News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cool and showery with daytime highs struggling to make double digits, so no golf for me this week. In fact, most courses now have the winter tarps on the greens and tee boxes, so golf is over until we head south next month. We have continued to putter away on our renos; we'd like to get the kitchenette completed before we head out, but we only have one week left! I've pushed forward on work in the new closet upstairs while Wendy has spent most of her efforts this week on painting and refinishing the barn door. She's also been keeping up painting the walls as I get them ready. I built a cupboard base unit to add to the upstairs collection—I think(hope) we have the full set assembled up there now. Wendy is still contemplating options for the countertops in the main kitchen.

Barn Door installed

Other side of Barn Door

New Broom/Linen Closet

The markets continued to be terrible, no good and bad. DOW has now joined the TSX in the red for the year as Trump's trade wars and tariffs continue to bleed value out of American companies. I am not in contention to make my quota this year, and will need two big months to keep from eating into my principal while funding our retirement. Sports have continued to entertain. The big event this week is the Grand Slam of Curling event from Truro. My guy, Kevin Koe, has moved into the playoffs once again. The next event is here in Thunder Bay, but we'll be headed south by then. The World Series is interesting, but Boston seems too powerful for my Dodgers—c'mon Bums! The Riders played their final regular season game this evening against BC. That win put them in first place, but Calgary has a game remaining, so it depends on how they do in that one. We have to wait to see how the other teams finish to find out who we'll face in the playoffs. Go Riders, Go! The early returns in the hockey season are favourable for my teams, but I'm still looking for them to do better! 

Erica has had a tough week health wise. Her surgical wounds have become infected, and she is back in the hospital this weekend getting them cleaned and dressed, after which, we're expecting the antibiotics to clear things up. Eric keeps busy taking care of her, while maintaining his own busy schedule. Haaken with his classes and Liam with his work are carrying on. 

Erin and Kristian are pretty much enjoying life as per usual. This week's bowling league play was displaced in favour of a Halloween celebration. Kristian has qualified for a bowling tournament next weekend in Moose Jaw, so we'll be watching and cheering from afar. 

Travis and Joanna continue to be very busy, and when you're in business, that's a good thing! Andrew had a mishap in the gym, spraining his finger, so he's a bit laid up. Gemma continues her work as an amazing student, while taking brief timeouts to be a teenager and drive her mother crazy! 

And that's about enough for this week! 

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We had some lovely summery weather in the middle of the week, and I got out golfing once again, but it's turned cold again for the weekend. Today, I saw some courses were installing the tarps over the greens, so that'll be the end of golf for this season. We have continued to make progress on the renovations. Finishing work always seems to progress very slowly. Wendy spent two days repairing, sanding and refinishing the door we're using for the barn-door application. It's looking great! I installed another arborite shelf in the kitchenette as a work surface. I also installed a pantry unit down there.

Sanding! Coffee!

Counter & Pantry

Not much happening up stairs in the main kitchen as we want to move downstairs before that happens. The markets had another bad week, but I did manage some early progress before the red hit again. Baseball playoffs have continued and we now have our World Series participants identified. Boston will play Los Angeles—that will maximize travel time! I'll be cheering for Dem Bums; Mom always cheered for the Dodgers, so I'll take her side this year! The Riders are struggling with injuries in the late going of the season, and are crawling into the playoffs. Tonight, they travelled to Calgary, and prevailed over the league leaders—Yowsah Riders! Hockey continues to garner my interest. My Oilers, Pens and Leafs are doing okay so far, although not tonight! 

After some adventures in air travel, courtesy of Air Canada, Erica finally made it home after a short detour in Dublin. She returned to work this week, to the extent that she could manage around wound care and including the need for extra rest. Her legs hurt; the wounds are healing slowly; her patience is running a bit thin! However, she is getting better each day! Eric has been up and down the road to Saskatoon for his card hockey draft, massage therapy, and a Marriage & Family Therapy session. Liam continues to enjoy his work. Haaken is finishing his current set of classes. 

Erin and Kristian had a fairly standard week in Regina. Kristian's bowling scores this week were much improved, and averaged 146.7—very near this year's target of 150, and well above his average. Well done, buddy! 

Travis and Joanna are very busy with hockey pictures and bucket decals. They're liking the improvements we're making in their break room downstairs! Joanna did get out for a family dinner, just with the kids.

Andrew, Joanna, Gemma!

That was nice!

