So much for regular updates huh?

Why is there a picture of a very ugly tub/shower on my blog? Well some of the places I stay while at work are not always castles, this particular one fell short by more then a bit. It shall remain nameless for the dignity of it's owners, let's just say I didn't have a shower this particular night.

My parents dog Kramer, I took her to Fish Lake (by Nordegg) to go for a walk, it was brrrrr.......very cold and we walked around for a while. Kramer got all iced up and I thought it looked funny, plus she is adorable. :)

Fish Lake on the same day, it's got a really decent sheet of ice over it, the tracks are from snowmobiles.

Kramer all frozen up and ready to head home.

Not much to say, and sadly not much for photo's either. It's very cold today; -30Celcius, and I just got back to my hotel room after spending more time then I would have liked outside, in a semi-frozen state. I've suprisingly been working a fair amount this hitch, which will be good with Christmas coming soon. Anyway, don't get too cold out there, ride safe and please have fun. Check back often and you will be disappointed, but bear with me as I'm doing the best I can. Best wishes.........FLYBYU

Enjoying my time off

Tina and I headed out to Nordegg/Red Deer for my days off and we toured around, here we are just outside Nordegg.

We headed out to Big Horn Dam outside Nordegg to check it out, weather changes fast, the photo above was taken about 15 mins before this one. :)

My parent's dog Kramer, looking all pretty. :)

Tina and I were trying to determine if these horses were wild or not, I'm still not sure, but they really looked nice against the beautiful rock formations in the background.

Tina getting cold while I take a photo. :)

Not much to say this time, just wanted to put some more photos on here. I'm yet again looking for something jobwise that is closer to home. I like my current job but it is such a pain driving out to Alberta and I really miss seeing Tina. Hopefully something will work out for me, I spent most of my time at home handing out resumes, eventually someone will call. Ride safe and have fun, keep looking back for more!

Hard at Work

Coming onto a lease up in Edson, Alberta for a frac.

I just took this the other day while we were down in Pincher Creek, Alberta. We had just finished putting the tire chains on and were waiting for the customer to show up so I whipped out the camera and took a photo of our nitrogen pump. It still was somewhat clean in this photo

Another nice sunrise on the way to work, as you can see the roads were a little icy.

Five big frac pumps all firing up at once in the early morning, still really cold as you can see by the smoke coming out of them. Here we are all rigged into the well and ready to pump, just had to warm those engines up first.

I took this photo one morning after I arrived at the shop, that is the main office in the background and our parking lot in the foreground. I thought the sky looked pretty cool too.

I writing this from the Nordegg Library, they actually have high speed internet that I can hook my computer to. I've been pretty busy working and I'm starting to go out with people that I started with, so we both have equal amounts of experiance, in many ways it is a lot like going out on my own and I like it a lot. I'm getting better at driving the big trucks, I took one through Calgary during rush hour the other day and only stalled it once. :) Oh well, everyone has to learn sometime I guess. It won't be too much longer before I'm back in Saskatoon, Wednesday is coming fast. That is good because I really miss Tina and I want to see her again, I can't wait. It is really hard to get a lot of jobs in the two weeks I'm here though, it is starting to pick up and hopefully I will make some money. Anyway thanks for looking if anyone is, ride safe and have fun!

Hello

Well I really don't have any thing to put on here, I have taken some cool on-the-job photos though, so they will be up on here as soon as I get a chance. Keep checking back for more. Ride safe and have fun.

Tina and I

Tina got her hair permed for her friend's wedding and she also just got a new pair of glasses. This will be her first and she really doesn't have to wear them all the time, but I think they look good on her.

Myself, packing up to head back to Alberta for another two weeks. :(

Just thought I would throw a few photos of us up here before I leave for Alberta. I've done a bunch of thinking lately and the conclusion I've come up with is that I want to start working back here again. I love my job in Alberta but it is really expensive to buy a house or rent out there, also I miss Tina, I would like to be around more then I am now, seems like the six days I have off just fly by. I miss not being able to go riding once and a while and so does my body, as my waistline expands :) So I'm looking for something around Saskatoon, it's hard to find anything that will even come close to what I'm currently making, but hopefully something will work out for me so that I can come back again and stay. Ride safe and have fun, I will post more, keep watching for updates.

It's been a long time

My shadow is alot taller then me. :)

We got my wedding band the other day, so here it is. I decided to get a Titanium band instead of gold, that's why it looks different.

It was August 1st the last time I went for a ride, way too long to be off the bike. Suprisingly I didn't feel to out of shape, even though I know I've put on some weight

Driving into Red Deer one morning I took this photo of a nice sunrise.

A couple of weekends ago we were at Tina's parents place and Tina and I went out to Greenwater park, I took this photo of the golf course with the fall colors.

My new van, I can just wheel the recumbent in there, no need to disassemble it.

I bought this about three weeks ago now, a 2003 Chevrolet Venture van, I traded my sunfire on it.



