 

Travis and Joanna had a busy week at work and home. The busyness was accentuated by the hosting of Kali while we went to Winnipeg. She is a busy little creature, and they already have three dogs of their own! Thanks for caring for our little girl! Trav got a couple of special orders this week from his old hometown of Yellowknife. It was fun to consider the connections back there to minor hockey programs and the St Pat’s High School team. 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Orange Run!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been unseasonably warm, and we’ve (I’ve) been forced to turn the air conditioning back on. I have enjoyed getting out to the golf course for practice. The best part of just using the driving range is you don’t have to chase down all those bad shots!

Ready, Set, GO! 

Early registration = small numbers!

We started off the week with participation in the Truth and Reconciliation day event. There were over 1000 participants and quite a few dogs, but Wendy and I both completed the 5K lap successfully, and got our medals. Otherwise, we continue with our choirs and our retirement living here, and we enjoy it  great deal. Barb and Ed stopped in today on their way home; we’re glad to have visitors. The markets, contrary to expectations, were great with all indices showing some gains. It seems to be built on the Artificial Intelligence movement, which many folks fear is forming a bubble. I just keep watching the charts, hanging on and hoping for the best. The economic situation in the USA continues to drift downward with employment falling short each month, and we are suffering as well due to Trump’s Trade War. It does not make one comfortable. Baseball has completed the season; the Blue Jays held on to first play and a first round bye. They are now playing the Yankees in the Divisional series. The Riders won their game in Ottawa this week, so their magic number to clinch first place is down to 1. In college football, my Sooners have lost their quarterback due to injury, but we managed an easy win today. The Longhorns were not successful this time around. NHL hockey is completing the preseason this weekend, so we’ll soon be back in hockey reporting! In curling, #24-Koe dropped the final last week, but improved his ranking a bit. In this week's action it will be #3-Jacobs vs #4-Dunstone in the Men’s final in Calgary while #1-Homan plays #26-Brown for the women’s championship. 

Erica writes, “Tonight, Eric and I took in some local country talent in Prince Albert. And, they even let me sing a couple songs! Liam helped Mercedes family move to Calgary this week, as well as celebrating her 20th birthday on Tuesday. Eric’s aunt Alice passed away last Sunday. We’ve been in conversation with the family as Eric prepares to share some memories at the celebration of life on Monday.”

Erin and Kristian are doing well in Regina. Kristian says his classes are nothing special yet, just okay. Things are going well at work for Erin. 

Travis and Joanna came over for cards one evening—we always enjoy that. Otherwise, they keep very busy with their work. 

And that’s enough for this week. 

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.