Waiting

This time of year always make me feel like we're waiting for things more then usual. Waiting for the birds to return to the Arctic, waiting for the river to flood with spring overflow, waiting for the snow to melt, waiting to get out and do some boating, waiting for the mud to dry up, waiting for warmer summer days, and on and on.

Today I can say that some of the waiting is over. Most of our summertime birds are now back, the river began flooding on May 26th, and the snow has started melting but has a long way to go yet. The ice is not gone out of the river, so no boating yet, it has just started to melt enough to get muddy here and there, and warm summer days are still a ways away.

Waiting to get through spring break-up and into summer proper is probably not that much different then waiting for the changes to take place through any season, however, it is a bit more dramatic for us considering our transportation to or from our island home is extremely limited at this time and flooding is a danger every year.

March 28, 2010

I've been home from my job in Deadhorse for 6 days now and will soon have to leave for another stretch of work away from home. I've enjoyed lazy days and the company of Jim and our dogs.

For Jim and me, being apart is hard and time together is always precious. For the dogs, I come and go in their lives and they have gotten used to it. Jim is the constant in their world. Toby takes a day at a time VERY slowly now. He spends most of his time sleeping, usually under the woodstove or on his big pillow. In his old age, he can't handle the cold outdoors for very long at a time, and is getting unstable on his legs.

Ruby, however, is growing up and is a big bundle of soft fur and exuberence. She rarely leaves Jim's side inside or outside. She does get excited to see me when I come home though, and is willing to devote a portion of her time to me as well as her master. We play outside, go for long walks, cuddle indoors, and I enjoy burying my hands in her amazingly soft fur as she rests her head on my shoulder. With little effort (besides complete devotion) she has given us a lot of pleasure and carved a special place in our hearts.

She is so well furred, that she seems impervious to the cold and loves the outdoors. Here are some pictures of her enjoying the outdoors:

Spring Work Part II

Continuation of "Spring Work Part I":

It took 2 days to get to the first stop-over location, Kogru, where other equipment waited to be added to the train. This equipment had been stored on the Kogru runway over the off-travel season, due to spring weather complications last winter travel season. The train stopped each night along the way for crew to sleep, eat, and take care of travel needs. Like Winnebago travelers, the crew carried their "house" and all they needed with them. After a few day's layover at Kogru getting the stored equipment up and running, the cat-train strings continued west to their final destinations. One cat-train headed north to Drew Point and another south to the site on the Ikpikpuk River.

Logistics and support for all the people and equipment in these remote "camps" is a lot of work. One small cat-train is designated for resupply and runs back and forth almost constantly from the staging pad at Oliktok to the remote camps for the resupply of fuel and large items like replacement equipment. It usually takes about 2 1/2 days to travel one-way between the staging pad at Oliktok and Drew Point Camp, 3 days minimum to Ikpikpuk Camp. The Supply Train always has a survival unit (called the Escalade) with it for living quarters along the way. Storms can blow up at times and make traveling impossible, so the crew needs a warm place out of the storm to "hole up" until travel can be resumed.

Double tank fuel sled.

Groceries and other supplies, mail, small equipment parts, and personnel are flown to and from Deadhorse to the remote camps by aircraft. Runways were made at each site on lake ice, by plowing the snow off to make smooth landing surfaces. Marsh Creek charters Bald Mountain Air Taxi to make almost daily flights, usually with a DeHavilland Single-engine Turbo Otter. Bald Mt.Air's Twin-engine Otter has also been used on the job.

Plowing the runway at the Ikpikpuk site.

Single-engine Otter landing on lake-ice runway at Ikpikpuk.

I visited the Drew Point Camp on March 8th and it was a cold, clear day. I was able to see the camp, where up to 42 people can be housed, although there were only 25 people there at the time. Plus I got a tour of the pit operations, where all the work was being done to remediate the old well site, including the removal of pit material and 15 feet of well pipe.

