Expletive Warning -Lots of them!

Shit Happens

Good shit. Bad shit. Crazy shit. Stupid shit. Awful shit. Funny shit.  No the universe is not deciding you need bad shit anymore than it is gracing you with the good shit.  Shit just happens.

You make your plans and prepare for life's happenings as best you can and ... shit still happens.  That's life.

Bad shit is not there to teach you a lesson, although most of us do learn one.  This goes for stupid shit too.  Not having a plan B is a great way for anything but good shit to happen.

Life has cycles just like anything else.  Right now we are in a "Good Shit" cycle.  You may be in a "Bad Shit" cycle.  As they say, this too will pass.  But usually you find out who your real friends are during the bad shit.  Hell, sometimes your "friends" even cause the bad shit.  Instead of a BFF you have a BSF.  (see, stupid shit).  I think we ALL have one of those at one time or another.

I believe we all create our own kind of shit, be it good or bad.  AND, we can all turn bad shit into good.  I used to tell my daughter that her attitude was all up to her, so if she wanted to wallow she just needed to know that was her choice.

So, shit happens.  No reason.  Plan your life.  Live your life.  Roll with the punches.  Educate yourself.  Be prepared.  Shit just happens.

I'll leave you with a couple of nice pictures.  Probably doesn't make up for all the shits, but none-the-less...

 Mother Nature's fairies have been out dusting our little part of the oilfields with all manner of wildflowers.

Now you see it, Now you don't

Today we actually had something to watch.  Well, at least this morning we did.

The property across the road welcomed a tree chipper.

Large jaws on the front in order to devour any tree in it's path.

I have taken quite a few sunset pictures with this tree.

And of the deer under the tree

I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this, so here it is.

And the tree is gone.  It only took the monster 20 seconds to devour it.  For right now the two trees behind it are saved.  The surveyors have to come back to confirm the route of the road.  The stakes they left behind were chewed on, pulled out and tossed on the ground by the horses and the deer.  Maybe they knew what was coming?

These landscape chippers are the first step in building a road to the pad.  Well, except for the surveyors marking the path.  Next will come the gate builders.  So far we hear that the gates will be going in sometime the first of the month. (March)  As with all things gate guarding, we'll believe it when the equipment and workers pull up.  Supposedly there are 3 more gates going in at this corner of 4 properties.  4 gate guards all within 50 yards of each other.  Don't know if we will see that before we leave.

With all the rain lately and the nice weather in between the wild flowers are, well, going wild and, well, growing like weeds.

I love the color against the drab color of the roads.

I'll leave you with that.

Some Days Just Suck

Yes, we are living our dream.  Fulltiming in our RV and presently spending the Winter in South Texas but some days just suck.  Not because anything bad happens but because some days just suck.  Of course we have many less days that suck in this lifestyle than we did in our "work to pay the mortgage" lifestyle but none-the-less we still have them.

It's raining and when you live at the end of a 3 mile long red dirt road not only is it a sucky day but the mud literally sucks at your feet. It sucks trying to keep it out of the RV, it sucks trying to keep your clothes clean of it, it sucks trying to keep the dogs out of it and it sucks that more rain is yet to come.

Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with rain, especially to a state trying to get relief from a very long drought.  I am, after all, from Seattle.  We don't tan, we rust, as the saying goes.  Beautiful Summers, dreary Falls, dreary Winters and dreary Springs.  The Bumbershoot Festival is held in Seattle.  I can remember attending on sunny days as well as rainy days.  If you are ever in Seattle around Labor Day you should give it a go.

Anyway, back to some days just suck.  These rainy days really make us look forward to the sun coming out and the temperature picking up.  Which it is supposed to do tomorrow around mid day.  Of course there is another chance for rain Monday and Tuesday, but like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about that tomorrow.

The other sucks part is that I miss my kids.  I miss being involved in their everyday lives.  I miss my grand kids.  Ditto on their everyday lives.  This is something we took into account when we decided on this lifestyle and knew we would miss them.  Some days just suck more with missing them.  Most of the time we are busy living our dream and they are busy living their lives and all the busy things that go with work and raising kids, but there are days I stop to think about how much I miss them.  Today is one of those days.

I can't imagine living this life before computers and cell phones and instant transmission of messages and pictures.  Well...I guess I can, since I did.  But it seems just as hard.  We spent 3 years in Germany and letters from home were mighty precious.  I took lots of pictures and I'm sure my parents waited anxiously for the next batch to come in the mail.  I now understand how hard it was for them to not have their grandchildren growing before their eyes.

I'm sure that all of us living this nomad life all have these days, but life progresses and tomorrow will be good.  My bad moods never last for long and this one too will pass.  We are both enjoying this new stage of our lives and when we finally do get back to Kansas the reunion will be all the more sweet.

Can we all say "Hitch Itch"!

Well, we asked for it!

