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. 

May Long!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. Spring has developed very slowly, but the warm weather has finally arrived and the golf courses have opened. We hit a high of 28° yesterday, which is even warmer than I like! It has been a busy week, but Victoria Day weekend has arrived, known locally as May Long! This marks the earliest it can be, but it still marks the traditional start of gardening and camping season. I have unwrapped the camper and brought it out of winter storage and around to the driveway. Since we just bought the RV last November, it is our first time de-winterizing and preparing for summer usage. It had already been winterized before we bought it, so it has been a learning experience for us.

The original awning had long since failed, but we have purchased a new one, and yesterday, we got it installed. I have tried out the fridge, microwave and range. I have hooked up to the garden hose, and flushed the antifreeze out of the plumbing. Then, I connected the water heater and confirmed that operation. I guess I could have tried out the AC yesterday, but that is awaiting another warm day. We are planning a few short local outings, and then planning to embark on a trip to Yellowknife beginning at the end of June. We intend short drives, and one or more night stays at various locations along the way. We expect a little longer stay in Regina, whenever we get there, as I want my mechanic there to check over the vehicle. Wendy has been helping me with the RV, but also doing a lot of gardening, getting the flower beds ready for the perennials to show themselves.

Mölkky

I built a set of Mölkky pins, Wendy painted their faces, and Trav is preparing the number decals. They're supposed to be round, but we'll see how these ones work! The markets continue to confound, but at least they're green so far this month. The Blue Jays are playing poorly, and their star, Vladdy Jr is in a 0 for 22 slump which surely does not help! The NHL playoffs have nearly completed round 2, and, so far, only one of my picks has survived to the final four. 

Erica wrote, "It was a very sad week! After a very exciting on the road win in Everett, the Raiders lost the next 4 games. The season is over, but they did win the division title and they gave us an exciting season. Liam was home for a visit this week. I got to see him before leaving for Stony. His meds have been working and he’s put on some healthy weight! He also suffered through two of the Raider losses. Eric has accepted his half time position at AHA (Athabasca Health Authority). He will start in June. He will continue to work part time with CFS (Catholic Family Services). After some discussion it appears this is actually good for CFS, too. They have some younger people who could grow into their roles, so Eric can continue to mentor them for a bit! Win-win! Kiersten was recognized as a mental health champion—we are so proud of her. I’m continuing to work up north, trying to fix processes and get work caught up. I had the pleasure of working “on-call” as we had several people away in the manager and director level. I got to step in a bit here and there to help where I could—though apparently, I’m not cleared for surgery—LOL! I do have a wee bit of medical training from our visit to Africa!"

Kristian noted that one of his colleagues in the wash bay is off for a few weeks, so they have brought in another worker to help take up the slack. Erin is enjoying the long weekend in Regina despite the weather. While checking out the window, she noticed that some folks are overcoming the new rules on attaching items to the privacy fence! She has similar patio lights, and we're brainstorming a way to hang them over her patio. We had extensions added to the end posts of the fence, and then the lights swagged out from the house, across the yard, and back to the house. It was very nice, but when management replaced the fences, they decreed that nothing could be attached... 

but, they attached their patio lights!

Travis and Joanna remain busy with work and dogs! But their prominent activity in our regard was taking us out for a nice meal at Applebys to commemorate Mother's Day. Joanna and Wendy will be shopping for a new duvet as part of that appreciation. Then, the mothers let Trav and I win at FastTrack for a change! 

And that's enough for this week! 

It is Spring. Isn't it?

A plan originated from Kristian who included the aunts and uncles and grandpa to develop the budget for this year’s Mother’s Day! So, we have been able to do the following for grandma/mom: flowers, a nice dinner at Applebee’s, ice cream at Merla Mae’s and a new duvet! Thank you children/grandchildren for your thoughtfulness! 

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. By this time, we're expecting mid-twenties, but we're not seeing it! Most days were only around 10°, and maybe one day over 20°. I managed a bit of work in the shop and in the yard. I'm preparing the remaining fence sections to become straight, plumb and level. That will keep me busy for the next weeks, I'm expecting. I have begun preparing the RV for our first camping trips. I plan to bring it around to the driveway next week. Wendy keeps too busy with the dogs, and the choirs, and me! We had company one night as friends from Yellowknife were travelling east and spent the night with us. The markets continue to be wildly troubling with hundreds of points up one day, and hundreds down the next. Fortunately, I have managed to remain on quota so far, but I keep wondering whether there's a crash coming! The Stanley Cup playoffs are well into the second round. Although I managed five accurate picks in round one, two of my misses were very bitter as the Oilers and Pens lost, and I had also projected them to win this round! So, I have only two live picks left of the four in this series. Baseball season continues, but the Jays not are playing up to my expectations. 

Big news of the week from PA: Raiders take a one game lead on the opener against Everett on their ice. Game 2 is Saturday night. Erica has been home all week which has been nice. Mystery Train had a gig at Mr. Mike's on Thursday evening—the music was enthusiastically received. She has been preparing for the Rotary annual Lobsterfest Fundraiser which will be held on Saturday night. We hope it will be a lot of fun and will raise funds for Rotary’s community projects! Eric is ironing out the details on his plans to balance two jobs. He also has a temporary third job at the moment, teaching a night class for University of Lethbridge. He’s a busy guy!
Eric adds, "The rest of the family is, I assume, getting ready to shower Erica with love for Mother’s Day!"

Erin writes, "Still busy with month end and still short staffed. But I was invited to Toyota’s annual accounting year end supper on Thursday, so, I got fancy steak two weeks in a row. Last week our software company took the VW managers out. Not sure if I told you that. The job I have is hard and stressful sometimes, but the perks are nice :) And the weather’s getting nicer too. I went outside this morning but it was a bit chilly so came back in.  Kristian asked me to have a movie night for Mother’s Day, with snacks. It's an avatar movie; I didn’t know there was another new one. Should be fun though!"

Travis and Joanna have returned to reality here in the north. I hope they brought warm weather with them.

4 in the bed...

In the interim I have been struggling through with four girls in my bed! 

And that's enough for this week!