Redoubt Update March 27th

Redoubt is still active and causing a minor stir in our area. Very little ash has fallen in Cooper Landing but other parts of the Kenai have been getting ash. The weather has been mostly cloudy so Carol and I have not tried to get a view yet, but we will be going to Soldotna tomorrow and may get pictures. Flights north were cancelled again. The wind has shifted a bit but has not gone too far east, yet. I believe that it is only a matter of time before the plume will hit Anchorage more directly and shut down the city drastically; vulcanologist agree that this could be an extended affair that could last months. The last eruption lasted over 4 months with periodic air travel shut-downs.

Redoubt Blows

Finally back from my hitch. It was extended two days compliments of Mother Nature by way of Mt. Redoubt which erupted Sunday morning, six hours before I was to board my plane back to Anchorage. All Northbound air traffic was canceled until Tuesday, including flights to Barrow and Nome. My flight was bumped to Wed, which had me driving Turnagain Pass through a nasty blizzard. Fortunately it was still light out or it would have been tough going.

Here is an excellent source for info & images of the Redoubt eruptions: http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php

Camp Notes

Alaska Camp 220 is a Nabors Drilling Camp catered by Doyon Universal Services (or DUS) and presently located in Deadhorse, AK. I work for DUS and am in charge of Alaska Camp catering services with the title of Head Cook. Alaska Camp has a max population of 60, including DUS employees. Right now we have an "annex" next to our camp, McKinley Camp. McKinley camp sleeps 60, too, but does not have a kitchen.

DUS responsibilities are basically to provide living services to the camp population. The two catagories of services: Housekeeping and Foodservice. Here's the breakdown:

Housekeeping:

• laundry
• bedroom cleaning
• common-area cleaning
• checkin/out

Foodservice:

• meals
• spike room (break room) food and supplies
• off-premise food and supplies
  
• accounting
  

Descriptions of the basics in each catagory:

HOUSEKEEPING
Laundry
Everyone has the housekeepers do their towels on a daily basis. Some camps send out their linen, but Alaska Camp does thier linen in house. Linens are changed once a week and upon checkout/ changeover. Some housekeepers go the extra mile and help the crews with thier personal laundry

Bedroom Cleaning
Every bedroom in the camp is attended to daily. This means making the bed and emptying the trash. Most bedrooms do not have a private bath or sink, but if they do, they will be cleaned daily. Straightening the room, dusting and vacuuming are done as needed.

Common-area Cleaning
Other areas to clean include the hallways, smokeroom, TV room, gym and some utility rooms.

Checkin/out
The housekeepers generally keep track of who is coming and who is going, what company they work for and where they will be staying. This is kept track of by use of a dry erase board located near the front entrance and also by a daily manifest. Similar to the function of a front desk clerk.


FOODSERVICE
Meals
There are four meals per day: breakfast, lunch, dinner and midnight meal. The times of the meals follow the regular schedule of a layman's day but don't necessarily follow the schedule of the crew. For instance, if you are working the 6pm to 6am shift, dinner will be your first meal of the day and breakfast will be the last meal offered. Screwy, but that's how it is. Each meal is generally two hours long, but that varies camp to camp and is decided by the Tool Pusher (head boss) of the rig.

Spike Room food and supplies
The spike room (break room) is stocked with food and supplies available to the crew in between meals. Cereals, ice cream, popcorn, soup, coffee & tea, plates & cups, etc. I do not know why it is called the spike room.

Off premise food and supplies
Anything that is taken to the rig or other outbuilding is separate from the basic Camp operations. These items are kept track of and billed separately. For instance: coffee cups, coffee, pastry trays, sandwiches, etc.

Accounting
Someone has to keep track of all of this activity, and that is the Head Cook's responsibility. Paperwork includes: ordering, timesheets, billing, casual meal billing (visitor meals), lodging billing, transfers, inventory and rebills (off premise food and supplies).