Tuesday- it's the new Wednesday!

     At least it is here and at the front desk! With the shift from the bulk of the guests being in the construction side to being in the operations side. Construction arrivals are on Wednesdays, but they will probably all be gone by the end of the year, if not before. It's just craziness now on Tuesdays. And of course, the darn subcontractors just can't get together and we still have the problem of hundreds arriving on Tuesdays, and then hundreds of others departing on Thursdays. So of course on Tues and Wed there are more people arriving than rooms inside so.........yep, checking them into the trailers.
     On another topic, Tom and I went into town yesterday. I was telling people that I was going to go in and asked if they wanted anything. That gave me quite a list of things to pick up for other people, as well as my own list. We made good time in though, got the shopping done quick and Tom decided that we'd go over to the Newfie Club for dinner. I think it's actually called the Newfoundlander's Lounge and Dining, or something like that, but affectionately known as the Newfie Club. I had a down-home dish of pan-fried cod with scunchions, peas and mashed potatoes. I don't normally eat much fish, but this was delicious. And scunchions - well....first off they look about the size of half of a crouton. They are very crunchy. What they are is fatback - or like cubes of a thick cut of bacon that is fried with the fish to give it flavour, then piled on top to eat with it. Now I'm sure that's not very good for you (hahahaha) but very tasty. Apparently they like to eat that for breakfast too.
     Aimee arrived back at camp today. She left London in the pouring rain, and got back here to -13 degrees and snow. At least she didn't get the -30 that I came back to! Speaking of temperatures....on the ride to town yesterday, Tom was telling me that he heard the winter was supposed to be like last winter here. I said...and what's that like? He said not bad, kind of like this weather. Last year they only got to -40 and only for a short time. ONLY -40. He said when he first came here it was in the -50's and for a couple of months. Had to shut the whole site down due to the temperatures. But he said -40 out here is like -20 at home. Well -20 is pretty darn cold to me!! Yes I am so looking forward to experiencing that!
     The new meal access cards take effect tomorrow. Those little tiny card that's about 1/4 of the size of the regular room keys. Everyone will be required to scan in to the dining room now, and the lunch room. I think it's a good thing, it will keep people who are not staying at the village from getting "free" meals. Nobody likes change though, so sure to be lots of complaining going on!
    
    

Grey Cup Sunday!

     OK, the only reason I knew this was because of the flyers around camp advertising for the Grey Cup party in the bar this evening. They were bring up pub food for the occasion and I thought what the heck, I'm up for a little grease lol. They had battered zucchini and mushrooms, jalapeno poppers, several different varieties of chicken wings, onion rings, pizza, nachos and of course, fresh veggies to round it all out :) Sarah had 3 cakes, one was an awesome replica of a football, and the other two were even more awesome replicas of the opposing teams' helmets.
     Had a fire alarm this afternoon. People were heading into the gymnasium and some of us thought rather than fight the crowd to get in there, we'd go outside, it looked like a fairly nice day and it stopped snowing. As soon as we got outside though, the H&S guy came out and herded us back to the gym since it was -15. That's the cutoff temp for having to go outside. That killed about a half hour until we got the all clear sign to go back to what we were doing.
     So I changed rooms again. LOL I haven't even been here a week yet and I've been in 3 rooms. I think I explained why I moved the first time (can-mate with the 6 or 7 alarms to get her up starting at 2 am since she's on the 4 am shift) and I moved into the adjoining room with Amanda, which was great. Then on Friday a fire warden room in C became available. It's right across the hall from Lena's room so now we can have our tea (some day when we're not on opposite shifts again) and fireside chats and not have to travel too far to get home :)
     I really can't believe I packed up all my stuff twice, and unpacked and settled in three times in 5 days. Oh boy. At least now I will be able to keep this room for up to 14 days when I'm off. I've already got a shopping list starting of some little things that will make this more convenient (like a plastic drawer bank and some dividers or baskets for the shelves in the cupboard. And this room is a little bigger than the last 2 I was in. Not real big like my favourite E319 room, but not bad. Only problem is the guy that had this room for the last 4 years was a smoker and I'm sure he smoked in this room. So I had to air out and Febreeze and I got rid of the duvet and the pillows and got new ones and I talked to the maintenance guy today and they are going to run the ionizer to clear the air when I go home next time. Next I'm going to try to switch out the curtains and the desk chair. Look at me go!
     Everyone seems to be in a kind of downer this week. I want to get something going to bring up the spirits. Not sure what yet, but I love a challenge!
     So if I had to guess, I'd say we have about 6-8 inches of snow. A nice white blanket over all the dirt makes it look great, and of course on all the evergreen trees is very pretty too. I'll try and get a picture in tomorrow.
Sunrise and sunset comparisons:
Stratford -      Sunrise 7:33, Sunset 4:50
Ft. MacKay - Sunrise 8:31, Sunset 3:54
So we are down about 2 hours of daylight here so far.
     It does feel nice that I sort of have a "room of my own" even if I have to battle out the stale smoke smell for a while! I know people....I'm sure I can sweet-talk some of them into helping me out, LOL.

