Terry Fox Run

We ran the Terry Fox Run on Gabriola today.  It is by no means a 'big' event on this little island but it's a nice event.  We put all three kids in the strollers and pushed our way through the 10k course.  Terry Fox deserves much more mention than a simple blog post to say, "we did it" but that's what time allows for tonight.  He was certainly one of my earliest memories as being a hero for me.  I can vividly remember running around the playground with my friend Jeremy in elementary school playing Terry Fox. We were extremely proud to be wearing the same Adidas running shoes that Terry wore.  I even used to come home from school and use a little scrub brush and Mr. Clean to keep the whites white on those shoes.  He did a lot for a lot of people and his legacy continues.  We have been touched by cancer in our family I imagine it has touched your family too.  When we tucked the kids into bed tonight we told them they should be very proud because they ran for a good cause today and we raised a little bit of money to help cancer research.  They seemed to understand and feel proud. Which was in itself a journey from this morning when I had to explain not just that Terry wouldn't be at the run but that he had died and what he had died from.  Kids are so innocent and I hope the next time they see Grandma they remember to ask to see her scars.

Thanks to everyone who ran today and everyone who donates to cancer research.

Heli-Logging

I should probably spend a bit of time and show what we do. Over the past couple of years, the company I work for as been actively broadening their horizons to include other types of work than heli-logging. I thoroughly enjoy the other work but it is fair to say that our bread and butter work is logging. Basically, heli-logging is done two different ways. The typical method is what we refer to as 'hook logging.' These days 'grapple logging' is becoming equally as common. I will explain both methods in more detail with pictures. When we are using either method or combination of, we will use either a water drop zone or a land drop zone. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

Hook logging makes use of cable chokers and ground crew (riggers) to build loads for the helicopter to fly. The chokers are wrapped around the logs and the rigger puts the chokers into the hook on the end of the line below the helicopter in order for the logs to be flown to the landing. The riggers use their knowledge of log types, log grades and log weights to determine which logs fly and how many they can build into one 'turn' for the helicopter to take at one time. The Boeing Vertol that I fly has a maximum load capacity of about 10,000 pounds at the the end of the fuel cycle. At the beginning of the fuel cycle we take about 2,000 pounds less because we are carrying that much extra fuel in order to stay airborne for an hour and a half. We always use a 200 foot line below the helicopter unless we are in particularly steep ground with tall trees, then we add length to the line. The hook has evolved from being a true hook to becoming a nubins hook. The chokers no longer have 'eyes' spliced at the end of them, they use a steel 'nubin' to go into the jaw of the hook.  In this picture I am pointing to the nubin with the hook in the background.  The hook weighs 130 pounds.  The white marshmallows in the background are floats on the chokers for water drop. Hook logging has some very obvious advantages when it comes to production. A good rigging crew is able to keep the amount of wood flown per hour as high as possible by rigging maximum weight loads. Some of the disadvantages are having people working so close to the danger area of shifting logs during yarding and the danger area of the drop zone.

Grapple logging uses the same 200 foot line but instead of a hook there is a 1,000 pound hydraulic grapple attached to the line (see picture). The pilot controls the grapple from the cockpit and is responsible for building his own loads by putting multiple logs together. A small ground crew goes ahead of the helicopter and uses paint marks to designate what logs are to be flown and to give a general idea of log weights.

A water drop zone is bar far the fastest way to drop the logs and with very little breakage.  I understand there can be some environmental downsides to the water drop as it disturbs the marine life in the area.  We tend to log mainly in remote inlets with no road access and the wood ends up in the water in order to be be boomed and barged to the sort in the lower mainland.  The following picture shows a typical water drop zone.  There is usually two boom boats 'chasing' the chokers from the logs where they are coiled again on the choker float to be returned to the riggers.  When dropping the logs on land, there is either a wheel loader or log loader in the landing to pile the logs and load logging trucks.  Two chasers on foot run in to retrieve the chokers after the logs have been released in the landing by the helicopter.  In general terms the water drop is safer for the chasers because the logs are not landed nearly as close as during a land drop.  Much less room for error during land drop operations.

So I guess that's the basics of how heli-logging works.  I have simplified much of it and I can always go into much greater detail but risk boring you all to death.  It is a very challenging profession as a pilot.  We spend hours flying looking straight down.  And in a usual logging day the aircraft is in the air for 11 hours.  Each pilot usually logs 7-8 hours.  Constantly changing conditions on the coast can be very challenging to deal with.  This morning we saw fog, rain and wind and had to land several times to allow squalls to pass.  It never ceases to amaze me how hard it can be to get back into the groove of logging after even a short break from it.  Through it's challenges and sacrifices of being away from home it is a rewarding career. On nice days the view from our office can't be beat!

I should be sleeping!

Right now, I should be sleeping. Right now, I should be dreaming, not writing. Right now... there is so many things to do! Why does my mind get to be so busy at night? Is it that nagging feeling that I didn't get everything done that I would have liked to? I was working on a post about heli-logging today. To break it down a bit and explain what I do on a daily basis at work. I really want to include some pictures. I think I'm being too picky and wanting to get just the right pictures. Tomorrow I'm going to just take some pictures and you get what you get. I guess I can always update the post if I happen to get a better picture at a later date. Right?

