Friday, March 27, 2009

Weekend Getaway


Going snowmobiling up in Hillbilly country this weekend. I think it is a good omen that it is snowing like crazy here in Oil City this morning. Where we're going it's deep but not too steep. Mostly in the flat land and some rolling hills. No avalanche danger there. Boys weekend out playing in the snow. I'm looking forward to it!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Flying


Well it's travel day and decision time. To fly or not to fly! Weather today from Oil City to Bugtussle looks good with a bit of a headwind. Still, 2.5 hours is way better than 8 on the ground. Looks like a snow storm is coming up from Montana though for Sunday. Might have to call another snow day at work and fly back Monday.


Sounds like things are all set for Grannie's 90th birthday bash. It'll be good to see all the clan and they'll be happy to see us too, we're bringing all the shine for the party!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Happy St. Patrick's Day


Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone.

Friday, March 13, 2009

One Week Later

Here it is Friday the 13th. Just another day in Oil City. I can come out of hibernation now that our cold snap apprears to be over. What did that groundhog say? 6 more months of winter?

Spent some time out at Scotford this week snooping around trying to line up some work. Everyone's looking over their shoulder out there as the Wooden Shoes are doing everything they can to cut costs. Inspite of that, I heard some good rumours about some prospects but they are still just runours. Normally if there isn't any work around here there's always Ft. Mac to fall back on. Not this time. The crystal ball is telling me that nothing big is going to happen until spring of 2010.

On a happier note, we're heading back to Bugtussle next weekend for Grannie's 90th birthday bash. It'll be a bit of a family reunion too with lots of relatives I haven't seen in a long time. I hope the weather is conducive to flying because it's going to be a quick trip down there and back. Weather permitting I plan to go out tomorrow and knock the rust off my flying skills. It's been a few months but you all know the saying about riding a bike.

Friday, March 6, 2009

Working Through It

Slowly getting this blog to look the way I want it. It takes some time but I have time now that things have slowed down in Oil Country. Big Oil has been cutting back on expansion projects and we've seen a complete shift in who's in control.

The owners were at the mercy of the conractors and knew they were getting taken advantage of. But with the high price of oil they were willing to pay the price to get their project into production. I think Big Oil brought the problems upon themselves by not organizing their project to fit the available labour market. The first one's out of the gate were able to secure the resources they needed but as each subsequent project came on line it taxed the available resources, causing the prices to escalate. Simple supply and demand economics right?

So now most of the owners have pulled back. Projects are cancelled or put back a year but then we'll go through this cycle again. I think it will be worse than the last one but what do I know. My crystal ball is still a bit cloudy.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

First Post

After Blog lurking for awile I've decided it's time to start my own. No one knows where this may lead but a journy of 10,000 miles begins with just one step.