I'm not kidding, this was a parade of the first order and it all took place in one working day. We now have a fair idea of what it would be like to be invaded by an army division when it decides to go visiting, at least as far as tonnage.
Apparently real guys have to have serious 'stuff' around and these fellows knew how to drag it all with them. You will have to click on the photos to see any sort of detail but I have kept each file size under 120K for all you slow downloaders like us.
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First came this Mad Max arrangement in the upper left corner and then a never-ending onslaught of semis with strange cargo. At this point, I was at a loss to figure out what most of it would be used for..
I did recognize the trailer in the upper left as their command central and the truck in the lower right as the garbage hauler though. Some of these tilted loads were rearranged at the well site immediately to our west and dragged in to the new site at these most curious angles, perhaps due to the cramped nature of the new well pad by that time.But still no rig. We found ourselves expectantly waiting and ever peeking out the windows as though we might miss the arrival of the Queen if we relaxed our guard. The suspense was killing us but no drilling rig was in sight yet, just more and more STUFF.
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The view of the parade in the upper right hand corner tipped me off that the rig was not far behind. See that flat-bed pick up in the center? It is carrying two portable outhouses. If I have learned anything about the gas field, it is that they are not serious about anything until the two gender-separate johns arrive. I squealed when I saw this one as though it was the advance color guard. "Look, look, the plastic johns are here! The rig can't be far behind!" Sure enough, you will see the rig at the head of the parade in the lower left corner above.Believe it or not, I have only captured images of maybe 50% of the parade thanks to my ongoing camera and battery wars.
Next up, I will be posting on the rig in place at the end of that long day and report on the most amusing turn of weather out here (hint - ya like mud-sports, do ya?). I will post that installment either late Monday or Tuesday night and then we can get back to our regular off-the-grid tales for the next two weeks.
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33 comments:
Wow - that IS a hive of activity - I'll bet you're starting to feel crowded! Can't wait for more pictures.
OK...I'm admittedly stranger than most, but the part that struck me in all of this was...
...until the two gender-separate johns arrive.
One would think one john would do, out in the middle of nowhere (excuse the term, please). Are we that PC these days? Rhetorical question, no answer required.
Great photos, but sure wish they had chosen a site a bit farther down the road from your place. Later, Red
Lin: Just tHink!! They brought YOU and Mark New portable Johns. Get Mushy and FHB there and they can be hidden behind the rat in no time.
I'll be back then to check in! In the meantime, I'll just digest a few of these pics!
Hey, d'ya reckon they might let YOU have the gender-correct outhouse at the end of the festivities? I'll bet that thing is even vented! Oh, be still my beating heart! What if...!!!
Phlegmmy, this sudden company in quantity blew us away. There are villages in New Mexico with populations smaller than that.
Buck, when we saw this Men and Women separate johns deal for the first time at another well site, we thought the same thing. ???? It's not like multiple people can walk in there all at once. It's got to be some asinine labor law at work, is all we can figure.
You and us both, Red. This, their second site choice, had to be over a half mile from their first choice. You passed the first area - it's where the road hits the mesa and you start climbing out of the canyon along that edge.
Moose, DON'T the lads going again! You KNOW how they get. Then again ...
I suppose we could snag the ladies can (may be lighter from less use) and they might not notice long enough for us to drag it back to the Rat. grin You are a very bad influence, my dear.
Oh, Bruno, we've deeply entertained such fantasies ourselves. These do seem to be the nice vented ones, too. From experience however, I know that they cherish these things and move them immediately to the next new well site. They never leave a pot for their buddies' behind.
I don't see Santa Clause in that parade!
alphonse is onto it isnt he, steal one of those buggers, no more 'bushmans hankies' for you
Damn them!
Babzy, at the rate stuff was coming in, I was expecting to see both the Queen AND Santa. And maybe the kitchen sink.
PopeT, oh don't you start now! But that thought IS becoming more of a temptation as we go.
