Happy New Year!

Another week, another month, and another year have passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has continued mild, but they keep threatening us with snow, and it must come—right?! I've been out to the shop regularly, and have made some progress on the barn door trim, and on the oak stair nosings for that part of the entry project. We're re-tiling the side entry and the stairway to the basement. We enjoyed Christmas with the local family, and, via technology, with our family in Saskatchewan and New Zealand. Wendy prepared a delicious turkey dinner, and Joanna added some trimmings! Naturally, we've continued to enjoy turkey meals all week—it's part of the tradition! A special treat was two phone calls with our old friend, Jack, in Stillwater—lots of good memories were shared there! Wendy has returned to her side entry assignment, and it's coming along well. There are only three weeks remaining before my spinal surgery, so I'm trying to get the lifting aspects of my projects taken care of ahead of that hiatus. The doctor suggests that I'll be on the injury reserve list for six weeks after that—we'll see! We enjoyed another productive week in the markets as all USA indices played with all-time record highs! Thanks Uncle Joe! We did not progress nearly so well in Canada, but it was green at least: 

TSX: 8.1%
DOW: 13.7%
S&P: 23.2%
Nasdaq: 43.4%

I had a decent year (15.1%), pretty much on average for me, but with lots of up and downs that don't provide comfort! We were able to build up equity a bit while still withdrawing what we needed to live on. I will review the activity, and consider adjustments to the plan heading into 2024. The world of sports took some special activity over the holiday period with the Junior World Hockey Championship attracting some attention, along with the plague of football bowl games! My #12-Sooners won their bowl game pretty easily. This weekend marks the semi-finals and I'm cheering for #3-Texas and #1-Michigan to prevail. All my hockey teams are playing this evening—Oilers and Pens win. Oilers are on another winning streak and had a real test tonight in LA. Leafs are suffering from inadequate goaltending, and are on a 3-game losing skid. Pens are a bit hot & cold, and need to pick it up a bit to get into a playoff position. In basketball, #2-Jayhawks maintained their ranking and routed Wichita today. 

Eric and Erica continue their tour down under and have now moved on to Australia. We have enjoyed following along as they posted spectacular activities and photos from New Zealand including a helicopter ride up to the Franz Josef Glacier. 

Erin and Kristian hosted Liam most of the week, but he has moved back home to Caronport. Kristian is spending some of his break doing his extra math course. We're proud of his efforts. Erin continues the training program for her replacement while also priming for the busiest time of the year for herself with monthend and yearend accounting work. 

Travis & Joanna were with us for Christmas and returned last night for pizza and games! On this occasion, we completed the Tim Hortons Christmas puzzle. Andrew & Rosie are on a road trip to Toronto—quite an ambitious drive at any time, let alone in the winter. Jonas & Gemma continue their holiday here at home. 

We like Jigsaw Puzzles

And that's enough for this week. 

Merry Christmas!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We've enjoyed another week with above freezing temperatures and rain. I am comforted by the idea that if it were only bit colder, we could have achieved a White Christmas! The forecasters are suggesting +7° with rain again tomorrow, but dropping to freezing over the night, so we may get some snow for Christmas yet! I've managed to get a bit more done in the shop and also hung the new barn door in the kitchen. Wendy has proved me wrong—the back entry was not ready for painting, but from what she's saying, it is ready now! That will leave only our bedroom to complete this 10-year reno project! She has also been very busy with Christmas preparations. We're spending Christmas here in Thunder Bay, and we'll enjoy a turkey dinner with all the fixings on Monday afternoon with Travis, Joanna and extended family. The USA economy continued to show strength even as inflation data improved and FED watchers are now betting on four to six rate drops in 2024, so the markets thrived. That's despite two scares this week as FedEx and Nike both reported earnings misses and investors are notably easy to scare, so those reports from two important consumer companies caused some selling. As a result, all USA indices hit record highs, and we enjoyed another green week. There are only three trading days left for me as the TSX is closed both Monday and Tuesday. All NHL teams are getting some time off over the weekend; my Oilers ended the week with two wins on the road, but are no closer to a playoff position. Leafs were beaten by the Rangers and blown out by Buffalo earlier in the week, but recovered for a win tonight over Columbus. Pens recorded two wins this week, but lost to Ottawa tonight. #2-Jayhawks maintained their ranking, and won this week's game over Yale. 

Our Tree!

Eric and Erica are continuing their tour down under. Their main focus is the Lord of the Rings sites, but they're also enjoying exploring the beautiful country of New Zealand. 

Christmas in New Zealand

Erin and Kristian are hosting Liam for Christmas! 

