So... we now have five more drillers (Mike the Foreman is not drilling, he's "foreman-ing" for a couple of days while one of them goes on a break for a week) and they are really lovely, lovely guys. They are funny, and interesting, and polite - my God, for sure they're normal people in disguise. I just LOVE them! Any my little cutie-patootie, 20 year old Travis, is coming right out of his bashful little shell and cracking jokes - yeah, only now they're about me. Tonight he said (to much laughter and guffaws and he was blushing) that he has a girlfriend but really loves older women. What does he know - he's 20!! Is this ogioniok in my camp? What the heck is "older" to him, anyway??? lol
Jason the Potty Mouth and Manager Mike went head to head today about something but shortly after Jason apologized to him and shook his hand so whew! Nice!!! Good on him. He WAS in the wrong, after all. Oh the drama!
Conrad left this morning and I spent the afternoon baking biscuits and cookies. Road-builder Clarence came by for some cookies and a chat. Another really nice man. He and Manager Mike go to the same church and Clarence brought some bibles for the guys - lol. That's not going to go over very well but I appreciate the sentiment. I told the guys at dinner that we're having a bible reading after the safety meeting on Sundays - lol
Manager Mike went to town to get food and I discovered there's too much of it. I don't have enough storage space for 13 guys - ack. It's o-kay for 8 guys but not 13. I have a 7 cu. foot freezer (I think). I'm roasting three chickens tomorrow, and a roast on Saturday just because I have no room to store them. And you fish-lovers, you should see the size of the halibut fillets I got. Whoa. Everything is full to the gills and spilling over. We're only here 2 more weeks so I hope I only have to order milk and such from now on.
We are all saving our bones for the fox and our cans and tetra pack juices for Manager Mike's kids. That guy has a way of inveigling his way into everybody's something. This morning the Fox came down again and we fed him sausages and pancakes
It's a different Fox so we're all wondering if they communicate where to get food. They must. But we haven't seen Fox #1 back for a while, so ...??
It's getting soft out there - it's freezing at nights and early a.m.s but daytimes are a b*****. Soft, slippery, oozing MUD. Ick and ack and yuck.
I feel like I've been here three months but with these new guys, the morale has really improved and I could stay three more. There's something about a critical mass - surely you've experienced it at parties. And the new guys are a happy, laughing bunch (thank you! thank you!).
I thought I was getting 6 for breakfast at 6:00, and 7 at 7:30, but they were setting up the second drill, so I wound up getting 10 at 6:00 a.m. and wouldn't you know it - the generator slowed my alarm clock down again (as usual) and I was late - got to the kitchen at 5:10 instead of 4:30 so I had to rush around to cook for the 6 I thought I was getting, only to find a bunch more big behemoths in there taking up space. And then the 2 drill company owners came for the 7:30 shift, so I wound up having a passel then, too. Made 5 batches of cookies yesterday and maybe 3 cookies are left. Fortunately, I had three batches of dough in the freezer. Guess what I'll be doing tomorrow and every day from now on?
Speaking of now on, Conrad said April 4th we're out, but I know that if they start finding some good core, they'll stay as long as they can... yes, me, too. He would like me to cook for the summer camp, but I still haven't solidified my MinCon job, so next month i'll speak to Bubba about it and by then we'll know if we're doing a big camp (25 guys is big to me) or a regular one (this size)... eh, that's down the road.
Other than that... thinking of doing a trip in May, and field recon about a house in the Thompson-Okanagan for a house (for next year). I'm anal but I always research for a bit prior to...
And discussion point for those of you in the know, finance-wise... I was told that the US is heading for a major (aka 1929) depression due to the sub-prime issue and credit card lending. With the markets being in the debacle they're in and this on the horizon, the advice I got was to take all my non-RRSP holdings and sell them, hang onto the cash for at least a year, and maybe even three. Any thoughts on this? I am going to sell some because I feel there is a big risk right now. One of my stocks was worth $101K (to me) last August and I didn't sell (right at the peak, but who knew?) and now it's worth (to me) $30K. I can hang onto them for the long-term (dammit) but don't want to risk my "safe" money. What are your thoughts on this?
Okay, over and out from Camp. Probably have some more dishes to do so I'd best get up there.
Thanks for listening.
This is a roger, over and out, big buddy.
