This past week had me up in northern Saskatchewan for work. I was doing an installation at our Island Falls, SK site with two other guys. The site is located at the Island Falls hydroelectric power generating station. This is the view from A-dam.

Most of the ice is off of the Churchill River.

There was a groundhog (Marmota monad) that kept showing up at the same time of the day near our building, makes me wonder if one of the operators feed it.

Making a run for it.

The copper smelter was closed in June 2010.

Before heading to the airport we stopped at the local tourist park with the statue of Josiah Flintabbatey Flonatin, a science fiction character from the novel “The Sunless City” by J.E.  Preston Muddock.

Flinty is 24 ft tall and was constructed in 1962. It was designed by cartoonist Al Capp.

To get to Island Falls, it is either an 8 hour drive from Saskatoon or a 1 hour flight from Winnipeg to Flin Flon and then another 3.5 hour drive from there.  Here is the flight path from Winnipeg to Flin Flon. Calm Air is the only airline going there now that Bearskin Airlines no longer has daily flights. While we were waiting to board our flight a RCMP jet came in with a prisoner to make a court appearance in Flin Flon. The provincial court sheriffs were there to take custody of the prisoner. When they are arrested they are shipped to Prince Albert to await trial and then flown back to the local community.