News Update

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned cold with overnight temperatures dropping to -20° and colder, but we haven't had to face further snow shovelling, so there is that! Wendy is in Germany with Erica, and it seems they are making good progress there. Erica was discharged from hospital, so they are continuing the recovery and healing in the BNB. Erica seems to have snapped back quicker than usual, and we're all quite encouraged. They even got out shopping today—would have been enough to make me ill!

Shopping Success!

I have done a little work on the sliding door, but really have had a pretty quiet week on the project front. Curling and Golf are both on TV and I can hardly keep up with all the coverage! Meanwhile, I was back to my ophthalmologist on Monday to follow-up on my eye surgery. He was well satisfied with the healing and progress. I am seeing somewhat better and even manage to read things on the screen from time to time, but it's still mostly obscured, and is not satisfactory to me yet. I am able to read street names while out driving, so that's a good sign. On Tuesday, I had blood work for my regular doctor as she is getting ready to complete my physical we began in the summer. Also in line with that physical, on Wednesday, I had a colonoscopy. That always has the delightful kool-aid preparation—do not like that stuff! I paid more attention to the whole rigamarole this time. I had been surprised to be conscious last time, so I watched the folks coming back to the recovery room, and sure enough, most of them were unconscious. I'm sure I would have had no trouble driving myself home, but I wasn't allowed. Thank you, Joanna, for accompanying me, and ensuring I got home safe and sound—actually not sound, I was considered legally impaired for the next 24 hours, and not allowed to sign documents, etc. They found and removed a polyp; that was interesting to watch. I'll get an analysis of that in due course. The markets suffered under the trade wars most of the week, but finally a deal was announced on Thursday, so I got some recovery on Friday, but not enough to cover four days of losses. #2 Kansas had an easy win early in the week, and another tonight. With the loss by #1 Louisville, I'm expecting KU to be elevated to #1 this weekend. The Oilers brought a three-game skid into tonight's game with the Leafs, but hey, one of my teams has to win when they play each other! Tonight, it was the Leafs. The Pens continue to press on with good success despite more injuries and illness depleting their ranks; they won in a shootout tonight. The curling was the Grand Slam event from Newfoundland. My guy, Kevin Koe, advanced to the playoffs, but lost out there. It'll be Jacobs vs Edin in the Men's final, while on the women's side it will be Jones vs Hasselborg.

Erica began her week with misadventures in air travel. She was on her way to Bonn, but couldn’t get off the tarmac in Saskatoon. Fortunately, Mom was on the job and she managed to get things worked out so they were rebooked to a later flight out of Toronto and could still travel together. She had her surgery which appears to have been a success. She has been discharged from the hospital and has tested out her new legs with a short walk on Friday, and a longer walk today. We continue to pray for healing and no negative side effects. Haaken changed jobs. He applied for and got a job with Costco which is closer to home for him. So far it is, “All right.” Liam is busy with RU practises and work and drawing his web comic. He is hoping to start publishing it online in the future, but it sure is a lot of work. Eric is managing life alone this week by fitting in a quick trip to Saskatoon for a card hockey game, some visiting and dropping off gifts. He’s been picking up the gift delivery and mailing slack. He was grateful to be assigned a sleep-help in Saskatoon!

Sleep Help for Uncle Eric!

Not much news from Erin and Kristian this week. Things seem to be going a bit better for Kristian in school, so that's good. Erin is in catch-up mode at work, and has accomplished that very well. It's been a busy week all the same. Erin has almost completed Christmas shopping with just a few items left to find for Kristian, Astrid and Liam. Today, they were able to relax.

Relaxing Saturday!

Travis and Joanna are very busy trying to complete Puck Shot and Bucket Decal Christmas orders. They are still taking more team shots as well just to add more to the backlog.

Andrew's Birthday

On Friday, they hosted us all for a special birthday celebration for Andrew.

Montana's special recognition!

Good food, good company! Thanks folks!

And that's about it for this week.