Pics from Camp

Our internet is intermittent, so I hope this goes through.

Farmerman, is Indium an REE? There's a lot of demand for that these days. Where did you teach economic geology? My first boss was an economic geologist. I had a feeling from some of your previous posts that you were something to do with geology - and you're a geochemist - I will pm you to see if you've heard of one I know of, also a professor, now retired. It's a great field, isn't it, with some wonderful, interesting people.

CJ - we do have a Klinger! In spirit, if not in dress His name is Mike, but his Native name is Smallhead, and since there are three Mikes here, we call him Smallie. He's a sweet, innocent guy with a really corny sense of humour. The satellite is on the loo which is being used as a storage shed - we don't have outhouses this close to camp!

McTag, your wife is welcome any time - another woman would be great! That goes for you, too, Osso, Roberta, jespah, and the rest of your crazy ladies.

It was bitterly cold this morning, I tell ya. I actually had to wear gloves to walk to the cook shack.

I will post more pictures when the internet connects better. I hope this goes through. It's always touch and go.

Mame. Indium's a "**** metal" as we call it. Its in the "solder group" of the periodic AL, Ga, Sn,Th,Pb.Because they all have low BP's they are good as surface coatings for LCD's , so their all in demand (except maybe lead). Hell people used to eat off plates made of Tin, :Lead and called it pewter.I taught at Tulane , Penn State and I now teach adjunct at an Ivy (dont wanna snitch as there may be some students cruising). I hate Google and its intrusiveness.

Yeh, theres a lot of really great guys and gals in the science out there. I can get togetjher with a bunch of old colleagues that I havent seen in years and within a half hour were all involved in each others researche areas or exploration, or environmnetal projects.

Id do this even if I didnt get paid .

PS did you have any porcupines come and eat your radiator hoses in your vehicles yet? This was always a problem up there (below the tree line) and we hadda go with metallized radiator hoses so the stupid shits wouldnt kill themselves sodapopping on the coolants.



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No problems with the rad hoses as yet - we do have martens invading our tents, though.

Today:

We have one young guy in here who the others call a drill pig - he seems like a nice enough guy but he has a mouth like a sewer and tells dirty jokes and talks about sex a lot (hookers and experiences and so on). I usually just tune people out but he's got a loud voice and tuning out hasn't worked. Normally, you give it a week or so and all the alpha male stuff wears off and people get back to normal but he was so graphic (and loud). I was wondering what to say to him without being a "mom" or a "cranky cook", you know?

Anyway, he wanted a blender to mix up his Whey Maxx (or whatever) so I ordered one for him and it came in today. So today he asked if he could use blueberries to mix in with the whey. A lightbulb went on in my head... I said, "I'll make you a deal. You can have as many berries of any kind that you want if you can keep the conversation in the cook shack clean." He looked at me, grinned, and raised his thumb. I grinned back at him and tossed him the blueberries. He IS a nice kid.

I'll pm you now about the other stuff.

What other stuff? I want to hear the juicy stuff too....

Aren't you afraid that one of the guys gets too fresh with you, Mame?

Why the hell do you think she took the job, CJ? She's not doing it for the money or the adventure.

Oh! Call me by my middle name "naive".

yada yada yada to both of you clowns... As a matter of fact, I kinda took a liking to the driller with the missing front teeth and bow legs. Hope he makes a pass at me soon!

Can't dish on the juicy stuff, CJ - Farmerman is a very private person!

Ooh! No, no, no, no, no! I can't stand cold weather! Mame must be out of her freakin' mind! That looks like pure misery to me.

Hey, Mame! Couldn't you have volunteered at a camp someplace more like this?



E(looks pretty remote to me...)va

First ya gotta find the geld , then ya spend it. No geld in the atolls, unless of course , its from sunken ship.


Mama, ya gotta make tapioca pudding cause in camps I always had the cook make up a super batch of tapioca really thick and then wed cover it with rum.

That sounds positively revolting, Farmerman - no way! (the tapioca, I mean, not the rum)...I've always hated that stuff and if I hate it, they're not getting it!

