stubsadventures

Being a girl working in the oil patch is not something that can easily be explained, kind of one of those things that has to be experienced. What I can tell you is that is likely nothing like most people would think.

Since I have been in the industry I have worked at a couple of different kinds of facilities and done a variety of jobs. I started off being a grunt really. Being green (totally new) in this industry is like walking around in a foreign country and not understanding a word of what people are talking about. For a gal that worked with kids at a non-profit organization, this was a big leap and I would say getting into this industry was one of the steepest learning curves I have ever tackled. I worked at a sour gas plant first, which meant that it processed natural gas that was poisonous.  Work here was interesting to say the least and was a great place to learn all the things you should never do. Over the years, I got to try out all the different trades, learn the tools and some of the process of the facility. I got to do some badass jobs like  jack hammering sulphur inside a vessel for three 12 hour shifts. I had a 5/8″ drill bit go into my hand which I still have a wicked scar from and also jammed my hand while operating a backer and crushed three of my knuckles. Sometimes, you have to learn the hard way.

After working at the gas plant for a year, I headed up north to work in Fort McMurray. This was the first time I had ever worked in a camp and had ever worked away from home. Back then, I spent sometimes five weeks at a time away from home. Working in one of the largest refineries in North America put into perspective the power of this industry. There were streets and intersections, it had its own fire department and once I even got to see the huge trucks that work in the mine. I stood on the side of the road as it drove past and stared up at it like it was some kind of celebrity. It was at this plant that I felt the coldest temperature I’ve felt to date, -47c. It was so cold, when the wind would pick up, your eye lids would stick together. I was wearing so many layers, I couldn’t get my arms down by my side or bend my arms at the elbow. Touching your own face was damn near impossible and when it was time to climb the never-ending ladders, well… imagine trying to do that in what was the closest thing I’ll ever wear to a space suit.

My job requires me to work one week on and one week off. We fly to work on a 37 seater airplane, which is updated from the 18 seater we used to fly on when I started at this company 3 years ago. We stay in camp while we’re here and the easiest way to explain that is really similar to dorm style sleeping. In camp there are lots of things to keep you busy at night, we have an awesome gym, archery range, driving range and basketball courts that are converted to an outdoor rink in the winter time. There can be bears right outside the bunk doors and horse flies that can fly 60km an hour and evoke fear in the hearts of those they chase. You only need to get one bite from them to know that you don’t want another.

Since working maintenance, I have changed over to the world of health and safety. I am a senior lead at the site I work at and when interviewing people we make sure they know that our company is not for the faint of heart. We work with a newer way to mine oil called SAGD, where we bring bitumen up from thousands of metres below the surface, process it a little bit then send it to a refinery.

One of the most important things I have learned since I have started working in the patch is the difference between the two types of pretty that girls can be classified as. We can fall into either town pretty, or site pretty. I would hope that either are self-explanatory, however I will say, the standards for site pretty are damn near nil. When a new girl is starting this is a standard question for us to be asked and the sad part is, we answer without missing a beat. The truth is, we classify guys in the exact same way.

Always fun in the patch.

Stubs.

When writing this blog, I have always tried to keep it more about my adventures and less about me. I’m a pretty private person in general and thought that it would be more fun to keep the mystery alive.

Recently however, in my pictures there has been a man popping up who has not been present in previous posts. It is true. Stubs now has a boyfriend.

There is a comedian that I love name Jeanne Robertson and she refers to her husband as “left brain”. I don’t know what it is about that but it cracks me up every time she says it and I just love the concept. On our recent adventure he and I talked about what such a nickname might be if we were to come up with one for him. Luckily for me, he has a great sense of humour.

After throwing lots of options around, we very naturally came up with Sidekick. He came up with it actually, which makes it that much funnier. In my job, I am always making decisions, giving directions and leading. In my personal life, I could care less about being a boss, which is funny that he would chose that. I much more often feel like his sidekick and I’m completely okay with that!

