Smells

There are all sorts of smells on the oil field. 
1) Diesel:  I use diesel to clean my samples.  Diesel, being made up of non polar molecules, will dissolve the "alike" non polar drilling fluid that is contaminating our samples, leaving us with clean rocks to analyze!  I have a bucket full of diesel just sitting in my work shack and oh does it smell!

2) Rough necks: This spring we had a terrible storm in May.  The towns of Watford City, Williston, New Town and many others did not have power for days!  This in turn denied the opportunity for our roughnecks to shower for 5 days!  At the beginning of every shift, we have a safety meeting that is located in a very small room with lots of people (including all the rough necks) crammed inside!  I can describe the smell given off by these boys as a mixture of BO, 5 day old bacon grease (from the last breakfast they cooked), diesel, rotten eggs, the grease that is accumulating on their hair, chew, cigarette smoke, sweat, and morning breathe.

3)  There is a certain smell that the rig gives off and I can't describe it.  It is a faint smell but even after I wash my clothes, I can still smell it on them.  I wash my rig clothes, box them up, and store them in the garage on my days off!

4) Lately, the smell of grilling has made it's appearance!  Summer is finally here and our new shacks have built in grills!  Yummm!

5)  Coffee:  There is A LOT of coffee that is drank out here!  Early mornings + long shifts= not a lot of sleep= lots of coffee!

6) Cigarette smoke:  One guy I work with smokes at least two packs a day.  He coughs like he is coughing up chunks of his lungs.  I refreshed my memory on how to do CPR, just in case! (Not really sure if I want to do mouth to mouth if it comes down to it!)

7) Lastly, this made me chuckle.  I got a call from our safety guy asking if I had an extra box of sample bags that another rig could borrow and replace.  I said I sure did!  15 minutes later he stopped by to pick them up...side track for a minute:  This is the first rig where I actually work with another girl!  She is the MDW and works days just like me.  Most of the time it is just her and I in the work shack all day long.  OK back to the story.  This safety guy comes in, I hand him the box of sample bags, we all chat a bit, and he leaves.  He doesn't just leave the room, but he also leaves behind a very POWERFUL smell of CK1.  Remember that cologne from like the 1990's!!!  UFF DA!  We had to open the windows because it was SO strong!