Moving Ahead

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has moved through a really cold phase under the Polar Vortex, and we have returned to near zero temperatures. Along with the warming trend, we're back into snowfall, so I am relieved to have my snowblower repaired and returned. It was in operation this morning and ran great! With the warmer weather, Kali has enjoyed getting out for walks and to play in the snow. She also had her vet-visit to update her vaccination program. Otherwise, my main extra activity this week is officiating at the Provincial Curling Championships. I've been assigned to operating the time clocks for the teams. You really have to be on the alert to get their clocks turned on and off at the appropriate times. Fortunately, as my father often reminded me—despite that I'm poor, I can afford to pay attention! Wendy keeps up with her choir work and singing, but we were both feeling a little under the weather with head colds part of the week, and decided not to spread that at the Silver Sound choir practice on Thursday. The extra rest seems to have been helpful. I was back to the doctor on Wednesday to follow-up on my infected toe issue. She is satisfied that things are progressing well, but advises that I increase my use of a compression stocking on that leg to aid circulation—she prescribed me a new set. Now, my next toe is infected. Wendy is medicating me, and we're looking to get back to the doctor early next week if it doesn't clear up over the weekend. The world is watching, waiting and reacting as the Orange Felon continues to spout his insane rants about taking over Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal. Concurrently, he has cancelled nearly all foreign aid. We can expect that all those countries will now come under the funding, influence, and control of China—an unintended, and unfortunate consequence. The markets displayed concomitant volatility, but I managed a good week. The college football final went as I expected with Ohio State winning. In basketball, the #12-Jayhawks managed a tough road win early in the week and returned home for a battle with #7-Houston today—they lost in Double OverTime, sigh! Rock Chalk boys—they certainly should have won! The Oilers were short-handed this week as McDavid served a 3-game suspension, however, they managed two wins and kept their lofty standing in place—first place in their division. Penguins are struggling between being a wild card team or dropping down for a high draft pick! All my teams played to day: Only Oilers won, c'mon Leafs and Pens. 

Erica writes, "I took my neighbour to Saskatoon for an appointment. She doesn’t drive and it makes for a fun trip to the city. We discovered a really great liquidation store where she bought some clothing for her family and I picked up my favourite sweet and salty popcorn! We finished off at Costco before heading back. Her sons are a big help to us. One shovels the snow and the other does our house cleaning. Eric is continuing to heal from his eye treatment. Some days are good and other days his eyes are very tired. We are hoping at his next check up he can get refitted for prescription glasses. I’ve sent off my fee for surgery in Germany. I leave on the 11th. Surgery is on the 14th. If all goes well, I’ll be back home on the 25th. Oh and Eric organized my sock and underwear drawers!"

Yeah, that looks better!

Erin writes, "We had another cold snap, but since I got my car a new battery and battery maintainer, she wasn’t allowed to complain by not starting. So, she just went into limp mode instead. At least it happened at work so the guys gave me a Tiguan to drive for the night and we fixed the RAV4 up the next day." And Kristian wrote, "Same old, same old."

A fun Dog-Date

Travis and Joanna acclimated quickly to the frigid temperatures here and are back at their various work assignments. Fortunately, Travis was able to take some time off to bring Marigold for a visit. Kali was becoming stir-crazy with the old folks who live here! Andrew is doing great on his course and exams. 

And that's enough for this week.