It's To My Benefit... I Think..

Alas, the bleak and apparent revelation that I am stuck in the middle of hick-ville nowhere has struck me lightly on the head. Last night Dan and I discussed this, as we shared a few glasses of whiskey and gingerale up on some sandy dunes near some industrial complex. Ten years ago I would have never imagined myself being a situation as strange or amusing as this, but it has made me contemplate whereabouts my long jaunty legs will lead me ten years from now - somewhere nice and exotic I hope. Among other things, Dan and I also discussed how our lives, at the moment, are structured in a system. For example, every morning I get up at 5:30, make my lunch, go pee, cook and eat breakfast, turn on the television, hop in the truck, get to the block, bag up in the same efficient manner every time, plant the same amount by the hour every hour, shut my brain off, eat my lunch, finish up, record my numbers and earnings, and then head back home..and pass out. It's a strange machinistic lifestyle that I'm steadily growing accustomed to.

I recently finished reading a very insightful "self-help"-esque book, entitled "Zen and The Art of Happiness" - Thank you dad for donating. The entire mantra of the book is about how everything that occurs in our lives is somehow to our own personal benefit - be it good or bad. Lately I've been attempting to adopt this philosophy, and as such, every time I stumble or snag my leg on a branch, I quietly tell myself "it's to my benefit". I gotta say, it's sort of keeping me sane - it's rather reminiscent of the "serenity now!" epitaph from Seinfeld. Another interesting thing the book talks about is how there is no such thing as a "good" or "bad" event or thing - it's our minds that decided whether something is good or bad, and it's up to us to dwell on them or not. So now, when I'm stuck knee deep in a pile of slash, looking for a place to shove my helpless Spruce, whilst bugs feast on my sweaty grits, I tell myself - "hey.. this is only bad if I think it's bad!"- just another method of keeping my composure.

Anyway, our time at the cozy motel is up, I've packed all crap up in a tiresome rush, and tonight we head off to experience our first camping experience of the season - over yonder at some random PG campground. I look forward to setting up my new tent, and drifting away to the soporific tunes on my ipod.. then trying to get up in the chilly morning. But hey! we're getting cooked for! finally! although I have enjoyed preparing some tasty kraft-dinner esque dishes.. it should be nice to be catered to. I just hope the lunch food is up to par with my delicious selections.

Alrighty then.. I guess I'll give you the lowdown about how this past shift was. Well, it was an incredibly productive one for me. I've been starting to average around $200 - $250 a day, and I haven't missed a day of work - unlike some other less fortunate crew members with wrist injuries. I also managed to plant 1900 trees on tough slashy 15 cent land, and the next day I trooped it out even more and planted 2000 - a solid $600 in two days.. not too shabby at all. We also we're going to finish early on Day 3, and everybody was happy and excited to go for a swim at the lake..and then Ted (one of the other foremen nearby working for Celtic) called us up and said that he needed around 2000 trees to go in the ground, and that he need probably two guys to come to his block and help finish the land. Dan and I volunteered, being the auspicious vets, however eventually all of us had to go, because there was actually more land than expected. It was probably the worst last bagup of my life.. it was SWELTERING hot, and I was stuck on this super slashy hill.. but the kicker was the bugs - clouds upon clouds of ferocious skeeters and flies.. I must've gotten at least over fifty bites in the duration of an hour.. and that's only a slight exaggeration!

So there's only two more months of madness to go, and things are looking up. I miss the comforts of home and school, but I'm learning to appreciate the wonders of BC again - so everything's satisfactory. Anyway, I'll try and give you another update next day off and discuss my camp setup.

Until next time,
put a tree in the ground,
Jameso

Spruce and Pine are on my Mind

Well, well.. here I am again. I apologize for the late update, the library was closed on our last day off, and the internet cafe only allowed so much time. Anyway, a lot of fun crazy things have happened these past two shifts, and I guess I'll jump right into them.

First we had this nice and beautiful creamy block, and Dustin cut me a gargantuan piece. The first day started off beautifully with lots of sunshine, until out of nowwhere, hailstones the size of marbles proceeded to pummel me in the face. Lightning was shattering trees, the clouds were dark and unforgiving, yet still I planted those suckers in the ground. What other job can you truly experience mother nature's wrath?

So my predictions were somewhat conclusive.. Alex and Luc just couldn't hack it. Alex decided that rather than plant his last bundle of trees, he'd dig himself a hole and bury the suckers.. unfortunately Dustin was behind him the entire time..so sadly, he got the boot. After trying to convince Luc to stay for hours and hours, he finally made up his mind and decided to hit the old dusty trail. They're both apparently off somewhere in Vancouver camping and spending money.. and it disappoints me that they didn't get to experience the true joys of the treeplanting experience - living in camp. However, on the brighter side of things, they left me a bunch of their groceries and even some socks, and Kirsten is my new roomie - which means I have a roommate who actually cleans up after themselves now - hurrah!