Well many things have happened since my last post. Yesterday I did my first ride since August 1st, just a small ride, 14kms. I went out to Greenwater park by Tina's parents place because there are some hills out that way, so it would be some good excersise. I hit 58kmph on one hill which is very close to my top speed. It was very cold out, or maybe I'm just not used to it, it was only around -5C but there was a cold wind blowing. I really miss riding the bike, I rode so much when I was working in Saskatoon and since the new job started I haven't had time to ride much at all or see Tina. I decided to get rid of my car recently as well, it was starting to have a few problems that would be expensive to fix. I traded the Pontiac Sunfire on a Chevrolet Venture Van, which is nice because it is alot bigger then the car and much nicer to drive on the highway as well (hello cruise control:) So now I'm able to put the bike in the back without taking anything off it. The van get's very close to the same mileage as my old car got while being considerably more spacious. My friend Julian finally moved over to the dark side and bought a Rans Stratus, so next time when I come home maybe we can go recumbent riding together. Ride safe and have fun, hopefully I can post more often now, it all depends on where I am, I will be making an effort to do that though.

At work again.

The flarestack at night, burning off H2S gas from the well, and hopefully keeping us safe.

The coil tubing injector being positioned over the well head.

At work: that's me on the left, Lloyd, the guy I'm riding with in the middle and another guy I started with; Rick, on the right.

Snowy roads on the way to Nordegg, this was only for about 45kms.

Our trucks on the oil lease, there is the nitrogen bulker truck on the left and our two pumper trucks beside it, with the "little" crew cab truck on the right. I drove the pumper truck second from the left to Blairmore Alberta and then my co-driver drove it here.

My car buried in snow at Mom and Dad's place in Nordegg.

Driving into Coleman, Alberta.

Some hunters looking for deer on the road into the oil lease.

I hoped to show everyone what it's like at work for me with this post. I'm really loving my job now, I'm catching on a bit better. Right now we are in Blairmore, Alberta and I'm writing this in my hotel room right now. We are here for a few days doing a job and it is beautiful here. I can't write too much because we have to head off pretty soon for our night shift, but hopefully the photos help show everyone why I like my new job. I can't really go in to specifics about the job because I wouldn't be allowed to. Ride safe and have fun.

At work

I spent a week in Rainbow Lake, Alberta for my last set of days at work. We flew up on the above airplane and then after a week we flew back on the same plane. I actually like flying, so it was a fun trip for me, Rainbow Lake was a boring place to spend a week though, not much going on there.

Here is a photo I took out of my motel room window. The semi truck is ours, we were just driving back and forth in it to our work site and hooking it up to the trailer there. As you can see there isn't much for scenery at Rainbow Lake, just muskeg and half dead trees.

A lot of small towns have mascots, Rainbow Lake's is a giant mosquito. It's fitting because the mosquitoes are the size of hummingbirds there. :)

In case anyone hasn't heard, Burley has stopped making bikes of any kind. The actually were bought out after almost facing bankruptcy, the new owner wants to only produce trailers which is Burley's biggest seller. I'm not really happy about that, hopefully they will still honor warranty issues. This next time when I head out to Alberta I will be taking my bike with me. Hopefully I will get some riding in when I'm not working. We are at Tina's parent's place now, she is going to be staying here until she is able to go to work I guess. Ride safe and have fun!

Hello I'm still here!

Wild horses in the morning mist by Nordegg, I took this on the way to work one morning.

Another misty morning, I took this today on the way to work.

Tina in the hospital after they put pins in her ankle, she's putting on a brave face because it probably hurt like crazy.

Tina wanted me to put this one here, honest :) A photo of her in the ambulance after she broke her leg.

Tina wading in Shunda Creek shortly before she broke her leg, it started out as a good day.......

Just some quick photos for everyone. Ride safe and have fun.

Sorry

Well guys, I can't load my photos up, my parent's dialup connection won't allow me to load them to blogger. Wait and in a few days I will hopefully have them up. Ride safe and have fun.

It's been a loooong time.......

