News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has continued to be beautiful and my garden is thriving. Unfortunately the fungus has returned to the vines, so I may just take what they've produced so far, and pull up the vines. I suspect there's a chem-lab solution to this as well, but I'm trying to avoid that. So far it has only affected the squash, so pulling them up may save the pumpkins and cucumbers. Wendy has me cutting the back lawn after two months of letting it grow freely. I'm trying to gradually get it down to ordinary lawn length, but it takes time. I've cut it six times in the last week, and there are still some adjustments to go!

It's been another violent ride on the markets, but Friday's big gain has the TSX back into positive territory for the year and allowed me to gain over 1.5% for the week, so I'm catching up a bit. I've continued to get help with my back, and even got out one evening to hit a few balls—a half dozen was enough to know that it was not ready yet. Calgary won their game last night, so with the Rider's loss tonight in Edmonton, first place is a distant memory.

Liam & Haaken have been here all week, so it's been a special whirlwind of activity around here. Kristian has been enjoying Lego and cartoons morning, noon and night! Grandma has also had the crew out for trips to the park, marina and pools. Eric/A arrived last night, so we're having a family reunion! It's nice to have the house full again.

Erin has been getting more details of her promotion and is looking forward to that. She'll be working at both locations at various times of her work week, and gradually moving into the main office.

Trav has continued development of his own business while also working full bore at his job, so he's pretty busy most days. It's going well.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has cooled off a bit, so that's been more comfortable, and we've had some rain—my lawn thanks you! The garden is flourishing; we're enjoying tomatoes, beans, and spinach. Once again, the markets started the week well, but bad news arrived from several sectors and the last three days were downward, so my gains in the early days disappeared in the last three as most markets ended the week in negative territory. Once again, I'm into "next week" country! The Riders' stay in first place was brief as Calgary won on Sunday, and since this is their bye week, we'll have to wait to see how they respond. Our church leadership team met this week; we enjoyed a fine meal, good meeting, and the chance to raid the garden of our friends Gord & Nora. Thanks!

I have continued working with the chiropractor on my back. This is clearly proving helpful, but there's more work to do. She has me in regular therapy sessions, and also doing a lot of exercises designed to stretch out and strengthen the affected areas. I'm noticing the improvement! I even thought about heading over to the golf course this afternoon, but second thoughts kept me home.

It's been a busy week. Liam arrived last Saturday, so we've been enjoying having him around. This has kept Kristian occupied, and Wendy has been busy arranging some extra events for the boys. Erin took them shopping one evening to help Liam get ready for another school year. And then last evening, we drove up to Ignace to meet Eric and collect Haaken. Now all our grandsons are here for the next week, the last week of summer vacation for Haaken & Liam. Then, they'll be back at school. We don't have Kristian's school schedule yet, but we think he starts after Labour Day.

The other big event this week was Erin's birthday. We enjoyed having a few friends over for the celebration. Erin chose a menu of Chinese food and Cheesecake! It was a good time. Erin has also received more promises of a promotion at work. She's expecting that to take place in the next month or so.

Travis continues with his usual schedule of work. He brought his friend, Joanna, to Erin's birthday party; it was nice to get to know her a bit. He has established his business as an official organization. Check out his website, not only is it his website, it's also his work.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior, in my hometown. The weather has been hot and we've been doing a lot of yard work with garden, lawns and flower beds. We've had a couple of rains, and that has helped. The markets had a good Monday, and I made a good profit, but then it turned sour and the markets were down three to five percent for the week. I managed to get out on Tuesday after losing most of my Monday gains. After that, I just felt good for having skipped the loses the rest of the week! It was a good week for the Riders, as they won easily and moved back into a first place tie pending what Calgary does in their game tomorrow.

Our friends David & Marilyn arrived this evening to spend the weekend with us. It is good to spend some time with them and catch up on the goings-on in Dauphin, and in their lives. They've been travelling in the US and into eastern Canada and are now on their way home.

My back did not recover on its own, so I've been to the doctor. She's diagnosed and corrected the cause of the muscle spasms, and now we're working on stretching those out and letting them recover. It feels much better now, and I even slept through the night last night. She has also given me exercises to assist with my left shoulder and left ankle rehabilitation.

Wendy has been busy catching up on paperwork for both home and church. She has continued with her pruning mode and the various perennials have been trimmed to varying degrees, sometimes extending to the extreme! Weeds have not escaped her attention, and I'm finding them in piles all over the area! And, apparently, it was time for the furniture to move to new locations in the living room, so that has happened as well.

Erin has continued with work, and has been getting some catch up lab work done as well. We hope for favourable test results. Kristian has resumed his busy schedule of work with Grandma and two days of Day Care. Sadie has also expressed a love for Kristian's Lego toys, so we've had to help him manage to keep them locked away from her chewing.

Trav has continued with work and his other activities. We don't see too much of him during the week.

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Home again, we're home again! On Sunday, we left the shore of Wascana, and headed east. Thank you, Dad and Dave for hosting us so generously and so warmly. We truly enjoyed our time in Regina, and the fulfillment of the work there. It was into Monday morning before we arrived on the shore of Lake of the Woods, on the Winnipeg River, in Kenora. Again, we enjoyed warm hospitality with Eric/A and the boys. We stayed an extra day to work on some projects there, and then completed the trip to Lake Superior and my hometown, on Wednesday. It is good to be home. Erin and Trav have been taking care of things. The garden is almost overwhelming the area; the rhubarb is even larger than when I took the big harvest in June for the family reunion. Only the potatoes have failed. I don't know what is wrong with my potato box plan, but I will need to reconsider it for next year. Again this week, the markets started off well, but we had a Civic Holiday, and, it seemed, by Tuesday the bloom was off. We never did seem to catch up to the promise of better things, and by the end of the week, bad economic news had turned things sour again. Still, I managed another 0.2% of recovery. Rider news was not good this week as they lost their game in Montreal by four points. That, coupled with Calgary's win in BC this evening has knocked them out of first place.

My back has not responded, and I'm still suffering a lot of discomfort, and unable to get a good night's sleep. It seems that when I'm laying down, I experience the greatest pain. I have been stressing my back with work, but if rest this weekend doesn't bring relief by Monday, I plan to get things checked out by a doctor. Anyway, no golf again this week.

Wendy enjoyed the house and yard work in Regina, in Kenora, and now at home. She's a regular Energizer Bunny! The flower beds, especially the hostas are looking great! They have grown far larger than our expectations, and some transplanting will be required. I have returned my attention to the front lawn where the grass is struggling to overcome the weeds in the replanted area.

Kristian seems to carry on with life without missing a beat. He rejoiced to see his mother and (Dare I say it?) the toys he had left behind six weeks ago. It seemed his dog was happy to see him, too.

Thank you, Erin & Trav for taking care of things.

And that's about it for this week.