Well, last night was kinda eventful.
After a dinner of chicken baked in a lemon juice, oregano, grainy mustard and olive oil marinade, rice, cauliflower-corn casserole, & salad, we had all retired to our respective tents to read or get some shut-eye.
I was just drifting off to sleep around 10:00 p.m. when I was jolted awake by the manager driving his diesel truck up past our tents up to the laundry tent. He was there about 45 minutes before he turned his truck off and trudged off to his shack.
I was just drifting off again when I heard one of the generators quit - that'd be about 11:00 p.m. I heard Mathias radio Mike that the power was out everywhere except the cook shack and field office, so poor old Mike got dressed and went to the gen shack to see what he could do. You could hear him firing it up, then shutting down, firing it up, then shutting down. This went on for about 45 minutes when he it shut down for good. Okay, we have a problem, but nothing we can do in the middle of the night. Back to sleep.
Well, I tossed and turned (so much excitement!!) and was finally drifting off again when I was suddenly wide awake again. This time it was 2:15 a.m. and caused by the night shift's noisy, squealing diesel roaring up outside my tent. He leaves it running, hops out, and barges into the foreman's tent, right next to mine. After a 10 minute confab, he squeals out again. No idea what's going on but by now I was wide awake and I couldn't get back to sleep until about 4:00 a.m.
At 4:30, my alarm goes off (battery-powered). I drag my sorry butt out of bed and trudge up to the cook shack. Go to the laundry/shower room to brush my teeth but no lights. No heat, no hot water. Great. Off to the kitchen where I have heat and lights but no running water
Brush my teeth with bottled water, that's good.
Manager Mike and the day crew come in for breakfast and Mike advises that there won't be any showers for a while - it turns out that there's water in the fuel in the laundry room stove - he has to drain the fuel and see where it's coming in. Okay, no prob. Then Driller Mike informs us that at 210 feet, the boys ran out of rod (they're doing that bentonite trick to get through the overburden and they're already at 220 ft) so at 2:15 a.m. Driller Mike tells them what to do. More rods are expected on the morning barge. No prob.
Regarding the no power, the fan belt blew off the one gen and there's no spare belt. Manager Mike calls a buddy who will make sure 3 new fan belts will accompany rods, so it's all good. They all have breakfast and go their separate ways. A radio call comes in that the barge is broken down and won't be running till at least after lunch.
Hey, life in the fast lane! You gotta admit, it does break the monotony!
What else can go wrong, I wonder? Mathias have a breakdown?
He's Mathias the Morose, a regular Gloomy Gus. I can't face that kind of mopey face in the morning so thankfully he didn't show up for breakfast.
