dreck noun Slang.
1. excrement; dung.
2. worthless trash; junk.
I probably should have named this blog "Top of Texas Dreck", huh?
July 28, 2013
dreck
dreck noun Slang.
1. excrement; dung.
2. worthless trash; junk.
I probably should have named this blog "Top of Texas Dreck", huh?
Slightly Phobic
Not too many things frighten me...at least to the point of being an irrational fear, making me run away screaming. I'm not fond of enclosed spaces and don't like being in large crowds, but I wouldn't say those fears are phobias. (maybe they are, but...) I don't like spiders, but I'm cool after they've been smashed. I don't care for snakes, so I just avoid them. How phobic are you?
| You Are 24% Phobic |
 Scared? You? Not really. Everyone has a few normal phobias, and you're no exception. It's okay to be afraid of a few things. You wouldn't be human if you weren't. |
July 26, 2013
Million Barrel Blowout
That's what they have touting on the online sports talk radio shows I have been listening to over the last week. To be honest, it really went in one ear and out the other, my being of the TV age where I've learned to tune out the adverts until the regular show came back on. Still, I understood it was to be some big concert in Monahans, Texas (Facebook page for the event).
Just as that information seeped into the far reaches of my brain, something else rose to the forefront of my consciousness; I had read about the Million Barrel Museum several years ago, even taken some screen captures of overhead imagery in both Google Earth and Bing Maps and meant to make a post about it. You can read more about it at RoadsideAmerica.com, but in a nutshell, it was a huge oil storage tank built in 1928 during the height of the oil boom in that part of Texas. Here's the Google Earth screen shot: (click images for larger view)
That's the direct overhead imagery; here's the Bing Maps view from an angle:
According to the Roadside America article, the tank soon cracked under the weight of its own 315 million lbs. of concrete and most of the oil leaked out; the facility was abandoned until a local man filled it full of water to use as a small lake. Apparently the tank was no better at holding water than it was oil, so the structure was again abandoned and sat unused for decades, full of tumbleweeds and marked with graffiti.
The article also mentions that "Texas crude is about 30 percent gasoline, which means that 200 million gallons of 1920s vintage leaked gas may still be in the ground beneath the Million Barrel Museum."
I don't know about anyone else, but there's been something in common with EVERY concert I've ever been to, no matter if it was in a coliseum, an auditorium or open-air venue like this one, namely that there has ALWAYS been...well, let's say "flammable substances consumed". I'm not sure I'd really want to go to that particular concert, especially sitting on top of 200 million gallons of gasoline.
(Edit to add: As I mentioned in the comments, that was a joke. I really don't think there's "200 million gallons of gas" underneath the the old tank. Depending upon how quickly they sucked up the oil after the tank cracked - and I'm sure they did, that was a valuable product just lying on the ground - most of the volatile part of the crude oil evaporated into the air. I've never read of any environmental disasters in regards to the area and online water quality tests for the city of Monahans show nothing more in the water that isn't in most other city water supplies)
Be that as it may, here's some more information on the site:
TexasEscapes.com
Overall View of the Million Barrel Oil Tank
Fan Page of the Million Barrel Museum
Just as that information seeped into the far reaches of my brain, something else rose to the forefront of my consciousness; I had read about the Million Barrel Museum several years ago, even taken some screen captures of overhead imagery in both Google Earth and Bing Maps and meant to make a post about it. You can read more about it at RoadsideAmerica.com, but in a nutshell, it was a huge oil storage tank built in 1928 during the height of the oil boom in that part of Texas. Here's the Google Earth screen shot: (click images for larger view)
That's the direct overhead imagery; here's the Bing Maps view from an angle:
According to the Roadside America article, the tank soon cracked under the weight of its own 315 million lbs. of concrete and most of the oil leaked out; the facility was abandoned until a local man filled it full of water to use as a small lake. Apparently the tank was no better at holding water than it was oil, so the structure was again abandoned and sat unused for decades, full of tumbleweeds and marked with graffiti.
The article also mentions that "Texas crude is about 30 percent gasoline, which means that 200 million gallons of 1920s vintage leaked gas may still be in the ground beneath the Million Barrel Museum."
I don't know about anyone else, but there's been something in common with EVERY concert I've ever been to, no matter if it was in a coliseum, an auditorium or open-air venue like this one, namely that there has ALWAYS been...well, let's say "flammable substances consumed". I'm not sure I'd really want to go to that particular concert, especially sitting on top of 200 million gallons of gasoline.
