Fall

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my home town. The weather has been fine, with seasonable highs from 15 to 20°. We are enjoying several outings with Bern & Alicia, and they have also taken the bikes out for a few rides on some of our excellent trails. Along with local visits to the Mission Island Marsh, and Hillcrest Park, we inspected Kakabeka Falls and the Flett Railway tunnel northwest of here one day, and hiked around the Sleeping Giant park on Sibley Peninsula, yesterday. It has been good to have their motivation to explore our touristy attractions which we residents so often fail to take advantage of. 

Fall Colours

Kakabeka Falls

Flett Tunnel—yeah, it's high, and about 200m long.
You can see the car at the far end.

Sea Lion—both sides

See Lions!

Hedge Trimming

We also have put Bern to work in the backyard, trimming the cedars and helping with the fence renovation. The latter action precipitated another fall—that of me, against a post I was trying to plumb! That hurt my back, and I'm still suffering from that; it also ended the fence repairs! At least we got the neighbours shed moved and the fence approximating straight! We had a sloppy week in the markets as CPI came in higher than expected so equity investors decided a 0.5% rate hike is no longer possible in November. Still, it was a green week as the strong USA economy pushed the indices to new record levels. In sports, the Grand Slam event ended with my gal #5-Einarson posting a big win over #1-Homan. On the men's side it was #1-Mouat with a surprisingly easy win over #2-Gushue. My men's team, #15-Koe has added a new player at second and looks to raise its ranking. As predicted, #1-Texas thrashed #18-Oklahoma in the annual Red River rivalry game. Riders hosted BC Lions tonight, and the win locked up second place for the Riders. We still have a chance for first place, but it's a slim one. Go Riders! The NHL regular season has begun, and all three of my teams (Oilers, Pens, Leafs) lost their opening game. In fact, none of them even scored a goal! Tonight, Leafs hosted the Pens, so someone had to win there—Leafs did! Oilers took on Chicago, but are still looking for their first win! 

Erica writes, "Liam’s home for the weekend and we are thankful. We hope to get the shed done—we will see! I have an appointment in February for Lipedema and skin removal on my arms in Bonn. So, pray that plans come together for that and that the surgery is successful. My pump arrived and I’ve been using it each night, alternating arms and legs. I’ve noticed a reduction in my pain and swelling so that’s good! Eric has a surgery date for his other eye on the 28th. That was sooner than we expected and we are glad! Greg has another procedure on his heart scheduled for the 21st—keep him in your prayers."

Kristian's bus pass finally arrived and he took advantage to get out for a meeting with his support group and to apply for three more jobs. We hope something comes through on the work front for him. He borrows his mom's car once in a while and goes shopping on his own—becoming uncomfortably independent! Work continues to go better and better for Erin as she works to perfect all aspects of her new assignment. 

Travis and Joanna are very busy this time of year. Joanna is also struggling to get back to full health. She thought she was all better last weekend, but is still fighting a cold and sore throat. It's the busiest time of year for Bucket Decals, so Travis has been pumping out the product! We had a lovely supper over there early in the week which was very nice—thanks folks! 

And that's enough for this week. 

Arrivals!

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in our hometown. We have been working through medical appointments and fresh blood work with our doctors. So far, no big concerns are showing up, and that's a good thing at any age. The weather has changed to a bit more seasonable, and we have had frost on the local gardens. Bernard and Alicia arrived on Thursday; we are enjoying spending time with them. We have managed several games of Fast Track. Bernard helped with the fence repairs. Today, we ventured down to Grand Marais for a fun day along the lake. Otherwise, I had a dental appointment on Wednesday, and we had our usual choir practice on Thursday. The markets struggled most of the week in the face of global unease over the fighting in Ukraine and the Middle East, but, fortunately, the USA economy came to the rescue with blowout jobs numbers and we closed the week with some nice green—thanks Uncle Joe. Baseball has moved into the semi-finals in each league; there have already been some surprises. In college football, my #19-Sooners and the #2-Longhorns both have the week off to prepare for the Red River Rivalry game next weekend. Sad to say, I'm not expecting too much from the Sooners this season. The Riders had an important game tonight and managed a win in Edmonton to lock up a playoff spot. This week in curling is the first Grand Slam event of the season featuring the top 16 teams for both men and women. It will be #1-Mouat (Scotland) vs #4-Gushue in the men's final. It's two Canadian teams in the final in the women's final, as #1-Homan plays my gal, #11-Einarson. 

Erica writes, "I got my pump machine this week. It comes with pants that inflate intermittently to push fluid up my legs, and a jacket to push fluid up my arms. All together it looks like a costume for some comic book villain. We’ve been hauling sand to our back yard. We plan to level out a spot for the new shed. If the weather cooperates we plan to start building it this weekend. Liam has had several birthday celebrations with Mercedes this week. And he got another infusion of his medicine. We haven’t heard much from Greg, Kiersten or Haaken." 

Kristian continues with the slow process of his job hunt. He's expecting his bus pass, but everything about this effort seems to get delayed. Work continues to progress well for Erin. She's heading out for bowling tonight with some of her colleagues from work. 

Travis is very busy with work. He had a record month of orders in September, and October is continuing that trend. Joanna has been down all week with cough, congestion and sore throat—generally feeling yucky. She's finally feeling better and enjoyed the trip to Grand Marais today. 

Grand Marais Crew today!

And that's enough for this week.