The Madness Continues!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. Wendy and Erica left Sunday morning for Bonn, Germany where Erica had her second surgery for Lipedema on Thursday. Erica was released from the hospital today, and will spend a few more days convalescing in the BnB before flying home next Wednesday. In the meantime, I've been holding down the fort at Erin's place in Regina. I've completed the electrical upgrades downstairs, and got that mostly cleaned up today. Some drywall repair remains to be done. An additional electrical upgrade has been added to the list; we'll see whether I can get to that next week. The weather has been quite nice, although we did get a little snow and a lot of wind on Friday. Otherwise, I've been trying to manage the Trump-troubled markets. DOW has now dropped almost 5% so far this year; TSX is doing even worse, and I had a down week. Trumpeting new tariffs on the stuff his citizens like to buy caused over 1000 point drop on the DOW—he's probably not bragging about that! Still, the economy in both US and Canada is doing fine, so I continue to expect investors to look past the blowhard and build more value as the year goes on. March Madness, my favourite sporting spectacle of the year is on, and Kansas is still alive and in the Elite Eight. They'll have a tough contest tomorrow against Duke. Rock Chalk boys! Hockey is down to the last half dozen games and most playoff spots are still up for grabs. My favourites—the Oilers—are out of it, but the Pens and Leafs are well-placed. The Women's world championship in curling has been running this week. Jennifer Jones takes her undefeated record into the gold medal game tomorrow against the Olympic Gold Medalists from Sweden. The Men's world championship begins next Saturday. 

Erica has been away in Germany all week. We're glad Wendy was able to accompany her, but Eric is wondering where all the snow-shovelers are when another storm arrived on Friday! We enjoyed spending last weekend with them here in Regina. Liam is preparing for a short chorus tour in Saskatchewan the end of this week. 

Erin and Kristian are taking good care of me. Thanks! Kristian and I tried indoor golf practice on Wednesday. He got to break in his new clubs, and did very well. I'm setting his goal for this year to get his drives up to 150 yards; then, we will be able to play a regular golf course. He had another good day at bowling today, and has raised his average again. Erin and I made a Keto pizza tonight—Tropical Chicken—it was delicious! 

Keto Tropical Chicken Pizza

Travis has been holding down both forts back in Thunder Bay. Joanna has been away caring for her folks in Toronto. Her mom had hip-replacement surgery. Her step-mom was also ill and had to go to the hospital, so her dad needed hands-on care as well. It's been a tough go recently for Joanna, so it will be a bit of a relief now that she's returned home. Trav's main business attention recently has been the minor hockey playoffs in TBay. Of course, he's also responsible for keeping his Penguins progressing in the NHL. 

That's about enough for this week. 

The Madness Has Begun!

Another week has passed in the middle of the prairies. We spent most of the week on the shore of the South Saskatchewan River, but drove back to the shore of Lake Wascana on Thursday. We got to Prince Albert last weekend, and enjoyed the week with Eric/A. We managed to get a few projects done there. Now, we're back in with Erin and Kristian. We are being hosted marvellously wherever we go, so that makes things very comfortable for us—thanks guys! The weather has been very nice, mostly sunny and melting each day. Spring is upon us, and we're enjoying the relief. Madness continues in the White House, and the markets continue to dance as investors alternately fear or rejoice in the possibilities! Trump has piled up an additional 1 trillion in national debt in his first 14 months—investors didn't like to hear that! Anyway, I had a great week, and I am back on quota for the year to date. March Madness has begun in college basketball—one of the great sports spectaculars of the year. Kansas was installed as a #1 seed, and has rattled off wins in their first two games to move into the Sweet Sixteen. The big story was the win by UMBC; the first time a #16 seed has beaten a #1 seed. Virginia, who I picked to win it all, becomes the answer to the trivia question as the first team to lose to a #16! Curling has been on all week as well with the Elite 10 from Winnipeg. My guy, Kevin Koe, has moved into the playoff round. John Shuster's gold medal winning team is there, and had a nice feature on their team history and the great win at the Olympics. The women's world curling championship began today; Jennifer Jones will represent us well. She won her first two games, but the competition is tough. The NHL continues the playoff push in the final weeks of the campaign. This evening we celebrated Erica's birthday with dinner at Boston Pizza, followed by dessert and music at Grandpa's. 

The Bailey's hosted a rowdy couple this week! We introduced them to several shows, including Anne, which Erica really liked. She started binge-watching Thursday night and now she is eager to find out what happens next!! It was a good week and we enjoyed the company. The lights in the bedroom got fixed along with a fair amount of tidying and cleaning around the house. After Wendy was done cleaning there is an extra sparkle and crispness to things. We're not sure exactly what she does, but it looks good! I also got to try out my newest keto pizza recipe and keto cinnamon buns—both were hits! At least we were able to have a meal ready to eat and company ready to visit when they got home from work! Eric/A drove down to Regina for the weekend; Wendy and Erica are set to leave for Germany on Sunday morning. On Tuesday, we joined Erica and her church's prime time group for their devotional time and singing. Erica thought she was there to minister to them by leading singing and sharing her testimony. However, she was wrong! She was ministered to in prayer and encouragement and left very full! They feel richly blessed! Liam returned to Caronport last week and experienced a flat tire along the way. He now has a CAA membership! I took the car to Kal-Tire on Friday to see about repairs to the tire, but it is lost and the others are worn out as well. They were planning to replace all the tires this summer—summer has come! Surprise! Haaken continues with his studies in Victoria. We are hoping to hear soon about how this semester has gone in terms of grades. 

