Hot Feet!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful and we've enjoyed doing more yard work. We had a few days that were a bit too warm for us, and we're thankful for an air-conditioned house to escape from that. Wendy put in a lot of hours cleaning up the flower beds and transplanting several hostas and bushes. Tonight she celebrated with her feet up by the fire!

Hot Feet!

We spent Thursday over at Trav & Joanna's to build and install their new pergola. That went well, and I also took advantage of the opportunity to recharge the AC in his car using the remnants from when I did the same job on my own car. We are now three weeks past our second vaccine dose, so we're pretty much at maximum protection. We're starting to plan travel in July, but are still delayed by some medical work for me. The world-wide pandemic data did not improve this week, and we're closing in on 4 million deaths, sigh! The coronavirus situation in Canada continues to improve and all provinces have reduced the infection rates below the concern threshold. The single fly in that ointment is in the combination of the delta variant along with the number of people who remain unvaccinated. Ontario is taking the next stage of reopening next week, and most other provinces have announced similar removal of the restrictions. The majority of infections and deaths has now switched to the unvaccinated. My concern relates to the fact that if the virus is allowed to infect people, it will also have opportunity to mutate into even more variants. The markets had an up and down week, but the up days were really good, and I've managed to make quota for the month, so long as I can hang on for the final three trading days. The US Open golf championship went to Spaniard, John Rahm. The Blue Jays continue with their inconsistent results, mainly due to failures by their relief pitchers. They are playing a series against Baltimore, but that ends tomorrow. The NHL has moved onto the Stanley Cup finals. One of my picks actually won a series—the blind pig found a turnip! I'm picking Tampa Bay to win the Cup; that is Habs' fans you hear cheering! 

Erica writes, "We’ve enjoyed Liam’s visit this week. On Friday, Liam went to a walk-in and got his second shot. We are starting to plan for my surgery in Germany. Germany has now opened its borders to fully vaccinated travellers. The church benevolent fund approved this project for me; I'll pass along the particulars, soon. On Tuesday, Saskatchewan Lipedema launched its website. I gave a talk on Lipedema and my journey so far. "

Kristian has completed his final quint of this school year and is now on summer holidays. He achieved great results in Social Studies and Mathematics, his second best quint of the year. Well done, Kristian! Erin managed to score her second vaccine dose, so she's on her way to being as fully protected as she can get at this time. 

Travis and Joanna bought the lumber and connections for a pergola on their upper deck. We worked with them on Thursday to assemble it. It went together well, and looks impressive.

Back yard decks! 

The sail on top provides UV protection and shade for them to enjoy their new deck chairs. Gemma continues her summer job for the University, although she has to work from home. Andrew is in a training program as a personal care worker. He is enjoying that. This week, they are off to southern Ontario to visit family down there. 

And that's enough for this week. 

Happy Father's Day!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've had our first little hot spell of the summer, and are glad to see that our air conditioner is working just fine. It was not working in the car, so I got some refrigerant and recharged it, and now we're in the cool again! This weekend, the weather has turned cooler, and Wendy has enjoyed getting out in the yard. She's has cleaned up most of the flower beds, and also trimmed back the climbing vine we have on, in, under our deck! It just keeps spreading, so once in a while, it needs to be cut back.

Below Decks!

I've made a bit of progress with the AoD Chair. Now, I need Andrew to prepare some more materials for the legs and seat.

Chair is taking shape!

I've practised golf a couple of more times, and even played a few holes. It's not as easy on the course! I've heard it explained that there are three ways to swing in golf: the air swing—a practice swing in the air will usually be your best! The range swing, when you're hitting a bucket of balls—normally goes pretty well! The real swing—on the course—reawakens all your flaws! We continue to monitor the fight against the coronavirus. Wendy had an extended reaction to her second dose, but seems to be fine now. World-wide case numbers have improved by 6% in the last week, and Canadian numbers have improved by 26%! Manitoba continues to improve and is down to 111 cases per million, and, that's almost down to good performance. They remain, the only province with troubling numbers, but are much improved, so we're looking forward with hope! The markets have been terrible, no good and bad! Investors got a shock as the FED made it clear—they are looking at rate increases! That left me with a red week, sigh! The Stanley Cup semi-finals continue. Habs lead my pick, Vegas, 2 games to 1 (yer welcome, Habs fans!). Bolts and the Islanders are tied at 2 games each! Blue Jays are struggling as their relief pitchers are not providing relief! They did manage to win today. I am also following the US Open golf tournament where Canadian Mackenzie Hughes is tied for the lead entering the final round. 

Erica writes, "Liam is home for the weekend. He has an appointment this week so we will hear more about how he is doing. Haaken is applying for some government grants to support him making a show. We are hopeful that he has success and is able to get his creation off the ground. A pop up clinic came to my office on Thursday so we were both able to get the second shot. We are now fully immunized!"

The week in Regina has been blistering hot with several thunderstorms accompanied by hail and tornados! Sadie does not like thunderstorms! Kristian has been practising his driving in the new RAV4—Erin is plenty nervous! All is going well so far. Kristian is completed his final pair of courses and ending this very strange year. It has not been easy! 

The special event this week was Joanna's birthday party. We planned it to be our first restaurant outing, but when impending rain precluded a fun time on the patio, we relocated to our dining room and it was still a great time!

The Birthday Girl!

Trav and Joanna are planning to add another shaded area to their back deck. We have picked up the lumber for that, at the cost of a small fortune, but are still waiting for some of the other equipment to arrive. 

And that's enough for this week. 

