A Few Parting Shots . . . 04/23/2012
 I don't know what kind of bird this is, he just showed up a few days ago and I've seen him every day since then. He sure is pretty and has a very long tail. 
 This turtle had apparently gotten into the battery station under the gate, crawled to the other end of it, and could not get out because the wire opening was smaller than his shell. We rescued him.  David & Romeo & Juliette were startled one evening by the rattling of this rattlesnake. It had it's head raised and was ready to strike. David and I had quite a time getting the dogs away from the snake.  When the catering company brings sirloin steak, green beans, real mashed potatoes, a roll, and a tropical fruit salad . . . you guessed it. The fracking is DONE!!!! YUM. We're leaving here tomorrow, heading to Grain Valley, Missouri but we'll be back later this year for some more Gate Guard Adventures. P.S.: We're thinking about doing the sugar beet harvest this year, so if you have done it and can give us some head's up, please email us. Thanks. 4 Comments More Ranch Happenings . . . . 04/17/2012
 The photo above shows them putting the tanks in our dog park. They installed 8 tanks all together. The little yellow airplane in the background is seen frequently, and we're not sure what he's doing. At first we thought crop dusting, or checking on cattle, but daily? Maybe they're giving flying lessons? The helicopter seen in the above photo was used to capture deer, believe it or not. The helicopter passenger would shoot a gun that would throw a net over the deer, then the ground crew would capture the deer and transport it to another ranch.  This is David, practicing the art of making chicken fajitas on the grill. In case you haven't discovered them yet, the absolute BEST tortillas are in the refrigerator section of Super S, usually near the eggs, and they're called Exquisita, ready to cook flour tortillas. You can cook them on the grill or frying pan, or whatever, and they're very fresh tasting.  Let's talk about equipment for a minute. This is our Gate Guard Services trailer that contains our fuel (in the white tank), our water (in the black tank) and the generator is in the back. Underneath is spread a thick plastic sheeting to catch anything that might leak. (This oil company requires it's use). Gate Guard Services has excellent equipment and they maintain it regularly. [If you've followed our posts you will remember that, with the other gate guard company we used to work for, our generator went out multiple times a day and was absolutely useless in the July/August heat, and they changed the oil one time in 7 months.] Just wanted to brag on Gate Guard Services for a bit and share with you how good their equipment is.  This is the septic system provided by Gate Guard Services, again on a trailer with the black plastic sheeting underneath. All our grey and black water goes into this system, and it's been great.  This is the bird feeder that David and our grandson, Caleb made last July. Because we're right on a very busy highway we don't get many birds, so this female cardinal (??) got us all excited. Our gate (Avant Ranch) has been very busy with a couple hundred trucks in every day. They're working on two different pads and they started fracking two wells on one pad. Later, tater. 
They have Hooters, We have Dick's. 04/11/2012
We spent New Year's Eve in San Antonio, where we went to, among other places, the River Walk. Early evening we decided to stop and have a cocktail and an appetizer. We spotted a place called Dick's Last Resort and decided it looked like a fun place. Little did we know how FUN of a place it was going to be! It was such a nice afternoon that we chose to sit outside on the patio.   Our Waitress at Dick's Last Resort, posing for her photo. The photo above is of our waitress, who greeted us with something akin to "Sit Down and Shut Up. I'm busy."  A fellow diner, ready to PARTY.  A staff member, telling jokes and creating chaos.  Spreading chaos, one dick at a time.  Yup, as you can see from the photo, above, the staff made paper "cone head" hats for some of the patrons to wear, with different silly saying on them, from "I stuff my bra" to "I'm wearing a diaper" and more . . . They even took a leaf blower to a stack of napkins.   This poor young man apparently poops Skittles.  Yes, this waitress is actually standing on the table.  We even got serenaded by a Mariachi Band The jest of the restaurant was to be rude to the wait staff and they would be rude right back at ya. I made the mistake of asking for something and saying "please" at which time I was suitably berated. We didn't know it at the time, but the San Antonio location is in the basement (and former morgue) of the historic Nix Hospital. Dick's Last Resort is a chain restaurant with locations in Chicago, Dallas, Boston, Vegas, Baltimore, San Diego and Myrtle Beach, with more locations being added all the time. It was a lot of fun and, given the chance, we'll definitely go back. Two thumbs up. Happy Easter, Mexican Style 04/08/2012
Not your typical hard boiled eggs.
 They are Cascarones, a Mexican tradition. They may look like ordinary Easter Eggs, but they are actually Cascarones, which are egg shells that have been emptied, colored and filled with confetti. You crack them over someone's head, as in David, below. He's such a good egg. 
Harmless confetti. All in good clean fun.
