Delta!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been uncomfortably warm, but we're not suffering like the folks in western Canada where they're being hit with a range from crops being burnt to crops being hailed out. In addition, the thunderstorms have lit many forest and brush fires all across the west and here in northern Ontario. We're experiencing smokey days and blood-red sunsets.

Lower Deck sans Decking!

I've been working on the lower deck, and now have it stripped of planks. I have discovered that they used ten deck planks to make five of the deck joists! I plan to take those apart and replace them with proper lumber.

Up the Ladder, Again!

Wendy has returned to painting, and to climbing the ladder. She has the ceiling finished in the side entry, so I've been able to reinstall the light fixture. Now, she's working on the walls. It is hard to know which is the bigger story lately, the pandemic, or climate change. Both are taking lives at an alarming pace. Heat waves, massive rainstorms, devastating droughts, heat-induced firestorms—all things we've been warned about, are all coming at us, and we're unable to deal effectively with them. The delta variant of Covid-19 is striking hard world-wide among the unvaccinated. All USA states have experienced a rise in infections and deaths. The world has experienced a 16% increase in cases this past week. USA is up 67%, while we have been able to see a decrease of 27% thanks to massive efforts at vaccination. But, we are also seeing some reluctance among the ignorant to get the jabs, so we find many people still at risk, and all provinces are opening up which gives the variant more opportunities. C'mon man! The markets were victimized by uncertainty and fear all week with only two green days. Friday was the worst as data showed inflation increasing, and investors decided they would no longer accept the central bankers' assurances that it is only transitory! So, I had a red week—I do not enjoy red weeks! Baseball was mostly off this week as it was time for the All-star festival. The Blue Jays are playing a bit better, and we look forward to their second half with some optimism. The football training camps are underway, so we look forward to the season, albeit with an abbreviated schedule, to begin early in August. 

Erica writes, "This week I decided, or rather my body decided to take the week off. I woke up Tuesday with a sore throat and cough and it just got worse as the day progressed. I did get Covid tested just to be sure, and the test came back negative. But, I spent three days in bed sleeping, coughing and drinking tea. Eric had a quieter week. He didn’t have as many supervision clients outside of regular work. And, he fit in a card-hockey game. We are making plans for our Germany trip. We now have flights and accommodations booked for most of the time. We are planning to spend some time in Berlin before surgery so we can have a short holiday. The boys are all doing fine—not much to report."

Kristian enjoyed a quiet week, mostly indoors out of the heat in Regina. Erin had a regular week of work, along with Kristian's trip for UV treatments. Kristian has now been fully vaccinated, so in a couple of weeks he should achieve maximum protection. That's a  relief. He experienced no side effects other than pain at the injection site. They also did a big clean up, so our room is available, but our plan would be that Erin would move down there so we can renovate her room. They have a visitor: cousin/nephew Liam. 

Trav and Joanna have taken off for southern Ontario along with Daisy to deliver the dog to Joanna's newly widowed step-mom. The trip is going well, and Mavis and Daisy seem to be hitting it off just fine. We're taking care of Minnie while they're gone. Gemma is taking care of the rats and birds! 

And that's about it for this week.