Saturday, March 30

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been okay, but cooler than we hoped. The snow continues to disappear, and the fairways and greens are showing up again. Sadly, there's still plenty of snow out in the trees where I normally play! Wendy has made great progress on the kitchen/dining room painting. I've been working in the garage building new shelving and storage for lumber. I got the old pantry installed out there to store other materials, so I'm being called to get things a bit more orderly—we'll see how long that lasts! The nicer weather is also calling us to get for more walks in preparation for an active summer. I've had another appointment with my vascular surgeon, and at her insistence, an appointment with an Ear, Nose & Throat specialist. My bloodwork did not confirm antiphospholipid antibodies, so autoimmune disorder has not been confirmed as the cause of my DVT. Xrays, and MRI confirm an almost continuous clot is still in place from calf to upper thigh, and that there is only a small amount of venous flow through the affected deep vein. She noted that the treatment using Xarelto will continue indefinitely. Since I've been experiencing nosebleeds, she referred me to the ENT doctor. I feel the nose bleeds are due to dry wintry air, and that they're only more troublesome because of the blood thinner. The ENT agreed with me. He offered to cauterize a vein in my left nostril, but I declined. The vascular surgeon has scheduled more bloodwork over the course of several months, so we'll see if she figures anything else out. To this point, she holds her diagnosis of DVTs with no known cause. I'm doing fine; I wear a compression stocking on my left leg everyday, and that has been effective in preventing fluid build-up. So, all told, things are good. Wild market action continues with world trade issues and the rate inversion troubling investors, so while I was in the green, I didn't make quota this week. The NHL is nearly finished the regular season, but still some playoff positions are up for grabs. March Madness continues into the final challengers, with the Final Four to be determined this weekend. World Men's Curling championships began today with Kevin Koe representing us in Lethbridge. He opened with wins over Korea and Russia. I'll be following that all next week. MLB has begun the season; Blue Jays are off to a winning start in their first series.

Liam is home for the weekend. The Baileys have been taking advantage of a music store sell-out to expand their musical empire.
Band Van! 

A second banjo player in the family!

Eric is working the Ukelele, Banjo and Bass now. Liam has added a second banjo—dueling banjos coming soon? And they've also picked up a cajon drum and the cowbells. Yowsah! 


Erin and Kristian had a good week, although Kristian did have another sick day. Now they have a house guest for the weekend. Kristian's buddy, Omarion, got a new baby sister, so he's staying with Kristian while his parents welcome the new child. 
They're happy with the arrangement!

Travis and Joanna have not been over as frequently this week, but the printer keeps pumping out the product downstairs anyway. When you're in business, being busy is good! 

That's enough for this week. 

Saturday, March 23

Spring has Sprung!

Another week has passed here on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been great, and the snow is disappearing. The back deck access to the grill has cleared away, and it's barbecue season once again. As someone observed, "If we didn't have Winter, Spring would not seem so wonderful!" Anyway, we are really enjoying the coming of Spring. Wendy has continued with her painting work in the kitchen/dining room. She's doing a great job, and only a little bit over the top! I have managed to make some progress on the oak trim. I need to cut the material down to size and refinish the cut parts, but it's looking good. With the warmer weather, I've been able to get back in the shop. I built a corner clamp to help me in building the oak trim for the bulk heads.
Homemade Corner-Clamp
I have also picked up a few pallets which I'm using as a source of wood for my projects. The markets were terrible, no good and bad this week. Weak US economic data in light of the ongoing trade wars led to the FED announcements of financial easing, so that put investors on our heels. Then, we got the news of a rate inversion, and we had a full-fledged panic on Friday. So, I have fallen back below quota, and I'm hoping for better things next week. I've been following the World Women's Curling championship all week, but Chelsey Carey did not have a good week, and did not make the playoffs. It'll be Sweden vs Switzerland in the final tomorrow. The NHL is in the final crush, and my Oilers are on the outside, looking in, sigh! Baseball is just about ready to start. March Madness is underway, and I really enjoy that tournament. Of course, I'd enjoy it more if KU had kept the run going. They won their first game this weekend, but they couldn't manage to advance to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend. That was about the limit of my expectations for them, but we're into next year country now! Rock Chalk, Jayhawks!