Either way, Sidekick will be making an appearance from time to time so it was about time to explain the pink elephant in the blog. He and I have gone on some pretty awesome adventures so far and the sky is the limit with this guy, so this could work out to some great blog material.

The great thing about Sidekick is that we do the the things you only see in movies. In Tofino, we found this tiny chocolate shop (http://www.chocolatetofino.com/) where they make the best chocolate you could ever imagine. Something else that I haven’t mentioned much is the fact that I’ve lost 50lbs since January and that hasn’t come with a diet of these things, that’s for sure. But, it was vacation and they were delicious. Two nights in a row we picked out three chocolates and had them with red wine and coffee. Worth every ounce of guilt that comes with them. Plus, I figured it was good karma for supporting a local business. Highly recommend going in the shop if your around Tofino.

And the adventure continues…

Stubs.

The title really tells most of the story. It took us 41 hours to drive from Tofino to Drumheller. You may or may not be amazed at all the little things we found to stop at between here and there. Canada really is filled with little towns in the most obscure locations with the most amazing stories to tell. What a trip.

We knew we wanted to drive along highway 3 that follows the southern most part of BC and skirts the American border most of the way. The drive through the mountain passes and valley farm lands was beautiful. Before stopping for some sleep in EC Manning Provincial Park, we had a close encounter with a bear. We first pulled over and were the only ones around. We watched him for about fifteen minutes before he started to cross the street coming straight towards my truck. I was hanging out the back window snapping pictures. On his way across the street, another vehicle pulled up scaring him back. Eventually he got up the courage and did go across to the other side of the street and came around the side of my truck, almost hiding himself from the other traffic. I was hanging out the window about 2.5 feet away just snapping pictures. You could hear him breathe in and out of his snout and every once in a while he would look up into my eyes. It was a once in a life time experience. Except now it’s happened to me twice, and the other time was a polar bear in the arctic.

After stopping for the night, we hadn’t been more than 2 hours into the drive when I found someplace I had to stop. Hedley, BC is one of the cutest places you have ever found. The old mining structures up high on the hill were what first caught my eye but I couldn’t resist the “heritage downtown” sign. After taking some pictures, we stopped for some breakfast (see pictures of red eggs), then explored the little town.

After that we happened upon a town called Midway. Cleverly named because it is at the halfway point between the BC border. Also, we passed through the tiny town of Greenwood, BC. Driving into the town I recognized a stack I had seen while researching BC ghost towns years ago. After a bit of navigating, we got as close as we were going to get and I bush whacked to get to the remaining structure to snap a few pics.

Overall, amazing trip to the west coast, as always. Damn I love this country we live in.

Stubs.

Well, it happened. Today, I finally got my red canoe into the ocean. We launched earlier in the morning in hopes of avoiding the wind. We got moving well and Caper was none to pleased about finding herself on the water, again. It was also the second time I have ever gone canoeing with mittens on. The first time was about five days ago.

The longer we were on the water, the stronger the winds got. Since we had crossed a bit of a channel, we hung out by an island and had lunch then decided to head back. There were white caps on the way back. It’s one of those situations where all you can do is paddle and hope that the water isn’t as cold as it looks if you do tip. Before leaving the island, we got everything “tip ready” and I don’t do that very often. All was good though and the sunburn was well worth the trip. Even a friendly seal swam around us for a few minutes checking us out. When we pulled up to a beach, we watched tiny little flat fish the size of a finger nail swim away. Although brief, the maiden voyage for the boat was a good one and at least did not require the assistance of the Coast Guard.

Tomorrow we leave our beautiful ocean view cabin at Crystal Cove Resort ( http://www.crystalcove.ca ), which I highly recommend. Right on Mackenzie beach, the hot tub on the deck makes sure you leave more relaxed than when you arrived. The adventure kicks off again as we drive back through the Rockies on our way home.

On the road again.

Stubs

Stubs.

