Spring Surprise!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The calendar says “Spring!" The sun’s cross of the equator says, “Spring!” But the view out the window says, “Surprise!” Another late Winter flurry is turning our world white, and our hands back to the shovels and snowblower—sigh! I thought we might be done with the snow-blowing, but Surprise!

Surprise!

We keep busy with our choirs and Wendy often adds a business meeting or two. I had a colonoscopy on Thursday afternoon, so that was a wonderful feature of starvation for two days, and a 4L jug of their awful Koolaid! The Melon Felon continues Israel’s war in the middle east. He keeps calling/demanding NATO to help, but NATO is only obliged to help if a member has been attacked, and it’s not expected to help at all in an Asian battle. Meanwhile, the stock markets keep crashing—all North American indices are in the red for the year now. Gasoline price keeps climbing—it’s up over 41% here since the start of the war! No end in sight, although Trump seems desperate to find a way to declare victory and go home. We’ve been busy with the Women’s World Curling Championship this week. My gal, Kerri Einarson, has guided her team into the playoffs and will play for the gold medal tomorrow against Schwaller of Switzerland. The World Baseball Championship concluded with Venezuela winning—it seems many of those Caribbean nations produce some great ball players. MLB is closing in on opening day, and final cuts are being made. The NHL is into the last dozen games of the regular season, and there are many playoff races still to be settled. March Madness is maddeningly underway, and my Jayhawks got a #4 seed as expected! My bracket is already busted, of course, but KU is still alive. Rock Chalk! 

Erica writes, “I ended my first ten-day stint up in the Athabasca basin. The highlight of my time was sitting in the copilot seat of a Cessna Caravan on our quick trip to Fond du lac. Being up here reminds me of growing up in Yellowknife. The quiet, the cold, the dry air. I’m going to have to stock up on moisturizer! Our friends, Tina and Guido lost Tina’s brother to ALS last weekend and so we are in Red Deer to support them this Saturday. Liam and Mercedes were up last weekend and returned on Monday. I missed them. They are doing well. We are haven’t heard from Haaken, Greg or Kiersten. So, I assume they are doing well!”

Erin reports that the weather is fine in Regina, but things are a bit stressful at work. They got some rain, but would like some more to clear away the remains of winter snow and ice. She saw a bunny the other day, and it was turning brown, so… winter is over! [that’s what we thought, too!] Kristian notes that everything is going well, and that they have a new guy starting on Monday. He’s featuring a movie night tonight, but his cats have their own TV! 

Ellie's on TV

Travis and Joanna keep busy with work and dogs! They had a movie night tonight as well. They took in the Project Hail Mary! I’ll look forward to hearing their report, as it’s kind of a multi-dimensional sci-fi kind of movie. 

And that’s enough for this week. 

Raging!

Build your own flowers!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained mild with melting each day, but we have also had a couple of snow showers to keep us tethered to the reality of early Spring weather. We are also painfully connected to the realities of the raging war in the Middle East as our gasoline has increased by over 36% since Trump & Bibi opened war on Iran and other situations in the area. The stock markets are crashing in concert and all USA indices are in the red for the YTD (year to date). Only the TSX remains green, and not by much as the pull back this month has reduced our profitability as well. We keep hoping cooler heads will prevail, while observing no evidence that cooler heads are even in play! We enjoyed celebrating Wendy’s birthday on Monday as Travis, Joanna, Andrew & Rosie joined us for the celebration. We had our usual choir practice on Thursday morning, and I have been working at the Northern Ontario senior curling championships as a timer.

Wendy's new prize!

We enjoyed Christmas in March this week as deliveries of several items took place. Wendy got her prized new vacuum cleaner, and a new pair of leather mitts. I got several items for the camper. The sinking snow encourages our anticipation of our first camping experiences in our newest acquisition. The NHL continues its late season jockeying for playoff position. Penguins and Oilers are holding onto their spots, while Leafs are shining up their golf clubs. Basketball is already in the playoffs with the brackets being widely discussed before they’re released tomorrow. I’m expecting a top 4 seeding for my Jayhawks. The baseball world championships are concluding and the regular season is nearing—Go Bluejays! 

