Mechanic needs to take D8 to shop. I focus on tracks, sprockets, rollers quickly. Crawl under dozer to wash inner side. Tight, low. Waive to Barry - go check. He refuses : aint' going there, its mud there.
Cones, warning signs, lock out master switch. “Some people are stupid.“ Keys are in equipment all the time.
Young safety pulls up. Talks to Jun, Somalian buddy. I start spraying. Bitumen (bitch-u-men) mud, doesn’t come off. Ask him to turn wheels to reach brake pads. Doesn’t understand what I want. Suddenly, he becomes fidgety, says that's enough on one side. Travis descends like a hawk.
- Blah blah..(pump too loud) ..mine (truck) is dirtier..you have to ask for permission!
Earling, SKS is expensive. Machines on warranty, can’t touch.
- I asked SKS ,six grand for windshield crack. In town, CracksNmore - 600!
Weekly fuel and lube bill is close to hundred grand. Safety rod on trucks, one with lights, goes for three thousand dollars.
Wildfire smoke reaches Fort Fireweed.
-Hope they send us home
-then we when won't get paid
-oh yeah, that too.
Someone brought pizza to office box, from town (Fort McMurray, 70 km). No logo on cartons, thickest pizza I ever saw, 1 1/2 inches at least. Dont' care, ate six slices. LJ, no! Too late.
Carl, introducing me to the team (after three days):
- this is LJ, he worked at oil site at …
- China? No, on Caspian Sea…
Morning
4 am smoke pit is very silent. Tens of people gather for bus. Occasional shout out
- what hapened to your hair (to lady)
- I cut it
- show me. Woahh!!!
- Started as labourer, here , been for ten years. Started here with Great Northern, onboarding shit, first day, second day, ten fucking days. Drove wiggle truck. Thought made good money, I will move to union.
- You have to quit, wait 30 days, then join union
- GF said a labourer stays labourer
Grader meets eighty five on road, Iceman and Dale mock their dialogue (in whiny voices):
- Can’t see, sun in my eye
- Can’t grade, truck on my way
In the beginning haul truck undercarriage is just a giant blob of caked mud. 2500 psi, cuts, pieces fall off. It’s really simple skeleton, much simpler than regular truck.
-if you had like 30 minutes, what’d would you do first, like priority
-its all about the looks. Hit front, mirrors, wheels, lights, sides, lights, rear axle.
Hoes are bad. Long boom, always overgreased. Swing deck is two feet of caked sand, grease, hoses burried deep, run to manifold. Grease just moves up and down.
Return to camp
Eminem on phone speaker. Waiting for pickup to pass at intersection:
- Some people trying to get to supper. Stop sucking your partner’s dick
Passing grader
-Doing really good job. Finally someone realized the roads are really fucked
Playig DJ Khaled, we take it over.
- Crank that shit
- Yeet!!
Service truck is racing us to the gates. Iceman clenches his fist.
Day
Ray drives me:
- What is this? Points at large animal like truck
- ADT
- What’s that
- Articulated dump truck
- Wiggle truck, what is articulated
- That thing in middle that wiggles allowing for smaller turning radius
Someone: I have been here too long, was staring at Kira’s butt all the time
Ken, who is kinda fatherly figure to lube crew: we need to have a talk after
Me: Who is Kira?
- The only chick there. She holds enture crew under fingernails, says I can’t do it, can you do it, sits in the truck, makes Luke do everything.
- Great Northern. Consistent shitshow, they were shit show, they will always be shit show
- My first wife is a Dene. From Wandering River, grew up in Wabasca, big tits, lots of tatoos, great fried bread, she also stabbed me and burned my cothes. Great bread though. Crazy girls are the best.
- I was a drummer, in a band
- We got a band
- Okini band
- And John Deere on basses
Fort Fireweed is on tribal land. Everything runs on joint ventures. Wapiti Northern, Okini Nanton, Maskwa Northgate.
Two new mechanics. Dick and Victor. Nanton hired them, did not ask for anything - no abstract, no CVP, no crane inspection.
Walk over to Victor. Bushing sleeve stuck in hoe boom. Tried to cut it out, no go. Sledgehammer? This one won’t do it, bigger one. He holds punch pin, I swing. We switch.
- Swing it!!
In concrete days, clamps would get stuck on hoses. After we’re done:
- you’re not just rail guy, you had people reporting to you, eh?
- little rail crew
I oversaw ~500 kbbl/d export logistics operation before coming to Canada.
On return bus, white trash party, fag by Eminem. Used to party after set:
-bag, Marriot near airport
- six shots in five minutes, then they kicked me out
- only have 20 min of layover, run to Chilli's , drink and get out.
- Had to do threesome. One fat and one hot. Had to screw fat one to get to hot one
- First time she put finger in my ass I was like, oh no, then, oh wait ..
Iceman describes party with grader girls in Edmonton.