Saturday, November 12

News Update

We have travelled far from the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown; we are down in the land of Dorothy, the Tin Woodsman and friends. We're having a fine time—thank you Helen & Marti! I saw a good joke about Oz: Dorothy asks, "No brain, no heart, no courage? Are you guys in politics?" It has been a busy week. Wendy worked and we both rushed to complete our teeth cleaning sessions, so we could pull out on Wednesday morning. We drove down to Minneapolis-St.Paul that day and enjoyed some time in the Apple Store, Legoland, Lindt Chocolates. We spent the night there in our usual Days Inn at the junction of the interstate, but it was a bad night, especially for me. The thermostat didn't work, so it was just blasting heat as I kept adjusting the thermostat lower and lower. At 12:30 I could take it no more; I turned off the heater, opened the window and the hallway door and cooled off the room to a livable temperature. Then, I went to bed. By 5:30, it was freezing cold, so I scrambled out to turn the heat back on. By 6:30 we were roasting again. I turned the heat off, and struggled to get some more rest, but ultimately we gave up, got up, had breakfast and prepared to continue the trip. Stepping out into the parking lot and seeing the flakes coming down from the sky, it was hard to even be surprised. We just felt that it confirmed that we were indeed on our way to Kansas. It always seems to be a snowstorm on this trip. By the time we got to Des Moines, we could tell the ploughs had been out and the ridges of snow were on the side of the highway, but apparently that had happened the day before as the road was bare and dry with good driving conditions. On Friday night, Marti had arranged for us to attend a Jayhawks game. Since this is where Naismith came to develop the game he had invented, it almost seemed a Canadian rite of passage to attend my first college basketball game here. The Jayhawks dutifully slaughtered their season-opener lambs, and we enjoyed the spectacle with 16 thousand crazed fans. The markets have continued to be crazy and I've been able to develop my animosity towards the Greeks to include the Italians! I managed to get through the week with only a small loss. The first round of football playoffs is tomorrow, but the Riders are just spectators. 

Wendy has turned in her resignation from Walmart, but will need to put in a few more days before that becomes official. They have expressed an interest in having her come back after our travels, but I'm hoping she moves on to something else. She is enjoying our trip for now, and looking forward to our flights to Florida and the time there in December. 

Erin and Kristian are doing fine. Kristian is doing well at school; we are glad to see the improvement. Erin is persisting in pushing for his speech therapy to be reinstated. We are encouraging her to keep after them. Sadly, if parents do not advocate strongly for their children, it is too easy for them to fall through the cracks. 

Trav is completing the busy hockey time. The team continues to do excellently, so he is very pleased and proud of them. Joanna and the kids are settling into their new home. They have much more room there. 

And that's about it for this week. 

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