CV-19: Hold my coffee!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained cool, but we're promised some double digit days in the next week, and we look forward to that! Last week, I lamented over the surge of coronavirus infections, and the USA surpassing an unimaginable 80K per day, but CV-19 has blasted upward to new levels throughout the world this week, and just yesterday USA had over 100K. Too many folks just are not taking this seriously! Our friends in Winnipeg are recovering, and none of the children have fallen ill so far. At some point, we may even find out whether they were infected. If not, it's a marvelous testimony to the work of a nurse, within her own home, and even while she, herself, was ill! Across Canada, we are also suffering a surge of infections, and increased restrictions have been instituted in many provinces. If all goes well, we may have some relaxation of these by Christmas.

  

We have kept busy with our projects, Wendy has completed painting the guest room; we are looking for new flooring for that room. We purchased a storage cupboard to augment the closet in there.

I think she'll be repainting it though. I have built a pair of new flipper/grippers. Each side has a rubber gripper, and you choose the side based on where the saw blade would contact it, so as to not chew all the rubber away.

Keep blade in the black

Droppable Heel

They are for riding against the fence and pushing material through the table saw. I even made an extra one for a friend who's having trouble pushing stuff through the table saw! We continue to enjoy the hot tub, and with the promise of a warm spell have decided to keep it running for another week at least. Today was Hallowe'en, and we were pleasantly surprised to have 54 kids checking by for treats. The markets have remained volatile and terrible. TSX was down 3.2% for October, so it's tough going, but I did manage some gains. As I predicted, Dodgers won the World Series in six games. They just had too much fire power for Tampa Bay. In College football today, two of my teams played each other as Texas took down #6, and previously undefeated, OSU, so they'll probably get ranked next week. Then, re-ranked OU (#24 is a ranking!) played in the evening and notched another victory.

Erica writes, "Liam had an iron infusion on Monday. Eric had the day off and I can work from anywhere, so, we made a trip if it. It was nice to be out of the house.

Harry Dresden

Wonder Woman

The rest of the week has been pretty ordinary, other than Hallowe'en—Eric dressed up as Harry Dresden, a magician, and I went as Wonder Woman! Fun times! Haaken has been refining his Patreon site. He’s undecided between having one time payments for one time requests or a monthly subscription for those who wish to support him on a regular basis. He can only choose one or the other."

Erin and Kristian are having an eventful life these days. Erin has to mask-up all day at work, and cannot wander around the dealership. Saskatchewan is suffering a resurgence along with the rest of us. Astrid and Liam experienced a close contact, so they've been excluded from school, and also from their mother's place for an isolation period. Shawn is glad to have them at home with him, but this also raises the risks for him and for his workplace! Kristian is enjoying his new courses.

Trav & Joanna keep active jumping through the hoops of the various government support programs during the pandemic. They are continuing to get some orders, more from out of province than in, as the hockey season struggles to start up across the country. 

And that's about it for this week.

Covid-19 Sets New Records!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather is cool with most days topping out around 5°, but our lawns remain green, although we expect to get some snow soon. We are ready for winter; all yard work including the shed renovations are complete. We have obtained our flu shots, and maintain our careful practices against the coronavirus. Would that all were being so careful. As mentioned last week, the infection rate is surging, and just yesterday it established new records in various countries. We're running about 2500 per day, and another 25 deaths, sad to say. USA continues to lead the way in infamy with new highs around 80,000 and a death toll of nearly 1000 each day. Dear friends in Winnipeg have become infected, and while they're on the path to recovery, we remain concerned for their five young children. Both of them lost the senses of smell and taste. A friend of ours here in Thunder Bay had that symptom as well, and reports it has taken about six months to get it back. Anyway, take care and stay safe. Wendy has completed the storage closet, so I've installed some shelves, and she's stocking them.

Stocking Up!

She has begun painting in the other bedroom upstairs, so it is lime green no more (sorry, Gemma)! Two coats of primer has that covered, and two shades, of what I call grey, will be applied soon. I've been working at small jobs, like removing baseboards and other fixtures to get the bedroom ready for paint, and applying baseboards and door trim in the storage closet. We've kept the hot tub going for another week, but soon it will be time to shut that down as well. The markets remain volatile as rumours concerning a new stimulus plan leaked out each day. It appears the House and the White House are agreed on the need to move forward, but the Senate Republicans are refusing to even consider it. Thus I remain mostly out of the markets, so while I had a green week, it was not up to my needs or expectations. The sports scene is relatively light of topics in my interest sphere. Baseball is in the World Series—I'm cheering for Tampa, while expecting the Dodgers to win it all. They were clearly the better team in the regular season, but when I contrast their team payrolls of around 100 million vs 30 million, it's easy to cheer for the underdog! College Football is underway, I follow a few teams with some interest: OU, Texas, OSU. OSU is doing the best of that batch as the other two are unranked at present. All three won this week. We are hearing rumblings of college basketball starting soon, so I'll be watching for the Jayhawks. 

