Keep on fighting!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cool most of the week, but improved wonderfully yesterday and today. It is nice to see the advancement of spring with the rhubarb up and thriving. We get out for walks sometimes, and I've been swinging my golf club in hopes we'll soon be allowed on the courses. I have the bikes all ready for a new season, but we haven't been out riding yet. I've been cleaning and sorting in the shop and salvaging more pallet wood. I've also been preparing a few jigs for a privacy fence project for Trav and Joanna. Wendy has been working steadily on the quilt project. She has regular battles with the sewing machine, and I'm starting to wonder whether the machine may be winning!

Lots done! Even more to do!

The markets remain troubled and troubling, but I had another good week and have raised my investments to about 25% in the market. "Cash is a position," my teachers tell me! The world continues to be rocked both health-wise and economically by CV-19. Neither the USA nor Canada is doing an effective job in combatting the disease. We need much more testing, contact tracing, and improved treatment. The USA seems to be slowing the testing process deliberately; they report 960,000 cases, but an antibody sampling in New York state indicated the likelihood of 2.7 million cases in that state alone. It is certain that our infection rate is much higher than reported as well. We are barely making the pretense of testing and contact-tracing here. Still, some provinces are making plans to reopen society—I see that as dangerous. The spread of the virus began with a handful of people under open conditions; what will happen with our current 26,000 cases if we relax the preventative measures? Even sports leagues are talking restarting. Golf has announced for a June opening. The NBA and NHL are also planning to get back into play. 

Eric, Erica and Liam remain safe-at-home in Prince Albert. Eric and Erica are able to work from home. Liam keeps busy with various interests, working on his room, and baking cookies! Similarly, Haaken is laid off, but has been able to access the government support and is pursuing his art in Victoria. He is currently working on an idea for a TV show. The boys managed an on-line gaming session as well. 

Kristian continues his learning activities with on-line support from his teachers. Erin is back and forth to work, but otherwise remains in isolation. These are difficult and trying times. 

Trav and Joanna have commissioned a privacy fence so we got going on that today. We could have finished it, but Home Depot short-changed us on some of the lumber, so perhaps tomorrow. Besides some of the crew is old, and doesn't need very much time to put in a full day!

Building a privacy wall for their deck

Andrew is back at work as Walmart Pharmacy was able to get a supply of masks and PPE for the workers. Gemma continues to stay here. Her new classes begin soon, but will be delivered on-line. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Learn from History—or repeat it!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been very cool all week, but we hope it has now turned the corner toward Spring with 15° today. I celebrated the day by cleaning the shop portion of the garage, and getting our bikes out. I look forward to modulating my isolation with work in the shop in the coming days. I have many projects I look forward to tinkering away at with warmer weather inviting me out of doors. The golf courses have cleared off, but who knows when (whether) they will open! I have been swinging a club, but my repairing fingers are not enjoying it. Travis and Joanna take care of more and more of our grocery shopping, so that's a relief. 

It's been a month—I hope I can soon
touch my face, or perhaps have a shower! 

The case load of CV-19 cases have been growing here, so our concern is heightened. We're 20 minutes from the border, so our concerns are not allayed by premature moves to end the lockdown in the USA, nor by his musings of opening the border. Two links for you this week: the first shows how Canada and her provinces are progressing in the battle against CV-19, while the second shows the relative results for countries of the world. Within each site you can drill down for greater detail on how each province or country is doing at "flattening the curve". In the Canadian results, you will notice that only a few provinces are making progress (SK, MB, most maritime provinces). In the world results, I am alarmed to notice that whereas just a few weeks ago, I wondered if USA would get to 200,000 cases, now, I expect them to hit 1 million in the next week. The markets continue to be volatile. I expect this saw-toothed action to continue for some weeks or months. I am trying to analyse it and take advantage for some swing-trading. I managed another green week, with a bit more invested, but am still not making quota in any given week. Sporting bodies are anguishing over when and how they may resume activity, but to this point nothing. Golf has announced a return to play in June without spectators. We'll see. 

Liam is back home in Prince Albert; Eric/A enjoy his company and his cooking. Otherwise, they continue to work from home and are settled in for the long haul. It was our plan to go there this Spring to help them build a new deck, but those plans are in abeyance. Haaken has been laid off at Costco, part of the economic fall out from CV-19. Fortunately, he was able to apply for the new emergency benefit and it came within a few days. 

Erin continues with her work under even stricter isolation. Kristian is doing his classes with online support from his teachers. Sadie and Lucy enjoy having someone around throughout the day. 

