Love!

56 years!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, while we have travelled westward and are found on the shore of Lake Wascana in the middle of the rain-soaked prairies. We are trying to follow the Three Rule—drive no more than 3 hours a day; arrive by 3pm; stay up to 3 days. On Sunday morning, we enjoyed a fine breakfast with the Knutsons and an uplifting assembly with the local congregation. Then, we resumed our journey west. This time, we were trying to drive at 90 km/h, to see how that worked out. We stopped in Brandon for coffee with Charlie and Bonnie, a nice time for sure. Then, we continued to Elkhorn to visit with Bill and Angie, that was also an encouraging time. We accepted their invitation to spend the night, and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of oatmeal porridge prepared by Bill. They were off early to Brandon to commence the next phase of his treatments. We continued West, driving through my childhood haunts of Fairlight and Wawota and stopping in to see the new camp buildings at Clearview. We found where Bernard and Alicia were camping and enjoyed some wonderful coffee that Alicia had prepared and which matched her description! Then, we drove up to Kennedy where we visited with Ray and Ellen along with Heather and Sydney. And finally, we caught up with Dave and Heather out at their camp and enjoyed a good time of conversation, games, and supper. We retired to the RV for the night and woke in time to have a sumptuous breakfast. Fatefully, that was our last good decision of the day. Wendy was determined that the road to Regina passed through Weyburn. I explained that the path to Weyburn passed through Kisbey. We were both wrong! The road to Kisbey was blocked and led to many kilometres of orienteering, through the back roads, through the MUDDY back roads! Several U-turns later and a many mud holes later, we found another grid road heading down to Forget that allowed us to get to the highway and then onto Weyburn. We enjoyed lunch with Kresten and Star and their kids and a tour of their new house. Then, we were finally able to complete the trip to Regina. we have spent the rest of this week parked in Erin‘s parking lot and enjoying the comfort of her air-conditioned home. Taking into account the muddy roads and driving against prevailing winds, we found no particular difference in fuel usage, but we will keep experimenting! We had a few small projects here, but now we are ready to continue the trip toward Yellowknife. Wendy and I have each picked up a cold, so we were able to bark at each other for our 56th anniversary today! We haven’t decided exactly when we will head north yet, but the plan is for Monday. Otherwise, the world continues its troubled ways, the Orange War flares up from time to time, and the economic situation becomes more dire. The world of sports is profoundly focused on the World Cup, but I still have time to follow the Jays and the Riders both of whom won yesterday, but then the Jays got slaughtered today! 

Erica writes, "Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! We enjoyed a week at the cabin—a place we rented on Emma Lake with our friends, Guido and Tina. It rained for most of the week, but we had some moments to get out on the boat and do some fishing. Of course, the best day was Saturday, our last day! It makes me wonder at the luxury of my youth where we spent most of the summer at a cabin. If we wanted to do that now, we would need another high paying job to pay for it. Economics has definitely changed in the last 35 years. Liam has been with us all week and we have had a few minutes here and there to discuss our house renovations. We had planned to finish up the kitchen this summer, but with Eric's and my new jobs taking us out of town and a few other expenses, we have decided to scale down our plans for this summer, and wait until next summer to finish the kitchen. This summer will be focused on finishing up the two bathrooms and a few other small projects. Eric is preaching this Sunday and all three of us are playing on the worship team. Then, Eric and I return to the north on Monday."

We arrived at Erin and Kristian's place on Tuesday. We all celebrated Canada Day on Wednesday, then they were back to work. I was able to get the downstairs sink working properly—it was plugged with something, but Wendy's Norwex descaler made overnight work of that.

Egg Chair/Trellis Area

Then, I turned to work on the back patio area. I got the flower boxes ready to go, and repaired the trellis. Erin bought new plants, and she planted those, and I laid out the irrigation system. Looks like she is set for another growing/harvesting season. She has already been picking peas, and I see some tomatoes and strawberries ripening. 

Travis and Joanna are managing their own store back in Thunder Bay. They also took care of sending me a package with my compression stockings that I had left behind. Thanks! I did notice leg issues while driving without it, even though we're not putting in long days following the Three Rule! They also take responsibility for tracking us down when we fail to update everyone on our daily activity. Hey, someone has to take responsibility! 

And that's enough for this week. 