We're back at Erin and Kristian's now. On Friday, Kristian and I went to Golf Town to try out new golf clubs. The pro there assessed his swing from both sides, and confirmed Kristian's plan to switch to the right side. He has pretty good swings from both sides, and I've been in situations on the golf course (Okay, off the golf course!) where that would have come in handy! I have bought him a new set of right-handed clubs, about 1.5" longer than his old ones. We are now looking forward to the golf season! I'm planning an indoor practice session this next week for both of us. Kristian had another great day at bowling this morning, averaging 148.7. That's about 30 points above his average, which will increase again! Erin and Kristian enjoyed parent-teacher interviews on Friday! 

Travis and Joanna had another full week. Joanna returned to southern Ontario for her mom's hip-replacement surgery. She spent most of the week there, and plans to return to TBay on the 24th. All seems to be progressing well for all concerned, so that's a relief. Trav is busy with the closing weeks of hockey season; there is plenty of playoff activity in TBay. Those are all photo opps! Then, he has two houses to take care of, but fortunately only one driveway! Thanks guys! 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Brier Week

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We had a big snowstorm to make the prairies really feel like we remember! Today, we moved to the shore of the South Saskatchewan River on the northern edge of the prairies. The Brier has been the major focus of my interest this week. I was able to follow all games on TV, and was pleased to be able to attend three draws. Wendy and I attended the wild card game, and also the Thursday afternoon draw. Mark hosted me to the Thursday evening draw. Everyone wanted to use their own tickets, so I'm limited to watching on TV this weekend. Four of the provincial/territorial representative teams qualified for the medal play this weekend. Alberta knocked Northern Ontario out this afternoon. Newfoundland and Ontario remain in the running as well. After our week at Erin and Kristian, we drove up to visit Eric and Erica, so we're in Prince Albert now. It's been another up and down week in the markets as Trump's top economic advisor withdrew over the tariff plans. Trump still pushed them through, but excused Canada and Mexico from the effects. Quite a thing when you put in a tariff against foreign steel and then excuse the main supplier! At least I had a great week, and am almost back to quota year to date. Otherwise, I did an R/R on a set of blinds for Erin, and kept track of the curling. We celebrated Dad's 93rd birthday with him on Wednesday, and did the quick turnaround to celebrate Wendy's birthday on Friday! The NHL is in the final season games and the playoff push is on. The Leafs are doing well, including a big win over the Pens tonight! The Oilers are playing out the string at this point.

The Baileys have been digging ourselves out of the snow this week. Fortunately they got some help from a few enterprising kids who shovelled the entire walk for $20. They thought it was such a good deal they even threw in a big bag of candy. Liam was home last weekend because of a doctor appointment—well, the appointment was cancelled on Monday morning due to the snow and Liam stayed over an extra day due to the weather. It was nice to have him home for a little bit longer. Unfortunately his trip back was eventful. He got a flat and when he tried to change the tire, it proved difficult to get the spare out of the trunk. They struck a deal with CAA to get him a membership and go help him out. The pros had an equally difficult time, but they eventually freed the spare from the truck and got Liam on his way. Other than that, Haaken continues with school while Eric and Erica continue with work.

Erin could not get out after the storm, so I drove her to work a couple of times. Kristian went to bowling practice Monday evening, but the other team members did not show, so he just practiced sans coaches for a while, and we carried on. It was quite a mess on the streets for most of the week. Kristian came home with a cold on Thursday, and was also home Friday. He had bowling this morning, and put up above average scores once again. He's having a good season. We spent the week with them and enjoyed a relaxing week—thanks guys!

Joanna had a trying week in Toronto and has been enjoying some TLC back in Thunder Bay this week—richly deserved IMHO! We are glad to hear from them from time to time, and learn how things are going back there.

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has been very comfortable with daytime highs consistently around zero. Today, we got a bit of fresh snow, but we also have warning of a Colarado Clipper that may bring more snow to the southeast part of Saskatchewan. We've had a good week here hosted by Dad. Bern, Alicia and Logan returned on Monday night, and are back to work and school. We took a trip down to Carlyle today to curl in a tournament down there. We lost the championship in an extra end by about 1 inch! It was fun! Wendy has continued with therapy on her two newly awakened finger joints, but it hurts! The markets have continued to be dismal. February was completed as the worst month in years, and March has begun badly as well. New FED chair, Powell, was testifying before the Senate this week, and once again showed he has failed to master the art of the spiel. Then Trump began crying for attention, announcing ridiculous taxes on his own citizens for aluminum and steel. The markets crashed again. It is pitiful that, in pretty good economic times, these guys can crush my needed market gains with their ill-advised rhetoric. So, I had another tough week. I have completed two months, just a little under my quota, but I need to have a good month of March to get things on an even keel. In the NHL, teams are installing their new acquisitions and we're seeing how it will work out. In NCAA basketball, the Jayhawks had one good game to complete their conference championship, and then had a stinker against Oklahoma State today. It's time for March Madness, and there will be no room for more bad games—Rock Chalk Boys!

Erica was sick with a cold this week so it was rather uneventful. Eric managed to keep up with the house and supply the NeoCitran. Haaken discovered the reason he hasn’t received his student loan is that the Canadian student loans people need confirmation of his enrolment. The fact that the Sask Student loans people already had that in order to be approved doesn’t seem to matter. So, they are hoping with one more piece of paper he might actually get his student loan this school year, sigh! Liam has a doctor's appointment on Monday so he is home this weekend, which is really nice.

 Erin and Kristian are getting ready to host us. Kristian has been down a bit with a cold this weekend, so he's taking extra rest. I'm planning to get him shopping for new golf clubs soon. I expect he's outgrown the old ones. 

He has grown since then!

Travis and Joanna have been battling the snow as well as their work in Thunder Bay. This week Joanna was called home to assist in the care and planning with respect to her dad. We feel for her as she works through this difficult transition.

And that's about enough for this week.