If it's Saturday....it must mean prime rib

     OK, some things are predictable. But there are always some nice surprises thrown in for dining choices at Albian. It seems like there is always someone who likes to complain about the food at any place, but I think our team here does a great job for the number of meals they have to serve!
     The weather has moderated for a few days here, with the temperature not far below freezing. I see from the forecast that we are in for some LOW temps coming up next week though! Still not much snow, just a light covering. It's nice though, covers up the ubiquitous red dirt when you look outside.
     Well, I changed rooms Thursday. My can-mate told me that she was starting 4 am shifts and needed about 6-7 alarms to wake her up, since she was such a heavy sleeper. Hello! I am a very, VERY light sleeper and that gave me a moment of panic. Luckily, Amanda had just told me that her can-mate moved out and that room was open. So, me and the luggage cart made a few trips down the corridor from E3 to G3 to the new room. Another small one, but closest dorm to the main core building is nice. I did well, and got everything unpacked and put away by Thursday night. Then, guess what!!??!! Lena came to me yesterday and said the fire warden room across the hall from her is available! So, I asked the big guy if I could take the room, and even offered to do dishes and maybe even wash towels to make up for the extra cost of TWO room transfers and he gave me the go-ahead (no laundry or dishes necessary :)) So as soon as the new room is vacant and ready for occupancy, I'll be moving it all again. Hopefully, this is the last time, as having a fire warden room allows you to keep it up to 14 days when you are away!
     Amanda left yesterday for her days off so I am in the back on reservations for this week. We had 2 new people start on front desk this week, so staffing is much better! However this also means I'm working 7-5 every day, and I won't get gym time. However, I did anticipate this and bring a yoga mat and my exercise ball and weights so I can actually work out on many of my assigned exercises right in my room. Oh, the reason I won't go to the gym is that after 5 pm the gym is full of guys working on their muscles and frankly, I feel a little uncomfortable. I figure if I can get some walking in on the track and some of the other exercises in my room, that's way better than nothing!
     Lena and I are on opposite shifts right now, so we don't get much of a chance for chit-chat. I sure miss that! Especially when I am having a frustrating day and just want to vent. For some reason my first few days back I was really kind of cranky and a lot of things were getting on my nerves. I was so happy that Lena was back as she is such a light-hearted person and always gets me laughing. That's great for the endorphins that make us human beings feel better. Nothing like a good laugh to chase away the crankies!
     Since it's Saturday today, things will be a lot more relaxed and I am determined to make it a good day! After all, I will be moving rooms for (hopefully) the last time for a while!

Always an adventure....

