Struggling Forward!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been lovely with mid-twenties for daytime highs, and bright sunny days to enjoy. Wendy has pushed forward with weed work, and appears to be completing that job. The yard is looking good. I have been beset with aches and pains such that today, we even took covid tests again—negative, but why am I hurting? I certainly haven't been doing much physical work. I planned to complete the first two fence panels, and begin work on a third, but there was precious little progress on that front. I kept up with my golf practice swings, but no balls were hit this week—so, it's not that! I have a made a doctor appointment next week; we'll see what she suggests. On Wednesday, we attended the memorial for a dear friend who passed recently. That was a lovely chance to connect with many long time friends, of course, it was also a time to contract covid... we'll continue testing. On Thursday, we began choir practice again. We have nine songs (all new to me) to prepare for presentation in our Christmas Festival. The markets turned upward this week, and we staged a remarkable recovery such that we're back on quota for the month. Investors, apparently, have convinced themselves that the FED will cut the rates by 0.5% next week, and thus FOMO (fear of missing out) has motivated them to buy back in after selling for the first part of the month! "Prepare to be disappointed," is my mantra, when you're counting on the FED! #10-Einarson and #11-Koe both fell short in the curling playoffs last weekend, but Kevin at least improved his world rank. Riders have the week off to lick their wounds after back-to-back beatings by the Bombers. Blue Jays continue to play out the string, while trying to interfere with other teams who are struggling to make the playoffs. In college football, #2-LongHorns and #15-Sooners played well and won their games today, although, once again, the Horns were more impressive. 

Erica writes, "We enjoyed a weekend with Liam at the beginning of the week. Eric had his cross linking eye procedure on Tuesday. The first day he spent in the dark. The second evening he came out for a bit. By Thursday he could handle a couple hours teaching at the university. So far so good. I left him on Thursday to begin my epic girls trip to Costa Rica. Tina, Marina and I all turned 50 this year. We’ve made it to San Jose and today we headed for the east coast."

Kristian has received his upgraded resume, and continues to pursue applications for a job within walking distance of home. He received welcome news that the DHHS will provide a bus pass, so that may expand his search radius. Erin has had a hard week at work where she is not only completing the monthend at VW, but also called to help out back at Toyota—long days! Then, she also is called to attend to Kristian's travel to his drug trial appointments. 

We've enjoyed a couple of shared meals with Travis and Joanna. Of course, these also include some FastTrack games! Notably, the women won at FastTrack on Monday night—notable, because it's also rare!! Otherwise, they are keeping busy with work and their business. Soon, the emphasis will change from Bucket Decals to Puckshots as teams start to book their photoshoots. 

And that's enough for this week. 

Progress

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather is changing with the passage of time, and the single digits we felt this morning reminded us that summer is coming to an end. My main activity this week was on repairing the side fence. This had the unexpected benefit of regular visits with our neighbour and sharing the bounty of her garden—I love beets, carrots and cucumbers fresh out of the garden! I was able to dig out the broken post, splice it back together, install it the opposite way around and get the two sections of fence back in place. My plan is to completely rebuild that side fence—we'll see how far I get on that this year. I've made a few more visits to the dentist, with others still on the schedule. Wendy has continued to work on the flower beds and hedge rows. She has those cleaned up and we are able to enjoy the fire pit as well. She also managed to catch up with several of her coffee klatches, including a visit with our long term friend, Rauni. True to historical patterns, September seems determined to exhibit bad results for the markets. This week has been unmitigatingly red! In the world of sports, the Blue Jays are playing a lot of their prospect players and they're doing better than the "proven pros" they claimed to be using earlier! The Riders were unable to recover from their mistakes and dropped the Labour Day classic. Today, they returned to Winnipeg for the Banjo Bowl and put up a pretty good performance, but left with the same result—sigh! In college football, the #15-Sooners and the #3-Longhorns were rewarded with a step forward in the standings. Each responded with another win today, although the Sooners did not impress! Curling has started up in the new season. My guy, Kevin Koe, has dropped to #12 ranking, while my gal, Kerri Einarson, has dropped to #9. I need both of them to perform better this season. This week, they're both playing in the Saville Shootout in Edmonton. Koe is undefeated so far, and will advance to the playoff round. Einarson has just one loss, so she should advance as well. 

Eric has another appointment to perform corneal cross-linking, this one doesn't include the lasik corrective work. We pray that will lead to some progress toward overcoming his vision issues. Erica writes, "Liam is home for the weekend. We read the instructions for the shed and it said you needed three adults so we figured we could build the shed. But, as we read more and more, we figured out that we actually have to get a permit. So, we checked out the car port and we have to have a permit for that, too. So we didn’t do either." Permits Prevent Progress! 

Erin and Kristian spent a lot of time and effort on his job hunt. He's working with the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Society. His resume has been enhanced, and he's ready for some company to add him to its executive branch! Erin is heading into another busy time at work with monthend rearing its head as it does every so often, about every month! 

Travis and Joanna are both quite busy. Joanna has been filling in for a short-staffed situation at work, and Travis is pushing product out the door in this very busy time for Bucket Decals as many hockey organizations are gearing up for the new season with all their potential NHLers. 

Another day's work out the door!

And that's about enough for this week.