Fence Building

Another week has passed, and we have shifted to the shore of the North Saskatchewan River in the parkland of Saskatchewan. We're visiting with Eric and Erica, but as misfortune would have it, we're really only visiting with Erica. Eric was supposed to be away to Montana for a conference related to his counselling work. However... insanity prevailed! First off, the USA border patrol decided his trip to that conference was not valuable enough to be allowed; his entrance to the USA was refused. So, he reluctantly turned around to head home—but not so fast there young man! You're coming back from the USA, and our rules require that you access our app, and establish your safety plan when you're returning from a foreign country that has high covid levels! Wait, What?! Yes, I kid you not. Eric was found in violation of our entrance requirements for the sin of never leaving! And his penalty—14 day quarantine! So, he's sitting upstairs in his room while we visit and work with Erica. In addition, we're building a front fence across their yard. We pretty much got that built today.

Stopping to reconsider the plan!

Erica and Wendy hard at it!

The markets had another down week, and all indices are down over 1% for the month. I had a better week as Monday was my only red day, but two of my holdings stopped out. Anyway, I'm a long way from quota this month. Covid continues to rampage on the prairies and both Saskatchewan and Alberta have filled their ICUs with covid patients and are unable to use them as intended. All organ transplants have been cancelled, and some triaging is occurring due to the the shortfall of beds. USA passed a grim milestone as they've now lost more to Covid-19 than they did to the Spanish Flu 100 years ago. In the world of college football, all my teams won, although Sooners required a last second FG to accomplish it! Texas had a blow-out win, and Oklahoma State won comfortably. The Blue Jays bats had a cold week, but they're still hanging on and with a series against the Yankees remaining, it seems their fate is in their own hands—but they have to win! The Riders scored two TDs in the final 2 seconds of the game, so it was much closer than the score reflects. First, they ran a QB sneak to score, and the convert made it a one point lead. Then, on the ensuing kick-off, it seem BC was too busy worrying about all their laterals they'd need to make to run it back for a TD, and they forgot to protect the ball, so Riders scooped it up and scored again! 

You've already heard about the perils of Eric. So, while he's sidelined with his own border issues, Erica brought in some undocumented workers to build their front fence! We're making good progress! We're enjoying spending time with them, even if Eric remains quarantined. 

Still have to cut to height

Erin and Kristian are doing fine. Kristian had a PD day on Friday, and I wish I could have been there to go golfing. We enjoyed a golf outing last Sunday as part of his birthday celebrations. 

16th Birthday-He drove the cart!

Travis enjoyed a trip to the Big Apple for a AEW event.

Central Park

He particularly enjoyed getting to see Central Park, along with some other special sights. His journey home was more than a little eventful, but after sprinting the airport in Toronto, he managed to catch his connecting flight home on Friday night! His luggage will catch up to him later! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Delta 👍🏼, Markets 👎🏻

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has remained temperate until today when we sweltered in 34°! I got out golfing with Dale on Wednesday. It was quite windy, and we struggled for control even more than usual; but, we still had fun! I've really enjoyed having so many golf games this summer with Kristian, Erin, Dale, Tom and Garnet. I have completed my library chair project to the dry-fit stage, and Wendy is painting it now, then I'll do the glue-up. I've done a few projects at 55 Laird for Dad. September is living down to its historic reputation as the worst month for the markets. The surging delta variant is bringing an economic slowdown, and all markets descended into the red for the month. I have three holdings nearing their stops, so I need things to turn around starting on Monday! We need the USA to get that stimulus package passed. As noted last week, the delta variant is running rampant among the unvaccinated. Alberta and Saskatchewan are running above 350 cases/day/million, and have, finally, taken note and imposed restrictions, but that will take some weeks before we see any beneficial effects. Meanwhile, USA is running at almost 400 cases/day/million—four times the "under-control" figure, and some states are over 1000! The Blue Jays have played themselves back into a playoff position, but it'll be close, probably right down to the end of the regular season. The Riders put up a spirited effort last night and beat Toronto. It was great to see an effective running game! In college football, my #3-Sooners won. OSU-Cowboys and UT-Longhorns remain unranked after their season starts, but they won today, the 'Horns in a blowout, so that may get them some consideration. 