Have a Happy Easter! 3 More Weeks of Texas 04/03/2012
 Trailside RV Park We were supposed to stay here, Gate Guarding in the Oil & Gas Fields of South Texas, until the end of June, when we were to head to Trailside RV Park in Grain Valley, Missouri, to start our 3 month summer job, only 6 miles from our childrens/grandson's house. Plans changed when we received a phone call, asking us if we could start work there on May 1st. Well, since it's really HOT and DUSTY here already, and since we have been in Texas for a year now and have only seen our family at Christmas, the answer was an easy "YES". The pay will be minimal so we will both have to find part time jobs since, as David says, we've gotten into the habit of eating and we'd really like to continue that habit.  Moving out the drilling crew's housing. As far as ranch news goes, they finished drilling and moved the rig out the weekend of March 25th and 26th. That gave us an entire week of not much traffic so we spent the time cleaning the RV, including the roof, gutters, scrubbing the "yuck" off the slide seals, washing the RV and the windows, checking and sealing seams, painting the hitch, and several other misc projects. Today the frac crew has been in and out, bringing in equipment to get ready for the fracing. After the rains we've had, it's impossible to read the license plates on most of the big rigs and some of the pickups, so I've had my bucket and rag out, washing off the license plates so I can record them. On the pickups (and cars) registered in Texas, in case you don't know, there is a decal on the front, driver's side windshield of the vehicle that has the license number on it, so if you can't read the license plate because it's dirty or dented up or whatever, you can read it on the decal. That knowledge has come in handy many times. Unfortunately most of the traffic has been the big trucks and I can't climb up high enough to see if they have the same thing on their windshield. The water lines have been laid down and are ready for fracing and we've also had more surveyors in, getting ready to lay more underground pipeline for the oil. Not much else going on, ranch wise. 
Moving out.
Yup, that's one muddy license plate. And I'm supposed to read it.
 When they say everything's bigger in Texas, they mean it, as attested to by this, our dog park. LOL. It's not really a dog park, the oil company is going to put in tank batteries, a heater separator and a flare stack, but in the meantime the dogs absolutely love running around there, and running up and down the piles of sand and pea gravel. It also gives us a nice level walking track, out of the way of the many big trucks. In the background you can see another, different, fenced in area that contains tank batteries and a heater separator. As yet our dog pen remains empty. 
Queen of the sand pile.
 My "ready for work" gear. The Ultimate Sport sunblock is SPF 100+ by Neutrogena. It's not cheap, but it's good and I highly recommend it, especially for the fair skinned. It sprays on, is sweat proof and is not greasy. (My Mom used to say that women don't sweat, we perspire. Sorry Mom, but in South Texas in the summer, I sweat) The straw hat to keep the sun off my face, and the sunglasses are not mere sunglasses. They're actually bifocals. The bifocal-y part is equivalent to reading glasses, for reading the driver's license, forms, etc., and they are also safety glasses, for those flying rocks. David purchased them at Ace Hardware for $9.95. We like them.  These are the oddest looking cows. I have no idea what kind they are, but there is a whole herd of them across the hwy from us. Whenever the dogs are outside the cows come over to the fence and just stare at the dogs. I believe the cows are probably thinking, "These are the oddest looking dogs." LOL. 
TEXAS . . . A Year In Review 03/18/2012
 Hard to believe, but we've been here in Texas for a year now. We were at the Bean Pot Campground (no kiddin') in Crossville, Tennessee, when we got the call to work at an RV Park in west Texas. David was working for Southern Cross, surveying underground natural gas pipelines for leaks, there was about a foot or so of snow on the ground, and we were ready for a change in scenery. We arrived at our job in west Texas the middle of March, 2011, with temperatures (according to the RV Park thermometer) in the 100's. The humidity there never got above 12%. With a big temperature change like that, it took us a few days to get acclimated. We worked there for 3 1/2 months before we started working as Oil Field Gate Guards for Timekeepers the first week of July, 2011. (We later switched companies and now work for Gate Guard Services.) What a miserable July we had, mainly because our generator kept going out. Several times a day and night it would go out. Sometimes we'd have a few wonderful hours with the generator (and the a/c) running, and then, kaput! the generator would go out and it'd be out for 10 hours or more. It was miserable HOT, with no a/c a lot of the time, and I had to use a flashlight at night because if I turned on a light in the RV, it'd trip the breaker on the generator. We had illegals showing up, with Border Patrol coming all hours of the night and day, our gate was busy, and then, on top of all that, we were parked right beside the railroad tracks and the trains were blowing their whistles all hours of the day and night, making it impossible to sleep, every time the sensors would go off, our dog Romeo would go ballistic with his barking, all that making it impossible to sleep. Then, on top of all that, we had a train wreck at the ranch. But no one was seriously injured! 
That used to be a truck.
