July 4th

I have been shut out of posting and saving for about 5 days and after continuing to complain with no results have discovered that a new requirement has been added and with out putting in a Post Title I can't proceed.
I've been doing thsi blog for about 3 years and never had this requirement.
 Sorry for n ot being here.
We have had a nice run of warm weather and at the moment it is 22C in the shade. There is a cool breeze off the water keeping the temperature down. Been bowling lots (of course) sold my chainsaw this morning and cleaned out and up my shed.
To continue where I left off on the story with a little bit repeated--

6.

  The following morning the temperature had risen to minus twenty and a light snow was falling.  However the wind had virtually stopped and in comparison to the previous few days it was almost spring like.

  Milford was now adequately trained and toughened enough that he and Jerry were able to maintain a similar pace to the other two.  They settled down to the routine and unexciting chore of strip cruising.

  This meant that every tree in each half chain by two and a half chain plot had to be tallied and recorded by specie and estimated diameter.  In at least every two plots four randomly selected trees had to have the diameter accurately measured using a special tape, the height measured using an abney level and the age determined using an increment borer.  Also with the borer the last ten years of growth was measured and recorded.  It was slow tedious work.  For the compassman it meant he had to travel in a straight line, breaking trail all day, for the cruiser it meant going back and forth in each plot counting and recording the trees, breaking his own trails, not able to travel at any rapid speed.

  The only time they got a break from breaking trail was on the journey back to camp each night when they could follow down the base line trail.

  Now that it had warmed up and their productivity was acceptable; both pairs took the time to take lunch breaks of a half to a full hour.  Usually at these times they would also take a few extra heights, diameters and ages.

  They tried to maintain a rate of one hundred and twenty chains per day.  This objective was affected by temperature, terrain, snow conditions, open ground and the amount of windfall on their routes.  Timber size and age also had an affect, as normally in smaller and younger stands, there were more trees to tally and their proximity to each other made both the compassing and the counting more difficult.  They knew that each day that they got further from camp it would be harder to keep up the desired pace.

  The first few days of steady cruising they worked well into the day and arrived back in camp near dark.  The snow kept falling intermittently so it did not become a factor.

  After another three days went by the decision was made that on the following morning one pair would go to town for more supplies while the other two would stay and cruise.  Jerry and Milford got the lucky straw.

  They figured that by the time they walked down the lake, got the jeep going, made the trip into town and purchased the supplies that they could not get back the same day. 

  Jerry and Milford left before seven am and just after seven Harv and Ken headed back out onto the trail.  The temperature was now up to fifteen below, by ten am it was minus ten and the snow started falling in earnest.

  As luck would have it that day the cruise line brought them onto a patch of immature tees no larger than three to four inches in diameter and about fifteen feet in height.  This made the tallying easy but slowed their progress.  The snow fell through the day and the two times they had to pass through the immature trees the going was miserable due to the snow being knocked onto their heads and shoulders by their own passage.

  When they got back to the baseline in the late afternoon their clothes were wet through to the skin and the return trail had several inches of new snow; they headed back to camp after only a hundred chains completed.

  In the mean time, Jerry and Milford were at the old shack in less than two hours, but when they went to start the jeep it wouldn’t start.  Jerry made a smoke pot from an old coffee tin and using chips and sawdust from the wood box got a smoldering fire under the jeep’s oil pan, then took the battery into the cabin, started a fire and proceeded to warm the battery.  Shortly before noon the jeep motor reluctantly turned over then fired and in a few moments was running smoothly.  They pulled into ‘The Fort’ in the early afternoon.   Jerry reported in at the Ranger Office, picked up an envelope of mail, then went to the local store and shopped for the new supplies.  By the time they headed back up the ‘North” road, the snow that had been falling steadily had turned into a storm.  Driving conditions deteriated as darkness started to fall but they finally pulled up at the cabin again about seven o’clock.  They had no bedding or cooking utensils as everything was at the camp, so after getting a roaring fire going they heated a couple of tins of soup in the tins then stretched out on the cots fully clothed.

  They were heading up the lake, toboggan in tow before six the next morning.

  However it had snowed hard well into the night; a few flakes were still coming down; there was a foot of fresh snow on the ice and the going was slow.  It was over three hours before they reached the camp.

  After the night that they had just put in and the three hours of breaking trail, Jerry decided to stay in camp and have dinner ready for the other two when they got back that evening.  He noted that because of the banked snow around the tent that the new snow was lying on the fly and not sliding, this meant shoveling all around the tent to create a place for the new snow to slide to.  Once this new task had been taken care of they made lunch and as they were sitting Jerry opened the mail envelope.

  Included with a smattering of personal mail was a radiogram to the Ranger asking him to get word to Jerry that a position had become available in one of the Ranger Districts and he should report to Prince George by the twentieth of February!

  Jerry wasn’t quite sure what the date was so he searched around and found the grocery bill from the day before.  It read February 16.  Harv and Ken arrived about five, their smiles at seeing the camp lit up and smelling wood smoke quickly faded when Jerry broke the news.

  Finally Harv said; “Well anyway congratulations Jerry, good news for you.  But what are you going to do about Milford?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that and I think he should stay on with you two, it should help a bit.  Also do you want to stay here right now or should we all go in, you could take a break and then come back.”

  After the recent ordeal, it was not a hard decision.  No one had bathed since their arrival, the long days and lack of sleep was starting to wear them all down, not a hard decision at all.

  The next morning they were on the baseline trail by seven and neither crew arrived back at camp until after six.

  The day following that, February nineteenth they all headed down the trail to the lake.  The temperature was a balmy twelve below with just a light snow falling.

  Jerry’s jeep started with no trouble, they jump started the second one and by mid afternoon they reached the outskirts of Prince George.