Eric & Erica have enjoyed exploring in Germany. They flew back to Canada on Friday. The day was considerably extended as they left in early morning and arrived in the evening in Saskatoon. They'll be some time adjusting to all those time zone changes after a month in Europe. Of course, Erica continues a longer process of healing from her most recent surgeries; that will take some time as well. 

The big feature of the week was Kristian's 16th birthday!

Happy 16th! 

Much planning, organizing and shopping was required to pull it all together. Mom and Grandma ensured that it was a good time, and the party continued today as Astrid and Liam spent the day at their condo. And, since one of his prizes was a golf date with Mom and Grandpa scheduled for tomorrow—the beat goes on! 

Travis & Joanna have cleaned out their production office, and Gemma & Rhys are planning how to make use of it for their studies. Otherwise, life continues as usual for them, and they're getting encouraged about the likelihood of a hockey season this year. Gemma and Rhys have some in-person classes, some on-line ones. Rhys could do without the on-line work! They helped via FaceTime to dismantle the irrigation system to protect it from the potential for early frost. Thanks guys! 

And that's about it for this week! 

Delta Surges!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has moderated, and we're enjoying beautiful Fall weather. We managed to make our votes in the Federal election at the local office, so that's out of the way. There is a lot of advertising and another two debates this week. Our brightest hope is that no one will get a majority, so the parties will have to cooperate. I got out for another round of golf with Dale on Friday. We went to Tor Hill, but the course was not in good shape, and I always disapprove when they've top-dressed the greens without so much as a "by your leave"! I also got some more work done on my latest project, and the schedule is now looking possible for having it completed next week. Just one tough job left on that one which is installing the chair back into slots in the rear legs. Then, it'll be down to the sanding and applying finish. The wood is rough, and Wendy is dubious about its final appearance! Wendy has continued her work on repurposing clothing and equipment that Erin has no further need for. Wendy also has plans for more painting at Erin's. Her main target is the upstairs landing, while we continue to puzzle over how to paint the 16' stairwell! She cut my hair today, so I'm trimmed up once again!

Good for what she had to work with!

The markets were very bad this week. It seems the combination of concerns over how covid's resurgence will affect the economy along with the Democrats self-sabotaging of their own stimulus bill. So, it was a down week for me, and I barely remain in the green for the month so far. To be sure, covid is running rampant over the USA, and most of western Canada. The control level is considered to be 100 cases per million per day. All USA states are above that level with the country running about 450, and Tennessee leading the way at over 1000 cases. Saskatchewan is our worst case at just over 300 cases. Alberta is almost at 300, and BC is also over 100. Canada, as a whole, is right on the control line of 100, and has been increasing so we're not doing well, either. Riders dropped the Labour Day game to the Bombers, and fared no better in the return engagement, Banjo Bowl, today. C'mon Riders! Blue Jays ran off an eight-game winning streak and are right back in the playoff race. In college football, my two Oklahoma teams won (Yay Sooners & Cowboys!), but my Texas team lost—c'mon 'Horns! 

Erica writes, "Eric and I enjoyed a week in Bonn. We did a little bit of sightseeing including a side trip to Cologne to the Cathedral and a farmers market. I’m feeling a bit better and stronger every day and Eric is trying his best to make sure I don’t overdo it. I had a follow up with Dr Busch on Tuesday and again Friday. There is still a lot of swelling, especially in my lower abdomen, but that will continue to go down. On Thursday, we did a small trip to a couple music stores. At the first store, we saw the basic strumming instruments. At the second store there was brass instruments, and ukuleles in the window. We went inside and Eric was looking at a Banjo-Mandolin and asking questions. The owner showed him a ukulele-banjo and played it. Eric bought it and has been enjoying getting better acquainted. On Friday, we checked out of our hotel in Bonn, rented a car and drove to Kassel, including a few fun side roads. After all these trips, it’s so nice to see some of the country and it’s beautiful. We have had a few chats with the boys and they are all doing fine."

