Shubornik Released ???

Larry and Volari

Note from Shubornik's Wife on Wednesday:

I spoke to Larry this morning and he is in fact on the official list. The weather was terrible, very foggy. He tried to reassure me with the fact that the helicopter has 3 pilots and a superior radar system and that the pilot would be fine if can see the river. Somehow that did not help my anxiety level.

Keep your fingers crossed that the weather will be stable enough to get him the hell out of there.

Departure from Kupol

Border Patrol - Anadyr

June 16th, 2005
It started out as a normal day, except I didn’t go to work. I got to shower without anyone else fighting for the hot water. Yes…today I’m released from Kupol.

I’m scheduled on the 9:00am helicopter to Kempervem, and then catch the BEMA charter to Anadyr and on to Nome. Great plans right? Well the flight is delayed until 11:00 AM. That still leaves enough time to make the flight in Kempervem. Everything is good.
As we were loading the flight Tony and John were pulled out of line and told the flight from Kempervem to Anadyr is over booked. They were on their 2 week Leave. They were given two options. Either stay another week or fly the other direction to Moscow, which would be a 4-5 day trip just to get home. They wanted out, so they took the flight to Moscow. Still things are OK.

The flight was 1 ½ hours to Kempervem and again the helicopter landed ½ mile from the airport because of a squabble between the pilot and the airport over landing fees. A bus met us at the river bank to drive us to the airport for the next flight. At the airport Tony and John were supposed to receive their passports but they was never delivered. As we loaded the for the next flight I couldn’t stop thinking about the movie "Terminal" where Tom Hanks is left inside a terminal without a country that will take him. We left wishing them the best.

Now I’m feeling pretty good because everything has been going as scheduled. That is, until the next stop – Anadyr. If you remember, this is where we had problems coming into Russia and this is also the place that I had supposedly been given the "Green Sheet" for goods, that I had refused to carry in upon entry. (See May Archives for that story)

I’m good at this point, I’m thinking, no illegal contraband, nothing to declare, I have my passport - a cake walk right? WRONG.
We had 10 souls on board, as the say in the airline biz. The first 6 went through without any problems. Then it was my turn. I entered the cattle area with the glass window and the small slit to put your passport into. The two women took it, punched the number into the computer and stopped. Stared at the computer then me, computer then me, spoke a little bit then back to the computer. I smiled at them and they smiled back, with their gold crowns gleaming, then picked the phone and called their supervisor. At this point I’m thinking this is not good - the three of them hold the passport up and glance at it then me several times. At this point, I think it’s time I start speaking and my first words: "I’ve grown a beard". Duh.

The supervisor leaves with my passport and the women with the gold teeth point for me to EXIT and return to the end of the line. Thank God Sergey (BEMA’s agent at the airport, the one who did nothing for us the first time) showed up. Sergey is supposed to help us get through customs and border patrol. As I go to the back of the line, Whyle says, "they are about to get the rubber glove out for Terry", and makes a snapping motion like a glove. Everybody is making jokes again at my expense.

I’m still cool about this because I’ve done nothing wrong. After everyone has passed the boarder guard it’s my turn again. Into the cattle guard area once again with the gold teeth women starring at me. My passport is taken into another room. A guard shows up on one side, and at this point Sergey decides to walk over to me and hand me a document to give to Whyle for the illegal rocks he’s taking out of the country. Great - now I have documentation that doesn’t belong to me.

The fourth gentleman, (with a very official looking military hat) arrives and stands to the right of me with the other military official and looks me up and down. He hands the passport back to the other gentleman and leaves. During this time I remember the document I signed, referring to the "Green Sheet" and I ask Sergey if that could have anything to do with this he says. "No that was customs - this is border patrol" and that’s it. I’m thinking, PLEASE ask me some questions so I can defend myself!!! With that, they ask Sergey something (in Russian, of course).

Now at this point I’m starting to think that before I left, I should have asked my two brothers "HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO RUSSIA? And if so, did you ever have any criminal charges against you?", because that was the next question they asked me. I answered, "NO; I don’t think they even have passports!"

