New Possibilities!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful all week with daytime temperatures between 15 and 20, and most overnight lows staying above freezing.  We did have severe winds early in the week which took down many branches from our elm out front.

One so large, I had to cut it before moving it.

We have taken advantage to get out for walks, and on Friday we even ventured up Mount McKay for the first time during our years in Thunder Bay. It was unfortunate that we had waited so long, as the climb was quite difficult and we're not as young as we were every day earlier!

Tough Climb

City with some Salties in the harbour

The lady at the toll booth advised that it might take 30 minutes to climb! We showed her! Although we spread the climb over one hour, I was still overtaxed, and spent many anxious minutes experiencing nausea and dizziness at the top before recovering enough to check out the views, get some photos of the city below and prepare for the descent. Wendy does not do well on descents, so she was almost an hour getting down as well. It's possible that we're getting old! Otherwise, we spent some time on our various projects. I have built a small rack to hold my router bits.

Router bit Rack

Wendy has completed staining and finishing the first of the luggage racks. It's looking good; she is now working on the second one. We will use them in our guest room here until we have occasion to get them to 55 Laird. Sadly, that moment does appear imminent; the coronavirus continues to surge and set new records world-wide! Several provinces are experiencing severe increases in infection rates, and are imposing severe restrictions in an attempt to get control of it again. It can be done! It must be done! We have had over 50 million cases and 1.25 million deaths already. I believe both of those estimates are very much on the low side of reality. Antibody testing has shown that infection rates are about 10 times higher than what is being reported. However, we see jurisdictions that have achieved control, so it is possible for us to do it as well. The USA has taken a step in that direction, electing Joe Biden, who promises to follow the science to direct an attack of the virus. We wish him well. The American election held a major effect on the stock markets, and the prospect of a new president produced a big week on the markets, prompting me to start buying back in. I experienced a good week of earnings. College football continues with all three of my teams winning their games today. 

Erica writes, "We are in self isolation this week. Eric had been feeling under the weather and woke up Tuesday with a massive headache. So, he was kept home until he could be sent for testing on Thursday. I also have cold like symptoms but that isn’t unusual for me and my seasonal allergies. We should hear soon. I continue to work from home, so the self isolation hasn’t affected me too much. Liam has gotten approval to proceed with Remicade for his Colitis and Celiac disease. We hope this will heal his bowel. When he was home this summer it really became apparent how this disease affects him. We will watch a movie and he’ll be up at least twice for a potty break. It seems like he has to visit the bathroom hourly. He is still looking for a job in Caronport but nothing has come up yet. Haaken continues working at Costco and working on his animation." 

Kristian is being hit by further restrictions due to the virus spread in Regina. For the next while he'll only attend school half the time, and do the rest of his classwork online. Shawn's kids remain in isolation at his place until the middle of next week, and thereafter will remain with him for the rest of the month. He's delighted to have them, and continues his work at Ranch Ehrlo. Erin expects her RAV4 on Monday, but in the meantime she is having a chilly weekend at home as her furnace is acting up. 

Travis and Joanna continue to get some orders. This week they prepared Twig Decals for a team in Edmonton. Apparently they have a star player wearing #27.

Twig Decals

Otherwise, they continue under the covid relief measures from the government. 

And that's it for this week.