Vision Improving!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather turned quite cold during the week, even hitting -25° but has moderated to near zero again, so we were able to get out for a walk today. The vision in my newly repaired left eye continues to improve. I had a followup appointment here on Monday. The doctor was satisfied with progress so far, and booked me for another check in two weeks. My experience with my first pterygium surgery over a year ago predicts that I should have pretty much normal vision by then. I can already see better than I did before the surgery happened, but not for long stretches of time, so I'm often watching/reading with that eye closed.

Still a bit sore, and tires quickly

I have been studying a few more potential projects and have decided I would like to build a wood vise, and a drill press vise soon. I have bought the necessary threaded rod for both projects, so if the weather holds, I'll be able to get at those.

Colourful, isn't it?

Wendy has completed puzzle #3, while I've been struggling with my own puzzle in the markets. I do not fully understand what happened there, but it was terrible, no good and very bad! Some point to the unprecedented "short squeeze" where Reddit-inspired traders took on the big boys of Wall Street and punished them with up to 20 billion in losses. Others point to problems in vaccination deliveries into the arms of folks. Still others point to accentuated concerns over the new Covid variants that seem much more transmissible and may be more hazardous as well. As I noted, there has been a record surge in the markets since US election day, and sometimes this causes the pundits to start looking for a "correction". Whatever the explanation, this week's losses kept me from making quota for the month, and stopped out several of my holdings, sigh! Wendy has kept going on the Norwex clean-up challenges, although she decided to skip today's "Wash Bedroom Walls" call since we're getting ready for a fresh coat of paint in there. The NHL is nearing the 25% mark on the shortened season and my three teams are showing mixed results. Pens (5-3-1) have struggled for consistency while suffering with injuries. Leafs (7-2-1) are doing great! My favourite skaters, the Oilers (4-6), are definitely not meeting expectations. The Jayhawks were dropped to #15 after their three straight losses, took a win midweek, but then got pounded tonight, yikes! They need to get ready for March Madness!

Liam reports that he is feeling okay, but that he has had no noticeable improvement yet from the Remicade. We hope the improvement comes soon! He continues to volunteer with the RU Ministry. Since they can’t dance, he is helping develop more content for the web. He is also looking for work, as EI will be ending. Eric is enjoying his NHL package, especially this week as his Canucks won three in a row. Erica has been struggling with mental health. She wishes she could just take a year off and sleep, but since there are still bills to be paid, life must go on. She has reached out to counselling and her doctor to reconsider her medication. She is scheduled for another Lipedema surgery in late August, but that depends on the COVID situation. It’s been really cold this week in PA—like -40°! Haaken continues to work on his animation. Greg is working in Kenora. 

Erin and Kristian also had a frosty week in Regina, but Kristian bundled up and headed off to school each day. He has his regular in-person days, and then his afternoon tutorials. Erin continues to explore and enjoy new cooking options with her air fryer. Kristian's eczema is responding to treatment.

Joanna continues to isolate after her return from Toronto; she got her negative Covid test result today, yay! Travis has been over here a couple of times; we enjoy the visits. He also set me up with a Firestick TV, so I can enjoy more options for my viewing pleasure—thanks guys! Wendy even enjoys the prospect of Pixar and the Disney Channel. We also get to chat or text frequently.

And that's about enough for this week.

Starting to See!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned a bit colder, but is still recovering to single digits of freezing each day. We flew down to Toronto on Sunday for my eye surgery.

Arrr, me mateys! 

I saw the surgeon on Monday, underwent pterygium surgery on Tuesday, and had a follow-up appointment with her on Wednesday before flying home. I told the doctor that it seemed more painful this time, but she suggested I might be forgetting! She peeled off the pterygium which had started to encroach over the pupil. Then, she took a rectangular graft from the eyeball just above the iris, and applied it between the nose corner of the eye and the iris to prevent the pterygium from regrowing. The harvesting site, and the grafting location are the sources of most of the pain. She checked it over on Wednesday morning, and announced that she had done an excellent job!

