Happy New Year!

Another week, and another year have passed. We have begun the trip home, moving from the shore of Lake Wascana to the shore of the Assiniboine River on Friday, and finally today, ending the year in Dryden on the shore of Lake Wabigoon. I have received calls confirming two MRIs for me back in Thunder Bay with the first being on my spine for late Monday night. We hope this will allow them to complete the diagnosis of the pain in my lower back and legs. For sure the Piriformis exercises prescribed by Dr. Tom have brought a lot of relief, but discomfort and weakness remain. At least I've been able to avoid painkillers the last two weeks. We have enjoyed another week of family time while living in Erin's basement.

Some of our presents! 

Wendy has completed her regular regimen of oven cleansings—sure knows how to have fun! I have upgraded the mantle to nine stocking pegs, and then dismantled (see what I did there?!) and put it away until next Christmas. The weather has wreaked havoc on travel around the city and on the highways as a winter rain coated vehicles and roads. Another long time family friend has passed and when her funeral was scheduled for Friday in Virden, we decided to make that part of our schedule, too. We enjoyed catching up with many more friends as we celebrated Evelyn Muller's life. Then, we spent the night with Bonnie and Charlie in Brandon—thanks folks! Today, we drove only as far as Dryden as it was getting dark and we didn't fancy challenging northern Ontario moose, or New Year's Eve drivers! The markets closed off a troubled year with a bit of green on this short week of trading. This was the first quarter of the year where I managed to make quota, so while I made a bit of money to the bottom line, I fell well short of my quota—I shall have to work harder! We do hope for better market action in 2023. This year concluded with all indices that I follow, badly in the red. TSX: -8.7%; DOW: -8.8%; S&P: -19.4%; Nasdaq: -33.1% In my world of sports, it has been a mixed year. The absolute high was my Jayhawks winning the basketball championship! Rock Chalk! They have another good team this season. They are currently ranked #4, and completed a thrilling comeback today after a 15 point half time deficit. In hockey, all my teams made the playoffs last spring. Sadly, none of them won the Cup, but all three are in playoff contention once again. Go Oilers! Football was a definite downer as my Riders failed to qualify for the playoffs. My Sooners, and the other teams I follow in college football (Oklahoma State, Longhorns) all lost their recent bowl games. C'mon man! 

Eric & Erica celebrated their 29th Anniversary on Tuesday—congratulations! Erica writes, "We enjoyed a week with family and a couple of friends over Christmas and the following days. We even had a hootenanny at 55 Laird. We said good-bye on Friday morning and caught up with Neil and Darcy in Saskatoon and Chris Lock in Warman. This Sunday, Eric, Liam and I will be part of the worship team, so I’d better pick out some songs and get organized. Happy New Year!"

Erin returned to work on Tuesday, but the rest of us continued to holiday most of the week. Kristian and I have unsuccessfully attempted to get his new game working properly. We took it back to Best Buy, but they wouldn't touch it. They offered a replacement, but that didn't work either. An on-line chat revealed that Meta was well aware of the problem, but they continued to sell the game anyway—disappointing! I worked on Erin's door bell problem. The front door bell recently quit ringing as workers were installing siding repairs around the door button. They declined responsibility, but the facts remain that we're getting power to the button, and through the button, but it doesn't get back to the door bell while the back door bell transfers the power successfully. I'm guessing they broke one of the wires somewhere within the door frame, but that becomes an impossible task at this point. 

Travis, Joanna and crew worked through much of the holiday week, but also took time for family and pet celebrations! We look forward to catching up with that action next week! 

And that's enough for this week! 

Merry Christmas to all!

Another week has passed and we have returned from the shore of the North Saskatchewan River to the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. The weather has been beastly cold most of the week, but has improved a lot for this weekend. We have moved in with Erin and Kristian again, and really appreciate all the care they take of us. We started the week in Prince Albert with Eric and Erica at a special Rotary Christmas brunch and toy distribution. We drove back to Regina on Tuesday, and they followed us yesterday! Now, the family is gathered for a week of Christmas celebrations. We're surely enjoying that—lots of good food, lots of bad sweets, gifts for all, and family time!

with room for 7 stockings!

Kristian and I built a mantel so the stockings could be "hung with care, in hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there!" Wendy and I didn't bring our stockings, so we're borrowing some and going under pseudonyms of E and K with the hope that St Nick might be fooled into giving us something better than the traditional lump of coal. The markets were mixed all week, but overall had a good week, and I made quota for a change. Sports has a special schedule in acknowledgement of the holidays, so we had extra games featuring many of the teams who will now be able to enjoy a holiday themselves. In hockey the Leafs and Pens are doing well, while the Oilers continue to have some good games and some stinkers. The Jayhawks were rewarded for their good season so far with a ranking of #4 in the country. 

