Back to Spring!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, and, happily, Spring has returned. The weather turned nicely, and the white rain from last week quickly disappeared. I've been able to get out to the shop regularly, and also out for our walks. I feel my back is making progress, and the main issue currently is finding a comfortable position in bed so I can go to sleep! I have milled the oak in preparation for the shadow box frame, and have prepared a jig for the mitre saw to cut it up. I have prepared two complete samples with softer material; they worked out great, but I am struggling to find the courage to make the mitre cuts in the oak! Wendy returned Sunday night from her chorus trip to Rochester. She enjoyed that, and they performed wonderfully. She continues to be quite busy with the work as treasurer for the chorus, but she enjoys that about as much as the singing! Markets continued to whipsaw this week just as they have been doing for months, but at least the general direction is up, as all indices ended green for the month, and I was able to make quota. I am continuing my stance of only being partially invested in the market while focusing on high dividend stocks, and it's working okay. I have three paper trading scenarios in operation, but only one of them is doing well, so I don't have many options to this point. The curling event this week was from South Korea where the Senior Championships and the Mixed Doubles were contested. Canada won both men's and women's Senior Gold; while USA won the Mixed Doubles Gold. NHL playoffs continue. Some series are completed. We're down to where it's someone's elimination game every night, and the remaining series will end in the next couple of days. I've lost one team so far. Baseball is through the first month, and my Blue Jays are doing well. 

Erica writes, "On Friday, we celebrated Eric’s 53rd with a movie and birthday cake. He heard from Haaken, Liam and Greg. Everyone seems to be doing well. This weekend, we will also celebrate with my work. We have escape rooms and family feud on the schedule. I told Eric it was all for his birthday, but it also might have something to do with the end of tax season."

Erin and Kristian, along with Travis and Joanna had a great week in Florida. They enjoyed the warm weather, the tropical beaches and the various amenities. Kristian and Travis took a side trip to the AEW event over in Miami. Mostly, they just relaxed and took in a few special activities. Erin and Kristian flew home today, but only got as far as Toronto as the delayed flight out of Tampa messed up their connections—sigh! Travis and Joanna are scheduled to return next week. 

There's a dog on my bed!

And that's about it for this week. 

White Rain!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been miserable beginning last weekend, and persisting into this weekend. While the old adage, "April showers..." implies that any precipitation in April is rain, I have extended the intent to prove that it doesn't snow in the months of April through October. That assurance aside, we surely had a lot of flakey white rain this week. It started with freezing rain last weekend which closed the highways in Ontario and prolonged our stay in Winnipeg. We were planning to leave on Saturday and eventually left on Tuesday. A spell of warm weather had the roads in excellent driving condition by then, so the trip home was uneventful. We thank Kelly and crew for putting us up for the extra days. We also took advantage to do more visiting with family in Winnipeg as Tom & Mariette returned from the Middle East. We also got to visit with Richard & Louise.

Scarlet Women & their Director

Wendy has been busy with preparations for her trip to Rochester MN this weekend for Sweet Adelines competition. I have marked her location in the group with an arrow, and added a close-up pic of the trophy holding the award! They loaded up on Thursday morning in more um, rain, and took a difficult bus ride south, while I used the snowblower to blow the rain off the driveway! Their competition was today—20 hours on the bus for a 7-minute performance! They did well, winning the trophy for first in their section!

Lamination Glue-Up

I've been able to get back to the shop and work on the lamination project. Of course I had to bring it inside for the glue-up. It will eventually become a chair seat. I am also working on a shadow memory box for Sadie. The markets were troubled all week with a lot of whipsaw action. I managed a small gain, and am closing in on quota for April. Kevin Koe finished off the Players Championship in style. He made a slash double to count three and beat Gushue in the semi-final. Then, he made a triple kill to score three and beat Schwaller in the final! Wranå, from Sweden, won the women's side. First round series continue in the NHL playoffs. My picks are at least all still alive! (Oilers, Islanders, Bruins, Stars, Avs, Knights, Leafs, Rangers) The Blue Jays continue to play well, although they dropped one to the Yankees today. 

