Well.....I did it! I am back in civilization....
Had bittersweet feelings as I packed up and left my northern experience behind. Although I was glad to be moving on to bigger and better things I was sad to say good-bye to certain of my fellow in-mates. Saying good-bye to Lonnie was especially difficult...but he seemed quite excited to move over to my side of the trailer and is probably sitting in the jacuzzi tub as I write this. I have already made plans to meet up with a few of the gang this summer and to visit the Slave Lake branch again.
The 9 hour drive down to Calgary was pretty uneventful until I hit fog, snow and bad roads about an hour north of the city. Its good to be hanging with Chris, Kerri and the girls. Emily is the youngest (turning 4) and she is full of energy. Kaitlyn is 7 and is my little pal. She went with Chris and I to look at potential homes...and was little Miss Home shopper. I had to follow her advice and choose the very first one out of all of the properties we saw. Aside from it being Kaitlyn's favorite...it is also near a good school and down the street from Korean markets and restaurants. Plus there are 4 Korean families living in the area and since the new ward we're moving into doesn't have any Korean members - that's something that the Bennett's will have to remedy.
I am so thankful that things are going so smoothly...I sometimes think to myself "I am so blessed" and "I don't deserve all of this". But I'm just trying my best and guess this is the reward I get.
Tickets are all bought and I leave this Wednesday arriving in Korea on Thursday. I will only be there for a week which time will be spent packing and having everything shipped here...then we will fly back on the 6th.
Once back I will be starting a new blog about our new adventures out here in the west.....should be some good reading there.
So thus ends my blog about life up in the oil patch. I have a great friend who was able to provide me with the chance to come to Alberta, which started all of this in motion. As I mentioned in a previous posting -there are definitely some new challenges and trials ahead but freedom usually comes at a price.
Thanks to everyone who visited, read and especially those who commented on my postings. I tried to make them funny, interesting and uplifting....hope you liked them....and hope you check out my new blog once it's up.
Also wanted to show some love to all of you who have kept me company via Facebook. The chats, messages and comments on my stati have really meant a lot. I was also able to make some new long distance friendships....I am so thankful for the miracle of technology.
Thanks everyone!
Pretty much what I get to see all day!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
Yay Parole!!!
As I approach 100 straight days here in my frozen prison....I also approach the end of my sentence. I guess I shouldn't complain about being stuck in a place where every meal is a feast, there are hundreds of satellite channels and I get paid ridiculous amounts of money to do very little work -however, in many ways it is like a prison.
Pretty much confined either to my trailer or camp 27 (where we eat) and the monotony is almost getting to me...but on the bright side - I don't have to shower with the other inmates....PHEW!
Although we don't sleep together I do have a "cell mate" - Lonnie who you all should know by now.
Honestly I couldn't ask for a better trailer mate...and we both have come to the conclusion that we got along exceptionally well. You know in most prison movies there is that short guy that goes around and tries to please everybody because that's the only way he'll survive? Well that's Lonnie....but he tries to please everyone because he has a genuinely kind heart. So no complaints except for the piles of boots left all over our trailer entrance.
Lonnie is anxiously awating our parole so that he can go meet his new grandchildren and Ms.Greece. Just received an update from him that Ms. Greece hasn't emailed him back or texted him for the past 3 days...hopefully she will come to her senses...I guess people have their own good reasons for not returning messages and we can only respect their choices and try to understand.
I do occasionally get a day pass that allows me to drive to town and back...yippee! Last Sunday I had one such pass that turned into a nightmare. I had to make a 6 hour drive to pick up a part and noticed a strange noise coming from my front left wheel about half way through the trip. 5 minutes away from my destination (and a replacement vehicle) my tire exploded due to my wheel almost falling off.....so my 6 hour round trip turned into a 15 hour nightmare. The only good thing was that while passing through Slave Lake I was able to sneak into the branch and take sacrament.
Well it sure has been a Matthew chapter 24 kind of week throughout the world. One part of the world is on the verge of war and then of course there are the disasters that have plagued Japan.
Now that this phase of my "Master Plan to Rule the Universe" is coming to an end, I'm faced with the more difficult second phase- more stress, more challenges....and with an unknown future ahead of me...a little fear. But things were put into a better perspective for me as I thought about the people of Japan and all of their loss. All I can do is have faith and do my best. I don't like to think negative thoughts...but it occured to me that all of us have our days here on Earth numbered, so we have to make the most of it.
It's been fun blogging about life up here in the Canadian wilderness...I am actually going to miss it up here. But fear not, I'll have new and exciting adventures to blog about come April and most of it will be about cooking - more specifically the "Wok".
Pretty much confined either to my trailer or camp 27 (where we eat) and the monotony is almost getting to me...but on the bright side - I don't have to shower with the other inmates....PHEW!
Although we don't sleep together I do have a "cell mate" - Lonnie who you all should know by now.
Honestly I couldn't ask for a better trailer mate...and we both have come to the conclusion that we got along exceptionally well. You know in most prison movies there is that short guy that goes around and tries to please everybody because that's the only way he'll survive? Well that's Lonnie....but he tries to please everyone because he has a genuinely kind heart. So no complaints except for the piles of boots left all over our trailer entrance.
Lonnie is anxiously awating our parole so that he can go meet his new grandchildren and Ms.Greece. Just received an update from him that Ms. Greece hasn't emailed him back or texted him for the past 3 days...hopefully she will come to her senses...I guess people have their own good reasons for not returning messages and we can only respect their choices and try to understand.
