Big Horn Sheep in Jasper

Since work has given me so much time off for Christmas break(paid) I decided to do a bit of a family tour before the Christmas rush and went to Edmonton – Edson – Jasper – Red Deer to visit everyone.

On the way to Jasper we got stopped by about forty Big Horn Sheep blocking the roadway as they wanted a bit of a salt lick. This was al fine and dandy. Cars were stopped on both side of the highway and people were taking pictures. After about five minutes this lost it’s charm, and the sheep needed to move to make way for traffic. But they wouldn’t. With Big Horn sheep it isn’t a good idea to get out and try to herd them. That idea is made worse as right now is there rutting time, wherein they are herding together for mating purposes. And Big Horn’s are good at slamming into things.

To try and clear the road some people were trying to honk their horns, or put the car in neutral and rev it to simulate a growl. However what worked is when I tried clapping. Rolled down put my hands out and made two loud claps. That was the thing that raised their heads and made them start to move away.

So word of advice. If are blocked by a bunch of Big Horn sheep in your car, roll down the window and clap to herd them away. But still watch for a male that may want to dent your car.

Surviving Fort Mac - Camp Wapasu

I know that this blog series is called Surviving Fort Mac, but the thing is real estate in Fort Mac no longer makes sense. There is a joke about how a one bedroom apartment overlooking the business district up here In Fort MacMurray costs $800k. Of course the business district up here is actually a Wal-Mart. Because of this, big projects up here are now in the habit having plotting off land and building camps make out of pieced together Atco trailers.

Working up at the Kearl Oil Sands Froth site means that you live at a place called Camp Wapasu. Or Denman camp if you are in the safety department or IT.

Denman is the onsite camp. It is still a twenty minute drive from the main site plot, so it is not all that close really. It is reserved for those that may need to be onsite in cause of an emergency, and don't want to make the long drive to Wapasu (hour and a half round trip). This isn't about Camp Denman though it is about Camp Wapasu.

With these camps, the trailers are dropped on level plots of land, Metal prefabbed trailers are dropped down, bolted together, and furnished. The water is all brought in by truck and loaded into tanks. Same thing with fuel that is trucked in for the generators and heating systems. Communication like tv, phones and internet is via satelite uplink and all the food is trucked in and the waste is trucked out. It's remote location would be great in a zombie apocolpyse other than completely tied off of the grid, and any supply lines.

The rooms are what you would expect, with essentially three different types. We have Craft rooms, with a small bed, basic finish and Jack and Jill bathrooms. What is a Jack and Jill bathroom you ask? It is a bathroom between two rooms shared by both individuals. Wapasu is great in that if your roomie accidently or intentionally locks you out can fix it with a quarter rather then a call to security. Supervisor rooms are similar to craft rooms. Jack and Jill, but with a larger bed and better finishing. Executive rooms are where it is at, an individual bathroom, a mini fridge, leather recliner, but the best part is don't have to sign out of your room after your 2 week shift is done.

I like the craft rooms. More space with the smaller bed off to the side, roomies typically tire and bed earlier and wake up after I do.  Also he room layout makes more sense.

Also every day when you come back to your room, bed is made, towels are folded. That is nice. And if you leave your dirty laundry on the bed with a twenty when you leave to site, when you return it is washed and folded on your bed.

Here are some interesting facts about Wapasu...

It is the 2nd largest occupancy complex in North America... next to the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Camp Wapasu nearly became Town Wapasu. The population was nearly high enough, despite the fact no one is a permit resident, that legally in the province of Alberta the place would have to be declared a town. It would require a mayor and a fire marshall to be elected and everything. Apparently they expanded the next section far enough away to avoid this.

Wapasu is made of three parts and Main, East and West and each are managed differently

Wolves sometimes prowl the perimeter.

It contains the longest damn hallway I have ever seen. From one end to the other, is about a 2-3 minute brisk walk.

Occupancy of the camp is 5000

They make a shitty curry.

Halloween 2011 Pumpkins

Here are all the pumpkins that I carved for halloween. It was a lot of work and I actually had more pumpkins than Trick r Treaters. I think next year I may scale it back, but I had learned from using a wood carving kit on some of the pumpkins to try new things. I also broke a lot of tools the blades especially. The steel seems to be weaker then it was before.

Next year I may have to use a jig saw, especially if I want to do the same volume.

