News Update

Another week of our sojourn in Qualicum Beach on the shore of the Pacific has been completed. We continue to enjoy the weather and our time here very much. I made a misstep on Sunday evening while walking over to Dairy Queen, and sustained a small tear in the calf of my left leg. I have decided it is in the soleus muscle (somewhere under the main muscle group) which I also tore about twenty years ago. My prior experience, and the advice of long-time friend Dr. Ice (thanks Dick!) resounded in my memory—RICE. Fortunately, DQ came across with a bag of ice in short order, and I applied that immediately. Then, the store where we were working supplied a tensor bandage, so I soon had my leg at Rest, Iced, Compressed and Elevated! I believe this has allowed me to suffer minimal debilitation. I'm still limping quite a bit as my left leg doesn't like stretching out, but I managed to golf W, Th and F, walking the 9-hole course each day. My golf is improving! After six rounds, I have now parred every hole except #2, a 200 yard par 3. The markets have continued their troubled ways. TSX was green for the month by 0.28%, but the US indices were red. I had a good week and month, but not quite up to quota. Wendy keeps busy managing the rest of us, and Dave was also here most of the week, so it's been a full schedule. Junior nationals are concluding this weekend in curling, so I'm watching those. Alberta won the women's; Manitoba plays New Brunswick or Saskatchewan in the men's. There's something about a self-cleaning toilet (Super Bowl) on tomorrow, but I won't bother to watch that. I have been following the Aussie Open in tennis—some entertaining play there! I am also watching the Phoenix Open in golf. Busy times!!

With Erica driving the Corolla back and forth to Saskatoon this week, they've learned that it saves them about $5 a day in gasoline costs as compared to the CRV. This weekend, Eric/A are enjoying a surprise visit with Liam. Friday was a PD day at school, and after a few phone calls, Liam was able to catch a ride to Saskatoon where he met up with Erica for the ride home to PA. Haaken is concluding his high school career; Friday was his last day of classes, although he has an exam on Monday morning. He plans to take two correspondence courses to meet some college entrance requirements. He hopes to have his application ready for Capilano University this weekend. We pray it will be well received. Eric and Erica are both enjoying their jobs and getting positive feedback! 

Congratulations! 

We've had a couple of lovely FaceTime chats with Erin and Kristian. It's been a special week for them as Kristian won the Academic Award in his class for reading growth this month. That was presented at the school assembly on Thursday. He enjoyed a full day at the Y on Friday as his school also had a PD day. 

Trav and Joanna remain pretty busy with PuckShots photography even as the season is beginning to wane. Their great quality work and customer service have accorded them a large market share for this business in TBay. We are very proud of them! Gemma is into semester-end exams, doing great, and obsessing only a little too much! Andrew is back into wrestling, and enjoying that once again. 

And that's about it for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed and we continue our stay in Qualicum Beach on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. The weather has been very nice, although it turned wet toward the weekend and I missed my planned golf game on Friday. I did enjoy two games, but my play continues to be discouragingly poor. Wendy says I need to go more often!! My handicap is rising, and I see that my next two games will cause the last two of my games in the seventies to drop off the bottom—sigh! The markets have continued to be volatile, but the Bank of Canada finally relented to reality and added some stimulus mid-week so the TSX and my holdings took off! As a result, I'm nearly back to quota on the month; that's a relief. Wendy is very busy with support of Haaken's schedule, and we added to that this week when his computer went down. Trying to get that fixed has taken us up to Courtenay a couple of times and then down to Nanaimo, and we're still waiting for the completion of this story! Brad Jacobs and Rachel Homan won their respective skins games in curling; that was fun to watch. Golf season is starting up again, and I always take an interest in that. Today we've picked up work for all three of us doing inventory at one of the local stores. That got to be old quite quickly! So, that's why I stayed in school!!

All Growed Up!

Eric/A have enjoyed a quiet week in Prince Albert. Eric has been driving the Corolla around town, while Erica drives the CRV back and forth to Saskatoon. They'll exchange next week and then make a determination of which is the better way to go. Liam is into his second semester at Caronport. He has a fundraiser involving the cleanup of Moose Jaw in support of a camping trip later in the Spring. Apparently the main effort on that cleanup will be the weekend of Feb 20th. Haaken is working to complete his semester and prepare for his English exam. Uncle Travis has Haaken's website ready to go, and Erica is taking a tutorial on adding pictures to it. Haaken also got his hair cut today; he's donating the shorn locks to cancer patients, and is now ready for his grad pictures and his performance in Grease.

