Lost and alone in bush Alaska


These last couple of weeks has been pretty brutal with my schedule keeping me out of town with brief returns to the office for design meetings and paperwork.  I have been out of town without internet so sorry for the lack of writing and no word of what has transpired.

Barge schedules have been hectic with equipment and materials moving all over Kodiak Island.  One load is picked up in Kodiak and taken to either Old Harbor or Larsen Bay and returns to their home port to get another load to go to the other village.  One trip each way is 15 to 20 hours on the water with a brief time at high tide to unload items. 

Last week in Larsen Bay my crew started moving dirt and getting things ready for construction.  They were setting up camp, getting a septic tank in place so we can have water and sewage for our 5th wheel housing units.  They are almost too nice for construction work crews but my guys are appreciative and will take great care of them.

As I was about to walk out the door to my office for the Larsen trip my boss came into my office and informed me that I was being given three more projects in another village that has had problems getting completed.  It is known as a Legacy project meaning that the village of Kipnuk has had many phases over the years going from no facilities in the village to installing a small water treatment plant, a watering point, water lines, sewer lines, a washeteria, raw water lagoon, a sewage lagoon, and finally hook ups to individual houses.

Many villages take years to build mainly due to funding as each phase is separately funded building the system a little at a time.  With the longevity of these projects it is normal for there to be changes in personnel leading the project. 

We are closing in on the final stages of bringing this community a new water treatment plant with washeteria and showers, a watering point and tying in the clinic.  To get everything online by September we have to complete over 5,000 feet of 6” forced main sewer line with two inch glycol heat lines to keep them from freezing as this village is built on permafrost so the insulated lines are installed above ground on wooden boardwalks.   3,000 feet of 6” Raw water line with two inch glycol heat lines from a lagoon catch basin.  Finish the process piping and all of the mechanical work in the plant as well as build ramps and bridges over our piping where it crosses the entrance boardwalks to about 14 houses.

There is more to be done but that gives an idea of the scope to get the plant operational by September.  If my crew pulls this off and we complete this on time and budget it will be something.

Upon returning from the Larsen Bay trip I gathered up some food, gear and headed off with Bill, my superintendent (he used to work for me on the new super Walmart in Kenai) who we just hired and my project engineer to go out and introduce us to the village tribal council leaders, the local work crew and to see exactly what has been completed or what materials that may need to be ordered.

It was a crazy trip and I’ll post more later on but suffice it to say it snowed on Wednesday (in June for Pete’s sake) making it a totally wild time there.

It’s good to be back but I’m sure I will be in and out of town over the next few months so we shall post the progress of things soon.

Ice

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Morrison Springs - Ponce de Leon, Florida

Image
Morrison Springs Ponce de Leon, Florida County road 181 Morrison Springs was one of our favorite dive spots on many of our Florida trips but it also had the most danger to it.  One of Northwest Florida’s best-kept secrets was known to more Georgia and Alabama folks than Floridians.  And they weren’t talking.  It had to do with the jewel of a Panhandle spring, a turquoise pool surrounded by stately cypress trees whose aerial roots stand taller than a man. Below the surface, clear, 68-degree water wells up from a spring cave source over 90 feet deep. Morrison Springs is just far enough off the beaten path in this sunny pine and cypress country to be special for any diver lucky enough to find and dive the site. The shallow pool reflects the overhead blue sky and if the water is clear and the bottom clean of silt, it resembles a giant sapphire.  Unlike some springs with a deep, black hole source, this one takes visitors gradually into its shallows from a gol...
Read more

Are Showing Your Nipples Appropriate Work Attire?

Image
Let me first say that personally, I have no problem with it at all. This has been kind of a weird week here in the north land with the first of many winter snowfalls’s to come and the landscape once again beautifully covered in the white stuff. It looks like the kids will have to put their Halloween costume on over a snowsuit again this year as the cold snowy stuff is here again. That is not what I wanted to write about tonight but was necessary to set up what I did want to write about. “Frosty nipples” are quite common here during most of the year and when things cool down on the cusp of winter probably more so. Work attire with tight shirts or low cut blouses that ‘make a statement’ during colder weather could be taken several ways by co-workers or visitors to your place of business. While you may not always be taken seriously by others in the office and some may have trouble looking you in the face, I say it's a freedom of rights issue. If you want to show o...
Read more

Biscuits and Whores

Image
Some of the best things about life I learned from Lonesome Dove. Great movie, excellent characters, and tells a story about how to live life. Augustus McCrae “It ain’t dying I’m talking about, it’s living.   I doubt it matters where you die, but it matters where you live.” I'm just tryin' to keep everything in balance, Woodrow. You do more work than you got to, so it's my obligation to do less. “Yesterday’s gone and we can’t get it back.” “I'm sure partial to the evening,' Augustus said. 'The evening and the morning.   If we just didn't have to have the rest of the dern day I'd be a lot happier.” Hat Creek Cattle Company Well we don't rent pigs and I figure it's better to say it right out front because a man that does like to rent pigs is . . . he's hard to stop. Biscuits “I never knew you to get excited about anything except biscuits maybe . . . and whores!”    Captain Woodrow Call to Augustus McCrae in Lonesome Dove. Whores L...
Read more