Wonderful Summer Break
September 10, 2015 11:02 am Leave your thoughts
August? Didn’t I just write exams? Didn’t I just get here? I honestly do not know where the time went or why summer always has to fly by. Before I even begin to reflect upon my past few weeks here in Hudson Bay, I want to truly emphasize how much I enjoyed this summer break in Saskatchewan (of all places) with Weyerhaeuser. I’m going to miss morning coffees and the long drives down dirt logging roads, calling the kilometers over the radio as I go. I’m going to miss suiting up in my orange monkey suit (a.k.a. coveralls) before walking through the bush fighting off bugs and stumbling upon forest treasures. I’m going to miss my little home situated slightly out of town with the river in the back yard and the clear nights watching the northern lights dancing in the distance. I am truly going to miss this place, my summer home of 2015. It has been a short four months, and as much as I am ready to finish my last year of school, I am not quite ready to leave here. With tears in my eyes I anticipate the day I pack up my car and take one final look at all that I have fondly became attached to this summer. For anyone I worked with this summer that may be reading this, thank you – thank you for providing me with the experience and most importantly thank you for providing me with memories that I will cherish and reflect upon for years to come. I will no longer see Saskatchewan as a flat stepping stone to greater places, I’ll see it as another home away from home – somewhere full of unexpected quirks with some of the kindest people I have met.
Before I get too sappy and emotional, let’s reflect back on what I have been up to. I always have this problem, I can write perfect blogs in my head just before I fall asleep Thinking to myself “yes, that’s perfect now just remember that and write it down tomorrow”. Do I ever remember the next day, nope – you’d think I’d learn but I don’t. Right, so these past few weeks have been pretty typical. I’ve been doing a bunch of ribboning for road lines as well as boundary lines (whether it be creek boundaries or stand boundaries). I have also been doing a bunch of cruising, often involving quadding down old trails (if we can easily find them), examining the standing timber, and looking for suitable access points. I also have been unplugging culverts due to beaver activity causing rising water to spill onto the roads.
Probably the most exciting thing I have done in the past few weeks would be tagging along with Brandon as he showed us how to blast beaver dams. There were a few locations in which the dams had created issues with holding water to the point in which they needed to be removed in order to diminish the amount of water being held back. This being said, we set out to these locations to inspect the dams and determine whether they needed to be blasted and how big of a charge was necessary. Brandon and Logan walked the dams as I ever so gracefully tripped and stumbled across them trying to keep up, until we reached the point in which would be somewhat central/ideal for the charge to be set. Here, Brandon showed us how to create a proper charge and how to technically insert it into the dam (i.e. jam it under the water with a large stick into the dam). While Brandon set the charge, Logan and I would walk back across the dam to a safe distance slightly behind/away from the blast site. Here we waited for Brandon to light the wick of the charge, ready with our two-minute timer set to ensure he could safely make it to us in time. If I’m being honest, I wasn’t too sure as to how big of a blast to anticipate or how much of the dam would go flying. The first blast video I took I must have jumped causing the video to stop, but the second and third I made sure to get (although both with a slight camera shake as I jump at the noise). The charge did exactly what it was set to do, allowing the dam to open up and release the water. Its crazy how good of workers beavers are and how strong they can create structures such as dams – I’m sure as I am typing right now they are probably back at work rebuilding what we destroyed.
I know I keep going on and on about how quick this summer has been, but I truly enjoy working even if it includes being soaked in smelly beaver water or being bitten by mosquitoes and horse flies. I’m going to miss it, as simple as that, and I’m not really all that excited to be heading back to the city of Thunder Bay or Lakehead for that matter. I would most definitely rather live in the middle of nowhere in a small town in Saskatchewan than in a city.
– Shay Yaskovitch