The Move to the Tar Sands

Before I tend to the tale of the last 11 years, I would like to show you a glimpse of what 1 1/2 years of research and development looks like.  Just a glimpse, nothing more. This unit is what we have been working on (Kathi et al.). A news reporter from The Calgary Journal wrote about us briefly as we are considering running for the Dragons Den next year. The link to the article is here.http://tinyurl.com/67opg2s . We are at the lower half of the article. We had some proprietary concerns that almost prevented us from getting in at all. It is a great over all article and also covers a fellow in town with a mobile cement delivery business. I've seen his equipment around. Looks interesting.

Back to the story.

Robin came to live with me sometime in March of 2000. I hadn't seen her since my Grandfathers birthday party. I am speaking of my Grandfather in Lewiston Idaho. He is my Grandfather through my step mother Wendy. As a child I was close to him but later, yet again, I put distance between us.

 I had found work driving truck for a local farmer in Innisfail. Stan. Short and stout, overall a funny guy and a good man. After I had placed a "looking for work" poster down at the UFA grain elevator, I received a call from Stan. The funny thing was, I had placed a picture of a sexy lady on the poster giving the sense that this was who was looking for work. Yes, it was misleading but I needed to work. I was having difficulty avoiding my landlord. When Stan called he asked if the person who was looking for work was available. I'll admit that the thought had crossed my mind to raise my voice suddenly and pretend it was me. I then told him that the picture was merely a ploy to find work. He laughed so hard he nearly dropped the phone. "You're hired".

After working for him for a couple of weeks he asked if I knew anyone else looking for work. Enter Robin. We were like two peas in a pod. The two of us hauled liquid sulphur all over Alberta. We started out running from Crossfield to Balzac 24 hours a day, to driving to Crowsnest pass and up to Fox Creek. Long drive, long hours, great pay... at least for the first part. After a while past, we ended up driving hay bails around various parts of southern Alberta. Around that time, I had an accident. I was heading south around Bowden when the rear trailer suspension failed causing the weight to shift. This in turn caused the rear trailer to tip ( I was hauling super B or two trailers) and the whole vehicle flipped over on the highway. Very surreal feeling. I've rolled a jeep before off-roading. It's quick in a small vehicle, in a large truck, you have lots of time to watch, and do nothing but mutter a few words. I didn't think my butt cheeks could hold onto the seat that well. I'm just full of surprises. Well, Stan showed up an hour later. Did I mention his daughter was in the vehicle with me? She was one of three and asked to come along for the ride. How to not impress a father 101. Stan and his wife were pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Too relaxed I thought. Great, they'll have me over for dinner and put something in my soup, I thought. As I mentioned, it was equipment failure and neither of us had any serious injuries so they let it go. Years later I discovered that my insurance rates were effected as a result. That made me very unhappy. I expressed this to the poor girl at the insurance office.

A few weeks after that, Stan sent us to Fort McMurray to haul bitumen-coke from Sun-Cor to the rail yards south of town. We worked there for Stan several months till his contract ended. Stan left Fort Mac, and Robin and I stayed. Actually, it was Robin that found us both employment up there. But that's another story.

As Usual.

Sleep well.

Veni Vidi Vicci.