Home Again

Another week has passed and we have returned to the shore of Lake Superior and my hometown. We got back here on Tuesday evening. The weather has been lovely, and Kali enjoys getting out for walks each day. On Wednesday morning, I had orientation for my DRO job in the general election. Today, I did some Spring jobs getting the bike and lawnmower from the shed, and storing the shovels and snowblower away. Wendy had a retreat weekend with Sweet Adelines yesterday and today. Lots of time standing on the risers, and late night with the ladies, so she's off to bed early tonight. The markets continue their topsy turvy ways in line with Trump's whims. It's looking like the DOW will experience its worst month since 1932—that was during the Depression! C'mon man! As a result, I remain with only my dividend stocks, and while that protects from major losses, I also need a chance to make money at some point! The Blue Jays continue to play well in the early part of the baseball season. The Stanley Cup playoffs have begun, and my favourite team, the Oilers, are not doing well enough, but they are still alive. My picks see Jets defeating Leafs for the Cup, but I would like to see the Oilers have some success as well. 

Erica writes, "Last weekend, after returning home from the funeral, we took a quick trip to Watrous. We enjoyed some time in the mineral rich waters and got a massage. It was a nice way to relax. Other than that it’s been a pretty ordinary week in PA. Liam has been experiencing some allergy type reactions to his medication. He had a follow up with his doctor this week and it sounds like his medication isn’t working as well as it once was. He has some more tests and then they will start trying a new medication. Last time it took almost two years for him to feel normal. We hope this time the process isn’t as long. We also had a bit of a scare with Eric’s mom. She fell, then had some stomach pain, and after some investigation, a blockage was discovered in her small intestine. She had surgery and a couple days in the hospital. She is back home. That’s all the news from here."

Elly is by the BBQ

Erin had a good week which included a day off on Friday and further relaxation today. While enjoying her backyard with one of her cats, Elly, she noticed one of the neighbourhood jack rabbits which came right up into her yard before Elly reacted. Even then, it didn't run very far away! It's mortgage renewal time for them, and Erin was not happy to see how much the interest rates had risen. So, she's looking to move to a different institution who promise much better rates, and not such a big change in payments. 

Watchful Elly, Wary Wabbit!

Travis and Joanna had an "as usual" week. They had been taking care of Kali, so Wendy picked her up on Tuesday evening. Travis has managed to collect all our picks for the Stanley Cup playoffs. All teams remain alive so far. The dogs enjoyed their time hosting Kali, and have now returned to their usual restful life style! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Passages 2

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Wascana. The weather has been cool most of the week, but finally turned nice today. We are enjoying our week with Erin and Kristian. We were privileged to catch up with many family and friends as we attended Eloise's funeral on Thursday and Robert Peterson's today in Weyburn.

Now, we are in preparation to begin the trip home starting on Monday. We've been able to do a few things around here. Kristian and I replaced the failed pot lights in the family room. I cleaned up a few things on the patio and garden boxes. Wendy has done some sorting and cleaning inside. On Good Friday, we had a family gathering at Rich & Sues—that was great! Eric & Erica, Liam & Mercedes, Brian & Lorna, Logan & Kaitlyn, Erin & Kristian, Rich & Sue, Dave & Lynn, Howard & Diane, Bern & Alicia joined with us for a great afternoon and evening. Plenty of good grub, lots of conversation, a wonderful time of singing led by Brian, Erica and Mercedes, and finally a games night of Fast Track and card-based Golf. The markets ran well this week as his Orangeness is preoccupied with his legal problems. Even so his spending is running well above Biden's spending at the same time in his term, so it doesn't appear that there are cuts to spending despite all his promises, and that is causing some consternation among the MAGA members who hoped to reduce government spending. The Grand Slam of Curling ended poorly for the Canadian reps as Homan dropped the final to Swiss team Tirinzoni, and both Canadian playoff teams on the men's side lost out in the semi-finals, so they were just watching as the Scottish Mouat team won another Slam title. Blue Jays are playing well in the early days of the baseball season. Hockey has entered the playoff season and I've picked Jets, AVs, Knights, Oilers, Capitals, Panthers, Leafs and Canes to advance (just so you know how to bet)! I'm working the Federal Election and I need to be there for orientation on Wednesday.

Marigold & Kali

Kali is enjoying life with Trav & Joanna and the other three dogs back in Thunder Bay. Thanks for sending the many photographs and videos!

Anyhow, that's enough for this week! 

Passages

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, but we have left there and are now on the shore of Lake Wascana in Regina.