They stepped behind the glass wall with the slots and looked at each other, smiled, and shrugged their shoulders and I heard the magic thump, thump of the stamp in my passport. I’m free to go home.

I caught up to the other passengers which have been standing in the stairwell for the last 20 minutes waiting and the only question they had for me was "did the cavity search hurt?" and would I prefer to stand the rest of the flight?" Thanks guys.

So far the rest of the journey has been uneventful until just a few moments ago when the flight attendant came over the PA and asked if there was a doctor or nurse on board. Stay tuned - we may be setting down somewhere between Anchorage and Minneapolis.
As I finish this, I’m home. No emergency stop - not sure what happened but apparently it wasn’t worth spending the fuel to stop. The last flight was delayed by one hour and when I finally walked into the terminal at midnight Beth didn’t even recognize me.

Off to the connecting flight...

...Hand made going away gift from some of the guys to Nanook.

Morning of Nanook's Freedom Flight - Saying Goodbye to the Gang.

Helpful Hints for Nanook...

Thank goodness I had the foresight to put up some 8x11 notes of my own for Nanook. After 24 hours, I think they made his transition much easier. (well, for ME at least!)

They all started with: Welcome Home Honey! Just a Reminder:

-It’s time for summer clothes. Lose the arctic wear and moon boots, and lets try to get a little color on those legs.
-We don’t give out yellow flags for improper behavior. In this country we hold back sex.
-When you get up in the middle of the night to pee – use the toilet. Not the great outdoors.
-Safety Meetings will no longer be held at 7am on Sundays. They will be held at MY discretion from now on.
-Do not be afraid of the dark. The sun currently sets at 8:22pm here. It’s NORMAL!!!
-You will not be able to choose from a variety of foods at each meal. If I make it, you eat it. Welcome back to your morning bowl of bran.
-Good hygiene is important here. The showers are private and you can adjust the temperature whenever you wish.
-No "Green Papers" are required to bring anything of value into this house. You will not be stopped or questioned, especially if it’s a gift for your wife…
-You will find a woman in your bed every night from now on. Welcome back to the good ol’ USA!
-In this country, you do not have to wait for the truck and a driver to take you places. Your truck is at your disposal and you drive yourself.
-In this country, we brush our teeth EVERY night before we go to bed.
-There are no translators or interpreters here. Try picking up a copy of "Men are From Mars and Women are From Venus", ok?

He's home! Would love to spend the day updating the blog with his return adventures, but...well, you know, we have light bulbs to change... Check back Monday afternoon for more updates.

"Detainee" Shubornik

Yesterday, Nanook’s passport was returned to him and his name was on the list for the helicopter and charter flights out of Kupol to Nome. Today he will fly from Nome to Milwaukee. With this good news, there is also some not so good news.

Shubornik’s passport was not returned to him and his name was not on the list. He was asked to stay for another week to continue to train the crew. (We knew you should have given up the camera, Larry!!!)

So, while I am so excited that Terry is coming home, I can’t help but feel sad that Pam and their daughter Kristen will be waiting another week for their dear Shubornik and missing Father’s Day with him. Imagine their disappointment.

So - everybody get back on your knees and ask the Big Guy Upstairs to help them get through another week without him. Hang in there Pam and Kristen!

Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus...and other Miracles

"The Gang"

June 14, 2005
Today was a success! 14 cubic meters delivered to the job on time. Was heated to 68 degrees F. The Russians/Canadians poured all the piers perfectly under the watchful eyes of the head of Bema Gold. (www.bema.com) Yes, a surprise visit from the big wigs and everything worked as it was supposed to. Will miracles never cease?

The next miracle will be clear sky’s for Thursday. Today (Tuesday here) the weather went south in a hurry. 30degrees, windy, wet fog, (or maybe we were just in a cloud) but everyone froze. If the weather is bad here or at the landing site in Kempervee, the flight can not leave and we are held a week. Pray for clear skies.