I do occasionally get a day pass that allows me to drive to town and back...yippee! Last Sunday I had one such pass that turned into a nightmare. I had to make a 6 hour drive to pick up a part and noticed a strange noise coming from my front left wheel about half way through the trip. 5 minutes away from my destination (and a replacement vehicle) my tire exploded due to my wheel almost falling off.....so my 6 hour round trip turned into a 15 hour nightmare. The only good thing was that while passing through Slave Lake I was able to sneak into the branch and take sacrament.
Well it sure has been a Matthew chapter 24 kind of week throughout the world. One part of the world is on the verge of war and then of course there are the disasters that have plagued Japan.
Now that this phase of my "Master Plan to Rule the Universe" is coming to an end, I'm faced with the more difficult second phase- more stress, more challenges....and with an unknown future ahead of me...a little fear. But things were put into a better perspective for me as I thought about the people of Japan and all of their loss. All I can do is have faith and do my best. I don't like to think negative thoughts...but it occured to me that all of us have our days here on Earth numbered, so we have to make the most of it.
It's been fun blogging about life up here in the Canadian wilderness...I am actually going to miss it up here. But fear not, I'll have new and exciting adventures to blog about come April and most of it will be about cooking - more specifically the "Wok".
Monday, March 7, 2011
GET ON MY SHOVEL.....NOW!
OK first of all I'd like to say that today I am just feeling BLAH all over and don't really feel like blogging about anything....but I can't let my 2 blog followers down, so here it goes:
Had an even better Sunday than last week due to another awesome visit to the Slave Lake branch. I was privileged to witness a new brother get confirmed...his wife has been a long time member but isn't very active and I'm sure he will be the catalyst that will help them to get to the temple. I've only known him one week but when I congratulated him we hugged....OK maybe I AM a bit too lonely.
It's funny that sometimes we can feel connected to people that we hardly know....must have been buds in the pre-existence.
So I was on my way home when I received a long distance call and I thought "hmm that's OK it will make the trip seem shorter." But the conversation got a little deep and personal and required a certain degree of bluntness....so yeah it was uncomfortable because I really don't like hurting people's feelings....
It was during this call that I noticed something up ahead in the middle of the highway and as I got closer I noticed a furry little ball and saw two little eyes looking up at me as I ran over it. NO I didn't hit it....but it passed underneath between my truck's tires. After checking around for traffic I backed up to get a closer look, got out of my truck and met a cute little black animal. I approached it expecting that it would turn and run but it was either hurt or shocked or both. Not sure what it was but it was furry, long and black and sooooo cute but slightly dangerous looking because I noticed it had claws.
Because I am a big fan of Go Diego Go...I know that I have a responsibility to help all the baby animals but, alas, I didn't have my rescue pack with me...although I did sing out the tune. I had to think fast because I couldn't leave it sitting in the middle of the road...and then I remembered that I had a shovel in the back of my truck
As I approached with my rescue shovel the animal's body seemed to tense up a bit. I moved the shovel closer and it shifted its weight but still wouldn't or couldn't move. I then gently placed the shovel on the ground immediately in front of the critter and foolishly expected it to climb aboard....it didn't. A gentle nudge...no response. A harder nudge....nothing. A violent thought " I should just smack you with my shovel"....still nothing. Finally an angry shout " GET ON MY SHOVEL.....NOW! "....it began to raise a paw. After successfully scooping it up I gently placed it over the snow bank on the side of the road and watched it as it made it's way back to the tree line. It's movement was a little awkward and slow, so maybe it had been hit by another vehicle.
Was my little furry friend going to survive or would he end up an easy dinner for an owl or wolf?
That was the thought that came to mind as I got back into the truck and continued my super uncomfortable phone call.
Had an even better Sunday than last week due to another awesome visit to the Slave Lake branch. I was privileged to witness a new brother get confirmed...his wife has been a long time member but isn't very active and I'm sure he will be the catalyst that will help them to get to the temple. I've only known him one week but when I congratulated him we hugged....OK maybe I AM a bit too lonely.
It's funny that sometimes we can feel connected to people that we hardly know....must have been buds in the pre-existence.
So I was on my way home when I received a long distance call and I thought "hmm that's OK it will make the trip seem shorter." But the conversation got a little deep and personal and required a certain degree of bluntness....so yeah it was uncomfortable because I really don't like hurting people's feelings....
It was during this call that I noticed something up ahead in the middle of the highway and as I got closer I noticed a furry little ball and saw two little eyes looking up at me as I ran over it. NO I didn't hit it....but it passed underneath between my truck's tires. After checking around for traffic I backed up to get a closer look, got out of my truck and met a cute little black animal. I approached it expecting that it would turn and run but it was either hurt or shocked or both. Not sure what it was but it was furry, long and black and sooooo cute but slightly dangerous looking because I noticed it had claws.
Because I am a big fan of Go Diego Go...I know that I have a responsibility to help all the baby animals but, alas, I didn't have my rescue pack with me...although I did sing out the tune. I had to think fast because I couldn't leave it sitting in the middle of the road...and then I remembered that I had a shovel in the back of my truck
As I approached with my rescue shovel the animal's body seemed to tense up a bit. I moved the shovel closer and it shifted its weight but still wouldn't or couldn't move. I then gently placed the shovel on the ground immediately in front of the critter and foolishly expected it to climb aboard....it didn't. A gentle nudge...no response. A harder nudge....nothing. A violent thought " I should just smack you with my shovel"....still nothing. Finally an angry shout " GET ON MY SHOVEL.....NOW! "....it began to raise a paw. After successfully scooping it up I gently placed it over the snow bank on the side of the road and watched it as it made it's way back to the tree line. It's movement was a little awkward and slow, so maybe it had been hit by another vehicle.
Was my little furry friend going to survive or would he end up an easy dinner for an owl or wolf?
That was the thought that came to mind as I got back into the truck and continued my super uncomfortable phone call.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)