Saturday, February 24

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies! The weather has been improving all week, and is currently sitting at zero. There have been no storms, and we're enjoying that. We certainly could use some snow for the fields of Saskatchewan. Wendy was able to spend some time in the shop with dad helping with woodworking projects. Then, she had her appointment to get her finger joint broken free. The doctor agreed to do two of them, and the pain is significant! She's getting by with T3's, and pushing the therapy as much as she can stand. We hope it will afford her significantly better strength and grip. I have continued with my usual market work, and added in further work in the garage to get the new sensors activated. That required new wiring, with some of it in hard to reach places. The markets have continued to be highly volatile with two days seriously red, and three days seriously green! The main issue continues to be the chaos and changes in the US administration—this week, the new FED chair released his first minutes and dropped the market 450 points that afternoon. It's tough going on the tummy to be in these markets, but I had a good week all the same. Still needing a lot of catch up to make money this month. The Olympics wrap up this weekend; the Canadian team has done very well. My main interest—curling has not gone according to my expectations or wishes. I felt Koe had a reasonable chance to be in the final game where he might be in tough against Edin (Sweden), but he lost the semi-final to Shuster (USA) and the bronze medal game to Switzerland. Then Shuster went on to an historic, albeit surprising, win over Edin. I'm pretty happy for the American guys. On the women's side, I expected Homan to win the gold. Last year she went through the World Championships undefeated, but she did not have it this week and didn't even make the playoffs. Tonight, it was Hasselborg (Sweden) over Kim (Korea) for the gold. The Korean team was a joy to watch, and Hasselborg is one of the top ranked teams in the world. Our hockey women lost the gold medal in a shoot out; our men won the bronze over the Czechs. The NHL has been high profile this week as the trade deadline looms. Some moves have been made, more are expected before Monday. On the ice, the Pens are challenging for first place, and the Leafs have moved up as well. The Jayhawks were elevated to #8 in the rankings last weekend. They played great in an easy win over OU, and then faced #6Texas Tech in the biggest conference game of the season this afternoon. It was a great effort, and a great win—marking 14 straight conference championships, an NCAA record! I'm expecting another elevation this weekend.

The Baileys enjoyed having Liam at home this week. Unfortunately, he was sick with a cold most of the week, but he got some sleep. They enjoyed hanging out together, but for some reason the parents didn’t get to bed on time much this week—wonder why?! Liam also took on the chimney in his room. He knocked off the plaster. Now they have a mostly bare chimney and a pile of plaster on the floor. Fun! Haaken continues to enjoy school and living in Victoria.
Liam, the Chimney Man! 

Erin enjoyed a week of work without the morning and evening trips to school. Kristian had the week off, and enjoyed working on a project with Grandma. He also built a solar-powered robot with Grandpa. His bowling today was not quite as good as it has been recently, but he did beat his average again. That keeps getting harder! He's doing well.

Trav & Joanna conferenced with us via FaceTime during the week. They've had snow in TBay, so 'enjoyed' clearing the driveway! At least they got some extra help; thanks Max! Looks like we have three workers, and one camera operator!
TBay Cleanup!
And that's about it for this week. 

