Rain Forest #65

Thanks everyone, I don't really want to bore anyone.

All clicked.........................

As a roughneck oilfield worker right out of high school - I started as a "weevil" on the "floor" handling the "backup tongs". That is a newby at the base of the tall tower managing to not screw things up. grin It was really really muddy down there and I kept looking up in the tower at the man working up there - he was always nice and clean and dry. After awhile I got the chance to become a "derrick hand" and work above all the mud. I was after a short time good at it - I would step onto the "elevator" (the huge clamp that pulls the drill stem and drilling bit out of the ground) and the "driller" (the guy in charge of the crew and the one who manages the controls) would raise the block with me hanging on up the tower to the "board" where I would stand and work. It was a tiny platform 100 feet above the floor where the other guys were. The rig was called a "tribble" because it was the height to handle three drill stems hooked together at once. Each drill stem was around 35 feet long and about 6 1/2 inches in diameter. Occasionally, the drill bit would become dull and in need of change. Then we would bring the drill stem "out of the hole" three stems per - stacking them aside in the tower until the bit was exposed. Then with a new bit installed we would reverse the process and go back "in the hole" until all the triple stem stacks were back at work. The last set of stems were attached to a Square Tube called a "Kelly Rig" - this allowed the rotating mechanism in the floor of the rig to turn the entire stack of drill stems and the drill bit which tore it's way down. The sheer weight of the drill stem put the downward pressure on the drill bit.
Anyway, one fine day I was up in the tower when the whole rig began shaking violently and a really deep sound like a freight train coming permeated the air. Suddenly, oil burst out of the hole and actually went up past me and through the rig out the top and started raining crude oil around. The crew had run out of the area. I was stuck in the tower and had to unbuckle myself and actually climb down the rigging trying to stay out of the line of the crude oil blowing out of the ground. I made it down and since I was already soaked I made my way under the floor and started turning the huge handle on the "Christmas Tree" (a short section right on the ground with a big wheel handle to stop the flow of oil).. About that time one of the crew came back to help - we got it all stopped and went to try and get cleaned up.
That was a memorable day roughnecking.

"bore anyone" HAH! Not bloodly likely.Keep 'em coming, Dan.

Great stories, Danon, just great. (See, I told you you should write a book and you're a-doin' it. Just cut and paste all these and future posts, print out hard copy and edit!) Re that last yarn, prob'ly some of the drills and other gear you were using as a roughneck were pattented by Seaglass's dad. He was proprietor of a small oil tool company down in Stamford, TX and held several patents on the tools he sold. Keep those yarns coming!

Could be re the drill bit, Merry Andrew. But, it could just as easily have been Hughes bits. Another very interesting little tidbit that's true is that my great aunt Inez Lee - married W. A. (Cotton) Dickson during the early part of the 20th century who began an oil well drilling company and was competing with a man named Hunt to see who would produce the most oil wells. Unfortunately, in 1950, Cotton Dickson died in an airplane crash. His wife, my great aunt, took control of the drilling company and became the first female head of an oil well drilling company in the world. She was quite the fiery lady. The company was sold by her after a few years - however, her husband Cotton Dickson, had patented some oil well drilling things and the entire family is still living off the income from that. Unfortunately, that branch of the family doesn't include me except for a claim as distant relative.

Another set of danon!

Love it. Great yarns and great writing.

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aktbird57 - You and your 284 friends have supported 2,144,175.7 square feet!

Marine Wetlands habitat supported: 88,188.9 square feet.
You have supported: (0.0)
Your 284 friends have supported: (88,188.9)

American Prairie habitat supported: 44,521.8 square feet.
You have supported: (11,096.3)
Your 284 friends have supported: (33,425.5)

Rainforest habitat supported: 2,011,465.0 square feet.
You have supported: (167,232.2)
Your 284 friends have supported: (1,844,232.8)

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1 Aktbird57 .. 1311 49.219 acres

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Sometimes I feel guilty, knowing that we have such marvellous story-tellers hidden in this series of threads.

Other times I just

Patty is so lucky.

Betcha Patti is pretty interesting ,too!

She is better at telling stories than I ever dreamed of - I have a propensity to say things in a nut shell - then I have nothing else to say. Patti is really great a continuing the conversation. If I tried a book it would probably be about 25 pages thick. laugh.

All clicked.

I'll try to think of some other thing that happened in my past. I actually always thought that "nothing very interesting ever happens around me."

Here's the photo of Kim Il sung I described above.......



And here are a few things that the North Koreans send over the South tied under balloons which let them fall over populated areas - mostly it's stuff ordering the US out of Korea. This has been going on forever. grin



Oops, just noticed the bottom one is upside down... Oh well.....grin
It sez, "U. S. Imperialists should stop the reckless war machination and get out of south Korea !"

The other side of the same sez, "The U. S aggressive troops should get out of south Korea with their lethal weapons and equipments at once !"

Hehehehe......... I know I shouldn't be that way - but, it is funny.

