We interns are cursed

Day two in the shop makes me think we interns have some kind of hex on us, at least when we're in the yard. At least me. We got split up today and I worked with Matt on rebuilding a slinger (the thing that mixes the sand and water for frack jobs) and NOTHING went the way it was supposed to. First of all people needed the crane so we sat around waiting for it for most of the day. Secondly, when we got things taken apart we had to take about another one to trade the sand plates. When we did, the water plate didn't match up with the new sand plate which has never happened before in the shop. Literally everyone was stumped by this. Once we got ANOTHER water plate and put it on, the reworked bottom and middle parts didn't fit together correctly. What should have taken an hour or an hour and a half took ALL DAY LONG and wasn't even done at the end of the day because it had to be torn down, scrapped out and re-done by the night shift. Matt was ticked. Fortunately I still learned a ton about slingers and in spite of the troubles I think I could probably rework one if I had to (under close supervision of course...). I know the difference between a road-side and a curb-side slinger (the direction of rotation of the water...and how that slurry will get to it's next destination on the truck due to it's orientation) and I know that you never re-use a slinger bolt or the bolts that connect the plates. I also know that the top, middle, and bottom parts of the slinger can be re-worked once and then they have to be scrapped. I told him I am nothing if not a good listener.

I realize I haven't put up pictures in a while so let's have a moment to go back and appreciate some of my past adventures as well as some more current ones, in photos...

The bulk plant team!

My first job! A surface (cement) job on a VERY small well. Shawn's crew--you'll note that I rode to the site in the truck with the tanks (at right) and the other truck mixes and pumps the cement (rear of said truck at left). Shawn's pick-up monitors it all!

I don't know why but it refuses to let me delete this duplicate photo of Shawn... sorry.

Shawn (unaware I am photographing him) as the cement is pumped. In the background, Jay the pump operator makes the magic happen.

My bed for my first two jobs... yep... the cab.

This is Kevin on my second job. He's fun. Not a fan of the camera but he's fun.

On that second job we found a HUGE bug. A bug of EPIC PROPORTIONS!!! Orange glove for reference and Anjelica in the background for added drama.

That's a slinger...kind of. It's 1/2 taken apart. The things that look like giant mints are the water plates. The white (new) one is bolted to the sand plate.

This is Matt... he's attaching the water plate. He's a little frustrated by now.

This is Adam putting the middle and bottom parts together...or trying. They don't fit. He's irritated because he's not the first to try and it still isn't working.

That's the silicone job I did... lots of silicone! I was told to "annihilate" that thing with the caulking gun. Mission accomplished.

Job 3... I'm getting better at this

Third job went out last night (7pm yard time got to the site a little before 10) and we got to sleep through the night. I'm in a much more positive mood after this job for a few reasons...

*I thought I'd have to go immediately on another job but Momma Sharron saved us and put us off to a night job. I love her.

*I discovered the sleeping outside on the fender of the ABT (truck with the cement tanks) is WAY more comfortable than the cab of the truck.

*Turns out that sometimes they have a trailer that no one is using and so we (the non-drivers who don't get sleepers) got to go sleep in BEDS. REAL BEDS. Granted they had no sheets but it was EONS better than the cab and even better than the fender.

* I had a fun crew this time around. Wednesday's crew was just...not...fun. They were serious and gloomy. My driver, Gary was nice enough but I got the distinct feeling that Ross didn't like me. He went on this job with us and he was nicer. I think it's just the mix of people you get. Brian, our engineer, was a good guy. "The best" according to Bucky (not kidding...his name is Paul but he hates it...so he goes with Bucky...whatever).

* The weather was reasonable today. I've been working at night and dreading a day job because of the heat and humidity but it rained last night and was overcast for most of the day. It got hot around noonish but then the rain came back. It soaked us but it did feel nice when it started. And we were about done anyway. I rode home soggy but not nearly as soggy as Danny (my driver) who had it "clear down to the underwear." These guys crack me up. They give each other so much crap over the CB radio and on site that it keeps you pretty entertained in spite of the fact that we sit for hours waiting for this and that.

This was a production job (like I think job 2 was) so we pumped cement for about 3 hours. During that time I am normally just standing (or sitting or perching) around hoping that someone will let me flip a valve open. Today they had me doing more of the same but I think I looked too stagnant so he sent me to the other side of the rig to watch returns. This means stand around out of site and watch the oil based mud come circulating back out of the ground to be sifted and settled before it goes back down. You do that to make sure it stays the same. You don't want circulation to slow or speed up. Not sure what that means to the job I just know it's not supposed to do that. So I stood there for what felt like an eternity (probably an hour or two) occasionally "helping" by glancing at the mud in the shaker. Don't worry, it stayed pretty constant.