Fully Functional

Lovely new Shower/Bath

The Baileys got the bathroom back together and it's looking great! Then, they drove down here to celebrate with the rest of us. 

Erin and helpers prepared a Christmas Eve banquet featuring ham and scalloped potatoes this evening. We hear them planning a breakfast casserole and a complete turkey dinner for tomorrow. I'm sure it'll be yummy. 

Travis & Joanna, Jonas & Gemma, and Andrew are celebrating in heavy snow back in Thunder Bay. 

And that's the abbreviated Christmas edition! 

Visiting Prince Albert

Another week has passed, and we have moved on from Lake Wascana. We are now situated on the shore of the North Saskatchewan River on the northern reaches of the prairies. Despite the implication of the title, Prince Albert is apparently not here, but we are visiting Eric and Erica in the city named for the prince. We spent most of the week in Regina with Erin and Kristian who hosted us very well indeed. We enjoyed a morning of Carol Singing over at Selo Gardens; it was good to express once again our satisfaction with the level of care they provided Dad during his months there. One afternoon, we took in coffee time with Don, Sandra and Aunt Eloise. We enjoyed coffee and sweets along with sweet conversation. Bernard and Alicia joined in both of these outings. I am focusing on two main exercises for Piriformis Syndrome, and enjoying considerable relief. I haven't had to take muscle relaxants or painkillers the last few days. Wendy has worked on cupboard reorganization at Erin's and has now taken her home management program on the road. The slides about Ellis's life have now been posted to YouTube—lots of memories there. The weather was stormy for the first part of the week, so we delayed our departure from Regina. We saw some evidence of vehicles in the ditches and the median as we drove up, one was still there! The renovations are leaping forward here; the new bathroom is looking very good as the tiling around the tub has been completed. They treated us to a hockey game tonight, and the Raiders won! The markets were terrible, no good and very bad! The FED refused to acknowledge the improving inflation numbers or the declining consumer purchasing data and not only increased the rate by 0.5%, but also promised more rate increases in the future! Investors were not impressed, and sold off sharply! That cost me money as well! Sports are not going so well either. The Oilers and Leafs lost tonight, so only the Pens performed well this week. At least the #8-Jayhawks continued their impressive play with another big win this afternoon. Einarson and Retornaz won the Grand Slam-Masters on the weekend. 

Erica writes, "Last weekend was laughter through tears as we celebrated Grampa’s life. It was wonderful to hear from so many how he touched people’s lives. I also got to enjoyed a short visit with my good friend and maid of honour, Bonnie Baxter (McMillan) as she celebrated a milestone birthday. The bathroom project has progressed quickly this week. We have moved from having an open concept, minimalist design to walls, a tub and tiles. The floor remains unfinished along with the reinstallation of the toilet and our new, old vanity. We hope to have a fully functional bathroom soon. Haaken and Liam are doing fine. Greg continues to heal from his accident which was almost a year ago. In addition, he is now also battling Covid. We hope his health improves soon. Mom and Dad have joined us for a visit and to inspect the bathroom. So far the work seems to be up to par."

Kristian had curling practice on Monday, and his final game before the Christmas break on Tuesday! His team won, and remains undefeated in league play. Erin continues to be very busy at work, and has the extra duty this week of buying gift giveaways! Sadie got her haircut on the weekend, and her energy levels are elevated, but her vision is no better! Travis observed how she works her way across a room, indexing the location of objects by swinging her muzzle from side to side, much like a blind person uses their white cane. As children, we were given to understand that cats can sense the nearness of objects through their whiskers, perhaps Sadie does that as well. At any rate she seems happy enough, but often indicates an interest in going outside—when she checks the weather outside, she changes her mind! Anyway, we are thankful for their care of us during our weeks there, and look forward to letting them host us again sometime next week! 

Travis was here for the Memorial, and tried to return home on Monday. After several schedule delays, his flight was cancelled, and he was rebooked on Tuesday! As a result, they had to postpone two team photoshoots. Gemma and Jonas have returned from Vancouver for the holiday break. 

And that's enough for this week. 

It was a Celebration!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the prairies. Bed and breakfast completed, we checked out and drove from Winnipeg on Sunday—thanks Tom & Mariette. The weather was stormy and there was poor visibility leaving Winnipeg, but suddenly, as we reached Portage, it all cleared away and we enjoyed clearing skies the rest of the way. The only remaining issue was a heavy wind that we faced all the way. The drive completed, we moved into Erin's basement suite, where Erin and Kristian have been hosting us most graciously—more thanks!

