News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. After a frigid weekend, we had a few nice days, but now we're back in the deep freeze with temperatures in the -30° range. Our car battery was not happy with the cold last weekend, so we're wondering whether five years might be a bridge too far for car batteries even in Thunder Bay. We usually felt three years was about all we could expect of car batteries in Yellowknife. While we've been occupied with several agendas this week, we have also made some progress on the kitchen renovations. We've started our regular schedule of dental cleanings at Confederation College; that always takes longer because these students are also taking training while doing the assignment. My Spanish classes continue two nights each week; it's quite challenging, but I'm enjoying it as well. The markets have been wild and weak this week as turmoil in the US government has combined with Trump-inspired trade wars to degrade economic prospects around the world. Trump has finally caved on the Mexican wall funding, so the US government is reopening. I hope that will spell better prospects for next week. The Canadian Junior Curling championships are running this week. On the women's side, BC will play Alberta in the final tomorrow, while on the men's side it'll be BC playing Manitoba. NHL is off for its all-star break, so not much game action took place this week. Oilers limped into the break, and promptly fired their general manager. That means they've fired both coach and gm this season—not the marks of a team that's going well! Kansas was dropped to #9 in the rankings. They managed to win early in the week, but dropped today's game to arch-rival #8 Kentucky. For no known reason, this evening's game between these two high profile programs was not televised to me! I expect this loss will lead to further degrading in their ranking. 

Erica spent part of this week in Regina. Her latest medical check has freed her of her vacuum dressing, and she's glad to be free from tubes and machines! She still has dressings on both legs, but they are now like big bandages. She got to spend time with Erin and Kristian while she was in Regina, and that was good as well. She checked in to 55 Laird to pick up the door, some Mexican vanilla, and hugs all around. Eric discovered the programmable thermostat requires batteries. Fortunately, he figured this out when the house was down to about 15°, and not when it froze up! Liam is home this weekend, playing drums. He continues to look for work in Moose Jaw. Haaken continues with college in Victoria. 

Erin and Kristian hosted Auntie Erica this week. They have also carried on with their usual school and work commitments. Kristian's bowling today was not quite up to average—better luck next week, buddy! 

Trav and Joanna got back from 30° in Punta Cana, and are really not enjoying the -30° here! However, there were several jobs to get done, so they've had to get back into harness quickly. One special memory of Punta Cana was a painting they bought. Travis got it mounted on a canvas frame and hung on their living room wall. It looks fabulous! 

Looks great, 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 started off beautiful and mild, but has turned nasty cold this weekend. It was -35 this morning! Progress is being made on the kitchen renovations. Wendy is working on the painting, while I continue drywall repairs and try to stay ahead of her! I brought in the next sliding door project from the garage, and after sizing up the situation, decided to fir in the doorway a bit. Then, on to the corner bead and mud—a good taper will get that! I got the new LED pots installed in the bulkhead over the kitchen sink—worked out great! I hooked up the new dishwasher and ran it through a cycle—works fine. I have begun my Spanish class; it will be very challenging, but I'm enjoying it so far. The markets have continue to rally despite the chaos in the American administration, and I've had another good week. The curling event this week is the Continental Cup in Las Vegas. It's a bit more of a fun event involving six teams from North America against six teams from the rest of the World. We're used to winning these, but this week the World has the lead going into the final day of competition. In hockey, the Penguins are flying (see what I did there?), while the Leafs are falling (did it again!), and the Oilers have stopped slipping (wow, I'm hot!). My Jayhawks are struggling to find their identity and style post-Doke, and split their games this week. I expect them to fall further in the rankings from their current #7 standing. 

Eric and Erica are hunkering down in chilly Prince Albert. Erica started back to work, on a part-time basis. All seems to be progressing nicely with her recovery. Liam has resumed practice with his hip-hop dance group, and continues to look for work in the Moose Jaw area. Haaken picked up our clothing shipment, and declared it was fine! 

Erin and Kristian are facing the cold in Regina. Kristian had bowling this morning, and the rest of the week was more of the same old routines. He enjoyed receiving the shipment of his new Lego projects, and has them assembled. 

Lego arrives; Lego is built!

Travis and Joanna tried to escape 27° in Punta Cana this morning in order to get back to the -35° we're enjoying!

Trying to escape this!

West Jet cancelled their flight, so their trip home is delayed by a day. We've been ferrying Andrew to his Safety Course this week. Gemma and Andrew were both over for pizza supper this evening. The Keto Pizza was a hit, and the homemade ice cream seemed to slide down well also! Trav & Joanna have been holidaying all week, and have enjoyed it a great deal.

And that's about enough for this week. 

News Update

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown. We began the week in Regina enjoying spending time with Dad.

Bye, bye for now!