 Then we had pipeliners come in, making more traffic and dust and then the RailRoad Commission came in and shut down our gate, (see September 2011 Blogs), but only for a few hours. I'm not sure how or why we survived July in South Texas last summer, the hottest summer on record, without power a lot of the time, I guess because we're from Missouri. You know, the stubborn "mule" state. The Show Me State. Honestly, though, every day we just kept thinking the next day would be better. You know, the old "Things have got to get better, cause they can't get any worse" mentality. We got a lot of helpful advice and encouragement from veteran Gate Guards like Debbie (theforkintheroad) and Andy (myoldrv.com). Thanks, guys, for your support. 
This is the beautiful Orix that was on the Ranch
I sure don't want to leave the impression that our experiences have been all bad. Not by a long shot. We have met some real nice people and been humbled by their generosity and kindness. We're currently at our second gate and I think it's safe to say that if we had not changed companies, we'd still be at the gate we started at, as it is still open. We plan to stay here, near Dilley, Gate Guarding, until the middle of June, when we'll head to our summer job in Missouri, only about 6 miles from our two children and grandson!!!!! If you're thinking about gate guarding in Texas in the summer, please check out a few blogs I did in August that give my advice about what to bring to make your work and stay a more pleasant experience so you don't end up being a Draggin' Lady, like me, pictured below. I've posted some of my favorite Ranch Life photos below. 
Our Roadrunner Buddy.
 David and I are both Scorpions, having been born in November, but this Scorpion was NOT welcomed here. 
Javelinas. Odd looking, eh?
 
Lovebird.
MUD BOXES FOR SALE 03/08/2012
 Photo of the moon that I took last night. It's sure BIG. I have no idea what a mud box is or what it's used for, probably something in the oil and gas industry, but I saw a sign "Mud Boxes for Sale" today and it stuck in my head. I went to the laundry mat in Pearsall and I met a couple there who work for LOMA, Earl and Jean. They've been gate guards for three years, with some breaks in there of course. They used to work for Timekeepers but didn't feel right signing the contract, so they switched to LOMA earlier this year. I don't judge. Everyone has to make their own decisions and be able to live with them. I won't judge you and please don't judge me, cause honey, you sure ain't been walking in my shoes or they'd be broken in better (or maybe plum worn out). It's about 8:00 p.m. as I write this and the RV is a rocking, and not in a good way. It's raining and the wind is sure whipping up strong. Also it's supposed to get kinda cold. Anyway, if anyone needs any mud for the their mudboxes, we've have plenty of mud soon. We're supposed to have strong winds and rain for the next three days, last I heard from the TV. We finally got San Antonio news stations!! Yeah. We were getting all our "local" news out of New York City, which of course did us absolutely no good at all, but David finally called and upgraded our Direct TV package to include San Antonio. It costs about $14.00 more per month, but I think it's worth it. The last few nights the moon has been very big and beautiful and so tonight I went out to look at it again, as it's supposed to be a full moon tonight, but I can't even see the moon for all the storm clouds. A friend posted on facebook that we are supposed to be able to stand a broom up and it stay there, something to do with the relationship of the moon to the earth and gravitational pull or something like that. Maybe I'll try that later, when David wakes up, but with all this wind and rockin' action, I really don't think it will work. David got to bed late because of the laundry needing done, so he's still asleep. I just logged someone in, and one set of lights had blown over. Hopefully I weighted them down so they won't blow away. The lovebird has not been back to see us, much to our disappointment, but we're still keeping a lookout. We get people coming in about every day telling us about killing rattlesnakes, so we're ever vigil when we take the dogs for a walk. I always take some kind of noise maker with me, hopefully to alert them we're coming so they'll leave. I have been enjoying everyone's photos of the wildflowers so I thought I'd share some of mine and I'll add some more photos of the Lovebird. There are a couple of photos of cactus thrown in there, just to remind us that we're still in Texas. A Very Unexpected Visitor Comes Calling !!! 03/04/2012
 Yes, believe it or not, this parakeet came to visit us. I was outside sweeping off the mat and shaking off rugs. David had gone to Carrizo Springs to meet with Dan to pick up our Isagenix 9 day cleanse products. This parakeet flew underneath the RV and out the other side and landed in this tree. Romeo & Juliette were outside and barking like mad at the parakeet but he didn't seem to mind. I talked to him and whistled at him and he just sat there looking at me, making an occasional "chirp" noise. About that time David came home and was amazed to see a parakeet in the tree. I got some sunflower nuts and tried to feed them to the parakeet, but he would not let me get that close to him. I could get within about two feet of him, and then he'd hop up to a higher branch. He stayed with us for about 30 minutes, us trying to catch him and him just watching us. I'm not sure what we would have done with him if we'd caught him, because we don't have a bird cage, but we were sure excited to see him. 
