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. 

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