Progress for Sure!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been comfortable and we've enjoyed getting out for walks and bike rides. I have continued my crusade against the dandelions, and have them pretty much under submission on both lawns! The front lawn continues to recover, and I haven't done the reseeding yet. Andrew and I have had another session of work on the Adirondack chair. We have the main supports cut to shape, sanded and ready for seat and back. We got all the boards planed and ready to cut to size and shape for the arms, seat and back. He plans to come by one day next week to work on the next phase. The Covid-19 situation continues to improve with weekly infections down 16% from last week. It is also improving here, and we only have three provinces now over the target line of 100 cases per million. Manitoba continues to suffer the worst of it, but it has also improved some. Saskatchewan and Alberta are almost down to the 100 mark! Ontario announced that the scheduling for shot #2 will be advanced, and that we can login to book it soon. We're looking forward to that. It was a short week in the markets since we had the Victoria Day holiday, but it was a great week, and with only one trading day left, I have gained quota once again. It's now seven straight months since the election—thanks Uncle Joe! Wendy has continued therapy, and, we hope, healing of her shoulder. She had an appointment with her chiropractor and has another with her doctor next week. I had an appointment for an MRI on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to a report from my doctor on that procedure. World Curling ended last weekend. Sweden beat us to win the bronze, while Scotland won the gold over Switzerland. There are now 67 countries officially competing in curling, and some of them are making a habit of beating the teachers! The first round of the NHL playoffs is almost complete. Two of my teams (Oilers, Pens) were knocked out—so, it's Go Leafs Go! My pick to win the cup, Colorado, did win to advance to round two. 

Erica writes, "We enjoyed having Liam all week. He worked really hard on this week’s YouTube Animatic video. He timed himself at one point and it took him one hour to do about seventeen seconds of video—yikes! We had a nice break on Victoria Day, and hung out together. Eric is enjoying the riding the motorbike to work on a daily basis. I continued to work from home this week. Next week, I’m back in the office."

Kristian is managing pretty well with his two subjects in this final quint. There is some discussion of adding more in-person time as the pandemic ebbs. His eczema situation is not improving since the UV radiation machine went down. And Lucy is still not doing well, yet. 

Joanna, Travis and Wendy picked up their new Adirondack chairs and delivered them to our shed. They're working to choose appropriate stains and finishes before moving them home. Gemma and Andrew got their second vaccine doses—yay! Joanna got her first dose—yay! Travis is scheduled for his first dose—yay! 

And that's about it for this week.

May Long!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The long weekend in May marks the unofficial start to summer and the gardening season for us. We're not planning a garden, but the rhubarb is coming nicely. The weather has been beautiful, punctuated by some nicely timed showers, but we're threatened with the first big thunder storm of the season tonight. The last two days have been pushing 30°, so it shouldn't surprise us to see a thunderstorm. I have continued harvesting dandelions as I contemplate when I should over-seed the front lawn. Once I put on the seed, I won't be able to dig dandelions for some time! More of the lawn appears to be making a comeback, so I've also been revising the area to seed. On the pandemic front, we're seeing some improvement world-wide as reported cases have declined 14% in the past week. Alberta has shown significant improvement, and is down to 190 new cases per day from its height of over 450 in the last few weeks. Manitoba has taken the lead in infamy, and has been sending ICU cases down here this week. Also, on the bright side, we have made great strides on the vaccination front, and now have a higher portion of our population with a first dose than even the USA. We continue to wait with expectation that our second dose may move forward a couple of months as vaccines have become more available. The province allowed the golf courses to open today. I drove by two nearby courses, and found the parking lots filled and overflowing, so I didn't go in! We had an unexpected and unwanted surprise this week as the water heater quit! Fortunately, my local plumber had the necessary parts to replace the igniter and flame sensor, so I was able to get it going again this morning. The markets suffered this week with four red days. I managed a gain, but not up to quota. Still, I remain on quota YTD, and I am grateful for that. The World Championships in mixed doubles curling have been running this week. Our team, Einarson/Gushue, have acquitted themselves well. They have qualified the country for the Olympics, and will play Sweden for the Bronze medal tomorrow. Scotland plays Norway for the Gold. The first round of the NHL playoffs  is underway, and there have been some surprises! My Oilers have dropped their first two games—c'mon Oilers! The Leafs have split their first two games with the surprising Habs, and lost their captain to injury in the process. Pens are tied 2-2 in their series. Blue Jays continue to play pretty well, but are also finding novel ways to lose games—Let's go, Blue Jays!

Erica writes, "I got a call last Saturday from Sask Health advising that I was identified as being in contact with someone having Covid. Eric and I both got a tests on Saturday and went into isolation. I had a second test on Wednesday and all results were negative! It has been two full weeks from exposure, two negative tests and, now, we are free! Liam is home this weekend for an iron infusion. He and I are on worship team this Sunday."