Today we took photos of the gang but in trying to clean up to get back to camp in a hurry, I forgot the camera on the hill. I’ll take more photos tomorrow and load Beth with pictures. Her choice as to what to post. (side note from W-OF-N: I'm not posting the naked ones, Nanook!)

After spending a month with a lot of the guys from Canada, Portugal, US and "the French Canadians" as they prefer to be called, there are several themes that keep re-appearing. The obvious one is the Adventure Junkie: going to and seeing new places and accomplishing things a lot of us in our wildest dreams would never think of doing. The second is the Get Out of Jail Quick Person: there have been 4 people through here that have or still own their own business. Things have gotten tight or they are living on the edge of bankruptcy, so in several months, they can make enough to pay off or help their business. The last is the Casual Worker: Work for half a year and take off the other half to hunt and fish until their wife or girlfriend kicks them out again.

No matter which category they fall in, I have never met a group of individuals that are as well qualified, hard working and great to be around as these people, and I feel privileged to have been part of this.

My next big worry, the Passport. Where is it and will they return it?
Stay tuned.
Nanook

The bosses and concrete crew. Do you think now is the time I should tell Nanook that I painted the living room that same color???

"Moose Antlers" Hmmm....must be a Russian thing....Are we sure she's not trying to catch a chunk of gold????

Shubornik with the surveyors, Whyle and Cutter. The very same guys who were the "Holders of the Green Papers" when we arrived. I think Shurbornik is shaking one of them down for a few blank ones...

Tony and the Translators (could it be a new Russian Rock band???)

The concrete stands on it's own!!!

Pray for Good Weather...

When Nanook called last night he said that we'd better cross our fingers and pray that they have good weather so that they can leave! He said it was about 30 degrees, foggy, drizzling, and if it turns bad...well - there's not another flight out for a week!

A delay of one week will be too much for the wives of "Nanook" and Shubornik"!!! So whatever your religious beliefs are, please have a talk with the Big Guy Upstairs for us! Thanks.

Tonight he'll send more pictures - he left his camera up on the hill last night! Thank goodness the KGB didn't abscond with it.

P.S. Thanks to 2 of my sibs for posing for this picture, circa 1950's.

Well, this is another fine mess you got us into!

Larry was having difficulties with the mixer today and asked the Russian if he greased the discharge door. The blank stare came across his face, and again Larry asked if the door was greased today. The Russian smiles and looks around to me, as if I understood and could translate.

Larry is now pointing at the mixer and making the arm gesture of a gate opening. The Russian just smiled. Now Larry was getting upset and hollered at him to get the grease gun and grease the bearing, as if raising his voice would drive the point home. Again nothing happened. Larry looks at the interpreter and asks if he is on break. At that point, the Russian takes off his hat and shows him that he is the truck driver! Larry says "they all look alike" (they all wear government issued winter fatigues). With that Larry gave up and went to the next task.

As for the rest of the day, we poured more concrete - and I mean WE poured concrete. Since we can’t communicate with the Russians very well we hoped by demonstrating they would catch on. So all the managers, Larry and I poured 15 yards of concrete. It was a comedy of errors to say the least. We have to double batch concrete into the truck to get a full load.

As we finished the first batch, the truck driver drove away just as the new plant operator was about to dump the second batch. I looked out…no truck. We ran to the field got the driver and sent him back. This was the same person Larry chewed on earlier. When we looked around for the Russian concrete finishers, none were around. Yep - break time. These sorts of things continued through out the pour.

Laurel and Hardy would have been proud of us.

June 12th

The stories you are about to read are true; the names have been change to protect the innocent in case the KGB is looking. (Just Kidding the names are real.)

Peter's Story

(Peter's sitting next to me now, ssshhhh I have to type quietly.)

You gotta love this guy - he reminds me of the absent-minded professor. He’s in his mid fifties and from Magadan. His clothes are disheveled, although I’m not sure these aren’t his good clothes. His stocking cap is on crooked; his pants hang as if he needs another notch punched in his belt, and he hasn’t shaved in several days. He smokes the Russian cigarette down to the filter and when he’s done pulls the filter apart to inspect it with curiosity in his eyes. He speaks enough English for us to communicate, although he sounds like Arty Johnson from "Laugh In".