Erin & Kristian are doing well. We enjoy some FaceTime chatting with them each week, but it's never enough.

Travis & Joanna continue to be very busy with the business—that's a good thing! Trav has a new co-op student who is proving to be very helpful. He has had some trouble with the snow blower, so we tried to problem-solve from afar. Hope he gets it performing again; it was very helpful for pumping the snow up onto the lawn after the drive way has been cleared.

And that's about enough for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed and we continue our sojourn on the shore of the Pacific, far from our hometown! The weather has continued to be beautiful, and we're enjoying getting out to enjoy it. Dave has been with us most of the week; it's been great to have him around. I've managed more golf practice and finally my first game of the winter on Friday. The game revealed many shortcomings, so more practice and play are in order! It's been a terrible, no good, bad week in the markets. The Saudi oil glut, the French turmoil and the Swiss central bankers have destabilized investors. The TSX fell to 4% in the red on the month before getting some recovery on Friday. I have suffered big losses as well; I have declined from being at quota after week 1 to being in the red after week 2—sigh! More practice and work are in order! Wendy keeps very busy supporting Haaken's schedule! She has added to it by establishing some sketching lessons for him. He has completed one sketch already; we thought it was striking! In sports, Canada completed a dominating win in the Continental Cup of curling. This weekend is the Curling Skins game; I'm enjoying that as well, even though my guy, Kevin Koe got knocked out this morning. It will be Brad Jacobs versus John Morris in the final. Ohio State earned an impressive victory in the first US University Football championship. The NFL playoffs featured the elimination of Peyton Manning, and also of the Dallas Cowboys, so I won't be paying attention to that any longer. Today, we made a short trip up island for a visit with long time friends. It was good to reconnect with Tim & Shirley of Yellowknife by way of Zambia, and also with Kathy, not only a long time friend, but also a relative. 

Haaken's latest Sketch

Eric/A continue to adapt to the life with an empty nest. Erica's car pool to Saskatoon is disappearing, so they've spent some effort looking for a second vehicle. They also test drove a Prius, but decided on a Toyota Corolla. We hope it serves them well. Liam was on hand to watch the finals of his school's gotcha tournament, and elastic band contest. He also dug his skates for the first time this season. Grandma has arranged art tutoring to help Haaken fill out his portfolio, and they were blown away by his newest effort. 

We haven't heard much from Erin and Kristian this week, just the regular school and work activities. Erin tried selling her sister a car, but she is glad they decided on the Corolla they found in PA. Kristian got a fresh haircut—I did, too, but I'm understanding his involved a lot more cutting! Kristian went swimming last evening on the event of his friend Zachary's birthday party. 

Trav and Joanna have a big hockey tournament this week in TBay. They are working PuckShots photography there, and Trav is also running hot tweets on the results. Joanna checked out the security system on the house. It works, and she also learned how to disable it! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of the Pacific Ocean, far from my hometown! The weather has been comfortable, mostly in a tight range from 4 to 10 degrees, so we've been enjoying getting out in that! Most days have had some periods of rain, and plenty of clouds and fog. We saw some sunshine on Thursday only, so we miss that. We started the week in Nanaimo, sitting in our lovely green chairs, and being able to sing for the first time in months as my cough has pretty much disappeared! There are plenty of nice golf courses nearby, and I've visited five so far. One is closed for renovations and green repairs for the month of January, but the others all have nice practice areas as well. I've enjoyed working a bit on my short game, but my rib injury from all the coughing earlier still prevent me from making a comfortable full swing. One nearby club offers month-long memberships during the winter months, so I'm hoping to take advantage of that during February. The markets have opened the year very troubled by the falling Oil price, and the political turmoil in Greece. As a result, all indices are in the red for the month, but I've been fortunate to have made a nice gain, almost up to quota. I continue to hold most of my accounts in cash as I wait for the charts to look more promising. I am not enjoying the 6:30AM market opening out here! The Junior team closed out the World Championships with an exciting win over Russia; that was great! Curling is my main focus this week as the Continental Cup is being contested between Canada and Europe. Canada has built up a comfortable lead, but like the Ryder Cup, there are a lot of points up for grabs on the final day (tomorrow), so it's not over yet. 