We're off!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. This weekend finds us in Carman MB, visiting with Glen & Kim. As I noted last week, I intended to leave on Monday, so we left on Thursday! We drove out through Atikokan to a truck stop near highway 11. We enjoyed the sites, and a tour of the museum in Atikokan. On Friday, we toured along through Fort Frances and Rainy River and up highway 71 to Kenora where we visited our grandson, Greg, and his wife Kiersten—thanks guys! Then, today, we drove into Winnipeg where we found out that Costco only allows you to put $200 worth of fuel into your vehicle! At least, we enjoyed a visit and lunch with Tom & Mariette—thanks! Finally, we drove out to Carman to spend the night with Glen & Kim—more thanks! We plan to continue west and hope to get to Regina on Monday or Tuesday. In these early days of RV travel, I am experimenting with different driving speeds and seeing how that effects fuel usage. We drove to a max of 80 km/h from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg and scored 20.5 L/100km. Now, I plan to test 90 km/h on the next section to Regina. An earlier test at 100 km/h cost 23.9 L/100km. We did manage to clean up somethings around home before we left, and we have a house-sitter to take care of the rest! The markets have remained Thanks Amanda! The Riders lost this week to Toronto—sigh! The Jays are playing poorly still, but we have high hopes all the same. 

Erica writes, "We enjoyed a mostly quiet week at home. Highlight was taking in the Chilliwack concert right here in PA. The bass player is from PA, so that is an interesting factoid. Liam is heading back up today and will enjoy a weekend at the lake with Eric and I and the Stenske’s. Haaken reported that his application for financial support has been approved by Community Living BC, so that will be a good safety net in place for him. We had our Rotary Windup on Monday. I passed on the presidency to another Rotarian; I’m glad to take a break from that. :)"

Kristian has nothing new to report this week. Erin has been extra busy at work as she catches up for her recent days off. The Jays have not been fun to watch lately, so she has enjoyed being able to switch over to the World Cup soccer games for some entertainment. 

Mölkky: look it up!

Travis completed the labels for my Mölkky game, and I have it along with me for the trip—thanks man! And, wonder of wonders, he has been able to retrieve his stolen car. Thanks to his posting about it on several media sites, folks were on the look out, and one noted it and phoned him one morning about 1:30AM. After confirming his action with the police, he was able to go over there and drive it home. "No damage," he reports, "but sadly, they did not fix the muffler, either!" Rosie celebrated her birthday this week. 

And that's about enough for this week! 

Here Comes the Solstice!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown, and brought us to the Summer Solstice—how can it be that daylight is getting shorter already?! My doctor called with feedback on the Sleep Apnea study—I'm sleeping well, which is a bit surprising while having all those probes attached! I have completed the preparations of the RV for summer travel. I hope it serves us comfortably, even while the fuel fills fill our credit card! The electrical is not completely repaired, but the generator is working, and that's the main thing.

Luggage rack

The trailer hitch luggage rack arrived, so I got that installed. That significantly increases our storage space. Wendy still has some choir business to complete before we can leave, while I've been pointing to heading out on Monday—that won't be happening! Our summer house-sitter, Amanda, has moved in. The Orange War continues sporadically. Investors take confidence in the idea that Trump has given up and wants out. Naysayers point to the fact that it was Israel that got him into this mess, and they do not want it to end. So, the markets continue to whipsaw and are failing to gain value. The Stanley Cup playoffs have ended, with the Canes wining it all, as I was hoping. Football continues with the Riders winning in Calgary this evening—yay Riders! The Blue Jays continue to struggle along below .500, and you know that's not good, but they did win today! 

Erica writes, "Eric has started getting some bookings for therapy and learning more about the job. He picked up the truck reserved for mental health therapists, so we have two trucks for a few days. On Wednesday, I took a group from the Ministry out to the clinic where Eric works. I greeted him as I normally would, then explained that I always give the first mental health therapist I see a small kiss! [Seems to be a wise practice!] Mystery Train is playing at the local music festival, Rock-the-Ville at Albertville, so I came back on Thursday. Liam arrived on Friday; we are heading out together on Saturday. I’m hoping to have a couple of recordings to share! Haaken, Greg and Kiersten all are doing well. Haaken continues to work on the pitch bible for the show he is creating. I hope some day he can create it and share it with the public."

