A Little Lull

The gate the Mossmans were guarding closed, so they were in the Whitsett yard for three days.  Jim C. got to sit with Jim M. for a few hours and catch up.  I went over Friday and saw Linda for an hour and then on Saturday they got assigned a new gate and off they went again.  The are still in the area so we’ll see them again.  But it sure was nice to see them both face to face.

Today there was a breakdown on well #4 so the fracking had to stop, and when there’s no fracking there’s no sand trucks and our traffic basically stops.  So today was very quiet and serene…a nice change. I had time to bath both the dogs, clean out the cutlery drawer and make a nice dinner.

Today a different catering company came in so when I woke up at 12:30 p.m. Jim presented me with a rib eye steak, garlic mashed potatoes and seasoned green beans.  It was very good.  We are sure being fed well on this job.

The other night one of the land owners gave us more New York strip steaks and Jim grilled a package of two.  It was more than we could eat, so I saved one steak for another meal.  Tonight I sliced it up and added it to sautéed mushrooms, onions and red peppers, added some beef stock and sour cream and made beef stroganoff over noodles.  Oh, it was so good.  That beef was so tender.

I’ve cleaned out all the half eaten catered meals we’d accumulated so I think all the leftovers have been taken care of and we’re back to zero again.

Around 5 p.m. they “fixed” whatever was broken at the well and fracking started up again so the sand trucks all emptied and left the gate.  That means in about 1 1/2 to 2 hours they will all be refilled and coming back in…about 10 or 12 trucks arriving separately.  Well, that will keep me busy after midnight.

Again the weather is being very fickled with one day with highs of 88* and nights around 65*.  Then this afternoon we were in shorts and me in a sleeveless tee.  Then tonight it is barely 51* and I’m freezing. I shut off the fan and turned on the electric heater.  We keep having to have handy our rain coats, summer jacket and a winter coat.  Tonight I am wearing my sweats and even wearing my ear muffs!!! LOL

Jim told a couple of the land owners that we would be leaving the end of March and going back through Santa Fe and on into Colorado.  They were NOT happy.  They didn’t want to lose us…it was nice to hear and know we’ve made a positive impression and they would like us to return in October.  We’ll see if that is possible, as we’d like to come back.

We’ll I’m going to make myself a cup of hot tea as I need to warm up. Hope you are well and safe and away from the tornadoes that have been plaguing so much of the country. So much tragedy…..

Remember, you are loved.

Catered Meals

Ahh, I don’t have to cook for a week!!! The frac company is providing catered meals all week for their workers.  When the caterer came in to “audition” with sample meals I joked with him that if he got the contract he’d have to remember to bring in a couple meals for Jim and I.  Well he did. 

Last night was the first night and he delivered a two meals with two smoked pull pork sandwiches, grilled corn cut off the cob and potato salad.  His catering kitchen is in from San Antonio and he got here about 11 p.m. and served 65 meals.  Juan brought our meals when he left at 1:30 a.m. so it was right at my “lunch” time, so it worked out very good, and the meal was very tasty.

Tonight Juan is bringing in grilled pork loin wrapped in bacon….mmmmmmm…can’t wait!

Weather really changed today, windy, humid, clammy and it is raining to boot.  Paperwork west from mist so I took a clear report cover and put it over the sheets of paper to protect them.  I’m thinking of buying a digital voice recorder to use outside when it rains; many gate guards have recommended them.  I did get to use my new leopard print vinyl boots and they worked well.  These caliche roads are oozing mud when it rains.  Hope it clears up soon as we are so tired of this lousy weather.

Remember, you are loved

Changes

Weather and traffic changes happened this week.  Earlier in the week we’d been having great weather, I even put on a sleeveless tee and ran the a/c during the day as we had temps up to 88* with high humidity. Then I had to  wake Jim at 3:30 a.m. to bring in the awning before it snapped because of the wind. Next day on came the long sleeve tee and windbreaker because of 25 MPH winds with gusts of 45 MPH. Again today it is cold with nighttime temps down to the 40s. I’m wearing my cap and ear muffs (you all know I hate having cold ears) staying in my windbreaker with security vest on top all night.  One day we’re outside barbecuing and the next we’re eating green chili and stew.

They started fracing today, so yesterday all the needed equipment arrived.  Jim said at 6 a.m. he went outside to start his day and looked up and all he could see were headlights for the whole mile of the approaching road.  There were 18 vehicles coming in together!!! That set the tone for the rest of the day as it was the busiest day of our time here.  By midnight we had logged in 151 vehicles with most of them leaving as well so.  Luckily the land owner allowed us to keep the gate opened as long we were sitting outside, so we didn’t have to open and close the gate all day.  It was very windy so part of the time we sat in the truck we had moved by the gate to stay out of the wind.  It was a long, long day and night.

I slept for nine straight hours today to recovery.  Today seems quieter but still busier than last week.  We’ll see how this goes.

I’m excited about tomorrow as I’m meeting my buddy, Linda Mossman, for lunch.  I haven’t been off the ranch for a week but Linda hasn’t been off her gate for three weeks!!! Jim’s going to get up early so I can go to sleep and get up earlier and make it to have lunch with Linda…he’s good like that…I’m lucky.

Remember, you are loved.

 

Verizon Air Card -vs- MiFi

While in Yuma the Mossmans upgraded from the aircard to MiFi so they could have hot spot for an Acer Tablet.  I got caught up in the euphoria and upgraded also - I’m hoping for a tablet in my future sometime.

Instead of switching completely to the MiFi I asked if I could use the AirCard SIM card in the MiFi so I could go back to the AirCard if chose to.  Sure, I was told.

