Night shaft

Wow it's been a while since I've updated this. Read my story about my last night shift!

I finished up night shift early, end of the hole and I did the downhole survey. I stopped the drill after 299m at 1:30am, still in diabase. Funny thing, I popped up the survey on the PDA real quick to show the driller, and it was super fucked up, it kinda shifted over in two kinks, so it looked really bent. I told the driller it was probably wasn't the hole, just the machine and he was like "I hope so!"

It was actually kind of a cool night. There is a film crew in camp to take some shots to update our website movie and they have all sorts of high tech gear. They came out at night with chris and martin to film the night drilling at around 10pm. The set up and film some shots of me logging core with my stupid headlamp and earmuffs on. There was a really awesome aurora while the were filming too. They finished up and when they left, I was talking with chris and martin and got the go ahead to shut down the hole in a few runs. They said they would call one of the guys to bring the boat over so I could come back early. Then martin asked me "You've been in the boat at dark?" and I told him I'd been in boats at dark, but not on this lake. I reminded him it was almost a full moon (waning) and we went ahead with the plan.

So at the end of the night, I took the survey tool and my backpack and went down to find the boat (they said they'd leave it at the old dock). I walked out from the drill and realised I'd forgotten my headlamp. I kept going anyways, and made it to the bottom of the hill. I got to a split in the road before I realised I didn't really know how to get to the old dock, I'd only really taken the new dock. I got to a T in the road, and I (wisely) took off my back and put down the survey tool to scout. At a fork in the road, I just walked straight ahead, right off into the bush towards the lake. I walked up to the lake, but it was getting pretty wet, and there was no nice beach I could poke my head out and look for the dock from. I was in thick bush trying to walk up the beach navigating dead trees, stumps, moss and water holes. I was getting a little worried out lost in the dark when I heard a noise. I listened closely, and I heard it again. Of course, all sorts of thoughts went through my head like bird, then bear, but I realized it was the high pitch squeal of the boat rubbing against the dock in gentle waves. I listened a bit more to make sure it wasn't just two trees rubbing together, and then started following it. I walked the the bush checking the shore every once in a while for about 300m, avoiding water holes as I went. I realised I was getting close to one of the drill's pumps, and the motor was running, but I could still hear the sound so I followed it. Finally, I made it to the dock (it really is old, and a little fucked up and slanted), saw the boat, an ATV and a generator; I was back on the damn road. I walked back down the road (It was the right bend), grabbed my gear and loaded up the boat.

When I got into the boat, I noticed I'd never been in it before and I had never started that engine. a white Johnson 15 horse 4-stroke sticking up out of the water. It took me two minutes to figure out how to put it in the water (almost lost a finger), and then another two to start it up. I threw on a life jacket. I pushed myslef straight with the paddle and noticed it was super shallow. I untied, pushed out, and floated out into the dark. The moon did help a bit on the lake, but zinc Island was invisible. You need to see that island to navigate back because there are reefs in the lake. I went up the shore for a bit, thought I saw a brown shape, and just went for it right into the lake crossing my fingers. Just before I got to it, I saw that I was passing zinc island: I was going the right direction. I pulled up to camp, noticed there was a boat already on the dock (the one I'd used before damn it), so I pulled her up to the second dock. It took me two minutes to figure out where the kill button was, but I did and unloaded the survey tool and my bag.

It's really beautiful outside, a nice night for a boat ride (minus the wind).

Moonrise

moonrise over thor lake. all photos so far from my iPhone

Other times

The last few days have passed quickly. The reason being... wait a second! I'm in a damn rut. Anyways, the days are honestly flying by. That can be expected when all one does is make measurements and type numbers into a computer. On the plus side, the drill is a full hour long quad ride away, making visits pretty fun. Due to damp weather, the core racks have become mosquito hong kong. And I guess that makes me godzilla; I have certainly ruined a few mosquito's day. In other news, the runway is officially finished up here and the inaugural flight took place. Not the inaugural inaugural flight with all the investors, that's on wednesday. Today's landing was to make sure that none of the big spenders would die in a speeding fireball on wednesday, as that might attract bad press. Progress is occurring on my personal project as well... no, not the improvement of my golf swing, but my masters. The rocks are beginning to speak to me. And not in an insightful and helpful way, but more of a creepy, disguised-informant-voice-on-the-telephone-or-in-a-documentary kind of way. It keeps trying to get me to do a backflip from the roof of the core shack, but I think it just wants to laugh at me when I land on my neck. Honestly though, the masters project is chugging along.