Erin and Kristian have been hosting Uncle Travis all week. They went to the Mandalorian/Grogu movie on Wednesday. Kristian had a work party on Thursday evening where he learned to play pool! Erin took the week off work to celebrate her only brother! But she was still pestered with work calls each day! 

Trav eating his pizza;
Kristian heading for seconds!

A good time was had by all until Friday morning when they got news that Trav's car had been stolen back here in TBay. That kind of put a damper on things. It still has not been recovered. Joanna has been enjoying having Gemma home. They, along with Andrew, were over for a celebratory brunch in honour of Joanna's birthday on Thursday. She suffered the same downer as the rest of us on Friday morning when she looked out to see Trav's car was gone! 

And that's about it for this week. 

Beautiful June Days

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. While we have watched in horror as storms raged across the prairies, the weather has been beautiful here, and we are thankful. We have been able to make some progress on several of our initiatives. The back yard fence is progressing, but much remains. The lawns are looking about as good as I have planned—my goal is to allow them to live, but not thrive so much as to require frequent mowing! The rhubarb is ready for picking. I have cleaned the firewood out of the garden area, but we have not intended to plant a garden now for several years as we're planning to be away during most of the summer. We have a house-sitter lined up for those months, who will also take care of mowing the lawns. Wendy had her concert on Monday night, so her choir practices are ended for the summer. The generator has been repaired (I hope) with the installation of a new AVR, but now a fresh concern has arisen over the house battery; it doesn't seem to hold a charge well, so, I'll have to get that tested. It was newly installed just last summer, so this is a bit of a puzzle, and I can assure you, it is not fun crawling underneath there to uninstall it! The on-again, off-again Orange War has the markets whipsawing. We hope that the fighting will end soon. The Blue Jays are getting some players back from the injured list, so, we hope they starting getting better results. This evening, the Riders had their first game of the season against the BC Lions, and won an exciting contest. The Stanley Cup playoffs are through five games and the Canes have the 3-2 lead. This week was the Canadian Open in golf, so I've paid some attention to that. 

Erica writes, "Eric and I are both up north this week. Eric has been getting settled in at Stony Rapids and his new job in Black Lake. Some locals remember their teachers, Mike Koops and Sheena Koops and are pleased to make the connection. He spent three days learning the new job and two days in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) training. It uses eye movement to connect with various parts of the brain during trauma reprocessing. I left him to fend for himself and went up to Uranium City. The place was roughly half the size of Yellowknife in the 80’s. Now it’s a few houses and buildings and a forest that you can drive through and see streets and cul-de-sacs, the remains of houses, fire hydrants and fences through the trees. In one place I could barely make out the roofline of several 3-story apartment buildings. There is a closed and empty high school. In some ways it is sad. But, in another way, it was hopeful to see how the forest has taken back the land—it was interesting to experience. I returned to Stony on Thursday to find that my quiet sanctuary has been taken over. The fridge and cupboards have been filled, and we have to make proper meals again. I kind of enjoyed my quiet evenings of popcorn and bagged salad. On the upside there was a cup of coffee by my bed this morning. That was lovely. I don’t have anything to add from the kids this week, so, I assume they are all well!"

Erin and Kristian braved another thunderstorm in Regina. It included some hail, but that does not appear to have done any damage to their vehicles or their condo. Erin has put in extra time at work this week so she can take a break for Trav's visit next week. Elly has been misbehaving by running away, so she has been banished to indoor locations only! Kristian upgraded to delivering a customer's car and bringing back their loaner. He also scored another work BBQ, and a work supper at the Keg, mmm, good steaks there! 

The big event in the Travis & Joanna family was the double graduation for Andrew and Rosie. They have both completed their Practical Nursing program, so we enjoyed their ceremony yesterday. It was followed by a lovely BBQ dinner and family evening over at their place. Gemma and Jonas are still here, so it was good to catch up a bit with them. They're back to work next week in Vancouver. Travis is set to head to Regina tomorrow to spend a week with Erin and Kristian. 

And that's about enough for this week. 

What is so rare...

