Hatch Watch Bear

 Ready for the costume reveal??? OK... here we go!!!

I am going to be working at BearMac as a Hatch Watch bear!

I have my PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)... my hardhat...

And my safety vest and steel-toed boots...

My safety vest is adjustable!

And I am dressed warmly as well... cause it is not a job for those who can't stand being chilled!

I have my clipboard...

We will be tracking workers as they go into and come out of the hatch (what hatch? Wait and see...)

And... the tiniest pencil in history... it's from Gramma!!! We are all impressed with her ability to sharpen this pencil to such a tiny nubbin! We are ready!!!!

These are the hatches we will be supervising at BearMac during their shutdown. Workers (pipe-fitters, steelworkers, etc) need to go and work inside these vessels... and the hatch watch person (aka Confined Space Entry) records who goes in and out... and tests gases inside as well! 

This is the hatch watch crew!! They were short-staffed and so... I got the call! 

Hatch Watch Sandy reporting for duty!!

Right... we are going to put our pole with the tubing inside of the hatch...

And then we will monitor for harmful gases like CO, H2S, LEL and O2... too much or too little can be bad... I am ready for workers to arrive! FYI... the mill makes a lot of weird noises and is beary dark and dirty and... scarey... so this bear is keeping a sharp eye for things that go bump in the dark!

An Entry for Jerry & Ben's Halloween Contest

 Hullo, we have a pumpkin to work on today.

It is a small pumpkin...

But small can be mighty... just ask my friend Beanie Mouse & Co.

I am going to stand aside while the lobotomy takes place.

Yup, there's a lot of good in there...

Now we just have to scoop it all out, not my favourite job.

There, that's looking pretty clean.

Oh, and just a heads up... this is not a carving pumpkin!!!! It's a pie pumpkin! And we are cooking a Halloween themed meal with it!

And true to form, I did not get any of the prep pictures...

But there it is, baking away.

And it is ready now...

We didn't know you could do this with pie pumpkins...

Stuffed pumpkin!! With sausage, wild rice mix, pecans and some herbs and stuff...

It was yummy!!!

Heading Home

 Well, that was a nice little visit back home. We are now on the road again and...

We have snacks!! Cheezies... Hawkins Cheezies, eh. Canadian... yum! And... there's other stuff in there!!!

Ooooh... and Celebration cookies!!! yum!

We're hitting the smoke again... sigh.

Yes... pass that logging truck!

We stopped for a little rest...

And saw an old beehive burner!! 

Those things are vintage antiques now.

We also stopped here...

It's an old homestead area called... Alexandria!!!

It's fitting that Sandy (Alexander) should visit Alexandria!

And then we hit the road again... It's a beary long drive...

We finally stopped for the night in Cache Creek... And sat by the creek for a bit...

And then hit the pillows....

Up early the next morning...

And made a pit stop....

What?? No Starbucks?? Huh? There is no Starbucks in town!

Then we had a look see just south, at Ashcroft Manor - used to be an old ranch with a road house (for stage coaches)...

They still have one of the old garbage can monsters!!!!

Selfie time!!!

Ahhhh... these are antiques!

The manor burned down in 1943, but that's the old road house, which now serves as a restaurant.

Cool... onwards!

We pulled over here, in the Thompson Canyon because...

We saw some Big Horn Sheep!

Onwards...

It's getting quite dry and deserty here, but at least the smoke has stopped.

Of course there was construction...

Oooh... we are now in the Fraser Canyon!!

And there are tunnels!!!

This is the longest!! Some are quite short but this one... it goes on for a while!

Whew! Made it out!

There's Hell's Gate... but it's too early for them to be open...

More tunnels!

And there's another one...

We stopped for a rest break...

At a place called... Alexandra Bridge!

Ah-hem... 

Let's go!

The trail is mostly an old road...

And then you come to this... No Trespassing... Private Crossing, etc, etc... 

We are going across the rail line... it's kind of silly really... because they advertise the trail and to get to the bridge... you have to go across the rail line... just pay attention...

Oooh... it's the bridge!!!

It's from the very olden days... Gramma remembers driving across this bridge, but Mama says it was closed (there's a new bridge) when she was a kid. So... we know it's old!

That's the Fraser River...

And the new bridge is over there..

Some people are hanging love-locks off the bridge.

This is the far end...

It's pretty.

And we wonder how long it'll keep being here.

It's not the youngest thing you know... 

We saw a helicopter - there's a little fire burning further south in the canyon...

Cool bridge!

It's back to the highway...

And one more tunnel...

And we are in the Fraser Valley heading for Vancouver.

Um... yep... with construction!

This is the Port Mann bridge! Almost there!

We're almost at Rose's place...

So we need to say good-bye to Blueberry who is now a Certified Adventure Stuffie.

As he crawls back into... the glove box???

Wait... he... lives in the glove box????

Don't you worry... I will take this up with Rose!!!

Ooooh... there's city hall!! An art deco building!

And we got out of the car... and grabbed our gear and headed downtown to catch...

... the Hullo ferry...

Wow... what an adventure! I love road trips... you get to see so much!