Working , just plain working

So I am back working in BC, operating equipment. Went out to a job near Stewart Lake. Huge site (For me anyway), its 240m x 140m with at least a 15m fill on one end. Got 3 627 cat scrapers 2 D8s and 2 155 Komatsu's, I was running a 155, but now I am filling in for the foreman who went on vacation. The 155, what to tell? Well it was rough. Was stuck in a hard rock borrow pit and all I can say is that I felt really beat up at the end of the day. Leaving at 4:30am and walking back in the door around 8:00pm doesn't leave much time for socializing or rest.

I'm an idiot

Well it had to happen...all my talk of road rage and being a great driver (in my own mind) went out the window.

The first instance happened last week while driving with my brother, I was pulled up behind a car turning right at a stoplight, I was busy talking to him, saw the car move and folowed it....only thing was that I went straight through a red light....no crash, no accident, just lucky. The worst part of all is that I have Alberta plates and this was BC...My brother and I have an ongoing war over which province has the worst drivers. I just let Alberta down, won't happen again...or?

Ya it happened again just the other day, but in my defense it was a new stoplight for that intersection and I had only been traveling through it for a couple of months, my learning curve is rather shallow. Well I pulled up to this redlight,which I really didn't see, looked both ways and pulled onto the highway....ooops! that was a red right....lucky again!

The Oops Effect

Got the last of the Alberta work done, the drilling rig is up on the Edson well and the Pembina well is ready for its rig.

Pembina was fun...got a call from Calgary one day, shortly after what we all thought was the end of the Pembina construction. I remember a conversation after we had surveyed saying something like: `The survey had to be ammended to get it 100m from a dry dugout to avoid trouble with the EUB and licensing`...OK....3 weeks go by, I build the site and a week after that the surveyors arrive to restake....OOPS!! and hence the reason for the call. The site was built in the wrong spot and we have tresspassed....Its the very last thing anyone in my position wants to hear. Things weren`t all bad and in the end everything was fixed, but its one of those things that happens that make the stress meter go off the dial.

The Edson location turned out very tight for the size of the rig and the fact we have a 5000m3 pit alongside, not the optimal conditions, but with a little tweaking and an early cleanup of the surface shale pit, they may have just enough room to operate the rest of the drilling program...fracing when the rig is gone will be another story...I have a sneaking feeling that I will be back soon to modify the site some more...attached is a video of the 2 sites