     Oh yes, it seems I always have a story to tell, especially on travel days. So this is the story; I left home about 5:45 yesterday morning. I pretty much had everything packed, so it was basically just throw the suitcases into the car and take off. Oh wait! I forgot to get gas on Sunday, so I didn't leave enough time for that. I thought....I have to stop and get some. None of the gas stations I passed were open that early. When I got to London, I went past the airport looking for a gas station, as I didn't want to leave Aimee's car for Aimee to pick up (half hour after I was leaving) with no gas. I almost turned around, then found a gas station open. Ok, get gas. Now to airport. I was already checked in, so just had to drop off bags. Flight to Calgary is 4 hours long, so I want to pick up breakfast, but now I'm really cutting it close. I stopped at the little restaurant before going through security, and ordered a breakfast burrito to go. This woman working took the LONGEST TIME EVER to put this burrito together. So long, that I had no time to eat it. I stashed it in my purse and headed through security. Then I had to explain to security why I had a breakfast burrito in my purse. It wasn't a liquid, so they let me take it through, and just in time to board the plane. So now my burrito is sitting in my purse until we take off and I can get into my stashed carry on baggage. It was still warm though, and I'm sure made my seatmate jealous, since I was eating breakfast and he wasn't. Then the captain gives us updates on the weather in Calgary. BRRRR!!!! It was something like -27 degrees in Calgary, maybe colder, and LOTS of snow. Now when I left London it was quite balmy at 6 or 7 degrees and a light rain. I left my winter coat at camp here because I didn't figure I would need it at home, so now I'm thinking wow, I'm really going to be cold once I get to Ft. Mac and have to drag my luggage out to the parking lot to find Aimee's other car, which she left at the airport for me. I also knew I'd need boots, so I wore those on the plane. I also remembered to bring warm gloves. However I only had a spring jacket on. About halfway to Calgary I thought I'd better get my gloves out, and lo and behold, but if I didn't lose one somewhere along the line. So now I only have 1 glove, my spring jacket, and my winter boots. Oh yes, my warm hat was left at camp too, although I did bring a scarf. I had a 1 hr layover at Calgary airport, then a short hop to Edmonton airport for a 2 hour layover, then finally the short hop to Ft. Mac. I thought well, 2 hours in Edmonton, surely I'll be able to find a shop there that has gloves. Well once in Calgary, many flights were delayed and/or cancelled, because of the very cold weather, and also lots of snow. So had to sit and wait and wait until my flight was finally called. Good thing I had a 2 hour layover in Edmonton! Ok so we get on the small Dash8 plane to Edmonton, and once everyone is on and seated (oh yes, small plane, you walk out on the tarmac to board. Did I mention I had a spring jacket and only 1 glove??? Also that it was almost -30???) and the captain makes an announcement that the plane doesn't like the extreme cold, and it wouldn't start and not to worry, maintenance crew was on their way. Doesn't everyone want to hear that?? Wow, so now I'm really starting to get nervous that I'm going to miss my connection to Ft. Mac. I asked the flight attendant, and she said I SHOULD be ok, and that if it's really close I can probably just run through the tunnel to get to the gate in Edmonton. I have no idea what that means, but ok. The mechanics arrive, get the plane going and off we go. Once in Edmonton, (again, small airport, get off on tarmac -30 here, spring coat, 1 glove) I run to my gate and find out that flight is delayed. And some earlier ones were cancelled and they were offering ground transportation by bus to Ft. Mac to those people. I'm thinking---fantastic! If I have to take a bus that's another 5 hours! I wandered around the shops while waiting for word on my flight and went into this Great Canadian Outdoors store for gloves. Well, you'd think a store called Canadian Outdoors would have gloves. Nope. They had some on order. Hmm. Ok, actually the flight was only delayed by half an hour so now I'm on another Dash 8 to Ft. Mac. We get word it's -30 in Ft. Mac. I get my luggage and then have to drag my luggage (with only 1 glove) out to the parking lot, find Aimee's car, and pray that it starts since she didn 't have a cord to plug it in. It started, thank goodness! I thought I have to stop at WalMart before I go back to get some gloves! I was driving with my gloved hand on the steering wheel, and when I needed my other hand I had to put my jacket sleeve over it because the steering wheel was SO COLD!! I drove to the Wal-Mart, and on the radio I heard that there was an accident on Hwy 63 North (that's where I had to go) and both lanes were closed until wreckage was cleared. I thought OK, I'll kill an hour in Wal-Mart, that should give them time to clear it up. When I got out, radio said the road was open again but slow because of backed up traffic. Well, from the time I (tried) left the parking lot at Wal-Mart, until the time I hit Hwy 63 (which is 3 blocks away) it took almost a half hour. Then another half hour or maybe more until I finally got out of town and on the way. So it was 7 pm when I pulled into the camp parking lot. There was not one place available close to the doors so I could drop my luggage off, so had to park WAY in the back lot (good thing I stopped at Wal-Mart for those gloves!), and also I couldn't reach ONE PERSON that I could leave my luggage with so I could go to the front desk to check in and get my room key, so I had to drag ALL my luggage from the very back of the parking lot, all the way through A pod, into the core building to get my key, then drag it all the way back to E dorm and up to 3rd floor. THEN I had to run down to Lena's room and get the stuff I left (my work clothes and shoes) as I had to work at 6 am today. THEN I realized that my badge was nowhere to be found. I had it to get through the security gate, but by the time I got to my room it was not anywhere to be found. I figured I'd just deal with that today. Needless to say, I felt it was a Murphy's Law kind of day. And thank goodness it wasn't windy, because as it was with the windchill it was feeling like -38. If you were converting that to Fahrenheit, it would be almost exactly the same. Darn cold!!!!! Frostbite within 5-10 minutes. Oh and I also realized I left my cell phone charger at home! Ugh...however today I found a couple of people that had the same type and they said they'd loan to me. I use that as my clock and my alarm so I really need it!
Anyway, I worked a split shift today (6-11am, then 5-10 pm) and again tomorrow and I know I'm rambling but such is my life!!