Holy! my first post since August 1, hard to believe, however I do have an explanation for it all. There are no photos, even though I have a lot on the camera because I'm at my parents place and they have dialup internet. Tomorrow I will try to get some photos up though. Anyway, here is my explanation for it all. On August 4th Tina came out to Nordegg from Saskatoon. It was the August long weekend and she had Monday off and I was doing driver train still so we knew that we would have the weekend to ourselves. On Sunday morning August 6th we decided to go fishing, I had caught one fish a couple of weeks ago and we wanted to get another so we would have enough for supper one night. We went to a little river by Nordegg called Shunda Creek and we fished in a small pond in the river for probably an hour. The fish weren't biting at all and I was getting discouraged so we decided to pack up and head for the fish pond northwest of Nordegg. We waded up the river to the road that went to the highway and were having a fun time playing around in the river. We then drove over too the fish pond, the fish pond is at the bottom of a steep hill just off the road (there is a photo of Dad fishing in it on a previous post). We packed all the gear down the hill and I started to cast out in the water, on one of the cast I swung the rod back and Tina was behind me, she thought I was going to hit her with the end of the rod so she back up. When she backed up she stepped on a small rock that was on top of a bigger one, it gave out and she fell backwards, she appeared to land on her back and I heard a crack, I freaked out of course, but then she was kneeling on the ground and screaming that her leg hurt. We figured that her leg was broken, there were some other people there and they were very nice and helped us out, we got Tina on her side and rested her leg on my tackle box and a bag of ice to keep it straight, one of the guys there phoned 911 and the ambulance was on it's way. Since it was a long weekend the ambulance was in Nordegg for the weekend so it didn't take as long as it could have. The ambulance from Rocky Mountain House came and they switched her into that one to take her to the hospital in Rocky Mountain House. There they took her into emergency and did x-rays on her leg. They told us that she had broken her fibula, the small bone at the back of her lower leg on the right side. because it was so swollen she had to get a splint on it instead of a cast. The next day her leg hurt really bad so we took her back, another doctor looked at it again and he told her that her fibula was broken and that she had a dislocated ankle with torn ligaments, he schedualed her for an appointment with the orthopedic surgeon in Red Deer and she went on 9th of August to Red Deer. The sugeon told us that she had indeed torn ligaments and her ankle was dislocated, but he also said that her fibula was broken in two places. He arranged to have her go in for sugery, she went on Thursday the 10th and got some ligaments reattached and also got two screws put in her ankle to help relocate it again. I picked her up on Sunday from the hospital and brought her back to Nordegg. She was doing fine until Wednesday (the 16th) when she fell while getting down on the couch and hit her bad leg on the floor. I took her to the hospital two more times about that and she is okay, just pulled on some muscles when she fell. She is feeling much better today and her leg is starting to feel better for her now. Well that is the quick and condensed version of what happened. Along the way I also went for my Class 1A drivers license driver's test and passed, so now I have my Class 1A license and can drive a semi truck, that took a lot of pressure off at work and I can concentrate on learning other aspects of the job. We won't be returning to Saskatoon until the beginning of September and then I will be taking Tina to her parent's place to recuperate. Anyway, thanks for still reading for anyone who checks in once and a while, and sorry for the lack of current content. Remember to be safe, ride safe and above all else, have fun

Finally.......

My suprise I mentioned in the last post, I bought a longboard skateboard. Just one more way to potentially hurt myself.

Julian, looking very serious and Leo at Cranberry Flats.

We had a pretty nice thunderstorm Saturday night, you can see the hail balls on the sidewalk leading up to the door of our apartment.

Leo cycling up the boardwalk at Cranberry Flats.

Julian cycling up the same boardwalk, I didn't get a closeup because he was going to fast to snap a second photo.

Well Blogger finally "allowed" me to post my photos, for the last few days it has been saying that my "document contains no data", very frustrating. On Sunday Leo, Julian and I went out for a ride, it was actually Julian's first ride since he broke his wrist. He proved that he certainly hasn't slowed down while he was recuperating. :) We rode out to Cranberry Flats and then after that we headed out towards Grasswood to have lunch at the Smittys there. My suprise was that I bought a longboard skateboard, I saw it in the bike shop and thought that it would be something good to take along with me to Alberta, as it will maybe fit in my bag (I think, it's pretty long). I tryed it out last night as Tina was cleaning the inside of her car, I managed to stay upright on it for a bit, but it's hard. You see the wheels pivot so that you can go around corners, so it makes it hard to balance, you just have to remember that the wheels don't pivot past a certain point, so no matter how hard you lean over it will only go so far. Anyway, I guess it was an early midlife crisis, but I will learn how to skate on it, just takes some practice. Ride safe, and have fun

More photos from Alberta

Fish Lake, just by my parents place.

A Heron on Fish Lake, I wish I had gotten closer to it.

This during the thunder storm, Dad was fishing and I noticed a double rainbow, so I snapped the photo.

Dad fishing just before the thunderstorm.

A beautiful sunset in the mountains.

Here are some more photos that I took while I was away for the last two weeks. I should have some more current content tomorrow, I'm going on a ride with Leo and Julian tomorrow morning and I have a little suprise too. Ride safe and have fun!

Finally!!!

Windy point on Abraham Lake, just west of Nordegg.

Abraham Lake again.

Tina and I on Windy Point.

Abraham Lake (again)

Abraham Lake

Tina at Crescent Falls.

Cool lighting through the clouds.

The forest fire at Nordegg.

This photo was taken at night, believe it or not, but it was a lightening storm.

My tomato plants.

Well I haven't written a post in a long, long time, so here it is. Not much to say, I've been working quite a bit lately. I went riding today, I actually rode out towards Blackstrap to meet up with Leo. I managed to get in 48kms so that wasn't too bad. My legs are a little sore, thats all. Anyway I will have more photos from my last 2 weeks in Alberta tomorrow.