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.