C-C-Cold up there! 

Erica writes, “I am back up north this week—from March 11 to the 20th, which means I'll celebrate my birthday up here. Eric is on his own for worship leading this week, so Liam is home for the weekend to help. He brought along Mercedes for the visit and they enjoyed playing some tunes together. It was almost a hootenanny! It has been cold in the Athabasca basin. One day, my truck wouldn't start so I got a ride and the maintenance team had to go give it a boost. I'm enjoying the adventure up here and hope Eric can come up soon for a visit. We continue to think about finishing the renovations on our house. Eric has identified a possible solution for the space around our downstairs shower unit—puck board. It is supposed to look just like the material of the shower.”

The weather in Regina was a bit better than expected. Erin has managed to get ahead of schedule at work, so she was able to take a half day off on Friday to watch the Canada/USA baseball game from the World Baseball Championship. We did better than ever, advancing to the playoffs for the first time.

Kristian Lunch Celebration

Kristian had an outing at work as one of the guys is moving on to a new job, so eight of them had a farewell at Smoking Outlaws—looks yummy! 

Wendy's Flowers from Family

Travis & Joanna joined us for Birthday supper on Monday at Applebys, then Andrew and Rosie added to the celebration for birthday cake back here at Kensington Manor. The Poms got the beauty treatments and hair cuts this week. All the dogs are enjoying the back yard track. 

And that’s about enough! 

Grace!

Grace Elaine Sorensen  1936-2026

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been mild with melting each day, and Kali keeps dragging us out for walks. We had our choir practices early in the week. And Wendy had a followup on her cataract surgery. Things seem to be progressing as expected, although she complains of the focus being out of alignment between the two eyes. We’re dealing with the news of our cousin Grace passing, and sorry we won’t be able to travel out for her Celebration of Life. I have a lifetime of experiences with Grace & Elvin as they were our neighbours in my youth, and their older children, my cousins, were some of my early friends. We enjoyed visiting with them in their retirement in Moose Jaw and, later, with Grace in Regina and White City. Otherwise the Orange war continues and is very dangerous for all concerned including the world economy. The USA lost jobs again last month, and revealed that it had also lost 100K manufacturing jobs last year while its trade balance actually increased. Now, his tariffs have been found unconstitutional and he’s had to admit that he hasn’t been safekeeping the collection so he can make th required refunds. I imagine the USA taxpayers will have to bail him out. Anyway, the stock markets are not responding well to this chaos with the USA indices in the red, while the TSX is up only 5.4%. Meanwhile the price of Crude has jumped due to the war, and fuel here has increased over 25% at the pumps. The NHL featured the trade deadline this week and several teams tried to add players in preparation for the playoffs. We hope the Pens and Oilers have made some good improvements because they’re not doing so well recently! The Leafs were sellers as they’ve given up on the playoffs and are trying to rebuild for next season. The main focus of my attention was the Brier. My guy, Kevin Koe, has delighted me with an undefeated week and has advanced to the final tomorrow. The #14-Jayhawks tuned up for the Big XII tournament and prepared for March Madness by blasting K-State today. 

Erica writes, "Eric was back to work this week. He still has some lingering health issues. He lost his voice and has been rasping through presentations and counselling sessions. He’s trying to emulate Louis Armstrong! I had a gig on Friday night with Mystery Train. It was a lot of fun and many couples were up dancing. However, about half way through Working 9:5, I lost m voice! I managed to make it through the rest of the night, but we dropped one song and my band mate sang another for me. Next Wednesday, I’m back up north for a 10 day stint. It’s melting here—not so much in Stony Rapids/Black Lake. We haven’t heard much from the boys this week, so, I assume, they are doing well!"

Erin had a good weekend with Erica in Moose Jaw, and writes, “I had to let one of my accounting girls go yesterday. My boss did most of the talking, so that was good. Now, I’m starting a new girl on Monday. F1 starts this weekend. Snow is melting. I’m making steaks for supper and Kristian’s out getting a Blizzard at Dairy Queen for the dessert. We’re a crazy household!”

