Monday, July 2, 2012

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.