Infection!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been mild, and we've had some additional snowfall. They are threatening a major dump overnight and tomorrow, and I'm thinking it may even be the kind of test where the snowblower is asked to do the whole job. When the snowfall is light, we use large pusher blades to move the snow to the edge of the driveway, and then use the blower to throw it up onto the lawn. 

"So long as it doesn't turn black!"

I have been suffering with another infected toe, so Wendy is busy taking care of both me and the dog! I had an infected toe in December and after a course of antibiotics it cleared up, but now the toe next to it has succumbed. We went in to ER on Sunday after church, and they prescribed antibiotics, along with daily return trips to get it redressed and to monitor its progress. When it hadn't improved by Wednesday, they installed a PICC line and prescribed continuing antibiotics, daily visits for dressing along with IV antibiotics. Finally, today, they decided I could switch to tablet form antibiotics in addition to my pill form antibiotics, but could end the IV antibiotics—this growing old business! In addition, they have added the RAVE (Rapid Access Vascular Examination) clinic to my regimen where they will analyze my circulation to that foot and those toes to see if they can prevent this from happening again. That leg is the one where I have DVTs, and they are wondering if there is something they can do to improve venous circulation. And speaking of afflictions, his Orangeness pushed forward his tariff threat yesterday at noon, crashing the markets and leaving Canada and Mexico to wonder what it all means, because, of course, nothing has been specified. It seems impossible to accept that he doesn't understand how tariffs work, but he claims to not know it. Some still speculate over whether it will happen at all—he said it would happen on January 20th, then February 1st, and now he's saying next Tuesday! In his case, chaos is not a bug, it's a feature. After four years of peace and good governance, we get the Orange Felon who is hereby threatening to break the "perfect USMCA" trade agreement he negotiated in his first term. At least, despite his lunacy, we had a good January in the markets, but there's a lot of wondering about what February will bring. In the world of hockey, my Oilers and Leafs remain at the top of their respective divisions, while the sad sack Pens have started the sell off of talent. All three played this evening, but Oilers played Leafs, so only one could win that game! Pens and Leafs won. The #11-Jayhawks won their first game this week. I even got to watch, and suffer, today—a tough road game at Baylor where we collapsed in the second half, sigh! Scotties Curling is getting closer; I picked up my uniform today! 

Erica writes, "We had some beautiful, unseasonable weather for January. The thermometer popped just above zero for a few days. The streets got slushy, snow melted… and today temperatures returned to more seasonable numbers. Now, we have ice! Eric will be teaching for University of Lethbridge again this spring. He’s looking forward to that." 

Erin writes, "There is no real change in Regina other than weather was nice :) Work is busy. I am resting up this weekend, as the next two weeks will be the toughest ones doing 2024 year end as well as January month end. It will be busy days, and late nights. I haven’t decided who to cheer for yet in the Super Bowl, Eagles or Chiefs. I might just let it come to me once I start watching the game." [editor: at least she has another week to prepare for that!]

Travis & Joanna keep busy. Travis brought Marigold by for a play date with Kali; they both seemed to enjoy that! Both pups are working through their vaccination updates—the joys of growing up. Trav and I enjoy texting through many a hockey game! 

And that's about it for this week.