Liam got a new job with Tunnels of Moose Jaw! So, if you are in the Moose Jaw area—go check it out! He was working at a retirement home, but a lot of that work was in the kitchen, in contact with gluten, and he's been feeling ill. We hope that this is a more healthy situation for him, in addition to tapping into his acting skills! Erica is back home this weekend! So, while Eric is planning to finish up his card hockey today, she will have a relaxing day at home! Haaken is enjoying a visit from Auntie Mary and cousin Andrea in Victoria, along with his schooling.

Erin was extra busy this week as her boss was in Mexico for the week. Then, another co-worker called in sick Thursday and Friday so she was doing triple duty. Evenings were relaxing. Teacher conference was on Friday so Kristian had that day off. They were going to stay with papa for the weekend but uncle mouse felt better on Friday so they’ll hang out with him another time. Kristian, Astrid, Liam, Shawn and Erin went to the new How to Train Your Dragon movie at the big theatre with our Christmas gift cards from the Baileys so that was a nice treat Kristian's bowling was above average again today!

Travis and Joanna keep busy with hockey work, and they also picked up a basketball team—I think that's their first basketball team. They are really more interested in targeting an audience that doesn't overlap with the hockey season so much. Anyway, they're still keeping busy, and we're glad to have them around. Gemma is completing her second semester at Lakehead. Andrew is carrying on with his grade 12 year.

And that's about it for this week. 

Saturday, March 16

News Update

We've had a week of interesting weather here on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. It's been mild, with daytime highs above zero, but the biggest feature was 24 hours of major rainfall that really melted down the snowbanks. We're encouraged! Wendy has made good progress on the kitchen painting, and I've started on the flooring. However, Wendy is now having second thoughts on the flooring material, so that's at a standstill. We found a good deal on some oak flooring, just over $1 a square foot for a couple of end-of-line boxes, so we picked them up. It is 3/4" solid oak, tongue and groove. I plan to use that material to build the decorative boxes around the light bulkheads, and we're thinking about ideas to make use of the rest of it.
Oak!
Otherwise, we've had a fairly quiet week. This evening, we went skating at one of the local arenas. Wendy has new skates and enjoyed getting to try them out. I was glad to be able to skate without pain—well, we'll see how my legs feel tomorrow! The markets were more settled this week as the US/China trade war has been postponed for a few months. I was able to make quota, so that was encouraging. My sporting week started off with a highlight as Kevin Koe won the Brier. He is now preparing for the world championships which are set for Lethbridge. Today, the women's world championships began in Denmark; I'll be keeping track of Chelsey Carey and her team all week. The NHL continues the grind toward the playoffs; my teams have had up and down play this week. Basketball is pushing toward March Madness that officially opens tomorrow. My Jayhawks had a good week in the conference tournament. Iowa State beat them in the championship game tonight. They'll probably be about a #5 seed in the March Madness tournament. Rock Chalk, Jayhawks! 

Erica continues regular work in Calgary. Eric joined her there for a weekend adventure and an early celebration of her birthday. Today, they rented a car and toured west into the national parks.
Exploring Banff
Banff Weekend
Eric has some new potential projects; they are trying to obtain funding and grow their business. We pray those plans will come to fruition. Liam continues with work and RU. Last weekend, they performed in Nipawin at a youth rally. He has further performances scheduled: Apr 7th: Chinese Methodist Church in Regina, Apr 18th-21st: Easter Tour, Apr 27th-28th: Provost Performance. No news from Haaken this week. 

Erin and Kristian had a tough week, but now seem to be recovering their health. Kristian missed two days of school, and he's catching up on homework today. Kristian had good results in his bowling this morning, beating his average every game. Erin took part in a fund raiser at work for the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: all told it came to $4500.00. Great job! 

Travis and Joanna keep busy. We have regular visits with them, and regular traffic from their clients picking up completed projects. The booked a local arena for more photography this evening, so we took advantage to go skating as well—thanks guys! Gemma is in the final stages of the semester, completing projects and preparing for final assessments. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Saturday, March 9

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been very nice; we're getting some melting, and we're starting to think about Spring. We have continued to celebrate Wendy's birthday all week, including the official day today. She received a lot of acknowledgement and some beautiful gifts, including some bouquets as shown here.

