second monday / meat.

 I know it just a truck, but  we are probably a few hundred miles from the nearest road, one of the trucks brought in by the hercs

 I believe this is a Dash? it is just like one of the planes that brought me here from yellowknife, they come atleast twice a week with new people and taking people out, plus we got 4 flats of groceries.

people nicked name this guy markus, he's not scared at all, too bad  really (if they are fed by humans, the authorties will come in and eradicate them :(. anyway after i took the picture he came up to my feet. then scurried off. 


so another day gone, along one because of the order coming in, man its alot of food.
these guys eat meat. and lots of it, and mashed potatoes,,  some guys plates are just heaped with potatoes and meat, its almost comical really. i mean i can eat alot but thats just like wow.
im just gonna relax now and maybe watch a dvd before i go to bed. good night.

Another day

So this was my second sunday. besides the medi vac meeting in the morning , after work tonight we had a kitchen safety meeting, every department has one. just going over any issue that arise  weekly or daily. kinda boring, still have to watch the bear aware video,incase there is a bear in camp, i guess there are grizzlies around not polars, but we are only about a hundred miles from the artic circle. for bragging rights thats close enough for me.
   to night  for dinner we had beef,spinach riccota cannaloni, and cornish hen with thai chili  glaze ala peter. the hen went over the best of course :p . although sometimes i feel they put a little more effort in quanity then they do quality. and just make sure there is enough food, and there is way alot of food, any way i guess i just dont like seeing cannalloni swelling because its being held hot all night.
somedays(actually most days) i miss wearing the white coat and tall hat and making sure every single little plate that  goes out is absolutely perfect. oh the windsor house days  wear good.
but hey  its not my show here and i still take alot of pride in my work that i do. and i make good money,
but its still a sacrifice, some times the chef in me wants to scream.. lol
       Starting to enjoy writing this blog more and more, gives me a a chance to rant and let it out, cause its not the same talking to the other kitchen stafff as i see them everyday, and its the same thing over and over agin every day.  alright time to watch a dvd of something and rest for the night,  tommorow is amother day , its delivery day. which means its a long one.
ciao

suspected spinal injury

Mock med vacs .... everysaturday or sunday, the 1984 employees about 7 of us get together and practice medic procedures.  so what happens the nurse sets up a scenerio, of a patient and the rest act as a team, to try to help or save the patient life. today we had a uncontious worker  who had been knocked hard on the head, was breathing but unconcious.  as emergencies go this is actually an easy one as there is not much we can do.  first we check a.b.c airwway, breathing, circulation, some one is instructed to hold the head in case of spinal injury. this is called the c spin, to day i was the lucky one to hold the head, and once your on you cant let go unless some one relieves you. first step would be to insert and airway, in this case using a nasal canual,(rubber tube through the nose, and put the patient on 90% oxygen  so next step is to make sure helicopter is on way and hospital notified. next we put a neck brace on , and move him on to a spial board for transportation, then we would strap him in body first then secure the head with blankets and straps. put hin into a basket and off he goes.
today we did all that in 12 minutes, not a bad time actually, but if it were for real, im guessing we would probably do it faster and with shakier hands.
in smaller camps there is no nurse so i would be exspected to run the mock medi vacs.....well this will be my mid day blurb ill probably write some more after work, as i dont have much else to do.... peace out... love you eric charles.

picture time

the buliding in the picture, is the kitchen and dining room. it was plus 3 or four out today, and there was puddles on the lake, so i was amazed to see the herc sitting there on it

melting

Having a much better day.
it is very mild today. but windy the snow around camp in melting and there is a huge puddle infront of the dining room entrance,  what this means for the run way im not sure or the the many hercs left to land on the strip, but i believe there running out a time. als we have a lot of deep freezers outside that were never pluged in plus a huge steel container packed with frozen food, well its room temperauture at best in there today,  they are suppposed to give us a walk in freezer, but having problems hooking it up. i gues our power out put is at its max already. but they want to make this camp from a 90 person camp to a 120 camp with only two deliveries a wekk we need freezers. and way, my job is to just cook.
 finding out ata camp there is alwways something to fix or do, or someone has a problem  makes it interesting i guesss.
tonight is streak night, would be good if they sparked up the bbbq , but i guess there is a problem with that too.
sitting in the tv room today, for my break as there is two people on  night shifts sleeping in my cabin, there are four of us in total, the other  guy works with me and hes having a nap on the other nech in the tv room. thinking of doing the same.

