Construction Season, Traffic, & Choc. Cake

Well the Johnsons Crossing bridge is officially under construction again. I don't think there is one trucker that isn't looking forward to that....
First you have to wait for the light.....


Then you have to squeeze your way through, with about 4 inches on either side. Actually......I like this part. hehe


Hm next time I will have to put our other truck in front of me, then I can show how tight the squeeze is.

And with Spring...comes returning snowbirds, terrorists/tourists... and..... truckers that don't know the road. I think...if you don't run the Alcan in the winter, you shouldn't be permitted to run it in the summer.
Alcan traffic jam in the narrows...


Surrender!!!!


And the most exciting part of my last trip, my Chocolate Cake trailer. I have decided this trailer was made for me, and it should be sent to me exclusively. Not sure yet how thats gonna work out....




Thats all for now, the road is calling!

Chicken Chili

Groomed Cliffy today for about 45 minutes non stop, I have never had a horse that loves to be brushed like him! It puts him in another state of mind. Lucky for him hes got so much loose hair hes shedding he needs hours of brushing.
We figure he grew another inch over the winter, wow is he ever tall!!! He is still growing too as hes still bum high. Truly the coolest friggin horse.
The ranch is drying up!!! Riding ring is almost useable and once the stud is out of the round pen we can work on that.
On my stove today was "Roasted Vegetable & Chicken Chili" Pretty good actually if I do say so myself.

Onions & Chili


Tomatoes & Beans added


Veggies Ready to Go in for Roasting


Yum!

Teflon Society

Met a lovely elderly couple at Costco in Nanaimo today. Invited them to sit with us as all the tables were filled and the lady looked to be having a hard time staying on her feet. Learned from talking to them a while they have been married 50 years this past February, and what a character she was! She has heard about this new 'rage' "The Secret", and shared with us HER secret to a long, happy marriage with 7 children. "I'll tell you what the secret is!" she says (insert best Liverpool, England accent here) "I stay in bed till 11 am watching the view and when I get up at 11 to get some breakfast hes already in the shop working isn't he? Yes, then I head straight back to bed. Thats the secret, I only bloody see him 3 hours a day and thats enough!!" Bless her heart!
You can learn a lot from listening to a wise, elderly person. Really makes you realize how people are going down the pooper. She calls todays society the "Teflon Society"..."nothing sticks, does it?" she says, "no, everything you learn just hits ya and falls right off, doesn't it? Teflon Society it is, dear" Bless her heart again. It was heartwarming to meet them but at the same time saddening, because I know that there won't be too many like them. My Grandma died Christmas day of severe Alzheimers, she was physically fit as a fiddle, could probably out run me! but her mind went. This lady, sharp as a pencil upstairs but physically its all failing including her heart. (How could such an amzing heart fail?) Seems it has to be one or the other. I wonder if my life will ever be as fulfilling as hers, whatever it is that fulfills me, will it be as rewarding in the end?
Jessica did my make up today and then we took turns taking pics with my Rebel XTi. Shes super photogenic, mine turned out not too bad either, but she could be a model so I'll just post of of her. (Yup thats green grass, remember green grass?)

On the Island

First thing you could hear buzzing across the plane when we were about to land.... "oh, look at the green grass!"
Aside from our April fools day snow I have been enjoying the weather for sure. I really miss the weather of my home town when its like this, however not so much when its raining non stop for weeks.
Thursday I see the Endochrinologist and Saturday I fly the coop. Just a quick trip.
Today I did the deed of taking my moms poor old dog to the vet to make her final visit. Her chronic ear infections just got too bad and her hind end was giving out. I wasa little put out by the vet trying to talk me out of it after the decision had been made. The vet, of course, wanted to do a $5000 surgery on my moms 14 year old dog, then let her live out her days on pain killers, etc. I think at 14 years old she deserved to just rest? She was obviously not enjoying life. Oh well, I guess its the vets job to try and make the most amount of money.
Speaking of dogs, I think I have chosen the breeder from which I will get my Boston Terrier. Won't be until the fall but I can't wait!

This and That

And winter came back, the very next day, winter came back, we thought he was a goner but winter came back, he just couldn't stay awayyyyyyy.....
Brought home a lot of snow on my truck and trailer tonight. Was SO enjoying the bare dry roads the past couple trips.
Seems the rv'ers are already torturing us. There should be a NO RV rule until the May long weekend. Then cut em off again mid September. These people leave their brains behind when they get behind the wheel of these things.
Why speed up when I try to pass you, if you don't want to travel as fast as me...why...WHY!!!? Finally get by, they relax and go slow again. Just let us by!!! Arghhhh! Do they think everyone out there is on holidays? Like I carry around a 53' trailer loaded with groceries because I get really hungry?
Phewww winter hasn't started yet and I'm already revved up, not a good sign.
I have pictures to post of one of my co-workers trucks who got rear ended last week but it'll have to wait for next time. I'm not feeling great, just found out a dear, dear wonderful person has passed from our lives. She had a great influence on me as a young teen and I wish I'd seen her more since I moved up here. Planning to get to her funeral on the Island on Sunday. RIP Jennifer, sadly missed forever.