Drew Point Camp aerial

Drew Point Camp 3-8-10

Teena & Marvin St. Clair (medic) at Drew Point 3-8-10

Both camps have medics that also act as weather reporters for flights coming and going. I've worked with Marvin on other slope jobs, so it was fun to get to see him on this job. That has been a fun part of this job, I've gotten to see lots of old friends from my previous years working in the oilfield. [This has mostly happened at the airport as people come and go to the slope. When I'm there on Marsh Creek errands, I often get to see friends from other companies.

The remediation work at the old well site at Drew Point seen from the air was only a small dark spot in a world of white.

Drew Point old well site along coast - Arctic Ocean beyond.

Drew Point Reserve Pit work removing material.

Marsh Creek introduced new side-dump sets with tracks for hauling the removed material on the overland trail to the Ikpikpuk Site. It is about a 12 hour round trip and will take many trips to complete the job. Drivers will be working around the clock until the job is done. Time is pressing and everyone and all the equipment must be done and off the ice by the end of April.

Steigers pulling side-dumps along trail. The new side-dumps had just reached their


1000 miles benchmark.

Keeping track of all the equipment on this job is part of my job and I hope you've enjoyed hearing and seeing a little of what I've been involved with this spring.

Spring Work Part I

I started working a new job away from home on February 1st. I'm doing mostly administration work, with a little expediting and housekeeping thrown in. It is in Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay area on the North Slope) for a company doing remote clean-up and remediation of old military oil exploration sites in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska (NPRA) this winter.

The company, Marsh Creek LLC, has a contract with the Borough of Land Management (BLM) to clean-up, support the old well site's "Plug and Abandon" crew, plus remove the contaminated gravel from a reserve pit near Drew Point on the Arctic coast SE of Barrow, and haul the material to another reserve pit well inland at another site on the Ikpikpuk River SW of Teshekpuk Lake. The coastal site is threatened by erosion and must be cleaned up before the entire site becomes exposed and contaminated materials fall into the ocean.

It is a major undertaking because the work is being done at an extremely remote area on the North Slope where no roads exist, so access is very difficult. This is in what Marsh Creek specializes. Using multi-unit "cat trains" pulled by large "tractors", whole "camps" are moved across the frozen ocean ice or tundra to the remote site. Everything is on sleds or have large ski gear. Everything needed to live and conduct the job is included in these "trains", from sleeping units, bathroom/laundry units, generators, water-making units, kitchen/dining units, office/communications units, fuel tanks, shops, incinerator units, and flatbed style sleds that carry heavy equipment like front-end loaders, trucks, heavy-duty outdoor heaters, and other machinery.

This year Marsh Creek has two remote "camps" in place. All work begins at Marsh Creek's shops and the home-base operations center ("camp"), as they're called on the slope, no matter how big a facility it is) in Deadhorse, where most of the oil industry's suppport businesses are located. Equipment and travel units had been gone over with a fine tooth comb in preparations for commencing the job.

Work at the remote areas couldn't begin until the ocean ice along the coast was strong enough to support the weight of the huge sleds and track vehicles moving along a predetermined route along the northern coastline, just off-shore. (The ice of northern lakes is another preferred travel surface, since that is much easier to travel on then rough tundra.) Marsh Creek has the necessary state and federal off-road travel permits required for ice trails or traveling across frozen tundra areas. Drilling holes to check ice depth is routine along the way before any heavy equipment can proceed., and careful aerial checks are made of the route ahead of time. Even "Forward Looking Infared" (FLIR) cameras are used to check out each camp site plus the entire travel route ahead of time for any possible polar bear dens, which must be avoided, even it it means chosing a new camp site or a long detour along the route.

