September 4, 2018 3:33 pm Leave your thoughts
As you may know, over my internship I was primarily working on the finishing steps of production in the planer. Although I was pretty tied up working on projects there, I did get a chance to look at the rough products in the sawmill more than a few times throughout my internship
The sawmill is one of the oldest manufacturing facilities in human civilization.
August 29, 2018 9:58 am Leave your thoughts
At West Fraser in Quesnel, there is an unpredictable somewhat annual rafting trip that takes place during the summer months. To our delight, the entire Woodlands office received an email a couple of weeks ago giving the green light for this trip to take place.
It was a cold, smoky morning at the office when we were greeted with a “Big Canyon Rafting” bus in the middle of the lower parking lot.
August 29, 2018 9:39 am 1 Comment
I decided to use this blog entry as a more thorough way of learning about my office co-workers. I learned they all have a good sense of humor, but no talent in writing poetry. I’m also not sure if I realized how young I am, or how old these office people are. I interviewed 10 employees and asked them the same series of questions.
August 29, 2018 9:27 am Leave your thoughts
Hey readers!
Well, it’s officially my last week at Resolute, as their Woodlands Operations Intern for the summer of 2018! Already, my week is off to a great start! But, what else is new?! Last week, I wrote a blog on the log quality checks that are complete by the Woodlands Operations team, including myself, in Resolute’s harvesting operations.
August 27, 2018 1:34 pm Leave your thoughts
This past month my boss was ever so gracious to give me a week off work so that I could embark on a great adventure down to California. This wasn’t just any ordinary trip to California though, we were convoying down with 25 other people, down the Oregon coast, through the sand dunes, driving through redwood trees, and cruising over the Golden Gate Bridge.
August 27, 2018 12:19 pm Leave your thoughts
Hudson Bay has always been a small town with lots of spirit and our homecoming weekend really represents that. All in all it’s a great weekend that displays the pride and sense of community in Hudson Bay. So that’s what I’m choosing to talk about here today!
This year we opened with a car show and beer gardens that brought out a bunch of car enthusiasts.
August 24, 2018 1:19 pm Leave your thoughts
BC is on fire if you haven’t noticed. Over 500 fires are raging across the province and it is only getting worse. The area in which I live, West Quesnel, was recently on evacuation alert. This means we had to be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice. The fire that was threatening the evacuation was the Narcosli creek fire.
August 21, 2018 9:23 am Leave your thoughts
Well hello again! I think I need to come up with a better way of opening these than “hello again”… so I suppose this time I’m opening with myself pondering about better openings. That may seem strange, but it gets the job done.
I’ve had a couple of fun weeks. As promised in the last blog, I will talk about my trip to Calgary and show some pictures of my hike through Banff.
August 16, 2018 9:59 am 1 Comment
Well hello-hello!
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer just as much as I am! It’s hard to believe it’s already August! This means that I only have two weeks left at Resolute; the feeling is bittersweet.
To sweeten things up, in my world and yours, I’ll let you know that August is the perfect time to forage for wild blueberries!
August 14, 2018 11:05 am Leave your thoughts
Alright, it’s time for you guys to get the insiders scoop on all of the BEST things to do in the Okanagan. And by the Okanagan, I mean the paradise of British Columbia which lays between Penticton and Vernon. If you’re not one of the many Canadians who already vacation in the Okanagan, then you might want to change your flights after you’ve read how incredible this place really is.
August 13, 2018 4:39 pm Leave your thoughts
Welcome back to my blog! It’s hard to believe that I’ve been writing these blogs for almost three months now. Summer is coming to an end and my co-op term is also wrapping up. As much as I love living in Nova Scotia, I think it would be nice to live somewhere where its summer all year round. That way if you miss winter weather,
August 13, 2018 11:23 am 1 Comment
Just a heads up: hopefully you’re not hungry before reading this, because you’re about to get hungrier!
In case you didn’t gather from my last blog: I like to eat. I love trying new restaurants and *most* things. I’ve really been enjoying the local restaurants in Quesnel and its surrounding communities. I love how the restaurants here are family owned and not chains.
August 13, 2018 11:02 am Leave your thoughts
As the summer’s end inches closer, the weeks of work at West Fraser seem to have become increasingly interesting and unpredictable. In the past two weeks, I have been given ample opportunity to experience different aspects of forestry including forest fire fighting, Operations, and logging.
