To Suffer or Not to Suffer -- Mon., July 2

One does not love a place the less for having suffered in it, unless it has been all suffering, nothing but suffering.

                                                            ~Jane Austen, novelist (1775-1817)

With two days behind us out of the oil fields, here are our perspectives/opinions on our gate guarding experience. 

Even though we suffered some, it was not all suffering. To describe it accurately, I would use the words adventurous, on-the-edge, different, hot, buggy, beautiful (sunsets, exotic animals, birds), available 24/7, disruptive, preoccupying, monopolizing, confining, but not boring. (Bob would say it was boring.)

Sure there was some suffering which included: H2S gas; heat; bug bites; bugs, mud and dust in the RV; blowing dust; remote location; flooding and gooey, slippery mud when it rained hard; company-provided generator problems; sand in the water; poor cell phone and internet connections; hard to get in exercise; no TV; feeling imprisoned (we couldn't leave to go anywhere TOGETHER unless we found someone to watch our gate--in two months it happened once).

Positives include: becoming part of a wonderful network of other gate guards (friends), bird watching, beautiful sunsets, no cost for site/water/electric/black water pump out, pays well for the amount of work you do, the oil field workers (for the most part) are polite and friendly, exceptional lightning storms, time to read, blog, watch DVDs, play games, your RV is your workplace (no commute). Did I mention making good friends and having their backs? Oh, and we didn't have any animals on the ranch so we didn't have to open and close the gate all the time.

Would we do it again? Yes. Would we do it differently? Probably. We'd make some requests about the type of gate we'd be guarding.

Welcome to new followers: The Back Porch View, Vicky at Full-Time RVing, Merikay at Merikay's Dream has Six Wheels, Mike at Mike and Pat's Travels, and Kittie at Kittie Howard. I started this blog to keep family and friends informed of our whereabouts AND to remember all the things we've seen, done, thought, experienced so we don't forget as we age. Now I have 55 followers who enjoy reading about our life. Thank you for journeying with us.

The requisite cat pics. Stop reading here if you don't like cat pics.

Remember...

There's always time for a catnap!

Breathe deep. (Look at them choppers!)

Keep yourself clean.

You can never be too clean. (Ha ha.)

Enjoy your week. 

Travel Bug out.

Lightning bolts -- Mon., May 14

Cotulla, Texas:

I'm impressed. Sitting here in the dining room of the 5er at midnight watching lightning storms, listening to the rain pattering on the roof.

Our window faces west and that's where the storm is. It's following the Rio Grande east and south. We are on the eastern edge of the storm so I'm getting a fantastic lightning show. I unplugged all our computers just in case, but I don't think the storm is that close. According to my highly untechnical methods, the closest the storm has come is within two miles.

The caliche dust is now gloppy mud. I've only had three people check in since the rain started, but it was when there were just the beginnings of big drops so I didn't get very wet.

We had a busy, busy day; on page 8 of our log sheet. The drivers are very polite and stop for us; however a few aren't very fond of signing in and out.

Oh, wow, the whole sky lit up with lightning, and the thunder is rolling, rolling, rolling. Sounds like the storm is about a mile away now. I love lightning storms!! They're so dramatic.

Once the rain started all the flying bugs near our arc lights disappeared.

Another consequence of the rain is how green the trees are getting. (That's in addition to how it keeps the dust down.)

Well that was different--the lightning just created a strobe-light effect--the whole sky was flashing. AND the thunder was practically at the same time. Must be about 1/2 mile away now. Woo hoo.

 

Never a Dull Moment -- Fri., May 11

 Cotulla, Texas:

Compared to rainy yesterday, today was gorgeous and about 84 degrees, 70% humidity (tolerable).

Bob's shift was pretty routine. Normal amount of traffic. Oh, except there was a big mud hole just past where they had been grading and putting rock down into the caliche. Trucks were nosediving into it. A grader came out and many truckloads of gravel were put down which the grader then smoothed into the roadbed of caliche dust.

I came on duty at 3:00 p.m. Bob went to the post office to pick up our mail. On the way back he stopped to visit Kit and Jerry. He had a wonderful time picking their brains about internet reception, gate guarding, past history...just a good, old-fashioned visit.

About 45 minutes after Bob left for town, I witnessed an accident inside our gate between two sand trucks. I won't bother you with the details. I did get some pictures of the damage, though.

Tire removed already. Damaged wheel.

Crunched license plate, damaged grill, hood crunched upward.

Assessing the damage.

That was the first incident on my shift. 

Next thing I know, trucks that had exited the gate onto Harvey Smith Rd south were all backing up into our gate to turn around, even the rock trucks that were supposed to put more rock down. When the grader guy got off shift around 10:40 p.m., he brought the grader in and parked it across from our rig (which is where he left his pick-up truck). I asked him what was going on down the road. 

He replied, "An inexperienced trucker got stuck in the hole, broke the axle and ruined the transmission. I tried to pull him out, but couldn't. Two other trucks combined tried to pull him out, but couldn't. The road is blocked. I've been sending everyone I can around another way. There's nothing more we can do tonight. A semi tow truck will be here in the morning. I'll be back first thing."

