Spring!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued to be unseasonably cold, but we're now looking forward to a forecast with single digits in the high category, so we are starting to hope that the worst of it is over, and that Spring is just around the corner. We have not had any melting spells yet, which is unusual for us.

Wendy K Snowblower!

We did get a couple of more dumps of snow, but since Wendy is now trained on the snowblower, all is well on that front! The pile out front is now over her head; we're thinking it's the most snow we've had in our years here.

Front lawn snow pile!

On the mobility front we got the diagnosis revised with information from the X-rays. They found no breakage in the knee, and no tears in the ligaments. Physiotherapy is recommended to tighten up the stretched ligaments, and to restore as much motion as possible. There is evidence of arthritis in the knee. So, I have begun rehabilitation. The knee tires quickly, but I can walk about 20m before I need the additional support of a cane. The Russian invasion of Ukraine caused a major sell-off in the markets. Fortunately, Biden came forward with several well-formatted press conferences to reassure investors, and we enjoyed a major rally for the last couple of days of the week. I managed to finish in green for a change—need more days and weeks like that. The pandemic continues world-wide. It is quite difficult to know how bad things are, since many jurisdictions are refusing to release data. What is clear is that we're at least at 6 million victims, and we keep adding to that total. In hockey, my three teams have cooled off, but all three remain in playoff contention at least, and all three won their games today. #5-Jayhawks continue their inspired play, and are closing in on another conference championship, but they did let me down tonight against Baylor. March Madness is coming soon! Rock Chalk! MLB owners have locked out the players, so the baseball season has been delayed. 

Eric and Erica have been enduring a cold and snowy winter in Prince Albert. 

Innovative!

They have resorted to cutting steps into the snow to climb out to their back yard. We hope Spring arrives there soon! 

Erin and Kristian are playing out the winter in Regina. 

Kristian has begun play in the Mixed Doubles Curling league. He now has his own broom, and appears to have good form. I'm hoping to watch him play while we're out in Regina. 

Right up the Stick!

Travis and Joanna have returned to their busy season with more photo sessions and lots of work get the pics ready for publication.

The new Pupper!

They have arranged for another pet, but it'll be some weeks before it's ready for delivery! 

And that's about enough for this week.

Lame!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has developed a pattern of alternating cold days with warming trends that have brought accumulations of snow. We have been enjoying our warm home on the cold days, and busily clearing the walkways and driveway after each dump of snow. I achieved a second negative covid test on Sunday, so I was cleared of my isolation time, and back to curling on Wednesday.

Swollen knee—now a cane-user!

Unfortunately, that game did not last long for me! As I stepped down onto the ice for my second throw, my foot slipped, I fell forward landing hard on my right knee, and then fell backward landing on my foot and wrenching the knee. That was the end of that game, and of curling for me for the next while. The doctor feels there is no damage to any of those 3-letter ligaments in the knee, but has ordered X-rays to check it further. We are awaiting those. The markets have been troubled all week by the Ukraine/Russia conflict. As a result, I have had another holding hit stops and sell, so I remain substantially under my investment quota at this point. I also remain substantially under my quota for investment income! The pandemic continues to rage, although the many jurisdictions refuse to keep track of the actual damage. Even under reduced reporting, USA is closing in on 1 million lost to the disease, as they add at least 100,000 cases each day. No province or state can be considered to have the pandemic under control. I spent quite a bit of time this week watching the curling from the Olympics. Surprisingly, our women's team did not qualify for the medal round. The Muirhead team from GBR won the Gold for Women's Curling. The Gushue team qualified, but lost out to the eventual Gold medalists from Sweden. Gushue won the Bronze Medal over the team from USA. The other high profile Olympic event for me is hockey. In this event, it was the men who failed to qualify, while the women rode an undefeated campaign to a Gold Medal victory! Yay! In the NHL, the Oilers have indeed begun a winning streak, proving victorious in five straight games since the coaching change—yay! As a result, they have joined my other teams, Pens & Leafs in playoff contention. I don't get to watch my #6-Jayhawks often, but I did get to see their two-point win over OU, but not their blowout of OSU, nor tonight, when they travelled to WVU who are always tough. However, they won again, and stretched their conference lead. Rock Chalk Jayhawk! 

Sounds like the Baileys have been experiencing similar weather conditions in Prince Albert. Erica writes, "Hi! It’s been a pretty quiet week. The most exciting thing is how rapidly the weather changes. We go from -40 to +5 within a day. Then, back to the cold again. And the snow just keeps coming down every time it warms up."

Erin and Kristian took Sadie for a fresh hair cut today. She's always extra energetic after she gets a fresh cut. 

Sadie! Lucy in the background

Travis & Joanna are still happily busy with their business. As restrictions ease, they have been able to get in more team photo shoots, and also keep busy cleaning up and publishing the photos. Today, Travis came over to run the snowblower. Wendy had cleared the snow to the lawn side of the driveway, and he blew it up onto the lawn. Wendy observes that she has not been trained to use the new snowblower! 

And that's about it for this week. 

