Boring Pets

Doug and Zach stopped at PetSmart and picked up 2 more hermit crabs.  One to replace the one that died and a second as it was HUGE and was just too neat to pass up.  They must move around at night, because when we see them they are all huddled in their crab house together.  Boring pets!

Granite Bay

I had gotten home yesterday afternoon (Thursday) from Prudhoe and Doug had the boat all packed up.  We talked about heading to Whittier on Saturday morning, but decided to go Friday night after work so we would be there.  Otherwise, we would sleep in on Saturday and not get the boat in the water before noon.  We caught the 8:30 pm tunnel, put our shrimp pots down, anchored in Surprise Cove and went to bed between 10-11 pm.  Zach and Sam slept in until about 9:30 am......I hate to admit it, but I didn't crawl out of the sleeping bag until close to 11 am!  It felt so good to get caught up on sleep!

We were so involved in our own projects that we didn't see the Foley family anchored near us.  When Jack started to call us on the radio we were already heading to pull our pots and didn't hear him.

The Schilke's had gone out earlier than us on Friday night and met up with Ken, who has a 26' Wooldridge and Derek and family who have a Glacier Craft.  We headed over to Granite Bay to meet up with them and found that Ken had already left, but everyone else was having a campfire on the beach.  It was nice to meet Derek, Kelly and their 3 kids - nice folks.

We rafted up with Pete and family Saturday and on Sunday took a hike to see if there was a lake at the top of the waterfall which was near our anchor point.  No lake, lots of vegetation and mosquitoes!  But, the view from the top was very nice!

A fun weekend! 

Mad at Sam, but it's hard not to laugh when mom is taking a picture!

Derek and Kelly's youngest daughter is the same age as Sam....he was happy to have a playmate!

Nice picture of Tori and Kinsey.

Derek and Pete both have Glacier Craft boats.

A commercial boat came into the bay not far from us.  Apparently looking for fish.

Sam scraped his knee on some rocks - no worry, Daddy got the bandages out.  The "injury" wasn't that bad, but Sam sure was proud of the field dressing.

Neat rock, split right at one end.

Taking a hike to find the lake that feeds the waterfall near where we are anchored.  Didn't find the lake, but was a great view from the top!

Playing Superman!!

Fun Run Shirt

Back of the shirt from the Fun Run - well done!

Pump Station 1 Fun Run

This was to be a long week as I would be in Prudhoe Bay with 3 corporate auditors from Sunday to Thursday.  That is a long time to smile, answer questions and be "tour guide".  They were auditing the facilities for Health, Safety, Environmental and Radiation/Explosives compliance.  I saw on the Fun Run list that Pump Station 1 was having an event on Wednesday night.  I got security clearance for the auditors and off we went!

The run/walk would be along one of the pipeline access roads.  Pump Station 1 is the start (mile 0) of the Trans-Alaska pipeline.  800 miles from here the pipeline ends in Valdez.

It was a beautiful night.  Clear, sunny and a light breeze that did a fairly good job of keeping the mosquitoes at bay.

With Kelsey Trom, Environmental Auditor.

At the end of the run, near the snacks and t-shirt pick-up is a nice display on the pipeline, local environmental, history of the area/pipeline, etc.  Above picture is of a "pig".  They are placed in the pipeline and the rubber fins on the them help to clean the inside of the pipeline.

Information on Pump Station 1. Interesting!  Fun event....great t-shirt.  I need to take a picture of it as it is well done (pipeline and a pig).  I have a few of the fun run shirts from over the years.  Some of the guys have dozens and dozens as they hit all 10-12 runs over the summer.  It is nice that different companies sponsor the summer runs, fun to have an activity for the evening. There isn't much else to do in Prudhoe Bay!

Construction Project

Construction of the new building in Prudhoe Bay is going well.  All 394 of the pilings are in and the crews are getting the foundation forms and rebar in so the foundation pour can start in the next week or so!

We are also re-skinning two existing shops to match the gray color of the new buildings.  It is a very busy summer!

Day in the Life of a Landfill Inspector

It is a hard life, but someone has to do it!  Playing BINGO....won $20 one night and $119 the next!