A dry, hot weekend reaching temperatures over 30° C came to a close to be followed by the start of a stormy week where numerous lightning storms ravaged the Cariboo region.
August 7, 2018 10:17 am Leave your thoughts
For you avid readers out there, you may have noticed that I still haven’t covered the last remaining stage in production: the sawmill. I’m sorry to say that this is not the blog you are looking for. I have greatly underestimated the time it would take to give a comprehensive summary of how a sawmill works, especially since the sawmill I’m working at is the largest in North America.
August 3, 2018 10:45 am 2 Comments
One of my roles as a Roads and Log Haul Assistant for Millar Western is to complete watercourse crossing inspections on company-owned roads. Since these roads are used heavily – by forestry and oil and gas workers, other resource users and the general public – it is important to keep crossings in the best condition possible, in order to keep all road users safe.
August 1, 2018 11:24 am Leave your thoughts
Hello once again! It’s been a fun few weeks working at Weyerhaeuser and hanging out in and around Hudson Bay.
On the Weyerhaeuser front, I’ve been working the RBS (Radiant Barrier Sheathing) line quite frequently over the last two weeks and I do feel that my forklifting skill set is slowly but surely improving. I can stack bundles without falling way behind so that’s always a good thing!
July 31, 2018 3:44 pm 2 Comments
In my last blog I talked about the summer adventures I have experienced thus far, a topic which I have decided to extend into this blog. The weather here has been very warm and humid – don’t get me wrong, I love the heat, but a humidex of 37 °C is more than I am conditioned to. Luckily, the air conditioning in the office is working perfectly and serves as a nice resting place after being outside.
July 31, 2018 9:36 am Leave your thoughts
Hello to all my followers, and welcome back!
These last two weeks at work have flown by! I’ve been busy in the office and in the field. In the office, I’ve been filling in for one of the operational coordinators who works on the Black Spruce Forest. In his absence, I’ve been updating a monthly volume table for the Black Spruce Forest.
July 30, 2018 2:14 pm 3 Comments
Hello again! I cannot believe we are approaching the end of July. We only have 5 more weeks of work left. It’s crazy how fast time is going by this summer; it’s hard to imagine I’ll be nose deep in my studies in about 6 weeks time.
I promised I’d focus a bit on some Quesnel/Cariboo tourism, so I’m choosing to blog about “Billy Barker Days” this time around.
July 30, 2018 1:13 pm Leave your thoughts
I’ve been talking about the mill quite a bit now, so I figured it’s about time that I gave you a rundown on how the mill actually works. Because if you’re anything like I was before I started here, you probably have no idea what happens inside those big buildings that bring in logs and miraculously spit out lumber.
So let’s start at the beginning.
July 27, 2018 2:09 pm 1 Comment
As I had stated in my previous post, I was hoping to put together a “day in the life” work video; however, due to the demise of my GoPro during the day I was attempting to film this video, I will be resorting back to a weekend that has been the highlight of my summer thus far.
From the moment my father heard I would be spending my summer up in Quesnel,
July 18, 2018 11:14 am 1 Comment
“Canada D’Eh in the Rockies”
One of my favorite things about working in the forest sector is living in a forest town. And, one of my favorite things about the active, scenic forest town of Whitecourt is its location: close to all that’s best of both the city and the country. Whitecourt, in west-central Alberta, is approximately two hours’ drive from Edmonton and three hours from Jasper National Park;
July 18, 2018 11:03 am Leave your thoughts
To preface, this list is totally subjective to my own interests and experiences in Hudson Bay so this is definitely not speaking for everybody or even for everything that can be done here. There are plenty of other things people enjoy here, (that I don’t) like hunting, quading, biking etc. For me, I enjoy nature oriented activities, so that’s mostly what going to take precedence in this list.
July 18, 2018 10:45 am Leave your thoughts
Welcome back everyone! In my last blog I talked about the operations processes where I work (LP-East River) so if you missed it and are interested, go back and have a look. In this blog I will be talking about some of the Nova Scotia adventures I’ve experienced so far this summer – maybe it’ll inspire some of you readers to come visit our beautiful province.
July 17, 2018 9:59 am Leave your thoughts
The North Goose Bear Problem
One of the fundamental rules of fieldwork is that nothing is going to play out exactly the way you planned. Let me explain. Earlier this week, I made a plan for what I wanted to accomplish at work that day. I would be driving north for what should have been a fairly relaxed day of inspecting roads.