big mistake

Was having an alright day, for my first sheft back on days,  until about 6 tonight, someone was talking about there  days left, and really i havnt gave it much thought before, but i did a quick calculation, cause ive only been here 8 days that means i got 20 left.  jeepers was that a big mistake, as my mood went down hill, and just wanted to go home to see my little boy because i just miss him so much...  but i have to stay here and i got to stay focused,  the job is easy, putting up with some people and silly drama is easy its being away thats tough, rteally tough, i guess i knew i was going to have days like this. to be exspected i guess, that doesnt make them any easier.
  the food is ok, and the people like it but it could be better, but im not in the position to be able to make a change, so ill be glad to when i run my own camp.  i think when im away next time and i get to do my own thing, it should be different.
 anyway  i dont really want to write anymore depressing stuff so ill just go have a good nights rest and have a better day tomorrow.

fox poop

So there are lots of white artic foxes in camp,and there not scared of people, they walk pretty close to you, havnt got a good picture yet but i will. they are super cute, and not very big.
slept good today, its six o clock in the evening thinking of going to get some dinner. i switch to day shifts tommorow, so i get to sleep all night too, so im gonna try to stay up a bit to make sure i sleep through the night.
 two new kitchen crew arrived today, night assistence,  1984 must be having problems finding people as they have 0 cooking experience. should be interesting thou. new people arrive twice a week. keeps the place interesting because you never know who you will be working with.\
  the large Hercs arte coming in twice a night unloading fuwl and heavy equipment, before the ice melts and the big planes cant land on there dirt airway strip. they are stacking tons and tons of fuel barrels, plus last night to large pick up trucks, a grater tractor and a big water tank arrived by plane,  pretty neet seeing vehicles here when you know there is ho wat they could drive here.
im always amazed watching the hercs land and take off on our small air strip made of ice.
dinner time.

1 week

So i made it. one week finished, just three to go.
Last night went good, baked some bread, some cookies and did extra prep for the day cru.
Plus did the normal breakfast set up. sausage, ham, bacon lots of bacon, scramble eggs, hash browns, pancakes, french toast, boiled eggs,oatmeal, baked beans. plus we will cook eggs for them if they want fried or what ever. there is always a special too. today it was strawberry pancakes.
 i basically slept tilll six tonight so that was good guess im getting used to nights, although this will be my last one as come saturday ill be working days again. it was weird wakking up tonight and going to ear dinner, but felt good to have something in my stomach. tonight we had prime rib, roesti potatoes. rice, carrots, broccoli and some type of fish. i had prime rib, it was good.
 As for the medic part of our job we havnt had to do anything yet as there is a nurse here. there is a sister camp 50 km away from here and i guess the flu is sweeping through here so they exspect it to come here to, so far a few people have it, but im feeling good. the nurse went over there today by helicopter. so while she was away we were in charge of emergencies. nothing happened , well i was asleep. on saturday there are mock medi vacs. its my turn to be the lead so that should be fun.
well time to rest my eyes before i start my shift

What day is it ?

