Ennadai update

Ennadai Update

The work has taken almost all of our attentions for the past few weeks. Susan and I have been steadily disposing of one problem after the next – and today the system ran for the first time.  What a relief!  We took an afternoon nap in celebration and slept until suppertime.

There are a number of tasks for us to perform before we can leave this system running by itself. Principal among these tasks will be installation of relays so that the automatic controller is running the circulation pumps. The relays which I ordered were for low voltage switching – but the controller has very excellent high voltage outputs  -- just not quite powerfdul enough for the big pumps that we are running. Unfortunately the electrician who is supposed to do this will be leaving on the same plane that some needed parts for this are expected to arrive on. Bother!

Many of the construction gang are leaving on the same plane as the electrician, but Susan and I will be staying a little longer in order to get the commissioning moved along. There is a lot of ‘tweeking’ to be done, and an operating manual to assemble and a ‘wall mural’ schematic to draw on the control room wall.

In other news nephew Peter finally got his caribou.  He received mixed reviews from the people for whom he was performing bear watch, at least so I hear. The remains of a dead caribou are just as likely to attract the attention of bears as anything, so I suppose their ire was justified.

twin otter sea and land

I can certainly sympathize with Peter, as he and SeeMee have been hunting nearly every evening for two months for their caribou.  As things happen, we now know that the herd is a number of mile up the lake. Peter was hired to perform ‘Bear watch’, keeping the Grizzly Bears either frightened off – or dead – while the engineering types perform their assessments prior to rehabilitating an old Environment Canada weather station a few miles to our north.

And that is not all. Some of the keeners have been fishing hard to beat carpenter Al’s 34”, 13 pounds lake trout  - and last night they finally did it. Carpenter Mike brought a 17 pound pike ashore and froze it to take back home on Saturday. 3 nights ago our crewman Max hooked a 4 foot pike and electrician Darren was reaching for it when it gave a quick yank and departed.

Max was rigged with old 10 pound test line and a smallish lure. The next evening was largely taken up with replacing the line and fitting out some larger leaders and lures.  Their blood was definitely UP. They were going after the big one.

skiffs at the dock

Max has become our navigational buoy here at the lake. Seaplane pilots usually call ahead and one was asking about a reef that another pilot had described to him. We told the pilot to watch for a skiff with a fisherman and dispatched Max (and his fishing rod) to locate the reef and anchor on it. Real obstruction markers, as well as a mooring or two, will be needed to make this place more seaplane friendly. 

Max leaves for a few weeks before returning to work with the crew on other parts of the project. He and his girlfriend will be winter caretakers for the resort starting in November, when the guests and builders leave.

Of all the different jobs he was exposed to for the first time, pipefitting seems to be Max’s natural niche.  Timid about the threader at first and complaining about pipefitting by way of personal policy soon gave way to something else.

It became obvious that he had an affinity for it after I turned him loose with two baskets of parts and some minimal guidance on his first manifold.  Later, when we were chasing down pressure losses, he became the go-to guy to handle inserting a new union-coupling, even removing the 2 inch return manifold whole for an immersion test.

480 tube array completed

At last! The 480^th  (and last) glass tube is installed and with that Max went over to another crew working here while Sailor Sue and I mop up the loose ends and debug the small stuff.

Last night we gave ourselves a couple of hours to explore to the South. We saw and filmed some beautiful scenery.

The Dornier transport has landed and the pilots handed the needed relays to me as soon as they debarked. It was a quick run back to the control room on the ATV while others unloaded the plane for its turn-around to Yellowknife. I did not have much time, but things were set-up for a quick install. I unscrewed the wire jumpers with which I had been by-passing the needed relays and inserted each relay. A pause and then one deep breath. When I powered the low-voltage ones a week ago they both blew up in seconds.  Muttering a brief ‘prayer’ I powered the controller. 

The power-up self-test said everything is fine.....and then...the click of one relay followed shortly after by the click of the other relay engaging.  I am staring intently at the relays, trying to detect burning before the actual blow-up.   NOTHING!  After a few seconds I realize that they have worked and that both pumps are running as they should.  And speaking of running, there will be no time to monitor the on/off settings for the controller today as I have got to RUN to catch a plane.  

Hey that looks like the garmin we call bitchin' betty 

  

magpie

 

Two hours later we catch our first glimpse of Yellowknife as we drop below the clouds over Great Slave Lake. After a tavern dinner at the hotel and a good nights sleep we take a bus tour of this town of 14,000 people.  New shoes are one urgent priority of mine, as well as a good pair of jeans and a haircut. We take up the first day in Yellowknife on basic personal maintenance items like these. 

Yellowknife walking tour

houseboats of Yellowknife