News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've had a good week, managing to get renovations going again here. We've completed the hanging of the drywall, and now I need to get to taping, mudding and finishing it so Wendy can paint. But, that plan has been interrupted by the electrical issues. This house was built in the 1970's, and was wired with aluminum wire. That was later determined to be a potential problem, so, Eric/A were required to get it fixed. That fix amounted to the electrician's application of penetrox on each connection, before fastening the wire-nut (marrette). That was ten years ago, it was inspected and approved. But, our insurance company has decided that it must be reinspected. So, we applied for that, paid $300+ for the privilege, and were further dismayed to have the inspector tell us the job was unsatisfactory! His story is that the marrettes used were not the approved ones, even though the installation was inspected and approved! The electrician's story is that the code has changed! Our story is we can't get insurance without a certificate! Yikes! After some discussion, the electrician has agreed to supply us with the marrettes, the inspector has approved the marrettes, and all that remains is for yours truly to open all the boxes and replace the non-approved ones! Sigh! According to the invoice of the earlier work, it took the electrician 11 hours to do the job, so I'll be at this awhile. I have now completed all the switch boxes, and began work on the receptacles today. Good economic data this week both sides of the border should have buoyed the markets, but the TSX demurred! However, I was blessed with quota, so I won't complain. The World Series was very entertaining, even strange, baseball, and it went the full seven games. In the final analysis, the Astros won two games in Los Angeles, so you have to give them credit for the victory. Hockey continues to entertain as well, my highlight was a game between the Pens and the Oilers—very exciting, even though my team lost! There was another enjoyable game between the Pens and Canucks tonight. The Riders completed the regular season this evening with a meaningless loss to Edmonton. Now they move on to the conference semi-final next weekend against Ottawa. Go Riders, Go! I managed to get out for curling practice a couple of times, and even played a bit this evening. I am delighted with how it's going!

Eric is getting excited to be near the end of his qualifying hours for Clinical counsellor status. If everything goes according to plan, he should be done by end of November! His current count is 9 hours of supervision left! Liam was diagnosed with Whooping cough this week. He thought it was a made up sickness. Now he is on medication for that. Poor kid! He just wants to be healthy. Haaken started some new classes this week. His school is designed to do fewer, more concentrated classes at a time. He is enjoying his time there. On the renovation front, the washing machine was reinstalled, minus the Teflon tape. They did a test run, it worked and there is no leaking! They also picked up some primer last weekend so they can finish their painting duties.

Yeah, I didn't recognize him!

Don't know this guy, either!

Kristian had a busy week with Trick 'r Treating early in the week and bowling this weekend. On Hallowe'en, he enjoyed both going out for treats, and being able to hand out treats at home, so he was multi-tasking that night. His first game of bowling did not go well, but games 2 & 3 were good and pushed his average back over 100. Maybe warmups are a good strategy, hey, buddy?! Otherwise, they're hunkering down and enjoying their refurbished home out of the winter weather in Regina.

Brrrrr!

Trav & Joanna are busy with hockey photography this time of year. We were glad to find time to have them all over for supper on Friday evening. It was also great to catch up with Gemma and Andrew. He is about a head taller than the last time we saw him in June before we headed west. Gemma is in the process of filling out applications for university—how did that come about so soon!

And that's about enough for this week.