We continue to remember!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. On Sunday, we enjoyed a trip down to Ogema, and a visit with relatives there: Uncle Art, Aunt Grace and cousins Joanne and Mac. That featured good food and good visiting. Dale and I got out for a round of golf on Monday, but it's been mostly rainy this week, and my Friday game at Willowbunch was postponed once again. I've spent most of the week working over at Erin's. The markets were tentative all week, worried about what the FED might say on Friday. There were plenty of speakers raising fears, but only on Thursday did we see a sell-off. Friday came, and Powell was not nearly as fearsome as predicted, so we got a nice bit of recovery and I made quota once again. There are two trading days left in August, but I've already achieved the monthly quota. The Delta variant continues to ravage the world, and the infection rate and death toll continues to increase, especially among the unvaccinated. It is becoming clear that the vaccinated can also become infected, but don't tend to suffer severe consequences, however, a recommendation for another booster shot is being prepared. Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia have joined all fifty USA states with out-of-control infection rates. Wendy continues with Kristian's UV program three days each week. We think we're seeing improvement, but don't know how much is from the UV, and how much is from the various medications. Wendy and Kristian enjoyed a trip to the Science Centre on Friday.

Towering Lego Projects

The Riders have the bye this week, and so, remain undefeated and in first place. The Jays continue their uncertain play, but did win this afternoon, for a change! C'mon Blue Jays—Let's Play Ball! 

Today, we joined in a family and congregational memorial for our brother John. There were many thoughtful and humorous recollections, along with the Eulogy composed by Tom. The YouTube version of the Memorial produced much better sound—enjoy! 

Erica writes, "We started our week with a train trip to Bonn. We’ve settled into the accommodations here, purchased groceries and figured out where all the important stuff is. I had my surgery on Friday. So far it is going well though I am sore. Visiting is limited to one person for one hour, so Eric has a lot of time to explore." 

We've been working on projects at Erin's place most of the week. She ordered a dozen pot-lights, and I have installed all of them, mostly in the downstairs family room and laundry room. She also bought a special fixture for her unlit main stairwell. It extends over 4' top to bottom, but I walk several feet below it while descending the stairs. 

Bringing light & beauty!

It's lovely, and really improves that area. At this point, my work there is pretty much done, but Wendy is still considering some more painting. She plans to paint the walls in the upstairs landing, and is also considering the stairwell! The stairwell soars 16' high, and looks like a bridge too far, to me! In any case, we're enjoying being able to spend some time with them. 

Trav & Joanna are seeing some busy added to their business, and that's a pleasant change. Gemma is working her multiple jobs and managing the house, along with Rhys. Thank you!

Echo is the name!

Andrew & Patricia welcomed an addition to their family—a pooch of uncertain lineage! 

And that's enough for this week! 

Over Quota!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We've finally had a break in the hot weather, and even had a few showers, so the lawns are showing some green. I was out golfing with Dale and Kristian on Monday—fun, even though I'm not playing well. I was supposed to travel to Willowbunch on Friday to golf, but that one got rained out. Wendy has continued taking Kristian to his UV appointments. We enjoyed a cool visit with Bern & Alicia after the Wednesday UV appointment. We spent most of the week working on renovations at Erin's condo. That is now pretty much complete, and is looking good. Wendy repainted the bedroom and then I completed the flooring. Today, we replaced the ceiling fixture, and returned the furniture to its place. 

New Ceiling Light-Pretty!

Flooring in Place

The markets have been running red on covid fears. TSX suffered six red days in succession before turning green on Friday. This allowed some nice recovery, and I almost made quota for the week. What is running over quota is the pandemic—infection rates are increasing! All USA states are now over the 100 per capita threshold; three are ten times that level! Three provinces are over the threshold, led by Saskatchewan as the worst performing jurisdiction. It seems the delta variant is causing infections and infectiousness even among the vaccinated, so a third jab is now being considered. Despite their win today, the Blue Jays are slumping and playoff hopes are dimming. The Riders, on the other hand, are performing above expectations and extended their season opening success with a third win as they beat Ottawa today. Now, they have the bye next week, and then host Winnipeg for the Labour Day Classic. 

