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.