Welcome home Ryan!

     Yesterday at the airport I started chatting with a nice young gentleman and found out he was just returning home to Windsor area from Afghanistan. I really wanted him to feel welcome and know that there are people out there that appreciate the sacrifice he's made to be there for 8 months. It still makes me so sad and furious whenever I read about more people killed over there. I was very happy that he was returning home to his family and was also remembering young men coming home from other wars that were not warmly welcomed when they got back. No hero's welcome for some and I hate to think that would happen in this day and age. Just wanted Ryan to feel welcome and appreciated and also know that we are all glad you made it home! I hope your adjustment goes well and everything works out for you.
     So the wait at the airport wasn't all that bad. I wandered around to see what choices I had for dinner without leaving the secure area and having to go back through security again. I settled on a restaurant right at the gate where I came in, haha. Had some spring rolls and dumplings then found out there is free wi-fi. I found my gate for the Windsor flight and went online only to find the wi-fi may be free, but not all that great! I had a book so settled in with that, sent a few text messages and also met and chatted with Ryan. Found my car (used the remote starter to pinpoint it, lol) and was at Tina's by 12:30-ish.
     I got to catch up with Caden for a few hours, now Tina and I are going out for lunch and going for a pedicure.
Oh wait, I do have to describe my ride to the Ft. Mac airport yesterday. Mark the driver was supposed to take me in, but he was running late from his earlier errand so the company ordered a cab for me. Well, first of all the cabs are not allowed to drive into the camp so I had to drag my luggage down the dirt road from the core building to the security gate. Also, I didn't bring my big winter coat because I wouldn't need it here yet. So I was in a sweater. It was snowing. Ok, so luggage loaded in the cab and off to the big city, haha. Well this driver was a very nice man, difficult to understand because of his accent, but nice. However, he was the worst, absolutely worst cab driver I've ever come across. Weaving all over the road and ALMOST rear-ended another vehicle. It was a very very close call, he slammed on the brakes and skidded around the truck, but scared the life out of me (and himself, I think). It didn't scare him from plugging in his i-phone and had it sitting on his lap, ear phone in, and wandering over the center line....I finally just closed my eyes. I figured if I'm going to be in an accident, I don't want to see it coming. I actually gave him a tip when we got there. Not much of one, but I was glad that he didn't kill me.
     Anyway, I'm home now and scheduled very tightly so may not get another change to check in until I'm back in camp!

Going home tomorrow!