Erica writes, "After some Air Canada delays we managed to get to Germany on Tuesday 6 pm local time (10 am at home). We have spent the week sightseeing and putting extra kms on our running shoes. We’ve seen three different segments of the remaining wall and several locations with evidence it was once there. We’ve also gone to the DDR museum and did a bunker tour. We’ve walked or ridden by many memorable sites. On Sunday, we head to Bonn to settle in. I have some pre-appointments tests to do early in the week; my surgery is scheduled for the 27th. Nothing much to report from the boys this week."

Kristian practiced and golfed with me on Monday. It was a breezy day, but the heat wave had broken, and we found it quite comfortable. Erin is back to work, but still supervising the renovations. She seems satisfied with our work!! Finally, she can move back to her bedroom. 

Happy Birthday, Erin!

We celebrated her birthday with a special menu (her choice) on Wednesday! It was also good to see Shawn again; he keeps very busy at Ranch Ehrlo, but he brought the cake for her birthday! 

Trav & Joanna remain in Thunder Bay. One of their rats died this week, so that was a sad loss for them. Gemma is managing our place and several jobs. She remains in contact each week. We've heard nothing new from Andrew, so expect he's managing fine in his new work. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Still spreading!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. We've had a break in weather in the early part of the week and even had a nice shower of 12mm (1/2") which really brightened up the lawns. We may even have to cut them again... I took advantage of the comfortable weather to get out for two rounds of golf. The first went quite well, but then something changed/reverted and I started hitting inconsistently once again, sigh! We're into another hot spell, 35° or so, and I'm keeping within air conditioned locales. They're predicting a break in that by the middle of next week. I have begun work on Erin's flooring. I joined on to Kristian's floor and completed the upstairs landing. I managed the transition through Erin's doorway and have installed a few rows in her room, but then I laid the carpet back, so Wendy can proceed with painting that room. Erin also bought three new light fixtures, so I've begun installing those—two down, one to go! She's still shopping for a glamorous pendant set for her stairwell; that will be quite an effort to install due to the height involved. Wendy keeps busy with care of Dad, shopping, and meal preparation, and now she has begun painting. The pandemic is raging back to life with the delta variant becoming dominant. USA has retaken the lead world-wide in infections as so many states have relaxed health restrictions. All states are now above the threshold for a managed situation (100 cases per million per day). Alberta has regained the ignominy as our worst province, but at least it remains below the threshold (94.8). The markets have been choppy, but overall have achieved new record highs, and I had another good week and have reached my quota for the month. The Blue Jays are stumbling a bit, but remain within reach of a playoff spot. They had an excellent home stand, but are on the road now, and finding it tougher going. The Riders began the season with a win last week, and beat Hamilton tonight to improve to 2-0! Go Riders, Go! 

Eric and Erica have completed their preparations in readiness for their trip to Germany. We pray all goes well for their trip and the surgery. She writes, "This week has been a week of making lists of things we need to do, planning time to do the things, and then ignoring the plan and procrastinating until the last minute. So, Saturday was full of packing, last minute mending and deciding what is critical and what doesn’t matter! We leave on Monday at 7:24 AM or whenever Air Canada actually takes off. We are reassured many times over that we have the appropriate proof of vaccination and that it should be sufficient. We will see when we get to German immigration. We discovered an interesting phenomena with our medication. Since we are away for more than a month we wanted to get a 2-month prescription. That took several phone calls to the pharmacy, the doctor's office and more than one trip to Shoppers. Apparently it is highly unusual to get more than one month at a time. But after some persistence we got our way. Haaken stared a new job this week as a customer service call centre person for a transportation company. He’s been training all week and so far he says it is 'fine'. He can do the work from home and it’s full time so that should give him more income. I imagine he will rely on the advice his Grandpa gave him and treat this like an acting role, and if he does, he should do okay. Liam is in Caronport and Greg in Kenora and both are doing well."

