Another Day, Another Dollar

When Dave and I first started talking about selling the house and living full time in our RV we know we would have to make more money than the traditional workamping jobs.  We're not old enough for social security and even though Dave is retired military, that retirement check is not near enough to live on.
So, we started doing research, or I should say I started doing research.  I found a few things that looked like they might pay enough.

Southern Cross is a company that hires people to travel the country and check for leaks in gas lines.  They provide the equipment and you provide your vehicle.  They paid a salary plus expenses.  You basically have a hand held wheeled meter and you walked the gas lines looking for leaks to register.  Didn't sound like it was for us, but it went on the list because the pay looked doable.

There also are a few management companies that provide employees for state campgrounds and these also were paid positions with free RV spots provided.  The money didn't look to be quite enough, but it went on the list because they had a lot of positions in Upper Michigan and that would be great in the Summer.  They also have some in Alabama and some other southern states, so we might have been able to switch for the Winter.

Also on the list was storage facility managers.  The only thing wrong with this job was the requirement to stay in one spot for a long time AND most of them were in cities.  OK, but we would rather be able to move and be in the countryside.
Other than that the prospects seemed weak for the type of money we were looking for.  We always figured if we couldn't find anything, we could just pick a city and get a job at McDonald's!

I was trying to think outside the box and figure out something we could do that we enjoyed AND allowed us to travel AND paid enough.  Dave and I had worked for the Country Stampede for about 9 years as the Entrance Gate Managers and then I worked in the office as temp help for 3 years.  I got to know the vendors and service providers and it occurred to me one afternoon that both of these groups traveled to more festivals than the Country Stampede!  As I was talking to one of the service providers it suddenly dawned on me that we would be a perfect fit for his company.  We were familiar with their service, had worked with their equipment and knew how outdoor festivals worked.  It was our busy time (just before the stampede that year) so I quickly mentioned to him (the CEO) what we were looking for.  He said he was interested and to contact him after festival season. (yes, there is a festival season - April through October)
I contacted him in September 2010 and by February 2011 we had a contract hammered out and set to go at the end of March 2011 for our first festival in Arizona!  This seasonal job kept us busy from April 1st to October 31st, traveling 10 states and working at 8 festivals.  We got to meet new people, see how different (and the same) other outdoor festivals were, learned some new things and worked with some really great guys!  We will be doing the festival gig again this year and are just as excited about it this year as we were last year.

Country Stampede 2011

That left us with what to do with the winter months.  We knew we did not want to be anywhere it snowed and we still had to make enough money.  In reading in one of the forums we frequent, (RV-Dreams.com) one of the other members posted some answers to a question from another member about oilfield gate guarding.  The more I read, the more interested I became.  I sent him a private message to see if he could give me any additional info.  He sent me an email with an attachment which was basically "everything you ever wanted to know about gate guarding but were afraid to ask"!  He even included the names and contact numbers of about 5 companies to contact.

In August I called 3 of them, Gate Guard Services, LOMA Flowbacks and, for the life of me can't remember the name of the third (probably because that one never called me back).  LOMA called me back right away.  We had a pretty good report on the phone and we agreed we would come to Fort Worth between our last two festivals and get the paperwork done and take the security test.  A few days after that I heard back from GGS and the woman I spoke to took my address in order to send a packet of paperwork and materials to get the testing and fingerprinting done.

I really didn't have as good a feeling for GGS as I did for LOMA, so we decided to go ahead and go with LOMA.  Not that GGS is not a good company, they are.  They are actually the largest and oldest gate guard services company in the Eagle Ford Shale field.  It was just our personal feeling on our part and the report we had with Doug at LOMA.

Our home at the Circle Y ranch

Long story short, here we sit outside of Cotulla Texas on our last 2 weeks of work as gate guards in the oil patch.  We've been here since the 2nd week in November and are ready to head out to see our kids and grandkids (we haven't seen them since August!) and to start our summer festival schedule.  We've really enjoyed our time here and are definitely planning on coming back next year.

We're hoping we can carry on this schedule for the next 5 to 10 years and then that takes us to re-planning our travels after SS kicks in.

As the post title indicates this is about how we make money, so I wanted to talk some about what we are doing for money and also to let you know that workamping doesn't necessarily have to fit the more common mode of working in a campground or RV park.  There are plenty of interesting jobs out there and ones that pay well, you just have to be a little creative and do some research.

OK, tomorrow is the "B" day of the A to Z Challenge and I will be the first to tell you, that I am basically winging it.  I have no idea what subject starting with B I will be writing about, so tune in and we can find out together.

Till tomorrow then.........

New Gates

I don't know if I mentioned they are building 3 new gates near us.  One across the road, one next to it across the road and one next to us.  We're going to start calling this the "4 corners".  We have had much commotion next to us, which is on the back side of the 5er.  Since Saturday over 300 caliche trucks have come and gone.  With the road and two pads finished they can start the gates.  They delivered all the materials last week for the one behind us and the one across the road from it. And of course it has rained since then.  (I did survive the storm in the middle of the night Monday.  Thanks for asking.)  The gate builders showed up yesterday to work on the gates.  They started on the one right behind us.

