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.