     Well, going to Windsor tomorrow, but that's like home. It's family! Can't wait to see my grandbabies.
     So I got to work at 4 am this morning, and not too long after, a guy comes to the desk and he locked his key in his room. I ask, "What's your room number?" He says "II12". Now II trailer is the 2nd farthest place from the front desk, and he had ID on him so I could just give him another key that he can bring back later. The trailers have doors with regular locks that require a hard key, not the swipe kind that the indoor rooms use. I check the keys, and there is only one left for II12. We can NEVER give out the last key. So guess what, that means I have to go out and unlock his door. I did come prepared with my coat, hat and gloves though. It was cold, but not windy at all and I thought quite nice. Then we get to II trailer, the 2nd furthest one from the front desk, way out in the back 40, and his room is on the far end of the 49 room unit. OK, I open the door for him and head back. Well, heading back by myself I started to think maybe this really isn't a wise idea to have a woman out there in the pitch black night, by herself, in a camp full of men and the occasional wild animal. And what if I slipped and fell and hit my head? I had a radio, and my cell phone, but things can happen! I get back to the desk, put my coat, hat, radio, keys and etc away and another guy comes to the desk. He left his key in his room. No i.d. What's your room #? I ask. JJ37. OK, now that one IS the farthest away from the front desk. Lo and behold, no i.d. on him and also only one hard key hanging in the key cabinet. Oh well. Suit up again and head out. Then the same potentially scary trek back by myself to the front desk. Then we had several bathroom lockouts, and also calls about alarms going off in someone's room. I took some, Hilary took some, and I got all the cardio I needed before 7 am today. I spoke to the Health & Safety people about going out to the trailers in the pitch black night alone, and was advise to get security to accompany me next time. I thought, hmm. Security always has a lot of staff, why can't they do the lock outs??? I may have to pursue that when I get back.
     So I am just about to head to bed. Almost everything I am leaving here is safely stowed in Lena's room, just waiting for towels in the dryer. Tomorrow I'll work 4-10 and the driver will be leaving about 10:30 for town. Almost every minute of my week off is scheduled somehow, but I haven't seen my house in 2 months so should be nice!!

Civil Disobedience cat, hahahahaha

     I thought that picture was so funny, as a former cat owner who's tried to put a harness on one. Teehee. Sorry, I'm going home in 2 days so getting a little goofy.
     We are starting to use what's called a MAC - or Meal Access Card, on Dec 1. It's just a small card with a bar code that everyone will have, and to get into the dining room you'll have to scan it, and also when checking in it will just have to be scanned to bring up the person. It will make life easier, and also stop people that aren't living at the village (only working here) from accessing meals. As there is no cost to guests for meals, if anyone helps themself to a steak or prime rib dinner, it's costing the company money. Anyway, the point of my story is that two gentlemen came to get their new cards issued. I got them scanned up and entered, and one other front desk staff tried to give them the booklet we printed out to explain how they work and why we're implementing them, but the one guy wasn't interested. I said the most important thing is that if you lose it, it's $25 to get a new one. He started walking away, saying "I'll tell you something, the food in this kitchen is not worth $25, I'd rather have starvation". Well, first I was stunned, and the other guy looked embarrassed, but then my protective instinct kicked in and I called after him..."Excuse me!!" but he kept walking. I wasn't done yet and if I'd have had one of those flip up things to get me out from behind the counter quickly, I would have been after him to pursue the matter. I thought maybe I'd like to take him to give his opinion to our head executive chef Brian....I would have LOVED to have witnessed that conversation.
     Another interesting thing that happened was when I went to the gym this afternoon, who came in but Sarah the baker. Running on the treadmill. I thought, aHA!!! Now I know how she keeps so tiny. She told me that she runs anywhere from 5-10k every day. Made me feel a little better when I enjoyed a piece of her scrumptious cheesecake at dinner tonight. I don't know WHY that made me feel better, but it did.
     Weather is still pretty nice here. I got in this morning at 4 am, and shortly after, I had to do a room lock out over in the trailers. And I didn't bring my coat down when I came in. I told the guy I'd meet him over there, but had to go grab my coat first. So I had to run up the stairs to the 2nd floor walkway over to A pod, go to F dorm, up another flight of stairs to get to 3rd floor, run down to my room, grab coat, gloves and hat, then down to A dorm, down 2 flights of stairs to first floor, and out the back door of A to cut across the parking lot to the trailers. But my shortcut back in to A dorm door was locked so I couldn't slip back in that way, but it wasn't windy or anything so I decided to walk all the way around the building and go back to the front desk through the front doors. So I had a nice morning workout before 5 am. I need a nice warm scarf though, to go over the face. I can't imagine what that journey is going to be like at -40.
     Only 2 more sleeps.....can't wait to see Caden and Kylee!!!

