At Home Again

Home again, after two weeks at the mine ... went fast as was fairly busy ... had a good drive home, except was tired ...

Stopped to take a few pictures. will add them later when downloaded from camera ... tired so not much this time ... take care.

Tuesday 4th Home

Not much to say today, the weather is not to cold but is raining a little just enough to keep you inside lol ... still no calls from  my buddies ... guess too busy for a fast cup of coffee ... oh well off to work tomorrow for two weeks perhaps  they will need one then lol ....

Going to get my steel for rear jeep bumper, I hope anyway ... they said should be in today ... will give me something to tinker with for the next two weeks at work ... and then can perhaps finish it when I am next  home ...

Other then that it's a boring day so far, may have something to enter later ... the boys (poodles) both going to the hair dresser today lol so beauty a fold should be around the house later.

OK to finish off the day, both boys (poodles) look great with their  new hair cuts ... and I did get the new steel to start fabrication of a new rear bumper for the YJ should be fun lol .... and then went shopping and got four new tires bought and mounted on moms car ... a very productive day I would say ... talk to you all later ... Ken

Sunday October 2nd (At Home)

Well its a lonely Sunday at home, must be getting close to going back to work, watching TV with wife and our two dogs.
Wondering where our friends have all disappeared to over the years, even the kids have wandered off, to be expected with their wife's and families and friends they have formed over the years. It is real hard to form a real friendship with someone ... and over the years I have given up on chasing friendship ... I do not believe friends are part time ... like summer and then forget them over the winter.
When you go a whole weekend with not a phone call you have to wonder ... anyway this is how I am feeling at the moment ... lol buck up kid ...
Wife phoned brother this morning and he and wife heading out on a six week trip to the USA with their trailer and meeting friends I think in Utah ... someday hope to accompany them ..... they said they are blazing the way for us at a later date.
Youngest son and his family busy renovating their home in Chilliwack ... its funny, life goes full circle ... it's what i did way back and still going on.
Oldest son also going to renovate his home but time short as winter closing in on him and his reno involves removing and replacing entire roof structure ...

This is the most negative post I have written, and will try to do better in those to follow.

Will attache a nice picture of happier times ... son and I finished our scoop rebuild one of my proudest moments.

Bralorne Sept 13/2011

Pretty slow today, had my meeting with the COO of the company ... lasted 2 hours ... but in the end we came up with a raise in pay that would keep me here for awhile anyway ... all we need now is to have it ratified by the president of the company ... I told them to not take long, as lots of jobs out there and I have a couple offers on the table ...

Other then that weather has cooled down a bit and easier to work in it ....

My sons birthday yesterday and he is at the house with the wife lol ... came down for his present ... once a kid always a kid huh lol ....

Ok enough talk to you all later.

At Bralorne Mines on Sept 10/2011

Life here goes on as usual, our manager goes out tomorrow to start a new job in Mexico ... and maybe something will change but most likely not. All last week there were three mechanics here and come weekend I am by myself ... this has to change if they want this mine to make it .... some organization  would be nice.

Weather really hot here during the day but as soon as the sun goes down and that's around 5:00 or so it cools of immediately and is very nice here then.

As you can see not much to say so will sign off for tonight ....

Sept 8/2011

First day at work, will keep this simple and short. Woke up pretty early so of course tired this evening ... anyway as I said yesterday the manager here was leaving and gave two weeks notice. But today after a disagreement with head office is pulling the pin this Sunday ... now who will they find to manage this place ... their picks usually scary lol ... we will see. Other then that not much new here in Bralorne ... talk to u all soon.

Back to Work Sept. 7/2011

After a four hour drive Jack and I arrived at the mine ... as per usual always something new happens on my days off ... my partner in maintenace has left the mine for work in Mexico and also the manager is leaving for same place ...

This is not a good thing ... both good men ... so now who do they replace them with ... they (the mine) do not want to pay industry standards ... so I am thinking will be hard to find replacements.

Anyway other then this the ride in was good, roads good ... and I see they are placing old pavement with new and doing a good job on top of it so will be a even better drive in ... or should be.

Talk to u all another day.

After thought, a very sad day for hockey, as the loss of the Russian hockey team shakes the world of sport ...

Doors

The half doors I bought from Peter will take a lot of adjusting I am thinking. I tried the passenger door and it seems the hinge pins are out of line from one another ... will have to weld nuts on the bolts and pull them out, if this does not work might be a poor investment ... oh well.

Sept 5th/2011 Cougar Lake

OK today we took another trip in our Jeep, trying to reach Cougar Lake. We left Merritt and went to Lower Nicola, and up the Aberdeen Road ... Left the payment and headed North East trying to find Cougar Lake. We came across a small creek where bridge had been destroyed, so we crossed the creek where quads had tore it up a fair amount ... climbing out the other side I hit my bumper and bent it pretty good (cheap tube bumpers) DO NOT BUY .... anyway this road just came around full circle to where we had went into creek in first place, so it was not a necessary thing. According to map book and GPS there is no road in there ... however several quader's we spoke to say there are ???

