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Last Updated: 4:57 AM GMT on May 23, 2013
— Last Comment: 2:14 AM GMT on May 25, 2013
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Well I got my 40 hours in. Trouble was it was over the weekend.
Our weekly container vessel has been late a lot the last few weeks. This weekend the first of 6 containers arrived at 5 PM. Boats are waiting for their product. One boat order is often spread through all the containers. So we have to go through it all before we can leave. We had a 6AM delivery the next morning, so I sent people home early so they could get some sleep. GNU and I were the late workers, sitting around at 11PM after starting at 8 AM, waiting for that last container to show up. We unloaded it and made the final delivery ourselves. When I am driving the forklift and making deliveries it is not good. I actually find it fun, but I have other stuff to do. Like sleep. This weekend was very unique, a first in my 4.5 years here. We get visits by humpback whales as they head to and from Hawaii. Smart animals. I have seen them and got photos and film. The most I have ever seen were 6 or so at a time. This weekend I was driving home Saturday night and I saw a plume of mist on the water, a whale spouting. Then a couple of plumes. Then I saw they were everywhere. I can only guess. 50 whales? Spread all around the bay, a big area. The spoutings were near and far, way off in the distance and right in front of me. Unbelievable and incredible. Whales are hard to photograph. It takes patience and time. I do not have the time. They pop up, and they are gone in a few seconds. I have seen a couple leap from the water and crash down, hearing the crash a couple seconds later. But have not caught that on film. Yet. That night I set up a tripod on my front porch, turned on the film and let it run. I had a far view of a big area, better than nothing. But it showed the plumes all around. When I came back Sunday morning they were still around. The conditions were perfect. Calm. You could hear the huge gasps as they surfaced for air. There were many people taking photos. But shortly after I stopped to take pictures, my memory card filled up. We had a busy morning at work, but I was not personally needed for a bit. So I headed back to dump my film in the computer. This took longer than expected, as we are having major construction on our roads. The roads are blocked for 5 or 10 minutes. Finally I got back to the beach and got some footage. But the phone was ringing and I had to exit stage right (Snagglepus). Later that evening I got more footage. Will be putting it all on youtube as JAYEMPTY. My initials are JMT. Warm weather here. Sweating. The fog has come in tonight heavy. Hard to see the water from the beach. NOBLE DISCOVERER has left town as of two days ago. Two weeks ago they were loose and on the rocks. Now northbound. I heard there is an oil spill vessel still in Seattle that must be on site before drilling starts. The time window is closing. Anytime I leave the window open for a period of time, Dutchie brings in a bird. Last night was no exception. Vacuuming feathers tonight. View (17) Comments For This Post
I am a day or two late, but I hope you had a great birthday.
Better late than never. This blog would not be the same without you. JA View (17) Comments For This Post
Blogs are few and far between right now. But not as rare as my days off. I do not see one in the near future. Last day off was June 25 when I flew back.
GNU R was a big help. He left Tuesday. The good news is we have hired two exceptional guys who we are trying to lock in long term. They are kicking ass right away with a positive attitude. Showing up early, not late. AWESOME! I had to go back to the warehouse twice after we left a couple days ago. Had a personal moment with a ground squirrel, as he let me get pretty close. They seem pretty smart. Nice weather today, nice sunset. The Shell flotilla is keeping us crazy. Once we fill an order it takes time to where we can deliver to a vessel or dock, as we have to meet a smaller boat to take the order to the end customer. KULLUK left Monday. Missed it. Aivik and Nanuq left the same day. Now it is getting cloudy. I just heard from a college buddy who I have not seen in 35 years. My fault as much as his. He has a kid entering The University of Dayton where I “attended”. He has semi-retired while I work my ass off. I hope he joins the blog group. Welcome Don! Many of my favorite golf stories involve Don. Planning another trip in October. C’mon October! View (13) Comments For This Post
Well done UK. Obviously everyone liked your perspective of the Olympics.