Kristian was receiving regular UV treatments for his eczema; but now the UV machine is down, so we keep waiting. Lucy is better, and back to her usual self. Erin has been reconsidering the development and use of her back yard area. It's small, but if she could use it all, it would provide a nice area for her box garden and relaxation. Shawn has been promoted at Ranch Ehrlo, and that changes his shifts a bit with four days on, four days off. He's feeling pretty well in his recovery from covid-19.

Joanna is noting significant improvement in her blood pressure, and we hope the will coincide with a wide range of health benefits, including to her eye issues. Travis and I commiserate over the Stanley Cup playoff results so far. Andrew and I have started work on his Adirondack chair. I picked up some more pallets and he cleaned up the necessary boards that will form the main parts of the chair. It should be ready for some pictures next week. 

And that's about it!

It's a New Season!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful, and we've enjoyed time in the yard and around the fire pit. I have steadily worked at filling the 6m trampoline hole in the backyard—now to begin the leveling process as it settles. I still have a couple of yards of fill left for that task.

Filled!

The warm weather is pushing me to get the reseeding done on the front lawn. We had an infestation of Chinch bugs last year, and much of the grass was killed. I don't really know if they're still there waiting for me to provide a new crop of food for them! The usual treatment for chinch bugs is Diazinon, but it is no longer allowed. There are replacements available if it comes to that, but for now, I'm hoping the bugs are not there! I've been able to get out regularly to practice golf, but the courses remain closed despite the medical advice to the contrary! The next deadline is June 2nd, so unless political decisions change, we remain locked out until at least then. While news on the pandemic continues to slightly improve with world-wide reported cases down 10% in the last week, the grim milestones continue to pile up. We're now looking at 3.4 million deaths world-wide with the USA pushing toward 600,000. Here, Alberta continues to lead the way, but their case rate has decreased at least. The markets were very bad this week as fears of inflation (higher interest rates) worried investors. Fortunately, things turned around Thursday and Friday, so, while I sold off some holdings, at least we saw some recovery, and I remain on quota year-to-date. World Women's Curling ended on Sunday with Switzerland taking the gold again. In the coming week, they will begin the World Mixed Doubles in curling from Scotland; Brad Gushue and Kerri Einarson form our team. The NHL season has come to a conclusion and the new playoff season has begun. My three teams are ready to go with Oilers vs Jets; Leaf vs Habs, and Pens vs Islanders. Let's go Oilers! Blue Jays are playing satisfactorily in the first month of the baseball season and we hope they'll do better as the injury situation improves.

Erica writes, "It’s been a busy week. I’ve been trying to catch up on work. Eric had a couple of presentations on mental health for Nurses Week. I got a call this morning from the health unit and I’ve been identified as someone who has been in contact with someone who tested positive for Covid. So, I’ll go for testing today and isolate for a few days and then test again."

Erin has had a difficult week. They're short-staffed at work, so she's having to help out with the extra work. Then, she got a rock in the windshield of her new RAV4—that first ding is especially painful! Kristian has been suffering with his eczema, and even missed school one day. They've been consulting further and trying out other meds and therapies. Kristian is currently getting UV therapy three times a week. Lucy has also been ill, probably a bladder infection, so she's been to the doctor as well—what do you mean Sask Health doesn't cover that?! 

Travis has managed to get appointments for his Covid vaccinations—yay!

Soda Stream Mama!

The whole crew was over for Mother's Day observance on Monday, and to deliver a Soda Stream for Wendy. She's been enjoying that all week. Joanna has decided she wants some Adirondack chairs; Wendy tracked down a local craftsman to build them. I have decided I should try to build one as well with some of my pallet wood, Andrew has volunteered to help. We'll see how that goes. Gemma won a competition for a job at the University this summer—congratulations! Joanna had a consultation about her vision problems, and is reassured that either it will improve on its own, or at least that it's easily treatable.

And that's about enough for this week.

Happy Mother's Day!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has been nice, but we're still waiting for some heat before reseeding the front lawn. In the meantime, we've taken delivery of a load of topsoil into the backyard to work with there. I have redone the lawn edging. I will undertake the moving of the soil under my usual "45-minutes equals a day's work" protocol, so it'll take a while! Otherwise, it's been a quiet week for us. Wendy keeps up with therapy, healing, and has started an exercise program using resistance bands at her chiropractor's recommendation. I bought a set of them, and plan to join her in the workouts; there are lots of such programs on YouTube. We have also determined it was time to upgrade our phones. We were both sporting iPhone 6's, and iPhone is now at 12. We've bought used phones and moved up to level 10. Wendy also scored a new clock—part of her birthday present.

Wendy's Clock!