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been lovely, with only one too hot day (31°) when we put on the AC and retreated to inside the house! RV preparations have continued; I got the hitch installed yesterday, and I've been working with the mechanic trying to problem-solve on the generator. We put on a new breaker switch, but that didn't produce regular electricity. We have now decided that the AVR (Automatic Voltage Regulator) is the problem, so we have a new one ordered, and expect it to arrive next week. I have finished the side fence, and have moved on to the back. It is higher, so I may need help moving the panels once I get them released.

Back Fence

You can see how much the ground has shrunk away over the years—it may have been fifty years since these were installed, and that gap is higher than Kali. We've enjoyed a couple of fires in the fire pit—shouldn't be long until the mosquitoes arrive! Wendy has been extra busy with choir as their Spring Concert is this coming Monday. There have been practices, extra practices, home practicing, and lots of arrangements to be completed. The markets continue their erratic way in the Orange Days of our Lives! All of them are in the red so far this month with the Nasdaq leading the way down at -5.4%. No one seems able to conclude which way to jump, except for the corrupt insider traders. Football has begun in earnest, but the Riders have this week off. The Blue Jays continue to struggle with injuries and poor performances—C'mon Blue Jays, let's play ball! At least they won today! The Stanley Cup finals are tight at two games to one in the best of seven series.  

Erica writes, "Liam is back in Caronport. We miss him around here. Now it’s back to just Eric and me and we are making plans to go up north next week. This will be Eric’s first trip and he’s doing a lot of thinking about what to take. He also had a doctor’s appointment and several tests and it turns out he’s getting old. We wrapped up the week by renting Song Sung Blue about a Neil Diamond tribute band. It was nostalgic. Greg and Kiersten celebrated their 2nd anniversary on Monday, June 1."

Erin and Kristian had a pretty much routine week. Erin is still short-staffed, so she's having to work extra to keep up. She did pick up hooks for the patio lights and hanging baskets. Now, the gardening boxes are ready for development. Kristian is not finding time to practice golf, so I'm figuring grandpa can stay ahead for one more year! 

Travis and Joanna joined us for cards and cornbread last evening. It was a lovely time, and I have to thank the women for throwing the card games in our favour! Joanna reports that she has finished off one of the African Violets, and that the others are well beyond their life expectancy by this time! Gemma arrived today for a visit. We are all glad to have her home! Puckshots has picked up the photography assignment for the girls' softball league here. 

And that's enough for this week!

This May End!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been beautiful and hot, finally, and I even had the AC on one day here in the house. There is an amazingly brief period between furnace and AC! Outside work has beckoned as I have continued preparations of the RV along with yard work, and the annual battle with dandelions! Both lawns are freshly mowed, which seems to encourage the emergence of yellow heads. The generator in the RV runs fine, but was refusing to produce electricity, so I took it to a local small motors mechanic who seemed to understand how generators work. We put it through its paces, flashing the field, testing the voltage regulator, brushes and stator, before finally concluding that the problem was the breaker switch! I have contracted another firm to put a new hitch on, and that was supposed to be accomplished yesterday, but they ordered the wrong part—maybe next week! I got two more panels done on the side fence—just one more to go there, and then I can move on to the back fence. On Wednesday night, I took part in a sleep study to assess whether Sleep Apnea may be the cause of my high hemoglobin.

19 probes attached, now sleep!!

That was a complicated way to get a bad night's sleep! Wendy has been busy with her usual choir work—they are in the final stages of preparation for their Spring Concert. Wendy has begun the bedding plant program, pricey—used to be able to fill the flower beds with $50! She has also been preparing the guest room for our summer house sitter. We expect Amanda to move in soon, and then take care of things while we're away. The main markets have not done much in the face of the Orange War. Even after that concludes, there will remain a lot of world-wide economic damage to be repaired over the next years. NHL playoffs have reached the finals featuring two teams I did not pick to be there! I'll be cheering for the Canes over Vegas. This is the final weekend of preseason football, but Riders have a bye in week one action, so they will be a bit behind the rest to start the season. The Jays continue to struggle with the injury bug, but are making some headway and had made it back to .500 before their terrible meltdown today! 

Erica writes, "We have enjoyed having Liam home all week. He blessed us by organizing the middle room into usable office space and helped us with other chores around the house. Thank you, Liam! Eric has been attending a conference in Boston, virtually… starting at 6:30 AM! He says it’s worth it. I’ve been working from home and thinking more about central air as the temperatures climb to over 30°. Haaken has continued to work on some paper work to get additional support in BC. We didn’t hear much from Greg this week."

