Curare's Adventures

Another trip to the arctic

I returned to the arctic on August 4, but I did not return to the same camp, or even the to the same province. This job site is in the Northwest Territories and strangely enough I worked on a property 110 km north of here over 30 years ago. Geology, unlike a lot of other jobs, gyrates in an inward spiral and just because you have worked someplace and have finished a job does not mean you will never return in the future.

To most people, myself included, the word arctic conjures up an image of flat barren lands, rocks and lakes, but my current arctic is not like that, this arctic is in the trees and it is lumpy. It has been a few years since I worked within the tree line, and even though the trees are widely spaced and not very tall I do not like it much at all. One thing I do like are the rocks, or more correctly, the variety of rocks that I can look at. At the last property I was lucky to even see a rock, on this property rocks are everywhere and since geology needs some rocks, this is a good thing.

The camp consists of 6 tents and a supply shack, built on a peninsula 40 km south east of the work site. Every morning we hop in the helicopter between 0700 and 0745 for the 20 minute commute to work and every afternoon we are picked up between 1630 and 1700 for the ride home. In theory this is the program for each and every day, but things seldom go as planned.  On our second day in camp the helicopter broke down and all nine crew members sat around and waited. A day off is really appreciated once the work has begun and people are getting behind in data input, or laundry, or other personal stuff, but at the start of the job a day off means a lot of sitting around doing nothing  - that sucks.

We finally started the field part of the job on August 8 and our work followed the plan until August 16 when we woke up to torrential rain and a lot of wind. After eight days of field work this weather day was a welcome break and each of us spent the time catching up. Unfortunately today, August 17, the weather is even worse and since we completed everything yesterday all of us are are sitting around, watching movies, drinking coffee and snacking on delicious baking.

On days like today I am not very happy with my job and here are a few reasons why:

• my tent is very drafty and door blows open at least once an hour creating a wind tunnel
• the oil stove cannot keep up with the draft so I am sitting in my tent wearing a jacket and hat

• the path in front of my tent has become a slippery mud track making it a hazardous walk to the kitchen
• the hot water tank keeps blowing out so I can't take a shower (4 days and counting)
• eating too many cookies is making me fat

Other than that life is grand. 

My Mom Has Reached Her Heavenly Home

As many of you kow my beloved mother recently passed away. Although I have not lived with my parents for over 30 years her loss has been devastating to me and to the remainder of my family; especially my father.  I  wanted to post something on this site as a cyber-memorial to my mom but when I read what my Dad wrote I asked him if I could use his prose instead. So here it is - words from my father about the love of his life.

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Dorothy had a small fall in the bedroom in the middle of March and went to the doctor with what she was told were bruised ribs. Unfortunately after 3 weeks of continuing pain she was examined again and told she had broken 5. By then she had contracted pneumonia, had a partially collapsed lung with fluid in the pleural cavity and was admitted into the emergency ward on April 13 and placed on oxygen and antibiotics.

After 3 weeks of treatment her condition improved but the doctors decided that more investigation was required. A large carcinoma was found in her left breast that had metastasized into numerous lymph nodes and invaded her skeleton. When her vital signs had returned to normal she was sent home with supervision by the nurses attached to the palliative care program of the BC Health system as there was no treatment possible for the advanced stage 4 cancers.