During the spring and fall of each year, Bawden Drilling would rent the Pine Lake campground, complete with trailer/tent parking stalls, cabins, ball diamonds and BBQ pits for all staff and families from Nisku & Calgary office, visitors from out of town and camp and rig crews that were on their days off. I think that our kids looked as forward to this weekend as much as we did. It was definitely fun family days as we all got acquainted or reacquainted. There was stiff competition between Nisku staff and Calgary staff with regard to the ball games, and the best players (no matter the age) were recruited for the teams. Olga Rourke, Doug's wife was certainly one ballplayer that was sought after by both teams - she could hit that ball out of the park, run like a deer and slide right past whoever was supposed to be on base without being tagged, with much cheering from the fans. The evenings were wieners roasts, barbecues, and a lot of laughing and story telling.
Another social event that was also eagerly looked forward to was the one-day curling bonspiel, again Nisku vs Calgary. Buses were hired from both cities to bring everyone to Red Deer for this event. The bus trips were almost as much fun as the curling. as soon as you were seated the trip started with a glass of white wine and orange juice. In the evening after the bonspiel there was a lovely catered dinner and continuous happy hour(s). When boarding the bus for home, the trick was to pay close attention, making sure you got yourself on the correct bus for the trip. as you couldn't always trust those around that offered help.
The curling bonspiels were especially fun for those of us that weren't serious curlers, perhaps not that much fun for the serious curler such as Boris Ewanchuk and Doug Rourke. Boris had once made the statement that a fate worse than death would be having myself or Beverly Phillips from the Calgary office on his team, so a little manipulating with the draw and as luck would have it, he got both of us - we were wearing hats that said "the ones your mother warned you about". the following year Doug mentioned that he'd like a "stacked rink" for a change and his wish was granted, he got his stacked rink - this time we turned up wearing heavy sweaters stuffed with two large balloons. They both soon stopped saying their thoughts out loud for fear of what would happen next. Bev. and I are still good friends - although a bit better behaved.
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