In unrelated news, I forgot to mention I went to buy books the other day to read during the waiting parts and I treated myself to the Pioneer Woman cookbook. Great life choice. I already made the pancakes (Emily, you introduced me to them and PW herself, I thank you from the bottom of my heart) and they were spectacular! I'm sad that I am ill equipped to make much of anything in it just now but I'm stoked to get it home to my kitchen and whip up some amazing stuff. Get ready friends and family, I may try to feed you. Go with it--she's amazing and so is her food.

Job 2...Things are starting to run together...

I went on another job that followed nearly the same schedule as the first one again the night after. 6pm yard time and then on the job site around 9. Started working a little before 11 and wrapped up about 4:30. This time when we made it back to the yard (I again was in a coma for the whole drive home) I was told if I wanted to get some food I should do that quickly because we were going to catch another job. Exhausted, we drove to McDonalds and got breakfast. Anjelica is going into her weekend off so when we got back, Sharron told her that she wouldn't go on this second job. Turns out that crew's drivers had maxed out their driving hours so it became a huge headache to figure out how to get people there and who would do what. This is great news for us because Sharron said I could just go home with Anjelica and catch a job this evening. I'm super glad because A)I was TIRED and B)I am fairly certain that crew didn't want us tagging along anyway. Ok maybe it was just that Ross guy acting like a high school girl but it was irritating to be looked at like a nuisance.

I came home and slept until 2 when Anjelica needed a ride to the hair dresser. I ate something... thought it feels weird... my body has not accepted these new hours (just as well, who knows how long it'll last) and I think it's confused about when it should eat. Whatever. This is the part where I start to hate my "job"--I am sore from sleeping in those stupid cabs, my throat hurts from inadequate sleep (and likely being blasted in the face by AC while I am trying to sleep) and I just feel off. I just keep thinking that I only have to be tough until the end of the month. I'm just going to try to remain positive. "I LOVE lugging hoses and pipe. I LOVE lugging hoses and pipe. I LOVE lugging hoses and pipe..."

And so it begins...

My first job!!! I got a call yesterday at 5:15 that I had a 6pm yard time (I was informed later that no matter what they tell you your yard time is, you have an hour from their call so I overachieved by being there on time). I showed up and waited around for everyone to get there and do their pre-trip prep. I was assigned to Kevin, a young operator who apparently keeps getting the interns. We drove to the site in the 18 wheeler that brought the dry cement. I've been loading these trucks with the bulk plant so it was nice to have that pinch of familiarity. Kevin walked me through his pre-trip checklist, making me idle up the truck, and start the compressors to check for leaks in our tanks. Kevin is pretty knowledgeable and he was good at explaining things. Also on our ride was Shawn, the engineer, Jay the other operator and music guru (played music trivia via CB radio and he knows it all!) and the other green hat guy who's name I think was Daniel. (By the way, in case I forgot to mention this earlier, green hats are literal and they signify the new people. It makes us easy to look out for. Once you are hired on by the company and/or go to your first school you graduate to a white hard hat like everyone else.)

We drove out to the site and did a surface job which is just what it sounds like--we cemented casing for a shallow well. Sometimes it's just the first part of the well and it will go deeper after the cement sets but in our area most everything is shallow and horizontal so I think this may be it for this well. Because this was a very small rig (basically a rig truck and air drilling which I didn't know existed) this was an easier, shorter job. Rig up took about 10 minutes and the cementing took about half an hour. We arrived on site at 9:30 or so but they hadn't finished drilling and so we waited for them to finish and set the casing which took until 1:30. Hurry up and wait. We napped in the truck (as best we could...the front seat is not as comfortable as you might think and I slept in that morning so I only caught maybe 2 hours) until they finished. We worked until right about 5 am which is as early as we are allowed to drive. Our convenient finish time meant we got on the road without napping first. Kevin slept well in the bed in our cab so he was fine to drive, I, however was essentially catatonic and passed out not long into our drive. They made fun of me. "Puppy, here fell asleep" and "How's red doin' back there" over the CB radio...at least that's what I heard of it through my coma.

The job went as planned and I got to help the other green hat guy connect hose and tear down iron (the pipes that carry cement). I also played the nurse role and fetched them the tools they needed ("Scalpel!" "Wrench!" "Hammer!") I got plenty dirty carrying and lifting hoses and other such things. I think I did ok. At least I wasn't in anyone's way.

Bulk Plant...it is what it is..

