One Million Dead!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has been very nice this week, but has cooled into the weekend, and promises to be cooler in the coming week, too. Meanwhile Covid-19 continues to ravage and is even surging world-wide. This weekend will mark the official 1 millionth death from the disease. What a tragedy! We are seeing a surge in Ontario as well, notably among students and staff as schools complete three weeks. The government has announced tighter rules on gatherings and business activity, but it will take some weeks to see whether that has the desired effect. 

When we got back from the prairies we received a congratulatory certificate from the Prime Minister in recognition of our 50th Anniversary, as we keep celebrating that! We continue to enjoy the hot tub in the evenings. I finally broke down and replaced the thermostat, which has allowed us to maintain the pool at appropriate temperatures, which, for us, is 42°—just a tad too warm for me, and not quite as hot as Wendy would like it! I have been working on the hot tub installation.

Seems to work! 

I have rebuilt the steps using cheat stringers made of 2x4s and 2x6s—seems to work fine, so I plan to build another set for the deck stairs to the lower deck.

Replacing old stairs

I am also trying to develop a lifter for the pool cover, so we can easily remove/replace it—that's still a work in progress!

Not sure if this will work!

Since I got it to level, Wendy has continued her work on the staining of the shed. It's looking like new!

Fresh coat of stain

We only have another month or so of comfortable outside weather to work on those projects, so we're pushing to get as much done as we can. Wendy has continued with her mudding on the storage closet;

My main mudder!

I think it's ready for paint, so Wendy should be satisfied soon! The markets have continued to be in turmoil, but toward the weekend, investors have become encouraged to think that the Senate Republicans might actually pass a stimulus bill, so the markets surged forward. Should the stimulus become actual, we can expect a rally, and I will plan to invest more in the market. Currently, I am only around 10% in the market, and even that is not thriving! Sports continue through their adapted cycles. The Blue Jays have clinched a playoff position, but we don't know who their opponent will be in the first round. The Stanley Cup playoffs are nearing completion and my pick, Tampa Bay, is leading in the final series, but missed their first chance to end it this evening, losing in Double OverTime. 

Erica writes, "Liam came home for a visit last week and played drums on worship team with me. Other than that it has been a quiet week. Haaken has also been working on some animation projects, but nothing is ready to post yet."

Erin and Kristian are engaged in their regular routines with work and school. Kristian's regular routine has become highly specialized as he only takes two courses for about six weeks, and then moves on to a new set of subjects. The subjects this time are Language Arts and Health, and the assignments involved a lot of reading and writing. This has not been going well, and he is behind on his work. He is also falling behind on his housework, so all is not sweetness and light in their household! 

Travis, Joanna and crew are doing well. Schooling is progressing satisfactorily for Gemma and Andrew. Joanna's navigated the various hot spots, from here to Toronto and back, on her recent trip, and has been trying to get tested. However, there is such a backlog created by the reopening of schools, that she has been unable to get in. Anyway, she has been back ten days now, so if she is infected, she is asymptomatic. We're guessing she's healthy. She is back to work at the restaurant, while Travis works on the Bucket Decal orders, and anguishes over the Stanley Cup playoffs along with me! 

And that's about enough for this week.