Warm summer evening!

Erin enjoys her patio in the summer, both on sunny summer days, and warm evenings. She has begun a new phase of her work at Taylor Motors. It will involve further upgrading and another promotion—we are so proud of her! Kristian continues his work, and even detailed his mom's car when she was over at the main dealership for some meetings. Kristian writes, "Lately it has been getting slow at work, so, I’ve been working with some of our lube tech workers. I also had my first work bbq yesterday. I got my hands on a cute Lego set that I’ve been waiting for since I saw it come out."

Yikes!

Joanna reports that the African Violets, against all the odds, are still surviving! Andrew has joined Gemma & Jonas in southern Ontario, visiting other grandparents. Joanna's work hours are gradually being reduced as she looks to end her employment there. Travis has been keeping up with his work and lamenting the NHL playoffs along with me. 

And that's enough for this week. 

May we continue?

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been comfortable, but does not have the heat we've been expecting for this time of year. The golf courses are open, but I haven't been out yet, although I have been practicing—it appears my swing is as good as ever!! Sigh! I have continued the preparations of the RV for our first summer of use. It used to have a trailer hitch, but it broke, and was removed, so I'll be replacing that. The generator has failed, but I've found a local electrical shop willing to investigate and repair. The yard is looking green, translation: the lawn mowing season has begun! The perennials are showing themselves, and Wendy is planning the installation of bedding plants. I am enjoying playing in the shop and I am also continuing the major project of rebuilding the backyard fence. The markets remain troubled over the economic issues tied to the Orange War. Now, with the local Iranian neighbours, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates calling for the war to be over, we are starting to be hopeful. The NHL playoffs continue in the semi-finals. I have only one team left, and they are down 2-0 in their series with Vegas. I am cheering for the Habs in the Eastern series against the highly favoured Canes. The Blue Jays are hitting a bit better to match their excellent pitching and are now on a 4-game winning streak. The football preseason is coming to an end: Go Riders Go! 

Erica wrote, "This week in the far north I got to land at the Uranium City airport, as we picked up a board member and then flew back to Fond Du Lac. Along the way I enjoyed beautiful views of Lake Athabasca and some of the sand dunes in the distance. At Fond Du Lac, we stayed at Haley’s Lodge, which is a beautiful home with many rooms… but they were full so we stayed in the addition which was two ATCO trailers. It was a bit like being back at the cabin in reverse as you had to leave the warmth of your bed to make the mad dash back to the main house to use the bathroom. The main dining area was “help yourself” with coffee, juices and various snacks like Dads Oatmeal cookies. When someone asked if they had orange juice, the answer was no, but they have red and purple! So I enjoyed purple juice and a Dad’s cookie! We had some catered meals during our meetings which featured caribou! It really felt like being back in Yellowknife. I returned home on Thursday night. It’s a fun adventure, but it’s also good to be home! Eric has been keeping busy with regular work, teaching for University of Lethbridge, and making plans to start his new job up north with me. Liam drove to Caronport on Tuesday to deal with some business there and then returned to us on Friday for a visit and to play in our worship band. He arrived in time to see Mystery Train play at the Army and Navy!  He is newly single so he has a bit more time to hang out with us old folks. Greg’s big news is he won a bull moose tag for this year’s hunting season. I’ve already started sending in my order for moose meat! We haven’t heard from Haaken, but I’m sure he’s doing well."

Erin and Kristian are enjoying the arrival of warmer weather in Regina. She delights to sun on the patio! Kristian is helping out by working extra time at work while they are short-handed—what a good employee! Erin has also had a remarkable week at work. We are so proud of them! Erin found a way to hang her patio lights: 

lacks a bit of presentation!

Travis and Joanna are keeping up with work and the dogs as per usual. We enjoyed an evening over there for dessert, dogs and hockey! Then, they returned for cornbread and cards tonight—fun! Andrew and Rosie are about to finish up their clinical time before they graduate from the RPN program. Gemma and Jonas are in southern Ontario visiting other grandparents and will end up in Thunder Bay sometime before 10 June. Joanna has bought some African Violets which she is planning to kill off soon! 

and her broccoli sprouts

And that's enough for this week.