So I have been using the MiFi, not really enjoying the fact that you have to recharge the MiFi about every 6-8 hours…it’s annoying. Most times we boondock and recharging requires us to start the generator or plug it into the invertor.

Then when we got to our gate guarding gig, we found we only got one bar on the MiFi and the majority of the time that wasn’t enough to get on the Internet.  I was not happy.  If you listen to my DH I’m addicted to the Internet.  If you listen to me you know I just like to know what’s going on and I like to search a lot of things.

My last post was published by the side of a bar in the tiny town, more like a hamlet, of Whitsett.  It isn’t the most comfortable way to surf the net sitting on the passenger side of the truck trying to angle the laptop screen to reduce some of the glare so you can see what you are typing.

Jim, bless his heart, suggested we change the SIM card from the MiFi back to the AirCard, as we could get on the internet with one bar on the AirCard.  We did that and low and behold we got two bars and CAN get on!!!  Yes, I’m using my little, inexpensive Radio Shake antenna, but I can get out.

Now we can use the Internet from our RV and my nights will go by more quickly and I’ll stay awake more easily.  I can surf all I want - Yippppeeeee!!!!!

So my opinion is to stay with the AirCard and not switch to the MiFi unless you need the hotspot it provides.  If you stay around good-sized towns you can probably use the MiFi reliably.  But we stay in out of way places and it doesn’t fulfill our needs.  I’ll keep it, but will probably go back to using the AirCard; at least I don’t have to recharge IT.

Remember, you are loved.

Waiting for a gate

We are still in the Gate Guard Services (GGS) yard waiting for a gate to work.  Thought I’d share a few photos with you.

Behind our rig left with lots of cacti

To the right of the rig

We see a small herd of cows every couple of days mossing around the cacti along with quite a few feral cats.

 

This is the trash wagon. There will be one by the oil rig area where we will be able to put our trash.

Here are the “hook ups” for gate guards.  The first is of the big generator, water tank and diesel fuel tank for the generator.

And this is the septic system. I don’t understand how it works; some sort of filtration.

These two trailers will be parked one on either side of our RV and will stay there until we leave the gate.  Periodically the service guys will come by and refill the water and diesel as needed.

So we sit and wait. It seems to be first in, first out depending on the time we have to spend here and the needs of the land owner/oil company.  So we should be next with the Mossmans. (Should that be “we and the Mossmans”? or “us and the Mossmans? Someone please “comment” and tell me how to say that correctly).    We’ll toss a coin to see who goes out first.

We sit under a very large Texas flag waiting in the GGS yard. Jim says the flag is about 24’ x 60’, and can be seen 3-4 miles away. Pretty ominous.

Remember, you are loved.

Gate Guard Services, Whitsett, Texas

On Sunday three gate guards moved to new assigned gates, so we moved over to full hookup sites.  Nice to be settled with hookups as we wait for our paperwork to be approved and be assigned our own gate to work. I had to laugh as I had been worried when I had read some blogs that were saying the lot was full in Whitsett and I had pictured 25-30 rigs waiting for a gate LOL. Happily, it was only five sites and they seem to move out in a timely manner, although one rig has been in for nine days.

We were so excited to find out our friends, The Two Lindas, were moving from Port Aransas to Schertz and were driving right through Whitsett. We last saw them in South Fork, Colorado, this last summer. They arrived around 11:30 and we were able to spend a couple of hours together. We sure enjoyed checking out their new toy hauler Class A.  Quite a set up that I really liked, especially the loft bedroom.

We had lunch at a barbeque restaurant across Hwy 37 from us. Jim said the brisket was very good.  After more socializing and catching up, we bid them farewell, knowing we’ll see them again as we’ll be within 100 miles of each other for the next couple of months.

The Mossmans drove with us to Kennedy, Texas, to visit more friends, Rita and Jerry Scarbrough, who are the ones responsible for us being gate guards.  We first met Rita and Jerry in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 2009 when we all worked at Amazon.com together and were at the same RV park. 

I had to laugh when I took another photo, but this time with the flash on.  LOL, all you see is the reflective tape…kind of funny.

It was good to speak with yet another gate guard and learn how they do things and actually watch them do their job. The Scarbroughs have been gate guarding for almost a year, so they have a lot of good information to share.  It is an easy job, just a lot of up and down off a chair and in and out of the rig. And, of course, it is a 24/7 job, so someone has to be at the gate at all times.  That should really help the budget as there won’t be any going out to eat together anymore. 

Monday another gate guard couple got assigned a gate and off they went first thing in the morning.  Jim and I drove to Pleasanton about 30 miles away to check out the H.E.B. store and to do a little laundry.  We are so happy to be in an area with an H.E.B. grocery store as they are really nice with good meat/seafood selection and superior produce, IMHO.

By 1 p.m. it started to rain, which was actually refreshing.  We’ve only been in a couple of rain showers since September and it was kind of nice.  We sat under the Mossman’s awning with another gate guard couple again learning more about this new job.  They were hooked up and ready to go, just waiting for the service guy to hook up the water/generator trailer and take them to their new gate.  In mid-sentence they got the word and off they went.  So now it is just the Mossmans and us here in the lot waiting for a gate assignment.

We enjoyed a great navy bean soup at the Mossman’s for dinner and then enjoyed TV till bedtime.

OK, now I am caught up on my blog…goody! I’m a bit concerned how much blogging I’m going to be able to do around here, as Texas is AT&T country and Verizon cell phone and internet service can be “iffy”.  Here in Whitsett it has been full bars all around without any problem, but we’ve heard some of the gates are in areas where an antenna and booster may be needed.  Since we’ll only be here for a couple of months this time, we’ll just suffer through if need be, and may have to limit blog posts to when we go to the laundry or something.  I’ll let you’ll know though.

See you later…..remember, you are loved.