SPLIT

The end of the night, all of them on the front steps

Pumpkin Carving - Craving

Pictures of each step will come once I have started to carve.

Now it is time to talk of the carving. First I have to mention another relevant tool I had forgotten previously. Crayola washable felt pens. These are for transferring the designs onto the pumpkins. With them being washable you can erase mistakes and when you are done carving to clear the excess marks on the pumpkin after carving it.

Transferring the design
After you have made the design on paper it is time to transfer to a pumpkin. The reason that I prefer to do it free hand is to adapt to the contours of the pumpkin and to scale it appropriately to the shape of the pumpkin. Once you have a design on it that you like. It is time to cut.

Breaking the skin.
This is where the paring knife comes in handy. Small knife with a curved blade. Use it to trace along the design marks to not cut all he way but to cut about a quarter of an inch in. This is typically the more arduous and time consuming exercise of the carving. Once it is broken with this easy to use blade it is much easier to carve. After all the skin is broken, take a wet cloth and erase excess markings.

Plan your pieces
As you start carving out chunks it is important to undercut in tight spots to get later. For example if you are to leave a small piece of specific shape attached it can be hard to cut with the weight of the rest of the piece. So cut a larger berth of a section around to come back to later to detail into the smaller piece. Ensure that you leave enough space to get leverage on the piece.

Angle of pieces
The angle of the cuts is important to think about as it can add effect or get in the way of your design. For example you can make something look hollowed, thick and long if you cut at an angle that makes the area of the outer side of the piece larger then the area of the inside of the pumpkin. In some instances you want to cut pieces the opposite to best show a design from how you present the pumpkin.

General tips
Cut all pieces before you push them out. You can easily have small pieces broken off, or other pieces collapse if you are leaving close together thin strips.
Make sure you cut all the way through before moving out a peice. If you do not and try to pull the piece you could easily pull out a section you want to leave.
When moving out pieces cut out dummy sections and remove them to make it easy to remove delicate sections.
When you move the cut pieces out, push them in or out, based on where the larger surface area is
If you have a thick pumpkin you may want to thin the walls in the cleaning process to make it easier to carve.

This post I will edit, with pictures and more advice once I start carving, but I hope that this series has been helpful.

Pumpkin Carving - Finishing Details

Other Tools
Some tools that I failed to mention last time is as follows. A drywall knife is a useful tool but a crude one. Light weight and easy to navigate but use it only for large rough cuts, like the ones you would do to open the top. Another unlikely tool is vaseline. I know right, vaseline, but when you apply it to the inside of a cleaned pumpkin and on the cuts, it will help the pumpkin retain it's moisture for longer and slow the inevitable rotting. A useful thing.

Finishing Details
Though it may seem odd to write about the finishing details before writing about the act of carving the pumpkins themselves, it is for good reason. The finishing details are the thing that you need to think of before you start carving, not after.

The Lid
The first thing you will do when you start with the pumpkin is make a hole to get into the pumpkin. Make the cut at wide angle, and make a square notch in the back. This will act as a key hole to align the lid easily afterward. Make the cut however it best allows you to cut the face.

The Guts
Guts can make for a useful finish. Think of them as vomit, or spittle, or other guts. Use them for puking pumpkins, or as drools from a pumpkin's mouth. If you are doing a zombie themed pumpkin, leave some guts on the lid, and on the inside where the face of the pumpkin is to be. That way when you look into the pumpkin you will be able to see the guts dangling behind the eyes and out of the mouth.

Candles
Tealight candles may seem like a great idea due to cost and abundance. In groups of three or four these may be a fine choice, but when the climate is cold these little candles will not be able to heat up enough to produce a worthy flame, and will not burn brightly. Larger candles an inch and a half tall and an inch in diameter are ideal for this purpose. And will likely last a good four hours.

Removing Skin
This is a technique that I am quite novice on myself. It does something really cool though and that is add an extra layer to the two layer artwork. If you are really skilled you do those awesome pumpkin sculptures...

However this is about pumpkin carving and jack'o laterns, not sculpting. Now what you can do is take a flat wood scraper and scrap the skin down on the design before you ever start to carve. If you try to carve and then skin, you will just destroy the pumpkin. In terms of finish it gives you an additional texture. As I wrote previously I am not too experienced with this but here is a pumpkin done last year to emphasize the teeth.