The Truck Got Stuck

Corb Lund Bands song comes to mind when I think of my day on Sunday. Innocently enough I headed over to the bone yard to retrieve an empty trailer so I could leave for Fort Nelson. The yard looked ok, lots of tracks from trucks turning around. So I head on in, get about 3/4 of my U-turn done to line up with my trailer when suddenly, truck won't turn anymore, won't stop, and just takes off into the untouched snow. Oh yay... an hour and a half later, my truck is moving. This is of course after much sweat, a lot of yelling, and having to walk to the shop to get my car and another set of chains.
The truck was free and clear rolling no problem, until I moved it 2 feet to get a chain out from under a tire, I hung the triples back on the rack and put the singles back in the car, hop back in the truck to hook up, guess what! stuck again! On flat ground with ONE wheel in about 2 inches of snow.
Lesson learned: do not take a truck with no lockers into the bone yard until summer!
What I could have done to prevented all this: backed in off the road. doh
Sure didn't look like it should have been that stuck....

Finally got down the road and found this just after washout hill (just past the Liard Hot Springs).

Something else worth looking at regarding the Pit Bull plight, www.sorryagain.com

Time to hit the highway again.

Pit Bulls

Somehow a couple days ago I ended up doing a search on "pit bulls". Now, I have been a pittie lover and supporter for a long time, since I used to house sit for a friend years ago and he had a male, "Odie". Odie unfortunately was un neutered and had spent time on a chain, so while excellent with people, he had issues with other dogs. Despite this though, this dog was my best friend, he was so cuddly, and sweet. He definately helped show that pitties temperments are established by their owners, not their breed.
It is proven time and time again in statistics studies that Pit Bulls are NOT the most likely to bite! According to This Site , the breeds most reported to have bitten people are German Shepherds, Cocker Spaniels, Rottweilers, and Golden Retrievers, in that order! So why are pit bulls getting the bad rap? Because they are used for "for profit" fighting? A poodle would get vicious with that kind of abuse!
I was totally disgusted to find out that Fort Nelson has Breed Specific Legislatoin on Pit Bulls. I travel to Fort Nelson every other day and was suprised to learn this.
On top of all this, I own a Pit Bull/Lab cross and fully intend to own a purebred pittie someday. My dog has no idea he has 'bad blood' in him. I'd trust him with children, babies, dogs and cats. His best friend is a cat!
This video makes me cry like a baby. Lots of love to all my pittie friends!

Crashes of 2006/2007

It has been a real Northern winter this year, and with that, comes crashes. There have really been quite a few this year. Thought I'd do a re cap on them and hope that there are no more to come.

A friend of mines truck, they were running on dusty, snowy roads, he didn't realize the guy he was running with was slowing down almost to a stop, ran into the back of his trailer.


Heard this guy was from the East Coast, just caught the shoulder and it pulled him in.


A new guy working for Matco, bad weather and lost it, went over the bank about 1/2 a km from the Watson Lake scale.


A Calgary truck hit the ditch hard, and when 2 people stopped to help him, they blocked the road and another truck coming around the corner hit him, and crashed on the other side of the road, what a disaster.


Just a silly 4 wheeler, missed the road.


A Hi-Line truck slid into the guard rail, slid down it a ways and smoked the bridge. He was completely unharmed. (Unbelievable!)


A co-worker of mine got caught in a whiteout situation, lost the road and almost drove off the rock cut at Summit Lake.


Not positive what happened with this guy pulling for Hoskins. Just know it was North of Fort St John.


No one was hurt in the accidents shown here with the exception of the odd bruise, and that includes egos!

The Weather?

I'm getting tired of winter. It just goes on and one like it is never going to stop. My horse I bought in the fall from the Island looks at me when I go out to see him like, "How could you have taken me from the warmth of Southern BC and brought me to this frozen over land?" What can I say but, "Sorry, boy."
Last year I counted 8 months of winter, feels like this year could be more. Snow till June, anyone?
Another set of days off and too cold to play with horses. The wind chill is awful. In honor of my quest to eat healthier, I decided to cook up a big batch of Minestrone Soup, this particular recipe is chock full of veggies.

The first stage.


Added the broth and tomato sauce.


Getting ready to stir in beans and spinach.


Yumm!