I am "Rockin the Bakken" and "Frackin the Forks"!

20.5.11

Yo!

Click HERE!
I put together a word document on what my job actually entails.  It is kinda long, but has lots of cool pictures! :)  Check it out!

Use login: oilfieldwoman@gmail.com
password: oilfieldwoman1

Promotion!

I am currently in training to become a lead geologist which is super exciting!  This job we are doing has been very stressful.  Not only do we have to land the curve exactly in the Three Forks, geo-steer our way through the lateral to make sure we don't get out of the "money zone", but we also are running two cores.  A core is when they go down with a different bit and actually cut out a 60' interval of the earth that is the size of a hockey puck (but 60 or more feet long).  This was very stressful because we had to start the core at a very specific point as well.  We have been working many 20 hour days, stressed to the max, that type of thing.  The guy who is training me said he feels like he is training a mob bosses daughter to ride a bike.  If she falls and skins her knee, someone will be right there to gash up his knee.  Make sense?  If I mess up something on this job, it reflects on him.  I thought this was funny.  I went to tell my night hand about it and I said, "Bob (not actually his name) says he is a mob bosses daughter." ...this job is wearing on my brain!

A new experience for me...

My whole life I have grown up using the expression "Uff dah".  Today I said it as I was picking something heavy up.  The two guys I work with have never heard the expression before!  Can you believe this!  I was just flabbergasted to hear that there are people in this world that don't know what Uff Dah means!  They even noticed that it was written on my Fargo marathon bag I have in the office.  Now they use it numerous times a day...I can't decide if they are mocking me or actually like saying it!

14.5.11

Night pictures


At night the rig is very lit up!  Sometimes I look at the rig and pretend I am in Vegas!

13.5.11

Nonportable-Nonpotable

There have been numerous times in my life where someone has told me I need to pay better attention to minute details.  In college I would email my sister my papers for composition and she would proofread them.  I would get it back with swear words on it because I did not pay enough attention to the details of the paper.  I have spent a lot of time trying to improve this one flaw of mine but I recently made an oops.  Our water on the rig is transported out here from who-knows-where.  Sometimes it has a funny smell, sometimes it has a funny tint, and sometimes it is just fine.  Kind of like Mexico, it is a known fact out here to not drink the water.  For some reason, this was not brought to my attention.  Everything in our shack that runs water has a label "nonpotable".  Also, I miss read the word nonpotable and thought it said nonpoRtable.  So in my super smart mind, I assumed you just could not transport it.  I figured they pay a lot of money to get it out here so they didn't want anyone taking any back home with them.  Well I had been getting pretty sick for some time (I won't go into details) and noticed that everyone else had bottled water.  I was going off about all the water bottles and waste they were producing, which lead to the conversation that you are not supposed to drink the water.  Which then lead to a bet that the words on the toilet were nonpotable, not portable.  I lost the bet.  Just a FYI, nonpotable means "Water that has not been examined, properly treated, and not approved by appropriate authorities as being safe for consumption".  Gross. 

12.5.11

I love rocks!

OK, I do not love rocks.  They have never been a passion of mine and never will.  I do work with some people who LOVE rocks.  They have rock collections.  Just holding a rock makes them happy.  This is just bizarre to me.  I have never really collected anything in my life.  I guess I did go through the beanie baby phase..but who didn't! :) 

My shack


For the time that I am out on the rig, I live in a shack.  Here are pictures of what some of the shacks look like.  They are fully stocked with pots and pans, towels, bedding, etc.  Not to shabby!  It is like camping but way better!




1.5.11

Oil field is like the dorms...boys are gross!

As I was drifting off to sleep I was thinking of how much living on the oil rig reminds me of the dorms. 
There are a few differences.
1)  I did NOT live in a coed dorm room.  Here I am the "coed"...the only girl!

2) I do not have to attend class...I do, however, have to work!

3)  There is no alcohol allowed on the rig...however, there was no alcohol allowed in the dorms.  I never broke that rule in college (wink, wink).  I can lose my job if they find alcohol outside or inside your body when on location. 


Similarities include the following:

1) Lots of pranks- in college my friends moved my entire dorm room into the laundry room!  Nothing will ever beat that prank!!
     a) I never open a cupboard without standing as far away from it as possible.  I have had way too many cups of water dumped on me that have been propped up against the door on the inside of the cupboard.
     b)  I have found a fake snake in numerous places.  My cereal box, my whirly popcorn popper, my computer bag, my sample of rocks, just to name a few.
     c) One of the roughnecks hid in the trash box.  When I hauled out the trash he jumped out and scared me.  I threw the garbage and took off running.  It scared the bejesus out of me!
     d) Boys are gross.  The other day I went into the bathroom to put my hair in a ponytail.  There was a big number two in the toilet!  I came out and one guy was laughing.  He took a number two and left it for the next guy.  I don't think he was expecting the next guy to be me!  
     e)  We have a trainee working out here with us.  The other day he had to go up to the dog house to get information. 

2) Everyone eats like college kids.  Lots of ramen noodles!  I did dye Easter eggs for the guys on the rig.  They were extremely impressed!!  This is a picture I took with my phone...I am the only one out here that doesn't have some kind of smart phone! 

3)  Showering reminds me of the dorms.  Everyone has their own shower, but the hot water is limited.  Actually out here, the water (period) is limited.  Yesterday we were running low so everyone had to pee outside!  I was the lucky one and got to use the toilet but had to obey the rule "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down."  I wish the guy from number 1d would of obeyed this rule! :)

4) When you have time off you find silly things to do.  We had the afternoon off so a few of us headed to Minot.  I convinced 2 guys to stop and tractor supply and hold the baby chicks, ducks, and bunnies!

I think that is all for now!  Maybe I will add to this as the night goes on!  Have a great week everyone!
PS.  Here is a pretty view of the lake (left), a farm, and the rig I am currently on (far right).