Beware the Ides of March

Another week has passed on the shore of Lake Superior in my hometown. The weather has been lovely, so Kali and I have been able to get out for walks every day. Kali does not appreciate that Granny wants to give her a bath on our return! We had surprising thunderstorms yesterday and today, but it's sunny and +10° this afternoon, so Kali and I are walking again. Wendy has kept busy with her accounting contract and has moved into November—the end is in sight! We have been celebrating her birthday all week—we began by selecting a new Prime Minister on her birthday, while the cards and letters just keep on coming! We crowned our Men's Brier champion on her birthday as well as #3-Jacobs took down #2-Dunstone in the final. He will contest the world championship in Moose Jaw later this month. #1-Homan is in Korea for the world women's championship. She opened with a win and a loss, a tad below our expectations. The Jayhawks played in the conference championship this week, but lost at the quarterfinal level. Now, we wait for their placement in March Madness and we hope for better things in the second season! Spring training games are pretty much a daily feature at this point as we await the opening of the MLB season at the end of the month. The Jays are doing pretty well. The NHL is in the closing stretch of the regular season. Leafs are near the top of the league, but my Oilers have fallen off the pace. Pens are doing too well for a team that is looking for a better draft position. They had several teams within reach, but then they started winning!

TrumpCession Underway

Meanwhile, the Orange Menace continues to drive the USA economy into the ground, and threatens the rest of us. The markets are down over 10% from their recent highs as he has taken the strong economy passed along by Uncle Joe, and keeps making one mistake after another. You have to think he knows better and is just lying to us, but it rattles the markets to see such an unsteady hand at the top. Everyone knows when you want to buy something that has a tariff against it, you have to pay extra, but Trump insists that someone else pays that! He seems confused about the relative size of our population and expresses chagrin that Canada doesn't buy as much stuff as the ten times larger USA! Our new PM is an economist; will he be able to enlighten him? Sadly, Trump doesn't show much capacity for learning. 

Erica writes, "Eric saw the eye specialist on Monday. There has been a very minute change in one eye, so the specialist is saying it looks like they are settled and Eric can now get his glasses prescription updated for his new eyes. He has to come back in a year. If there is any significant change then, they will try the procedure again. If that doesn’t work, he will need a corneal transplant. We are hoping we are at the end of the journey rather than the start of another. We have continued with wrapping my arms each night and wearing compression during the day. Both arms are progressing, but the right is more swollen and taking longer than the left. Mystery Train had another gig last night at a women’s conference. As we were packing up we had several requests for contact information, so I think we did well! Liam got his car back this week, thanks to Mercedes' Mom who drove them to Regina to pick it up. The problem was a hole in a hose, which the warning light was warning of. The cost was minimal and we are thankful for that! (Thanks Erin for the friends and family discount!) Liam will be up for a visit next weekend! Greg’s health has been steadily improving since the second stent was put in. He is up to 4 full shifts per week and will be up to 5 in April. We had a quick call with Haaken and everything is great!"

Erin writes, "It’s been pretty gross here—freezing rain, snow, but I had a good week at work :) It was quiet upstairs so I got everything done more efficiently than usual. Earlier in the week, Kristian emailed Patti about helping apply for school, but she hasn’t replied. They might only help with employment—we’ll wait to hear. The TV stopped working a couple days ago and they suggested changing the HDMI cable, so Kristian did that yesterday. That wasn’t the problem. I need tech support, and I called a few times, but no one answered. I will try again. For now though, no baseball, no F1, no March Madness unless it gets fixed before it all starts. I printed off a bracket to fill out anyway. I should just cancel TV and go with a sports app. Just this morning I booked a week of holidays in May. Kristian wants to visit his friend Jeff in Calgary, and taking him to West Edmonton Mall is on my bucket list. I have really good memories from when I was a kid of Fantasyland, water park, Bourbon Street for me, Lego store for him. So that’s this year’s big holiday plan. Apparently, there are hotels right across the street from the Mall that offer mall attraction passes and money vouchers so you end up getting all your money back in a way."

Travis and Joanna had another busy week. After the family weekend and a hockey game in Toronto, they returned to TBay on Monday. Marigold was in for surgery (spaying) on Tuesday, and remains somewhat subdued at the weekend. They had planned Wendy's birthday party on Thursday night, but it has been postponed until Sunday so Kali can come along and play with Marigold. Anyway, we're looking forward to that. 

And that's about it for this week.