When I first came to work, the first "cat-train" string was being delivered to the Trailhead near Oliktok by CH2M Hill trucks. (The sled units and tractors making up the "cat-train" strings do not travel on the road system, but must be hauled to the Trailhead by flatbed trucks. It is about 70 miles from Deadhorse to Oliktok on the permenant gravel road system.) A staging pad out on the ocean ice had been plowed clear of snow just off the road system at Oliktok. This is where all the equipment and traveling units were unloaded off the big trucks and then assembled into the cat-trains, sometimes called "strings". The trail had already been laid out with GPS coordinates and once all was ready, off the trains went. There were 13 strings each with its own power engine (like a Case Steiger track vehicle, or D-7 cat), plus a pickup truck on Mattracks leading the way.

Marsh Creek Cat-train moving along Arctic Ocean ice.

Cat-train string on the move.

Case Steiger pulling tracked trailer.

Case Steiger pulling Loader with Trimmer Set-up traveling across ice on a cold winter day.

Stay tuned for Spring Work Part II, and I'll tell you more about my job and this whole operation.

"Beyond" for sure, in Arizona

My sister-in-law, Denise and I went to Arizona for 10 days earlier this month of January, 2010, to spend time with my parents-in-law, Bud and Martha Helmericks, see my niece Faith, and also take some time to enjoy Arizona's beautiful natural wonders.

My father-in-law, Bud, just turned 93, and is in a full-care facility, so Mom Martha, Denise, and I would visit him most days after an hour's drive from Salome to Wickenburg. One visit was extra special since Bud's younger brother Jim and his wife Jemmi came to visit also, and we celebrated Dad Bud's birthday.




Martha reading birthday card to Bud. Bud brother Jim on left.

During our second week in Arizona, Denise and I rented a car and drove to Tucson.

We had time for only a few activities After walking the many trails at the Arizona Sonora Museum, we went and had dinner with my niece Faith Boice. This was quite a treat since we hadn't seen each other for many years.

Faith, Teena, & Denise standing

During our one full day in Tucson, we chose to visit the Arizona Sonora Museum and below are a very few examples of what we saw:

So many beautiful plants and flowers. There doesn't seem to be very many plants in Arizona that don't have some kind of prickly spines or thorns to poke you. We hiked around the many trails most of the day and saw so many things, including a live Harris Hawk demonstration , amazing mineral-crystal exhibits, a recreated natural cave system, and many animals and birds. As a brochure says, "(it) is a world-renowned zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden all in one place!"

The next day Denise and I headed back north toward Phoenix, but drove a bit east first so we could drive the Apache Trail, which is a gorgeous drive through the rugged Mazatzal Mountains, partly along Apache Lake, and past the Roosevelt Dam. We drove many miles on a narrow, gravel road snaking around, up and down through the hill tops and canyons. It was breath-taking scenery!

Between Denise and myself, we took over 700 pictures along Apache Trail and the AZ Sonora Desert Museum the day before. Here are a few more from the Apache Trail area:

Well, you'll just have go there yourself some day.

Till next time,

Teena

It has been getting colder recently...well below zero with significant wind chill. I had to bundle up in my fur parka and heavy cold weather gear to make the 6.2 mile drive out to the Pioneer Oooguruk Drill Site (ODS) for my spill response training yesterday.

Sometimes I pull a sled so I can bring a load of firewood home, but this time I drove my Skidoo without a sled. It is usually about a twenty minute drive. The stars were out, despite heavy frost falling like snow in my headlight. Once I get all my gear on, you certainly couldn't see who I was, unless you knew ahead of time. Even my face is completely covered with a mask and goggles and surrounded with a wolf ruff. I'll share a picture next time I write if I can remember to have one taken.

I got some Christmas lights up in our kitchen window. Then I added a little tree. This will probably be the extent of my Christmas decorating.

Adak Visit in Nov. 2009

I was on my way for a week’s visit to Adak to see Isaac, Crystal, and Rhianna at their home in Adak, on an island midway down the Aleutian chain.