Travis and Joanna were over for a dessert and cards night early in the week. We always enjoy those evenings, and the women let us win some games! The dogs are really enjoying the track in the backyard. 

And that’s enough for this week! 

War!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been mild, but we’ve had another dump of snow, so we were back out playing with the snowblower again. But that’s relatively small potatoes when we see next door and across the world that USA is waging war, on its own people and on the Iranian people. Those battles are heart-wrenching. Wendy keeps busy with her choir and our choir. We’re feeling behind in our preparations for the Spring Concert in early May. PuckShots accepted another hockey team today, so I dug out their chairs from the shed. We hope the snow will begin disappearing soon. Year end economic data shows weak economic growth in the USA as they only grew 1.4%, experienced an even greater trade deficit, and actually lost manufacturing jobs. The magical tariffs were supposed to create the hottest country in the world, maybe in the history of the world! The reality was dismal—lame! In conjunction with this, the markets are suffering, and it keeps me on edge deciding what to do next! Team Canada dropped the gold medal game, and the NHL has returned from the Olympic break, so, I’m back to watching my three teams. Pens and Oilers are nicely in the playoff position, while Leafs are pretty much out of hope! #14-KU was dropped in the rankings, but came up with a strong win early in the week before losing to #2-Arizona today. Soon, we will get the actual seedings for March Madness. Rock Chalk! Spring baseball has begun, and everyone has dreams of the World Series at this time of year. Jays are looking promising, and we certainly expect them to be back in the playoffs. The Brier opened this weekend, and my longtime favourite, Kevin Koe is there representing Alberta. Maybe he’ll be up for one last hurrah! 

Erica writes, “Eric was very sick this week. He did some testing and found he has RSV, and, given his issues with asthma, the doctor advised he take the week off! And, being better [better than whom?!] at following medical direction, he did that. I had my first work-from-home week. It was good with lots of learning and figuring out how this job works. This weekend, I joined my sister at Ladies Retreat in Moose Jaw. I was asked to share on a panel about finding hope in the mud. I shared my experience of getting infection in my legs and being very sick and what I learned from that experience: God uses the mud to help you see things more clearly in yourself and about Him; when we get angry it’s okay because being angry allows God to burn out impurities in our lives; when people are in the mud, we don’t have to fix it, sometimes we just need to sit in the mud with them as they find their way out. We don’t have to fix things, we just need to show up. Liam and Mercedes are now thinking they will be staying in Saskatchewan for another year. They have decided to not ‘Calgary' at this time.”

As noted, Erin has joined Erica in Moose Jaw this weekend. The week of work was busy, but went well. Now, Kristian is managing the household and cats for the weekend! 

Travis and Joanna had their usual work weeks, but then added to it with a PuckShots photo session today. They got some encouraging news on a couple of troublesome appliances at home, so if they can run down another spare part, they could be back in freezing and drying once again.

Dog-Cross

They have developed a trail system in their backyard for the dogs. The Poms, in particular, love racing around, the Boys—not so much! 

And that’s about enough for this week. 

Snow Job!

Another snowy week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. We have experienced prolonged and heavy snowfall that finally ended Friday night. We have cleaned out the driveway three times, easily our busiest week of the winter!

Kali loves to play in the snow!

Wendy had her usual choir events, but the snowstorm led to a cancellation of our Thursday morning choir practice. Anyway, the Olympics were on, and they needed my attention and advice!! On the economic front, we had big news as the USA Supreme Court declared the Melon Felon’s Tariff regime unconstitutional. Of course, the Tariffs have been devastating the USA economy and causing a lot of damage to the world-wide economic system, so the rational decision coming out of this would be to change course, blaming the Supremes for preventing you from achieving your plans forward. However, rational is not an adjective to describe this administration! He immediately declared a world-wide tariff of 10%, and then, today, vowed an increase to 15%! You can’t make this up folks. In the world of sports, the preseason MLB schedule has begun, so our interest returns to the Blue Jays who fell one game short of the World Series championship—maybe this year! In Basketball, #8-Jayhawks moved up again, but did not distinguish themselves this week. They won on the road against Oklahoma State, but then lost today to Cincinnati at home! Unacceptable! Rock Chalk Jayhawks! In the Olympics I have been focusing on Hockey and Curling where we expect our athletes to excel. The Women lost the final in hockey to the USA, so they only achieved silver. The men play the USA in the gold medal game tomorrow—Go Canada, Go! In Curling #1-Homan fell short of expectations, but did win the bronze medal. #5-Jacobs won the men’s gold medal—hurray!