Bern, Alicia and Logan returned from Mexico early Tuesday morning, so after helping them settle back in, we headed east on Wednesday. We stopped overnight with Tom & Mariette in Winnipeg—thanks folks! We enjoyed catching up with them, a good sleep, and fine meals! We continued to Thunder Bay on Thursday. The roads were good all the way; we rolled into the driveway at 6pm, just as it was getting dark. We were greeted by piles of snow, and more coming down! This is clearly the most snow we've had here in some years. The next morning, I found Trav's car was in our driveway!

The latest snowfall covered Trav's car

It's taken a few days, but I've managed to clear the driveway, access the garage and cut a path to the back gate. I measured the pile of snow where it lay undisturbed on top of the hot tub—27 inches! We've caught up with business here. I picked up my text for the Spanish class which starts on Monday. I got a prescription from my clot doctor, and Wendy has refilled the larder. The craziness continues south of the border. That continues to rile the markets, but we've been rebounding pretty well, and I've had another good week. The feature in sports this week is the Canadian Open in curling. My guy, Kevin Koe has qualified once again, and thanks to my PVR, I've been able to enjoy watching that until he lost this evening. The Pens continue to win, Leafs had mixed results, and my Oilers scored an OT win, but they're only 3-7 in their last ten games, sigh! #7-Kansas won a couple of games this week, including a road win today. It was my first look at the new Jayhawks now that Doke has undergone surgery and is lost for the season. 

Eric and Erica made a road trip to Kenora and back this week. A former colleague of Erica's was being feted on her retirement, so they enjoyed celebrating with her. They also got to visit Greg and family in Kenora. Erica's medical situation continues to improve, and she was relieved of one of her vacuum pumps this week; she has received the go ahead to go back to work on Monday! Liam has returned to Moose Jaw where he is resuming RU practice and looking for work. 

We got to watch Kristian's bowling practice session Monday evening. We had picked him up after school, and gone to find him some new skates, then we took him to bowling. He has good coaching; it was good to watch the interaction and see him putting corrections in place. We stopped over at their place on Tuesday to complete some project work.

Installed chin-up bar for Kristian!

We returned home to find that Trav & Joanna had escaped! Their car was hidden beneath the snow in our driveway, while they were enjoying the salubrious climes of Punta Cana!

Not seeing any snow in Punta Cana! 

Captain of the Punta Cana Fan Club!

Gemma and Andrew were over here for supper tonight; it was good to catch up with them. They did not bring Minnie or Beaker—also good!

And that's about it for this week! 

Happy New Year

We begin 2019 on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We had extremes of weather this week as we saw -29 early in the week, and +5 later. It has remained mild into this weekend. We remain at Dad's and are thankful for the continuing hospitality. We spent quite a bit of time this week on a difficult 1000 piece puzzle. We thought it would be easy to build the individual ginger bread cookies—we were wrong! 

Took most of the week! 

The markets opened the year with extremes as well—500 points up or down usually represent several months; this week it happened daily! And still Trump continues to say and do insane things. It is of some comfort that investors seem to be paying less and less attention, and finally, on Friday, strong economic data gave us a big win. I completed 2018 less than $100 in the green for the year—that won't cut it! I am relieved to have made quota this week to start the new year off right. There has been plenty of sports over the holiday period, and I can only keep up with some of it. The World Junior hockey has not gone well for us, and we didn't even get a medal. Finland beat the US for the gold, while Russia won the bronze over the Swiss. The Pens are on an eight-game winning streak in the NHL, Leafs continue to sit in good position in the standings despite not playing so well lately. The Oilers continue to struggle, sigh! There were lots of football games in both college and the NFL, but I don't pay much attention to that. The Jayhawks had another tough game on-the-road today, and couldn't even keep it close without Doke, their big man, who is out with an injury. They'll be dropped further in the rankings. 

Liam finished hanging the drywall this week and has started doing the mudding (a good taper will get that!). He is hoping to finish that this weekend before returning to Moose Jaw next week to look for work and to practise with RU at Caronport. Eric returned to work on Wednesday. Erica continues to heal, and is looking to get back to work in another week or so. 

Another new outfit!

We were disappointed not to have Kristian with us this week. He is suffering with a cold, so we thought it best he remain at home, and I travelled over there to stay with him. We managed to get two cabinets built and installed in the downstairs bathroom, and Sadie got out for her regular walks. Kristian is feeling better now and got out for skating and sledding with Grandma on Friday, and for his league bowling this morning. Erin was also ill with flu-like symptoms and missed work on Monday. 

Kristian needs new skates!

Sledding!

Travis and Joanna have 'enjoyed' fighting the snow and the snow-plowers in Thunder Bay. The city plows placed a ridge of snow on our driveway, completely blocking them from getting in, so they hired someone to clear that away. I see there's another winter storm warning there this weekend, so perhaps we're still a bit too early to head home! They have also been busy trying to get all loose ends tied up before they head out on their winter vacay to Punta Cana! We'll look forward to seeing them when they get back from there. 

And that's enough for this week!