News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairie. The weather has been very hot, but they're promising us a break this weekend. It's been a great week for me. I travelled down with Dale to Kenosee Lake on Monday. We met up with Dave and Mic, and enjoying golfing the renovated course there. The course is much improved; I enjoyed better play as well scoring 88. On Wednesday, we drove over to Moose Jaw where we connected with Elvin & Grace who drove us out to Shamrock Park for Wednesday Wings! Many farmers along the way are already combining. Old Wives lake is higher than I've ever seen, and the old road along the lake is impassable. We checked out the old farm site and enjoyed seeing the trees that the old-timers still call Ulrich's Trees. We did not go over to the Sorensen farm sites as Elvin informed us the slough is so high the road into the lower house is covered. The dam is underwater there as well, and no one has lived there for the last three years. We enjoyed three batches of wings at the Park, but not the hoards of mosquitoes! The markets went crazy early in the week as China devalued their currency, and investors around the world sold off stocks. Fortunately, by Thursday, folks were back in a buying mode and I managed to almost break even on the week. The Riders have this week off, so we hope they'll be well prepared for their next game. The Jays have been playing great, running up an 11-game winning streak and moving into first place coming into a big weekend series with the Yankees. The Yanks have won the first two games to reclaim first place, but the Jays seem to have the team to remain in contention the rest of the way. We've begun an election campaign, and I'm tired of all the ads already! Election Day is October 19th, so we'll have to vote before we fly to India.

Eric/A and Liam have had the same heat wave as the rest of us, which means, in their three-story town house, it's been very hot. One day the thermostat was all the way over to the right, so they abandoned the house and went for a car ride to cool off. Eric is working on another article. This is one he was asked to write by a gaming magazine on the use of board games in therapy. Liam pulled weeds this week. The yard is maintained by the property manager, but that appears to be limited to a half-hearted mowing of the lawn. An abundant crop of thistles had sprung up—thanks Liam! They harvested the first of their tiny garden. They have two Charlie-Brown-Christmas-tree-like tomato plants, each sporting one tomato. They were tasty, so they hope the plants will produce more. Otherwise, Haaken continues his courses in North Vancouver (only two weeks left) and Liam continues relaxing!

Kristian was troubled with illness over the weekend, and, as is often the case, this exacerbated his eye issues. So, he was back to the eye doctor, and new therapies are being applied. His eye looks and sees much better by the end of the week. They are certainly enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of their new place. They joined us last evening at Candy Cane Park, for a celebration of Ashley and Kresten's birthdays. Shawn and the children were there as well; it was good to see them again. 

Travis & Joanna welcomed the children home from southern Ontario. Welcome home Gemma and Andrew! It has not been as hot in Thunder Bay, but they've been seeing the 30s as well. They continue to be busy with work, and now with back-to-school preparations, as they continue to enjoy their summer. 

And that's about enough for this week.