Hot Weather

thank you mr. freeze!

The last few days have passed quickly. The reason being the work has been going smoothly. I think that terrible heat from "down south" has crept up here over the past few days making for some real scorchers in the high 20s. That may not sound like much but it's all relative. And considering I woke up the other morning and could see my breath that makes it pretty hot. Fortunately, we've got all the amenities including a freezer stocked with freezies. Upon reflection, although I would have chosen the largest size anyways, I realised I've never had a Mr. Freeze that wasn't Jumbo size. Anyways, they feel small to me now in this heat.

One real perk of living up at thor is that when it gets too hot at work, I walk over, pull on my swim trunks and jump in the lake, all in a matter of 2 minutes. I have unimpeded lake view, access and front, with a dock, a boat at my disposal and some bare rocks which would be perfect for lying on to catch some rays should I so choose. In fact, the only thing between my front door and the lake is the giant fire pit with benches. In all honesty, you couldn't possibly beat this for bunk or vacation home.

I was thinking the last few days, I wanted to address anyone who thinks living large in the NWT in the name of mining is less than ethical. That's fine, I hear that all the time, but park your Prius and pick up your iPhones to take a look at what our competitors are up to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coltan

if Avalon could stamp industrial metals with little polar bears they would just to avoid association with these guys.

Zinc Island

zinc island on a peaceful evening

With two germans soon to be in camp, I remain happy with the outcome of the second world cup semi-final match. Gloating co-workers can be pretty draining. Still impressed that we managed to take a half hour to watch the match taking place a couple of hemispheres away, sitting in a canvas tent facing our lake. Prime rib for dinner and good evening conversation made for a solid end of the day.

Inanimate objects

So for various reasons, my arrival at camp depended on the availability of an inanimate object. They were waiting on some part to arrive to yellowknife so they could send us out together to camp. It not a great feeling, but once the part and I were on our way I forgave it. We were lucky enough to fly up front in a turbo beaver to Thor.

Upon arrival I saw few changes from last summer, mainly the km long airstrip being built nearby. The project manager and main geologist also have two new tents to themselves in a recent subdivision called "the Westend". There are way more vehicles in camp which are generally not missed when taken. We now have a newish truck, 2 Kubotas, 3 skiffs and a half dozen ATVs (that's not including all the equipment being used to build the runway. There are quite a lot of new staff, mainly operators and labourers as well as 2 new dogs, or "Yard Foremen". Luckily there are a lot of familiar faces, people who for some reason decided to stick around since last summer.

My days are spent logging core. Both of them. The drilling is quick and space is limited, so theres a lot of moving of core boxes. We stack them high to save space and also for fun, but I don't always share my coworkers confidence that the piles won't collapse into heaps of splinters and rock. So far so good, but you won't catch me with my foot under the stack.

The weather's been mediocre-to-bad. We've had moments of sun but no sunny days. One of the downsides a wet summer is the bugs, which have lately been enjoying all that blood I was saving all year for them. And they didn't even say thanks. I hear it will clear up later in the week, but then again the weather men always dangle carrots for us civilians to give us hope.

Even the weather

There is a shocking similarity between my current travel delay and my last one. It is not surprising that my luggage missed my Air Canada connection in Edmonton considering the 15 minute layover (kudos to my travel agent). But what is surprising is: being put up in a hotel that's white and looks like a giant house, grey clouds overhead, only a short drive from the airport, within walking distance of Walmart, being surrounded by small trees and parking lots, having my ears filled with roars of big trucks and watching a world sporting event on TV... all reminiscent of my time spent in Atlanta in February.

And what lessons did I learn in that last setback? Taco Bell food doesn't not look or taste as good as it appears on the ads, and pack vitals in your carry on. It's looking like my luggage will be dropped off with our expeditor this morning, and I should be on my merry way to camp by 185 cessna by midday.