Saturday, March 14

Wash Your Hands!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather seems to be stuck in a rut; we get some melting each day, but we fall back to freezing temperatures every night, so the snow is disappearing very slowly. It has been a crazy week with the COVID-19 developments. We remain well, and are hunkered down at home while we watch with concern over those with vulnerable health conditions. To some extent, that includes us, as we're in the age group of vulnerability, and I have a long-standing proclivity for pneumonia. We continue to be busy with medical care; Wendy has been driving me around to various appointments, and sometimes accompanying me to ensure I'm being well-cared for! I've had two more physiotherapy sessions, and am well-pleased with the interventions being executed. I also had followup bloodwork for my GP, and an ultra-sound on my leg with the DVTs to see how that is going. There will be more appointments with the doctors concerned to find out the results. We started the week celebrating Wendy's birthday with the rest of our family here. The children bought her a set of Finnish luncheon plates, while grandkids pitched in for a gift card to her favourite beauty salon—nice!
Happy 70th Birthday!
Lovely Gifts
It has not been busy for me in the markets as I remain on the sidelines while all North American indices have descended into bear market levels. Russia and Saudi Arabia have launched an oil price war, and the Canadian economy is collateral damage in that battle. Investors seem most cautious about the economic ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, so, we hope all countries are taking it seriously and will engage it properly. China seems to have come through it, and is now launching aid campaigns to other areas that are hard hit, most notably, Italy, at this point. In any case, we did get a bit of recovery on Friday, so we hope that will carry through into next week. Sporting news this week was all about cancellation due to the virus. March Madness will really be missed, especially in that my Jayhawks were ranked #1, unanimously. We had a lot of hope for a good run! Hockey is also cancelled for now, and I was just starting to get ready for baseball season, but that's also in hiatus. I like watching golf, but that's cancelled. Women's World Curling championships were supposed to begin today—also cancelled, sigh! Netflix—here I come!

Erica writes: "My crazy full weekend has been completely wiped out by COVID-19. Everything has been cancelled and Eric and I have been at home since Thursday. With his asthma, he is being particularly careful as this is a respiratory disease. Liam has continued to do his drawing and working at The Tunnels and dancing. He is scheduled for a tour, but we wait to see if it will be cancelled. Haaken has sorted out his student loans. He continues with work at Costco, which, apparently, is the place to be!"

School is still on in Regina for the time being, although some extra-curricular programs are being hit by sanctions during the government/teachers dispute. School here is off for the next three weeks. Erin has made a few purchases and her girls enjoyed being the demo models to show them off!
Lucy demos the Stick Vacuum

Sadie with the Smoothie Maker

Travis and Joanna have been nursing a sick household over there, so we've avoided the place! They were by a couple of times, but they're able to do more stuff from home now that they have their new printer over there. They began the week with a lovely birthday supper out at Appleby's for Wendy, but Andrew was already sick at that point; he remains ill. Gemma took sick during the week.

And that's about it for this week. 

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