What??

     The whole week went by without a new post?? I guess I just get caught up in the day to day stuff and forget. Yes, time flies when you are having fun. I started to pack things up to leave for home on Monday. Now that my friend Lena has a fire warden room that she can keep while she's out, I can keep the stuff I'm leaving behind here. ESS staff were given first crack at taking the fire warden rooms that were empty, provided they promise to take the fire warden training when it comes available, so people were snapping them up. The perk is you can keep your room up to 14 days so never have to pack up, unless you'll be gone for longer than that. I was tempted to, but all the "bigger" rooms were taken, and I didn't want to be permanently in a smaller room, so I thought I'd just bide my time and see if something comes up. Also, I wanted to stay here in A pod, and I really like E 3rd floor. Not that I'm picky or anything, haha.
     The word from security this morning was there were a couple of wolves on the premises. According to the girl on night staff, one of the security guards came running in looking for the bullhorn to make noise and scare them off. I miss all the fun.
     I've heard that the northern lights have been seen around midnight or so, but I am never up at that time to check it out. Hopefully at some point this winter I'll get to see them. I've only seen them once, and that was in Zurich, in the winter, and it was an incredible show. Oh wait, I saw them one time with Thor driving back to Winnipeg from Victoria Beach, but it wasn't as big of a show as the one in Zurich.
     Speaking of winter....the sunrise & sunset times are as follows:
Stratford    
Sunrise:     7:13
Sunset:      5:02
Ft. MacKay
Sunrise:     7:58
Sunset:      4:19

The temperature hasn't been too much different, although it is pretty cold at night, around -11 and sometimes -15. I took a walk out to the trailers for room checks yesterday and my face was frozen! I'll have to get a balaclava to keep the frostbite off it!
     Well I am on the 4 am shift now until I leave, so it's definitely early to bed, early to rise!!

Monday, Monday

     Well really, the days of the week don't mean too much here, haha. Unless it's Tues-Wed or Thurs. :)
     Had a bit of a snowfall today. Enough to cover the ground, maybe an inch. It did last through the day but I think it was mostly slush by suppertime. I checked the sunrise/sunset times for comparison again today....

Stratford sunrise 7:08 am
sunset 5:06 pm

Ft. MacKay sunrise 7:50 am
sunset 4:26 pm.

     Haven't really got much to report, just plugging along. One week until I go back home, well actually to Windsor :) Then to Stratford for a couple of days, then to Michigan, then back to Stratford for 1 night and fly out of London at 7:30 the following Monday morning. Whirlwind days off again.
     It's slowing down a bit (theoretically) in camp here. There were some layoffs of the kitchen and housekeeping staff. They are still trying to forecast what the holiday season will be like. Some companies work right through, some shut down. It will be hard to say at this point how it's going to work out. Right now I am scheduled to be at camp for both Christmas and New Years, but I think they will be giving me vacation days to stay until Dec 27.
     I have been enjoying a cup of mint tea in the evenings before bed. And of course, having to get up to use the bathroom every couple of hours. So tonight will just be half a cup, see if that makes a difference. I just had to buy that big 18 oz mug haha. In case you are wondering, I just walk to the end of the hall where the water cooler is, it dispense cold and boiling water. Not allowed to have electrical appliances in the rooms here. I guess a fridge doesn't count as an electrical appliance :D
     Well our rec director Hannah is back from her rotation today. Of course now I feel guilty because I haven't been following her carefully and personally crafted exercise plan. Tomorrow I get to sleep in a bit as I don't start work until 9 am. Of course, I'll be missing breakfast but I'll tell you, that certainly won't hurt me!! I am really starting to enjoy the scrambled egg whites, I never thought I would. Oh well it will have to be a bagel at Timmie's if I sleep in!