You're right—it is sore!

Since she was the only one there with expertise to make such an assessment, I had to take her word for it! However, let's just say the T3s are proving very helpful. I also have an antibiotic ointment I apply to the eyeball four times each day, and another that I will use after the first two weeks. I'm scheduled to see my local ophthalmic surgeon on Monday to ensure that I'm making good progress. I'm already seeing better than I was before the surgery. Otherwise, I haven't been doing much! We had another good week in the markets as they set a record for the best performance from election day to inauguration day—thanks uncle Joe! If I can hold on for this next week, it'll be three straight months on quota!

Glue Up for Shelf

My new board is out of the glue-up, but I haven't begun the sanding. It will become a shelf in my pallet wood TV Tray. The NHL continues in the early season, but my Oilers (2-4) are not doing well. Leafs (4-2) and Pens (3-2) are doing better. The #9-Jayhawks are going through a rough stretch, losing three straight now. Their ranking will drop further this weekend—Rock Chalk, Jayhawks!

Erica is back to work this week, but they are both still working from home so it hasn’t been much of a change in scenery. Liam got his third dose of Remicade. We are hoping he will soon report an improvement. Eric has started destruction of the ceiling in the eating nook. It is under the upstairs bathroom.

More Knob/Tube and a Plumbing Puzzle!

They have found more knob and tube electrical up there, but they haven't figured out if it’s live or not. Other than that, it’s been a quiet week for the Baileys. 

 

Kristian is managing better with the new program of half time on line, and half at school. He also gets extra help at school on alternate afternoons. This week he got new ear-molds; the old ones were leaking and he was experiencing hearing loss.

New Ears—Better Hearing!

They got out one day this week to pick up the new ear-molds, and also got his SGI number so he can begin driver training. Yikes! How could he be old enough for driver training!?

Joanna flew to Toronto with us last Sunday to spend the week with her dad and family.

Ready to Fly!

She's arriving back home today, and then, like us, she'll be isolating until she has her requisite clear days. Trav and I have been chatting our way through hockey games—his team is doing better than mine! 

And that's about enough for this week.

World Record!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued mild with some nights even staying above zero. It rained pretty much all day yesterday, so the snow piles on the lawn have sunk quite a bit. We've been able to get out for walks everyday, and that's both nice and good for us. Mariana (our new student roomer) has settled in to her nursing program through the university—that's going well. The world continues to pile up new records on the Covid-19 front. We've now lost at least two million people! The CDC were mocked when they issued cautions in early November saying the USA could hit 400,000 deaths before inauguration if folks didn't get serious about the needed precautions. Well, they've already surpassed that terrible landmark, and, this weekend, they've had to admit they actually don't have a stockpile of vaccine—what a debacle! Wendy has continued her Norwex cleanup challenge, and also cleaned up the second puzzle.

One puzzle, or twenty-six?!

Both books 1 and 2.

 

I didn't help much, as I cannot see well enough to be effective. I received a couple of books for Christmas, and I look forward to being able to see well enough to read them, hopefully soon. The surgery is still on for Tuesday despite the raised level on restrictions here in Ontario. Our flights keep getting changed; we're now scheduled to fly down tomorrow and spend an extra day in Toronto. The mild weather allowed me to spend more time in the shop again this week. I built a jig so I can do jointing in the planer, and got my boards ready for glue-up in my new set of diy bar clamps. 

Bar Clamping with Wedges

The markets have been whipsawing all week with each wind of news, especially news of how serious the insurrection plans were, so it hasn't been productive for me. I remain on quota for the month. The NHL began the regular season this week, but my teams have not been putting up the big wins so far. Oilers are 1-2; Leafs are 2-1; while Pens are 0-2. Kansas lost a tight game early in the week, and then their game today was postponed as Iowa State had a Covid outbreak, sigh! 

