News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of the Souris River in the middle of the prairies. It's been another busy, but memorable week. I got out for two golf games, one with Dale, and the other with Kristian. My game continues to show progress on the path toward consistency. The weather has been nice, with a few showers and thunderstorms to break the hot days. My supplies have all arrived, and I have completed the drip irrigation projects for 55 Laird, and for Erin. There's still a bit of clean up to do on each, but they're functioning well. The markets continued to be troubled, and the DOW remains in the red for the year. The TSX is barely into the green, so I've also struggled. Thus, half the year is gone, and I am well behind my targets. I will keep trying! This weekend featured the 50th reunion of our graduating class. Five of the 21 have already passed on, and another six were unable to make it this weekend, so there were only ten of us, but it was a good and memorable time. Including updates from those who didn't make it, we enjoyed seeing or hearing from these longtime friends. The Blue Jays are playing a bit better, but are so far out of it, it's hard to be enthusiastic. The Riders played Montreal tonight, but fell short in a close game.

Grads of 1968

On Wednesday Erica drove to Caronport to load up Liam’s boxes and stuff to move back home. It took both vehicles. And just when they thought everything was fitting in—Liam pointed to his bike. So, they repacked both vehicles and headed to Regina for that night. Erica fit in a couple of meetings and then they headed home—now to catch up on rest! They are starting to make renovation lists—starting with the stuff that was supposed be completed last year. This will be a long term project. But that’s okay because it gives us an excuse to visit! Eric and Erica head to Germany on Tuesday for surgery number three. They were very encouraged this week by a God-incidence. They didn’t have all the funds yet in place to pay for the next surgery, and had been praying about it. Then one night they got an email announcing some unexpected funds! They were reminded of how blessed they are and that God provides: sometimes through people, and sometimes through random emails in the middle of the night. Not much news from Haaken this week as he continues at school.

Kristian completed his grade six this week. He seemed pleased with the announced teacher for grade 7. He has been puttering away, helping his grandmother organize his room to get it ready for painting and flooring, but there's lot of work to do there. On Friday, he went golfing with me, and managed three pars in a row during one stretch. He's swinging in a much more controlled fashion. Erin found more material, representing another project for me in her kitchen. We'll see how long before I get to that!

This week, Trav, Joanna and family celebrated Gemma’s graduation from high school. She won several awards including a full tuition scholarship to Lakehead University's Life Sciences (Medical Focus) Honours Bachelor Undergrad Program. She’s been offered this because she achieved an average of 95% or higher. She also has graduated with honours and was selected as the recipient of a generous cash award for academic excellence. She was also acknowledged for the level of French she achieved. She is one of 9 students in the school who achieved her nationally recognized bilingual status (DELF B1).

Gemma! A great kid! A wonderful woman!
Proud parents and grandparents!

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has been favourable, and I got out for a golf game with Dale on Thursday. That went pretty well, at least for the front nine, then, my hook reappeared, and I was scrambling the rest of the way. I scored +15, which is not what I'm looking for, but 3 strokes better than Steinbach last week. I'll have to practice more! We started the week in Caronport for Liam's graduation exercises. He did us proud, achieving a high honours award for his average marks above 90%, as well as the Male Fine Arts award, and the Male Citizenship award. It was great! I've been working most of the week on drip-irrigation projects. I've completed two zones at 55 Laird, and am working on a third. I am also doing one zone for Erin. It's all coming together well, but there remains some installation and fine-tuning to complete. Wendy is busy preparing for our fiftieth school reunion. She spent two days at the provincial archives perusing photos of the era. Now, I need to get them organized into the slide show. On Thursday, she went back to her finger doctor, who froze and broke free another finger joint. It's a very painful process, but with T3's, she is managing. The markets remain troubled over Trump's trade wars. The DOW remains red for the year, and the TSX is only up 1.5%. We're almost half done the year, so it's been a hard way to make a living! I managed quota this week, but remain far behind our needs for our pension so far. I shall have to work smarter! I continue to follow the Blue Jays, and they continue to play not very good ball. The Riders played in Ottawa this week, but didn't play well on either side of the ball, so they took a good drubbing. C'mon man! 

The Graduate!