Eva - it's gorgeous up here - If the internet is willing, I'll post some more pictures in a moment.

I know I'm a wuss. But you must be part Viking to be having fun there!

I'll just stay here where it's (unseasonably) warm, thanks. (84 yesterday.)

I can hardly wait to see more photos.

At two different times in my 'career path', I've had jobs that involved travel to the end of the northern roads in Ontario. I always wanted to get a job that involved fly-ins that were further North, but it hasn't happened yet.

My first co-op job in university was water quality analysis for the government based out of Thunder Bay. I learned a lot about ice augers that season.

After looking at the first set of pix you posted, I went downstairs and checked out my old down mittens ... the newer hydro issue down coat ... the fleece pants ... silk long johns ... the gear's still there ... and so is my love of the North and the snow and the cold.

I couldn't handle the enforced closeness to others in the long-term ... I still have flashbacks to a work term where we slept 3 to a tent and I'd wake up to people warming their hands inside my sleeping bag ... and ohhhhh the horrors of the four-seater outhouse

but the snow and the North ... I love it and need it

I can't imagine living anywhere that doesn't have the full range of seasons.

ohhhhhh, and winter camping ... I'm probably past it now, but we used to go out in minus 30 celsius temps, build small shelters, sleep in the snow, go into town to work in the morning

I sleep so much better when it's really really cold.

ehBeth, if you want to take a leave from your job, I could probably get you a job as an assistant cook. What is the longest duration you could stand and how far North would you go? hee hee that would be fun!

mac11 - funny - we're just outside a town called Houston but it sure isn't 84 deg. It's actually not that cold during the day - I run around in my t-shirt. It's the nights that are bitter. But like ehBeth said, just get your down jacket on and you're good to go.

Here are some more pictures:

On the way to the core shack and drill site:




Drill rig:




Me and the VP-Ex(ploration):




They guy on the left is the one I was talking about earlier. The other guy is a driller, too, if you can believe it. He's only 21!




For ehBeth:




Me with the requisite company hat:




I have to upload more tomorrow.

Here are two more for ehBeth:








And here's Smallie (the cornball joke teller) and the VP-Ex.

How far north? I wanna go North!

I want my own Tuk U t-shirt - the only time I seriously considered joining the military was when a friend's brother came back from Tuktoyaktuk, and I checked it out on the map.

there was a place Gzowski golfed for his literacy work

oh, and Whitehorse. Another place that interests me. Friends from Japan moved there after getting anthropology degrees at Lakehead U.

and Baffin Island

and Iqaluit

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and where the heck is Pangnirtung - and Rankin Inlet ...

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timing's my issue, but I'll poke around

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best little train ride in Canada - the Polar Bear Express up to Moosonee - past the end of the treeline

grab a gypsy freighter canoe from Moosonee into Moose Factory - and freak out the driver by screaming and laughing when he passes the officially-approved ride out to the island

Oh, those pix!

It really takes me back to the days when I was the only woman on the Ministry of the Environment field crew - the Christmas party was the only day of the year when they saw me out of my overalls.

Snow and ice and rocks and trees. Love it. I like the landscape. Forget the rolling green hills of anywhere - gimme rocks! I can blame the hamburgers for raising me on the edge of the Canadian Shield - soft landscapes bore me.

I was in a camp 250km north of Whitehorse And I was in the Eastern Arctic 250 km north of Baker Lake. I had a sister who lived in Baker then in Iqaluit and Fort Smith (or was it Simpson?). My mom lived in Yellowknife for about 15 yrs. Sucks to be you, doesn't it? lol Were you, perchance, an Icelander in a previous life?!

We'll find out the truth about Iceland if Clary and I manage to organize a trip there

Glad its all going so well mame. Watching with interest. The cold and snow is just so far outside my experience.... we have to stop harvesting here when it rains cause the topsoil gets washed away. Working in the rain sucks anyway .
Everything shuts down for winter here.

Now I know your a big girl and can make your own decisions but hoping for a pass from someone on the crew is fraught. When it breaks up it messes the whole job up.

Up to you though.