Ellis Clinton Krogsgaard

The week has been consumed by preparation and execution of the memorial celebration for Ellis. It was an emotional ride, but truly a celebration of a life successfully run and well-completed. You can watch the slide show with the service and the tributes at these links: Service; Tributes I will try to get the slide show as a separate entry because it doesn't show up very clearly from the taping of the service. This morning we had the interment, which was for many of us even more emotional. It was so great to see that many people made an extra effort to get to Regina for the occasion—it surely was encouraging to the family. 

Other events of the week took a low priority, but I can report that the markets did not go well, and I did not do well on the investment side either. In the world of sports I have another curling event to focus on as the Grand Slam series is back with the Masters Championship. My guy Kevin Koe did not qualify for the playoffs this time—a rarity to be sure. Einarson will play Homan in an all-Canadian women's final, but it's Scotland's Mouat vs Italy's Retornaz on the men's side. College Football teams are preparing for their various bowl games. #6-KU played well this week in basketball and could see a further elevation in the rankings. In the NHL, my teams had a good week, and while none are in first spot in their divisions, at least all are currently holding a play off position. 

Eric, Erica and Liam were here for the memorial. It was good to spend some time with them. The contractors are working to rough in the new upstairs bathroom. They are also constructing a support wall across the kitchen to hold up that part of the upstairs. Some time, over the years, it seems the support wall was removed and the upstairs floor has been compromised ever since. 

Erin has been taking care of us, and we've been trying to return the favour some of the time. Kristian curls with the high school team, and this week took down Sheldon Williams handily. He has been invited to play with an adult team each week. It would be good experience for him. They took time off school and work to take part in the memorial activities and visit with the family. Today, Sadie got a haircut. She looks great, and seems to have so much more energy, but she still can't see. However, she manages to get around pretty well. 

Elfy Ears!

Travis flew over to Regina for the memorial. Joanna spent part of the week in southern Ontario helping out with the family down there. Then she returned to take over the pet sitting and business management while Travis came west. Andrew is back at work; Gemma/Jonas are getting ready to come home for the holidays. 

And that's about it for this week. 

On the Road Again!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, but we have headed west, and are closing out the week on the banks of La Rivière Rouge in Winnipeg. Thanks Tom & Mariette for taking us in out of the cold and storm! Tom even gave me a new potential diagnosis for my back/leg issues, Piriformis Syndrome, which he also suffers with on occasion. The weather in Thunder Bay has been comfortable with daytime temperatures above zero and while we've had some snow, we've able to clear the driveway and let the sun have its way. We had a good week with several appointments and medical issues to take care of before we were prepared to be away for some weeks. Wendy's eye appointment revealed that she's developing a cataract, so she'll be considering surgery for that after we get back. I had the remainder of my skin tags removed, and also got some followup on my back issues. I've been referred for an MRI, and also to the Back Pain unit. These, too, will be held in abeyance until we get back. The markets were roiled this week by a speech by Powell, and then, yesterday and today by Jobs data. The FED allowed as how it may be about time to slow down the rate increases, and the investors cheered. However, the economy showed up so strongly in the jobless claims and new jobs created that investors feared the FED would keep the rates rising. We're in the "good news is bad news" phase of the markets, so the strong jobs data brought about more selling, and I didn't make quota this week. Wendy has also been working all week to prepare the eulogy—lots of memories, lots of emotion, it's therapeutic. In Basketball, #3-Kansas paid the price for its first loss of the season and were dropped to #9. They won their games comfortably this week, so that helps. In football the conference finals are running this weekend and the teams I follow are not involved. The Oilers had a number of games this week, splitting the first two, and hosting the Habs tonight.

Yay Oilers! Yay Oscar!

A good game for the usual suspects, and Oscar rubbed it in to his dad. Pens also won their game tonight, but Leafs fell in Overtime. 

Erica writes, "When we could find the energy, we worked on bathroom destruction this week. On Saturday, our friends Tina and Guido came over to help. We are getting old and need lots of breaks. 1 hour destruction, 1.5 hour break for lunch.

Found more Knob & Tube

Then, 45 minutes of cleanup. Another break. Then about 1.5 hours of destruction with cleanup, and we called it a day. I don’t think any of us will have a career in construction any time soon. We chatted here and there with the boys and things seem to be good."

Kristian won an award as Athlete of the Week at school.

Well done! 

His main sport at present is curling. Erin is working through the transition at work as they separate the business of Lexus out of the Toyota operation. 

Travis and Joanna are very busy. They've had the photoshoots with about 80 teams already this season, which catches them up to their expected schedule despite the delayed start to the season. Lots of development and production work to do still, but not very many new teams to do before Christmas. They're in charge of things in Thunder Bay while we're away. Thanks guys! 

And that's about it for this week!