may 15th home

So I got to get out of camp a couple days earlier, and I was ok with that. I am currently in the air on my way home somewhere over Hamilton.  Only an hour and half left till im home with boy.

My journey however started yesterday  9 am.  In camp I was told to take my luggage and put it on a skid for  loading on the plane. I was wait in the dining area until called for loading there were two planes taking out passengers aand cargo. Luckily I was on the first plane with 7 other passengers.

We were told to were our boots as there was slush on the ice,  yes folks and on the lake we go to a small 10-15 passenger plan for a slushy icy take off on a semi frozen lake, yeeee ha.

I was seated right behind the pilots I, so close I could touch him and see a bit out of there window,  and man those propellers are noisy, I should have taken ear plugs,  but after our very quick surprisingly so  ,shushy take off the engines quited a bit,  too loud to talk to any one, 

Two hours of white on white flight,  we finnaly start to see trees again about half hour from yellow knife.

I arrive around 12 oclock, and am taken to the Yellowknife airport after going to the office to get my itenary.,  find out I fly out at five,  so I get too wait at the airport for 4  hours till boarding time  which actually went fast,  fle “Canadian north” and was fed a full meal, got to be one of the last air lines doing that. To Edmonton  where I stayed the night at the quality inn., where I went to the hotel restaurant and got a hawain pizza and Caesar salad to go back to my room to eat and watch Americas got talent.(and to flush the toilet, so good to hear that sound again.

So wake up call for 5 am then boarded the plan to Hamilton  at 6:25 , I didn’t have to get off the plane in Hamilton, so here I am just a little closer to being home to see my little boy.  And momma too. I cant wait…

I want to  thank all the people who were reading and supporting my first adventure to the unknown. I am safe and ready for vacation.

grizzly

so they mke you watch a video, about bear safety.  its only 30 minutes long, and not that boring, i watched it a few days ago, you have to sighn a sheet stating  that you watched it. they also tell you not to bring food into your cabins, its funny cause i always see guys going with tons of jerky and chocolate bars.
any way so today i guess they had there first sighting of a hugh grizzly about fifty metres from one of the drills , outside of camp.  about a kilometer out of camp i believe.
 i went through my bunk and got rid of some food , dont want any night visitors.
so its saurday night, that means it was steak night. also means that tomorow is sunday and one more day closer to going home. basically four days of work and five till i fly out.

tired

ok so ive been good to atleast write a little bit every day.  but to day im tired , its 9 pm im in my bunk and i just want sleep. 6 days of work 7 till im out.

goodnight

7 days

So i think im aloud to count now.  i mean really i have worked 21 days in a row  between 10 and 12 hours a day. so yes if all goes well. i have 7 days left of work.  so i will be flying out thursday .
only a week  away. i am tired had along tiring day to day  so im ready to go home.
tomorrow im gonna focus on the experience instead of the work.
because i have met some pretty cool people. the inuit helpers have taken me in, and given me a name
ananatchuwaw.. well no i dea how to spell but thats what it sounds like.  it means fast runner, 
because they they were telling me about the animals in camp. and i was joking around with them that no animal would catch me , cause i would run like lightning,  they laughed a lot, then started calling me that. i like it..  they have also taught me good morning euooblagooc   good afternnoon  euoooblugooc and good night euoonuugooc   also hot oooonoch  cold ooonay   again  no idea how to spell it but thats kinda what its sounds like. 
pretty cool people , pretty cool adventure.  seven days..

of the ice

So they are starting to move things of the ice.  they were using it for storage, of lumber. oil cansa, fuel cans  etc.. but now they are clearing it. so it looks like they are clearing the runway.
no more airplanes today either so the people who were supposed to leave are still here, about 10-12 in total, most with pretty long faces. that also means that there is a few people just waiting to get in camp. probably just hanging out at the super 8 in yellow knife.
so this would be my 20th day of work, im tired but i know i can make it another week .
heading home the 17th if all goes well.
good night for now.

Cross your fingers

So two guys from the kitchen were supposed to leave today but because of bad weather, rain sleet and snow. no planes were able to come. so they wont be flying out till  tomorrow or in one case thursday.
i just hope when it comes my turn to leave that the weather is good and no delays.
i believe they are opening there land strip that is near by, because the the ice strip is melting and probably un safe. or atleast will be im sure there is still lots of ice under neath but a foot of slush as well.  i believe they will be helicoptering people people from camp to the land strip so that will be cool.
so everybody cross there fingers that i start my journey home on the 17th
i wrote a letter to the field manager askig about my next tour of duty so i hope to get that info soon aswell.

well i am just over a week away, and ervey day my llegs are getting sorer and sorer , im so glad to be resting in my bed at night. 
  to night for dinner we had turkey and lamb shanks both were very good.
tomorrow for lunch we have morracan lamb and couscous stuffed peppers and curried chicken.
goodnight for now  (cross those fingers)

planes

Man i wish i could down load video, as i have some great footage of two lare planes landing and taking off on the ice,  but it was so warm  there were huge puddles on the air strip. so when they landed or took off there was crazy amount of water every where.  it was one of the coolest things i have ever seen. i couldnt post video because there is not enough bandwith here, but i will be able to when i get back in a city or home. amazing to see a buffalo and herc sitting on the ice at the same time in water.
i had a good day today,  we have a new kitchen leader tommorow, that should be fun . justing getting used to the old one. any way only week and half left. getting excited to see my little boy. think im gonna spoil him when i get home.

any way here are some more pictures ....