Erica writes about troubled travels, "It is Friday night, 8:23 PM. We left home on Thursday morning, 7:15 AM to fly to Halifax. We have made it as far as Calgary. If the powers that be at Westjet are correct this time, we should arrive in Halifax at 7 AM Saturday morning—only 4 hours later than it would have taken us to drive there. I would say this is the worst travel experience I’ve had, however we flew Westjet last fall to and from England. You may recall that some of our party had to sleep on the floor of the Calgary airport as Westjet had a computer crash and decided to let their "customer service” folks go home, instead of providing hotels for their displaced passengers. As you may have guessed, we are less than impressed with the service. What makes it even more frustrating is that none of the “service” agents seems to care and we have had to fight for every bit of accommodation we have received, such as a hotel last night and food vouchers. In the mean time, Eric has missed the first day of his conference and will arrive only a few hours before day two starts. Not good. Other than that, things are good."

Erin and Kristian have joined Travis & Joanna on a trip to Tampa Bay. They flew out of Regina and met up with Travis & Joanna in Toronto. Then, after overnighting in Toronto, they flew to Tampa this morning. And, just to add intrigue to surprise, their flights were on time, and all luggage arrived with them. Better buy a lottery ticket! 

Meanwhile, back at home in Thunder Bay, the boys are partying! 

Hey man—got a light?

And that's enough for this week!

Bye, bye, Aunt Peggy!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, but we are between the banks of the Red River and the Red River bypass known as Duff's Ditch! We drove up here on Thursday to commemorate Aunt Peggy, yesterday, and enjoy a stay with Dean, Kelly and family. Unfortunately, Dean was forewarned of our visit and arranged to absent himself in Poland! LOL!

Bk-Markus, Becca, Toran, Mitchell
Ft-Sarah, Talitha, Sandra

Anyway, we're enjoying visiting with the family, and catching up with Mike, Angela and Damaris, along with more members of their families. We also enjoyed catching up with many other members of Peggy's family and friends at the service. Sadly, we seemed to have reached an age level where too many of our gatherings are around someone's departure. We spent the early part of the week at home. Today, we got to spend some time with Tom, recently returned from Israel and Egypt, but Mariette was busy away from home already—they had only returned last night! Wendy has a busy, busy schedule with chorus business and rehearsals in preparation for the international competition next weekend in Rochester MN. I made some more progress on various projects in the shop as we celebrated temperatures up to 20°. The markets were also favourable, and I managed to make quota again. Investors seem heartened by better than forecast inflation data, although they're still expecting the FED to raise rates by another 0.25% in May. The regular season has ended in the NHL, so the playoff season is now beginning. Sadly, the Pens did not qualify. Leafs play Tampa Bay, while my Oilers play LA Kings in the first round. Basketball is in the new silly season where teams try to recruit established players who have entered the Transfer Portal! I hope the Jayhawks pick up some good ones. Baseball is nicely underway and my Blue Jays are playing well so far. Curling this week was in Toronto for the Players Championship. My guy, Koe, beat Gushue to advance to the final against Schwaller. On the women's side, Wranå beat my gal, Einarson, so she gets to the final against Tirinzoni. 

Erica writes, "It’s been a busy week at work. I’ve picked up some personal tax returns, so, now that adds to the audits and reviews that normally keep me busy! Eric and I enjoyed a visit from his niece Marina. And we also got out to the local business awards show. Liam has started fundraising for his mission with RU and The Great Commission Foundation. You may hear from him soon on his plans. If you are interested in reading more, here is a link: Haaken and Greg are doing fine."

Erin and Kristian are acquainting themselves with the new-look Blue Jays. We get to text our commiserations over their games! So far, so good. They're currently in a series with the first place Rays, but have won the first two games to take that series. Erin got a new laptop for Kristian, and he has already used it to apply for summer work at camp. Meanwhile, Erin has begun stressing over her planned vacation trip next week—never too early to start stressing, sigh! 

Travis & Joanna celebrated several Easter feasts with us last weekend. Joanna is busy at work as well as with PuckShots orders. They are also in the final planning stages for their usual pilgrimage to Florida to the timeshare there. So, we're in the final planning stages in preparation for pet care! 

And that's about it for this week. 

