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.