This is global warming?

Thank God it's the last day of May. The temp. was -2c (28f) when I woke up and ice covered everything. As of 10:00 a.m. the temp. has warmed to +5c (41f) with light snow flakes drifting down from our overheated atmosphere.
I'm not one of those global warming deniers. The temp. is increasing in certain parts of the world, just not in the part that I reside in. I do take everything I'm told with a grain of salt and believe that the science of global warming (climate change) is incomplete.
Sun spot activity has a bigger effect on climate than anything Man can do. Sun spots are at their lowest level in 100 years and are expected to slowly increase, peaking in May 2013. If this is true, global warming should resume........maybe.
In the meantime get use to frost in June and the occasional snow flake, and don't throw out your long underwear.

Pool temp: 12c (54f)

Sacred cows make the best hamburgers.

Here's Johnny...........

This is a pic of the Water Tower, located at the east entrance of the town site, where I live. This is also where the "County Mounties" hide to catch Grandma speeding. Yes, there are Bears in the woods, and they have radar guns!

I don't know about you, but I find the greeting to be a little weird, in a Stephen King kind of way. It says "Welcome, We've been expecting you"........ what the f@*#. It always unnerves me when I see it. The locals don't seem to mind...........they even have a St. Bernard named "Cujo".......and quite a few girls are named "Carrie"........naw, just a coincidence, although the Butcher at the local grocery store bares a striking resemblance to Jack Nicholson in the "Shining".......my imagination is just on overdrive.

Gotta run. They just opened a new store at the mall, that I have to see...... it's called "Needful Things"

Pool Temp 16c (61f)
There are two rules for success: 1.) Don't tell all you know.

Another Page Turns.

Tomorow, I sign the papers for my retirement. My former employer (seems strange to call them that) called me last Thurs and said the paperwork for my pension had finally arrived. I worked (no snickering) for this company for 29 years and 9 months and can't believe I'll be retired. "Put out to pasture" "left on an ice flow" are a few of the sayings that come to mind. The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off!

Tomorrow is also the day I start a new job. I'll be shuttling cars and trucks all over Ontario for a rental agency. I wanted to stay in the Mining game but that's "deader than disco" right now. I knew that Class D license I got in 1977 would come in handy. I may even start up a small business, (I hear that G.M. is for sale)

I feel guilty that my wonderful wife is still working (but that will pass) someone has to! While I'm on the subject of my wife, I have to tell you what happened last Sat.

As I was pulling on to our street after returning from the movies, I noticed a baby duck by the side of the road...........so I shouted "Duck".......well, my wife was raised in Montreal and she vividly remembers the FLQ crisis............remember, they use to blow up mail boxes, and the occasional "Meudse Anglaise", pardon my French. Apparently it wasn't easy growing up English in Montreal during that period...................I won't be shouting "Duck" anytime soon.

Take everything in moderation. Including moderation.

Pool Temp: 10c (50f)

May Run or May 2-4?

The first weekend of summer is fast approaching and guess what? The high for Sun. is +3c (38f) at least it won't be snowing (sorry Timmins). The beer shouldn't need refrigeration. In the last 40 years, I can only recall 2 or 3 times that the weather was decent for May Run or as they call it in the mining capital of Canada, May 2-4.

When I was living in Timmins I can recall sleds running the lakes (they were still ice covered) Plowing the remaining snow on the road to your campsite and waking up to snow on the ground. Most of the time we ended up sleeping in the car or truck because it was too cold. Fun! Wow!!!

The weekend following May Run is usually warm or at least seasonal and is celebrated in the U.S. as the Memorial Day Weekend. Canada should get in step and move the May 2-4 ahead 1 week. Makes sense to me......better weather.......synchronized holiday with our biggest trading partner.......win, win. We might even have to buy ice to keep the beer cold.

Pool Temp: 11c (52f)

Some days it's not worth chewing through the straps.

Busier than..............

I haven't posted in a while but I've been busy. how busy have I been?

• I've been busier than a mechanic making coffee.



• Busier than an electrician making excuses.



• Busier than an engineer making mistakes.



• Busier than a Mine Manager losing money.

In other words I've been busy. Today I decided to open the pool. Last week there was still ice in it. The ice was gone from the area lakes, but here in the Arctic circle of Greater Sudbury.......