emergency procedures

so the first thing we do if there is a medical emergecy, is to call it in or get someone too as it would take a plane and hour to get off the ground plus two hours to get here.
they will take a helicopter if really emergency but its two hours as well plus they would have to stop at the fuelling station. and depends on thge pilot weather or not yopu wopuld have to get out of the helicopter.
either way it would suck because not onlywould you have to wait to get the patient , we would have to go with them untill we reached the hospital or ambulance i guerss at the yellowknife airport.
  this was the main discussion at the mock medi vac   this morning.
we also practiced some one having a heart attck symtoms.  i had to lead the team this morning.
first we check abc  and vital signs,   he had hi heart beat and shallow breating also 10/10 sharp pain , center of the chest. (this is never good lol)  so we called in the medi vac procedure,  strapped him to the  a.e.d machine , gave him some oxygen and strapped him on the board to be putt in the helicopter.
that was pretty much it.    easy one really,  except if it was real. that would really sucked.

 its been warm the last few days  maybe like 0 or -1   lots of  mud around camp.

 ptarmigan  i believe.  not skidish and they make very weird noises

 yet anothert herc.  sitting in a puddle on the ice.

sunsets are very beutiful here , too bad camp is ugly.

after work walk

 the incenerary

 i took these picture around 930 in the evening, sun just setting.

medic

so we have a new nurse. the old one left,  we have another mock medi vac on sunday.
we get three new pwople on monday as well as three of our crew is leaving. it will be fun working with new people but ill miss some of the people. kind of get used to people when you work with them everyday.
so we had our order come in today another big one, man we have alot of food here. three pallets full im guessing 5 6 thousand pounds of it.....
anyway i am pooped to night, one more day worked one less till im home.

 these guys were just outside the kitchen. there is actually three of them, but only could get picture with two of them.

picture

 my bunk, milk crates for shelfs

 these two shots were taken at eight in the evening.  doesnt really get that dark till later. even then its not dark.

 snack central

 juice for snack central, plus coke, and milk fridges

low ceiling

So we had a "dash " plane come in this morning, and all the guys who were supposed to leave on it were sitting in the dining room waiting to go home.
 over the radio we could here them reporting that it was foggy, and that the ceiling was low and when the pilot tried to land he had to pull up cause he could nt see the run way, you could see the look on the guys faces each time they tried they were lossing faith about going home, so they tried four times , un till they had to abort and head back to yellow knife, which is  about two hours away.,
 tha that was at 830 this morning so  they went back unloaded people and cargo( we were exspecting groceries) and switched to two smaller planes.  both have just landed ( 1/2 hour apart)   the guys have left but so far no groceries.  and we need produce bad as we got shorted produce last order.  should be interesting if it doesnt show.
  now just sitting in the tv room again, resting till either the groceries come or 3:30.  im hopeing for 3:30.
 All in all ijust hope that when its my turn to leave there's no low ceiling.

 random kitchen shot.

the new buliding you see at the bottom of pcture will be rooms for new workers when they come. i guess it a long halway with small little rooms .  im happy in may cabin.

Half way

So ive worked 14 days in a row, 14 to go. So far they havnt changed anyting on me, so the plan is still to leave on the 17th, and if all goes well be home by the 18th.  but i really dont want to plan so far ahead as i know my luck and it will all change.
    it was prime rib tonight, with all the fixings plus tuna steaks with pineapple chutney.
everyone was happy. we always prep at least a day a head, so we made meatloaf tommorow and beef fried rice and egg rollls. oh and were stuffing chicken legs.
again tommorow is order day, but really we have so much food on hand its ridicoulus, except produce, as the last order got bumped till tomorrow cause they needed room for equipment for the drillers, drillers always come firstalways comes first
  saw my first large artic mouse, it was outside the kitchen, but im sure they will make it inside soon.  i guess this is normal for camps, well the buliding are all made from plywood, so it hard to keep them out,
 there are a few nova scotians in camp,  and enviromentalist from antigonish and a geologist from wolfville. i guess there is a few drillers from nova scotia as well but i havnt really met them.
so im tired and i think im gonna have a early night tonight.
I love you eric charles.

unlimited snacks

So in the dining room area there are two places dedicated to treats and snacks. one has like house made cookies ans squares and boughten cookies and sweets. and the other area has a fridge full of sandwich meats and cheese and stuff for making bread plus ridiculas amounts o f jerky, which is quite good, plus large shelfs full of , crackers, chips, peanuts, large jars of cashews, many types of chocolate bars, canned sardines, pocorn, vienna sausages, canned ravioli , granola bars of every shape and sizs, mr noodle.  pepperoni sticks, smoked oyseters.,  just about anything you could imagine that would be good for a snack or at least some body's idea of a snack..
So tonight one of the guys lent me his dvd collection, and after work i made two sleepy time teas and filled my bag full of coookies , cashews, granola bars, and a chocolate bar or two and im going to sit and my bunk of double thick foam and enjoy a movie on the lap top.
Now this is camp life.

phone home

so i finally got to call home. so nice to hear there voices .  i heard little boy laught when i spoke and then later, of the phone i heard him yelling daaaa daaa. no that makes me home sick and momma telling how much fun she is having being home with him.
      welll times is actually going pretty fast now. although the days are pretty the same. they are moving along. i slept in a little today 830. so i didnt have a chance for a shower,  but ill take one tonight when i get off work.
  for lunch today i made a creamy clam pasta withj egg noodles it actually went over really well, and left over ribs.  tonight is pork chops with apple gravy for lack of a better word and veal schnitzel. stuffing, croquette potatoe, vegetables.
time for a quick snooze before i go back.