So here's what's on my mind right now. It kind of hurts, I have a headache. I should be sleeping. I'm hot. This pillow sucks! Boring post, I know. Good night.

She Inspires Me

This is definitely not a helicopter story. This falls under the category of family and feelings. Joni and I have been married for about eight and a half years. In my opinion we have a great marriage. But it seems to be a bit subjective doesn't it? That's why I say 'in my opinion.' There seems to be a lot of experts on the subject these days but often I'm not even sure they know the perfect recipe. I tend to think that one of the major ingredients that's overlooked is whether or not you can both keep from becoming bored of each other. I know that sounds a bit harsh but I tend to think it's true. We all evolve as people and personalities as we age. Major life events influence perception of what's important and what constitutes a good time. Major life events like children... need I say more? In our relationship, I have some predominant instances that I can think of when something happened that made me fall in love, or fall deeper in love with my wife. Most recently was in June of this year.

She'd been fairly committed to training for a marathon. When I say 'fairly' I don't mean to say that she wasn't doing her best, I mean that it had a relatively high priority but way below the other priorities of child raising, being a wonderful wife and the master of the household. In between all that she managed to fit in as many runs as possible. Which in her mind wasn't quite enough to be feeling really ready to run a marathon. But with some convincing, run a marathon she did! It's certainly not how well she did that impressed me so much. It was the guts she showed to run it and run it hard. We had been camping in Tofino for the two days prior to the run and she had stayed with some girlfriends in a hotel the night before to get a little more sleep than in a tent with the four of us. I managed to drag the kids out of bed and took them in their jammies to cheer on mom at about 5 k into the race. When she ran by us that first time, it hit me! I was so proud of her! Then we went back to the campground to pack up and get to Ucluelet before the finish. The drive to Ucluelet seemed amazingly long thinking of it in terms of running! We finally caught up to her several kilometers from the finish and got out to cheer her on again. Then we headed for the finish line to watch the finish. As we watched her come down the final stretch for the finish line, I was hit with feelings of pride like I have never felt in my life. It brought me to tears. This was something that she had done completely for herself. She wasn't looking for congratulations or praise. She didn't set out to prove anything to anyone. And I fell in love all over again with my wife, her courage and her strength. Congratulations Honey.

I was just to the point of being ready to publish this post and decided to re-read it again. I realized that I had made my point about the importance of not becoming bored with your spouse and then became somewhat de-railed with my train of thought being so impressed with Joni's marathon. I need to add that it is through both of our desires to challenge ourselves and strive towards bigger goals in life that we keep the boredom away. We can often spend entire evenings just dreaming of what other options we have in life. There is certainly no shortage of dreams between us, just the realization in most cases that we truly enjoy our home, our life and family and don't feel we need to change much to stay happy. I look forward to a long life of challenges and dreams with my wonderful wife.

Today

Okay, so it's been a while since I've updated my blog... My sister mentioned to me that a lot of people update their blogs on a daily basis...definitely more often than a bi-monthly basis. I've got a couple of excuses. Excuse number one is the last time I went to work, I took our shiny new netbook (part of the inspiration for this blog) and left the power cord sitting at home on the kitchen counter. Excuse number two is that it's summer time and all outdoor activities with the kids take priority over a blog...it's been busy. I could probably throw in excuse number three that I'm really trying hard to spend less time on the computer when I'm at home. So in light of the fact that it's been so long since my last post 'Yesterday' it would be fitting to call this one 'Today.'

Today is crew change day. Crew change day can be the most dreaded and the most anticipated day of the week. And that depends on which way you're going...to camp or home. Today, I came into camp. Now being that I love my job and feel pretty darn lucky to have a job I enjoy, I can't say that it's so bad coming to work. The hardest part for me is always leaving home. Home is definitely where my heart is. Leaving home always starts the night before. Putting the kids to bed and reminding them that I won't be home when they get up because daddy has to leave for work in the morning, early. It's a wonderful time but I find it hard not to be sad at the same time. It's wonderful because no matter how challenging it's been to get the kids to bed, I feel and share their desire for everything to be healed before I say good bye. It always means lots of kisses and hugs and kissing hands to travel with me. If you have the book about the little raccoon going to school for the first time, you know what a kissing hand is. It is equally hard to leave my wife. She always looks so peaceful and comfortable in early morning sleep when I wake her up with a kiss goodbye. I just can't leave without that.

Depending on how far we have to travel, crew change can be exhausting. We usually spend at least half of the day driving and flying in float planes to get to camp. As soon as you arrive you need to get ready to jump in and get right to work so your cross shift buddy can get the hell out! He's on his way home! It never ceases to amaze me how foreign it feels to get behind the controls of the helicopter after just one week off. I believe it's because we finish our week of work at such a level of proficiency that when we come back to work we notice right away even the slightest change. It also seems to take your eyes and mind a bit to adjust to doing everything with your head tipped over and looking straight down the 200' line at whatever implement is hanging at the end of it. Today we came into grapple logging before switching to the hook. I should probably try to start adding some pictures and descriptions of logging and some of the various other types of work we do.

So here I am now, first night in camp. My stomach is full because I just ate way too much heavy camp food. My eyes are sore and I've got a head ache. But most of all, I have a heavy heart because I'm missing my home. Thinking about next crew change day when I get to go home and smiling because I have two kissing hands to keep with me until I get there.