New Canadians

Just when I get discouraged about my lot in life, (not really much to complain about) I run into a situation that shows just how good some of us have it.

I was driving across Alberta to another job last night when I started to pick up radio chatter on Lad 4, for those that don't know the CB is virtually unused in Canada and most industrial endeavours use a VHF radio with assigned company channels. The Lad channels 1-4 are common frequencies that everyone has. Well these two brand new immigrant truck drivers were talking (I could tell by what sounded like an Eastern European and maybe an Asian accent) about their lives so far in Canada, What was amazing to me was they were speaking in newly acquired english and I don't even know one language :-)

These guys were working out of Edmonton, in high priced rented and probably illegal rooms with no close family. Through broken sentences and somewhat broken understanding they were passing on advice to each other about what they had learned so far. One guy wanted to bring his girlfriend from overseas but something went wrong and she had broken off the relationship. The other talked about his roomates and what it took to get along. I had to laugh when they started to discuss how to pick up Canadian girls from the bar or the poolhall.

if there is a new way...I'll be first in line

Finished the latest job, well almost anyway. Need to go back on Monday and put a plastic liner in the big water pit built beside the location in the picture.

So here I am, sitting in my trailer in Edson, in the rain, wondering which way to turn next. I have jobs to do but the weather has stalled them.

Got some alone time. Normally alone time is good, hell I am usually my own best company, but this is starting to suck. I have been thinking a lot lately about work and life and really wondering if the path laid out is the one I want to take. On one hand I get to be fairly independent and travel all over the Canadian oilpatch, and the money is very good....but I really have to ask if its worth it anymore. The guy that brought me into this current position, did it so he could take a job closer to home. I think he made the smarter decision. The money....money... is it worth having failed relationships and relatives that treat you like long lost friends? I don't know, it hasn't been all that good to me.

The oilpatch is like this: Live away from home for weeks or even a whole season, live camp to camp or motel to travel trailer, basically itinerant labour in your own country. If you have a family, make damn sure they are behind you or it will only end badly, a bitter experience that makes for difficult new beginnings. Time to shit or get off the pot so to speak. I can bitch and complain, and do it as good as anyone, but it's not helping. The question that goes through my mind again and again is: Do I want a family of my own and not be around to be a part of it?

I have an opportunity to work much closer to those I want to be around, but the lure of the current job is hard to break, I have been doing this aspect of my working life for 12 years now and I am more confident in it and my ability to do it well than I have ever been. I am good at it, I like it. But its making me dead inside. I have a hard time trying to care about anybody. Maybe the bitterness of my first go-around has not left me yet, probably only time and a few hard decisions will make it go away.

So far so good...so what?

Its been awhile and I have some èsplainin to do for not posting a single blog in the month of May. My bad...just got busy and it seemed like all the same sort of work as before.

Anyway I built a location up north, close to home for me and it was very cool. I got to hire some old friends. I also picked up the new pickup. And I pulled the travel trailer 793kms south to start another project near Edson Alberta.

It rained so much when we finally moved the drilling rig that if I could I would kiss my own ass for a little fotuitious foresight...I hummed and hawed over trucking in a scraper and finally did just that. Those wonderfull rubber tires made all the difference between a nicely packed lease and one that could have turned into a gigantic muddy mess when the monsoon came.

The new pick up is nice even for me. Its got the new 6.2l ford gas motor and that seems allright, would you believe I have already put 8000km on in a little over 2 weeks? It has heated and air conditioned seats, rear diff lock, a rearview camera and just about power everything else. Very nice...but I did test drive the new ford diesel and OMG!!! that thing has to seen to be believed...power like you know what, but just a bit more than I was prepared to spend.

Well pulling the trailer down was an adventure, the F250 can pull it at 120kmph but the mileage is just disgusting, about 8 miles to the gallon....on the other hand when not pulling a boat anchor it is very respectable and has a cool little mpg real time gauge that is definitely having an impact on my bad driving habits....awesome tech they have these days. I did have 1 blow out on the trailer so that was fun...I wondered why I could not get past a 100kmph and why was there all that smoke behind me...

Well thats about it this time around...The Edson job should last another week and then its either a job in Smoky Lake or I will head west to Grande Cache and start a few cleanup projects...looks like a very busy summer ahead