Here is the pile of heavy hollow metal poles for the corners and the rails. 

(remember you can click on any picture to make it bigger)

They set the poles on these supports while they cut them

The guys dug 16 holes for each gate.  By hand. Why they didn't bring an auger we can only guess.  Here they have filled the hole with cement and are setting the pole.

HEY!  There's something in that pipe!

There is?  Where?

Surprise!

At this point they have all backed up from the pipe at least 20 ft.  I knew if I sat outside with my camera and waited it would eventually come out.  It did.

OK, how do I get out of here? 

Only way out is down. 

OK......

 Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shit!

 Going......

 Going......

 Gone!

What amazes me is those guys picked up that pipe, set it on the supports, cut it with a welder, picked it up again, carried it to the hole, plopped it in the hole and not once did that little fellow make it's presence known!  If you get my drift.

When I first noticed it, I ran over to yell at them cuz I thought it might be a snake.  Definitely didn't expect a skunk!  All I can say is, I'm glad it all took place on the OTHER side of the fence.

Signing off from the Circle Y ranch.  25 days and a wake up!

Snakes

*Special Note* DON'T LOOK BOB!

Rattlesnakes to be exact! One of the gate guard bloggers I read correctly prophesied we would all be posting pictures of snakes very soon.  I'm happy to oblige.

I took this just down the road from the window of the truck

I did NOT take this one.  Dave got this picture from
 a Chesapeake rep who came through our gate today

Nuff said!!

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"!

Visiting and Shopping

This will be a short post tonight.  I need to start posting more often again, so no time like the present to get started.

Friday I ran into Cotulla to pick up our mail.  Nothing very interesting in that.  Tax documents and statements mostly.  Picked up a prescription and stopped at the grocery store to pick up a few items and washed the dirt off of the truck.  That last one took me 30 minutes and still didn't get a lot of it off the undercarriage!  I wasn't crawling on that wet, muddy ground to get under there.

On the way out I went north on Johnson Road and stopped to visit Jack and Mary Neal, our closest gate guard neighbors.  Jack subbed for us one evening when the ranch owner invited us to dinner.  It was great to get out together, so a big THANKS to Jack and Mary.

Went another few miles down the road from them to drop in on John and Terry Duncan whose blog I have been reading.  They are temp sitting a gate for another Sitewatch team while they are on vacation.

Go on over and take a look at their blog.  John is an excellent writer and I have really enjoyed reading their adventures.  Just click on their name above.

Today Mary and I drove over to Uvalde to the BIG Walmart and also big HEB.  We both got much needed haircuts, looked around, bought a few things and headed over to HEB.  Stopped at Sonic for a cherry coke (for me) and a vanilla cherry coke (for Mary).  It was fabulous!  In my old life I had way too many Sonic trips in a week but haven't seen much of any in the last few months so that was a real treat!

On the way back we planned on stopping to see how Maury and Susie were doing.  They are friends of the Neals from way back and started working their first gate just 2 weeks ago.  Their gate is about 40 minutes away from us and a good middle stop from Uvalde to here.  Mary introduced me to them last week when she and I ran over to visit them.  They are still in the adjustment stage...still trying to get into their sleep routine.  Been there, done that and remember how rough it was.  Other than that they are doing great.  

Before we got there, we made a quick stop at another LOMA gate and introduced ourselves to Danny and Erma Bird.  They have also been at their gate since early November and like us have comfortably settled into the routine.  In fact, just a few days before, Erma drove down the rode and introduced herself to Maury and Susie.  AND, Danny and Erma introduced the people to gate guarding that introduced Jack and Mary to gate guarding.  This gate guarding world is small indeed.  Sorry, silly me didn't even think to take a picture.

We are making so many new friends here in the oil fields and along with the ones we are making at festivals our email world is growing and growing.

Well, I thought this was going to be pretty short, but turned out to be a little longer.  OK, I am off to bed.  Dave is leaving early in the morning for San Antonio to get the truck worked on.  That will be a post for tomorrow night.

SHOUTOUT:  To our grandkids; Destiny, EmmaRae, Erica, Jaxson and Jacob!  Along with your parents, I SURE do miss you!!!!!!

I think I'm going to blog tonight

I've been saying that for the last 4 nights.  I hate to wait so long between blogging, mainly because my kids comment "Mom you haven't blogged lately!"  And they are right to feel that way because I started this blog as a way to share our life with them now that we are not in the same area.  But it's a little difficult to write when there really is almost nothing going on.  My name is not Jerry Seinfield.  I have a hard time writing about nothing.

Hmmmmmm

I'll take a stab at it though.

It was a pretty quiet week at the Circle Y ranch.  We heard at the beginning of the week that the Work Over was going to start and we should expect to be very busy.  Not.  Of course no one ever really tells us what is going on.  We'll know the Work Over is starting when the traffic gets heavy.  That's the only warning we get.  I'm pretty sure that's the way it is for most gate guards.  We're only here to open the gate and log em in and out.

