I got somethin' to do with my hands

Well between me and a few blac frac employees we finally talked my boss into letting me work for blac frac while my job is slow so I'm finally getting some hours and they are training me to run a winch truck I got to lay down and set a few uprights today if you have never seen that done it is pretty cool.  It had been raining all day and we were moving a tank from one location to another and I look out across the plains and this is what I see.

Are you kidding me it wasn't even that bad out mind you I had trouble getting the camera on my phone going and by the time I did they were both disappearing but I was just shocked at what I was seeing.

On another note the other day we were working in the yard on some of Blac Frac's trucks and I had some visitors that I thought I'd share they were way too adorable not to take a picture they were both little pups don't worry the owner only lives a couple yards from the edge of the pad so they we're just saying hi...makes me miss my puppies at home.

Light at the end of the tunnel???

Ok so I know I went on a little rant earlier, I still mean every word I said but tonight I got a little bit of a reality check courtesy of God and Mother Nature.  A little storm built up the the west of us and before long it started raining well the rain lasted about 49 seconds and it was gone just enough soak my boots sitting on our two pallets nailed together with a sheet of plywood on top (out here we call that the porch for short)  Well I stepped outside as the sun was fixin' to set and off to the east this is what I saw.

Thank you God and Mother Nature for ending my day a little better than it began.

stuck in North Dakota and nowhere to go.

Ok so I've been up here in North Dakota now for 9 days and to my surprise we STILL haven't had a job.  I'm not real sure what I'm even doing up here.  We were so not ready to come up here we aren't on any vendors list "you have to be on this list with every company or you can't go to work for them"  we didn't even have a means of putting water in our trucks to go do a job if we had one.  I really gotta wonder what is going on down on the western slope.  Our sales guy left, the other guy that was working with me went home and left me with no way to get around pick-up wise...Oh sure they would love it if I took our 60,000 lb. hydro-vac to the gas station for something to drink.  I'm just really getting down on being up here.  We we're told that if we didn't come up here we wouldn't be guaranteed 40 hours a week.  And we were also told that we would be so busy up here that we would be begging to come home for a break.  Well hearing this I decided to lead a charge for North Dakota we brought the truck in, did about a months worth of work to it in two weeks. gathered all the info about the location we were going to live in.  I went out bought all the food I would need to survive up to three weeks (give or take) got this computer I'm typing on so I could keep in touch with my wife and take up some of the spare time I "might" have.  I have kept in touch with some of the other guys in Colorado and to my shock they are busy working!  DID I MISS SOMETHING???  I came up here because there is more work and somehow I find myself wishing I'd stayed home.  EPIC FAIL!!!  I couldn't describe how I feel about my job right now better than saying being up here is like playing Russian Roulette with myself pulling the trigger once a day.  The gun is a six shooter and I'm at the end of day five.  Everybody is saying don't worry it will get better I tell them "no shit it can't get worse".  All I can do is sit in this trailer and browse the internet cook clean and watch all my movies again cause I ran out of movies to watch.  Well the owner comes up here on Tuesday so I guess some things our gonna get handled before he leaves.  Hope it all works out I really did come up here to work and make some money how frustrating is it to see thousands and thousands of people go to work everyday knowing that your not.  Oh well I will keep my chin up as high as I can and see what each new day brings.  Until next time,  "stay thirsty my friends"

In North Dakota

well I'm in North Dakota now and wow what a mess it is.  We are staying in watford city.  This place is crazy busy with traffic and buildings going up.  I have a couple pictures I'll share.


some awesome sunset pics

 Trailer row

Ok here is my picture of the day.  I love trucks.  Everybody I know calls me a truck whore.  In no way do I consider this a bad thing.  I got my cdl when I turned 21 most companies won't hire someone any younger than that for insurance reasons.  I love driving trucks, I love going different places, meeting new people, hearing the turbo spool up shifting through the gears.  Trucks are what make this country.  It really saddens me to see the pride people used to have for trucking being sucked out of the industry by larger companies hiring people who have never drove anything larger than a volkswagon and after two days of "intense" training hand them the keys to an ugly "looks like every other truck in the yard" and sending them down the road.  These are what we call "steering wheel holders"  oh yeah you know who you are.  They give the rest of us a very bad name and a reputation to match.  For those of you that have diesel running through your veins I salute you.  And without you this country would be nothing.  Long live the "real american truck driver"

P.S.   Is that a bad ass Pete or what?!!?

