Parallel Universe -- Sun., June 3

Do you ever have a day when you feel like your life isn't your life? Well today is that day for me.

First, I partially woke up and it was incredibly light in the room. In my slowing awakening mind I thought all the lights were turned on in the middle of the night. Bob happened to be standing nearby and I mumbled, "Why is it so light in here?" Then I opened my eyes and said, "Oh, it's daylight." We laughed. It was 8:00 a.m.

Went back to sleep because no how, no way was 3:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. enough sleep. 

I woke up again at 11:45 a.m. to Bob bringing me breakfast in bed!!! A three-egg omelette with avocado, mozzarella cheese, and sauteed mushrooms. What a guy. OMG, we've been together 29 years and this is the first time he's brought me breakfast in bed. Definitely a parallel universe kind of day.

Bob has cooked before. He makes excellent shepherd's pie (with cornbread on top instead of mashed potatoes), chicken enchiladas and grilled tuna and cheese sandwiches. Plus he helps in the kitchen with cooking prep, making salads and doing dishes. [An aside: In his college years--and for a while after while traveling the country with his first wife, Laurie, and their four-year-old son, Randall--he was a short-order cook for Sambo's Restaurants. That's a story for another day.]

Today is moving day at the gate! Bob is getting a workout. He has vehicles coming at him from three directions at one time.

Traffic jam at the gate.

Rush hour!

Round 'em up, move 'em out!

Awesome size.

Mobile crane.

If you look closely the driver is waving. What a ham.

Get along li'l doggies. [Um, how about BIG DOGS!]

Bob is dwarfed by these

Tanker

Boots & Coots Field Office

Crew sleeping quarters

Water or a chemical?

Satellite dish

Generator

3:45 p.m.: My shift. Incoming. The next phase must be starting. I have big equipment coming IN now. They're finishing up the coiled tubing phase then they have to move out the previous equipment to make room for new equipment.

Well, I got confirmation from someone who just dropped off equipment. On their way out they yelled, "See you in the morning." Next phase is something called "packing," according to Bob.  


I looked up packing and found this: 

Oil and Gas Well Drilling and Servicing eTool

Below is an excerpt from the abridged version of the Dictionary of Petroleum Terms provided by Petex and the University of Texas Austin
© Petex 2001

packer n: a piece of downhole equipment that consists of a sealing device, a holding or setting device, and an inside passage for fluids.

packer fluid n: a liquid, usually salt water or oil, but sometimes mud, used in a well when a packer is between the tubing and the casing. Packer fluid must be heavy enough to shut off the pressure of the formation being produced, and should not stiffen or settle out of suspension over long periods of time, and must be non-corrosive.

packer squeeze method n: a squeeze cementing method in which a packer is set to form a seal between the working string (the pipe down which cement is pumped) and the casing. Another packer or a cement plug is set below the point to be squeeze-cemented. By setting packers, the squeeze point is isolated from the rest of the well.

packing n: 1. a material used in a cylinder on rotating shafts of an engine or pump in the stuffing box of a valve, or between flange joints to maintain a leak proof seal. 2. the specially fabricated filling in packed fractionation columns and absorbers.

packing assembly n: the arrangement of the downhole tools used in running and setting a packer.

packing elements n pl: the set of dense rubber, washer-shaped pieces encircling a packer, which are designed to expand against casing or formation face to seal off the annulus.

pack-off n: a device with an elastomer packing element that depends on pressure below the packing to effect a seal in the annulus. Used primarily to run or pull pipe under low or moderate pressures. Also called a stripper.

pack off v: to place a packer in the wellbore and activate it so that it forms a seal between the tubing and the casing.

Our four wells have all finished fracing. Here's more info on fracing: Eagle Ford Hydraulic Fracturing Facts. Coiled tubing is also complete. 

Do you feel like you've joined my parallel universe?

You Have to Eat a Peck of Dirt Before You Die -- Thurs., May 30

From The Free Dictionary.com:

You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die. 

Prov. No one can escape eating a certain amount of dirt on his or her food. Everyone must endure a number of unpleasant things in his or her lifetime. (Often said to console someone who has eaten some dirt or had to endure something unpleasant.)

OR...You could work as a gate guard in south Texas on a very windy day and eat MORE THAN a peck of dirt. Most unpleasant!

Today for Bob was very busy. Both Pad A and Pad B were hopping.  

Pad B

The temperature was about 102 F. The wind and blowing dust were relentless. The awning was out this morning, but by the time I got up at 11:30 a.m., we had clouds of blowing dust so bad we couldn't see the road 200 feet from us. No cars or trucks were coming at that time, just strong winds and blowing dust. The awning had to go in. Bob got it tucked away. He couldn't wait for his shift to end so he could relax inside. 

Activity in the evening was lighter; nothing like what Bob endured. The wind and dust continued unabated until about 8:00 p.m. Going outside felt like getting sandblasted in an oven. 

My sun hat that I wear outside when it's sunny or windy has a wide brim. With the wind coming straight into my face, the brim of my hat blew over my eyes, making it very hard to read the license plate numbers for the log.

Around 10:00 p.m. great big raindrops started falling, but it only lasted a few minutes...not long enough to wet down the dust. But the wind let up. Yay!

Pad B is a beehive of activity around the clock now. They are doing coiled tubing. Apparently they tapped into some H2S (hydrogen sulfide gas), and now they've got a pipe up in the air burning off the gas. That is one BIG flame.

Tomorrow, I am meeting Kathy, another gate guard who works near Millett, Texas. It will be fun to compare notes. We'll have about 1-1/2 hours to talk before I go back to take over from Bob at 3:00 p.m.

The roadrunner was out again today. The mockingbirds were all riled up and chasing the roadrunner. According to my Audubon bird book, roadrunners will eat the young of ground-nesting birds. Mockingbirds, however, nest in low-lying scrub so I'm not sure that qualifies as "ground-nesting." The mockingbirds apparently thought it did. They were dive-bombing the roadrunner.

That's all the excitement for today. Stay tuned for tomorrow.