News Update

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior in the Canadian Shield. We drove down on Wednesday; the roads were great and the trip went smoothly. It is good to be home again. I supervised the new driver on Monday and Tuesday; she got stuck once as she failed to make a corner, but we were able to rock it out of the snowbank. I returned to a warm welcome from the bus people here as they've had no success getting anyone to take over my run. They've worked through at least three drivers, and are currently using two guys! However, they made no mention of a bonus for me!! Next week is March Break here, so I'll be looking to start on March 18th. We started the week with troubled markets, but strong economic data overcame other concerns and we had a very good week. The US markets are doing much better than the TSX as the DOW is up nearly 10% already this year while TSX is up only 3.2%. I blame Obama! It's been Brier curling all week. My favourite Kevin Martin struggled with understanding the new rocks and started off 1-4; even though he recovered to run the table to 7-4, it was not enough. Howard, Stoughton, Gushue and Jacobs are in the playoffs which started today with Stoughton beating Howard to advance to the final, and Jacobs beating Gushue to advance to the semi-final tomorrow. Wendy flew out to Regina on Friday and continues her trip to BC today, on her birthday, for a Ladies Retreat next week. 

Eric made a surprise trip home this weekend to take in Liam's hockey tournament in Victoria. Everyone was glad to have him back even though it was a brief visit. Liam's team is having a good tournament. 

Kristian had Thursday and Friday off school and enjoyed being in the Y Day-Camp. He was able to swim and enjoy various other activities there, making new friends and having a good time. Erin and Mark took in more of Eric's hockey games on Tuesday evening and this afternoon. 

It was good to get back in touch with Trav & Joanna. They've done a good job of taking care of the driveway and house while we were gone, and most of the plants survived! Thanks, guys! Trav's hockey team (missing their 50-goal scoring captain) lost out in the first round of the playoffs. Sorry about that! Joanna's soccer team finished their winter season—they won first place! Congratulations! 

And that's about it for this week.