So today we worked in the bulk plant. We had to start our day at 7 (I think lots of parts of the yard do but lab let us come in at 8...I think because the morning prep work and paper work was not intern friendly) and we finished at 6. By finished I mean they let us go because they hadn't used us for anything all afternoon and in spite of having more work to do, we were probably irritating to look at perched atop palates of additives. Anyway... We spent most of the day waiting. "Hurry up and wait" is the theme of the oil and gas world. We made several (I forget exactly how many) batches of cement for the cementing department and at the end of the day we also filled a truck with liquid nitrogen for the coil tubing department. Mixing cement means getting a recipe and dumping bags of additives into a hopper that feeds into the bulk tanks. All the additives mix with the cement from the bulk tanks and transfer to and from a couple of the empty ones a few times to get them mixed to a homogeneous blend. We just helped empty bags into the hopper.

Loading additives into the hopper. It gets messy real fast.

We also swept the shop a few times as it gets pretty dusty with all the bags being ripped open. We also helped hook the hoses to the trucks that took the cement to the jobs. That is trickier than it sounds because the hoses are heavy rubbery numbers with iron wings to screw them to things. Sometimes it takes two people to do it. I did it by myself pretty quickly once which made me feel like a beast.

Like I said, we sat around a lot today because they recently hired a bunch more guys for the bulk plant and a move to day/night shifts is imminent. There are more than enough people to get things done so the little intern girls get to watch. Because it's hot we're pretty ok with this (but it was fun to get dirty for a change...I'm sure I'll eat those words later).

Anjelica, modeling our dirty blues. Work it girl!

Today we met:

Mario--a Mexican man who's basically second in charge (in charge of us interns and the guys lifting sacks into the hopper). His English is dicey but we get the point most of the time (he uses a lot of charades). He keeps things going in order and make sure we measure things up right. He's also got mad forklift skills. Seriously he whips that thing around with such precision!

The one and only Mario. He was making fun of me by striking poses while I took pictures of other things but then this is what he gives me when I point my camera at him...

Justin--nice guy, has a couple little girls and his fiancée is working nights in the dispatch office.

Nick--also nice. An Arkansas native.

Will--very new (a week I think), nice, and learning along side of us. Receives most of Mario's life lesson style speeches about how to do things and why we do them the way we do. This means he is the cause of at least 1/2 of Mario's little dance numbers which crack us up.

Andy--He says in the air conditioned cube in the corner of the shop, running pumps and giving signals. Don't know much about him but he seems nice.

Several other guys who's names I never heard or forgot--all seem pretty nice. I think they are going easy on the only two girls in the shop. I'm only vaguely offended but the heat makes it hard to notice.

Will, Mike, and... Brandon? I hope that's his name...

The guys try to include us but at some point it's hard to do that without stalling the process and we respect that. Tomorrow I'm going to try to weasel my way into the cube to see what goes on in there. I have to try to learn something good to put in my journal. Also it's air conditioned which I don't hate.

By the way...here's the lay of the land...

That's the main building (offices, dispatch, mechanic's shop) and part of the yard. Just beyond it near those trees is parking lot. Slightly to the right...

...is the rest of the yard... lots of trucks. All large and special purpose for the most part. That's basically the yard but there are a few more trailer-y buildings behind the main office building (like the lab...).

And if you turn around in that spot... the bulk plant! Over yonder is the cube and just beyond the fork lift is the hopper. Also notice all the palates of additives for the cement we make to the left. Outside behind all this is the series of big tanks. I don't know why I neglected to photograph that... tomorrow!

Welcome to Arkansas, where the accents are thicker and our purses are camo

At long last, I am finally at my field location in Conway, Arkansas (the drive was, in fact, lovely. Thanks for asking)! I know you were all wondering when my internship would actually start. The answer is: today the moment I arrived in Conway. I showed up at the yard (the office) and was pretty much set to work setting myself up in the company online systems and taking tests to be allowed to go to the field. It was an intense first 3 (ish) hours.

We got set up in our apartment which is NICE. It puts the StratCastle to shame (though that's not real hard to do). The only thing it's lacking is all the fellow interns... *sniff* Nick, Anjelica and I are all in Well Services so we are in the apartments and Brendan and Jared are in Wireline so they're in a hotel for the time being but I think they move to some apartments (we're hoping ours) by next week. Unfortunately we've already been told that we'll spend little time in our apartments.

My manager (Stephen-cementing manager) has already let down any professional best behavior facade that he may have had. He's real honest and upfront. I like it. Our mentor (Sharron or "Mamma Sharron") is much the same. So is everyone really. Again, I like it. So far things are good. I'll try to keep reporting regularly but from the sounds of it, things may get kinda sporadic. Hang in there people, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

First purse I see in AR is forest print camo of course.

Walking into our apartment and looking slightly right: The kitchen!

And if you look more forward: The doors are just the back door (nothing special out there) and the hall to the right leads to our rooms...

When you go to the end of the hall you get to my room... sleepin' in style!

And if you look back toward the door you see that I have the master room...my own private bathroom! Anjelica has a bathroom (the door across the hall) to herself too so don't feel too bad. There's a washer and dryer in hers too (I swooned!).