Saturday, October 26

Tap your heels three times...

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, but we are wandering, and currently in Lawrence, Kansas. We are enjoying the hospitality of cousin Marti and Aunt Helen. Thank you very much! We closed off our activities in Thunder Bay on Monday. I got in one more session with Dr. Barb, and my back is continuing to recover from the fencing incident. Wendy had a final choir practice in the evening. We had a smooth drive down to Minneapolis on Tuesday and continued down here on Wednesday. While the weather back home has turned decidedly cooler with highs some days failing to make double digits, the weather here has varied from lovely to hot, and usually with a significant wind—is this Saskatchewan?! On Thursday, it got as high as 32°, but retreated to the low 20s on Friday, so Larry and I got in a golf game. That was a lot of fun, but a lot of swinging as well. I scored +20, higher than I either like or expect—I guess I'll have to go again! We closed off the week this evening with a lovely singsong. Next week, we plan a further excursion down to Stillwater, and then a return home. The markets were troubled this week, and made little progress. The CFL ended their regular season, so we're ready for the playoffs. The Riders ended in second place in the west, so they'll host the semifinal game. The young season in the NHL is playing out with a usual set of surprises and disappointments. Oilers are playing a bit better, while Leafs and Pens are also playing only 50/50 hockey. My teams are letting me down so far, but we expect things to improve! Sooners lost another game today—soon their disappointment at not getting into the playoffs will be replaced by their despair of not even getting a bowl game! #5-Longhorns rebounded with an easy win. The curling event this week is in Penticton, and #20-Koe is there with his new player installed—they're doing pretty well. The bigger curling event starts tomorrow as the Continental Cup begins featuring the top eight curling countries from Austral-Asia and the Americas in both Mens and Womens divisions. #3-Brad Gushue and #1-Rachel Homan teams are representing us. Gold medal games are next Saturday. As expected, Dodgers and Yankees are contesting the baseball championship, with the Dodgers winning the first two games at home. It is now time for the Yankees to cue up the comeback! 

Erica writes, "We voted in the provincial election! Now we wait for election day to find out the results. Eric also managed to rig up our kayak storage system. We just need to pull out the kayaks to see if it works. This week was a pretty normal week, but on Friday, we joined some Rotary colleagues for the haunted corn maze. This included posing for photos with ghost sheets and a haunted church and house. It was fun." Eric is scheduled for his next eye appointment on Monday, with his good eye scheduled for work. Greg had an appointment with his surgical team in Thunder Bay on Tuesday. This included further surgery and many anxious hours. We had supper and a visit with Greg and Kiersten on Monday evening when they arrived in Thunder Bay, and have followed the rest of the events from a distance. They have returned to Kenora, where Greg continues his recovery. 

Greg and Kiersten

Erin and Kristian had another uneventful week in Regina. Well, truly it was less dramatic than last week. Kristian is pursuing his job application at Franks with the support of his friends at DHHS. We hope it works out for him. In the meantime, he's raking in the dough from his participation in the Drug Trial, however, that ends soon. Erin continues to gain comfort in her new role at VW. 

Travis and Joanna had a big week in Thunder Bay as they got another dog! This one is an unnamed Yorkie, and is about the size to be a plaything for the boys: Moxley and Darby. As fortune would have it, the Yorkie is destined to be Wendy's dog, so she'll provide the official name once she meets the beast. 

The Yorkshire Monster
And that's enough for this week!