Curling!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We have had two dumps of snow this week, but now it has turned clear and cold. We hope this is winter's last kick as our lawn is full of snow! Dad is not doing well in Regina, and has been admitted to hospital. Of course, this makes us wish to travel west, but currently his ward is in lockdown due to covid, so we couldn't even visit if we were there. 

Scotties Champions-Again!

The Scotties ended on Sunday; I enjoyed getting to take that event in. Our local team, McCarville, made it to the final, but fell to the three-time straight championship team, Einarson. I have returned to curling myself this week, playing on Monday and Wednesday. Otherwise, we have cleared snow from the driveway and puttered around at things inside the house. The markets have continued to be very volatile between economic data, Ukraine fears, and unfettered FED speakers! I managed a green week, but not up to quota. TSX is about 1% from its all-time record, but USA indices are all down so far this year. Wendy is putting in lots of hours on the Barbershop Choir books; this week, she added another job doing the year end reports for a local company. She also got another Chiropractic treatment, but is finding progress slow on her aching shoulders. This week my attention has turned to curling at the Olympics. Our teams (Jones and Gushue) are fine representatives, but the truth is that curling is doing well around the world, and we're facing tough opposition mostly coached by Canadian coaches! Elsewhere in the world of sports, the Oilers returned from All-Star break to a couple of losses and fired their coach! They had their first game with the new coach last night, and started a winning streak—I hope it's a winning streak! Pens and Leafs are doing just fine, although Canucks took down the Leafs tonight. In basketball, the #8-Jayhawks seem committed to testing the strength of our hearts! Let's have a couple of blow-out wins!

Covid App

Covid Test-Negative

On Thursday, I got a shocker as my long-since forgotten about Covid App came to life and announced that I had been exposed to someone with Covid. I am unable to nail down just when this contact happened. It is likely that it was at the Scotties since no one has reported being ill from the curling league. In any case, I took a test yesterday, and will take another one tomorrow. 

Erica writes, "We started the week celebrating birthdays with Liam and Haaken. Liam was able to come home, unfortunately Haaken was not. We haven’t seen Haaken for over two years and we miss him very much. We had a family group call with Greg, Haaken and Liam on Monday and everyone is doing okay. We had hoped to visit Grampa this weekend, but the ward is on covid shut down. So, we are staying home and maybe we will find the energy to do some destruction on the bathroom."

Kristian has completed his regular school 4-person curling, but has decided to take up mixed doubles curling at one of the local curling clubs. Saskatchewan is looking to get back to in-person classes, so they're preparing for that change. Work continues to go well for Erin, and she also manages Kristian's schedule of school, sports and UV treatments. 

Travis and Joanna had a big photoshoot with several teams—can you say, "Super-spreader?"! Anyway, they have more business lined up preparing all these photos for the players and their families. Andrew is working at SuperStore, and after some initial issues over footwear, that seems to be going well. He gets to work both in the store and outdoors; that's a big temperature gradient this time of year! 

That's enough for this week. 

Jobs? Recovery!

Another frosty week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The temperatures moderated toward the weekend, but then we got a dump of snow, so we were out clearing the driveway again tonight. 

Krista McCarville

I've been busy all week following the Scotties on TV, and then got the good news that I was invited to attend the weekend playoff games in person! I'm really enjoying that, and more so as local team McCarville has enjoyed success and has now advanced to tomorrow's final. She is overlooked by the pundits since she refuses to join the tour, dedicating her time to her teaching and her family, so it's extra gratifying to hear them struggle with her success. Wendy has been struggling with pain in her shoulders, and was delighted that our chiropractor opened her office across the street corner from us this week. So, she got a treatment and an exercise program and is looking forward to improvement. The markets had a terrible January, so I was glad to turn the page to a new month. Although they were roiled by varying earnings reports from the big tech companies, finally the blowout jobs numbers both sides of the border brought about a strong rally, and I had a good week. It was a tale in line with our times. Our job numbers were so bad, investors felt the central bank could not raise interest rates so aggressively, so they bought stocks! In the USA, the Biden administration set an all time record for jobs created in a year, so investors bought stocks based on the strong economy. Hockey is on break for the all-star game. My Oilers have shown improved results of late, and are in the playoff race again. Leafs and Pens are in good position, although the Pens have been losing OT games lately. In basketball, the Jayhawks were dropped to #10, but have responded strongly, and knocked off #8-Baylor handily tonight. Keep playing like that boys! 

Eric/A are into birthday celebrations for their boys. Liam is home, getting some medical attention, and celebrating his birthday. Haaken will have to celebrate long distance! Liam is also showing some improvement in his medical results, so we're encouraged. 

Kristian has completed his school curling schedule. His team did well, and advanced to the playoffs, but has now lost out. He is considering joining mixed doubles curling later this month. 

Junior Curling Team

Travis and Joanna are keeping busy with work, and have managed to set quite a few appointments for hockey team photos as restrictions were relaxed at the end of January. League hockey has resumed. Today, he even got a Bucket Decals order from his old nemesis franchise in Manitoba! Not such fun memories! Andrew is working at Super Store now. He fills grocery orders for phone-in and online customers. 

And that's about enough for this week.