Decided to Post After All

 

It has been another slow day as far as the gate is concerned, just a repeat of yesterday and the day before, so I wasn’t even going to post anything.  However,things change.  Since the last tanker came in at 7:30 pm and it is nearly 11:00 pm and he still hasn’t come, I might as well write this blog.  I called James, the safety guy and, yes he is still back there and only half done, so it will be awhile. 

I have been getting very little water pressure lately.  On Friday, I tried doing a load of wash and it wouldn’t start.  It wasn’t getting any water, so that’s when I called David.  I had to wait until today, because he was in Odessa yesterday and was on his own.  So I have been patiently waiting for him to come check on the water pump.  I got a call, that he was on his way. That was fortunate as everything turned off,  Some thing happened to the generator.  I checked the oil, and added some.   It still wouldn’t start.  Frank, the day safety guy was leaving, so I asked if he would check it.  It started for him,  okay, so when David got here, he fixed the water pump and we changed the filter and he left.  He wasn’t gone 15 minutes and everything went off again.  So now I’m sitting in the dark.  When the generator went of it should have switched over to solar, but didn’t.  I will have to figure that out later.  David made it back and got the generator going, evidently it wasn’t getting a steady flow of fuel.  That is fixed, so far, so good.  The A/C is going strong and the lights are on, in and out.

Earlier this morning I finished a couple of painting that I started before I retired,  They are of unusual butterflies.  Have you ever heard of a Glass Winged Butterfly?

 

The tanker didn’t start coming in until late morning and it seems that they all came in within an hour of each other except this last one.  So I actually took the time to prepare some confetti tuna salad for lunch.

                       

Since I eat so little at any one time, pre-prep food and freeze it so that I don’t waste food.  My sister brought some bell peppers when she shopped for me last Thursday.

                      

These are in individual bags and then in a larger freezer bag so that I can use exactly what I need.

I guess I’ve rambled enough.  I hope that this driver finishes soon, so that I can get some sleep. 

Good Night All

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel

One More Day at The Gate and a Request

                          

A new flower found,  it is actually a cluster of flowers on one stem and the only one that I have found.  Of course, while I was exploring, a tanker came in and I had to hurry back to get my log to sign him in.  I can sit there for an hour, doing nothing, but as soon as I take a walk and I can’t go far, that’s when I have to be at the gate.

Another slow day as far as the vehicles go.  I had plenty of time to visit with my sister.  She brought my mail to me and did a bit of shopping for me.  Now I’m all stocked up for a while.  She lives about a 100 miles north of here.

Last night I received an e-mail from Debra (Living in Grace) asked if I would do a painting of one of her favorite pictures and she sent me a copy.

                                           I finished it this morning.

                                     

I also finished one that is a composite of two pictures that I took here at the gate.

                               

I think that the hardest thing for me to do is to decide what to paint.  That’s one of the reasons that I have been taking pictures of flowers as a background resource.

What with watching the last of the Elvis movies and taking an afternoon nap, that is all that I did today.  Hope that you all had a great day too.

Thanks for visiting

  here’s winking at you

Susan

Another Day, Another Painting

                            

                 Another beautiful Sunrise.  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

Gate update:

Now that all three wells are back in production, traffic has picked up a little bit.  More tankers are coming in.  I just hope that they come in during the day, not in the middle of the night.

Today there were 5 tankers for crude. I had signed 3 out, but there were still 2 on the log that came in at 8:30 am and hadn’t come out.  They usually take about an hour and a half and after 4 hours, I hadn’t put down the time they left, I was beginning to think that maybe they had come out and I hadn’t put down the time, because I just check to see who they are and wave as they leave.  There is no way for me to tell, because it is about couple of miles to the well sites.  I guess I wasn’t going crazy, though, because at 1:30 pm, ( that’s after 5 hours), I finally heard the bell ring.  I guess they had some problem in loading the crude, something about a temperature being 118* at some point in the process and they had to wait.   Highlight of my day!  “I’m not going crazy.”

Monday the owner came by.  It is the first time to meet him.  He was here to pick up Jaime.  I guess that Jaime will be gone for a few days.  That’s okay, as I have both of their phone numbers if I need anything.  I also have the cell number for the Safety guy that is on the property all night.  I also loaned him some movies to help him stay awake when there isn’t anything to do.

                                                    ****************    

                                 

Each day seems to be a repeat of the previous,  It is hard to know what day of the week that it is.  I’ve been watching movies, during the day, since I have so many I tend to watch movies of one artist or series,or old ones, whatever strikes my fancy for the day.  Yesterday I started watching all Elvis’ movies.  Some are pretty “cheesy”, but that’s okay. I mainly listen to them as background while doing other stuff.

I have started thinking about the route that I will take next year when I head towards WI, as well as where I will spend this winter, hopefully I can find a Workamping position near San Antonio and then in the spring work my way up North in state parks for a month or two at a time.

       

The Cactus Wren was back, as was the elusive roadrunner, although this time he was near the rig, but too quick for a picture.

                 Judy, this one’s for you.   Do you recognize this guy?

                               

                                       “The Challenger”

There really isn’t too much to paint here, except for the Mesquite trees, brush, weeds and some wild flowers are still hanging on.  So I have taken pictures and those will probably become paintings.

