In the oil field excitement creates excitement. So I left off last week with the mud story. Well after that fallowed 42 hours of very high intensity excitement. The well was close to finishing or as we say TDing. TD stands for total drilled. And can be used as a noun and a verb. “What’s TD?” “When did we TD?” “We TDed yet?” Etc.
As a well gets close to TDing it’s our job to watch the samples extra hard to make sure nothing goes wrong. Make sure we stay in the target zone and don’t cross any faults or formations or anything weird.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened with this one. We hit something that wasn’t what we wanted. Thus we were scrambling and talking with everyone from the company man to the directional guys, to the geologist in town, trying to figure out what we where in. But after what seamed like hours of this, it didn’t really matter anyway because the end result was the same. We where TDed. Done. Finished. Now most people would think that means the work is done. In a way it is, but before we can leave or be truly done two things have to happen. The company man has to say we can go, and then we have to rig down all of our equipment.
A few hours after TD we were released. Then the heavy lifting started. First it’s computer stuff send the final reports. Then it’s pack up the microscope and everything else on the counters. If it’s not bolted down it needs to get packed up. That can take hours! Look around you right now. If the room your sitting in was about to be pulled down the highway at 50 miles an hour what would fall over? Everything? Yeah… That’s why all of it must get packed away.
After that then there is still the out side to rig down. That means going and getting the gas trap and power washing the three inches of mud off of it before dragging it back to the trailer.
Cleaning the sample trailer and making sure it is all strapped down. Pulling the gas line. (Not like the gas line that feeds your house. This is about a quarter of an inch in diameter hard plastic tube) Once everything is unplugged and strapped in its time to clean up and load up your personal stuff.
So after everything is loaded, cleaned, packed, strapped, and good to go it’s time to head….. Somewhere. The locals head home for a few hard-earned days of R&R. But people like me without friends and family nearby have a different option. I called the boss looking for work but sad to say there was no work to be had just then. So I was off to the company bunk house.
Now company bunk houses can be anything from a extra trailer at the office, to an apartment, to a hotel room, to a real house. Most of the time they are over used and under cleaned and full of someone-who-nolonger-works-here’s stuff. This time I got supper lucky. After the down turn the company got ride of the old apartment and now uses on of the boss’s spare houses as a bunk house. This house was not originally meant to hold smelly oilfield workers so it’s supper nice! More bathrooms and bedrooms then you can shake a stick at. The backyard is a pool. And when your by yourself it’s supper creepy. It does have this supper pretty tree that is in full color.
I am the only house guest. I make my self at home as much as I dare. (Put like three things in the fridge and sit on the very edge of the couch not touching anything) The best part is that I’m in town and don’t have to work!
I try to sleep as much as I can but that just screws up my sleep schedule. So I take the opportunity to do some much needed shopping. Everything from Christmas gifts to arts and crafts stuff. At fist it’s great! Everyone speaks English and they are just so friendly, but after getting a car wash and an oil change I have had enough of people and the world and head back to sleep some more.
Of course after I wash my car it thunderstorms and drops all kinds of junk on the car. Grrr.
So after two days of hanging around the house and not having any work, a coworker shows up who has just finished a well in Kansas. YAY COMPANY! Not three hours after he is there he gets a message from his normal rig that they will be at logging depth on the fallowing day. He doesn’t have a night hand. Sometimes it pays off to be the one crashing at the bunk house. I’m the only person free so I get the job for a few days.
So after I was finally getting settled in I load everything back up and head out stopping of corse to get the car washed again! It’s a losing battle but we at least have to try.
Back to the rigs!
