Spring 2013

Spring 2013

Sorry if the website and blog seemed to have disappeared the last few days. A client had been on site last week, spoke to us on the weekend and went back yesterday to fill in the booking form. Thankfully he called when he couldn't  get into the site. Apparently … a hosting glitch.
  

We have had our earliest start ever with a survey mid-February N of Calgary, thanks to a Chinook and a +10C day.  Frost was much less of an issue than we expected due to lots of snow cover on this one much the same as one we finished in early December. Both these off-season surveys make us more apt to try surveys thru winter when they are close to home, and as long as we get a good Chinook for a day or 2.  Living in MB till a few years ago that just would have never happened.  Rule of thumb for us is if its above freezing and the client can pound a ½” rebar 2 feet into the ground we should be able to work with no issues.

Spring is about to get very busy and this year is back to normal with early surveys starting in southern AB and SK again. Last year we left AB to get started on surveys in SK and into MB as the ground was thawed there a lot earlier than here.

For this season and with snow in some areas our main rounds may be delayed a little.  To cover the bookings we have nowand if we don't split N and S, we will need to do at least 2 loops  travelling  east on # 1 thru to MB and then back on HWY 16  from Russell, MB thru to Westlock before heading back south. Right now we are still adding to both loops based on urgency but the 2^nd  round won’t be started till May or so. In the meantime we hope to get surveys done here in the south before we head out on the first one.

Best of Spring !  Call before your Drill Book early to Save !

Last Year - New Year

2012 was a Great Year. Our last 2 surveys, done in early December the clients both drilled wells shortly after the survey. Though we typically won’t do surveys much past snow and/or freeze up, we ended up doing a few S.AB surveys into November, and then thanks to a Chinook, completed another survey in early December and 2 clients already drilled.  Some wet and cold  years working into December  just isn’t feasible but it worked well here this year.

For the 2^nd last drill behind on a site near Champion, we were originally called to do the rush survey after a driller completed 4 near-dry holes on the site in late fall. We did our typical survey exploring the quarter section with random sounding sites at large spacing and then doing field interpretation, triangulating near what appeared to be the best area with additional sites.  From comparative analysis of the data the report identified the best site of the triangulated area and also identified potential at one of the random sites. None of the sites had yield estimates of much more than 3 gpm. After reviewing  the report  the owner called suggesting that a similar rated random site may be a more suitable area for a well and asked if he could drill there.  After explaining the risk in using this as an alternative drill site with only the one data set collected there, the owner agreed to let us do a couple of more sounding sites nearby to verify before trying.  New data from the follow up sites though not stronger, provided the support to consider the initial random site as a viable alternate. The driller started the next day.

The owner called that night to say they had hit the shallow water as identified and the driller was going to let it sit overnight to test the quality and yield in the morning.  He called again the following afternoon. “You could not have called it better! The shallow water was there, just as you reported, but when the driller tested it this morning it was good water but was only looking like 1 gpm so I told them to keep going. The rig blew dust from there on and we thought for a while we were done,  but just as stated in your follow up advice, the driller hit the sandstone ledges at a depth of 50 meters . The driller went another pipe stem after that and after a quick test he figures it will do 5 gpm. That’s easily enough for the new house.  Pretty impressive! You ever need a referral just have them call me!”

The last drill behind SW of High River, AB was completed a week or so ago and had a similar outcome, the owner emailing that it was a better than expected 6 gpm well for the new home build. Given the challenge to find water in both these areas it was great way to end the 2012 season.

That was the end of 2012. We fully anticipate a much busier 2013. Spring Bookings are already double what they were last year when the season started in mid-April and we have yet to do the call backs to callers from late 2012.  Given the number of pre-booked surveys we have heading towards spring we expect it will take 6-8 weeks to do the initial 2 rounds through Western Canada this year with Round 1 starting wherever the frost is out first. A round typically takes us East down HWY 1 into MB back west on HWY 16 to Lloydminster and areas north and then Edmonton. Depending on the spring  we may return home first or the loop may extend into Northern BC, and back South through Williams Lake  to Penticton before heading home.