Still reading my novel and getting my afternoon naps in between the bell ringing. Just another day at the gate.

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel

An Anniversary of Sorts

     

June 3, 2011, parked in Rancho Cordova, CA     June 3, 2012, Gate Guarding,   S, TX

                                                  I’ve come a long way.

To put it simply, I’ve gone from leaving all the restraints of living in a permanent home, still working, waiting to retire to fulfilling my dream of living and traveling in an RV.  I am so much happier. 

Sure, a lot has happened, from second guessing myself, thinking is this really what I want to do, to listening to and disregarding the naysayers.  I knew then and know now that this is the way that I like to live.  Things happen, but you take care of them just like you would if you are stuck in one place.  I  had a lot to do to get where I am today, but I remained focused and it happened.

                                           A new bird sighting.

  

    A cardinal  Jaime said they were here               Finally, the cactus wren (?)

                           

Evidently there is a cat that is around walking on my truck.  Prints are too small for a Bobcat.  Jamie says that there is a house cat that won’t come around people.  Hopefully, it will keep the mice at bay.

Update on gate activity::

Still slow, but there has been activity on the wells that have reopened.  Last night (2:00 am), a safety supervisor came to check on the safety man to make sure he was doing his job.  I learned about the H2 S gas on Susan’s blog, travelbug-susan.blogspot.com .So, I asked him about the H2 S gas that comes with the crude and water.  He confirmed what she said and gave me a booklet about it.  I took pictures of the pages and am posting them.  If you click on them it will enlarge them to read if you like.

     

 

Just for those that are interested.

 

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel

It Might Be Time To Start the Research

                          

                                     This morning’s sunrise

Here it is June already,  Another 3 months to go.  Okay, maybe it is time to start thinking about where I will go when I leave here.  I know I can always go back to Garner State Park or another TX State Park and I may do that, but in the meantime I can start the research.  I haven’t heard anything from the RV Resort in El Mirage AZ, and I ‘m not sure that I want to drive through the mountains again, at least not right away.  I may think about going East instead. I may check out  the COE campgrounds in the states on the way to GA.  I have friends just outside of Atlanta, but then again I do want to be in WI next summer, so I may just stay in South TX through the winter and spring.  So many options, so many decisions.  All that I do know is that the only snow that I want to see is in the distance on mountain tops or in someone else’s blog and I want to stay warm.  Any one have any ideas?

                       

                          I thought that the steam was interesting.

It has been really slow.  Yesterday there were only 3 oil tankers that came.  Since they reopened the other two wells. I thought that they would probably come later that night, but didn’t. So anticipating getting up in the middle of the night, I would wake up and check the gate and go back to bed.  There have been a couple of times that a driver would wait.  ( I told the one that waited quite a while to come knock on my door)  No one came, so needless to say I didn’t get enough sleep last night (my own doing).  Fortunately there is usually a lull in traffic during the middle of the day and I was able to sleep in the recliner for 2 or 3 hours.

                       

Since I was already up I decided to make some muffins, but baked them in a square pan instead of individual muffins.  It is sometimes hard to light my oven ( I have to practically stand on my head to see the pilot light and have to push the lighting button at the same time )  I ended up doing them in the microwave and frosted them, because they don’t brown when I do them that way.  I think that I will try to freeze most of them for next week.

                            

This morning I decided to sit outside and read before it got too hot and thought I might be able to get some better pictures of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher or the wren that comes by.  No luck, however I did get one of this pretty grasshopper (?).

    

               crude oil tanker                                               water tanker

These are the trucks that haul out the crude oil and water, there is another by-product of gas that is burned off.  The rest of the vehicles are usually pick ups. sometimes the bell rings and I can usually tell if they will come through the gate by what kind of vehicle it is.  Several times a day they are turning around or are lost. Sometimes I can tell them what gate they are looking for, sometimes not.  That is what my day is like.

The only thing different was that Kevin came to fill my diesel.  He’s the one on the support crew that was hired the day before me.  They are working long days keeping everyone supplied with diesel and water and whatever other support is needed.  Because they really need gate guards,  they have been sitting at gates, which gets them behind.  That part, he’s not too crazy about.  So if there are any couples out there that are interested in making some extra money.  This is where you can do it.  Just remember, the job, itself is easy, but it is 24/7, so there should be two people to relieve each other, for it to work,  Going solo is ROUGH!  You don’t have to be a married couple, just work as a team and have your own RV.  I am lucky to get this kind of gate as they are few and don’t come available very often.  Evidently the couple that took over my first gate like it well enough.  (this is their first time gate guarding)  It continued to be busy, but has since slowed down a little bit for them, but will probably pick up again.

I will have to see what the rest of the day will bring, so far only 2 crude oil and 2 water trucks.  That being said I think I will take another nap.

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel

Addition of Pictures for Yesterdays Post

Let me preface this  by explaining that I don’t know why the pictures wouldn’t  post and I ended up just coping and pasting the text directly into Blogger.  I tried a test post earlier today with a picture and it worked.  So, here it goes.

          I have a boosted signal

   

                                 The package and it’s contents

 

               Newest Painting

 

      I see you, no,  I’m really not in jail.

Hope that  these explain the blank spots.

Susan and Angel

test