Cats are mostly letting it be!

Travis & Joanna have Gemma & Jonas home for Christmas, and of course Andrew & Rosie are also here, so it's a full family gathering for them. We are looking forward to having the whole crew over for Christmas dinner. 

Trav/Joanna's Tree

Outside decorations, but no snow!

And that's enough for this week. 

Still Green!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained salubrious and thus the green continues. We've still a week to go until Christmas, but some folks are beginning to despair of a White Christmas! We began the week with our concert featuring the Silver Sound Choir. In the video, we spend the first seven minutes just trying to get arranged on stage! You may find Wendy in the back right, and me in the back left of the choir. Otherwise, our week was quiet, as per usual for us. I managed to get more stuff done in the shop. Wendy has made good progress on the side entry, and it's about ready for paint! (Actually, it may not be ready for paint; I have no qualifications that allow me to determine when something is ready for paint!) Wendy had a Sweet Adelines concert on Monday evening as well. Both choirs are in the Rotary Festival tomorrow which will complete this year's choral work. We plan to continue with Silver Sound Choir next year leading up to a May concert with a new set of music. The markets were tentative early in the week waiting for the FED to pontificate on the economic situation, however, when they came out saying all was well, the buying boomed, markets hit all-time record highs, and we had another great, green week. In the NHL, my three teams are playing below my expectations. Leafs are in a playoff position at least, but not even their recent 8 game winning streak have the Oilers back where they should be. Pens are also hovering around the .500 level—not good enough boys! Pens played Leafs again tonight—one of them had to win, and this time it was the Leafs. The football bowl season is underway. We look forward to #3-Texas playing in the Sugar Bowl on New Year's Day with the hope of advancing to the championship game. Sooners also have a bowl game, on Dec 28th. The #2-Jayhawks played a tough road game today against the Hoosiers, and trailed for nearly the whole game, before finally taking the lead with about five minutes left—not what I'm expecting from them! RCJK KU! Curling this week features the Grand Slam Masters from Saskatoon with the top ten teams in the world playing on both men's and women's sides. My guy, #9-Koe, did not make the playoffs. My gal, #4-Einarson did, but lost out in the semi-finals. #1-Tirinzoni will take on #3-Homan in the women's final. World #1-Retornaz will play #7-Whyte in the men's final. 

Gregory Earl Bailey

Erica writes, "It’s a boy. After over 21 years of labour, Gregory Earl Bailey arrived Tuesday, December 12, 8:16 PM, 272 lbs, 5'10 and 1/4“. He looks just like his Grandpa! Haaken and Liam are excited to officially have a big/little brother. Eric and I are off to New Zealand. We arrived in Auckland on Friday, which was Thursday, back home. We have a couple days to recuperate before starting our next adventure. Eric has finished teaching his fall course at U of S; when we get back he will jump into the winter semester. He has also submitted to teach at a conference—busy guy!"

Erin and Kristian are hard at the course catch up so Kristian can qualify to Sask Polytech after grade 12 completes. Thursday evening, Kristian had a Christmas party with the Youth Group. Erin continues to train her replacement. Both are involved in Christmas preparations with one week to go. Kristian's curling team lost their game this week to Riffel. 

Travis & Joanna, along with Andrew & Rosie, joined us on Wednesday evening for Andrew's birthday party. That was fun as Wendy prepared a treasure trove of as many 22-things as she could amass for his 22nd birthday, including 22 cakes with 22 candles, 22 coins of various denominations, 22 candies of various descriptions... She often comes up with these fun ideas. 

Happy 22nd Andrew!

And that's about it for this week! 

Back in the Green!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We did have snow, I assure you, but in the above zero temperatures and rain this week, it has disappeared and we're back into the green. We have some big news to share on the back front—clever, no?! I had a followup appointment with the spinal surgeon on Monday. I am being scheduled for day surgery on January 22nd to provide relief from what he terms as severe spinal stenosis between the L4 and L5. He offered to go next week, but we have a couple of concerts to sing at, and I'm thinking standing is not going to go so well in the immediate aftermath of the surgery. I will need to go off my blood thinner around the surgery date to mitigate the possibility of bleeding into the wound. Otherwise, he felt the risks were slight, but involved the possibility of infection, leaking of spinal fluid, or other nerve damage. He feels I should be up and around immediately afterwards, but on light duty for six weeks as far as anything involving my back is concerned. He felt I should be ready to resume golf by the time the courses open, and able to try curling next Fall. Otherwise, we had our usual choir practices and routines at home. With the mild weather I was able to get more shop time in. The markets struggled most of the week as we awaited USA jobs' and consumers confidence data. The pundits were suggesting that the economy had gone into recession in October and that this week's data would be weak. NOT! Bidenomics triumphed again! A 50-year record of unemployment below 4%, wages up, 200,000 new jobs, and inflation receding. So, it was back to buying, and we were back in the green week in the markets as well. My Oilers are on a six-game winning streak and have improved their standing a great deal. Leafs are comfortably in a playoff position to this point, while the Pens are on a losing streak—c'mon Pittsburgh! As expected, my #2-Jayhawks were elevated in the rankings. They won both of their games this week and I even got to watch them, today. College football is into the bowl season. The Sooners will play Arizona at the end of the month. The #3-Longhorns have been surprisingly added to the championship slate and will play in the Sugar Bowl on Jan 1st, with the hope of advancing to the championship game. 

