News Update

It has been quite a week for us as we've travelled from the shore of Lake Superior out to Dauphin. On Sunday, I lamented as Tom Watson bogied the final hole and proceeded to lose the Open in a playoff. Today, I lamented as the Riders lost to Edmonton after enjoying a 22-0 lead! It's a sad life that way sometimes!

On Monday morning, we hosted an Investors Club meeting at our house. The markets rose and we couldn't make our usual buys, but we tried some other options that ended up losing us some money! The investments in the rest of the week went well, and I've ended the first week of the new investments model with a 2.5% gain. So, that was much above expectations! We also had an online investment class in the evening.

We left home on Tuesday and drove up to Kenora to Eric/A's place. We stayed overnight with them, and completed our trip to Dauphin on Wednesday, where we moved in with David & Marilyn—thanks guys! On Thursday, we played a practice round of golf with many of our friends from there, in preparation for a weekend golfing extravaganza. Since we were planning to play 36 holes a day for the next two days, this was certainly over-kill.

Friday was the first day of the Pryder Cup. It was not coming off as planned. There were supposed to be ten Canadians and ten Americans battling for golfing supremacy, but, the Americans could not put up a full team. They only showed up with four players, so we supplemented them with three non-Manitoba players to make it two teams of seven. It became Manitoba against the World. The morning round was two-man scramble. We did commendably and ended up with two of the possible three points. The afternoon we played better ball, and the Manitobans launched their comeback! They earned three of four points and took a lead that they never relinquished! Saturday morning matches resulted in a complete whitewash as we fell behind 8-3, and we only managed a split of Saturday afternoon's matches, so the final score was 12-7.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun, but ninety holes of golf in three days is too much for me! I do remember that in years gone by we often did this sort of foolishness, and even of times when Dick and I would walk and carry our bags for most of five rounds of golf in a weekend—but those days are gone! I have extracted a promise of single-round days of golf in the future Pryder Cups for we senior members! Another good thing that happened provided some relief for my aching right elbow. Kent supplied me a special strap that wraps tightly around my elbow and relieves the tendinitis. It is not so comfortable to wear, but it certainly does provide relief—thanks, Kent! My golfing was not great, but it never is, and I enjoy it anyway! I scored an 84 and an 85 the first two days, but today I was just worn out and only could manage a couple of 94's. Maybe now that I have this elbow strap, I'll manage more than one round a week.

Erin, Kristian and Travis are taking care of things at home. Erin has to work some of the time, and of course Travis works full-time. We miss them while we're away. Travis had a special event last week where he volunteered for the Easter Seals promotion which allowed him to participate in a skating event with the NHL players who are from Thunder Bay. I guess the three Staal brothers are the more famous members of the group, but there are quite a few, so Trav enjoyed meeting them and getting autographs as well as helping with the many children who gathered to skate with their hockey heroes.

And that's the kind of week it's been.

News Update

A cool, rainy week struggles to an end on the shore of Lake Superior. I haven't made it out for golf until today, but it seems that little has changed—one might hope it would! I did manage to get most of my planned yard work completed for the year, and the garden is flourishing. Kristian loves picking and eating the strawberries and peas right off the plants. We are preparing to head west next Tuesday, so Erin will have to keep track of everything while we're gone. I am now scheduled for my colonoscopy for August 11th, so our travel time is limited by that. And this afternoon we have to suffer through the indignity of watching the Riders being schooled by the Alouettes. Yuck! On the other hand, I do enjoy watching Tom Watson lead the Open, and I hope he can finish it off tomorrow.

I've had a bit of work this week as one school has turned up recalcitrant on its reporting requirements. It turned out they had not even done the first batch of reporting for the year! I have managed to get their October and March reports completed this week, so it only remains for me to do the June reports now.

Wendy has completed a retrofit of the flowerbeds both front and back, so they're looking good. She has also kept busy with gym work, shopping and a few picnics with family and friends.

Kristian has been making excellent progress lately. His vocabulary and expressions are growing quickly, and he's figured out the potty business completely. He's not just cute! Erin was off this week, so we enjoyed lots of activity around the house and yard despite the cool weather.