Erin continues her training on "bringing up a teenager"! It is not all fun and games! Once the boy is grown up, she will be ready! Sadie had an incident Friday night. We're not certain what happened, but she was screaming in pain. Erin thought she might have rolled over onto her and squished her poor little body. We're thinking she may have had some kind of seizure or heart event. She seems okay again today, but she's getting quite old for a dog, so we may be into the tough days of pet ownership. Kristian continues to have regular UV treatments, and we're thinking that is helping. Erin scored a box of local apples this week, and we enjoyed receiving many of those, so I was busy making apple crisp—delicious! 

Amazingly good Saskatchewan apples! 

Travis, Joanna, Gemma and Andrew continue to manage well in Thunder Bay. Trav is preparing for a trip to New York for a WWE event—sigh! The Fall colours are glorious in northern Ontario as well. Gemma and Rhys got back from their Labour Day weekend trip, and are now back in class. Andrew and Patricia are putting in lots of hours in personal care. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

All Hail!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather turned violent Tuesday evening with a major thunderstorm accompanied by hail! Lots of damage as the garden was flattened, vehicles were pock-marked, and buildings were damaged. Hailstones as big as 35 mm hit the city,  and photographs showed even bigger ones at other locations in Saskatchewan.

Cukes were easier to find!

Wendy holding hailstones

Hail-Stripped Siding

Inevitably, some farmers were hit by the "big white harvester", although much of this year's harvesting had already been completed. Erin's condo and RAV4 received thousands of dollars worth of damage, and some older buildings nearby were pounded severely as the UV-brittle siding shattered under the onslaught. We are all okay, and the weather seems to have settled since the big storm, so we can enjoy the fine fall weather. I got out golfing with Dale on Wednesday and enjoyed that very much, except for getting stung by a wasp! I have completed my planned work at Erin's, while Wendy is still considering some further painting. Still, Erin found some plumbing projects this week and we replaced the showerheads both upstairs and down. The markets ran in the shadow of the USA Jobs data all week. When it was finally released Friday morning, it was a big miss. One might have guessed that it could have been bad enough to be good, but that was not the case, and we lost value on Friday. However, I was able to make quota for the week at least, so September has started off well. The pandemic is surging, and we're not immune to the suffering here. Saskatchewan is showing the worst results in Canada, while Alberta and BC are also showing out of control numbers of infections. All USA states are out of control, but eight of them are doing better than Saskatchewan, sigh! The Riders were off all week preparing for the Labour Day Classic tomorrow against Winnipeg—Go Riders, Go! The Jays are really down to the crunch in the playoff race, and are trailing Boston in the race for the final playoff spot. College Football has begun, and my three teams (Sooners, Longhorns, Cowboys) all won their games. 

We enjoyed a gathering on Thursday

Eric and Erica remain in Germany. Erica continues her recovery after surgery. They get out for short walks each day, although one day they pushed it up to 5 km—that may have been too ambitious! As far as helping with the costs of this surgery, the surgery project through First Baptist Church is now closed, but if you wanted to support Eric and Erica, you can send her an etransfer at: eulrich11@yahoo.ca

Erin suffered a migraine and was off work one day. Kristian has started back to school. He approves of his new classes and being back to in-person classes. Unfortunately, there has been a covid outbreak at his school, so we're apprehensive as we wait to see how widespread it is. All schools have now moved to having a mask requirement; we hope it was not too late! 

Travis and Joanna have cleared out their production office downstairs in our house. Gemma and Rhys are away a trip, so Travis managed our house guests this week—thanks! They report getting some business for Bucket Decals; that's a positive indication of a hockey season this year. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Kenneth Vern Sorensen

My cousin: Ken Sorensen