Well i havnt got a sweet clue what day it is, and in camp it doesnt matter if its tuesday or  saturday, its all the same. first night of baking went great, able to make anything i want so i made foccacia, brownies mollases cookies zuccini loaf, and more.
had problems sleeping this morning, so i took a gravol, was able to sleep a solid 5 hours so thats good. we will see how tonight goes, got a feeling im gonna be tired. so im going to try to sleep and hour or so more before i go in...i will try to write more tomorrow as right now im pooped....

remote toilets

Stop reading if you cant handle gross.
So at camp we have a large mens washroom mad of plywood and insulated. equipped with 5 private showers, 2 sets of washer and dryers. five hand sinks, two urnals and 6 side by side toilets. with plyood for stalls.
 most of the workers are gone before i get up in the morning so there is usually lots of hot water and pressure, i was suprised by the amout of presure for th e showerrs.
 but i want to explain the toilets. now the stall are right next to gether which wouldn tbe a problem except we poop in a bag not into water so the smell stays untill you r done and move it down the whole.
 I i will try to explain: the toilet looks normal but doesnt have the back water tankn and sits on a large whiet box. inside the  toilet there is a bag lined inside with a trap door where normaly the water would be flushed, this is where the waste sits un till your finnished, and on the outside of the toilet there is a lever which you pump with your feet about 6-10 times and it moves the bag and the waste through the trap door and out of sight.
we are told if we see a a red marker strip to call, the cleaners as it is time to change the bag.  thats right folks someone has to come and pull the bag out like a big sausage. gross  and like the rest of the garbage here it goes to the incenerator.
i know this wasnt the most pleasent story but it was one that had to be told.
happy flushing out there.

day four

I kinda get a day off tomorrow,  we are short a night baker, so i have beeen asked to work 4 nights to help them out as i have baking exsperience and i can cook breakfast. working 9-9 will be tough but oh well i can do it.
today for lunch we made roasted cornisdhe hens and perogies with all the fixins.. plus veg, potatoes, two soups, salads cheese tray , veg tray et.c
at this camp we make "grub" espeially at lunch these guys come in hungry and load there plates.
fo dinner we cooked pork tenderloin with apples and arctic char. roasted potatoes. vegetables, rice. etc etc.
Gettting to know some of the other workers in camp now. not just the kitchen staff. alot of them are friendly, but some only see us as peopl,e to feed them . as we are not hired by the exploration company. but really there is not very many of them.
i may have left the restaurant business but as in all kitchens there are always a little b.s to put up with. but im staying out of all the that and keeping my head down and just cooking, cause thats what oi love todo.
ill enjoy when i run a smaller camp, but ill miss this almost comercial kitchen, its pretty well equppped with 6 burner propane stove with 3 ovens, large and small flat top and deep fryers, banquet tble (steam table) 3 large coke fridges(for food) at least 6 deep freezers plus a large metal container called a "c can" like you would find on a train, for storage, we use that as a freezer as it is cold enough outside.
but there is a ton of food at this place and it all has to be stored somewhere, so its semi organized.  but for a rotation of 6-8 thousand pounds of food being delivered twice a week its pretty organized.
  thinking of trying to stay up a little later tonight so i can sleep longer tommorow, and try to sllep alot tommorow as well.
i get a free 20 dollar calling card as well from the exploration company, so i may try to call my little boy.  i think i am strong enough now to be able to handle it, my nerves are alot calmer and i am just enjoying the ride.
what also sucks is my phone wont charge, and its the only camrera i have. my other charger is at home. im hoping that Anne can send it to me. I am allowed to recieve mail here, and ive been told it actually doesnt take long. if you want to send me something let me know.
we have a heater in our cabin, under it there is a container of water, to help humoidify the place,  but man last night it was so damn dry and hot, i had problems sleeping.  going to get a big jug of water to have beside my bed to have incase i wake up dry tonight.

dad love's you eric charles.

day three

So i made it through another day. had a pretty good day, im starting to settle in alot more. i find myself not thinkin about getting out as much as i did the first two days especially at night. just finding as days go by that it gets a littl eeasier to manage your mind set and stay focus on the job and enjoying being here. This really is an incredible exsperience, so may as well enjoy it.
 Th e inuit people in general are very friendly, i only really know the girls wo help in the kitchen there are three of them. one of them has a grand son and she was showing me pictures of him, just a few months older in eric, he was very cute, big smile. they are a kind gentle people, hard workers. i am enjoying learning from different cultures for sure.
there are people from all over the country working here, at least two others from new brunswick. there are jjust not the workers an us but lots others, carpenters, nurse, support staff, office staff, maintenance. you name it there here.
i have been asked to help out the night bakere next week starting monday as i can bake. should be interesting, working from 9-9.  will also have to do breakfast.
any way gonna   drink a tea and go to bed.