A couple of days ago I almost broke my personal best. Dustin threw Kirsten and I into a massive piece, and we promised eachother to plant 200 by the hour, every hour. Boy oh boy did we ever hustle... and because of our tiresome efforts we both broke 2000 on 14 cent land - boo yeah! I was only 20 trees shy from beating my personal best of 2220.. but I'll conquer it eventually.

Now I'm stuck in a slash-filled crapshow of a piece.. and it should prove to be another hard shift. Other than that, life is good - it finally feels like summer here, and everybody is doing super well.

I'll have more interesting tidbits on my adventures in a week or so.

Cheers,
Jameso

The Conditioning Of A Not-So-Veteran Planter

Deafened by the detrimental effects of cabin pressure on my ears, I arrived in Prince George, at last, after a somewhat long five hour voyage. Myself, Alex, and Luc all climbed out of the plane lethargically, and we proceeded towards the luggage collection area, amidst many other eager and fatigued treeplanters. Then a familiar face greeted me with a smile - our boss Dustin. We heaved our heavy packs into the back of his pick-up and we headed to a sleazy motel in the Downtown area. I wasn't particularly enthused to be back in the sketch-ville that is P.G., however I was filled with excitement for our first embarkment into the dirty bush. After listening to a lecture about keeping our Motel room clean by the clerk, we finally got a room, loaded out all of our crap, and sat ourselves down inside. Alex, feeling eager to explore his newfound environment, encouraged us to take a stroll outside... at 11pm. We were greeted by a slew of degenerates - a couple cracked out hobos, an angry local, and a scary looking prostitute. Definitely not the greatest sights to see or encounter. So Alex and Luc got their first taste of the Peege, and I the already familiar traveler, warned them to keep at their wits at night.

The next morning we were shipped off to our new home, a "warehouse" as Dustin coined it, located just behind the Celtic Reforestation office. A better term for it would be an incomplete shack, for it literally was just a bunch of unheated rooms with mattresses covered in plastic wrap. I was a little disheartened, however once all of our crew arrived, my not-too-shabby shelter seemed a little better. Dan, Cody, and Kirsten are back - and it's great hanging out with them again. We also have around five rookie planters this year, and everybody is getting along swimmingly.

My first day out on the block was quite the success. I was excited as ever - my new corks felt hefty but comfortable on my weary feet, and it was great to have my own shovel again. Dustin cut me a piece of some primo land, and my first tree went in without a hitch (or a j-root). Everything magically all came back to me, and I managed to plant 1480 of the little suckers on my first day! It feels good to be making money again - out in the great wide open. The land has been so nice, mainly due to the fact that it's the beginning of the season and the majority of the stuff we're planting is flat cut-blocks with hardly any slash and nice dirt. I've even stopped flagging, which has saved me bundles of time (mind the lame planter pun, but I had to throw it in). It feels cool being a vet - we have bigger chunks of land, a lot more respect, and are expected to plant a lot. I've been maintaining a no less than $200 a day policy which so far has been working out.

The first shift had me whipped and beaten right back into the scraggly shape that planters assume. My legs, arms, wrists, wits, have all been pummeled into aches and pains, and alas I feel truly like a planter again. So far no extensive injuries for myself and the rest of the crew, so everyone's peachy about that.

On the night off of our first shift, we had a bonfire in a.. well..a wheelbarrow with some wood in it. This guy Mick, the local carpenter for our so-called living space, put it together. It was great - just a bunch of hippyfied planters sharing a few brews with some acoustic guitar by the fire. I was finally starting to get used to our shed, and then Dustin informed us that we had to move to a motel - and that is where I am currently at the moment. It's nice to have a heated room and your own personal toilet and shower.

I've been living off of Kraft Dinner, granola bars, alphaghettis, pepperettes, peanut butter, and many other thrifty items at the local grocery store. It's not that bad.. it's tough to keep a strict budget though when you're working your tail off every day to make lots of cash. Regardless, I think I'll survive for the time being with my ramen noodles. Oh and I forgot to mention, last night, after our second shift (which went quite well might I add), we all partied up on this big sandhill near the hotel, and I had a blast.. not too mention maybe one too many sips of strong beer. It was fun, we all tumbled drunkenly down the dune, and then scrambled our way back to the top.. it was kind of like a summer substitute for sledding.. except with alcohol involved. C'mon, gotta have a little bit of fun right?

Annnnnyway, I'd love to banter on about the minute details about my crazy days at work, but I should probably cease from this expulsion of words.. as I desire to grab some lunch.. and maybe play a little hacky sack in the sun. 'Till next week then!

- James Harris (aka "Music Man")