Saturday, September 28

News Update

Another beautiful week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. School bus driving is going fine, and I had a couple of charters this week. The weather has remained lovely, and the garden has continued to produce as we continue to await our first frost. I was picking beans and tomatoes today—what a great flavour when you get a tomato that has ripened on the vine! I've tried to clean up on the Swiss chard, as we still have beet greens to harvest. The markets have not gone well as the Tea Party Terrorists have sabotaged the US markets and that seems to play even worse up here. I was down again this week, and will almost certainly end up down for the month as well. Sigh! The Jays are playing meaningful baseball in their final series as they've taken two games from Tampa and injected themselves into the pennant race. The Riders played another poor game on Sunday and have fallen into a second place tie. They will need to win tomorrow, or they'll drop into third place. C'mon guys! Wendy has been busy all week at work. She only had a couple of scheduled shifts, but they keep calling her in for extra work. She's finding it fairly tiring, made more so by the level of disorganization she's finding there! We got our new patio doors delivered on Tuesday, so I pulled out the old set and installed the new ones; some hours of trim work remains. And to cap things off, we got hacked on our gmail address, and sent out a spam email to Wendy's entire address book. Sorry about that!

Erica enjoyed a trip to Hornby Island to their outdoor education centre. It was rainy and miserable, but a lousy day on Hornby beats a day in the office! Liam continues with hockey and school. He had one interesting day where he got two wasp stings and came home early from school. Haaken is working on school and the movie project. Eric has started his temp job at Nanaimo Association for Community Living. He also got a call for an interview on another job with actual counselling hours, so we are praying that works out. The whole crew is in Victoria this weekend as Erica has a trustees conference. They are enjoying a stay at Bear Mountain resort. 

Erin and Kristian completed birthday celebrations and continue with work and school. Kristian has decided not to do tae kwon do. He is now enrolled for indoor soccer. He had an encouraging audiology examination and report. He has experienced no further hearing loss, and his hearing aids are functioning well. It is almost time to be considering replacement of the hearing aids, but it seems the prices have come down a lot since he got these about five years ago.

Trav has worked his new hockey team through preparations for the new season. They had two exhibition games this week, winning the first 2-0, and are playing again tonight. Joanna is very busy at work; she is also working with Trav on Ulrichdesign jobs and then there's being a mom—that's about three full-time jobs! Gemma has been ill this week. 

And that's about enough for this week.

Saturday, September 21

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. It's been a busy week. Wendy, who was supposed to have two shifts, has been called in everyday. I've had a plague of meetings and a doctor's visit to add to my usual schedule. Being retired is not so easy; I don't know how I ever got things done while I was working! The visit to the surgeon did not go as planned. The plan was for freezing and doing office surgery, but after he examined the cyst growing on my back, he decided to reschedule me to an operating theatre at the hospital, so that's now set for October 8th. Along with the school bus driving, I've had some other work-related meetings this week, and then there's the markets! Investors have struggled to figure out which way to send values, and I've struggled to figure out which way they will jump next! As a result, it's been a down week for me, so I'll have to work on recovery next week. The Riders also had a down week after falling out of first place. We hope they begin a new winning streak against BC tomorrow. Baseball is playing out the regular season and there are some interesting playoff races attracting my attention. Golf is in the final playoff tournament; I'm enjoying watching that. 

Liam is completing the preseason with his hockey team; we're hoping he manages his first goal soon. Haaken has been reworking the story boards for the movie. The production meeting with the family will consider his progress. Both boys are back in youth group activities. Eric completed his pre-employment activities with a pass on his TB test. He starts on Monday with the Nanaimo Association for Community Living. Erica met a couple of Danish ladies on her seaplane ride back from the Education Law Conference meeting. They tried to help her pronounce Ulrich and Krogsgaard!

Erin and Kristian celebrated his birthday this week; and it has taken a week, from his actual birthday on Monday to his bowling event this weekend! Kristian also lost an eighth tooth, on his eighth birthday! Otherwise it's been a good week at home, school and tae kwon do. Kristian is giving that a try this year. 

Trav added a new gold iPhone to his business this week! He's been very busy drafting his hockey team for the new season. Joanna continues to be too busy at work. Gemma and Andrew are beginning well at school. 

And that's about enough for this week.

Saturday, September 14

News Update

We've had a cool and rainy week here on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The sun shone today, so I got in a golf game (41-44–85). I am scheduled for surgery to remove a growth on my back next week, so I may not be swinging a club for a while. The markets have veered wildly this week with fears of Syrian fighting, offset by better economic data out of the US, leading to worries about what the Fed may do next week! Thursday was particularly red for me, so while I managed a gain, it was not up to my quota or expectations. Wendy has completed her night shifts and will be taking additional training with a view to working as a cashier at Big Lots Canada (the new name for Liquidation World). The Riders opened the week with a disappointing effort in Winnipeg that resulted in a loss. They closed the week with a turnover plagued two-point loss to Toronto, and have fallen into second place in their division. 

Liam was placed on a hockey team; they played and lost their first exhibition game. The family continues to work on the film; it may not ever get produced, but the fun is in the getting there! Haaken and Eric met with the school counselor; after being informed of Haaken's interests, his schedule has been adjusted to include an animation course next semester. Eric continues his job search and practice development; this week ferried across to the mainland for a pre-interview assessment over in Burnaby. However, he also found it the job is not as a counselor, so... He has started a blog on parenting. Erica has been busy with school start up, and has also joined the worship ministry at church in Parksville; she found her keyboarding skills a bit rusty, but it's coming back.

Erin & Kristian have Facetimed with us a couple of times. Things seem to be going satisfactorily there with school, work and home. 

Trav is amping up his hockey preparations. This brings opportunities for team photos as part of his work. Joanna keeps very busy (too busy) with her work. She also likes to participate in some of Trav's work, but there are only so many hours in the week, and there's still Gemma and Andrew's activities at school and home.

And that's about it for this week.

Saturday, September 7

News Update

Another beautiful week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. School has started for another year, and I'm back in the bus driving routine. I've managed a bit of golf practice and enjoying it a great deal. The garden is producing and we're enjoying eating beans, Swiss chard, beet greens and tomatoes. The markets are volatile, but gained a little value this week, so I'm hoping the correction is over and we can resume more normal activity. I had a small gain, but not enough to reach my quota. Of course, September and October are usually the most difficult months on the markets, but we're hoping they got those ideas out of their minds during the bad months we've already had! The TSX is only up 3% for the year, but then again, our economy is not doing well, so maybe I'm expecting too much. The Riders continued their winning ways beating Winnipeg in the Labour Day game, and will try to beat them again tomorrow in the return engagement. I am also enjoying watching the golf playoffs. 

Eric has obtained some part-time work; he continues to look for work in his career field. The boys are back to school and Erica is back at work at the school board office. Liam is taking an extended hockey assessment prior to the regular season. The family has decided to capitalize on the movie-making prowess of the boys to produce a family movie. It's been fun so far! They enjoyed hosting Tanis & Tom (friends from Kenora) as they visited on the Island.

Kristian is enjoying grade 3 so far. He has lost another tooth this week, so his economy has improved! Erin has secured a good short-term arrangement for after school care. We hope that may continue for the longer term as well. 

Trav & Joanna are hard at work. Joanna is getting more work than she likes! Gemma and Andrew have started back to school. 

And that's about enough for this week.