Saturday, February 17

News Update

Another week has passed and we have completed our transit to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has been variable this week with one cold day, and one day above zero with rain—wild times we live in! We enjoyed our weekend in Dauphin and then drove over here on Monday. Wendy had a doctor's appointment referral on Tuesday and that seems productive. She has been booked for another finger-unfreezing, and also referred to another specialist who will consider replacing the fused joint on her index finger with a hinge. We'll watch that development with interest. We have settled in with Dad, and developed a good working program. Wendy has been working with Dad in the shop, and progress is being made there as well. I replaced the ballast in the troublesome fluorescent in the shop, so that's working again. Then, it turned out, the garage door opener had failed just before we arrived—timely, I know! I spent some effort trying to repair it, but failed. As I like to brag, "If I can't fix it, it's not broken, it's ruined!" Not true, but in this case, we declared the opener ruined and were glad to find that Lowes had a sale on. I installed the new one; it works pretty well, but the installation was not problem-free, and is also not completed! It turns out the new electronic opener is not compatible with the old sensors, so I shall have to replace the sensors as well. Fortunately, sensors were supplied, so it's just a matter of removing the old ones and wiring in the new ones! The markets reversed themselves several times this week, but at least US markets made some gains which helped a lot; I had a good month this week! My sports calendar is full with Olympics, NHL and NCAA! I've mainly been following the curling at the Olympics. Koe is doing well and currently in a playoff position, although he dropped an entertaining game to Edin (Sweden) last night, and another to the Swiss tonight. Homan is not doing well, but she finally won last night over the USA. She probably needs to win the rest to make the playoffs, but she is certainly capable of doing so. Olympic Hockey doesn't raise much interest since the best players are not there. This evening I got to enjoy the Pens win over the Leafs, and the Jayhawks comeback win over West Virginia. 

'Hey, it's good to be back home again!" Eric and Erica celebrated Valentines Day with a cooking date. They purchased a spiralizer and made spiral veggies with steak! Erica added a cream sauce. This weekend Erica is at a Ladies Retreat in Moose Jaw with a group of ladies from PA; Wendy is there, also. It promises to be a good weekend. Liam is preparing for Youth Quake. He plans to come home on Sunday to catch up on sleep for a week. Haaken enjoyed this past week off, but he decided to stay in Victoria. He must like it out there! Eric was on the radio on Valentine's Day with a special on relationships. 

We've caught up with Erin and Kristian here in Regina. Kristian had Friday off school, and he spent it with us. Then, we all enjoyed his bowling league this morning. He continues to raise his average, and is the best bowler on his team. Erin had more car problems this week. The interlock solenoid on her steering column decided not to recognize her key! The replacement was over $1000, but then it was discovered that this was a recall item by Nissan, so the part could be purchased for less than $100. Finally, Nissan allowed as how they should be replacing the part gratis! So, it ended well. 

Travis, Joanna and crew are taking care of things back in TBay. Joanna returned from Toronto, and jumped right back into the swing of things at work, and in the business. We are certainly grateful to have them there taking care of the house while we're away. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Saturday, February 10

News Update

Another week has passed, the weather has improved, and we have moved! On Thursday, we drove up to Winnipeg, where we enjoyed the hospitality of Mike and Peggy. Today, we drove out to Dauphin where we're enjoying time with a longtime friend, Marilyn, and looking forward to catching up with our other friends in the area. We plan to complete the transit to Regina on Monday. It has been a busy week as we completed what we could of the home projects, and prepared to be away for the next while. I had an MRI on my prostate on Thursday—I hope I'll get feedback on that by the end of next week. It was certainly preferable to the biopsy! The only disagreeable part was all the noisy claxons placed by my ears! The drive west is going well! The markets were terrible this week; Trump has expanded the deficit by 84% in just one year, and investors are concerned. US indices are down 7-8% this month, and are now in the red for the year to date. I have suffered along with them, but was blessed with a good day on Friday to recover a bit. The Olympics have begun, and I've mostly been focusing on Mixed Doubles Curling. I haven't been able to follow my sports as much this weekend as we've been travelling. Our team has advanced to the playoffs in Mixed Doubles, and our snowboarders are picking up some medals. The Maple Leafs continue to do well. Pens are also doing okay; at least they're in a playoff position. The Oilers are struggling, and I don't see a way for them to make it to the playoffs. KU was dropped to #10, and after this week's action will probably drop further. They won their home game, but lost today at Baylor, so it hasn't been a good week for them. Rock Chalk Jayhawks! 

