The M&E DISPATCH // 192

The Dog Days.

July 14, 2026

The Tuesday Dispatch

Every email I send right now feels like a coin toss.

Will it reach the person I sent it to?

Or will it come bouncing back with a vacation autoresponder telling me they are somewhere beyond the reach of email, returning at a date that may or may not be accurate?

Sometimes there is an alternate contact.
Sometimes there is a cellphone number for emergencies.
Sometimes the message amounts to: I am gone. Figure it out.

It is the dog days of summer.

The weeks when inboxes slow down, calendars develop holes and getting three people onto the same call starts to feel like coordinating a major infrastructure project.

That does not mean the mining and energy sectors have stopped moving.

Far from it.

For many of you, summer is when the real work gets done.

The roads are open. The snow is gone. The daylight stretches into the evening. Exploration crews are in the field. Contractors are moving equipment. Construction teams are trying to complete twelve months of work inside a weather window that may only last four.

There are drills turning in places most Canadians could not find on a map.

There are helicopters moving people and supplies into camps with no road access.

There are maintenance crews working through shutdowns while everyone else is posting photos from the cottage.

Summer may be quiet in the office, but it is rarely quiet in the field.

Many of you are also spending more time in remote areas, for work and for play.

Sometimes both.

A site visit turns into an extra night at the lake.

A drive to a project includes a fishing rod in the back of the truck.

A few days at camp are followed by a few more days somewhere nearby where the phone barely works and nobody seems particularly upset about it.

Your work takes you into places other people save all year to visit.

Northern lakes.
Mountain passes.
Logging roads.
Small towns.

Places where the nearest traffic light might be hours away and the view from the jobsite is better than anything hanging on the wall of a downtown office.

It is easy to romanticize that, of course.

Remote work also means bugs, dust, heat, long days, unreliable internet, mechanical problems and the occasional meal that reminds you the camp cook is also working through a staffing shortage.

Still, there is something good about this part of the year.

People disappear for a week and return slightly sunburned, pretending they did not check their email even once.

Maybe that is not a bad thing.

Mining and energy are industries built around long timelines, complicated projects and people who spend much of the year solving problems that cannot be fixed with another meeting.

Summer creates a little breathing room.
Not everywhere and not for everyone.

But enough to step back, get outside and remember there is a world beyond the next deadline.

So, should you email me this week, I will probably respond.
Should I email you, there is a reasonable chance I will hear back from a robot.
Either way, I hope many of you are getting some time away.

And for those spending the summer in the field, on the road or somewhere well beyond reliable cellphone service, I hope the work is going well and the mosquitoes are feasting on someone else.

Enjoy the dog days.

They never seem to last as long as we think they will.

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Out of office: Probably stuck in traffic. The 401, am I right? Check back next week.
Don’t forget it’s dollar drink days at McD’s, just trying to be helpful.

Lee