He lives and breathes concrete and is a specialist in Artic/Tundra concrete. I suppose that’s why we get along. But that isn’t the story. This is:

During WWII his parents and grandparents were banished to Northern Siberia by Stalin for their religious beliefs. He asked me if I was a Christian and made the sign of the cross with his two fingers and when I answered yes it was as if he found a friend. The people here are very religious yet he is still afraid because of what happened to his family.

Peter said they were put on a train and sent to work in the mines to pan/dig for gold. It was required that each man turn in 2 grams of gold each day even when the weather was minus 50 Celsius. They would heat the water with the fuel intended for cooking, and home use, so their hands would not freeze. If you did not find the 2 grams of gold you remained on the job until you found the gold. He said many men died panning for gold. He was born in Northern Siberia and after the war they found their way to Magadan which was still a prison at that time. There was a prison with walls but the city itself is blocked by water on one side and mountains on the other. He said there was no place to go.
The amazing thing is that a generation later, the lasting impression is still there. I find it hard when talking to people like Peter and Erica that humans can do this to each other, and that it still goes on in 2005.

P.S. He showed us a picture of his lab in Magadan, in the worst place that I have worked I had more than he has. It makes me want to ship equipment to him.

...give up your camera, Shubornik!

The "Almost International Incident"

June 11, 2005
Here are some details on the "almost international incident" I mentioned the other day. Larry and several of his Russian friends went fishing a few nights ago without an interpreter. Not a big problem - what trouble can you get into fishing? So off they go for another of those "one hour" trips that lasted 3 hours. During the trip, conversations went back and forth regarding the photos he was taking. The conversations that they hold seem to require quite a bit of arm waving and Da Da Da’s. (yes, yes, yes) This continued throughout the expedition and when they returned, the three Russians demanded Larry give them his NEW digital camera. Larry kept saying "no, no, no, but they persisted. (side note from Wife of Nanook – maybe Larry should have tried "nyet, nyet, nyet instead….)
Now Larry and the Russians are searching the entire camp at 11:00 pm for an interpreter to settle this. They actually held a makeshift court for Larry to plead his case. In the end they let Larry keep his camera but every conversation he holds with them now, starts out with "no camera". Then they say Da, Da, da with a few other words added in. Our interpreter just laughs at the whole thing, but I’ve been hiding my camera just in case Larry offers up mine.
There was another story I wanted to tell but I got off track with the thong sighting and lost my train of thought. Took a break and finished watching a movie "Motor Cycle Diaries" hoping I would remember…nothing.
10:26 pm - good night.
Nanook

There are things that are just plain wrong in this world and tonight at the showers I saw it. THONGS (and not the ones you wear on your feet) on men should be outlawed. Especially old men in an all male shower - who was he trying to impress???!!!! STOP IT!!

(Sorry about that, but I had a great day going until then.)

Loading cement. No major news from Nanook this morning. When he called last night he said that they did not run the plant yesterday and just sat around telling stories most of the day. Must be a good sign and means they're almost done and ready to come home!

Everything went well today at the plant, so we went fishing tonight from 7-11pm. Here are a few pictures. We caught 4 fish and they'll cook them for dinner tomorrow. Perfect ending to the day.
Nanook

Fishing at the lake near the "soon to be" airport. The sun is beginning to go down at 11pm.

The KGB, disguised as a fox, stopped by to see what we were up to. We told him we were panning for gold.

Shubornik and Valari with the fish they caught. Is it me, or does it look like Valari is getting a little too friendly...?

Veronia, our interpreter is not impressed with the size of Valeri's fish.

7 days and counting....

Nanook came back to the room and found this note from Shubornik. Apparently he went fishing with the Russians. (ice fishing???) Rumor has it, the same night he almost caused an international incident. Details not available at presstime...

The working contactor. Thank goodness for the fine art of "jerry-rigging!"

This is the contactor that burned out. No spare parts.