He is Risen!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The first week of April has brought a blast for bad weather, but we have recovered from that, and are now looking forward to proper April weather—we hope! The unseasonable dump began Tuesday night, and continued all day Wednesday. We ventured out around suppertime Wednesday, and challenged the snowblower to clear the slushy stuff away. It was a struggle, but, ultimately, a successful one! The change in weather chased me back from the shop, but I'm looking forward to getting back at in next week. I have two main projects on the go, and a number waiting on the back burner. Wendy completed her business contract and collected her pay for that. She's in final preparation for the chorus trip to Rochester MN, so I'm hearing lots of singing around the house! The markets turned green with the arrival of April, so I had a good week and managed to make quota even though it was only four trading days due to the Good Friday holiday. We have been soliciting estimates for supply and installation of new windows in our house. As part of the upgrade, we're also replacing both the front and side doors, and adding storm doors. I've spent a lot of effort getting our curling team into the playoffs at the Men's World Championships. That was successful, and then they beat Switzerland tonight, so they'll be in the gold medal game tomorrow against Scotland. Hockey has entered the final week with Pens looking for a pair of wins, but still needing some help to make the playoffs. Leafs have secured home ice advantage for their first round series, and Oilers are still challenging for top spot in their division. Blue Jays have begun the season with a 10-game road trip. They're doing okay, but not up to expectations. 

Eric and Erica enjoyed participating in a Seder meal on Thursday evening. It was educational and inspiring. 

Erin often chats with me about the progress of the Blue Jays—I enjoy that. She and Kristian suffered a late winter storm there and unseasonably cold temperatures as well. They're doing okay, and expecting much better temperatures soon. 

Travis and Joanna are doing well. They had us over for an Easter meal last night, and we look forward to another one over here, tomorrow. Andrew has been accepted into the Paramedic program at Confederation College in the Fall. Gemma also had good news as she's advanced to the interview stage for the Mid-Wifery program at UBC. 

And that's enough for this week! 

April Showers!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been nice, and we've been able to get out for our regular walks. I've hit my target of 10km easily, and am experiencing little discomfort. The pain has clearly left my legs and my butt, and is now confined to the lower back. I'm informed that this is progress. I still have some neuropathy in the outsides and small toes of my feet. The golf courses are not open yet, and I have not braved the curling ice, but I'm thinking about it! I am back working in the shop most days. I started with some clean up and reorganizing, but that got old quick! There remains much clean up to do out there, and I have many projects awaiting further development as well. The snow has melted away on the deck, so I was assigned to the first barbecue of the year. Wendy keeps very busy with chorus work and practice. The chorus had a performance yesterday, and are in the last weeks of preparation for their international competition in late April. We got the brake pads and rotors replaced on the car this week—pricey! We're expecting a couple of trips west this spring, with the first being just to Winnipeg in the middle of the month for Peggy's memorial service. Then, we're planning a trip to Saskatchewan in May. The markets turned positive this week and I was able to recover over half of my monthly quota—nice! It's the Final Four weekend in Basketball, and with a #4, two #5s and a #9, it's safe to say no one picked these four teams! Since my Jayhawks are out, I've been sticking with UConn, so we'll see how it goes. Tonight, they advanced to the final against San Diego State! MLB has opened on all fronts, and, as the saying goes, "Hope springs eternal!" Everyone is a World Series contender at the moment! NHL is down to the last handful of games. Leafs and Oilers have clinched their spots in the playoffs, but Pens are really on the edge! World's Men Curling championship opened today as well with Gushue winning one, losing the other! I'm a busy spectator! 

Erica writes, "This was a busy week at work. We both put in several late evenings. Other than that, it was a pretty chill week. Last weekend, we saw the Irish Rovers, and then, on Sunday, we enjoyed Liam’s new dance show. It was very good. Liam is starting to raise funds to support his Ministry. He will be working full time with RU, as a minister to the group, and to the youth they minister to. We pray that his fundraising efforts are effective. Haaken and Greg are doing fine."

Erin and Kristian are taking regular or at least frequent treat outings for frozen treats (I guess it's no longer cold in Regina) and restaurant meals. They are also planning the shadow box memorial for Sadie. I have started work on the box. The big news this week for Erin is the arrival of Baseball Season! Her beloved Blue Jays opened with a win, but then lost today. Kristian and the cats are doing fine. 

Travis and Joanna remain very busy with the PuckShot business and Joanna's regular work. Although the hockey season is drawing to a close, they're still pumping out the team photos. We enjoy getting together with them each week for a meal and games night. Gemma remains in Vancouver with Jonas, but is trying to put together plans for schooling in the Fall. Andrew continues to work at Super Store, and is also considering further education in the Fall. 

And that's about enough for this week.