Win some...

Another week has passed on the shore of the South Saskatchewan River here in Prince Albert. The weather has turned hotter with frequent thunder storms. We've called a few short days as the heat and the work wears us down, but we've also made great progress. We have already achieved our original goals of building the front and back decks. 

Front Deck

Rear Deck

Now, we're adding refinements like a set of steps on the side to serve as a seating area as well as access from the back of the yard. The main stairs are on the side, near the house, aligned with the planned back door which will serve as the main family entrance. Some other activities this week include: a swimming pool outing for Wendy, a golf outing for Kristian, Liam and me, an app evening over at Guido & Tina's place.

Liam, Kristian-at the range!

And, for good measure, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary one more time... thanks Baileys & Stenskes!

Thanks folks!

The markets have turned in a bad week as the twin blows of continued CV-19 expansion in the USA, and the reopening of Trump-China hostilities have shed value in stocks and pushed gold over $1900 per ounce. On the positive side, baseball has returned, albeit without fans in the seats. The Jays have split their first two games. Golf continues; hockey nears—next week! 

The Baileys continue to host us each day and assist with the work. It is good just to share the time with them, and to see the progress.

Building Risers

Risers in Place, Privacy Screen coming

Wendy and Kristian have worked to clear the lawn area of rocks, and clean the yard edges of weeds.

Whipper Snipper!

It's looking good! Haaken continues with work, and his art projects. 

Erin has been holding the fort in Regina while continuing with work. There have been frequent thunder storms there as well. The dog doesn't like those; the cat doesn't care! 

Trav, Joanna and crew have also had weather to deal with in TBay. Gemma remains in our basement, tracking our mail, and ensuring the care of the house—thanks, Gemma! Joanna has returned to southern Ontario to relieve her step-mother and assist in the care of her father. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Decked Out!

Another week has passed and we are found on the shore of the South Saskatchewan River, in Prince Albert! We began the week in Kennedy, hosted by Dave & Heather—Thanks Folks! After driving up to Regina, we enjoyed Aunt Ina's 100th birthday party on Sunday afternoon. We checked in with Erin, making arrangements to pick up Kristian to take him north. Then, we met on the deck with Dad, and the 55 Laird Crew—Good to see you all, again! Finally, we headed over to Barry & Ashley's as they had agreed to put us up (down) in their basement. We passed greetings with them, and then headed north on Monday morning. We are isolating in Prince Albert and working a few projects at the Baileys, mainly the front and back decks! The front is much more tedious, but we're nearly done that one. We had to take down a lot of material from the old decks in both cases, but the back deck is much more straightforward. We expect to finish that next week, as well as get in some R&R time, maybe even golf! At present, we end each day pretty tired—decked out, perhaps! I have remained out of the markets, but they have actually managed to put up some green despite all the headlines and the resurgence of Covid-19. The Americans are putting up record numbers of cases, and experiencing about 1000 deaths a day, but still the markets work they way forward—it's true, "The markets can remain irrational much longer than you can remain solvent!" I got one more dividend payment, but I think I'm done for the month now on that front, so I'll need to spend a bit of time and figure out how to get back into the markets. Baseball and hockey are moving closer to official play. MLB plans an abbreviated season, while the NHL looks to moved directly into playoffs involving most of the teams. Other sports have returned to play, but I've limited my attention to golf, so far. 

Erica writes, "This week we were blessed with a pair of good workers. We made good headway on the back deck and front porch as well as some finishing work on Liam’s bedroom. Thanks Mom and Dad for coming to visit! I think by the time you leave we will have made a good dent in the work, and will need another vacation to recover. Eric has been battling a rash on his hand. We have determined that he is likely allergic to polysporin, which he was using to treat the rash before it started to grow. Liam has been helping Grampa and learning to do wiring and carpentry. Haaken continues with work at Costco in Victoria and looking for animation work." 

Some posts had slumped, so supports had to be rebuilt

All posts had to be raised to install decking

Kristian has left with us, so Erin is on her own with the pets. The pets seem to be wondering what happened to their usual companion! Erin has picked up a couple of Kristian's jobs caring for the neighbours animals and plants. Kristian has added some activities here! 

Nailed it!

Travis and Joanna, Gemma and Andrew remain in Thunder Bay. Gemma continues to live at our house, and care for the situation there, so that's a relief for us. They've been experiencing some severe weather since we left, but all situations are secure so far.

Wild Weather in TBay

And that's about it for this week. 

Anniversary Continues...

Another week has passed, and we have progressed from Lake Superior to the Rivière Rouge, to the Moose Mountains! We cleaned up and left Thunder Bay on Thursday. We drove up to Winnipeg that day; it was slow progress as we worked through many construction sites, most featuring one-way traffic and long delays. We rolled into Winnipeg after 6pm, and enjoyed a physically distanced greeting from Tom & Mariette. They put us up for Thursday and Friday nights, and celebrated our anniversary with us through a special supper on Friday night—thank you so much!

with a delicious Saskatoon crisp!