I guess they forgot to send the cleaning crew after they left. They certainly didn't have maid service, either!

View of the original "camp". Can you say "trailer trash?"

Hi love, really miss not getting your e-mail letter from you last night. Thought it wouldn’t bother me but a little note from home really warms you inside.

Enough of that crap. The afternoon went well everything is fixed and ready to make concrete. Right now there is a downpour outside, so I’ll be sending you lots of pictures of the “houses on sleds”. I can't say or spell the Russian words for them.

These are wood homes on wood sleds that were pulled here by the tractors in the pictures. Bedding, clothing, some canned food and cups can be seen in the pictures.

Original exploration living quarters. They've come a long way, baby.

E-Mail Problems...

....received this e-mail last night from Nanook....hopefully he can continue to send e-mails, but may not be receiving them....

Hi sweetheart,

Unable to pick up yours or any other emails off of road runner, so I hope this makes it to you.

After I talked to you, the weather turned fast - temp went from 60 degrees to 40 degrees in about 30 min. then the rain came and a little hail. As usual, this was the exact time for the plant to break down. The rest of the day fell apart and at 5:30 we called it quits. There’s always tomorrow.

Love, Tae

Say "hi" to everyone.

June 7, 2005
Beth - I was right! 8:45 pm and the showers were mine. No hot-cold-hot-cold shower tonight…a small taste of heaven.

The Batch plant ran OK today. A few small glitches but we made sellable concrete. (twice!) One big problem is that the cement they have was bagged in 1500 kilo plastic lined super sacks. When the bags were shipped (over a year ago) all was good. Since they arrived however, the Russians unpacked the super sacks from their containers and set them on the FROZEN ground. On top of that it was snowing…no big deal.

The snow melted and now we have chunks of concrete that we are trying to blow up into the mini silo - 25 feet into the air. We are using a vein feeder to modulate the amount of material blowing into the silo. The chunks of concrete are large enough to plug the feeder and jam up the whole works. The supervisor looked at me tonight and asked what we are going to do. My comment was, "it’s not our cement; send us a crew tomorrow so they can repair it." Other than the water valve problem, where every time we try to blow the cement into the silo, the water valve opens and floods the mixer, everything else is working.

It looks like we’ll make our scheduled flight out on June 16th. Just not enough time to train anyone in another language to get out early. Speaking of translating, we got another translator, very lazy and very little understanding of technology. We’ll break her in as we have the others. They start in the office where everything is formal, but by the time Larry and I are done with them they are joking and want to stay in our area. Even Roy, the construction supervisor, sits with us at breakfast and dinner just for the laughing and joking. Everyone else in the camp is rather quiet. As a matter of fact, I think Larry is friends with just about everyone in camp. Several people walk out of their way to shake his hand and say good morning. He has turned into our own goodwill ambassador. He’s a good person.

We’ll now that I’ve rambled on, it’s time to put my clothes away and get ready for another "ground hog day".
Tomorrow I will walk to the original (Bema) explorer shanties for pictures. I can’t explain the stories of the original exploration without pictures and even then I would need to write a book.
Nanook

Secrets of a Hot Shower

We made concrete today and all went well. The interpreter we like is leaving in another day, and the new one will take a lot of training. She seems dumber than a bag of hammers.

Tonight is a major hygiene night. I’m starting to zero in on the proper shower time. The grapevine says that 8:45 pm is it! There is coffee, tea and cookies at 9:00 pm and everyone who is anyone is there. With any luck I’ll have water that is a consistent temperature.

We see the end of the tunnel 8 more days!!! Then home to my honey.

Work Ethics

Learning a lot about the Russian psyche, and tomorrow I will make sure we do not repeat the mistakes of today. The plant produced concrete today with a lot of small problems. We worked through the 3:00 break and missed the bus back to camp at 6:00pm.

What we learned was that unless instructed, the crew will not do anything!!! (Except take the 3:00 break and make the 6:00 bus back to camp, no matter what mess is left behind.) Larry, Tony, another guy and I were left to clean the mixer, the Zoom Boom (their name for the All Terrain Forklift with the extension boom) and 1 yard concrete bucket.

