Probably one of the last field days of the year at work. Persistent warm rain. No leaves left on the deciduous. Roads mushy and slippery with mud, maybe this is our last unfreeze. This is a late winter; we had -9 without much snow. I'm hoping we get snow before we get much colder than that or it'll be hard on the plants. On the other hand I'm ( Read more... )

I often forget that something like a bush partner isn't part of everyone's working life. Doing outdoor work in landscaping or forestry you often end up paired off with a particular person for the duration of a job or a season. The two of you drive to site together, work together, drive home together. There's definitely technical talk and silence. ( Read more... )

Today was another day in the bush. I went to a sample site I for sure had to do, fairly close to a quite disused logging road called the Kuzkwa South. This was south of where I'd been working before by about 20km. I had my suspicions halfway up the road and then recognised it very suddenly when an unmistakable cliff loomed through the trees.

Inzana ( Read more... )

Every year I try to schedule a bush day on my birthday -- that is, working out and away from town. On eyear I managed to be at logging camp, which is fabulous when someone can hold down the animals: walk around outside all day and come back to your choice of meals and a shower, then go out and do it all over again.

I managed it today too and it was ( Read more... )

Yesterday was the first field day I've led in awhile at work. I had one of the summer students with me.It got some stuff done but wasn't super productive; we're learning to estimate lengths and diameters from 7.5cm to 50m or so in various configurations which requires lots of guessing then measuring. It's easy enough to just to measure first, but ( Read more... )

3 days working in the bush at camp with one of my favourite coworkers in a particularly nice area (although they're all beautiful, this one wasn't bah walking too, and was a little coasty feeling with moss and a creek and orange-rotten fallen logs ( Read more... )

So, my plan did not involve canning or brewing up here. I brought my bow, I was going to practice, and I was going to work a lot ( Read more... )