The Baileys hosted Sheena at their sweat lodge this week. It was only as she was leaving on Friday, that they remembered they had another AC unit they could have installed in her room! Erica had a meeting in Saskatoon, so Sheena travelled along, and then she drove her to Fort Qu'appelle for a visit with the Muirheads and Koops. Eric endured his colonoscopy and got the results. Things look relatively normal—which is good, but doesn't explain why he's experiencing so much pain. Liam is completing classes; he's done on Wednesday. Haaken is back at school for a few more weeks. 

Kristian is running out the string of this school year. He seems to have special tours or events most days. Among other things he had Track & Field, and a swimming pool day this week. Erin also had a special evening as her work place took a number of them out for a celebratory supper in recognition of their hard and successful work. Congratulations Erin. She's also been working on the development of her garden to fit in with her new drip-irrigation system. Today, Erin and Kristian joined me at the golf course for some practice time. That was fun. 

Travis & Joanna are managing back home. They celebrated Joanna's birthday on Monday. It's also the time of year end activities for Gemma and Andrew. This is Gemma's graduation year; she's already been accepted into university. Andrew has another year of high school. Time flies! 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Happy Fathers Day

Another week has passed, and we have journeyed westward from the shore of Lake Superior. We spent a couple of nights in Winnipeg—thanks Tom and Mariette! Then, we continued on to Regina where we're staying for the next little while—thanks Erin and Kristian! The trip went well, and we're adjusting to the two-hour time difference. I enjoyed a golf game with Tom on Tuesday. I shot 90; I am quite encouraged with the state of my game. I'm looking forward to scoring in the 80's soon. Erin had ordered flooring to replace the carpets in hers and Kristian's bedrooms. We borrowed Bern's truck to pick that up yesterday. Erin's freezer had recently quit, so Wendy took up that issue with Costco, and they agreed to replace it. So, we took back the old freezer and picked up the new one while we had the truck yesterday. So, it was a lot of lifting and moving for the old feller yesterday! I broke my 7-iron on Tuesday, so I took that in to Golftown, but after a day of consideration, they decided they couldn't fix it, so I went back in today, and convinced them they could fix it! Trump carried on with more lunacy this week, picking on his friends, and befriending his enemies. This caused a bad week in the markets, although Friday let me recover a bit. The Blue Jays continue to play mediocre baseball, so they're a long way out of the playoff race already and it's just June! The Riders opened the season last night against the defending champs from Toronto and scored an impressive win. Yay! Today, we drove over to Caronport for Liam's Graduation—the event that brought us west at this time. It was a grand affair! 

Liam's Grad

Eric and Erica are marking the graduation of their baby boy! This weekend the family has collected at Caronport for the two-day extravaganza graduation celebration. Way to go Liam! Haaken and Grandma Bailey flew in from Victoria. We drove up from Thunder Bay. It should be quite a weekend. Eric had a specialist appointment on Friday. They suspect he has Diverticulosis/Diverticulitis. This means dietary changes for someone who is already super picky, but it's better than some of the alternatives! We wish him well, and better! 

Erin and Kristian are busy hosting us now. They also travelled to Caronport for Liam's graduation. Erin was glad to see Costco replace her deep freeze, and surprised to see her dad carry the old one out and the new one in! Kristian was the hired man to load and unload the 25 packages of flooring material for their bedrooms. Grandpa got tired, so we haven't moved them upstairs yet!

Loading the Flooring

Travis and Joanna are enjoying the summer weather in Thunder Bay. As we were golfing Sunday afternoon, they issued a distress call. Their outside hose bib had sprung a leak and was making a mess in their basement. We found it had frozen and broken during the winter, but only leaked when they turn it on to water the grass. I told them just to let the grass die! Then, we took off the broken part, bought a new one, and installed that, so they're back in the lawn development business! They saw us off on Monday, and are now in charge of the house and lawns back there! Thanks guys! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been great, and I've managed to get out for a couple of golf practices. Wendy has been very busy again. She completed weeding and arrangements of 50 years of photos. Then, she turned her focus to Gemma's grad dress, and got the tailoring of that item completed just yesterday. I completed my latest renovations in the garage, and have begun assembling a few tools to take along next week. I took a harvest of the rhubarb patch, and got it cut up and into the freezer so we can enjoy it later. The markets were up this week, and I was relieved to manage to make quota for a change! We had our provincial election on Thursday. With the new electronic ballots, they were able to announce the winner about 15 minutes after the polls closed. However, we were not satisfied with the results! The NHL season ended on Thursday as well, and I was delighted with that result—well done Washington Capitals! Riders dropped their second preseason game to Calgary; now it's on to the regular season opener against Toronto. Go Riders, Go! I'm still waiting for one shipment of supplies for the irrigation project. It's supposed to be delivered to Regina, but I haven't been having success getting straight answers from the supplier, so we wait to see!