Today, we got out to the Rotary Display home and to Re-Store. We both enjoy that! We continue to make progress on the kitchen renovation. I also tried out a new entrĂ©e—pasta-baga! I spiralized a rutabaga into fettuccine shapes, and then cooked it up—excellent!
Chicken Fettu-Baga Alfredo!
We've been watching the Brier all week. My guy, Kevin Koe, remains undefeated, although he had to escape several tight games. He's in the final waiting for the semi-final game between Jacobs and Bottcher. I like all three teams, so I don't mind who wins out, but I'll be cheering for Koe. The markets have continued to be terrible as the effects of Trump's trade war are depressing world economies. Then, US jobs' data came out, and that was a big downer as well. Apparently, when you shut down the US government for a month, it has an effect! Who knew?! Anyway, I had a red week, so that's not good. The Jayhawks are playing out the regular season, and for the first time in 15 years will not win their conference—that's a record that should last a while. The Oilers have been playing better, winning 6 of their last 10, but the Leafs beat them tonight, and they remain far out of the playoff picture. Pens are doing well. 

The Bailey's big news involves an addition to the family. It's a 4-string Alabama banjo! Eric is learning to play to add to his expertise in piano and ukulele.
EJBailey-musician!
The rest of the family are carrying on with their regular activities! 

Erin and Kristian had a bit of a down week as Erin was ill. She's just now getting over it, so they got out for league bowling today. Kristian had good games and beat his average by 15 pins per game. Shawn and the kids have a swim meet this weekend. 

Travis and Joanna have a visitor this week as her mom is up from Toronto. They were over here several days, pumping out the product from the office downstairs. Gemma continues with her house-sitting assignment for a couple of more weeks. She is also running through the last few weeks of her semester at university. Andrew has spring break this coming week. Travis made quite a splash with his tribute for Grandpa's Birthday! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Saturday, March 2

News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weekend blizzard cancelled Wendy's flight home from Regina, so she didn't get here until Wednesday. However, the main blast missed us, so I didn't have much snow to remove except for the pile the grader dumped at the entrance of the driveway—I wrote the city to complain! (They have not answered, sigh!) This week the weather has been nice with single digit highs each day and some melting. The bright sunshine has raised our spirits as well. I got a bit more work done on the electrical and drywall repair list. Then, when Wendy got home, she added to the list! She continues to work on the newly manipulated finger; we hope it will provide her greater facility in her activities. She also got out skating on one of the open-air rinks near our place. We have begun the celebration of her 69th birthday, which comes next Saturday. We got out to DQ for Royal Treats, which thankfully, did not bring on gout! (Blizzard-bad; Banana Split-okay!) Then, we enjoyed a celebratory supper last night with family here, along with lovely flowers—thanks folks! The markets have been troubled this week as Trump experienced failures with both China and North Korea. That was combined with news that the US trade deficit is actually increasing despite his tariffs, and it adds up to a bad picture. At any rate, I completed February still on quota YTD, so I'm grateful for that. The Scotties completed in surprising fashion on Sunday as Homan gave up steals in both the final and extra ends to allow Chelsey Carey to win our national championship. Carey will now go on to represent us in Silkeborg DK in the world championships. So, after a brief breather, I'm now fully engaged with the Brier that opened last night in Brandon. I'm picking Kevin Koe and Brad Gushue as the favourites. In the NHL, my Oilers are doing a bit better, but are still far out of playoff contention. Baseball is in the preseason, but my Blue Jays are not expected to challenge this season—we'll see; everyone is a potential champion in the spring! 

It has been, what has become, a pretty normal week in the Bailey household. Liam is working part time and doing RU in Caronport. He isn't getting full time hours, but he's getting a few days a week, and that is working for him. Haaken continues with his studies, although he has a break coming up this month. We haven't heard what his plans are for that, but the -30° weather in Saskatchewan is not piquing his interest! Erica was in Calgary for three days this week. Her work will continue part time in Calgary until mid-April, with the corresponding bonus in Aeroplan miles! Eric worked all week and had a teleconference today on being a supervising counsellor. So, not very eventful, perhaps, but definitely full. 

Erin and Kristian have also had an uneventful week, but that fell apart toward the end of the week as Erin took sick. She feared it was her old nemesis—strep throat, but she's now feeling a bit better and thinking she's been spared! Anyway, her downtime today meant Kristian missed out on regular league bowling, so he'll try to pick that up later. 

Travis, Joanna and crew matched the rest with a normal week—lots of work and production for their business, along with the usual work assignments for Joanna, and school/work for Gemma and Andrew. We were glad to have them over for Wendy's birthday-supper tonight as I tried out my keto quiche on them, accented with keto ice cream! Both seemed to find approval! 

And that's enough for this week.