News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been mild with some night time temperatures even remaining above zero. Along with these systems, we've had some fresh snow and also some rain! At Wendy's insistence, we've taken time to clean the driveway down to the pavement. I've also taken the opportunity to work outside, doing some electrical upgrades in the garage. The garage is my next area of focus as the main house project remaining is the kitchen, and that's just more money than we can manage right now. Wendy is removing a piece of carpet in the kitchenette in preparation for tile in that part of the room. We have purchased 1/2" tiles for a thermal-break from the cement floor, so that's about ready to go once the painting is completed. Wendy has also put many hours into a 1000-piece puzzle; there are still a few hundred pieces left to go. The markets have continued their volatile ways, made more-so with the political chaos across the line. If it weren't such a concern, it would be amusing to see how a party in control of the legislative branches and the executive can't get legislation passed! The TSX is not moving up much (less than 1%), while the US indices are up over 5% this month. The main index down there was up 24% in Trump's first year—bigly! However, it falls far short of Obama's first year (35%). The main concerns for the US is that job gains have fallen to the lowest level in six years, and they're putting all their eggs in the trickle-down basket, so their dollar has fallen 10% in the last year. At any rate, I had another good week; so far, so good! The Continental Cup came to an exciting conclusion on Sunday with the North American team eking out the narrowest of victories over the World team. It was also a wonderful display of sportsmanship as the players seemed to realize that it's just a game and no one's national pride was devastated by the result. This week the curling feature is the Canadian Open. My guy, Kevin Koe, made the playoffs, but he lost the semi-final to Edin in an extra end. It will be Sweden vs Switzerland in the final tomorrow. On the women's side, it's Englot vs Carey. It is also the week of national junior championships in curling for both men and women. Good thing I have a PVR! KU moved up in the rankings to #10. They managed a big road win this week, and then returned home for this evening's win over Baylor—far closer than it should have been! In the NHL, Pens and Leafs are sitting in playoff spots, but the Oilers remain a long way out. C'mon Oil! 

The Baileys are enjoying their new/old house through their first winter. We look forward to getting updated on that project when we're out that way in the next month or so. Otherwise they continued with organizing and moving into their master bedroom. They sorted through clothes and have a big pile going to Value Village! Liam had a ski trip to Fernie. No news from him, except that he made it back. It must have been a fun time! Haaken continues with school.

Kristian was not feeling well this morning, so he missed his league bowling again. In his make up games earlier in the week, he put up some nice numbers with an average of 125. He'll have to make up today's play as well. Erin has decided it was time, so, she took down the Christmas tree today! 

Trav and Joanna returned from Punta Cana on Sunday night, and have got back into the swing of work and home. Trav is taking an adult hockey skills clinic, and finds it quite a bit of work. 

And that's about it for this week.