Liam is off on a camping trip to Waterton this weekend with his dorm mate—should be a great bonding time as they move on to the next stage of their lives. Haaken is enjoying college and reports that he is doing very well—getting good grades. Eric is still suffering with abdominal pain. Friday he stayed home sick as the pain was just too much. They are awaiting an appointment for a colonoscopy, and hope it comes soon, and they get some answers. Erica is getting to the end of her busy season. It's now less than a month before Eric/A return to Germany for the next surgery.

Erin and Kristian had a more routine week. Kristian had another eye appointment on Monday; the doctor was not pleased, as it seems Kristian is having a minor flare up. At this point, they're treating it with cleaning each day, and hoping to avoid going back on erythromycin. They rode their bikes to the park today, but it was so busy, they came back home and went for a walk to the store.

Trav & Joanna got a new deck to the back of their house.  It is very nice; we got to help them initiate it with a barbecue supper Thursday evening—good food, good company! Otherwise they keep up with work, and Wendy tries to help with Gemma's grad preparation by tailoring her dress. They bought new blinds for the dining and living areas. Trav and I got them installed on Friday evening. Today, they invited us along for a trip down to Grand Marais for a meal at a quaint taco shop. We enjoyed the outing and the supper.

Trav & Joanna's new back deck!

And that's about it for this week.

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been fine, with a few nice showers to water the lawns, and, hopefully, get our forests out of their extreme fire hazard. It's turned cool this weekend, so I'm not thinking we'll get out for our regular Sunday afternoon golf game. This week, Wendy has spent many hours working through 50 years of photos! There are many! I've done a bit more in the shop. Currently, I'm working to upgrade the ceiling finish. The markets received extra trouble from Trump this week, as he's decided to offend his allies with tariffs on steel and aluminum. Then, the conference with NKorea is back on, and all told, investors don't know what to think. Canada, Mexico and the EU responded with referral of Trump's actions to the World Trade Organization, and also announced counter-measures against US products. Now, we'll have to wait to see whether anyone down there can talk some sense into his head. In any case, I closed off May, well below quota. It really was a May to stay away! The Stanley Cup playoffs have completed three games, and the Caps have a 2-1 lead. Football has begun again, with preseason games already underway. Riders dropped their opener in Edmonton—Go Riders, Go! The irrigation project for Regina is all planned, revised, and planned again! I'm still waiting on the shipments of equipment; one has been delayed, so that will be a problem! 

Baileys rejoiced in the arrival of some much-needed rain this week. They installed the air conditioner upstairs, but didn't really need it. Eric had a follow-up appointment with his doctor—the initial tests point to the need for more tests, including a colonoscopy—oh, yay! So, we'll be waiting to see what those tests say. Liam is preparing for Grad this weekend; Grad is only two weeks away. They've been asked to submit some baby photos, but can't imagine which box those are in! Haaken continues to enjoy school. Next month Eric & Erica return to Germany for the next surgery. Please pray for them as they prepare and go through that. 

Erin and Kristian have had a good week except for a couple of incidents. Kristian missed the bus one morning, and had to walk to school. Actually he ran, and he made it on time! He had his final band concert and did well. He's decided to continue with band next year, and badminton, but not track and field. This weekend he has his friend Omarion staying over. Omarion's grandma has arrived from Jamaica, so his folks have gone to Winnipeg to visit with her, and Omarion decided he'd rather stay in Regina. They're having fun playing video games! Erin's deep freeze has failed. Her efforts to keep it odour-free have failed! Now, she just wants it moved outside! Sadie does not enjoy thunderstorms, and they've been having thunderstorms! 

Kristian and his buddy, Omarion!

Travis, Joanna and crew haven't been over much this week. Trav stops in once in awhile to get another print order underway. Joanna has stopped over a couple of times for a visit. Gemma and Andrew are playing out the string on the school year. 

And that's about it for this week.