Erica writes, "I spent the first half of the week in Victoria, visiting with Haaken and the Victoria Baileys. We had a few outings planned including: visiting a Fort and lighthouse, driving up to Port Renfrew, visiting the Royal BC Museum, seeing an IMAX show about Sharks, going up island to our old haunts, and having a spa treatment. It was a good reconnection and a change for Tina and me to have some fun, too. On Thursday, we relocated to Vancouver and visited with her kids: Anthony and Amie. We went to Granville Island, the Science Center, and the Planetarium to see Darkside of the Moon. We planned to go to the Chinese New Year festivities today, but my legs have been aching, so I’m taking a day off of fun to rest. We head back to PA tomorrow. Eric took Ramadan and Elizabeta to a Psychologist for some assessments for Ramadan. We are hoping he will get a diagnosis, so we can get him some additional support.” 

Eric writes, “We got snowed in. It started Tuesday afternoon; I barely got into my garage. On Wednesday morning, I nearly got stuck a few times. When I returned home Wednesday I navigated the back alley using the full extent of my Saskatchewan driving skills and some special features on the car to avoid getting stuck. I shovelled my walking path. On Thursday morning, I shovelled the back alley to get out, but then called in sick. I’m still coughing today. The car is replacing the back alley snow drift and it is starting to feel less like I’m going to get stuck. Our neighbours usually put their garbage collection bin on the street beside the house. I looked at that today and I’m not sure the garbage truck could get it through the snow if they placed where they normally do. It appears we got a lot of snow the past few days.” [Sounds like the storm that hit us starting on Wednesday!]

Erin and Kristian suffered a frigid week in Regina, but the weather has broken finally. Erin has been busy at work catching up on all the smaller tasks that got put off while she was completing her yearend reports, and her January month end report.

KLU-Detailer

Kristian has carried on with his work and his medical appointments related to the drug trial he participates in. He got his uniform, and sent us a photo with it. I would certainly let him detail my vehicle! 

Travis and Joanna are also snowed in! The Poms enjoy getting out into the snow, while the Havanese have proved to be wimpy and refuse to got out!

The Pomeranians love it!

We enjoyed having them over on one evening to play some cards and eat some dessert—worked great!

And that’s enough for this week! 

Melting!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has remained mild, with melting each day and the streets and driveways clearing away the ice and snow. As a result, Kali has been taking us for walks each day, and returning home quite wet! Wendy keeps very busy with the two choirs and other business meetings. She completed her accounting project this week, submitted that, and got paid! Tonight, since it’s Valentine's Day, she took me out for Chinese food supper—sweet and yummy! The markets continue to be troubled as tariffs come and go, while threats of various kinds continue to be issued. The S&P500 remains in the red so far for the year. This week saw impressive numbers out of the USA government on both Jobs and Inflation, but investors are wondering whether they can believe anything coming from the Melon Felon. After all, when they gave him bad numbers, he fired the folks in charge! The Olympics are on and we are closely following our hockey and curling teams. Both men and women have moved into the medal round in hockey. Our curling teams are about half way through the round robin portion, and certainly have work to do to make the playoffs. In Basketball, #9-Jayhawks thrilled me with a win over previously undefeated #1-Arizona at home on Monday, but we got a reality check from #5-Iowa State on the road today! 