It's unfortunately serious that the North Koreans are trained from birth to hate Americans. I just hope that they have some sort of access to the outside world that will give them some choice in their opinions. Communication is the dispeller of almost all doubts and fears sometimes.

Yup. Reality is a pretty good leveler.

D'you happen to know, Dan, how much access a N. Korean would have to the Internet? It seems to be making great inroads in China and causing some Chinese to think about their ingrained attitudes toward the West. Remember Ivy (was that the name?), the Chinese woman who used to post on Abuzz?

I remember Ivy and do think that was her name. I have never seen any referents to N. Korea and the internet though. Perhaps Dan knows.

At present, I think the average person in North Korea has ZIP (absolutely none) access to the internet or TV or even radio. Over 90 percent of the people there are living in poverty and most of those are on the verge of starving. The only people doing well in the normal populace are the people in the military. Presently one of the largest standing military forces in the world financed by a maniac who is robbing the people blind.
Remember how Iraq was under Saddam? Absolutely no access to the internet - or to an outside news source on TV. The penalties were to die for. Literally.
Same in North Korea. Those people are persecuted beyond description.

Tomorrow I have a funny story to tell about an experience at Subic Bay in the Philippines.

I found out today at lunch that we have readers here that I'd never imagined.

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You and your 284 friends have supported 2,145,440.0 square feet!

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1 Aktbird57 .. 1312 49.251 acres

oooooooooooooo! I think I am getting the hang of the double click method.
Keek the stories coming,Dan.

ehBeth, Readers? They should stop by and say hello. We also need more clickers...................

Way to go pwayfarer!!!! Cheers!!!! It's easy once you know how. But, isn't that the way it is with just about everything??


Ok, Philippines.................
1969, and on the way to Vietnam - I was scheduled to stop off in the Philippines and attend Jungle Survival Training at the Subic Bay Naval base. It consisted of a week out in the boonies with no food or anything else except the clothes on our back. We could also take along a knife. The first day at the school the Negritos (who were our guides and instructors) offered bolo knives for sale. I bought one (I'll post a photo later). After some preliminary classroom stuff - we just started walking away from the naval facility. We walked, and walked, and walked. Then after about 5 - 6 miles the Negritos would stop occasionally and as we all gathered around they would instruct us on the flora and fauna. At nighfall we stopped and made ourselves as comfy as possible. Next morning more walking - stopping - listening to instruction - and more walking. This day the Negrito stopped us all at a large creek by a bamboo thicket. He started a small fire and went to a large bamboo tree - about 5 - 6 inches in diameter and cut out a segment of the tree with the joint on bottom intact he sliced off the top of the segment keeping the pieces. Then he went to the creek and began to feel around under the rocky bottom occasionally catching crawdads (crayfish similar to shrimp). Then he went to the fire - placed some water in the open end of the bamboo - dropped in some rice and the crayfish - and placed the green bamboo at an angle in the fire with the top piece resting on the open end. In short order we all were munching on rice and tiny pieces of crawdad on leaf plates. Mmmmm, good. After walking and listening to the guides we stopped for another evening in our tropical paradise. That night the guides awoke us all and we gathered around a silly looking tree with knots all over it. We were told that at night this tree would give us fresh water. Then the guide lopped off one of the knots on the tree with his machete. Out came the water - tons of it......!!
Next morning, we all gathered around the guide who simply said we should all go foraging for food and come back to this campsite before dark. I started off in a direction that avoided the other guys and just walked and walked. I had seen a map of the general area prior to beginning the jungle training and having grown up playing Indian in the woods of NE Texas, I knew that during our outing so far we had walked in a huge semi circle. I found a creek that flowed in the general direction I wanted to go and followed it. Along the way I came face to face with a black panther, a green vine snake and a bunch of Iguanas. After that I came out of the jungle on the road to Subic Bay - waited awhile - caught the bus to Subic - went to my room - showered - had a nice lunch at the O'Club - went back to the room - redressed into my jungle clothes and caught the bus back to the spot in the jungle where I trekked back to the campsite.
Well, They DIDN'T say NOT to go to the O'Club for lunch!!!!!!!!!!
After some more time as students of nature - we all finished the training and went on to Vietnam.
Big Grin

clicked.

Just a hello- too much work ( not complaining here) right now, so not much online.

Danon, I love your stories.

Thanks ul, and a hello to you...... You work much too hard.

Here is the jungle knife I carried in the Philippines and it is the only thing I had when facing the black panther in the jungle. We, the panther and I, just stood about a hundred feet apart and looked at each other - not moving. Then the cat turned and walked away - so did I in the other direction. grin



:wink:

Mutual respect, and caution.

Now that is high-end survival, Dan. Who said you had to leave your brains behind during training?

ehBeth
By 'here', do you mean 'here' 'here', or overall here on a2k?

I mean people at A2K who read this thread regularly - but don't join in the fun.

Aha...lurkers who are chickens. Bok-bok-....bok.