Our shift foreman, Valarie, drove by and instead of offering to help pointed to his watch and said he would return in ½ hour. The ½ hour went by - then another 15 minutes, so we started walking the 1 ½ miles back to camp. About half way back, we met him just flying up the hill to meet us. Due to the size of the man, we all agreed he ate dinner FIRST, then came to get us.

Tomorrow will be our day for payback. WE SHALL OVER COME!!!
Nanook

Dreams and Reality

Lately, we have been talking about drinks, hotel beds and toilets…and having them all to ourselves.

We have decided to open a halfway house for re-introduction into society. It would start with proper alcohol consumption, then a refresher course on manners and proper toilet training.

I will be the first to admit that hygiene has been low on the list of priorities. (…and not just on Sundays, Dave and Diane!) The water supply for the last week has been straight out of the river. Drinking water is boiled and brown. So each night I look forward to a Wet Nap bath.

We hope to make it to the old explorer shacks for photos one of these days.

Nanook

Dear Nanook, I'm sending you a little picture of me, because I think you might have forgotten that I'm still here waiting for my belly-rubs from you. You never talk about me in your letters, so I don't want you to forget that I am still lying around doing nothing, afraid of everything and waiting for your return.

Communication and Digging

June 2, 2005
The first day of training went well. The trainee nodded a lot and Larry went thru the Thesaurus attempting to find words the translator understood. As the morning went on Larry’s attempt to communicate with the translator dwindled down to something like "the F*@kin’ bin". At that point the translator found something else to do and the trainee became Larry’s slave.

The translator never came back so we preformed a day of miscellaneous maintenance with a lot of arm waving and pointing. For those of you that don’t know Larry, he’s never without something to say even when no one is listening. Larry completed the day holding complete conversations with the new guy nodding all day as if he understood everything. It was fun to watch.

June 3, 2005
Again today, the translator was a no-show. I took the new operator through our equipment and drew lines on all the dials with him to show where all the pressure gauges should be set. He seemed to catch on to visual indicators better than arm waving. I believe there was partial success.

After that, we were told to dig up the water pipe we buried several days ago. The pipe was buried wrapped in an electrical cord called heat wire, used to keep water pipes from freezing. We need to bury the pipe with more insulation.

This will give those of you who understand what we are about to do, an appreciation for the severe cold they get. We laid 3" of R 30 Styrofoam under the pipe 24" wide. Then (2) pieces of the same 24" wide insulation on either side of the pipe and another heating wire with it. Then we covered all of this with more insulation out 8 feet wide.

Now all this seems simple until I tell you that 80 percent was dug with the backhoe and the rest was dug by Larry, me and the new operator, Stash. (I remember his name because a lot of old jokes start with Stash and Olaf went to the bar…). We had to hand chip permafrost with a long solid bar for 8 solid hours. (This is the nastiest stuff in which I have had to dig) Tonight I will sleep like a baby.

Not much else is happening in the Upper Northwest Territory. (They don’t call it Siberia and they will correct you if you call it Siberia)

Magadan got 1 meter of snow yesterday. Everyone wished it would fall here.

Nanook of the Upper Northwest Territory

May 31-June 1

Last night we said good by to three more friends, Randy, Alex and Ola and all we can do is wish them a safe trip home. Not like one of the other guys, that was so excited to go home, he hit Nome, Alaska with a vengeance. Evidently, one maybe two too many drinks and he missed his flight back to Calgary, Canada. I promise that will not happen to me, but once I get home, look out Margaritaville.

Today it hit 60 degrees. Sunny and no wind!!! What a treat, no long underwear, and it was easy to tie our boots. (Sooo much clothing makes it hard to reach your feet) The work goes faster since we�re not fighting the elements.

Averaging 5 hours of sleep with the constant sun. The pictures of the camp and what we are building are taking the place of a long letter. Setting down my hard-hat - time to get some sleep.

Love ya,
Nanook

Our plant for making concrete.