Eloise Krogsgaard Smith 1927-2025

Our Aunt Eloise passed midweek, so we left on Friday to be here for the family and to participate in the service next Thursday. I've been honoured to be asked to sing at the service, and despite the circumstances, we are looking forward to spending time with family, both hers and ours. Spring has certainly arrived, and we are enjoying the warmth. The trip out went well, and we arrived in Regina this afternoon. The markets endured more turmoil as the Orange Felon continued his lunacy. He announced Liberation Day last week, scheduled to begin this week, and after just a few hours of the tariffs in force, he blinked and cancelled them... but he left them in place for us and Mexico. The result was continued turmoil and accusations of insider trading as he paraded his friends on TV and bragged about how much money they had made. Yikes! The hockey season is ending. Oilers and Leafs have qualified for the playoffs, and we hope they do well. Oilers continue to suffer from significant injuries, so it will be problematic for them. Jacobs won the bronze in the world championship of curling, while Mouat beat Schwaller for the gold. The final slam of the season is underway out of Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. There were five Canadian teams among the 12 top men's teams in the world in the tournament, but it's two European teams, Schwaller and Mouat who have advanced to the final here as well. On the women's side, we only had two representative teams, but our own Homan has advanced to the final against Tirinzoni. Blue Jays continue to have success in the early part of the baseball season—so far, so good! 

Erica writes, "It’s been another busy week of working late and evening meetings. Eric had an eye appointment on Friday. His one eye is 20/20 but the other is 20/50. New glasses are on the way. I have been working on the committee for Rotary’s 20th anniversary Lobsterfest. Today, one month prior to the event, we closed ticket sales—we are sold out! That is awesome. We also worked with the family on taxes this week. [thanks] Fun times!" 

Erin and Kristian had a good week as Spring arrived in Regina as well. However, now we have moved in, and plan to stay until the end of August. Just Kidding—I am working the Federal Election as Deputy Returning Officer, so I need to be back in Thunder Bay next Tuesday. In the meantime, we'll enjoy our time here. 

Travis and Joanna are holding down the fort in Thunder Bay, and are also taking care of Kali while we are away. Thanks guys! 

And that's it for this week. 

April Madness!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We got a big dump of rain (all precipitation from April through October is defined as rain!) midweek, so I had the snowblower out again on Thursday to clear the driveway. It was very wet and hard to work with, but the subsequent warm weather has Spring in the air once again. Travel, even around town, was compromised to the extent that our choir practice was cancelled on Thursday. Otherwise, it's been pretty much the routine weekly activities. That ended on Wednesday as the Madness of the Orange Felon was again on display. He announced tariffs against pretty much the whole world with the remarkable exceptions of Russia, Belarus and North Korea! He did put a tariff against Ukraine. You need to ask yourself—If he was a Russian agent how would he act any differently? CBC did an excellent exposé of the false, fake and fraudulent tariff program he announced. This precipitated a world-wide economic shock as folks were expecting tariffs, but no one foresaw anything this insane. The markets sank by devastating amounts. Trump now holds the distinction of presiding over the eight biggest daily drops in DOW history. The TrumpSlump had me sold out of my usual trading vehicles, and the impending TrumpCession has me wondering about my buy & hold dividend payers. USA indices are now down 9% in just the four trading days this month. Our first hope is that enough GOP House members come to their senses to put a stop to this madness. The Senate has already voted against him, but we've only heard of one GOP in the House who is willing to buck him and we need half a dozen. In the world of sports, basketball is playing out the final four. In a remarkable performance for me, I managed to pick three of the final four, but only one of the finalists. My pick, Florida, is ready to win on Monday. Men's Curling has occupied a lot of my TV watching this week. Jacobs has represented us well, ending the round robin in first place and now in the medal playoffs, but sadly it won't be the gold medal game. They'll play China for the bronze. Other qualifiers were Scotland, Sweden, China, Norway and Switzerland; Scotland will play Switzerland for the gold. Blue Jays have opened the MLB season well, and I'm enjoying that. The NHL is playing out the last handful of games in the regular season and many playoff spots are still up for grabs. My Oilers are struggling as their two biggest stars have suffered injuries, but we're told they should be back for the playoffs. Leafs are in good position to win their division. Penguins continue to entertain—they should have played like this all season! 

Erica writes, "We started the week in Caronport, enjoying Liam play a bad guy in the Esther story. He was booed by the crowd, so he must have done a good job. Mercedes did a beautiful job playing Esther, and one young lady near us was very concerned that she would be killed. Fortunately, she survived (spoiler alert). The rest of the week has been busy. I’ve been working late into the evenings and Eric is fitting in hockey games in my absence. Today, we got news that Eric is now approved to deliver EMDR Therapy. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a form of psychotherapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. Now, he can really fix me!"

Erin and Kristian are digging out from a late snowstorm on the prairies and enjoying the arrival of Spring. They are still waiting to hear about Kristian's acceptance into Sask PolyTech for the Fall. We are hoping for that as well. Erin is following the Basketball championships, but she has Duke and Auburn picked for the final! 

Travis and Joanna also had a pretty normal week of activities. Andrew is working from home on his practicum assignments. We enjoyed a lovely pasta supper at their place this evening. Then, we played some FastTrack and watched some hockey. 

And that's enough for this week.