While the second incident wasn't exactly at our gate, it impacted where our truckers had to go to get here. And some who left had to back up 1/2 mile to turn around at our gate.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we have an excellent bird feeder. Our night lights attract all manner of moths, beetles, termites, lightning bugs, and who knows what else. There are no bats! During the day, all kinds of birds come to the generator/light stand and have easy pickin's of whatever ever bug buffet suits them. We have Bewick's wrens, mockingbirds, a male and female cardinal, and other birds I haven't identified yet. Today the Bewick's wren came within a few inches of my shoe. My nature moment for the day.

Kitty story: We have discovered what floats our cats' boats...flying insects--moths to be exact. (Beetles are exciting too, but just not as much fun.) A moth enters the 5er, intense hunter cat mode ensues. Both Sunnie and Bowie go nuts, leaping tall furniture in a single bound, climbing upholstered valances, staring down moths on the ceiling as if they can entrance them to fly around some more.

Yesterday Sunnie caught a good-sized moth. He proudly carried it around in his mouth, would let it go and catch it again. If Bowie got too close, Sunnie hissed and growled.

This evening there were plenty of moths to go around and both cats had their own playthings. They don't eat them (probably too fuzzy), just play with them and carry them around.  Apparently Sunnie does eat beetles.

"I see a moth. Yum!"

Two cats hunting.

As I'm sitting here typing the two cats just finished hunting some bug under the dining chairs and I can hear Sunnie's bug crunching noises from where I sit...sounds like a crunchy beetle, not a soft moth.

They wore themselves out. Some moths live on, but the cats are sleeping. By morning, we'll probably discover more dead moths.

More random pictures from the last few days:

These cats love playing in and around boxes! See those little holes...they make good spots for Bowie's paws to attack Sunnie.

Bewick's wren. It's there, really!

Equipment move

Bob doing his job.

Pad B before the flood.

Bowie

Springbok antelope running away from me again.

Grackle

Grackle.

Trailing edge of the front--May 10, 2012.

Trailing edge of the front -- May 10, 2012

Trailing edge of the front.

The storm that passed over us, leaving for the day.

Kitties playing.

Changeover Pad A to Pad B -- Sun & Mon., May 6-7

Cotulla, Texas:

Sunday: Bob had most of the traffic today, that is until he went on his two-hour walk. My shift started. For over an hour, a large semi-cab hauled four huge pieces of equipment from one pad to another, the company men were going back and forth, and more equipment got hauled to the other pad. Then...nothing. It has been quiet for the rest of my shift! 

I feel like Bob's doing all the hard work being on day shift. That will most likely change when they start working the new wells.

Pad B

Harvey Smith Rd. -- south

Harvey Smith Rd. -- north

Caliche dust

Here I am at the check point.

Monday: The middle of the night was extremely quiet; in fact, Bob's shift which usually has lots of crew checking in at 4:00 a.m., was quiet until after 6:00 a.m. 

One of the big rigs stirring up dust as they moved it from A to B pad.

I tried to get a picture of the big moon, but this camera is not up to the task.

 Then... BLAM...chaos. BIG equipment being hauled from gate to gate, 18 sand trucks arrived within two hours around 10:00 a.m. to noon, water pumper trucks arrived. The heat plus blowing dust and sand were merciless. Bob was beat by the time I took over. 

Bob was ready to hop in the shower to wash off the grit when the power went out. We called John, our maintenance man, who was here within 1/2 hour. He found a burnt out fuse, got the generator working again and we turned the A/C and other electrical back on. The AC had been on ten minutes when his son showed up to check the oil in the generator. Off went the generator. Oil was changed and topped off, but a small hose clamp needed to be replaced. His son didn't have the part. We left the generator off while we waited for John to come back to replace the clamp.

We had A/C and power for about an hour. Bob took his shower, went into town and, you guessed it, the power went off again. I am sitting here in semi-darkness waiting for John to come back and figure out what is the problem. No AC, no power except my cell phone and computer which are running on batteries. We do have limited battery back-up power but no generator of our own.

The wind is blowing dust around like crazy. The sky clouded up, it's getting very dark to the northwest. Looks like we may have thunder and lightning tonight. Rain is forecast for tomorrow. Another new challenge, from what we've heard, is the mud that forms when this caliche dust gets wet. Apparently the mud is very sticky, gloppy and really messes up the inside of your trailer. We'll do our best to keep it out. Ha!

We've been here five days and even the guys working the site say we have one of the worst sites...REALLY dusty. If our rig is THIS dusty after five days, I can't imagine how we'll ever get the sand and dirt out after 2-1/2 months.

John is still working on the generator. It's 9:00 p.m. and pitch black. We have NO security lights at the gate. Lightning blossoms in west and northwest sky. Plus it's a hell of a blow outside. Dust is gritting up my keyboard. I had to open the windows because it's so hot in here!!

Now rain has started.

Must go. Battery power is low on computer and our computer card. Could be an interesting night if the generator does not get fixed. Note: Generator melted something so it's dead. No power here.