Erica has completed her first week at the University of Saskatchewan. She found it nostalgic to be back on campus. The job is good, and the commute is going fine. Eric/A are enjoying the empty nest as Liam is at Briercrest and Haaken back in Qualicum Beach with us. They are trying to get Haaken's website active again as part of his professional portfolio for university; Travis has been helpful on this aspect. Haaken needs to beef up his life drawing and is working on that. Grandma has put in his name for taking inventory, so he may have some extra work later this month. Liam had an orthodontist appointment on Friday, so he's enjoying a long weekend with Papa, Auntie Sue and Uncle Richard. Eric/A headed down to Regina on Friday for a short visit, dropped Liam back at school today, and headed back to Saskatoon to spend some time with Chris and Shelley! A busy weekend! 

Erin and Kristian continue their fight with health issues and winter. In the bitter cold this week, Erin  even found her car refusing to start one morning! We still manage to keep up with them from time to time on FaceTime which is nice. 

Trav's team had a successful weekend in Superior, Wisconsin, returning with the third place trophy. They also keep busy taking care of things in Thunder Bay, in their business and other work. Gemma and Andrew are pushing toward completion of the term at school. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Happy New Year!

Another year has passed, and the new year finds us far from Lake Superior, on the shore of the Pacific Ocean. We enjoyed a wonderful time at Dad's in Regina where we enjoyed the gracious hosting of Bern & Alicia; thank you all very much. The big event of the week was New Year's Day where thanks to Alicia's careful management and the preparation and participation of many, we enjoyed a delicious meal, and wonderful company of family and friends. On Friday, we turned the Sorento westward, and accompanied by Dave in his Caravan, we drove out to Golden BC. It was fortunate that we had planned to stop there, and that Wendy had reserved a room because the Trans-Canada was closed west of Golden, and the town was full of truckers and other unexpected travellers. On Saturday, we continued the trip to Victoria where we were hosted by Andrew and Aura; thank you so much. Now we're on the Island, and we have voted not to leave until March! Also on the plus side of the ledger: it's -31 in Prince Albert; -34 in Regina; -26 in Thunder Bay, but +6 in Victoria! Finally, we seem to have made a correct decision! The markets have continued to be volatile, but I had a good week, making quota, and also completing the month and the quarter at quota, so it was reassuring. I did not make quota for the year as I only managed 12.9%, and needed about 17% to make quota with my portfolio size. I shall have to work smarter! The Junior Hockey Championships have been enjoyable so far. We delighted in Denmark's first ever qualification for the medal round, and watched with mixed emotions as they were thrashed by our boys in the playoffs. Now Canada is in the semi-finals tomorrow, so we'll continue to follow that. NCAA football playoffs began perfectly with the overly touted SEC teams being defeated—I didn't think they were the best choices in the first place! Now I don't care whether the Ducks or the Buckeyes win the final—I'm good either way! 

Eric/A, Haaken & Liam left after Christmas and drove out to the Island where they left Haaken with his uncle in Victoria. We have now met up with him and he will be part of our household for the next two months while he completes grade 12. Eric/A and Liam have returned to Saskatchewan. We met them near Calgary as they headed east. They've had a whirlwind (blizzard?) tour of western Canada! Now they look forward to the resumption of school and work, and the beginning of a new job for Erica. 

We spent most of the week with Kristian as Erin returned to work. That was a delight! Now they carry on with work and school in Regina, and we wish them well in 2015! 

Travis and Joanna continue to be very busy with work right through the holiday season. I guess that's good news as well as exhausting. Trav is off with his hockey team to a tournament in Minnesota. They're doing well, and play in the bronze medal game tomorrow. Gemma and Andrew are eagerly awaiting the return to school on Monday! Repeat after me, "I am eagerly awaiting the return to school on Monday!" 

And that's about enough to start off a new year!