So I guess I'm gonna try this "picture a day" my wife and one of her friends is trying I can't always promise a picture a day but I will do my best not to let down my fellow "bloggies"?!?  Um...this is tough   I need a picture to post...I'll be back...I don't have a picture.

trip to North Dakota pushed back

Well we got the truck all put together and ready to go and decided to take it out for a few jobs well while it was out it started making a "banging" noise in the driveline so I took another truck out and brought the other truck back to the shop listened to the problem and between the few mechanics there decided the problem was in the transfer case.  Mind you this is the same transfer case I just pulled and had one of the other Mechanics "fix".  Well we got it out and split it and found out some of the bearings were going out when we pulled the case it was about boiling hot.  We found all the bearings to rebuild it but one and they estimated delivery on that one at 4 to 5 weeks.  Nice.  So we have tons of people looking for one bearing so we can get it back together and down the road.  So for now I'm staying home.  Yeah!!!

I've spent the last couple months really getting our truck up to par.  We have used and abused this truck over the last five years only giving it the bare minimum.  Well the clock just rolled 340,000 miles and It was really starting to show it so I spent a little time and took a couple years of age off him.  I debaged the truck, put third gen. 17" wheels on, sport headlights, and a third gen. track bar and surprising enough I put all new steering on him from a 2012 2500 dodge,  yeah it bolt right up.  I still have a couple things to do but made good progress in the last couple months.

My winter project

This is what I did this winter after I had my double hernia surgery.  This all started because the power steering pump went out somehow I ended up with just a block, crank, and pistons left.  Had the head completely rebuilt. replaced every gasket and seal on motor.  It runs better now though so it was worth it.

finished product...

The Boat

Here's a pic of our boat we got a couple months ago we love the boat however after going through the lower unit I found a bunch of stuff "cobbled" together and so it's been frustrating trying to get it all right so we can take it out and enjoy it without breaking down.  Oh yeah the boat's name is "Dock Holliday"

Well I just checked the weather and found out for the next two days we are suppose to have sustained winds of 35 to 45 m.p.h. with gust up to 75. So I guess I'd better go tie some stuff down if I want to keep it around.

Work Truck

This Is a picture of the truck that I get to run everyday.

This part is for anybody that wants to know a little about me.  I'm Eric I live here on the western slope in Colorado working for the oil and gas industry.  I'm the average guy that like to fish and hunt and work on trucks.  I'm married to Mandie she has her own blog somewhere around here.  Here on the 4th of next month we are being shipped to North Dakota for work.  Not looking forward to it but I'm tired of switching jobs so I guess we are gonna ride this out and see what happens.  Moving here was quite a culture shock for me I grew up in small town Nebraska spent the last couple years working on ranches only working with the boss and one other hand usually.  now the place I work employees around 50 people.  Lets just say I'm not a huge "people" person.  I've really had to bite my tongue and occasionally hold my fist back from getting me in trouble.  I just can't believe how rude some people can be.  Working on the ranches all the people you were around "for the most part"  treated everyone with at least some level of respect.  But with the work I'm in now it seems it's "all about me" all the time and I really don't like it much.  Ok that's enough ranting for a while.  I will post more another day but It's nearing bed time.  Hope you like the tunes my awesome wife helped me set this thing up and these songs are just a little part of me and my life.  God Bless!!!

HI

Hi my name is Eric!!!  My wife has been blogging for a few years and I decided maybe I would blog a little and read about cool people!!!  I will let you know if you are cool or not!