The markets ran nicely this week, a good start to the new month. Friday was indicative as both USA and Canada had big misses on the jobs report, but the markets roared ahead. Apparently, we're at the stage where "bad news is good news" as it supports Biden's contention that more economic support is needed. The vaccination effort continues, but we need it expanded. We're still hoping to get our second dose and do some travelling this summer. Alberta continues to be our worst manager in the pandemic, and is now worse than any of the USA states that we used to look down on! Manitoba has moved up there as well, and now only one state is worse than Manitoba, sigh! The big sporting activity of the week was World Women's Curling championship. It was not easy to follow as covid struck the broadcast crews and no TV was allowed from Sunday through Friday! Our team, Kerri Einarson, fought back from her poor start and made the playoffs, but she lost out to Sweden today. So, it'll be Russia vs Switzerland in the gold medal game, while USA will play Sweden for the bronze. The hockey season is grinding to a close; all three of my teams have qualified for the playoffs. Pens finished up today in first place in their division, while Leafs and Oilers have a couple of games left and sit one-two in their division.

Erica writes, "This week was a no-good-very-bad week technology-wise for me. With the transition, I currently have three different ways to do work: 1-old Deloitte files on my old Deloitte laptop, 2-partially transitioned files on a special environment which allows us to use the legacy Deloitte software, and 3-files that have been transitioned into the MNP software. First, my Deloitte laptop locked me out. Then, the special environment locked me out. Finally, when we went into a file in the MNP software, all our work was gone! Maybe it’s a message that it’s time to get out of the audit gig. By Friday afternoon, I was back up and functioning. I guess we accountants don’t have very exciting jobs, so we have to find our fun somehow! Eric had a quiet week of work and card hockey. Liam got his first shot. Haaken and Greg continue on as normal."

Kristian managed Mother's Day planning for his mother and grandmother—what a guy! I'm sure they will both enjoy the fruit of his promotions. Kristian is in his final Quint of this unusual school year, taking Mathematics and Social Studies. Hopefully, the new restrictions in Saskatchewan will not mess with the plans for him to attend school each day. Erin was able to get her vaccine jab this week—yay!

Joanna has returned from an emotional time at home as they said good-bye to her dad. She has isolated, and now tested negative for covid. Then, she arranged for her covid vaccinations. Yay! Further medical interventions have revealed an anomaly in her eye, so she has been referred to a specialist about that. This weekend, they're busy with Mother's Day floral deliveries. We hope to get together for Mother's Day Pizza later this weekend.

And that's about it for this week.

It's not getting better!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been nice and we've enjoyed getting out for bike rides and hikes. I've been hitting golf balls several times, and they are going in the general direction I had planned! Wendy continues with therapy on her sore shoulders, but it's slow going. Our covid situation is still not improving. Part of the problem is delays in the arrival of vaccines, but the main issue is folks are not being careful. You combine that problem with the variants that seem more easily transmissible, and you have the recipe for what we're seeing. Alberta is still our worst province, with only one US state doing worse now, and the gap is narrowing! I've been working on a couple projects in the shop. I had to replace the handle for the hoe. The old one had broken, so I drilled it out, and shaped a new one. It's too bad—I was thinking the old handle would manage all the hoeing I wanted to do! I'm also assembling materials for a toolbox step stool for Wendy, and a library chair for Eric/Erica. I have installed the air piping, so I can leave the compressor in the far corner and avoid some of the noise! The markets were troubled again this week with 3 red days toward this weekend, and a flat week overall. Fortunately, I was able to close out my sixth straight month since the election on quota, as Biden turned in the best 100-day total on the markets since FDR. The NHL is into the final weeks with most teams having only a handful of games left. The Pens and Leafs have clinched playoff spots, and my Oilers are getting close. Einarson and Mouat won the Players Championships to open the week, and now we're being treated to the Women's World Championship. Einarson is our representative, but she has not had a good start to the tournament, losing to Sweden, Switzerland and Russia to sit at 1-3, sigh! Jays are starting to play a bit better in the early part of the baseball season. They're in second place in their division.

Erica writes, "This week Eric celebrated his 51st birthmas. We had some good phone calls, including catching up with the boys. Liam had an iron infusion on Friday, so he is home for the weekend. It’s April 30th, so we had a tax party at the firm. For those who don’t know, a tax party is where we all bring in our tax returns and fill them out together. There are prizes for the best returns and quickest to complete. (Just kidding!) It’s been a busy April and May looks to be busy too, but summer is coming. We hope that with the vaccine we might be able to go somewhere." 

Kristian is completing this Quint (Industrial Arts, Phys Ed) this week, and then will move on to the final pair of Math and Social Studies. The plan is that he will be able to attend school each day with this set, which suits him better. Shawn continues to improve. Erin continues to do well, while struggling to prepare enough food to fill up a teenage boy!

Joanna has been in Toronto all week assisting with the care of her Dad. He passed on Friday morning. Condolences to the family! Trav has been taking care of things here. It's tough being separated at times like this. Joanna expects to return home tomorrow. 

And that's about it for this week.