Erica writes, "We are in final preparations for our trip—picking up medications, finishing up projects at work,  Eric has a new CPAP machine to bring and I have a set of leg massagers that help move lymph fluid. We are a proper old couple going on a trip! I guess my dream of backpacking through Europe is definitely gone now. We would never fit all this equipment in a backpack! The boys are all doing fine, but it’s starting to hit home that we won’t see any of them this Christmas. This will be the first time it is just Eric and me."

Saskatchewan weather continues to be decidedly unseasonably warm as well.

Well done, Kristian!

Kristian completed his Machining Class on Friday; he enjoyed the Poly-Tech experience a great deal, and is now considering what classes he will need to pick up to qualify for college work. The hammer in the photo is one he built during his class. His curling team lost this week to Riffel High School. Erin continues the training program for her replacement and keeps being surprised by how much there is to know just to do her job! What a wonderful employee she is! 

Puckshots bookings keep Trav and Joanna going all week. We miss the attention, but we still get together at least each week for some food and games! And, I'm overhearing plans for Christmas dinner! In the meantime, at least Travis and I get to chat our way through several hockey games each week—I enjoy that! 

And that's about enough for this week. 

Into December

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has turned colder and we have received a skiff of snow, but with daily highs above zero it's still a question whether it will stay. We enjoyed a quiet week until Thursday. That morning, I pulled the car out to get ready to go to choir practice, but five minutes later when I went to start it and leave, it wouldn't turn over, it just clicked, and not the dragging click of a dying battery, but just a persistent click of a complaining computer! Turned out it was a dead battery. Despite starting earlier, it must have developed a dead short within the battery and now it was out of whack (whatever "in whack" is). By the end of the day, my wallet was much lighter, and my car was equipped with a new battery and running fine once again. Wendy has had some extra choir practice with her Sweet Adelines; she was out last evening and most of the day today. I think her cough has improved quite a bit this week. She has no results yet from her tests of last week. My spinal surgeon finally got back to me and I have an appointment with him on Monday, unless he backs out again. [see what I did there!]

Advent Adventures

We have each received Advent Calendar activities. Mine is little games and puzzles with zero instructions, so I also have to puzzle out what I'm supposed to do! Wendy's is a large (over 1000 pieces) jigsaw puzzle which has been divided into 24 little boxes with 42 pieces in each box—very clever! The markets were a bit nervous all week with bank earnings, and Powell scheduled to speak on Friday. In the end, it was another good green week, and my second best month of the year. OPEC+ said members were going to voluntarily reduce production to raise the price of crude, but folks didn't seem to believe them and crude fell again. My Oilers are playing much better and are currently nursing a four game winning streak, however that's not enough to get them back to .500 hockey. Leafs and Pens are doing better. In college football, the #7-Longhorns won the championship in their final year in the Big 12. They, along with my Sooners, are moving to the SEC next season. In basketball, #5-KU racked up two wins. The first one was not impressive, but last night they knocked off #4-UConn. I expect them to be rewarded with a higher ranking next week. 

Eric and Erica continue developing their plans for the trip to New Zealand. Their departure date is rapidly approaching. We had a chat with Liam. He seems to be doing well in his coursework and also in his other activities, although he hurt his back this week. He seems to think it's almost 100% again. 

Kristian lost his curling game this week to Miller Collegiate, but the reports were that it was a well-played game. Erin has put in extra effort consoling her trainee, who, over last weekend, lost her father back in India. Tonight, Kristian has his final showing of the school drama. Then, they'll close off with a pizza party for the cast and crew. 

Puckshots continues to be very busy as this is the high season for hockey team photos. The process seems to be working smoothly now, but the same cannot be said for photographing under-7 age hockey teams! 

Anyway, that's enough for this week.