Erica writes, "Liam is home this weekend for a visit, some drumming on worship team and an iron infusion on Monday. His dance team has updated their website—check it out! I had a few days working out of home. It was interesting to see real people and climb stairs again. But after a couple days I was really 'peopled-out'. Snow has arrived—though Eric says it's actually pollution from white packing stuff from all the Amazon orders. There is nothing much more to add. It's been a relatively quiet week."

Erin has made a decision on a new car. She's getting a brand new RAV4,

2021 RAV4 in Magnetic Grey

and since she's works at Toyota, she gets it practically for free!! Just kidding, she pays pretty much full price! Anyway it's very nice, and we hope it provides years of trouble-free service for them. Shawn is enjoying his work at Ranch Ehrlo, and shared a picture of one of the entrees he prepared for his crew.

Meatloaf Mummy!

Kristian is back at school and enjoying better health, although he still has the allergy symptoms of stuffiness and runny nose. He has completed classes on his first Quint, but has some assignments to complete over the weekend. Then, he has exams on Tuesday and Wednesday. He transitions into Quint 2 where he'll be taking Science each morning and PAA (Practical Applied Arts, must be something like Industrial Arts) each afternoon. 

Travis plugs away at the orders from around the country as they trickle in. This week he had orders going out to: Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Red Deer, Coquitlam, Medicine Hat, Halifax, Vaughan, Mississauga, Burlington, Toronto. Joanna has completed her isolation, remains symptom-free and is eligible to go back to work. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Virus Surging World-wide!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned noticeably cooler as Autumn progresses. I was glad to complete the repairs and shingling on the shed before it got too cold, even so, it was a struggle to make the ridge cap bend.

Water Damage

Repaired!

Capping it off! 

We continue to face the raging pandemic, and the last month has brought about a resurgence all over. Ontario has reintroduced restrictions in several areas as infection rates climb. US hit a new high of nearly 72,000 new infections yesterday, and almost another 1000 deaths. Only those areas that took this very seriously are finding themselves relatively safe. A close friend in Winnipeg has been infected and is suffering debilitating symptoms. We continue to shelter at home, I don't go out much, while Wendy takes precautions when she does. I continue to expect this situation to remain with us for a long time, and look forward to improved treatment methods as our main protection. I am not counting on an effective vaccine. Wendy has continued to work on the storage closet. She's having paint rejection problems in one area and keeps trying to sand it clean and repaint, but the paint just isn't sticking! She has also determined that another part needs further repair, so that job is not done yet. She has tracked down another French door, so I suspect I'll soon be installing another sliding door, this time to close off the laundry/furnace room from the rest of the basement. I have continued the physiotherapy on my index finger; range of motion is improving. The on-again-off-again stimulus talks in the USA have kept the markets uneasy. I remain mostly out of the markets awaiting a final decision on stimulus so we can get away from the news cycle. It sure would be great if they'd elect a stable government down there so we can invest more rationally. Baseball playoffs are ramped up for the World Series. In the American League Championship Series, Tampa Bay opened up a 3-0 lead on Houston, then frittered it all away, but won game 7 tonight to advance. Dodgers fell behind 3-1 to Atlanta, but have fought back to force a game 7 on the National League side tomorrow. 

Liam got useful results on his recent bloodwork. His doctor has determined a new focus of attack against his health issues. We hope for some measure of success. Otherwise, things remain the same in Prince Albert with Eric and Erica pushing forward with work and home renovation plans. Liam is still looking for work in Caronport, but his RU team put out an energetic video. I was exhausted just watching! Haaken is working on an animated game; we look forward to seeing it! 

Erin and Kristian have battled health issues and school work all week. They both got negative results on their Covid tests, but Kristian has still been suffering with allergy-like symptoms all week. As a result, he's had a lot of schoolwork to do from home, and not feeling well makes it even more difficult. He finally got to school on Friday. Tonight, they're celebrating a belated Thanksgiving dinner with Shawn, Astrid and Liam. 

Joanna has made another trip south to help out with her dad. She got back yesterday, but now she is self-isolating once again. The surge in virus cases does not encourage us to think that either Gemma or Andrew will return to the usual school program anytime soon. It's much less than ideal to be doing lab work and other practical aspects of their courses in a virtual format. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained comfortable, but there have been frequent showers. We have continued to work on our several projects and Wendy has managed to add one more. She continues to make progress on the storage closet; it now has a coating of paint! Should be about another day or two to complete that. She found some shingles on the FaceBook marketplace. She has purchased those, and put me to work re-shingling the back shed. I started on that today. She has gone back to work on the luggage racks and has one ready for staining. This evening, we celebrated our Thanksgiving feast with Trav, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew, and with cousin Julie as well.

Our traditional Chinese-food feast!

