Winter has returned!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather remained mild with a couple dumps of snow, but with the weekend, the skies have cleared and it has turned cold with temperatures in the -20s, brrr! Aside from clearing the driveway a few times, I've also managed regular trips to the shop until it turned cold today. Still not making much progress on drilling all those holes as I'm not being successful in developing a jig to keep them all evenly spaced and in a straight line. Wendy has put the jigsaw puzzle away—too many other things on her plate. She has begun work in the side entry and stairs to the basement. She always seems to have lots of activity with the chorus, regular singing, books and banking. She has also begun an accounting job that has been a regular assignment the last few years. My back and legs continue to trouble me, and I'm getting impatient for the doctors to come up with some additional help. The markets have continued to gather value. Investors are easily troubled as the usual battle between fear and greed seems to be more susceptible to the fear side again this year. We're almost through the first month and all indices are nicely into the green. Keep 'er goin' Uncle Joe! The main fly in the ointment is if the USA decides not to pay their debts. That would cause a world-wide crash, so I'm keeping an eye on that situation and hoping cooler heads prevail. In the world of sports, my Oilers have continued their winning ways and are solidly in a playoff position. Leafs are in good shape, but are getting hit with injuries. Pens are a bit shaky, and are just on the edge of the playoffs at this point. As expected, the Jayhawks were punished for their losses and dropped to #9 in the rankings. They put together a big win today in Kentucky; that was a delight to watch! Now, we'll see if it's enough to arrest their drop in the rankings. 

Erica writes, "I had a couple days of training with the Indigenous services group. We touched on the history of the Indigenous people pre and post contact and learned a lot about what not to do. It was insightful. Eric and I also finalized our preparations for the trip to Punta Cana which included a bit of extra time at work finalizing projects so we could leave with a clear conscience. We left on Saturday morning and look forward to joining Travis and Joanna on Sunday. Our flights via airline points includes an overnight in Toronto. We haven’t heard much from the boys, but I believe they are fine."

Erin and Kristian are completing semester 1 of grade 11. Kristian had a few tight timelines at the end—how does this happen?! He starts curling playoffs on Tuesday! Hurry hard! Erin had a hard time swallowing the Jaguars loss in the NFL playoffs. She's decided to cheer for Bengals this weekend. 

Travis and Joanna are enjoying their vacation in Punta Cana. Their weather is running a boring +28° most days—tough work, but someone's gotta do it! Andrew has been taking care of Moxley and Darby over there, while we have Minnie with us! Jonas and Gemma got to attend Bruce Boudreau's final game with the Vancouver Canucks and reported that it was a lot of fun. 

Minnie

And that's enough for this week. 

Keep Going

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued to be mild and we've enjoyed that,  although we could have done without the slushy snow/rain midweek! I heard back from my doctor concerning the MRI on my head. He's only asking for a phone interview, so I'm concluding they found nothing of concern. We were able to get out for walks most days, and my back and legs didn't complain very much. We topped out at 2.4 km on Thursday, which did raise some complaints! So, there was no walking yesterday. I keep doing my exercises while waiting, impatiently, for more direction from my doctors.

Paddles can form as 4, 5 or 6

Development of the new game continues apace. This week I got a batch of beads to use as pegs, thanks Joanna! Now, that I have the precise size, I can begin drilling the holes. I will consider a variety of joinery solutions as I plan to build several versions with six paddles for each. I want to complete one, and see how playable a game it is before I consider building more. The markets were troubled most of the week as some earnings reports were weak, and investors decided that sometimes bad news is bad news! However, we got a rally on Friday as Netflix showed strongly. I had another good week and a strong start to the year. In sports, the Oilers are on a winning streak—yay! Leafs and Pens also doing well, although Leafs dropped one to the Habs in OT tonight. My #2-Jayhawks, however, had a very poor week (2 losses) and we'll see the ranking take quite a hit, I'm predicting. 

Erica writes, "The big event this week was the arrival of a box from Haaken. It was Christmas in January! I reminded me of the January Christmases from my Childhood, when a box would arrive from Regina or Dallas.

Christmas in January

It was extra magical as we thought Christmas was over and suddenly—more presents! Thanks, Haaken! Eric and I both had evening events throughout the week, so it was busy. We have one more week before we join Travis and Joanna in Punta Cana. Maybe they will return the favour and join us in Puerto Vallarta some day. (And mom and dad and Erin and Kristian, too?)"