Today, I must blog about the pizza we made for supper. See attached pictures. Ingredients included but were not limited to:

-Gluten free pizza crust with garlic baked into it

-“Fancy Sause” made of mayo, apple smoked bourbon bbq sauce and honey mustard

-Spicy salami

-Ham

-Broccoli

-Onion

-Chopped Garlic

-Blue Cheese, Grated Cheese on top

-Tomato

-Jalapeno

-Pickled Ginger

-Pineapple (on one)

-Spinach

Also, we checked out Long Beach. The pictures from there were awesome and the sights were beautiful but the wind was oh so crazy! Caper found a new friend and the two of them ran around chasing each other at top speed for about a half an hour. Once we got  back to the cottage, Caper fell asleep at 7pm and slept through the night. I heart Long Beach.

Stubs

Today was actually a sleep in day, those are pretty rare for me on vacation cause I’m usually way too excited about what I have planned for the day to actually sleep past 730am. Today, as relaxing was built into the plan, there was no need to jump out of bed.

We started the afternoon with a hike on the Wild Pacific Trail around the tip of the Ucluelet coast. This 2.6km loop was really pretty with some great views of the coast and the angry ocean. From there, we did two 1km loops through The Rainforest Trail in Pacific Rim National Park. These were boardwalk trails that passed by skunk cabbage, huge trees and the lush green colors that come from a rainforest backdrop.

I have been cooking the best food on this trip. The new best thing I have loved cooking with is pickled ginger, like what they use for sushi, except it’s not pink. That stuff is good on so many other things, for example, salads! Try it in a spinach salad, you’ll thank me. I am also loving the fresh fish the coast has to offer, being landlocked in Alberta can make a costal girl go crazy with fresh fish cravings, so I’m trying to get my fill.

Check out the pics.

Stubs

I’ve done it again. I’ve been a terrible blogger. I have been up to all kinds of fun adventures and not sharing them. I had a long period of stress after the loss of a coworker and I couldn’t wait the few weeks until Iceland so, I planned a road trip designed to melt away stress and refocus. This did however mean a safety conference on my days off but I would be crazy to complain about a free week in Banff and I’m pretty lucky to work with awesome people, with the backdrop of the Rocky Mountains, dare I say, it was fun. The week was spent hearing speakers, talking to sales people and a hike through a mountain valley where we encountered some pretty fresh cougar tracks and yes, I went snowboarding again.

Considering the fact that I had never gone in my life, to have already gone down three mountains is awesome. So far I’ve done Kicking Horse, Lake Louise and then Sunshine in Banff. Every time I have taken a few crazy tumbles where I often wonder if I’m too old to be learning something that extreme at this stage of my life. I have started to use my front edge a bit but it scares the crap out of me, so I end up going down most of the mountain in a seated position and you can only imagine how long your quads can stand that for. There is nothing like spending time sitting on the side of the mountain looking at mountain peeks all around you and knowing there is no way but down.

After Banff, we travelled across the Trans Canada Hwy toward the coast. This has to be one of the most beautiful drives in the world and this was the first time I had driven it when I didn’t encounter a blizzard. After a long day of driving, we were looking for somewhere to stay. Just past Kamloops, we took a turn off on a dirt road, drove 12km and ended up on Roche Lake Provincial Park. There, we found a place called Roche Lake Resort ( http://www.rochelake.com/ ). Nothing like walking into your cottage and seeing dead animal heads on the wall. Caper would just sit in the chair and look up at them with these sad dog eyes, it was classic. The second day there, we took the canoe out for just its second voyage. The lake was awesome but it is spring after all and when the wind picked up it was chilly. Caper of course was completely unimpressed with being out on the water, as always. Two nights were spent there and it was another Candian gem, the one gripe was the camper who left his generator running all weekend. So inconsiderate. People, turn off your generators when you’re not using them, we will all appreciate it.

After after visiting with family and friends in Victoria, I have finally made my way to Tofino for the first time. The drive to the coast is long and very windy. We stopped to walk around Macmillian Provincial Park, also known as Cathedral Grove. Here, you will find some of the tallest and widest trees in our country. Standing next to the giants gives you a sense of how little you are in this world. Walking around the loops in the park gives you the opportunity to feed off the energy from these incredible trees. In my quest to lay eyes on as much of Canada as possible, this was a must see and didn’t let me down. Tofino is a storm watchers paradise and the big waves never disapoint. Anytime you’re by the ocean, in my book, is a good time. Now, I can hear the waves crashing as the wood fire place is keeping me warm. I’ll be hitting a few trails today and then another epic canoe adventure tomorrow. Life is good, more blogging to come.

