Monthly Archives: September 2014
Delightful . . .
First off, Jan and I want wish a Happy Birthday to our wonderful daughter Brandi. Although this is actually Sunday the 14th’s blog, most of you will read it on the 15th which is her birthday.
Happy Birthday, Sweetie!
Today was delightful, especially compared to yesterday. It finally struggled up to 80°, and partly cloudy with just enough breeze to keep things comfortable. Much, much better than yesterday.
It looks like the rig is finally up to speed on drilling. It’s not making as many of those strange noises, and they’ve now got drill pipe hanging from the side of the derrick, instead of bringing it up one stick at a time.
We had 83 vehicles come in today, which over the 18 hours the gate is really active, (I often have only two or three vehicles between midnight and 6am) means we get one every 15 minutes or so. But what really happens is that we’ll have nobody for 30 minutes, and then 3 in a row.
The landowner and some of his family came by in an ATV today. We met him last week and he seems like a really nice guy. In fact all the landowners we’ve worked with the last 3 years have been nice, although I’ve heard some horror stories.
I did think it was funny how he was asking me questions about what was going on where. Like we would know. We’re usually the LAST to know, even when it concerns us. He didn’t even know the cattle guard had been replaced, though he said the last couple of guards had complained about it. Guess it takes a tanker almost falling through to get some action.
Later on, the owner’s grandson came through in a pickup with his two dogs in the back, taking them for a swim at the big pond in the back. He has a yellow Lab and a Rottweiler that probably outweighed me. Big dog!
But thankful the only thing he seemed interested in was licking me to death and slobbering all over me.
For dinner we had BBQ sandwiches and sides from the Rudy’s I brought back last Wednesday. Really good, as usual, and Jan said we have one more meal from it. That means we’ll get 4 meals from $38 of Rudy’s BBQ. Not bad.
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Thought for the Day:
“Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle.” – Abraham Lincoln
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Miserable . . .
That’s what I was most of last night and early this morning. It drizzled all night, and that, combined with a stiff breeze and 62 degrees, made the wind chill in the 50’s.
And I was not prepared for 50’s. The outside heaters were still packed away, and the only thing long sleeve I could find without waking Jan was a light windbreaker. I really needed something with a hood because my ears were freezing due to the wind. Finally ended up putting a towel over my head.
Yeah, I know. Whine, whine, whine. Such is the life of a gate guard.
Today was a little better. It was cloudy, and only made it up to 67°, but the wind died down so that helped. And after Jan came out at 7am to relieve me, I dug out the heaters and a hooded sweatshirt for her, so she was pretty comfortable during the day.
Last night’s all-night drizzle was preceded by yesterday’s high winds and heavy rains. A lot of heavy rain. I believe the technical term is ‘gullywasher’. But the pea gravel we had them put down when we first got here pretty much kept the flooding under control.
And our Coleman 13 x 13 Canopy took care of protecting us from the high winds and rain.
This is our second year of use on this one and it’s still holding up fine.
The Wenzel 10 x 10 canopy we used our first year of gate guarding in 2012 barely made it through our four month stint. In fact I left it at the Gate Guard Services yard for anyone that wanted it. But based on our experiences with the Wenzel, I had a better idea of what to look for in our next one.
1. Bigger is usually better, so I went with a 13 x 13 rather than a 10 x 10. The legs are still 10 x 10 but the canopy overhangs.
2. I want one with the roof vent at the top. This helps keep the wind from lifting it so much, and also lets out the hot air. (no comments, please)
3. I wanted one that had UV protection in the canopy fabric. With the old one you could feel the heat coming through on sunny days. The Coleman has 50+ SPF protection and it really makes a difference.
4. I wanted one that was heavy duty, and again this one has held up with no problems.
The whole thing comes in a wheeled case about 9” x 9” x 5’ tall and weighs about 40 pounds. I paid about $170 for mine last year with free Prime shipping, which was only about $30 more than our first one. Well worth the cost.
For dinner tonight, Jan and I had the steak dinner that one of the guys dropped off for us yesterday. Really good, and even splitting it, there was plenty for both of us.
Today’s vehicle count was a little higher than yesterday’s 80, with 93 vehicles coming through. Still, not bad.
Tomorrow, just another day on the gate.
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Thought for the Day:
Short answer: no.
Long answer: nnnnnnoooooooooooo.
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