Erin had the week off work and enjoyed the relaxing, the renovations and the golf. She and Kristian joined us for supper several evenings, so that was a treat for us. Today, they took off for their first golfing venture without grandpa—somehow, they still managed to have fun! They celebrated both managing to get their tee shots over the river! Kristian continues with his UV treatments, and his medicated lotion for his eczema. Obvious improvements are noted when he keeps up with the directed treatment program. 

Joanna scored a new keto bread recipe, it looks great, so I will look forward to trying it out as well. 

Joanna's Keto Buns

This week, they have been working on setting up their office in their lower level. Gemma is taking care of our place, although this week she had an issue with an LED bulb that wouldn't light up when the dimmer was turned right down!! The old wizard is always available to help! 

And that's about it for this week! 

Explosive Gains!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather continues to be very hot, and most days are accented by the gloom of smoke from the forest fires burning across western Canada. Eric, Erin, Kristian and I got out for a golf game on Monday—that was great! On Thursday, I got out with Dale for another round of golf; that was great as well. That's now three games this season, and all in just ten days! Kristian and I were out for a practice day at the driving range on Wednesday. It was great to have my girls and their families with us to begin the week and to celebrate my 71st birthday. Travis, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew fêted us before we left Thunder Bay, so I'm feeling royally blessed! A generous provision of green fees adds to the enjoyment! The delta variant is producing explosive gains in Covid infections world wide, and even more so here in North America. USA is up 35% this week, and now all states are doing worse than our worst province. But there's no joy here either as infections are up 56%, and even though we're at a much better level than the USA, it's a great concern to see an increase in infections while nearly all provinces are relaxing their vigilance. A case in point, at the Rider home opener, there was zero effort to prevent the attendance of infected individuals into a full stadium, while the Bombers required double vaccination to attend their game in Winnipeg—sigh! The Riders won, but I wouldn't have attended with that crowd on a bet! The markets have returned to explosive gains as well despite a lot of fears over whether the delta variant infections might impact the economy. I have now managed a full-year's quota since the election, with almost three months to go—thanks Uncle Joe! September is historically the worst month in the markets, so vigilance continues to be the watchword. The Jays have returned to Toronto, and have been playing well there to 30% crowds. They are in playoff contention for sure. The Riders opened the season against BC, and blasted out to a 31-0 lead in the first half before they squandered most of it in the second to escape with a 4-point win. 

Erica writes, "We started out the week fellowshipping with family. It was a really wonderful weekend and so good to see family again. Eric and I returned to work on Tuesday. Eric reports that the move back to cotton sheets has been good and he is feeling and sleeping much better. He still has some rash but it’s not red and angry like it was. I’m feeling good about getting most of my projects wrapped up this week. I have a few more things to do next week before we leave for Germany. Please pray for our trip—that travel and border crossings all go smoothly, and especially that surgery goes smoothly. I have ordered my cash to pay for surgery and the exchange rates are not favourable, but still less expensive than going to the US! I’m happy to get this done and pleased with the improvement it has provided so far. We are looking at getting a local company, Ashly Cabinets, to come in and help design our kitchen. They will do it at no cost and are very okay about the possibility that it may be years before we renovate. Liam is experiencing allergies. Haaken is looking at job options and has applied to the new Disney studio that is opening in Vancouver. Greg keeps on trucking." 

Erin has been back to work since Tuesday, but now is taking the next week off to help with renovations at her condo. We're looking to replace the rest of the carpet upstairs with hardwood, and also planning to repaint her bedroom. Oh, and I may have forgot to mention—we're also planning another round of golf! Wendy has taken over getting Kristian to his UV treatments three times each week, which also relieves Erin to a smoother work day. She even took him to a "Cat Cafe" where they celebrate rescue cats, and hope to find a home for them. 

Trav & Joanna are relocating their office equipment from our basement to their basement. This will open up another room downstairs for us, and we'll be able to add it to the accommodations for Rhys and Gemma. 

That's about it for this week.