A Potpourri...

I fly today. Not home unfortunately as the runway in Ottawa is being paved and I guess they only have 1 there!?! So instead I will be flown to Edmonton to stay in a cheesy motel until my flight tomorrow afternoon. Apparently I will get to Ottawa at midnight but thankfully it is only about an hour's drive from there to my house in Cobourg! I hope you can sense the sarcasm in that. Suffice it to say that I am non-plussed! Yesterday's weather was completely weird for me as Inam not from this province. Throuout most of the day the weather was calm but as hot as a fox in a forest fire. After last break we were outside when we saw the black sky approaching from the west. When it was only a few miles away you could easily see the lightening against the dark backdrop. I was working with Alvin and we had stopped to look at it when we saw the wall of dust approaching. It was moving fast and we barely made the bolt shack when it hit. Wham! All of a sudden the visibility dropped in much the same way it does during a heavy snow storm. On top of that a wind tore through with such ferocity that it blew over wooden barriers and threatened to pull the bolt shack down. That was all it took to send Alvin and I running for the surge bins! From there we could feel the temperature drop and could see the clouds starting to swirl in a funnel so everyone hagan worrying that a tornado was on its way. Shortly after that we were all called back to our trailers to wait out the storm which soon added severe rain to its repertoire of evils. I can tell you without exaggeration that we watched out every window for signs of a tornado as the trailer wouldn't survive one meaning we would have to bolt back to the bat cave between the surge bins in order to hide from it. Eventually it calmed a bit and our buses arrived allowing us to get safely back to camp. We had survived! Again! I heard this morning that Kiewit has just brought 50 iron workers up from Chicago to work on their site. I am glad they have some work as I understand there isn't a lot south of the border. That said they should be working through our hall as we have jurisdiction here but someone said that they aren't and that the International is fucking us over on this one. All I know is that if we don't stand together it will spell the end for unionism. I didn't sleep well last night and I am cranky! Not a good way to start my day. My battery always gets run down at the end of the shift. I hate packing up and unpacking. I hate hotels and instead would stay in a tent in the parking lot if I could have my wife with me. Waaaaaahhhh! Enough bitching. It is what it is! Have a good day. :)