‘Rockin’ the Bakken’ . . .

 412 Rig at Nightand the Eagle Ford too.

First off, a Piper update. Here’s what Chris Facebooked about 6pm this evening.

We’re home! Several stitches, a few staples, some bruised ribs, a tiny bit of nerve damage (which should take care of itself with time) and Lord knows how many thousands of dollars later. On the upside, we finally had a family road trip!

LOL. Well, at least things ended on a high note.

For a recap of what went on yesterday, you can check here:  A Scary Night

Apparently the ATV the four of them were riding hit a rut in the road and it jerked them sideways, and the ATV rolled down an embankment. The two guys jumped clear, the other girl was thrown out, and Piper rode it all the way to the bottom, ending up with ATV on top of her, with the two guys having to lift it off.

The other girl had a bad compound fracture of her arm and had to be Lifeflighted. So in comparison, Piper got off pretty good. Luckily, she’s right-handed and the injury is to her left wrist, so it won’t interfere with school.

Saw an interesting article today called ‘Rockin’ the Bakken’, talking about all the money flowing into North Dakota from the Bakken Shale oilfields, and how the rig workers spend it. And of course it’s pretty much the same here in the Eagle Ford Shale here in Texas.

And it seems Jan and I are still working the Eagle Ford. I didn’t realize until very recently that where we are here 90 miles north NNW of Houston, is still considered part of the same Eagle Ford formation we were working 60 miles south of San Antonio for the last two years. Now that’s a big oilfield.

We’ve seen the same thing here in the Eagle Ford, with new rig workers coming in, riding with someone because they don’t have a good vehicle. Then a month later they show up in a $50,000 dually diesel pickup. Must be nice.

Well, the cows were back today but the sat dome survived.

Cow 2

Cow 3

My ‘fix’ seems to have worked so far. Jan said earlier in the morning two cows had walked right up and stuck their heads under the canopy, just checking things out.

After getting Linda and Piper heading back home with Piper’s boyfriend, Chris came by about 3pm to pickup Piper’s laptop that I had been cleaning the gunk out of. He stayed about an hour before finally heading home too.

Chris at Still Wagon

Probably glad to be off the road after all the back and forth trips to Piper’s hospital up here in Crockett.

Sonja and Lendel, Master Landon’s other grandparents, sent along this photo of their vacation in Myrtle Beach, SC

Lendel and Sonja

Looks like they’re having a good time. You don’t see that much water in Oklahoma.

The last few days have been pretty quiet here on the gate. We had 3 days with vehicle counts in the 80’s, with yesterday at 60, and today at 70. Very nice.

Tonight’s dinner was Red Beans and Rice with Sausage, and Corn Bread. It was dropped off for us by one of the rig workers this morning and it made a great dinner.

The Red Beans and Rice were delicious, but the Corn Bread was great. Not this stuff you get so many places that’s half flour, sweet, and has the texture of cake. Corn Bread should be made from coarse stone-ground cornmeal, eggs, milk, salt, baking powder, and just enough sugar so the crust will brown. I will allow you to put some kernel corn, or jalapenos in it, and you can make it with buttermilk. But’s that’s it.

THERE SHOULD BE NO WHEAT FLOUR IN CORNBREAD!

If you want to put flour in it, call it something else. It ain’t Corn Bread.

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Thought for the Day:

When I was a boy

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