Gypsum Lake

So we went back and up to Gysum Lake, a nice little Lake ... there was a couple there fishing .. with not a lot of success. This picture above is Gypsum. We arrived there around noon so we sat down and had some sandwiches and a drink. As I thought we were short of time I got the bunch on the road again.

We then headed  North and next stop was Dot Lake we did not really stop there except to take a few pictures ... so not a lot to tell there.

Dot Lake

This is a picture of Dot Lake.

So we continued on our trip North, and the next stop was Billy lake ... was there m any years back and it looked very different. The roads of course did not seem the same to me. We did not stop long there either but did take a few pictures of the Lake.

Billy Lake

In between Dot Lake and Billy Lake we came across 4 Quad Type Vehicles, they told us we could make it out the Mamit Lake Road However upon making it within spitting distance of the road ... Highway 97 we came across a locked gate. Courtesy of the local ranchers I am sure. The only good thing to come of this was a picture of Mamit Lake from a distance and through tree but here it is below.

Mamit Lake (just above locked gate)

 So upon retracing our route back towards Billy Lake we turned North (courtesy  of my GPS) ... we traveled North on the power line ... past Gump Lake and came out on Highway 97C top the West of Logan Lake ... proceeded to  Merritt some 47 Kilometers ...

Overall a good day ... had a good trip, good lunch ... a few good beers and took some nice pictures again ... what do you think lol ??

I should add that our constant travel partners Peter and Dee Hohn were again with us .... Thanks Guys.

Things at Bralorne where I work

Heard today via email that Al (my fellow mechanic, worked for me at Cantung) was given two weeks wages and told to leave with his tools ... he was quitting anyway and leaving for Mexico (new job) ... I do not think this is a good way to leave a job. Not the way I want to go anyway ...

Sunday Sept, 4/2011

Started the day as we usually do, went to mom's for coffee and breakfast.

Later on in the morning went to Peter and Dee Hohn's for coffee, was nice sat outside and had cookies and coffee. I bought to half doors from Peter for the Jeep hope they fit but the price was right anyway no biggy they do not. Planned a trip for today the 5th ... hope its not a quad trail only ... as not into taking all the paint off lol.
Had a depressing evening ... phoned mom and she talked mostly about my brother who is going through a broken hip and mom and sisters looking after him ... I feel a bit guilty about not doing my share but at the same time he is doing not a lot to help himself ...

I also think the going back to work thing coming up Wednesday weighing on me also with all the problems up there not a good place to work anymore.

more to come.

Correction and Apology

I have been corrected on Dee's correct name here name is Dee Hohn ... I apologize for the error. Several times in the China Head blog i used her name incorrectly ... Sorry about that.

China Head Mountain Jeep Trip

Peter Hohn and Dee Diane Arndt (correction DEE HOHN) and my wife and I (Sandra and Ken Tiessen) left Merritt on our first long Jeep trip of the year.

We left on August 26th 2011 from Merritt and proceeded via Spencers Bridge and then to Lytton and finally Lillooet around 11:00 AM. We had lunch and then continued on our journey up the West Pavillion Road and we were trying to go up the North French Bar road, we found it washed out at the Bar Ferry on the Fraser. We were trying to reach Schraeder Lake. We got as far as  South French Bar Creek Rec Site, where we spent our first night. We were tenting it and it was a little bit on the cold side. It was around 1C but when we got into the tent we were warm and snug as bunnies in our sleeping bags.

Schraeder Lake

The next morning we proceeded west on South French Bar road for a hour or so and then cut north to (Schraeder Lake) Lake which we wanted to see as we missed it the first day. We had a good look and took some pictures then on our way again.

We went back in the direction we had just come from then proceed west on China Head road and up and over the China Head Mountain, we took a long time and the road was rough and steep. We got to the top and took a lot of pictures and let me tell you some of the most beautiful scenery one could ever hope to see .... it was just under 7000 feet in elevation and for sake of argument we will say 7000 feet.

Next day we were headed for Swartz Lake via Poison Mountain ... when reaching Poison Mountain road I made an error and turned south ... I was using my GPS, should have looked at my compass and would have noticed I think ... and anyway a short time down this road when taking coordinates on GPS found out my error. We were too far down the road (Yalakom Road ) so we camped for the night at rec. site and then the next day (August 28 2011) made it home to Merritt ....

In hind site it was a good thing we turned south when we did ... we would have been much later and most likely would have needed a fourth day .... in all I think we had a blast and would do it again .... Thanks Peter and Dee and my wife Sandra for putting up with me lol .... Ken Tiessen.