I left home by snowmachine Monday morning, and drove the five miles across the river and tundra to the drilling pad where we park our truck.  I parked and covered the snowmobile, transferred my luggage to the truck, and then drove on east in the truck along the gravel road system to Prudhoe Bay. It takes about 2 hours driving time for me to reach Deadhorse, the service area for the greater Prudhoe area.  I had some errands to do, such as a stop at the post office, fueling up the truck, plus extra time before the afternoon Alaska Airlines flight to Anchorage. I generally leave the truck with friends near the airport.  In winter, I have no way of knowing how cold it may be when I return and I don’t want to leave the truck sitting in the Alaska Airlines parking lot with no way to plug it in and warm it up should the temperatures drop below zero.

I was headed to Fairbanks for a few days before continuing on down to Adak, and had to fly all the way to Anchorage first, then take a different flight back up to Fairbanks.  It is always a long day of travel.  My brother Mark picked me up and I stayed three days in Fairbanks with him and Denise.

I never have enough time in Fairbanks to do all I’d like to do.  First, was a short drive over to Jay’s home for a visit with Amy and my three oldest grandchildren, Natasha, Melody and Elisha.  It doesn’t take much arm-twisting to get Grandma to read books or play board games with the kids. They don’t get visits very often from the grandma who usually comes and goes from the airport, so it is special time for all of us.  This trip, I got to meet Charlotte, the new pet Ginny pig.  We had dinner one night and more special times over the next couple of days.

Jay took time off work to help me with a job needing done at his grandparent’s house.  My niece Krysta took time from her busy family of three boys to give me a home hair perm one afternoon, I went for my routine medical checkup, enjoyed visiting my youngest brother and wife, Eldon and Debbie, and squeezed in a few other activities.

Before I knew it, Thursday arrived and I was headed back down to Anchorage to connect with the flight to Adak.  Unfortunately plans got high-jacked when the Fairbanks to Anchorage flight got delayed over an hour and I missed the Adak flight by only a few minutes.  Adak flights run only twice a week, so the next flight wasn’t until Sunday.  I called my youngest son Aaron in Wasilla, and he drove down to the airport to get me.  I suddenly had extra time to spend with Aaron and Autumn, which turned out to be a pleasant change of plans.  Plus I got to attend a nice dinner with live music one night, a dinner with friends I hadn’t seen in ages, visit my sister-in-law, and other things in the Palmer/Wasilla area. 

Sunday I was back at the airport and this time I made it to Adak by late afternoon.  It is over a three hour flight to reach Alaska’s furthest west and furthest south town.  I took a few pictures as we flew by the islands southeast of Adak Island.   

 

Isaac was at the airport to greet me…but of course he would be…that’s his job. The Customer Service Manager greets and sends off every plane.  Crystal and Rhianna were there too, so I soon had a baby girl in my arms. I spent as much time as I could during my stay with Rhia.  We played, read books, and went for walks on the beach…Rhianna riding on my back, peeking around my shoulder and looking at all the plants, birds, waves, and other things of interest I would show her.  She usually fell asleep before we would get back from a walk.  Below are some of the winter beach plants, sand patterns, and outcrops:

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Isaac took Rhia and I on a drive one day and visited several locations I had yet to see on previous trips to Adak. It was a blustery day, so we stayed inside the warm vehicle for the most part.  Winter or summer, Adak has beautiful landscapes and so much to see and enjoy.  Eagles are everywhere.  I could practically reach out the window and pet this one.

Rhianna loves going for rides with Daddy as you can see.

 

Here are more pictures of Rhianna’s  first birthday party:

 

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My Adak time went by way too quickly and I was on the jet back to Anchorage 5 days after arriving.  This time I flew straight back to Deadhorse after spending part of the night at the airport.  I then had to reverse the order of my departure from home by driving the truck west across the oil field, transfering to my snowmachine and sled and then driving back across the tundra and river to home.  Another tiring day, but it is always so nice to have my crew waiting to greet me: Jim and two very excited dogs to have me back home.