Erica writes, "Eric and I are on the cusp of completing the English Channel virtual race. As of Friday we have 4.4 km to go and we expect to complete that this weekend. We should have been done by today but with the ice storm we did bit venture out for a walk for the past few days. Liam is back in Caronport and has been working with RU to put out videos featuring the team members. Liam is trying his hat at being Stephen Colbert. He also had his first blackout on his own and is in the market for candles and maybe a wind-up lantern. Haaken continues his work at Costco and Greg is still in Kenora driving truck." The Baileys bought snowshoes, so their adventures no longer need follow the trails—I'm reminded they weren't following the trails before!

Snowshoeing!

Erin and Kristian suffered through a terrible Saskatchewan blizzard. It did some damage to their condo as well as there were tornado-force winds. Kristian was sent home from school early the next day as they were suffering from an electrical outage there as a result of the storm. Fortunately, they had electricity at home. His classes are now operating as in-person/on-line on alternating days. Kristian has been accorded extra support in that he walks to school to get tutoring in the English Language Arts course work for the afternoon of the on-line days.

Travis and Joanna have been over to visit before the most recent restrictions. As I understand it, we're no longer allowed a family bubble even up here in northern Ontario. Well, it was fun while it lasted. Joanna is flying to Toronto tomorrow on the same flight as we are. She'll be helping with dad care down there. Gemma is back in class, but all classes including labs are done on-line. She is finding the Chemistry labs are certainly lacking compared to in-person experiences. 

And that's about enough for this week.

And the beat goes on!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued to be mild with melting each day, so we've enjoyed getting out for walks everyday, and my treadmill is feeling abandoned! Wendy has temporarily abandoned her painting and her puzzles and has taken on a complete Spring Cleaning of the house—must be the spring-like weather! The warmer temperatures have also allowed me to get back out to the shop frequently, and I've begun work on a few more projects.

Boy with his Toy!

I've got my new planer set up, and put through a couple of batches of pallet boards—surely produces a lot of wood chips! I built a double-sided jig to ride the fence. This side is for cutting tenons. The other will be for cutting splines, but I haven't finished that yet.

Tenon Jig

I needed the tenon cutter to make a mallet. I made it with a layer of walnut between two layers of white oak. It turned out pretty well, just needs the finishing now.

Mallet

 

 

 

My ophthalmic surgeon called from Toronto to inform me that I have to have a Covid test before they'll let me into the hospital for surgery, so I had that done this week, and the results came back today—negative. The Biden Bounce has continued in the markets; this was further buoyed this week by the twin wins in Georgia senate runoffs. Of course the insurrection, on Wednesday, did cast a pall over the markets, but investors got back to the buying on Thursday and Friday. As a result, I had a good month this week! On the sports front, we began the week with some disappointment as the USA Juniors beat us 2-0 to win the Junior Hockey championship. Jayhawks won their games this week; I got to watch the game today. However, their loss to Texas saw them dropped to #6 and leaves them in a tough spot in the conference. Rock Chalks Boys!

Erica writes, "Eric returned to work this week. Liam had a few more days at home and then headed back to Caronport on Friday. It’s been a pretty quiet week. Liam approved the second proof for his story and it is now available for purchase. It is hardcover with higher quality paper and full colour illustrations so it’s a bit pricey, but I think it’s worth it! We are hoping we will get some more stories out of him. Haaken continues to work at Costco and on his animation. We also had a good chat with Greg the other day. He has re-injured his arm, but he seems to be managing. We hope when COVID ends we can visit him again in Kenora."

Erin and Kristian enjoyed the time off over the holidays. Kristian got some new medicated ointment which has alleviated his eczema symptoms. Now, he's back in school taking Language Arts and Mathematics this Quint. The program is currently operating one day at school, the other day online.

We get to visit with Travis and Joanna regularly. We're certainly glad to have them around. I took the car in for a recall repair, and was fortunate that Travis was able to pick me up and drop me back off as needed. Business continues to be a struggle in these pandemic times, but they do what they can. 