Saturday, Nov 6

     That is unbelievable. My life is flashing right before my eyes! Soon the U.S. Thanksgiving and Aimee's birthday will be rolling by. Oh speaking of birthdays, my grandmother is going to be 97 in a week or so. Sorry gram, to give the secret away, but I am so lucky, proud, and blessed to have you in my life! A remarkable lady. Miss you!!!
     Well the week of being so busy and so short-staffed has been taking it's toll. Lena and I got into the giggles the last couple of days. You know, when EVERYTHING is funny. My word, people will be thinking we're nuts, or in one guy's case, thinking we've been hitting the bottle heavily. We were just heading in a door, he was just coming out, and we had the giggles about something or other. It was obvious what he thought the next morning when he ran into Lena at the front desk and asked her how she was feeling now. Of course, that turned into something really funny too. What's really making me giggle is that Amanda is back tomorrow to come back to work on Monday. That means I can get off my butt at the computer all day and start running around again. Maybe even get outside. I have gotten outside a couple of times this week, but I'm ready to put my apron and running shoes on and get moving!
     So apparently there is a national poppy shortage, and we got poppy stickers to wear instead of the traditional. Hmm. I'm not quite sure about this. On the plus side, no straight pin to be poking you or always falling out. However, how many times I can take this sticker on and off my shirts is another story. I'm thinking by Remembrance Day it will just be a memory :)
     I really can't believe the weather we're having here. It's been unseasonably warm. Many days, warmer than back home. I had one guy check in and he was telling me that he had been working here for 3 years to the day. I think it was on Nov 2. He said his first day here 3 years ago, it was -40 when he arrived at camp. It's been staying above the freezing mark, into the double digits some days. I looked at the forecast for next week and I see lots of days with snowflakes on them though. Winter will soon be upon us. One of the girls here lives north of here in an isolated communi, and all summer can only fly home, but once winter sets in, the ice roads are available and then she can drive home. That was pretty confusing for me, but apparently there are lots of rivers and no bridges, so there is no road until everything is frozen over. How crazy is that?? I told her I expected to see her on that tv show about ice truckers.
     So I'm off to work, hope everyone has a great day!

Spectacular Sunrise

     Wow, it was a beautiful one the other morning. Thank God for Lena calling attention to it, or I'd never see the great skies! It was just spectacular skies. The colours had faded a bit (it changes so fast!) by the time I got the idea to run outside and take a picture, but I thought the pictures turned out ok.
     So another Wednesday has come and gone. More of the same. Funny story today...I wanted to throw some laundry in during the day when the machines are usually available and I had no more clean work shirts...so I went running up to my room and there at the end of the corridor is the drug dog making her rounds. So how does this look......kinda like I'm running to get to my room before the dog! I quickly grabbed my laundry basket and headed down to the laundry room so they could see I wasn't trying to hide anything before they got there.....and I was so fast I left my key in my room. Great. Now I have to ask them to open the door for me, which they were almost to my room anyway, so they opened the door and let the doggie in to have a sniff around before I went in. She didn't find anything interesting in there so I was safe for the day :) A few guys weren't so lucky however, and got packed up and sent home. You have to be clean to stay in camp! Everyone knows that before they get here, during orientation, and by example. Don't know why some of the guys have to mess up their opportunity here. Oh well.
     So extra short staffed for another day yet. And getting a little goofy. Someone found 3 balls that are squishy like hacky sack balls, but round like maybe you'd juggle with them. Anyway, I claimed them and started using them for stress relievers. Like you throw one as hard as you can at the door, or the wall. It blows off steam really well, doesn't bounce very far or do any damage and if you ACCIDENTALLY happened to hit someone in the head....wouldn't do any injury! I demonstrated to a few people (just on the door and wall, not any heads) Chef liked the idea so much he asked if he could have one. Of course, I need to stay in his good books (you get special treats when you're in the good books) so I let him have his pick.
     Other than that....it was warmer here today than it was back home. They had the furnaces going full blast in the corridors and it was too hot. I wanted to open the windows, but after the last time I did I thought I'd better restrain myself.
     That's it for today!