Summery Weather Continues

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The beautiful weather has continued into the Autumn and we're enjoying that. The lawns continue to grow, so I've been called upon to continue to mow! In anticipation of indoor times, I have begun an online video exercise series called ElderFit, although I am still managing enough outdoor activity so far. I have another fence section ready to go, and still many sections remain to be addressed later. Now, that the fence is basically repaired, I have found it handy to just do one section at a time. I have surveyed a challenging section where the neighbour's shed has fallen against my fence and pushed it well out of line. I will need to work with her to rearrange her shed before I can renovate that section of fence, but that probably won't happen this year. I played no golf this week, but I keep practicing the swing, which, I have determined (only took me about 60 years!), is the secret to effective play. We are into the Fall swing of activities, and once again, I see how easily I get myself trapped into too many scheduled things, sigh! The markets continued to see new record highs—I think the S&P500 has set over 40 record highs this year—thanks, Uncle Joe! As a result, September—historically the worst month for stocks, has turned in a very good gain. My #21-Sooners were penalized for their loss last week, but turned it around with a win today. #1-Longhorns kept their spotless record going despite losing their starting quarterback—young Mr. Manning is looking like he wants to keep the job. Curling is big this week with the top 16 Men's and Women's Teams in the country playing in Calgary. My guy, #5-Kevin Koe, lost out in the second round, while my gal, #3-Kerri Einarson, lost out in the first round. #1-Homan is the class of the women's field, but #10-Skrlik may give her a run for her 50K prize. On the men's side, #3-McEwen and #1-Gushue have advanced to the final, and, although my friend says to never bet against Gushue, I'm picking McEwen. At least the Riders came through for me with a win over Ottawa. That improves their chances of a home playoff game. NHL preseason games continue for another week, but, soon, the season will be on us. 

Sofa/Bed

Erica continued her 50th Birthday vacay in Costa Rica, and has now returned home, exhausted—but look who is trying out the new sofa! Who knew vacations were so tiring!? Eric continues his recovery from his recent eye surgery and things seem to be proceeding as expected on that front. They picked up a new sofa/bed in anticipation of the family Christmas gathering. Looks like it should do the job! Erica wrote, "Eric arrived back at home on Monday. His conference in Montana went well, and he enjoyed some adventure. He fit in an appointment with his eye specialist on the way. The specialist is happy with his progress and they will begin the process for his other eye. I returned very late Thursday night/Friday morning. The trip to Costa Rica was fun, challenging, very sweaty and at times relaxing. I faced a few fears—big ugly spiders, and heights. And, I met new friends in our travel group. It was really great, and I’m glad to be back home. Liam will be home next weekend. Nothing else to add from Greg, Kiersten and Haaken."

Hurray!

Big news out of Regina as Kristian was successful on his second driving test! Well done, young man! Now, to get a job as he continues his drive to adulthood. Erin's work continues to challenge and inspire, but she is pretty much in control of things at VW, even as she continues to be called back to help out at Toyota—don't be indispensable or you can't be promoted! 

Travis & Joanna are very busy, and now Joanna is also fighting a cold. Testing indicated a negative finding for Covid, so there is that! It's hard to have fun and games with them when they're short-staffed like this, so we look forward to her being on the mend! 

And that's enough for this week! 

And still more heat!

Another hot Summer week even as we move into Autumn! We ran up to 30° and beyond most days and it didn't cool off enough overnight either, so we ran our AC more than we have all Summer. It's cooler today, mid-twenties, so I took advantage to mow the lawn. I played golf on Monday, and puttered a bit in the shop through the week, but mostly, I remained indoors. The forecast is for more seasonable temperatures next week. Our expected daytime highs this time of year is only about 15°, which we find very comfortable. Wendy has begun her dental work under the new Federal Dental Program, and I am continuing my dental repairs. She continues with her Sweet Adelines, and we have both begun another session of rehearsals with Silver Sound Choir. That one runs until December 1st and concludes with our Christmas Show. I had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday to discuss a few issues including the pain in my upper back. She has assigned bloodwork to check on the need and efficacy of my current meds, and has approved my exercise program leading to more golf and curling! Yay! Only about another month of golf here, so we'd better start making plans to head south! Local curling will begin around Thanksgiving, and I'm planning to give it a try with my repaired back. The markets were pretty wild this week as traders speculated about what the FED would do on Wednesday, and then reacted and over-reacted to the actual 0.5% rate cut. Anyway, it made for a good week, and has turned an historically bad month in the markets into a nicely green one. #1-Texas and #15-Oklahoma were re-ranked after last weekend's wins in college football but the Sooners may be dropped some after their loss to #6-Tennessee today. The Riders put up a good offensive effort to beat Calgary this week and solidify their playoff position. Baseball is nearing the end of the regular season, so, soon, we'll all be Ser-i-es about baseball—well, not the Jays, they'll be serious about next season! Pre-season hockey has begun, and in a few weeks, we'll be back into the regular rhythm of the NHL. 

Erica writes, "I’ve spent the past week journeying across Costa Rica from the east coast to Montenegro with my “50” friends. We’ve seen a lot of wildlife and tropical forest and sweated ALOT! We met some new friends along with way with our tour group. It has been a good trip so far and we hope this continues next week. Eric had his follow up eye appointment and it is doing well. He is now in Montana for some training and touring around. Today he checked out Yellowstone park. Not much else to share." We have remained in contact with Eric as he travelled to Livingston, Montana for his workshop, and as he did some touristy stuff as well. 

Erin and Kristian remain fully engaged with her work and his drug trial. It seems there are frequently extra issues with his bloodwork, or potential side-effects to the meds, so he needs to get his licence so he can run himself around town to these appointments!! He takes the drivers test next Tuesday. 

Travis & Joanna keep very busy as usual. They did have us over for a pizza evening this week, so that was fun. 

And that's about it for this week. 

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.