Erica writes, "I ended my job with MNP on Monday and flew up to Stony Rapids [only about 60 km south of the NWT border] to start my new job with Athabasca Health Authority. It was a week of meeting new people, making connections and trying to get all my tools and technology connected! It seems like a very friendly group of people, and the environment makes me feel like I’m back in Yellowknife. I have a housing unit so I can leave things there between visits. So far, I’m really glad for the change, even though it’s weird to be learning a new job again after 10 years of doing the same thing. Eric has been practising music, and is even looking at stepping in this week for Worship service as another leader is sick. There is ongoing changes in his job as his director is moving to a new role and there has been internal shuffling to meet the needs in the short term. I’m heading to Vancouver and Victoria this week for a Mom’s trip with Tina. We are going to visit our kids and have some fun. We leave late Saturday and are back next Sunday. Haaken has taken a few days off work to hang out with us.”

The mild weather has continued in Regina, so streets are clearing there as well. Kristian is surprised that there is not more traffic of muddy cars needing a cleaning. Maybe folks are thinking this is a false Spring, and worried about a return of stormy weather. Kristian’s uniform has arrived, so we’ll look forward to pictures next week. Erin finished both yearend and monthend this week! She was pretty pleased with that accomplishment, and we’re very proud. 

Travis has been commiserating through the Olympic games along with me. Joanna is feeling better, well actually, they both are. And the dogs—they have also recovered. Time for fresh haircuts! Or maybe that’s where they’re picking up the germs! 

And that’s enough for this week. 

…can Spring be far behind?

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The polar vortex has broken, and we have returned to single digit highs and even above freezing one day. Lots of slush on the streets as our salt loads take full effect—yuck! We had a couple of snowfalls with the change in temperature, so we were back on shovel/snowblower duty. Wendy keeps busy with her choir management duties, and has also spent a fair number of hours this week on her accounting project for a local business. She continues to recover from her cataract surgery but so far, she is disappointed with coordination of the vision between her new eyes. We had choir practice on Thursday morning—it’s quite a challenge to learn eleven new songs. I have been to the dentist twice this week as they prepare my new partial plate. I hope to have final fittings next week. The markets continue to fluctuate wildly with the chaotic activity of the Melon Felon. The USA economy is suffering a lot of job losses; we’re also losing jobs here. Some of this is because of the USA trade wars, some of it is due to changes in the job markets due to Artificial Intelligence applications. Crypto valuations have dropped about 50%, and even Gold pulled back almost 20%. So, it’s a tough environment in which to make investment decisions. The sporting world is turning a large part of its attention to the Winter Olympics. We’ll be cheering on Team Canada with particular attention to Hockey and Curling. The NHL is on hiatus; Pens headed to the break on a solid rally. Leafs and my Oilers are not playing so well, but at least the Oilers are in a solid playoff position at this point. My #11-Jayhawks keep winning, but they have some highly ranked opponents on the horizon including #1-Arizona next week! Last Sunday, it was my team, Kerri Einarson, who prevailed to win the Scotties. They executed a phenomenal angle-in hit and stick to tie the game in the final end, and then stole a point in the extra end to secure her fifth Canadian championship. 

Erica writes, We honoured two birthdays this week—Liam on the 4th and Haaken on the 7th. I’ve been working on wrapping up my work at MNP. I will be working this weekend, too, and I finish on Monday. The PA Raiders have clinched a playoff spot and we have clinched playoff seats! We are looking forward to some great playoff hockey.” 

Erin and Kristian are enjoying a break in the weather in Regina with temperatures surging well above zero. As a result of the warmer temperatures, Kristian has returned to his regularly scheduled work, but he’s still waiting for his uniform. Erin has been busily engaged in the year end reporting for 2025 at VW, but she also has a monthend report to do—busy times, but good times. The cats are coping well despite their servants being away all day at work! 

Travis and Joanna came over for a visit on Sunday evening. We played some FastTrack—that went well! The dogs seem to have come down with some kind of cough. They mentioned this on Sunday as the thinking behind not bringing any over for a visit with Kali, and it has persisted. The boys are fighting their way through the illness, and the Poms are being treated with antibiotics. At least Trav and Joanna seem to be doing okay, and are planning a warm vacation later on. That’s a nice thing to look forward to—we’re doing the same, but ours is called Summer! 

And that’s enough for this week.