Travis continues with his work and working with me on the investment training. We've completed our research, and are now moving to the next stage of training. We're back in class on Monday evening, and we've decided to begin the investment simulation over from the beginning. It was a great week in that regard as the market turned positive again, and we made big profits. I now stand at 41.9% gain from March 9th. However, we've worked out a strategy to more closely approximate the actual investment experience, so we'll see how that goes. I took a webinar in Scotia iTrade on Thursday, so I have a better idea how that will work.

I enjoyed a Skype chat with my siblings and various members of their familes on Thursday, in honour of Tom's birthday. Spread out from Dallas to Winnipeg to Paris (and Thunder Bay) as we were, that went well and was fully enjoyable except that John was not able to take part.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has turned very nice and I've managed to get out golfing and practising a few times. My game came in at 85, so my handicap stays solid at 15.1. However, I am seeing signs of improvement, "Little green shoots," one might say! Let's hope they continue to flourish; I've been feeling like my golf game is in the Bush Recession, too! At least the Riders are thriving, as I was able to sit down and watch them punish the Argos this afternoon and move to 2-0 in the young season.

There hasn't been much work this week. I've helped one school with their June Reports to the Ministry, but that's about it. Investment work continues as Trav and I have a big assignment due next Friday. We've been struggling with our investments in the most recent downturn. The TSX has lost value for the last month since its high on June 11th. So, it's been difficult to make headway, but we've managed small gains and I now stand at 35.1% profit for exactly four months of work.

The garden is growing quite well now. The tomatoes are blooming, pea pods are filling, beans are blooming, strawberries are bearing. Only two potatoes came up (out of seven planted), but we'll see how the box method works for those.

Wendy has been busy with her flowerbeds so those are now flourishing (pun intended). She spent most of the week fretting about how to get to Ogema for the celebration at her grandparents' farm today, but, in the end, decided not to go. We are now planning to head west in time for the golf tournament in Dauphin (July 24th, 25th) and to remain on the prairies after that event instead of before it.

Erin has been at work all week, so Kristian has been at daycare. His potty training is showing signs of improvement! His communication is showing much growth—we're delighted! We've set up a wading pool for him in the backyard this year instead of the larger pool. He certainly enjoys being outside.

Travis continues with his work. This weekend, he's in Minneapolis as he gave Greg a ride down there to catch a plane to California.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Happy Anniversary to us! Thirty-nine years later and we're enjoying life on the shore of Lake Superior. It's been a slow-moving but eventful week. The weather has been cool and rainy early in the week and I haven't made it out golfing at all. I did practice a couple of times. The garden is progressing fine, and I did get a few calls for work. On Wednesday, we celebrated Canada Day. Happy Birthday Canada! And today, along with our anniversary, the Americans celebrate their Independence Day. Happy National Birthday to all my American contacts!

This week also marked the beginning of the football season. Friday evening's Rider game was a sloppy affair, but we won! My old coaching friend, John Payne, used to say, "If you want to make that many turnovers, you should open a bakery!" Fifteen turnovers! Yikes! But in the standings it just shows up as a win. So, well done!

Trav and I got back on track with our investments. It wasn't a good week in the markets as the TSX declined, but we turned a tidy profit. To recap, two weeks ago, we did bad! I lost 4%! But last week I picked up 1.7% and this week 1.6% so I'm almost caught up. Officially, I'm now at a 33.7% gain in just under four months. We are finished our foundational classes, and now we are working on a research project. When that is completed (due: July 17th), we move on to the advanced coaching and mentoring phase of the course.

Wendy has been busy with yard work, bedding plants and tearful good-byes. On Friday, she finally came to a decision on BJ, so that was a sad day for all of us. BJ was a very good dog, certainly the best dog I've been acquainted with. He was wonderful with little children. He is being missed.

Erin has continued with arrangements and preparation for her course work in the Fall. There is not much in place yet. Kristian is doing well. He likes playing ball, golfing and being outside. He is working on his potty training—some successes! He is communicating more by speech, but also relies on sign language for some messages. He is a bright and lovable little boy.

Trav has continued busily with his work. That seems to be going well.

And that's about it for this week.