Kristian has completed his regular season of high school curling. Once the exam period is over he will start into the playoffs on January 31st. He's also into heavy catch-up mode on some assignments that got surprisingly delayed! C'mon man! Erin suffered through the final game of her Jax Jags season today, as the KC Chiefs dropped them out of the playoffs! 

Travis and Joanna had a busy week getting as much product out the door before heading to the Caribbean.

Punta Cana

They left early Friday morning, and made a successful transit through Toronto on their way to Punta Cana. We helped them deliver the rats to their new owner, and took management of Minnie while they're gone. Andrew will manage the household and the other two dogs. Trav also got the accident damage repaired on his car, although that became quite a story as well—Insurance companies! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Enjoying the weather!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been cloudy, but very mild with daytime highs around zero each day except Friday (a cold and frosty Friday the 13th!) when we had a brisk, sunny day! It surely puts a dent in Winter when you have a prolonged warm spell in January like this. I've been able to get out to the shop nearly everyday, so, I'm making some progress on my next game. It's a Sorry-like game, but comes with a flexible board arrangement as you play with up to six players and four decks of cards. It's called Pegs & Jokers; there are a variety of rule sets and board designs out there. Wendy put one jigsaw puzzle away, and has taken out another, but hasn't put any time into it yet. She got measured for her cataract-induced lens replacement. Her vision is already quite obscured in that eye, so we hope the surgery will be accomplished successfully. She also enjoyed her regularly scheduled mammogram—surely knows how to have fun! She enjoyed getting out for a couple of coffee-visits at least. A bigger event was second-hand shopping where she scored two microwave safe cornbread pans! We have begun work on the stairwell from the side entry down to the basement. I had another MRI on Monday; this time, they were checking my head to see whether they could determine a cause for my hearing loss in my left ear. My non-prescribed exercise program certainly seems to be easing my symptoms, and the neuropathy in my feet seems much improved. My legs and lower back continue to ache. The markets enjoyed a Goldilocks-level batch of news on the jobs front, and on the inflation front—just right, thanks Uncle Joe. All indices are running green so far this year—keep 'er goin' boys! The main sporting event for me this week is Curling; the Canadian Open is running in Camrose. My guy, Kevin Koe, did not qualify for the playoffs, but my gal, Kerri Einarson, did. Tomorrow it'll be Einarson vs Fujisawa in the Women's Final, and Edin vs Bottcher on the Men's side. In hockey, my teams remain in contention. Leafs and Oilers had good weeks; Pens did not! On Tuesday, #2-Kansas had a spectacular comeback against OU as they recovered from ten points down with 5 minutes to play. Today, it was another tough conference game against Iowa State and the scored on their final possession for the 62-60 win. These are home games—how will they do on the road?!

Erica writes, "We had a pretty quiet week here in PA. I’ve been enjoying the new bathroom with the super large tub! I love it. I am back to intermittent fasting and keto and my joint pain has substantially decreased. I also started back on my nightly yoga routine. The first night was so painful I could barely lay flat on my back. But last night I felt good. So, I know the stretching and moving are a great help. Eric will be teaching a class this term on co-parenting. We continue to pray for an animation job for Haaken, income from art for Liam, healing for Greg, and patience and energy for Kiersten (Greg’s fiancée) as she helps Greg. We made a commitment to the kids to pray every day for them, and, we are, hopefully, awaiting a response."

Kristian has continued to follow the saga of the faulty VR set. They've written twice commending him for his patience, and admitting they still have no solution. Perhaps he just doesn't have the heart to tell them the toy has already been returned! His team lost their curling game this week, 7-6. Kristian informed me that the ice was bad, so the rocks didn't curl properly, and I thought, "Now, that sounds like a real curler!" He has one game left before the playoffs. Erin, Sadie and the cats continue with life as usual. Big day for Erin today, as her Jaguars came back from a 27 point deficit to win their playoff game! 

Travis and Joanna hosted us for supper—yummy Swedish meatballs! They were also over here for a games night, and brought Moxley along with them—he seems to be much larger than expected, but is a gentle dog. They have continued to be very busy with photoshoots and the production of PuckShots pictures for the players and their families. Travis has also adopted the Jags, so he enjoyed their remarkable success as well. 

