|
| There once was a girl that liked to eat homemade sourdough bread. 
She was married to a man that liked to drink eggnog, especially if it was on sale for 75 cents. 
On Sundays she went to church. 
And on one day that wasn't a Sunday, she didn't have to work and went on an adventure. When she came to a fork in the road she couldn't decide which way to go, so she went all three! 
A seemingly endless winding trail through the woods led to the Bayou Cane, what a nice place for a nap. 
And a boardwalk through the Alligator Marsh, maybe not a nice place to nap.  
And last but certainly not least, a nature trail to the old Sugar Mill park. 
The sun was beginning to set and with a long drive ahead she decided it was time to head home. And she lived happily ever after. | | |
|  
I ask myself this question a lot. Turns out I was in the spinach capital of the world a month or so ago. It took me forever to find the grocery store, and no I didn't end up buying any spinach. But I did grow some muscles, so it wasn't a total loss. Today I arrived back at the rig. Hurry up and wait as usual (hence the blog entry). But I'm not complaining as I just spent a week at home in Houston. It was marvelous. I'm grateful for the directional driller from Lousiana (as is Steven) who shared his cornbread recipe with me. I think I'll pass it on as it's super easy and by far the best cornbread I've ever tasted. I ended up doubling it and it still only lasted 2 days. So I made another double recipe and left Steven with the crumbs and supplies to make some more. 1 c. flour, 1 c. corn meal, 3.5 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt, 2/3 c. sugar (this is why it's so good ;), 1 egg, 1 c. milk, 1/3 c. oil then bake it up at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes. Anyway, back to rig life, a rat just ran through my bedroom. We need to cover the holes in the floor. My sourdough bread just came out of the oven (I let it rise in the car as I drove down here, genius I know) and I have eaten 2 packages of pop tarts so far today. Dinner and second dinner (I've got to stay up all night to switch my schedule) of champions. But I'm glad to be working, and have time to put a lot of effort into self improvement as well. This is a unique opportunity to say the least. Cheers! | | |
| 
The oldest Polish settlement, and hence the oldest Polish Parrish in the United States (Founded in 1854). You may notice our rig in the background, luckily the drilling noise doesn't reach the church. The building has tons of old stained glass, old mosaic pieces, gold leafing et cetera. Apparently the building was trying to split down the middle because they have cables running between the sides up in the rafters, and you can see the painted-over cracks. I would not want to be inside if any sort of natural disaster struck, that's for sure. The old ladies across the street talked my ear off for about an hour about the days of taking a bath once a week in the same bath water and not starting school until all of the cotton was harvested. I also walked a mile or so down the road to the cemetery. They have civil war headstones! As well as a bunch of crazy Polish names that I also noticed on the bulletins in the church. There's a lot of history in this little Texas town. But just as with a lot of these places, the young people leave to find work in the cities and all that's left are a lot of old people and a few young families carrying on the tradition. All of the stores have gone out of business, with the exception of a post office that's on the way out, and a bright green mexican restaurant/bar on the corner of the highway frequented by the roughnecks. 
| | |
| So what, I'm on a rig. Just finished my third night shift and got to do a bit of physical labor switching out our drilling tools. Our trailers are nice, and I've been sleeping like a rock, though that may be due to the shift in schedule more than the bed. Should be on this job another week or so. It's fun when we're working or when we've got to troubleshoot, but when all runs smoothly there's a lot of downtime just monitoring computers and working on training modules. All of the people I work with are very nice, though the rig hands seem scared to talk, probably because they don't know what to do with a girl around. Anyway, I'm having a good time, and seeing some great sunrises out here in Texas (if I don't fall asleep first!). Cheers. | | |
| 
I know, haven't I been driving for over 10 years? Yes, the answer is yes, but there's still much to learn. We've had enough safety training to kill a small animal (if they were as susceptible to death by PowerPoint as humans). So today we were out on the driving range testing our knowledge on F150's. SkidSim was first, the instructor moves the back wheels around with a joystick simulating ice. It was surprisingly realistic, but I've driven on enough snowy roads to just enjoy it. Second was the skid pan, which involves locking the back and/or front wheels up on a wet skidding surface. The idea is to give you the experience of reacting first incorrectly then correctly in different skidding situations. It was fun. Finally we practiced obstacle avoidance with some cones and a pop-up that you have to brake for and then avoid by driving off of the road into a ditch. This was followed by dropping a wheel off of the side of the road and testing what happens if you jerk the wheel or just come to a stop. Overall, I can't believe I got paid for this morning. | | |
|