The Baileys are doing fine in PA. We expect to see them, and even visit them in PA, during our sojourn in Saskatchewan. Erica spent this week a little east of Edmonton for work—helping out on a few files. It was long days, so she logged a lot of hours. But it was also fun to meet some of her colleagues from Alberta. She even waved at Dolly while I was there—virtually, over the company network. Eric spent the week at home enjoying a rental car—a Toyota Corolla. It's not his dream car, the Tercel, but they don't make those anymore. Liam had a few doctor appointments on Monday with the family doctor and the specialist. They were encouraged to see that he has gained some weight and his iron is up a bit. He still needs to improve it further, but he is definitely doing better. Liam had his 18th on Sunday and Haaken had his 21st on Wednesday. It looks like Haaken had a good birthday with a trip to Mr. Mikes with the Baileys in Victoria, and a Simpsons birthday cake. We were going to call him, but he told us he would prefer that, for his birthday, we do not call him... so we didn't. We will probably give him a call this weekend.

Kristian has been collaborating with us as he works on projects for school. It's pretty amazing to watch him work in Regina while we're in Thunder Bay. He had a school ski trip yesterday, his first try at skiing. He took a lesson, and seemed to do all right, but feels a bit nervous about it. He also tried snowboarding, but didn't enjoy that. Today, in bowling, he scored 137, 137, 135—amazing consistency! 

Travis and Joanna remain busy. Joanna was away in Toronto most of the week visiting her dad. It was bittersweet, and there are family meetings to discuss options for his ongoing care. Trav took care of things at home and over here in the office. We are glad to have them around to take care of the house while we travel. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Saturday, February 3

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The temperatures took a brief break mid-week, but it's been a week of bluster, blizzard and cold, and whether the groundhog saw his shadow or not, we're expecting many more weeks of winter. It has not been a good week in several ways. I initiated the week with a lovely feast of chocolate ice cream on Sunday evening, and by Monday, my gout was in full flare! Even after beginning a course of Colchicine, it took several days to break the pain in my right foot. Now, I'm recovered, and with a new respect for the necessary discipline of avoiding high fructose corn syrup! The disabling issues of gout also forced me to forego my curling activity this week—so, I had to satisfy myself with much curling on TV. It is the week of the Scotties. Four teams have survived the round robin action and enter the playoffs. I was cheering for Northern Ontario representative, Fleury, but she lost out this afternoon. Now, I'll be cheering for Einarson to complete her run, however, she'll have to beat NS (Arsenault) in the semi, and MB (Jones) is already waiting in the final. The markets put on a terrible, no good, very bad week, dropping several percentage points in the turmoil of Trump's America. I completed January successfully, making quota even though the TSX was down 1.6%. February has begun with red ink. Wendy has persisted in another puzzle, and wrapped it up tonight, even though she was convinced there were pieces missing! She has also taken over driveway clearing duties while I've cheered from the sideline with gout. She spent some time on preparations for our sojourn on the prairies; we intend to leave by the end of next week. Hockey has resumed after the all-star break. The Leafs and Pens are holding down playoff spots, but my Oilers are continuing to flail helplessly. In college basketball, the Jayhawks were dropped a couple of spots to #7. This week they played one good game, but couldn't shoot this afternoon, losing a home game to Oklahoma State. They will be dropped further!

Eric and Erica are progressing through their first winter in the new/old house in PA. They enjoyed being back together this week. It's getting into busy season so there has been a lot of work going on, not much of it on the house. They did have some new friends over for dinner and as luck would have it, the guy does house Renos. So they did a tour and talked ideas. Liam is home this weekend for his birthday and for two doctors' appointments on Monday. He brought a friend home with him. They all went to Saskatoon and watched a movie to celebrate his birthday. Haaken is doing his classes. He is also doing some tracking on why he hasn’t got his student loan money. Haaken is also considering a weekend class on making a movie.

Kristian and Erin had a remarkable week. It started with Kristian falling ill and missing school on Tuesday. He recovered, and on his return to school found he had been awarded Safety Patroller of the month for January—good job, Kristian! Today he had league bowling and put up a combined average over 140 once again. 
Congratulations Kristian!

Travis and Joanna remain busy—always a good thing when you're in business! Gemma and Andrew are heading into the second semester work in school. Gemma is graduating, so is also busy with plans and preparation for university. Joanna is off to Toronto tomorrow to spend some time with her dad. 

And that's about it for this week.