Saturday, October 19

Departure

Thanksgiving - 2024

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The week began with cool weather, but we're back in the 20s to close it out—nice! Bern & Alicia left this week and flew back to Regina. We were surely glad to have the visit! Thanks! As you may recall, I hurt my back working on the fence repairs. While that did have the benefit of ending the fence work, it has continued to inhibit my breathing and reaching ever since, so this week, I paid a visit to my local chiropractor, Dr. Barb. She inflicted considerable pain, but also achieved great relief. We are trying to clear up any remaining issues here in preparation for a short trip south next week. I have put the lawnmower and bikes away, and got out the snowblower and tuned it up. The best strategy I know to hold back the arrival of snow, is to be ready for it! Wendy has cleaned up her choir files, so she's ready to go also. We have our usual choir practices, and also preparation for the worship team for tomorrow, so lots of singing this week. The markets have been variable, but generally up, setting new records again this week as the USA economy continues to move forward—thanks, Uncle Joe! The sports scene continues to expand for me this time of year. The CFL season is nearing playoffs, but Riders have this week off. They have locked up second place, but still have a chance for first in the final week's action. Baseball is in the pennant series and I can feel mom's presence as the Dodgers and Yankees lead in their respective leagues. The Oilers have finally begun winning, but faced a formidable opponent this afternoon in Dallas and lost that one. The curling event this week is in Sault Ste Marie and included #3-Gushue and #16-Koe, both playing without their newly recruited seconds. Koe did not make the playoffs. #1-Texas finally got a legitimate challenge this week, and were pounded by #5-Georgia; those teams may trade places! Sooners have dropped out of the rankings, and got blown out again this week—they're just not very good this season. 

Looks great!

Erica writes, "The shed was completed on Monday, now, we are working on interior finishing. Today, we went to Canadian Tire to pick up rope and pool noodles to make a hanging apparatus for the kayaks. Unfortunately, there was only one pool noodle left, but a trip to the plumbing section got us some insulated pipe covers, so, we are going to try that. Liam left us on Monday and Moira Koops came for a visit on Tuesday. It was nice to catch up with her. Oh! Also, I played a gig with Mystery Train on Friday. It was a staff social event for the YWCA. We had a fun time!"

Erin and Kristian are doing fine in Regina. We keep waiting to hear of responses to his job applications, but he got invited to submit an application this week, so that is encouraging. Kristian had another appointment with the drug trial people on Thursday. They took another 11 vials of blood. They didn't have all their supplies ready, so, they had to call him back in, and thus he got paid twice! He also visited the audiologist to get his hearing aids repaired. Then, they toured the Audi dealership and the Toyota dealership, and a pet store where they saw baby rabbits—so, yeah, nothing much happened! 

Travis and Joanna have begun the season of Puck Shots as local hockey teams are booking photo shoots, and the parade to the rinks has begun again. They have been photographing about 100 teams in recent seasons, which, as you can imagine takes up a lot of time for them over the hockey season. Meanwhile, the Bucket Decals side is running hard in what is traditionally their best month. They visited us for Thanksgiving on Monday, and then stayed to play a bit of Fast Track. Gemma has now been posted for her practicum work with North Islands Midwifery in Port Hardy BC. Here is her posting note, you may have to expand it to read it: 

So proud! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Saturday, October 12

Fall

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has been fine, with seasonable highs from 15 to 20°. We are enjoying several outings with Bern & Alicia, and they have also taken the bikes out for a few rides on some of our excellent trails. Along with local visits to the Mission Island Marsh, and Hillcrest Park, we inspected Kakabeka Falls and the Flett Railway tunnel northwest of here one day, and hiked around the Sleeping Giant park on Sibley Peninsula, yesterday. It has been good to have their motivation to explore our touristy attractions which we residents so often fail to take advantage of. 

Fall Colours

Kakabeka Falls

Flett Tunnel—yeah, it's high, and about 200m long.
You can see the car at the far end.


Sea Lion—both sides

See Lions!
Hedge Trimming
We also have put Bern to work in the backyard, trimming the cedars and helping with the fence renovation. The latter action precipitated another fall—that of me, against a post I was trying to plumb! That hurt my back, and I'm still suffering from that; it also ended the fence repairs! At least we got the neighbours shed moved and the fence approximating straight! We had a sloppy week in the markets as CPI came in higher than expected so equity investors decided a 0.5% rate hike is no longer possible in November. Still, it was a green week as the strong USA economy pushed the indices to new record levels. In sports, the Grand Slam event ended with my gal #5-Einarson posting a big win over #1-Homan. On the men's side it was #1-Mouat with a surprisingly easy win over #2-Gushue. My men's team, #15-Koe has added a new player at second and looks to raise its ranking. As predicted, #1-Texas thrashed #18-Oklahoma in the annual Red River rivalry game. Riders hosted BC Lions tonight, and the win locked up second place for the Riders. We still have a chance for first place, but it's a slim one. Go Riders! The NHL regular season has begun, and all three of my teams (Oilers, Pens, Leafs) lost their opening game. In fact, none of them even scored a goal! Tonight, Leafs hosted the Pens, so someone had to win there—Leafs did! Oilers took on Chicago, but are still looking for their first win! 