day two finished

It,s cold here, but not that wet cold like we get at home. its a dry cold and not much wind, not yet any way. we keep some of the freezers and food outside. so i have to go out side a bit, i usually put on my winter jacket. but if i dont i dont frreze to death.
tomorrow morning we have mock med evac. just us 1984 in employee's , we will have them everty week so we are prepared  for a medical emergency. practice makes perminate.
dinner service is pretty relaxed and streched over three hours. but you have to be ready , because if a lot show up at one time, they dont like waiting and since they are the employess of the exploration company, our job is to keep them happy
 i was very suprised this morning with the presure and the heat of the hot water for my shower. i guess timing is everything most of the workers start pretty early.
 think im gonna go have snack before i go to bed, and watch some tv.  we have a few sattelite big sceens around.
ciao

day two( mid day break)

S0 except for order days we usually get a two hour break. but all depends how much work we gotta do.
today were ahead so im on breal. sitting in my bunk listening to chopteres coming in. thney are bring in pre made structures on chains for living quartes  which are  24 by 12 aprox? made of wood,  next weeek there will be 120 workers and not enough room for them all, right now were sitting at about 96? ish .
food, food food. ,man these drillers eat food the average camp will order in aprox 100 lb of food per person per week, thats 12000 lb offood next week. crazy stuff. although we do here get food brought in twice aweek  monday and thursday thats when new people arrive and people leave as well. .
 so i work 9-9 dont have to worry abou breakfast.  today for lunch,  two different soups,  3-4 salads. a starch vegetable and two mains. today for lunch was chicken parmesan and mac and cheese.
there is no spare of exspence here these guys can have all they want. there are snack and sandwich stations. i will be taking pictures and attaching them soon. 
i have to be careful to what i say and attach as i am under oath not to give cocordinates to where i work and there drills etc. THIS IS BIG MONEY. and they protect what they have. i work in gooselake but when you google it it is nowhere near here.
i miss my boy an awful lot. to be honest i try not to think about it alot and stay focused on what i have to do. i love my little family so very much and i know they are safe, and thats all i need to know.
i know im gonna like this type of work especially when i get my own smaller camp.
but when im home for my two weeks there is gonna be some super uninterupeted lovin of the family going on.

gooselake nunavut

welll i made it, im out north. Wow what a trip, this place is aamazing.
so on april 17th i flew from moncton to montreal to vancouver stayed overnight went to 1984 inc main office from 9 -12 for orientation, then flew to calgary to yellow knife. Stayed at the super 8 , had to be up for 5 30 to be picked up by 6:30 by the charter. to tell you the truth i was super nervous so only slept about an hour. the charter group picked us up and drove us to the airport. there they checked over our bags as no booze or drugs alllowed in camps. there was alot of drillers flying with me and a another 1984 baker. most of them were mid twenties, alot were hung over. we got  on small plane there was 14 of us, plus there was a cargo hold for the groceries we flew north east for about two hours, outside of the windwo all was white, just planes and lakes of snow. seemed very lonely land but very beutiful. we landed in gooselake, or i should say on the lake. escorted to the kitchen, where we were giving orientation and safety of the camp , which bunk we are in etc. there is aprox 100 people working here and there are 6 of us plus some inuit helpers that feed them.  there is two tv rooms one smoking one not, a sauna, a fitness room, washrooms.  toilets are kinda cool, its the bag system, yes the toilet s lined with a big bag inside, the burn all waste here. the food is good ole grub with no exspence wasted, these people eat good and alot. i sleep with 3 others in a wooden cabin. and its quite warm.
the land around the camp is pretty flat so you can see for far alaround but all there is to see is snow. very bright snow. evrybody is very friendly here.  so far i like it  and i will post more soon, and more in depth.  until then bye from out north.