Isn't he gorgeous!
 This is Hunter, our Field Rep. He brought us some more diesel fuel, a brand spankin' new sign, and he did some weed whacking around the generator area. What a nice young man he is. 
Here's our new sign. Aint it spiffy?
Okay, so Weebly won't seem to let me load any more photos at the moment, so I'll close for now and try to load some more later today. It's about 75 degrees here now and an absolutely beautiful day. Have a wonderful Sunday everyone. SNAKES ALIVE !!! 02/29/2012
 Photo courtesy of the South Texas Poison Center. Apparently the rattlesnakes are coming out of hibernation as a gate guard couple near us killed one recently and another couple have seen three rattlesnakes already!!! So beware. The locals said to buy moth balls and put them under your RV to keep the rattlesnakes away. (We did that in Florida to keep the ants and mice away). Another local said the moth balls won't keep the rattlesnakes away, but they keep the mice away so the rattlesnakes don't have anything to eat. Our rig safety rep said he was moving a sign the other day and found several baby mice. When we worked at an RV park in West Texas we put sulfur around the perimeter of the park to keep the rattlesnakes out. I looked online to find out what to do if you are bitten by a rattle snake and this is what is recommended: STAY CALM. (May be a little hard to do). Keep the bitten limb or area lower than your heart. If possible put the limb in a splint to keep it from moving. DO NOT put ice or heat on the area, DO NOT cut the area in an attempt to suck out the poison. DO NOT apply a tight tourniquet. Call for an ambulance and advise them you have been bitten by a rattlesnake so they can be sure to take you to a hospital that has the correct antidote or anti-venom. (Not that we have a lot of choices in hospitals around here). When we worked at Yellowstone National Park we were advised that while out hiking we should sing or whistle or otherwise make noise so that the bears could hear us coming and avoid us. (Anything that hears ME singing will definitely avoid me!) That's probably a wise thing to do when you are out walking your dogs, so the snakes can get out of your way. Please stay safe everyone! 
Western Diamondback of North, Central, South & West Texas
WE QUIT ! 02/23/2012
Electronic cigarettes, also known as "E-cigs"
This is a post I've been wanting to do for a while now, but haven't because, well, it's a pride thing I guess. No one likes to admit their faults (especially on the internet) unless maybe it is in an effort to help someone else. About 9 years ago my Mother died of lung cancer. It was a horrible, long illness. I lived with her the last month of her life and helped to care for her. Last year a dear friend of mine died of lung cancer. She smoked for several years, but she had quit smoking several years prior. It didn't matter. I smoked cigarettes most of my life, for over 30 years, and had been desperate to quit smoking for a lot of years, especially after watching my Mother die. I spent lots of money on cigarettes and lots of money on different "stop smoking" methods. You name it, I tried it, everything from hypnosis to acupuncture with the metal beads they tape in your ear. David quit smoking about 4 years ago using Chantix, but later felt like he may have had some long term side effects from the Chantix. Nothing worked for me. A year ago, in February of 2011, I finally stopped smoking and I want to share how I did it. Electronic cigarettes. I guess you could say I still smoke, electronic cigarettes, but they call that "vaping" not smoking, I guess because there is no smoke, just vapor. Also no harmful tar and no bad stuff in your lungs.  In this photo the colored part of the cigarette (light pink, dark pink, gold, white) is the battery. The battery comes in various colors. The black part is the cartomizer and it also comes in various colors. It contains the nicotine, which comes in different strengths, down to zero nicotine, which I guess a person would want to progress down to, eventually, and then quit all together. When you puff on the e-cig the battery warms up the nicotine and vapor is released. The vapor dissipates quickly in the air and has no smell to it at all. They can be used in many places where smoking is not allowed, like movie theaters and air planes, to name a few. 
Pink battery, black tip and black tip still wrapped up, they way they are shipped.
The cartridges and cartomizers can be refilled with nicotene in various strengths.
The battery recharging.
E-cigs come in two part or some in three parts. With some brands the battery needs charged often, while others have batteries that last a long time between charges. E-cigs are not advertised as a smoking cessation device, but many, many people have used them for exactly that. They are much less harmful to your health and cheaper than tobacco cigarettes, too. Recently it was reported that a man in Florida suffered severe injuries when his battery blew up, but I understand that he had modified it, so I'm not really sure the battery was at fault. If you look on the internet you will find thousands of different e-cig brands as it's gotten to be a very competative and very lucrative industry. I don't profess to know any more, so if you would like more information, please go to the internet. There are many articles that demonstrate how they work. A lot of convenience stores, like Pilot, sell disposable e-cigs for about $6.00 so a person can at least try them without spending a lot of money. Hope you enjoyed this post. | ArchivesApril 2012 CategoriesAll |
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