The thing about gate guarding is that 99% of gates are 24/7, as was our first gate. This means that while I am sleeping Dave is watching the gate and while he is sleeping, I watch the gate. Consequently we have not slept in the bed at the same time in 3 weeks.
At this gate, there is nothing going on. NADA, Zippo, nothing. No rig, no fracking, no drilling. So, we lock the gate at night and go to bed. Together. Nice!
Well, we do have the owner of the ranch here this weekend. NICE guy. Already has offered to let us use his washer and dryer. I probably will not take him up on that, but REAL nice of him. Right now we only have to let him in and out and any friends or family that show up. We are really trying to enjoy this time because a week from Monday fracking WILL start and we'll be back to sleeping by ourselves.
We are seeing a bit more wildlife here. A herd of deer, lots of birds and pigs. Cows too, but they really don't count as wildlife. Here are some pictures.
The deer were across the road on the other side of the fence and the cows were inside our fence. Neither the deer nor the cows were easily spooked. The rancher across the way drove quite close to them on their side of the fence and they barely moved. The cows let me get pretty close before they ambled off.
Dave spent the day today taking care of some things outside. Hooking the water hose up to the water tank on the generator trailer, sealing some cracks in the roof seam and he ran into town to the post office. While he was there he washed the truck. He just couldn't stand the dirt on it anymore. It doesn't matter that it supposed to rain tonight or sometime this weekend, he just couldn't stand it anymore.
I spent the time on the computer taking care of business. Ordering a few needed things, answering emails, scanning and sending documents and a few other things all online. It's so much easier to get things done when I'm not interrupted every few minutes. This applies to gates as well as children, phone calls, doorbells and anal bosses. No Dan, not you. :)
I'm done for now and off to bed in a little while. Dave is already snoring in the chair.
That sounds like a positive result of the move - at least you have had some good night's sleeps - and at the same time!! I don't think this kind of job would be for me, but it's very interesting reading about it. :)
ReplyDeleteWhile the cow critters you are seeing might not be considered as wildlife, I have dealt with a few steers and heifers that would definitely be considered WILD.
ReplyDeleteNice to see that things are good right at the beginning at your new location. I wonder if the rancher at the other site was just concerned with some of his cows getting into the well site, presuming of course that the fenced in area is only around the drill site.
I can't imagine a rancher having that kind of fence up just for his cattle.