Despite the restrictions, it was a great time. This morning, we loaded up once again and drove by way of Fairlight, and the old farmstead, up to Kennedy where we are visiting Dave & Heather. Tonight's gathering included James, Natasha and their three children, along with Ray, Ellen and Harmony, so it was a great gathering. The markets have remained troubled all week as the news of the terrible virus toll in the USA gives investors many second thoughts. Combined with our travel plans, I have remained mostly on the sidelines, but did score another nice dividend to keep the green going even though it was short of quota. Golf remains the only sport in somewhat active mode. Hockey and baseball have made announcements of their plan to return to play. We're looking forward to watching how all that comes together. 

Erica writes, "Eric gave us a surprise trip to the hospital this week with severe stomach pain (close enough to his heart to scare us). Turns out it was a gall bladder infection and likely passing a small gallstone. Eric resumed work on Thursday and is doing fine. This did slow down our renovation projects. Liam made a video to demonstrate our process aptly titled 10 year reno. We are almost finished refinishing the floor in Liam’s room. He hopes to move back in later this weekend so that we will have space for our visitors who arrive Monday. Haaken is still working at Costco and is looking for animation work."

Erin and Kristian are watching through the thunderstorms in Regina, and preparing for our visit which is scheduled to begin tomorrow. Truthfully, we only plan a physically distanced greeting, and then, we're going to take Kristian along to Prince Albert and put him to work on renovations! 

Travis and Joanna continue to wait out the coronavirus in Thunder Bay. Joanna gets a couple of days of work most weeks. Travis has some summer maintenance to do on his equipment, but otherwise has little in the way of contracts. We hope there will eventually be hockey leagues as those represent a large part of his work each year. We enjoyed our first restaurant meal in months on Wednesday night with them to celebrate their anniversary. The open-air patio option at Montana's served the purpose. Then, we retired to our place for Grasshopper Pie. Happy Anniversary! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Happy Golden Anniversary!

The end of this week brings us to a significant milestone in our lives together—the 50th Anniversary of our Marriage! Wendy continues to be the great blessing of my life, and I am very thankful to continue this trip with her.

Ready to Go Away!

We celebrated today with several on-line meetings. One with Wendy's family, another with our wedding party, and one with our children this evening. All members of the wedding party are still with us, and continue to form a meaningful part of our lives, so we're very appreciative of that. We could not have imagined having them all together again at any physical location, so it was fantastic to get to meet with them all at once!

A lovely bouquet for our 50th—thanks!

It has been another very hot week here in Thunder Bay, on the shore of Lake Superior. Sometimes we get a nice onshore breeze and the temperature moderates considerably. Usually, we swelter in the yard work, and escape to the air-conditioned comfort of our house. The hot, dry weather means the lawns have slowed down considerably which suits me just fine. I am loathe to water them, so they can just rest! We have begun preparations for our trip to Saskatchewan, hoping to make that sometime next week. We are still trying to manage our way through the protocols established in the provinces en route. It appears that Manitoba will allow we northern-Ontario-people a stop, sans quarantine, but we're not allowed at Erin's in Regina! The markets have been thin and directionless this week, and I have remained on the sideline except for collecting a dividend—so, I gained a little, but not up to quota. Sports leagues continue to mutter about opening scenarios, but so far only golf is actually playing. Meanwhile, CV-19 continues to ravage the countries who have failed to deal with it sensibly. USA is setting new records over 50,000 new infections per day, and they're just across an alarmingly porous border! Mexico has supplied the ultimate insult of closing their border to USA! 

It's been a quiet week at the Bailey house. Erica is on summer vacation and has been catching up on sleep and doing a few errands, but nothing too ambitious. Liam and Eric got a bit more demolition done on the old deck. They have stripped the old coating off the floor in the back room. It requires another sanding, and then it can be refinished. Haaken has been working this week. He also went out and purchased the family birthday gift for Gramma Bailey. 

Erin and Kristian have been managing their charges through the thunderstorms in Regina. Sadie becomes very alarmed and panicky, while Lucy takes it all in stride. Erin has been investigating the protocols for CV-19, and hoping we'll be able to stop in at her place next week. At the very least, our plan is to pick up Kristian and take him north with us to Prince Albert. Then, we can complete our isolation up there, and return to Regina later. 

Travis and Joanna have been managing their family and pets through the heat here. Well, except for Gemma; she's enjoying air-conditioned comfort in our basement! They supplied supper for an anniversary celebration here this evening—thank guys! Then, they joined us in a family zoom with the Saskatchewan crew and the grandson from BC. 

And that's about enough for this week!