I still do not know why she does not have her own blog. It would help me as I could visit when I am able. Not easy to do this right now. Wish I could have seen the Olympics. Wish I could have watched the highlights. Wish I had a day off. I saw a little. Heard TEAM USA barely won via my own blog. Sad. I was channel surfing and saw a cooking show (Master Chef?) where they cooked on the rim of the Grand Canyon. It brought back memories. My baby sister FRANKENTUCKY / Yellafella worked on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon for about 10 years. For me, a DREAM JOB. If you have been to the Grand Canyon, I bet you have been to the South Rim. 90% of the human race does the same thing. Hence the crowds you saw. NORTH Rim is the prize. Less crowds as it is a bit of a drive. As you head north from the south rim to cruise to the north, signs advise it is 160 miles to get there (I think). But I had several opportunities to take advantage of the situation with my sister. They close down mid-October, actually closing a gate. At one point I had the key to that gate. From that gate, there is a 60 mile ride to the rim. The road stops at the rim, a sudden drop off. There is a lodge (now only housing a nice restaurant) and about 200 cabins. My sister and her now defunct boyfriend MIKE maintained those buildings over the winter. They had snow machines on the roofs. If there was a medical emergency, they had a 60 mile snow machine ride or call a helicopter. he gates close in October as the chance of a heavy snow is now in play. But it may NOT happen for some time. So it was the best time to visit my sister. We did this a couple of times. CASA was there, as well as the folks. And we experienced some of the best cookouts ever for me. Trust me, that says something. We did Cape Royal and Point Imperial. But the best was right at the lodge. There were rocking chairs for a few hundred to watch the sunset. But now it was just US. It was OUR porch. Hard on the edge of the canyon. Straight down. Unbelievable views. The sun going down and it all changes every few minutes. Color unlimited. Constantly taking pictures. Truly a unique experience. Nobody around but us, something thousands were paying for a few weeks prior, now there were about 12 of us. Unfortunately Fran is no longer there. I miss it. Another guy abandoned his job here, the current senior guy. It is all good. I would prefer he leave as he is not usually showing up. Hired a new guy and he is doing great. Building a new core of people who want to work. Future looks good. Present is tough. Last week the ABANDON GUY set the brake on the wing truck and it did not SET. As he was unloading the truck, it moved forward. There is a plate that bridges the gap between truck and dock, but it was not enough as the truck rolled away about 20 feet. The gap widened, and the forklift and he dropped to the ground. He could have been killed. But the forklift landed upright with him astraddle. I walked out just after it happened. Frankly, I was more upset than he. Our warehouse is being occupied by a family of ground squirrels. They run in and out like the birds who did the same thing during the winter. They are pretty friendly. GNU GUY has been gone for a week or so, trying to get back. Stuck in Anchorage on standby, flight delayed due to fog. Meanwhile we have a loaner guy from Seattle doing very well. NEWER GUY. GNU R. View (15) Comments For This Post
I am happy UK won / is winnning the medals. Do not sell your country short, though. Sports Illustrated (in the USA) projected UK would win 23 GOLD, 23 SILVER, and 19 BRONZE.