We live in these 16 man tents. 3 of them are for men, 1 for women, 2 laundry tents and the dining hall tent (The Kupol Bistro).

Killer steps up to the 4 man tents - no step is the same height, but better than trudging up a mud hill!

Our fine accomodations. Note the spacious "desk" space, which doubles as our "Lazyboy Recliners".

Camp. The truck on the left is in front of our HQ, where the executives run the operation. (and the KGB make their "committee notes"!)

Cutter & Larry rock hunting. This is Cutter's 2nd summer here. He's 19, a "PK" (preacher's kid), speaks fluent Russian, was home schooled, and is 1 of 9 kids. 2nd year of college and e-mails his Calculus homework to his professor from here!

Just a pic of these flowers tonight. The flowers are so tiny that I had to
put my tums next to it so you could compare it to something. Most of the
folage is this size.
Almost every we knew left today, sad day for us happy for them.

I love you -I'm going for some rest tonight instead of writing.

Love and miss you,
Tae

3 Flags and You're Out!!!

May 30, 2005
Wow where do I start?
Last night we drove towards the airport. The airport is 7 miles away and we made it 6 miles. No one told us the road was out, the last quarter mile we drove would have destroyed the average truck and the only reason we drove the extra quarter mile was to find a place to turn around. Ok, again we had no place to turn around and the road was just a little wider than the truck. Everyone was taught the "Y" turnaround in drivers’ education; we did a 56 point turn around. One person on each corner of the truck stopping the truck as the wheel was causing the road bed to fall away. Success, with the truck pointed in the right direction and a quick inspection of the undercarriage. We headed to the hills.

This time we went uphill so the return trip was down hill, who says you can’t teach old dogs new tricks. This walk was thru tundra not rocks, sounds better right? The snow is thawing and the water averaged 3" deep and mushy. Every fifty feet there was snow and under the snow is another 3-6 inches of water. We also learned why the snow was still there, IT’S FILLING INA DITCH / REVENE. It took us until the third ditch, falling into the snow and water up to our waists to scout around these. I had water proof steel toed moon boots on while the others had there work boots on. (Wet boots tomorrow for work)

The miniature plants and flowers are beautiful; we found lots of berries and what we called pussywillow type buds. Our hope was to spot caribou or foxes since it’s the caribou’s migratory time and foxes and wolves follow them. Funny part of the story was when we got back to the camp 50 – 100 caribou were walking in the field across from the camp. The scenery was spectacular at the airport and although it was a 2 ½ hour walk it was fairly relaxing. (The cramps in my legs will go away)

Today work was uneventful with the exception of no camp electrician; Since Larry and I are there best bet for an electrician we were drafted into duty. The piece of equipment that takes the steel coiled reinforcing rod and straightens it then cuts it to length died. (this steel is used in the concrete) This piece of equipment was manufactured in 2004 but the motor and electronics are 1945. No electrical prints, strange voltage (395 volts) and a generator for electricity that is too small made for a frustrating 8 hours of work on it. NO it’s not working yet. Tomorrow we get a Russian electrician and a translator - this should be fun.

Since we’re talking Russian workers, I’m learning quite a bit about Russian philosophy and work ethic.
It’s better to not do anything than to do something wrong and get caught.
When you rise to a position of authority, hold it over others.
When confronted don’t argue, state that you must speak with your supervisor for permission to answer. (Don’t return for several hours)
When he does return (with supervisor) have supervisor quote the regulations and don’t give in.
When you break a rule you get a yellow flag, 3 flags and your out. (I have 1 for not wearing a safety harness in the man lift) 2 more and I can come home.
If you don’t have the proper tool, build one.
They do not like talking through a woman Russian Translator, something about a woman should not be in this position and they have no knowledge of technical things.

Just looked at my watch and its 11:30 pm here 5:30 your time, a day earlier. Hope you all paid your respects on Memorial Day, after being here and seeing how behind and afraid they are of making a mistake, it makes me appreciate the good old USA. Thanks Veterans past and present.

Good Night…I think. It’s too bright out.
Nanook