And that's about it for this week. 

Another Day!

Another week has passed and we have returned to our home on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We celebrated the arrival of the New Year in Dryden and completed the drive back on January 1st.  The weather here has been comfortable with daytime highs reaching near zero. Our friends have kept the driveway mostly clear of snow, but the recent storm had left behind several inches  to greet our arrival, so I got to bring out the snowblower and clear it away. Since then, the sun has been doing its job of returning our driveway to black pavement. However, we are not fooled and expect several more storms before Winter gives way to the inevitable Spring! We had George and Anne over last evening for supper and to thank them for their snow-clearing efforts. As you may be aware, I'm having back issues. This came to my attention in late September, and I've been whining about it ever since! Although I had to postpone it while we were in Regina for December, I finally had my MRI late Monday night, so late it was actually about 1:30 am when we got back from the hospital. The doctor has called and informed us of the results. They do not sound good! They accentuate the difficulty we can experience if we don't take much notice of pain—we don't realize how ill we are! It's issues with my spinal column that are causing my pain and disability. I have bulging discs in my lower back that are interfering with the nerves. She cautioned me over symptoms that could develop that would reveal that the problem has become critical. In the meantime, she is referring me to the Spinal Group, and a Spinal Surgeon to advise us further. Aside from the pain in my lower back, glutes, the back of my legs, and the neuropathy in my feet, the nerves involved also control bladder and bowel control. She doesn't want me to lose those—I don't either! In the meantime, she agrees that the stretching exercises I was doing for periformis syndrome should be helpful, but that I need to remain watchful of neuropathy in my inner thighs as that would be an acceleration of symptoms, and should prompt me to report to Emergency. I will be asking the Spinal Surgeon if, or when, I may resume golf and curling activity, and also what therapy may assist in repairing this situation. I continue to hope/expect that surgery will not be needed. Otherwise, we have been easing back into our home routines.

Another day...

Wendy is putting a jig saw puzzle together.

...and done!

I am considering some small winter projects in the shop, but ran into a significant snag—my table saw wouldn't run! The other day when I switched it on, it ran for about 10 seconds and stopped. I speculated that it may have overloaded from stiffness in the cold, but was unable to uncover any reason why it was not running. I checked and confirmed electrical flow to the motor, but it doesn't even hum; so, today, I opened up the motor! I pulled out the brushes and scraped them clean. After I replaced them—zoom! There is a lot of extra sparking between the brushes and the commutator, but it's running, and I'm expecting the brushes to reshape fairly quickly. The investment year has opened red-green-red-green—same ol', same ol'! Fortunately, the greens have been stronger, and I had a good week. The highlight of the week in sports was the World Junior Hockey Championships; Canada beat Czechia in OT to win the gold! #3-Jayhawks continue their dominant play and won again today over WVU. Rock Chalk! The bowl games have run their course with only the championship game between TCU and Georgia left to play on Monday. NHL schedule has settled back into normal after the holiday and outdoor special events. My three teams (Oilers, Pens, Leafs) are all in playoff contention, but none of them inspire great confidence! Pens lost their latest game, Oilers lost in OT tonight, just the Leafs won today. 

Erica writes, "After holiday Monday it was back to work—back to waking up early and going to bed on time—yikes! We enjoyed some ongoing celebrations with a friend’s birthday dinner on Tuesday, box seats at the PA Raider game courtesy of MNP on Wednesday, and an impromptu hockey watching party with friends on Thursday. Yay for Team Canada! With all that fun, we are now exhausted and sleeping in on Saturday. Liam is back at Caronport. We’ve also chatted with Greg and Haaken and they are both well."

Kristian is back in class after the Christmas break. He is set to get back to curling next week. Erin continues with work—her break was brief and ended long ago! Kristian finally got an email from Meta about his non-functional VR set. They admitted that it didn't work, and that they didn't have a repair ready. We are very relieved that we were able to get that returned. 

Travis and Joanna are back to work although Joanna has been suffering with respiratory distress. Negative tests for Covid—was it RSV? Gemma and Jonas headed back to Vancouver, work and school. Jonas is mostly working on research at this time while taking one class. Gemma has been accepted into one program of interest, but has decided to wait until Fall to continue classes. 

And that's about enough for this week.