we do what we do

Now that I have some time and I'm not passed out on my bed, I can comment on the last week. Regular readers know that I was in Denver last week. I actually don't have a lot to say about that right now. I was largely undoing the damage I did the last time I was there. Suffice to say, it went well this time, even if my somewhat angular eyebrows make me look angry when I make eye contact with people. I get to go to Houston in two weeks to make a final presentation, but it's largely a celebratory affair for myself and others from North America who have reached this same point.

I think it'd be much more entertaining to talk about the last couple of days instead. I arrived back in Farmington around 1400 on Saturday. By 1830 I was at work ready to cover back-to-back jobs in the field. Somewhat predictably, in an unpredictable sort of way, the best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry.

We rolled up to our first location and were told that they were having some problems and would be delayed so we should head over to the other location. On our way to the second location, we received a call. The second location had just had a huge problem and could not foresee when they would need a crew so we should head back to the first location. By the time we got back to the first location, it was nearly 2300. We set up what we could and went to bed, waiting for the rig to finish doing whatever it is rigs do. I don't really know. Around 0600 the next morning, the company man tapped on our windows. Finally, they must be ready I thought. Not quite. The first rig was still slowly doing whatever it is rigs do, but the second rig needed a crew ASAP. That's better than doing nothing all day, so we drove over to the second location. We got there only to find out that the job procedure had changed. And that the rig had screwed something so badly, that they were stuck where they were so we were just going to cement the casing where it was right then and there. We did our thing, looked good doing it, and left to go back to the first location. On our way there, we received a call. A third rig wanted a crew in four hours. (All three of these rigs were only a few miles apart.)

Quite the dilemma. We called the first rig to see if they were actually ready. They were so we continued back to their location. We arrived in time to learn that one of their pumps had just gone down. We got set-up and burned about two hours waiting for them to fix their pump. Finally, we started that job and everything was mostly fine except I don't think I mentioned that there were some concerns about running out of water during the job. For reference, running out of water during a cement job is pretty much a disaster. Late in the job, we realized we had just enough water to finish the job, but would have to move the pump to draw more water from a different tank to wash-up. Also, later in the job, the rig's pump went down again. This is not really our problem, but it causes location to become a total mess because they aren't able to pump various fluids returning to surface away from the well. Instead, they spill all over the place where we need to be working. Whatever. We can't help the rig because we need to finish and move the pump to get more water before the cement on board gets hard. We get more water and then move the pump again to a place were we can wash-up. Finally, when we're done washing up, we move the pump back to where it originally was to finish loading our equipment back onto it.

It's now 1930 on Sunday and we head over to the third location. Understandably, we're starting to drag ass a little bit. We get there, set up our stuff, and do the job. Right as we finish and start to pack our equipment up, the sky opens up. I was soaked through in a matter of minutes. The lightning was so close and the wind so fierce that we had to shut it down for a few minutes. We realized that the rain wouldn't abate so we finished putting our equipment away. I tried to pretend that I was sort of dry and would move in a way that made me think I had some dry spots worth trying to keep. I gave up on that and just laughed instead because it was pretty clear that we were all soaked it wouldn't matter if we rolled around in the puddles on the ground, because nothing about on us was dry. We eventually pulled off location and stopped because we needed to clear DOT logs and our new driving policy kept us from going anywhere anyway. The rain is why I always carry extra socks, underwear, and a shirt in my gear bag. Sleeping in a truck in wet clothes is not exactly comfortable. I wished I had dry pants, but I didn't. I stripped down and used a second spare shirt to sort of towel off and then I put on what dry clothes I had. I put my pants up on the dash to dry and went to bed. By morning, my pants were surprisingly dry. Not bad. Putting on wet boots is bad enough, but putting on wet pants is an unpleasant feeling.

We trundled home in the morning after everyone managed to get a second night of fitful sleep. I, being the generally deranged person that I am, decided we needed to go grab the trucks we had left behind at all the locations we had been at. Since, one of our frac crews was shut down do to poor road conditions, I grabbed some guys and went right back out there and brought everything back to the house. (We had been working in Colorado, where the roads are generally well made and well maintained. The frac crew was working in New Mexico where just a little bit of rain turns roads into porridge.) When you're riding that energy high, you need to take advantage of it. If we didn't make a push for those trucks that day, we'd have to get them eventually. My energy level crashed last night after I went grocery shopping. I collapsed on my bed and didn't wake till 0730 this morning.

Days, and nights, and the day before, and the nigh before, and the day before the day before yesterday aren't bad. They aren't good either. This isn't about how awful it is. It's about how crazy it sometimes is and the things we do to get the job done. These are both the best and worst kinds of days. It's not comfortable. It is tiring. I do ache all over today. But I pushed myself and remembered what hard work really is. By the end of Sunday, I was willing myself through the rain, fighting cramps in both arms, shouldering as much of the burden as I knew how in order to keep the crew I was with from having to bear any more of it. I felt uniquely alive that night, standing in the rain, laughing at the lightning, reveling at what we're capable of.