They knew YOU were good. A number of Coast Guard boats have been in And out of Dutch recently. Alex Haley, Munro, and now Healy. I personally dropped off some light freight to Munro this past weekend. (This reflects on how busy we are. If I am delivering freight, we are swamped.) This was early morning Saturday. I never thought about my dress code of the day. But I always wear some type of baseball cap. I have a lot of them, and I rotate the hats. THAT morning I was wearing a cap from BERTHOLF, a new USCG cutter that came through over a year ago, and recently came through again. All I know is that when I pulled up in the Tahoe with 15 small packages, everyone was saluting me. Even before I left my vehicle. When I stepped outside I saw a sailor leaving the vessel. He saluted the bridge, the flag on the stern, and ME. It was embarrassing. So I removed my hat. One of my recent hirees abandoned his position about a week ago. One day he was working for me, the next day he was working on a fishing boat. I understand this happens. But it was ugly the way it happened. There was no warning. He actually called GNU and said he would be leaving the island for a while as one of his kids in the lower 48 had been shot. They never call me, as they are afraid. Very afraid. And afraid of being caught lying. Next morning I continued to try reaching him (on the company cell phone he had) to find out what was happening. NOBODY has an emergency in Dutch one night, then leaves next morning, unless they have a private plane. He did not, and I knew there was something funny (not HA HA) going on. Later we heard he had taken a higher paying job on a fishing vessel. I would have understood if he had called me late that night saying he was leaving next morning. But no call, just a lie. I had personally loaned this guy the money to fly up here (paid back), and spent time arranging the flight. I guess that made no difference. Yesterday he called me from the boat. He apologized and said he made a mistake. Now he was on a boat and unable to work as he was seasick. Along with his brother, who also left a good job to FISH. Now he wanted his job back. Me, I just wanted our phone back. That was all. I have found new employees who want to work, who I believe will not leave. Most of the Shell boats are leaving Wednesday, August 7. Mid August and they are heading to drill while the weather is good in Northern Alaska. Not a big window. Dutchie is spending a big amount of her time birding. OUTSIDE KITTY, as weather permits. Now I am seeing bird carcass under the porch with no heads. Even worse than that is running into the fore-mentioned heads Newer guy starts tomorrow, GNU leaves for a week. I have mostly new folk and one regular. Beautiful night tonight. Going to bed early. Welcome back Rotty. View (17) Comments For This Post
The weather has been pretty nice here lately. Sure, we get a bit of rain once and awhile, but there are many awesome days. Calm and sunny. Birds everywhere, ground squirrels running in front of your car, eagles dominating, foxes absent- high in the hills happily unhungry.
There was a storm front that moved through yesterday midday. I saw growing clouds over the Bering Sea heading our way. They were preceded by 54 mph gusts at my location, but after an hour it was calm again. Tuesday night I took a drive. Off work at 6 PM. I headed out to OSI Dock. We are selling to many of the Shell vessels, and it appears they are headed north at any moment. But even the boats I talk to say the plans are constantly changing. Likely they will be leaving within 4 or 5 days. It is AUGUST! Once they get up there the ice can start re-forming at any minute. At the least, it can start in a few weeks. A very short, and very expensive, window of time. It will be an interesting final chapter of the story. KULLUK has been back at her custom dock at OSI for a few weeks, and I have not been out there since. Pretty rare. So I took a ride a couple nights ago. Got some pictures of the new blue paint and the surrounding boats. Then I headed up Mt.Ballyhoo. I went to my favorite spot near the far northern tip of Amaknak Island. Next stop Russia. On top of the cliffs. Instead of going to the bunker, I veered left and headed toward the SPINE OF DEADLY PROBABLE POSSIBILITIES. It is a ridge of rock that sticks straight out from the sheer cliffs above the Bering Sea. It extends about fifty feet further out than the rest of the land, is about 4 feet wide with a rounded top. The drop off left and right is extreme. A primitive path leads out to the end. There is a round area to sit or stand, maybe 5 feet in diameter. Further out, and a few feet down is one last spot to sit and relax as you try to stop shaking uncontrollably. All I could do is get within a foot or two of the first rest spot. It was pretty narrow where I stopped. Only scary when I thought about it. It is all in the head. The path leading out indicated there were many people who felt brave enough to do so. Even I had gone out once before a couple years ago. I am fascinated yet scared of heights. So I took some film and pictures from one of the most dramatic points on the island. I wrote a long blog last night about what is going on with my crew at the warehouse. But I deleted it all as it sounded pretty negative. We are in house cleaning mode right now. A good thing. People are let go, quitting, and being hired. It is a rebuilding of our core employees. Very interesting stuff, but will only appear in BOOK #2. Book #1 is very close to publish time. View (9) Comments For This Post
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