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

We've had a cool, rainy week on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We enjoy the hot tub each evening to relax tired muscles and get us ready for bed. We plan to keep it running until we head south in early November. With the new cupboards on site for the kitchen, it is time to pull out the old sink cupboards so we can make further progress on that project, but first, we need somewhere to cook and clean up, so we've spent this week on the downstairs kitchenette. We finished that up today, installing the Uppers, the sink and the flooring. We like it. 

Cupboard Install

Flooring

It was definitely the highlight of the week in which we've had a few disappointments. Wendy got hit by a driver who was backing out of his parking stall without looking. The estimate for the damage to our Santa Fe is $3200.00. The markets have been terrible as the damage being done by the Terrible Tariffs and the Trillion dollar deficit in the USA hit folks this week. I keep looking and hoping for a buying opportunity among the red ink, but no progress lately. Finally, my sports picks failed to materialize: the Yankees fell to Boston in the baseball playoff, and the Riders took a royal kicking today in Winnipeg. Riders remain in second place at least, but they've suffered a number of injuries again today, so they're limping into the final weeks of the season. Go Riders, Go! 

Erica spent an extra week in the hospital in Germany dealing with some fluid build up and infection related to her surgery. Fortunately, there was no extra charge for the extended stay, but there was additional costs related to Greg's stay at the BnB, and the rescheduling of flights home. They missed their connection in Dublin, so stayed there one day, and only got back to Canada today, and to home tonight. She will need followup with her local doctor to drain the fluid build up in her left leg. 

Erin and Kristian are gradually recovering their health after falling victim to a nasty bout of cold and flu. Kristian had bowling today, but didn't quite match his average, although his first game was very good. 

Trav, Joanna and crew are busy with their usual assignments. They had us over for Thanksgiving BBQ on Monday, it was great—thanks guys! Gemma is quite busy with midterms at University. Trav & Joanna are into PuckShots and BucketDecals—the machine downstairs keeps pumping them out! 

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 remained cool and wet with only a couple of days reaching toward 20°. We've had our first frost now, so the trees are in glorious fall colours. I got out to the golf course once. We're into October, so the courses will be closing here sometime this month. I started the week watching the Ryder Cup Matchplay golf—always one of my favourite events. This year it was in Paris, and provided some fun drama as usual, although the Europeans won handily. I also enjoy the Presidents Cup in the alternating years, although the World side has failed to make it competitive. We got news yesterday that our new cupboards were ready to be picked up, so we've borrowed a trailer and managed to get them all moved in today. We had showers yesterday, so we're glad to find the dry weather today to get them transferred.

Cupboards installed-√

Wendy has been painting, but I still have walls under repair, so we're not quite ready! She has also been doing some yard work, cutting in the lawn along the driveway, and clearing up some branches that fell out of our big oak tree. The tree fought back—as she tried to break up the branches, one came up and smoked her in the side of the head! It still hurts some days later, and she notices it when she chews as well! The markets turned sour this week. The pundits are saying the issue is the Trump deficits. Their concern was triggered by his new tax cuts that were rushed through under cover of the Kavanaugh hearings. Since the administration is showing no inclination to pay for its expenditures, there is pressure on bonds and investors are moving out of stocks. Sigh! The early games of the NHL season have been good to watch, but my Oilers, Pens, and Leafs are not putting up the results I want! The Riders play Edmonton in the Thanksgiving game on Monday. The baseball playoffs have begun; I'm cheering for the Yankees, but they're in tough against the top seed Boston Red Sox. 

Erica had her surgery in Germany, but has suffered a setback during the recovery process. She has experienced fluid buildup in her left leg, and her doctors have kept her there for an additional week. So, she's not home for Thanksgiving weekend. Greg remains there with her, and Eric has reworked the flight schedule. Yikes! Things don't always go as planned. She is now scheduled to fly next Friday. 

Erin and Kristian have been suffering ill health this week. Kristian was home sick a couple of days, and then Erin caught it, so she missed work as well. We trust they're on the road to recovery now. Kristian bowled his league games this morning. He wasn't quite hitting his spots, so he didn't score up to his expectations, but he continues to raise his average. 

Travis has continued to be very busy developing and printing bucket decals. His contacts continue to spread via word-of-mouth and other advertising. He gets a lot of work from southern Ontario, and this week produced work for St. Louis and Arkansas teams as well.

Go Hogs!

Joanna returned from TO with her mom, so we got a visit with them. We plan a Thanksgiving meal together on Monday.

And that's about it for this week.