And that's enough for this week.

Happy New Year!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. This brings us through 2020, and launches 2021. I am not one who lends any importance to the artificial designation of January 1 as the start of something new. If they had chosen one of the solstices or one of the equinoxes as the year beginning date, it would at least have some measure of reality behind it. Here, in the northern hemisphere it is certainly significant when the hours of daylight begin to lengthen once again. Anyway, the weather has turned mild, and we've enjoyed getting out for walks on the melting streets. The forecasters predict that we'll be enjoying this respite for at least the next week, and coming in the depths of winter, it certainly provides a break. The scheduling of special days has accorded us about three Saturdays this week, but we're trying to keep track!

One down!

Wendy has completed one jigsaw, and begun another, but her main preoccupation this week has been preparing for the transition of the room rental from Gemma to our nursing student, Marianna. Marianna and her dad arrived from southern Ontario this evening. I have been able to get out to the shop for several afternoons of project work. I built a small jig to make shims; that worked well. I am now rebuilding the drill press trying to provide smoother action on that. I am looking forward to cleaning up another batch of pallet salvage, and building a couple of projects before summer. Stay tuned! Action on the markets was very thin due to the holiday breaks. I managed to have a good week despite that the Senate Republicans threw a wrench into the gears by refusing to consider the expanded stimulus cheques. The good results in the 4th quarter allowed some recovery for the year. Otherwise, it was not a good year on the TSX which only achieved a 2.2% gain. In contrast, the DOW was up 7.3%; the S&P 500 up 16.3%; and the Nasdaq up 43.6%. I only managed 6.6% which is well short of my expectations and quota. In the meantime, the pandemic continues to go gangbusters. There are over 80 million cases worldwide, and at least 1.8 million deaths—tragic numbers! Our numbers are worsening in Ontario, while the prairie provinces are, thankfully, showing some improvement, although Alberta is still worst in the country. The main entertainment of the week has been sports as the World Junior Hockey Championships are underway. Our boys have gone undefeated through the preliminary rounds and are now into the medal round—Go Canada, Go! My three university football teams in the USA had a good week, all winning their bowl games. OSU had a tight win, while Texas and OU pounded their adversaries. In university basketball, the Jayhawks were off all week, and remained off today, allowing Texas to take an easy win in the Phogg! Unimaginable! Rock Chalk Jayhawk! 

 

Erica writes, "I haven’t written since last year, so this could be lengthy! Eric and I did a drive-by gifting for Grampa and Erin on Wednesday. We couldn’t go in, but we were able to drop off presents and do some caroling  with Grampa. Eric, Liam and I celebrated New Year's Eve on zoom with the Bailey cousins and a few aunties and uncles. Haaken poked his nose into frame from BC, so we got to see him as well. Eric and I completed our Bible reading plan for 2020 and have found a new one for 2021. We decided to do the Project Bible, Biblical Storyline Reading Plan, through our Bible app on our phones. It includes an animated drawing devotional before the reading. We also decided to join a virtual challenge for motivation to walk daily. Right now we are walking across the English Channel. If we manage to complete that task without being eaten by sharks, we will attempt another challenge. I have made my annual New Year’s resolution to avoid vacuuming. In 2020, I had a slip up with a shop vac. This year I hope to do better."

Erin and Kristian had a good week enjoying the Christmas arrivals in the comfort of their home. Sadie and Lucy did not get any time off, but Erin had Friday off!

It's what we cats do!

Sadie also fully employed!

It's busy time (year end) at work, and they also have an audit starting next week, so she's been working to ensure all T's are crossed, and most i's are dotted. Kristian is ready for school again, but it'll all be virtual this time.

Travis and Joanna joined us for New Year's Eve games and snacks. That was fun, although Wendy took the rest of us to School in the extended game of rummy. Apparently, she was trying to make up for Christmas when we proved perfect hosts in Greedy, letting them win all the games!

And that's enough for this week.