Hammer Drill

A bit larger than the home version found at your local DIY Big Box. This industrial rig uses the same concept while the operator sits in heated comfort. A planned pattern is drilled in the solid rock, the holes are then loaded with ANFO (explosive), and exploded with precision detonators to decrease shock waves and increase fragmentation of the rock.

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Winter Road

My friend in Russia sent me a picture of the "Winter Road" that he took this past week while traveling to Pevek. The snowfall isn't as much as some others areas but what does fall pretty much stays all season.

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The Youngest Soloist

The Dyersburg Advanced Choir donated their time for the local public library fundraiser. Several soloists performed including our very own Mackenzie---by far the youngest performer and with the most difficult piece of music to sing. She of course sang outstanding.

Did I mention she scored a perfect "1" in her solo ensemble contest last week for west Tennessee? Her brother (Mr. College-bound) just missed a "1" but was approached for potential scholarships...both follow in the footsteps of their older sibling!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

8,157 days (22 years, 3 months and 30 days) since I met my main squeeze, but who is counting? :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The fortunate thing for me is our first date was in a sports bar where I watched Kirk Gibson hit his famed World Series home run. Somehow I made an impression even while trying to pay attention and watch the game at the same time :)

Home Cooking

While the cafeteria pictured above actually had very good food and always looked like the photo, nothing beats a little home cooking.

Arrived back in the States and then home yesterday evening.

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Two Guys Who Grew Up Near St. Petersburgs

Yours truly and my Russian born friend Igor. He grew up in the city that was formerly call Leningrad and is now back to it's original name of St. Petersburg. He and his family now live in Vancouver, Canada and he works a rotation as a Continuous Improvement manager at Kupol.

Pictured in the background to the right is the backside of the "kupol" as viewed from the south.

Say it in Russian

I noticed the cover of the book and knew it was one of the titles in the series "------ for Dummies". Opening and looking over the diagrams, charts and math I knew it was a Six Sigma book. Getting the Russian translation from my friend born in St. Petersburg (Russia) though was somewhat enlightening. The translation of the cover reads "Six Sigma for Cattle". Wouldn't pass the politcal-correctness committee back home but works for me :)

Dawn over Kupol

Dawn breaks over Kupol to clear skies but the coldest temperatures of my stay at -37C with a 5-10 meter per second wind.

Utility Vehicle

Being slowly phased out due to poor reliability and lack of parts, this Russian stalwart has see many years of service around the area. Looking like a plump VW Bus, I saw many versions of this model around the mine and Magadan.

Where in the World is Dad?

Many of my geographically challenged female readers from Texas whose husbands have birthdays this week have asked, "Where are you cousin?", so I am posting a picture---not that I would call out any of my devoted followers by name :) It is actually a good question and I actually had previously created this picture for my own children when they asked where I was going to be the next few weeks. One of the young trio asked why I just didn't go to the left but weather delays this time of the year make travel through Alaska a dicey affair. The route shown is about 25 hours of air travel over several days depending on the airline schedules.

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Superbowl Monday

Nothing culminates the end of a football season like a Monday morning Superbowl party above the Arctic Circle. In the photo, the food has begun to arrive from the kitchens and placed on the tables in the Solstice Cafe. The Green Bay leaning crowd is strategically arranging their seats for talking smack to the one guy who has the courage to say he is Steeler fan. Most importantly though, the satellite signal beaming the game from an Alaskan affiliate is a good one today with the mostly clear weather.

The spread included many types of finger foods--chicken wings, pizza, nachos & cheese, meat platters, etc. I believe the fine folks running the kitchen googled in "Superbowl party food" and created the great menu from the search results. The crowd for the game included about a dozen folks who actually care and understand the game of American football, plus a few of our Russian friends who were curious about what all the excitment was about.

Brisk Morning Walk

Nothing gets the blood pumping like a walk to work in -25C weather. Multiple doors along the "Arctic Corridor" allow the more adventurous (or naive) to walk along the packed snow and ice until their ears freeze.

Frosted Flags

No, the flags are not frozen though they might look like it. The few days before the photo was taken the local weather was cloudy, windy and an occasional icy snow. The result is the snow packed onto the flagpoles...and most everything out in the wind.

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High Noon

A quick photo on the way to lunch shows the harsh mid-day sun relentlessly beating down on the arid landscape. Dawn and dusk are long affairs here that last for hours before and after the sun giving a surreal grey-blue glow to anything outside.

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Tastes Like Chicken

Some of my blog followers have asked, "So how's the food there?". The photo is fairly typical though I wasn't really on-board with the skewered mystery meat until it actually tasted like chicken---of course I have no idea what cat/dog/rat/wolverine taste like. If we had been a bit closer to a town I might have chosen another entrée :) Really, the only thing that might be truly different is the salads. Lettuce does not do well in frosty climates so cabbage is substituted along with other cold-hardy veggies. Soups, meats, vegetables, fruits and bread are all good stuff. I did have to get use to drinking whole milk again until I figured out how to water it down a little.

Day 10--A Cloudless Sun-Shiny Day

Dawn bring a cloudless sky over Siberia with cooler temperatures dropping into 30s overnight---the minus 30s of course :) The weather had been cloudy, a bit of snow and windy for the past week so the sun shining is a big change. A few more containers have arrived as the supply chain cranks up the deliveries.

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