Saturday, February 6

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather continues to be nice with single digits of frost only, and little in the way of new snow. As usual, the streets and roads remain slushy in the salt treatments they use here, and the driveway was able to burn off in the sunshine despite the below zero temperatures. Wendy continues to work on the shower selection, but we're not prepared to open that can of worms in light of our imminent departure for the west. The markets have been down again this week, and even more so on the US side as we seem to be back in the "good news is bad news" phase. We haven't had good news in Canada, as the energy sector continues to fall despite some improvement in oil price. I have been working on some new investment plays to deal with our troubled situation, and finally moved from paper plays to actual investment on Friday, and there's always some initial excitement on a new play. We've had news that our refugee family has been identified. We look forward to their arrival in Thunder Bay. The focus this week was to collect clothing now that we know the make up of the family—dad, mom and four children. We had a memorial for Adam on Tuesday evening—that was the young man from our congregation who was killed in La Loche. It's another weekend with lots of curling as the provincial playoffs for men is underway. As expected, the Jayhawks were dropped and now sit #7 in the country. They won their games this week, and looked pretty good for the first half of the game today against TCU. It's Super Bowl weekend, and since my guy, Peyton Manning, is there, I'll be monitoring that, but his team is actually given no chance to beat Carolina. Hockey is beginning to heat up as we're into the last half of the regular season and playoff races are attracting attention. 

The Baileys have had a quiet week. They have been completing preparations for their trip to France, and completing assignments at work. Liam is advising that only twelve weeks remain until something happens! Inquiring minds wonder what that might be! Liam turned 16 this week, and Haaken hits 19 tomorrow. The family celebrated last weekend when Liam was home. Eric took the air hockey table to work which cleared off some space in the basement. Their laundromat posted new hours which makes it more difficult to use, so they're now contemplating the purchase of a washer/dryer combo of their own. 

Erin, Kristian and Sadie have also enjoyed a quiet week. Kristian has had lots of homework, but he's managed to keep it completed on time. His eyes have improved, so they're looking forward to his appointment with the optometrist on Monday. They are continuing to learn how their house operates through the first winter there, but all seems to be going well. 

Travis, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew have continued with their usual activities. Joanna was hired on a contract basis as a phlebotomist. Congratulations! We'll now wait to see how much time they'll be asking of her. She keeps plenty busy without this new job, but it is her training and she wanted to keep her foot in that door. Trav's team has been busy with both league hockey and a tournament. They continue to pressure the front runners in the league, but haven't yet made up for their poor start to the season. 

And that's about it for this week. 

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