Erica writes, "Liam’s home for the weekend and we are thankful. We hope to get the shed done—we will see! I have an appointment in February for Lipedema and skin removal on my arms in Bonn. So, pray that plans come together for that and that the surgery is successful. My pump arrived and I’ve been using it each night, alternating arms and legs. I’ve noticed a reduction in my pain and swelling so that’s good! Eric has a surgery date for his other eye on the 28th. That was sooner than we expected and we are glad! Greg has another procedure on his heart scheduled for the 21st—keep him in your prayers."

Kristian's bus pass finally arrived and he took advantage to get out for a meeting with his support group and to apply for three more jobs. We hope something comes through on the work front for him. He borrows his mom's car once in a while and goes shopping on his own—becoming uncomfortably independent! Work continues to go better and better for Erin as she works to perfect all aspects of her new assignment. 

Travis and Joanna are very busy this time of year. Joanna is also struggling to get back to full health. She thought she was all better last weekend, but is still fighting a cold and sore throat. It's the busiest time of year for Bucket Decals, so Travis has been pumping out the product! We had a lovely supper over there early in the week which was very nice—thanks folks! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Saturday, October 5

Arrivals!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in our hometown. We have been working through medical appointments and fresh blood work with our doctors. So far, no big concerns are showing up, and that's a good thing at any age. The weather has changed to a bit more seasonable, and we have had frost on the local gardens. Bernard and Alicia arrived on Thursday; we are enjoying spending time with them. We have managed several games of Fast Track. Bernard helped with the fence repairs. Today, we ventured down to Grand Marais for a fun day along the lake. Otherwise, I had a dental appointment on Wednesday, and we had our usual choir practice on Thursday. The markets struggled most of the week in the face of global unease over the fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East, but, fortunately, the USA economy came to the rescue with blowout jobs numbers and we closed the week with some nice green—thanks Uncle Joe. Baseball has moved into the semi-finals in each league; there have already been some surprises. In college football, my #19-Sooners and the #2-Longhorns both have the week off to prepare for the Red River Rivalry game next weekend. Sad to say, I'm not expecting too much from the Sooners this season. The Riders had an important game tonight and managed a win in Edmonton to lock up a playoff spot. This week in curling is the first Grand Slam event of the season featuring the top 16 teams for both men and women. It will be #1-Mouat (Scotland) vs #4-Gushue in the men's final. It's two Canadian teams in the final in the women's final, as #1-Homan plays my gal, #11-Einarson. 

Erica writes, "I got my pump machine this week. It comes with pants that inflate intermittently to push fluid up my legs, and a jacket to push fluid up my arms. All together it looks like a costume for some comic book villain. We’ve been hauling sand to our back yard. We plan to level out a spot for the new shed. If the weather cooperates we plan to start building it this weekend. Liam has had several birthday celebrations with Mercedes this week. And he got another infusion of his medicine. We haven’t heard much from Greg, Kiersten or Haaken." 

Kristian continues with the slow process of his job hunt. He's expecting his bus pass, but everything about this effort seems to get delayed. Work continues to progress well for Erin. She's heading out for bowling tonight with some of her colleagues from work. 

Travis is very busy with work. He had a record month of orders in September, and October is continuing that trend. Joanna has been down all week with cough, congestion and sore throat—generally feeling yucky. She's finally feeling better and enjoyed the trip to Grand Marais today. 

Grand Marais Crew today!

And that's enough for this week.