"The Bushman's Hankie" ... and now you've got me chuckling at the thought. We never got THAT primitive, you know!
Mushy, yeah, it sucks but look at the bright side - at least we're getting some blog fodder out of it! I just realized that I could use a lobotomy (or that maybe I already had one).
Wow..is every single piece of heavy equipment that the State of New Mexico owns now 1/8 of a mile from the rat's front door?
This seems like overkill ... did you make these people mad at you?
Tell them yyou will make them some of "Lin's Favorite Stuffing" if they can make half the machinery go away.....
Towanda, you wouldn't think there would be much left anywhere else, would you? But there are tens of other wells going in as I type and all of this stuff is privately owned by contractors. I bet there is easily over a billion dollars worth of equipment rolling around in the oil patch every day. It's truly mind-boggling.
A P.S. for Towanda (darnit, I always hit the button before I am done answering).
Yes, I really do have to wonder if they are doing this to annoy us even further than they already have in the last year.
I was actually thinking that I would threaten to make them my favorite stuffing if they DIDN'T get rid of some of that stuff.
Me? A bad influence? Oh you naughty girl.
pretty amazing!
Here we have things called "road trains" they are a prime mover and up to 5 trailers...... If you see them on the trails you simply must pull over as they are too dangerous to pass...
Damn Blogger. Let's try it again...
I'm wondering what kind of mess they're going to leave you with?
I was actually thinking that I would threaten to make them my favorite stuffing if they DIDN'T get rid of some of that stuff.
LOL! "Guess Who's Coming to...uh... Who's FOR Dinner?"
Moose, my long range memory is still very good, you know. I'll have lots of stories for Owen about Grandpa Moose in his young bull days.
Simon, I've just got to see a photo of these road trains now! Please see if you can get photos of one, especially of what they use to pull them! Wow, I can't imagine such a device on the roads out here with the hairpin turns and crumbling drops-offs.
Goddess, from what I've seen so far, they generally do a decent job of cleaning up and reseeding but a lot depends on the companies involved. My main concern is if they will leave huge tanks behind to collect water and other compounds - those are a glaring permanent eyesore.
Buck, I've heard that they taste like chicken - do you know how much money we'd save on buying turkeys? Put in your order now while we have a whole field of them to choose from. The plumpest ones mostly drive trucks so you have to bag those on the fly.
I'm torn between thinkin' how cool the gear is and knowin' what a mess it's gonna be till they get it all drilled and tapped. Once they get it all done it could very well be they only have a few pipes leading out of the ground, and you can learn to ignore it all. They'll take all that crap away in the reverse order it came and all should be back to something like normal. Here's hopin' anyway.
I'll be good, I promise.
FHB, I'm going through the same process - love the gear parade but hoping they keep the permanent stuff down to a minimum. As long as they don't install a huge tank, it shouldn't be TOO noticeable (I hope).
Moose, nothing like blackmail, is there? I learned this from Cat.
Mark and I were speaking of just that today in terms of our chronicling of the activity out here. If we weren't so annoyingly decent, we could have some fun ... and revenge.
I saw that reply to moose, lin. Hmmmmmmmmmmmph.
"Look, look, the plastic johns are here!" You sound like Wild Thing after we've been driving a hundred miles or so.
You do realize that in all probablity the rigs are there to dig into the water table so they'll have plenty of water while the rest of the country side goes dry? Hey, spoken like a tree hugger. Bowing modestly.
Cat, I DO learn from example quickly and you and Mark may both regret this some day.
As the Katlady has said "Women of a certain age appreciate the placement of frequent rest stops." And it ain't going to get any better, Cat, just trust me on that one!
Those buggers go right down past several water layers to get at the goodies but get water up top as an occasional by-product. We have been giving this a lot of thought lately, a lot. I don't consider myself a tree-hugger due to its minority of shrill and neurotic adherents but I have come close to chaining myself to my trees to save them from vast and mindless corporate bureaucracies. Watch this space in the future.
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