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.

 

Quiet Time

Things have sure been quiet here the last three days…day and night. But I think it is the quiet before the storm, as we hear they are going to start fracing (pronounced fracking) this week.  That will definitely keep us racing around as other ate keepers have told us.  The trucks will be lining up to deliver sand a water for the fracing operation.

Our big tower lights went off again last night about midnight, so I had to rely on the smaller stand lights to see outside.  I didn’t have any traffic last night so it didn’t really matter.  But tonight the mechanic came out and fixed the problem, so we’re back in business.

Jim has to shut off the big generator once a day to check the oil level and we started just leaving the generator off for half an hour or so.  Boy is it quiet without that 15,000 watt generator running.  We actually heard birds chirping and singing…that was awesome.  Hearing birds sing is one of my most favorite things to do!!! We have started to sit outside after I wake up and have a cup of coffee and just enjoy the silence in the afternoon before we go inside and fix dinner. 

Yes, I eat dinner as my first meal; sometime around midnight I snack on a piece of fruit or cheese and crackers, and then end my day by having breakfast…yes, it’s pretty much backwards to everyone else.

Our weather has been pretty nice lately, so off came the raincoat and back on with our tee shirts.  We have to keep several different weights of coats available as the weather changes so often.  One day we started the day off with the heater on and late in the afternoon had to put the air conditioner.  Radical temps in one day.

It’s 1 a.m. and time for yogurt and fruit for my mid-day meal. 

Remember, you are loved.

Gate Guarding Work

The work you do as a gate guard is basically filling out a form by writing down the person’s name, their company, vehicle license number, where they are going and the time.

We use a “cheat sheet” where we quickly write down the information on notebook paper on a clipboard then come inside and more neatly transfer that information onto the form.  Here’s Jim transferring the info.

Here is a look at the cheat sheet. Notice we’ve put a loopy piece of Velcro on the clip and the fuzzy piece of Velcro on a Pilot pen. This keeps us from hunting for the pen all the time. Thanks Debbie for that hint.

 

And here is the form we fill out. We keep the forms for as long as we are here, then turn them in. Note the pen attached to the clip.

 

At this gate we have to keep the gate closed at all times because they have breeding deer on this ranch, so we open and close the gate for every vehicle.  As you can see below, our rig is about 30-40 feet from the gate so we do a bit of walking each day, not mentioning up and down the stairs.  On nice days we just sit outside all day, then in the evening I stay inside and go out when the bell rope signals me of an approaching vehicle.  You can see the septic system trailer and the water, 15,000 watt generator and diesel fuel for it on another trailer behind our rig.  These photos are all from inside the ranch looking out.

Those four mercury lights sure light up the area at night as the next photos shows. It has it’s own generator enclosed and but is pretty noisy.  We also have two smaller road lights we can aim on the road as we need.

When The Two Lindas visited us yesterday they were kind enough to take photos of us in our “uniforms”.

We have had so many types of weather this last week so we keep handy a light-weight jacket, heavier coat and rain gear ready to use. Usually I wear a sweat shirt also.

Best piece of equipment I have are the ear plugs I bought at Walmart.  With these inserted in my ears I don’t hear the generator or the bell rope going off at all.  They really block out everything and I’d recommend them.

So that’s the job; pretty easy, open a gate and write down vehicle information and it’s good money. The cons are that you are usually in remote, rural areas far away from shopping of any kind and it is a 24/7 commitment.  Jim got a hankering for ice cream tonight so he made a 45 minute round trip to the gas station by Highway 37. But we are saving money because we can’t go out to dinner together. 

Hope this gives the information so many of you have asked me to share.  If there is anything else, just let me know.

Remember, you are loved (yes, I do say that also to the truck drivers and the land owners gets a kick out of me saying it to him)….makes everyone smile. 

Week-ends Gate Guarding

We were told weekends were slower in general than week days, and we’ve found that to be true.  Saturdays are about half the activity of during the week.  But Sundays are really quiet with only 27 entries.  So it gives us a little ‘down’ time.

Jim and I are playing around with our shifts.  We’ve kind of decided to establish “free time” for both of us.  So when he’s “on” from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. I can have some “me” time and read uninterrupted or knit a complex pattern without stopping.  And when I’m “on” Jim can take off his orange vest and have a drink and relax.  I haven’t thought of a way to have a cocktail yet, because when I get off work it’s 6 in the morning a brandy Manhattan doesn’t seem so appealing.  I haven’t had a drink in a week now.

Several folks have asked how noisy the big 15,000 watt generator is.  Actually it isn’t really noisy…more like a medium level hum. It’s more like a ‘white noise’.  That can’t be said about the generator that operates the four huge mercury lights that light up the road in front of our rig at night.  That is noisy, but like most things you get use to it and then don’t notice much.

There is another oil company drilling oil on property to the side of our front gate.  The other day they put in a cattle guard and brought in a crane to lift up cement supports and steel rails.  They hoisted them up and over our fence real close to our RV.  Things are fixing to get real busy around here with this other oil company starting up their oil drilling crew.  We had to move our bell rope because it rang every time one of their trucks came close to go into their gate.

Today we were happy to enjoy the company of our friends The Two Lindas.  They are working up above San Antonio and made the trip down for a visit.  They were kind enough to bring us a “care” package of fresh veggies and strawberries.  They also brought hummus, multi-grain crackers, smoked sausage and a red pepper pesto gouda cheese that was very unusual; it tasted like a pizza in a cheese! Oh, they also brought over a scrumptious chocolate pie made with silken tofu; it was so decadent.  We so, so enjoyed having them with us again, as it will be summer before we see them again in Colorado.  Thanks for the goodies, Ladies!!!

     

More next time about our day to day routine and what the job entails. 

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.