Travis and Joanna's main work with Ulrich Design is mostly on hiatus. Joanna gets some shifts at work, but it's only for take out orders. Gemma has moved into our basement suite to improve her isolation. Andrew works at a pharmacy, thus, his risk level for contact is increased. He has applied to return to Confederation College in the Fall, and has been accepted to begin Police Training. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

He is Risen Indeed!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior, in my hometown. Days tend to blend into each other and we sometimes require consultations to figure out what day it is—it seems like we had some extra Saturdays this week! The weather has been very nice, the snow is gone, and the fairways have appeared again. The tee boxes and greens are still covered with their winter tarps. Don't know what we will have for a golf season during our isolation. We did take note and enjoy a special time via Zoom with 54 families of our congregation for a Good Friday commemoration last evening. Otherwise we remain sheltering at home while we continue our attempts to delay what we feel is inevitable—infection with the coronavirus. News of advances in treatment options along with the development of vaccines are tempered by reports of people being re-infected! Along with finding out about friends who are infected, we're now hearing about people we know who are dying of COVID-19. All news broadcasts seem to be focused narrowly on the disease; it does become a bit overwhelming at times. The USA refused to take it seriously in the early going, and have become the epicentre of infections with over 500,000 victims. It has also become the nation suffering from the most deaths from the pandemic, and still we see a few hold-out states refusing to shut things down—this will only prolong the suffering for all of us. This week's chart shows how things have changed down there over the last month, as far as cause of death is concerned. Wendy has been working on the quilt repairs, but she ran out of thread. She was able to order some online, and we picked that up today. I've managed to get the oak cut for the door, and dressed it through the router, so that job is ready to push forward. Next, I need to pre-drill and countersink for all the screws. The markets pushed forward during the shortened trading week as government rescue efforts have at least improved the prospect for corporations. I remain minimally invested, but experienced another green week at least. There are no new sporting events to distract me, but I have enjoyed watching reruns of curling games and even got to watch the 1966 Grey Cup game for a second time—Go Riders, Go! 

Eric/A travelled to Moose Jaw this weekend with the trailer; they helped Liam pack up and move home to Prince Albert. Home office locations have been revamped to make room for Liam in his old room. They moved Erica's desk out of the living room, which is now filled with Liam's stuff. The house has become more fully occupied once again. Erica has been suffering with a cold and sore throat for some time, so she was referred for Covid-19 testing—negative! Haaken continues to work at Costco, and is feeling fine. 

Kristian is back in the education business. On-line conferencing and support have helped him work through several learning activities. Erin remains at work as a core element of Taylor Toyota. But they have also managed a few extra family activities as they shelter at home. Featured activities include napping, watching TV, playing X-box and enjoying Sadie and Lucy. 

Travis and Joanna continue to do their extra part in keeping us safe by doing some of our shopping. This weekend, they've arranged an Easter dinner which we shall celebrate remotely via FaceTime. At least we can get to see them once in a while. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Shelter at Home!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've taken advantage of the nice weather and dried streets and sidewalks to get out regularly for walks. On this chart, you can call up various countries to see how we're doing at flattening the curve; you can also see that the USA is doing worst of all. Our government has issued stark predictions of the death toll we may expect here as the virus runs its course. We are hoping that by the time we catch this, there will be effective treatments available, and a low enough infection rate that we will be treated successfully. It is an anxious time we live in, as we just heard today that friends of ours are infected. We shudder to think of the devastation this may wreak on countries in the developing world who do not have the personal and medical options that we experience. We have continued to pitter away at various projects. We try to make Saturday Brunch a bit special each week.

Yummy Eggs Benny

Otherwise, we remain sheltered at home against the pandemic, and we thank Travis and Joanna for bringing us groceries again this week.

Easier from Scratch!

Wendy spent a lot of time this week working to repair a quilt for Shawn. I now have an approved design for the oak trim on the sliding kitchen door. The markets have continued to be extremely volatile in the economic turbulence caused by CV-19. I managed a green week, but not up to quota, while I remain with very little invested.

Can you tell we're smiling?!

We are both recovering nicely from our head-colds, and want nothing to do with the nastier disease running rampant around the world these days. We now see over 1 million confirmed cases with over 300 thousand plaguing our southern neighbours. Due to their lack of leadership, they have failed to take up the fight seriously, and have accumulated more than twice as many cases as any other country. Even now, some states remain without shelter-in-place orders.

Erica writes, "Another week in the post-apocalyptic world of COVID-19. Eric and I continue to work from home. We have tried to get into a routine but my inner child fights routine so it is difficult. I have to bribe myself to make myself do what I need to do—it’s so frustrating. Liam has decided that he will give notice at his apartment and move home in April. We are looking forward to having him home where we can watch over every cough and sniffle. But that also means our current work areas will no longer work. Eric has set up an office space in the basement and I am working on my desk to go into the middle room. The desk I picked up on Kijiji for $60 needs a little TLC. One of the drawers had pulled apart and in trying to put it back together, we found that one piece was slightly warped. So we are dampening the wood in hopes of making it flat. We also found several missing and loose screws and a lack of wood glue used throughout. We are hoping once we put it back together it will be more stable. Then, some cleaning and beeswax and it should hopefully be good to go." Haaken continues to work at Costco in Victoria, but has switched assignments, so he is helping with cleaning and disinfecting. 

Erin and Kristian continue with shelter at home in Regina. Schools have returned to action this week but with online activities only. Many homes are decorating their windows, so they added hearts to their windows. Now, if Lucy will just leave the decorations alone!

Sweet view!

Erin has also been doing some baking since she's finding lots of time on her hands. Today she made an apple crisp—I wish I had been there for that! She also made up a baked pancake with blueberries, but that was a disaster since Kristian ate the whole thing!! Must have been great! 

Trav, Joanna and crew are coping with the isolation. They continue to do some shopping for us, and we appreciate that. Andrew's pharmacy ran short of N95 face filters, so he refused to work one day. We hope they'll get that taken care of even though Trump has taken some of our N95 supplies away. 

Anyway, that's the kind of week it's been.