Two—We have two!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather turned rainy part way through the week, and we enjoyed several thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. The most troubling storm was on Thursday morning when I got up early to see the eclipse and saw only heavy black clouds! It was too bad as we were directly in line for the best viewing angle! We were blessed to see two complete solar eclipses while we were in Africa, and there really is nothing quite like a total solar eclipse. We were in a group of thousands near Lusaka at the time of our first eclipse, and when it finally went dark, everyone began applauding! What an experience! We took off our fancy glasses and looked up at the back side of the moon lit by earthshine! Amazing—I recommend it highly if you ever get a chance! My understanding is that such never happened during this annular eclipse since the sun does not actually get blacked out, only reduced to a ring of fire, so, I'm doubting that you can safely take your solar glasses off in such a circumstance. The big experience of this week was our reception of the second dose of the Moderna vaccine. Wendy got hers on Monday afternoon, while I got mine on Tuesday morning. Wendy had quite a reaction at the injection site, and even now it remains swollen and tender. I experienced a dull headache, and some nausea the following day, but otherwise have returned to my normal. Now, we look forward with some anticipation of being able to travel in July. All provinces are doing a better job of managing infection rate, and only Manitoba is still above the 100/day rate. The improvement is mostly due to restrictive regulations, but the improved prospects have more to do with vaccination success. We're now ahead of the USA in first dose administration, and closing in on second doses. I did manage to get in some more golf practice a couple of times this week, but was also hoping to play—maybe next week. The markets began the week troubled as investors reawakened to their fear of inflation, but then, on Thursday, as we got data of actual inflation, they changed gears and gave us two big green days! Go figure! Anyhow, I was able to recover and get back to quota. We're into the semi-finals in the Stanley Cup playoffs. None of my teams and none of my picks have survived! Habs fans have paid me off to pick Vegas to win that semi-final; I'm picking Bolts win the other semi-final. The World Hockey championships ended on Sunday with Canada winning the gold over Finland, while USA beat Germany for the bronze.

Erica writes, "It’s been another quiet week. Sask Lipedema has set a launch date of June 22 at 7 PM Sask Time, which is currently the same as Mountain time. I will be doing a Facebook Live presentation about my own Lipedema journey. Eric is fighting allergies. His skin is really bothering him—it’s that time of year. We haven’t heard much from Haaken, Liam or Greg."

Erin and Kristian have had a good week. Kristian got his first dose of Pfizer vaccine at school. He received his learner's license in the mail, and also got to drive with his driver trainer for the first time. They drove all over town for about two hours, including parallel parking! It's amazing to think about! Now, he looks forward for more practice driving with his mom. Lucy seems to be feeling better, but it's still a bit unclear. 

Travis and Joanna have been working through plans for another pergola for the upper portion of their deck. The planning stage seems about complete, so now they'll need a second mortgage to afford the lumber! Andrew has not been over, so we've made no progress on the Andrew-on-deck chair! 

And that's enough for this week.

Booked for #2

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful, perhaps a bit warm for my liking, and we've also enjoyed several thunderstorms. I have finally done the reseeding on the front lawn over some of the patches which were lost to the chinch bugs. I hope it takes, but it always takes a couple of weeks to find out! I have also continued work on the hole in the backyard, adding more fill and leveling as it sinks. I have the sprinklers set up on zones to hasten the settling, and to keep the seeds wet. Wendy has herself in a variety of on-line programs, so that keeps some of her days programmed. The Sweet Adelines choir she's in has completed an on-line choral program. It turned out very nice, with a lot of effort in the editing. Here's a link for your enjoyment. The markets were a bit troubled this week as fears of inflation raised their heads again! Thursday was quite red, but we got some recovery on Friday, and I returned to the green for the week. The world-wide circumstances for the pandemic remain at high risk even as the situation has improved. Unless and until the world is vaccinated the virus will continue to have opportunity to mutate and put us all at risk. The program has advanced a lot here, and now we've been scheduled for our second jab in the coming week. All provinces are making headway, and only Manitoba remains at a high-risk level for infections. The NHL has moved on to the second round of the playoffs. The three teams (Oilers, Pens, Leafs) I cheer for have all been knocked out! I am fielding offers from fans asking me not to cheer for their team! Canada has recovered from a poor start to reach the gold medal game in the World Hockey championships. USA plays Germany in the bronze medal game, while we are up against Finland for the gold, tomorrow.

Erica writes, "It’s been a quiet, hot week. We’ve enjoyed ordering out a few times to avoid heating up the house. Fortunately, Eric had installed the air conditioning unit in our window. We’ve had the bikes out a few times. Unfortunately, the best weather for riding is roughly 15-20 degrees, and it seems like the weather here is either colder or hotter. But, a hot day on the bike is better than none! June is Lipedema month, and I’m working with SaskLipedema on an official launch of our website, designed by @Ulrichdesign. Our official launch will be June 22nd, 7 PM and I’m scheduled to share my story as part of the launch.  I’ll share the web address when it’s ready."

Kristian and Lucy are both feeling better.

Kristian and Lucy

Kristian got a fresh haircut, and has been enjoying getting out in the sunshine as the UV machine remains down waiting on parts that are stuck in customs! He has passed his written test, and now is scheduled to begin the driving portion of driver training starting next week. Erin has her first vaccine jab and is looking forward to eligibility to complete the process as Saskatchewan enhances the vaccination program.

Travis has now scored his first jab—yay! So, all the kids have started the vaccination program. The Adirondack chairs turned out well. They have decided to go with a natural wood colour, so we've delivered their new chairs to their place.

Chairs and a Footstool

Andrew and I continue to work on his new improved Andrew-on-deck chair!

And that's enough for this week.