Marathon........ man

We arrived at the Gate Guard yard on Saturday and on Tuesday we were assigned a gate. The oil company is Marathon Oil Company and the drillers are Big E and we have rig number 4. The crew works 7 days on (12 hour shifts) and goes home for 7 days.... so there are 2 crews that alternate..... while one's working, one is home. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
As gate guards we are usually the first to arrive at the site after the pad (place where the drilling takes place) has been built. Here we are on the day of arrival.

 

It is an old farm where cattle were raised. The current owners lease the pasture land for grazing... so our neighbors are 4 footed. AND the place comes with yard ornaments already in place.... here is a panoramic view as well as a close-up.

 

For you city folks.... cow patties !!  We step gingerly.

The large equipment started arriving the next day. Trailers for offices and housing..cranes, generators, rigging, lifts, water and sewer, lights....in other words a miniature town. The only things missing is a restaurant, grocery store and a gas station. Here is the pad before

Here is a picture of the rig assembled and ready to hoist.

 

 

And finally, ready to go to work.

 

 

We have been here for almost 7 weeks now and have settled into our routine... and so has Sydney. He likes sitting on the couch and looking out the window. From his position he can keep an eye on both the rig and the cattle.

 

We have had 5 of our dinners catered. Marathon brings in a caterer to feed everyone as a treat. We have had Texas fried steak, Cajun catfish, shrimp, chicken and a full Thanksgiving dinner. I have had 2 "cookie days"( I make cookies) on November 6th for anyone who voted, and Thanksgiving week.  I have also done 2 password days..... Halloween and Pearl Harbor Day. These little things break up the monotony for both me and the crew. As a matter of fact I have people coming to the gate asking when the next cookie day is going to be. The crew changes on Fridays, so I warned the crew that would be coming back in on Dec 7th that it would be a password day based on an event that occurred on that date in the past. One of them actually googled the date before he returned so that he would have the answer.

The longer we've been here the friendlier the cattle have become. They now come right up to the RV to graze. Here are pictures of the bulls. There are 2. We are careful around them. The females are afraid of us but the boys try to bully us.

 

 

I have recently decorated for Christmas since they are on well number 2 and they are drilling 4 on this site. The guys say they appreciate seeing holiday cheer.... but I wonder if it makes it harder to be here away from their families. They are going to deep fry a turkey for Christmas dinner and have told us they are planning on us joining them. They told me to make desert.... since they like my cookies. I am going to make 3 peanut butter pies.

Here is our Christmas tree.

 

We haven't been without incident however. We lost electricity one day only to discover that our inverter is going. We have replaced our batteries and tires..... now we need an inverter (about $2,000.00). After we leave here we will have one installed when we have our oil changed and then it's off to see the Pacific coast line.