Yeah, it's our own fault.  We've had a couple of very easy months.  Both of us sleeping at the same time at night.  Slowly puttering around the house.  Basically doing little or nothing.  A few vehicles a day and on some days none at all.  So we were just saying we really wish they would get going so we would have something to do.  We now have something to do. 24 hours again of something to do!
They have started the coil tubing at one site and then the other...about 7 days worth, then will be the flowback and then into production.
We are having a little difficulty getting used to the 24 hour gate sleep schedule again.  We were both pretty tired today after our first all nighter.  Once again Dave has 3 am to about 11 am.  I get up, get going and then he takes a nap.  He gets up and I take a nap, then an early dinner, shower for Dave and he's in bed by 7.  I while away the time between traffic unpausing the TV and surfing the Internet.  Good thing our Internet is slow...

Forecast is for rain..so far nothing here, which is fine with me.  Of course the percentage is higher tomorrow, so I'll guess we'll see.  I'm still not sure which I dislike more, the mud or the dust.

I'll probably start our taxes this week and am sure not looking forward to it.  I've been doing our taxes for years but with the added difficulty of contract work and the corresponding deductions it will probably take me even longer than usual.  Dave has learned to leave me alone during tax prep time and probably a good thing.

Here's a picture of a normal everyday chore that now takes place a little differently and a little less often.

We have heard about our summer job, although we haven't signed our contract yet.  We won't be starting until June, so we have decided to stay in the oilfields until April 15th.  We have an RV Rally we are attending in Kerrville, TX Apr 24th to the 29th and then we will head North to Kansas and hang out there until our first festival in Nebraska June 11th.  Our kids are more than happy to have us around for a few months and we are more than happy to see them and the grandkids!!  The plan is to come back to the oilfields in November after the last gig just like we did this year.  We are still discussing where we will park the house while we are there.  We usually stay in the state park just outside of town, but really don't want to shell out almost $20 a night for a non sewer sight, plus buy an annual pass for our truck.  There is a Corp park just around the corner that would only be $9.00 a night with Dave's America the Beautiful pass.  But as I said, we are still discussing it.

Sure do miss them all!

Went down to the Ranch owners to do laundry yesterday and only Tac and Toe were around all day.  I was getting a little worried because the smallest, Tic hadn't been around.  I was concerned he had gotten taken by a coyote or something, but by the end of the day he showed up looking for some attention.  He seemed just as glad to see me as I was relieved to see him.  I'll have to take my camera with next time to get a picture of them.  Haven't seen So around since the one night, thank goodness.  You may remember I mentioned him in my last post.  The black one with the white stripe down it's back!  Yep.  I figured since I already had Tic, Tac and Toe I'd christen him So.  So, don't come back!

Decided to name the horses too.  Mr. Ed and Mr. Ted.  Mr. Ed decided to chew on, pull out and toss the surveyor stick that was on his side of the fence.  The surveyors just staked them out about two weeks ago getting ready for the gate they will be putting there soon.  I wonder if he will do the same with the one they will surely replace it with?

OK, I'm done for now.  Got about 45 minutes til Dave gets up and then I'm off to bed.  I have 4 trucks coming and going all night bringing water and two of them should be showing up any minute.

Talk to ya soon!

Superbowl Sunday

I don't get excited about the Superbowl unless I have a team in the fight.  I didn't.  Like my son when he was a toddler, I do stop and watch the commercials.  Nothing really blew my skirt up, but I do enjoy seeing what they come up with.  It's just hard to comprehend the amount of money that was spent for a silly ol football game.  The tickets, the hotels, the food, the beer, the commercials, the hype and what all else.  I suppose if you are into that sort of thing.

Not much happening here at the Circle Y.  It's been another quiet week.  A couple of trips into town, the deer and horses back to visit, some surveyors across the way marking out for new gates, but other than that not much.  It did rain real good for a little last night.  About 3/4 inch worth.  I know that because Dave bought a fancy weather station awhile back and it says so.

If they build those new gates soon there will be 4 gates here within 50 yards of each other.  Those are for new pads on the other 2 properties, so at least if we have nothing going on at our gate we can watch whats going on at 3 others!

The ranch owner has 3 cats that hang around and keep the mice away.  I've named them Tic, Tac and Toe.  Tic is friendly and likes to have his back rubbed.  Tac will hang around but won't let you touch him and Toe is only seen from a distance.  Well, I say his and him, but I'm told at least one of them is a she and the momma kitty.

Today we had a new visitor and I hope it doesn't hang around or become a regular recurring visitor.  A skunk!  It was around the other side of the fence near where I hung the bird feeder.  There is a large dirt pile with a brush pile on top of that and we certainly hope it's not nesting over there.

OK, that's all I've got for tonight.  All you 9 to 5ers have a good work week.  Gate guarders get some rest and everyone else just enjoy!

Toodles!