The ranch owner invited us to dinner last night.  Jack from around the corner was nice enough to come over and sit with the girls while we were gone.  As a reward we shared our leftovers with him.  Shish kabobs, succatash and some yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  We were gone for about an hour and a half and really enjoyed our time.  They are usually here each weekend working on the place, hunting and checking on the sites to see where they're at in the process.  Next weekend he has rented a helicopter to do a game survey and they have offered to take us up.  Dave said yes, I said no way.

Dave started out his Army career as a helicopter mechanic and crew chief, so he welcomed the chance to go up again.  Me?  I HATE flying!  Don't plan on doing it EVER again!  I'll be sure and have pictures though for a blog next week.

The animal population of the ranch seems to have a routine.  We see the cow herd about every 4 days.  There are two deer herds across the way.  Mule deer (I think) and Red Stag deer.  We see them about once a week for 2 or 3 days in a row.  The two horses across the way are out most every day.  Caitie was feeding them carrots and apples while she was here and I guess they expected me to keep up the treats.  I did go over one day last week and give them some carrots, but I don't want them to expect it every time!

Today I saw my first Pyrrhuloxia.  And, no, I don't know how to pronounce it.  I guess it at peer-hue-locksee-ah.  Couldn't get a picture today but it does look just like the top picture in that link.

So, other than those things the week was pretty routine.  Cleaning, laundry, grocery store and the post office.  We did finally get a post card our grand daughter EmmaRae mailed to us in December.  She addressed it herself to Nana and Papa. It's a good thing I asked the postal workers about it a few weeks ago and explained it was addressed to us that way or they never would have known who it was to go to.  No last name, just "to Nana and Papa".

Speaking of the post office, I just love this one in Cotulla.  I ran into town knowing we had a priority envelope waiting for us. Got out of here in plenty of time to get there before the Noon closing.  Surprise!  They close at 11:00 on Saturdays and it was already 11:30.  BUT, the nice gentleman postal worker hollered out to ask me what I needed and brought my mail out to me!  LOVE them over there!

Well, that wasn't too bad for nothin.  

Ok gang. The gate is locked and the news and weather are over.  I'm pretty sure the company security man is coming tonight so I will doze until he does.

Happy January!

What day is it?

This is a commonly asked question in our new life.  One of us will invariably ask this question each day. A (very  nice) consequence of a life not on the clock.  No more 8 to 5 job with weekends to mark the time passing.  In fact my daughter asked me on the phone this morning "what are your plans for the weekend?"  I wanted to say "are you serious?"  But instead I merely commented that every day is the same for us, so no plans!

Dave said earlier that it was Friday and "you know what that means!"  (Ahem, get your mind back on the subject.) I had to think a minute and then realized that the company security guy would be coming through tonight.  That means I have to stay up late.  He came last weekend at 2am Saturday morning.  The chime going off scared me out of a very deep sleep!  But, I was up and out in less than 30 seconds!  Dave, God bless him, didn't hear a thing.  Thomas showing up on Friday threw me for a loop because he had been coming on Sunday night right around midnight.  Apparently they changed the guards schedules, so tonight I'll probably stay in my clothes and fall asleep in the chair.

We have a little Border Patrol sticky backed calendar hanging off the window frame in front of our desk and I look at it quite frequently...to keep reminding myself what day it is of course.  One of those very handy little things people give you.

Another handy little thing is the 3 inch flashlight Thomas (the security guy. pay attention) gave me as a Christmas gift.  Until he handed it to me I didn't realize I needed it!  Our lights are on the opposite side of the gate then where the driver's side doors on the vehicles are, so when I'm standing over there it's hard to see my board with the shadow from the vehicle.  Voila!  Problem solved!

Back to "what day is it?"  I have taken to entering reminders on my phone for birthdays, anniversaries and anything else I need to remember associated with a day/date, with an alarm so I don't forget them.  Between that, my google reminders and facebook reminders if I forget one of them my friends and relations have every right to call me out!

We do a little better in the summer with that job as there are specific dates we have to be specific places.  But we still wonder what day of the week it is quite a bit.

With this winter gig we forget what day it is on both ends of the spectrum.  There are times when we are soooo busy we don't know where we left our heads and when we are soooo slow the time just drifts pleasantly along from one day into another.

We know it's Thursday when the ranch owner shows up and it's Sunday when he heads out.  If he skips a weekend, we're screwed! :)

OK, enough about the days.  Today I was practicing with my camera by taking pictures of the birds on the bird feeder.

I set it up around the other side of the gate fence.  I can still see it out my desk window, but I do have to use the binoculars sometimes to see what that bird is.  Most of them are LGB's or LBB's.   (Little Grey Birds and Little Brown Birds)   Sparrows mostly, but there are a couple of Cardinals that frequent it also.

You'll probably have to click on the picture to make it bigger in order to actually see the bird.

That's all the pictures for tonight.  They seem to be uploading slower than usual.

SHOUTOUT: to my DIL Jennifer, my grandgirls Destiny and Erica, Jennifer's friend Jenny and her daughter Abby.  They are spending a girls weekend in Kansas City for a dance competition.  Have fun girls!!