Many times I have heard people say when they woke up in a circumstance different than normal that it took them a minute to remember where they were. That's not how I felt. I was aware of Sandra next to me all night. I wasn't used to sleeping with anyone. I woke often feeling her naked body next to mine. Her bare legs warm against my legs. Her breasts, one on my chest the other pressing against my side. It wasn't what I would call restless, it was more like the kind of thing you want to last longer and you want to savor it as long as you can.
I thought I heard wolfs howl at one point but it may have been the wind, it blew hard. It made sleeping with Sandra surreal, an unexpected pleasure. We went to bed like we couldn't strip each other's clothes off fast enough and made love passionately. Now in the morning I was wanting time to slow, I was relishing this moment. Her olive skin against me. Her black hair across her face with those full lips. Lips that were so soft on mine. Her arm was across my chest.
It didn't last as long as I would have liked her eyes fluttered open. "Do we have to work today?" She smiled at me and ran her hand across my chest.
"I would love to say we don't. But duty calls."
"Remember when I said yesterday when the bears interrupted that I had some ideas?
"I do, but in all the excitement, not the least of which was the bears by the way, I forgot to ask you about that. What are you thinking?"
"Well I'm a little better at some of this stuff since last time we worked together and also made a few contacts and friends. there are some people that owe me a favor or two."
"I'm listening. What are you thinking?"
After breakfast we sat down at the computer and opened up the plan file I had sent to our emails. The cover page had a satellite shot with the transmission line route superimposed on it. Along with the easements.
"Ok, here are my thoughts. Basically it seems to me they are looking at constructibility. Will the easements and tower sites hold up to construction traffic in the summer months. They primarily need to know about the frost depth and density, correct?"
"Yep, thats the jest of it. They are going to want bore samples to verify that." I sat in the chair next to Sandra and sipped my coffee.
"So I have friends that work for the USGS, they have a satellite that basically is like inferred or thermal imaging on steroids. They would love to have our data from here. In exchange I'm willing to bet they will give us their imaging results from a satellite that happens to be collected in the next night or two."
"If you can pull this off it will dramatically reduce the foot work we have to do here."
"And we don't have to worry about violating a non disclosure agreement because we didn't sign one."
"That's why I don't sign them. I work for other development companies and I wouldn't be able to outlast one of them in court if they got a hair up their ass."
I got up and looked out through the window to see what kind of day it looked like.
"I think we can get some bores done today it's looking like a nice day."
"Nice... if you think nineteen degrees is nice." Sandra looked through the window. "At least the wind isn't blowing. Based on what I'm seeing in the satellite image we might get some weather day after tomorrow and things will likely deteriorate significantly. Remember this girl is used to Texas weather."
"I'm not too worried, this can is pretty well insulated, and the solar will give us what we need."
"That only works if the sun is out. Then we're on batteries. And how long is that going to last?"
The weather up here is always unpredictable and Sandra always worried about it.
"If it gets cold and we are relying on battery for heat, I'm not sure with the new battery technology. In the olden days, maybe two days, if we were lucky. But the generator will take care of anything we need and charge batteries. There are two fuel cells in the back with the mini excavator. So we should have plenty of power for a while." I had done enough of these remotes up in Alaska and here in the Northern Territories that it didn't bother me much at least not this time of year.
"We aren't going to need to do a lot of bores I don't think, maybe a couple to establish a baseline. I'll know more in terms of what they need from us in a couple of hours. It's too early to reach anyone there. I'll call on the sat phone and talk to my friend and see what they need."
"In the mean time I think we get a jump on it and do a couple of bores, collect some samples. It'll be a good thing to get a few under our belt in case we are pinned down with weather."
By then I was getting into my insulated bibs and putting on my boots. And couldn't help but notice Sandra wiggling into her bibs, her shirt had ridden up some exposing her brown belly button and she looked great in her pink bikini underwear. We both checked our sidearms and magazines before strapping them on. She was surprisingly comfortable and proficient at handling her sidearm, I noticed the same thing when she checked the 308 in the locker.
We went out and the first thing we did was scan for wildlife. We didn't want to be surprised by bears. Our container was placed on a southern facing slope that isn't treed so it was a matter of spending a little time with the binoculars until we were satisfied we weren't going to have un wanted visitors. We pulled the mini excavator out and put the auger attachment on it, checked fluids and decided we would start fairly close and get a bore sample.
The frost proved to be thick and very frozen and hard. I ran the mini ex and Sandra would take a few samples every few feet of depth. One boring took most of the day. We had our samples. And while I drilled Sandra filled out the bore logs. It was like we hadn't been apart for twenty years, we clicked along each knowing what needed to be done and what came next. At 5'2" She is short with thick thighs and an ample chest. I was amazed as I watched her work how in the world she made insulated bib overalls look so good. I guess it was because I knew what was underneath them.
"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Sandra was yelling and frantically using her hand in a slashing motion across her throat in case I didn't hear her over the roar of the engine.
Turning the machine off. I opened the door to the cab. As soon as I did I could smell hydraulic oil. "Don't tell me, we blew a hose." As soon as I climbed out of the cab I could see oil dripping off the boom.