I pumped out the water on the cover with a borrowed submersible pump, cleaned up the debris, removed the cover and stored it. I'm presently refilling the pool using 2 garden hoses (my neighbour will never know)

Before I started refilling the pool, I checked the water temp. It was 5c (42f). This is not a misprint. The water in my pool is colder than Hudson Bay. Global warming hasn't arrived where I live. It will probably be July before anyone can go in the pool without getting hypothermia. I can't even start to add chemicals until the water temp is 15c (60f)

I'll keep you posted on the water temp........hold your water.

Follow your dreams, except for that one where you're naked at work

Much about Nothing

There is a lot of uncertainty regarding the economy. Here are a few of my predictions. Take them with a grain of salt.

1. Commodity prices will be a mixed bag until 2012. Copper prices will hover between $2.00 and $2.50/lb. Nickel will stay in the $5.00 to $6.00/lb range




2. The Dow will peak at 9200, then begin to drop. The 5000 level will be reached before the end of 2010.




3. The price of gold will be $1100/oz by the end of 2009 and continue to climb to $1500/oz by the end of 2011




4. Inflation will start to increase by mid 2010, hitting 12% annually by 2012.




5. The price of oil will slowly increase to $75/barrel by year end.




6. Pakistan will escalate their war with the Taliban, eventually drawing in the United States, Great Britain and Canada.




7. Israel will launch a pre-emptive air strike against Iranian nuclear installations in mid 2010



8. Chrysler's forced marriage with Fiat will be a failure and the company will cease operations by year end.



9. General Motors will continue to struggle and may survive until 2012 or until the Gov't money runs out.



10. Ford will survive and become a leader in Electric vehicles.



11. The Toronto Maple Leafs will win the Stanley Cup in the 2012-2013 season (stop laughing)


12. The Blue Jays will win the World Series this year (2009)

The Blue Lagoon

In my prior post "Nicknames in Mining" mention was made of "Roger Kaa Kaa" who was a sanitation engineer in Timmins and his helper "Ray Poo Poo". This story is about Ray.

Ray decided on a career change when the mine sanitation dept. expanded. The mine was getting larger and Roger was getting stressed out and "losing his sh_t" (which isn't a good thing when you're the sanitation guy). The job was steady dayshift Mon-Fri. and Ray thought it would be a nice change from rotating shiftwork. After spending 1 week with Roger getting trained he was ready to go on his own.

Roger decided that since he now had some relief help he would book 2 weeks vacation. He said Ray was properly trained and shouldn't have a problem.

On his first day Ray reported to work, got his line-up. checked out his mobile pumper on surface, did his pre-op checks and went on his run. I gave him a call on the radio at 10:00 a.m. to tell him that 4600 comfort bay had to be pumped out. He told me that his tanker was almost full and that he would go to surface and empty it out at the "Blue Lagoon" which was the mine's waste containment area. He said "Roger and I pumped out this comfort bay last week and it shouldn't be full yet". I replied "We had a tour group up from Inco last week and they visited 4600..............and you know what Inco is famous for". "I may have to make 2 trips!" Ray said.

An hour later Ray arrived at the "Blue Lagoon", backed up his pumper, attached the drainage hose, opened the valve and emptied the pumper. Once the tank was empty he started to remove the drainage hose by turning the coupling counter clockwise. This is when it started going south.

Ray was standing at the back of the pumper about 3 feet away from the lagoon and was having a hard time getting the drainage hose off. He was pulling on it with his back to the lagoon when the hose finally came free. This caused Ray to fall backwards and you guessed it,..... right into the lagoon. This part of the lagoon is about 6 ft. deep, and Ray when right under! After thrashing around for a bit he finally made it back to shore.

Ray was a properly trained employee and knew that you must report all accidents/incidents immediately to your Supervisor. Soooo.... He got into the cab of his pumper and proceeded to drive over to the Admin. Building to see me in the Control Room. The control room has tinted glass on all sides and you can see anyone coming from 4 directions. I not only saw Ray, I could smell him coming a mile away. He walked up to the door covered in blue chemical with bits of toilet paper sticking to his coveralls and said "let me in, I want to report an accident" There was no way I was going to open that door, so I told him "go to the dry, bag your clothes and take a shower. After that go to First Aid.......then come and see me"

45 minutes later Ray came to see me. As I was writing out the accident report Ray said "You know I must have stood in that shower a good 30 minutes and scrubbed myself raw.......but I can still taste sh_t". I said "Ray...........you might want to get rid of your gum........"