It was time. It had to be done eventually. Stubs had to learn to snowboard. This past week, I finally took the plunge, strapped a long thin board to my feel and went down the side of a mountain, a really really big mountain.

Day one involved hitting up the “jelly bean run” at Kicking Horse. Getting to the top of this bunny hill involved getting onto and staying on a “magic carpet” and I have to say, mastering that thing was probably the hardest part of the day. The second hardest part was getting up with the board strapped to your feet, which more than once involved me getting up then falling instantly forward from too much momentum. After six runs down the bunny hill, I was able to get to the bottom without falling and had pretty much gotten using my back edge down. I had also gotten down the art of throwing yourself onto your ass when your body wouldn’t take you to exactly where your head had planned. This, it turns out, is a very important thing to learn early.

Day two, we figured a lesson would do a lot of good. We met up with our guide Jonny who took us back to the bunny hill to access us. After watching me go down once, he said I was ready for the hill. This is when I really started to question his sanity. I was all talk on the bunny hill but there was only one way to get off that mountain once you took the chair lift up and that is down the steep icy slopes.

At the hill, there is something you will witness that I am sure is done only to made adults such as myself feel intimidated to learn this new sport. Something that throws caution to the wind and makes you wonder when you ever got so old. And that my friends, is three-year olds with skis strapped to their legs flying down the mountain. These children have no fear at all and cruise down the mountain, like it’s no big deal, flying by you like you are nothing more than a minor inconvenience in their day. I talked to this one little guy who didn’t even have full vocabulary but could ski as well as he could breathe. Like I said, put on this planet to make me feel bad about myself.

The lesson was really helpful and all was going well until he tried to teach me to use my front edge. I tried a couple of times then on one occasion I “caught an edge” and bit the snow and let me tell you, that hurts. I described it as: feeling like my shoulder was jammed into my brain stem. After that, my confidence was totally shook and I called it a day.

Moral of this blog: snowboarding rocked my world and I’m so excited for a full season of it next year. Just as exciting of the thought of getting better and better and going higher on the mountain is the thought of buying cute snowboard apparel and making sure it matches with my gear. Being a girl is awesome.

Stubs.

As I’ve gotten older, I find myself being more introverted. I find I say a lot less than I used to, use far fewer words in the run of a day. Because of that, I find I notice more, see more, hear more. Most of my friends will tell you that I’m the most observant person they’ve ever met. I think it’s cool…

This is where my love of taking pictures comes in. I am always trying to take a picture of those moments when people are their most candid. I take very few pictures of two people standing with their arms around each other looking at the camera, in fact when I’m taking your picture, you’ll often hear me tell you to look away. To me, those are the real moments. My adventures often overwhelm me, I want them to be well-rounded, so I am often exposing myself to the sad histories of locations, it helps put places in perspective. You can go to the most beautiful tropical island in the world that looks postcard perfect but for me to truly appreciate the beauty you have to understand the history of the land and the people who live there.

My pictures always tell a better story about my adventures than I do. They are filled with those candid moments and rare and remote landscapes I so often find myself in. They are a laugh, they are a real glimpse into that moment, no words required.

My pictures are not altered in anyway. All of these pictures I took myself. I wanted a place where I could look through some of my favorite pictures of all time, and this is now that place. That’s why, this blog is for me. You might as well look too while you’re here. Some of them are pretty badass.

Stubs.

When you have stubs and your old friends find out you’re playing hockey, you get BBMs like this:

                              “Now for the most important question how do u manage to wrap

                                your thumbs around the shaft of the stick or do u use a knee

                                hockey stick?”

True story. Quote from one of my oldest friends, he knows who he is.

Stubs.