But first, we enjoyed an afternoon of college football as my Sooners took down the Texas team in quadruple overtime—an easy win!! In other sporting news, baseball has moved into the semi-finals and only two of my picks remain in the race, and they play each other. So, I'm cheering for the Dodgers to advance to the world series. I'll be cheering for the Rays to win on the American league side. The markets have had a wild ride this week, but ended the week in an up mode, and I managed to make some money. I have continued my physiotherapy sessions, and am seeing some improvement in the movement of my index finger. The other fingers are fine! Meanwhile Covid continues to surge, and our province is experiencing such a rate of infections that some restrictions are being applied again. 

Erica writes, "Liam is home for the Thanksgiving weekend. We are planning to make a turkey, and eat turkey leftovers for the next week! We picked up an air nailer and compressor, so maybe we will get some work done this weekend! Haaken reports he is working on some animation for a game he is creating. We hope to see a finished product soon! Eric and I continue with work—Eric in the office and me at home. We have managed to remain COVID-free so far. Eric is also working on a set of hockey cards with his brother Neil. They play a hockey card game based on actual NHL stats. I told him he needs to get his brother-in-law on board, get the game licensed and market it!" 

Erin and Kristian have been ill most of the week, and finally went for Covid tests today. There have been such a surge in testing that it may take a few days to get results. Kristian did a good job completing his homework last weekend, so that program ended well. 

We enjoyed having Travis, Joanna and family here for Thanksgiving, as we are glad to have them around all year long. Trav has had a few orders from American fans of these special bumper stickers. 

I thought it was a cute idea!

Joanna keeps quite busy with shifts at the restaurant. Thankfully, we're not be asked to shut down up here. Gemma and Andrew are facing midterms in their courses. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

No One Is Immune!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cool and rainy, but we've managed to keep busy with various projects. I added two new sets of stairs for the deck. Both were replacing some decrepit ones that had been in place. Wendy's outside work was to re-stain the deck cart.

Deck Cart

Wendy also kept at her drywalling, and has now applied primer, so that job is getting close to complete.

Looks perfect to me

There's nothing quite as much fun as drywalling inside a closet! We have continued to enjoy the hot tub each evening; the new thermostat has improved that process. I settled on a double hinge set up to hold the top out of the way.

Does the job

It's still a tad warm for me! I managed to begin my physiotherapy again for my damaged fingers. Really, it's just the index finger that is causing the most concern. The top knuckle and the middle knuckle are not bending as they should. We were only able to meet virtually, but I was able to demonstrate the activity, and he demonstrated and prescribed therapy. We'll see how it goes. Covid-19 continues to surge with Ontario posting record numbers of infections several times this week. More restrictions have been put in place, but we continue to see folks who seem to think such don't apply for them! Trump serves as a case in point as he decried masks and other restrictions, but now is a victim of the virus. The rising toll among the vast populace of India is illustrative of the global nature of the pandemic. The daily carnage in the USA illustrates that simply ignoring it will not make it go away. They are already at 210,000 deaths and losing about 1000 each day. The markets have continued to pull back in these troubled times, turning in another red week. I continue to bide my time with very little in the market. I keep hoping the Senate Republicans will eventually accede to the popular plan to give the poor folks some money. We know that would get circulating in the economy and raise economic activity broadly. The NHL season is officially complete with my pick, Tampa Bay, claiming the Stanley Cup. That was a good thing, before folks start asking me not to pick their favourite team! Baseball playoffs have completed the first round, and now move into the Divisional series. The Blue Jays lost to the Rays, so their season is over. 

Erica writes, "Last Sunday, Eric decided that a football comeback at 50 years old wasn’t in the cards. Maybe he will try again at 51. He played one week—2 games back-to-back, and he felt it for the rest of the week! Other than that it’s been a pretty typical week—Eric working at the office and me working from home. Working from home is great, but it really takes the joy out of casual Friday’s. In the evenings, we are enjoying Buffy the Vampire Slayer which we never watched when it first came out. The Saskatchewan Lipedema Association was approved for charitable status. It took almost a year. Apparently the CRA folks had never heard of Lipedema so they had to do research to find out what it was. This will open up the opportunity to seek donations and apply for grants to support education of public and health professionals, we hope! Eric is working on changes to the Saskatchewan Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and hoping to gain more provincial recognition. He is also working on a project for regulation of mental health professionals. But, it is slow going with COVID and the election. Haaken is still working at Costco and on an animation project on his own. Liam worked on building bookshelves and a desk while he was home last weekend.

New Construction

Now, he's back and is looking for work in Caronport. We hope he finds it soon."

Kristian enjoyed some progress at school and with his homework this week, but the crunch is on this weekend as he has a Monday deadline for several assignments! He had some ill health on Friday, and was sent home from school. We're thinking it was another allergy attack, but he was surely stuffed up, sneezy and with weepy eyes. Anyway, he's feeling better today, so we're hoping that's the end of that. 

Travis and Joanna stop by once in a while. Gemma is still living downstairs here and taking some classes in person, and others virtually. Andrew is taking nearly all classes virtually from home. Joanna has given up on getting a Covid test as the hospital was so backed up with testing pressure from the schools. 

And that's about it for this week!