(Edit to add: As I mentioned in the comments, that was a joke. I really don't think there's "200 million gallons of gas" underneath the the old tank. Depending upon how quickly they sucked up the oil after the tank cracked - and I'm sure they did, that was a valuable product just lying on the ground - most of the volatile part of the crude oil evaporated into the air. I've never read of any environmental disasters in regards to the area and online water quality tests for the city of Monahans show nothing more in the water that isn't in most other city water supplies)
Be that as it may, here's some more information on the site:
TexasEscapes.com
Overall View of the Million Barrel Oil Tank
Fan Page of the Million Barrel Museum
MailDrop
From the website:
Save your inbox from spam. Use MailDrop when you don't want to give out your real address. Make up your own e-mail address.
No signup required - MailDrop is free for anyone to use when you need a quick, disposable e-mail address.
MailDrop is a great idea when you...
...want to sign up for a website but you're concerned that they might share your address with advertisers.
...are required to provide an e-mail address to a mobile app that shouldn't be sending you messages.
...are making a one-off purchase from an e-commerce site where you don't want followup spam about their "latest deals" in your inbox.
...publish your e-mail address in a place that it could be picked up by address-harvesting spam bots.
...give your address to companies that have a track record of less-than-stellar security.
MailDrop
July 25, 2013
The Date of Sodium Carbonate
Or, How I Nearly Got My Soda Ash Kicked.
Back when I was roughnecking, it was common for the guys who worked on the rig to take home some soda ash (aka Sodium carbonate) to use when washing our "greasers" - our work clothes. It did for the washing machine water the same as the reason we mixed it in the drilling fluid, it softened the water, allowing the chemicals to better mix in the fluid and making the soap work better in the washer.
The laundromats charged .25 cents per cup and it was "free" on the rig. (I suppose it could be called stealing, but more was spilled or wasted from broken sacks than what we took home. I justified it as since we were also taking home "their" grease, pipe dope, oil and mud from the rig on our clothes, they could contribute to getting them clean) Even if you had a washer and drier at home, you still took your nasty work clothes to a laundry; otherwise, you would ruin your machines. Laundromats had designated machines specifically for these filthy clothes with big signs over them "Greasers Only!". (and I've learned to never, ever use any machine adjacent to those for regular clothes - some people don't care and will wash their work clothes in the closer machines if they can get by with it.)
I had used my wife's car (now ex-wife) for a couple of days when my boss's car was in the shop and had put what was left of a bag of soda ash in the trunk, probably about 10-15 lbs. of the stuff remaining in the bag, and had forgotten to take it out. I was working 6 days on, 2 off, at the time and we were going to make a quick trip to Denton on my short "weekend" to visit my in-laws. As I was loading our suitcase into the trunk, I saw the bag and grabbed a-hold of it and it broke, spilling nearly all that was left in the sack. I didn't have time to clean it up, so I went ahead and threw the case into the trunk and away we went.
After a six hour drive, we got there. We visited with my wife's family for a few hours and I was ready to get out of the house for a while, so with the excuse I was going to clean out the car, I drove to a nearby car wash. I washed the outside, then pulled up to the vacuums, sucked up the dirt inside the car then remembered the spill in the trunk. I decided I probably should try to get the bulk of the soda ash out before I used multiple quarters so I picked up the mat to take it to the trash by the vacuum machines.
As I was gingerly walking it over, though, I dropped one corner and the wind picked up a good bit of the chemical and it just so happened I was upwind of a big black guy vacuuming his nice, new Pontiac Firebird (Like the Smokey and the Bandit car). In horror, I saw the white powder settle all over his recently washed car, but even worse, some got in his eyes.
Did I mention he was huge? He was also wearing a green football jersey,the color of the local University of North Texas Eagles, the Mean Green.
(the alma mater of “Mean Joe” Greene. The two guys looked alike, and I don't mean that as a white "they all look alike" thing. They certainly resembled each other from the neck down, at least in size. To be honest, I was more than a little afraid to look the guy in the eye, not that I could anyway, since he was rubbing it with a fist the size of a dinner plate)
If he didn't play for the school, he was so big he should have. In fact, I could have passed as a mascot, I was certainly green around my gills, although I was anything but an eagle at the time, more of a frightened chicken.
Back when I was roughnecking, it was common for the guys who worked on the rig to take home some soda ash (aka Sodium carbonate) to use when washing our "greasers" - our work clothes. It did for the washing machine water the same as the reason we mixed it in the drilling fluid, it softened the water, allowing the chemicals to better mix in the fluid and making the soap work better in the washer.
The laundromats charged .25 cents per cup and it was "free" on the rig. (I suppose it could be called stealing, but more was spilled or wasted from broken sacks than what we took home. I justified it as since we were also taking home "their" grease, pipe dope, oil and mud from the rig on our clothes, they could contribute to getting them clean) Even if you had a washer and drier at home, you still took your nasty work clothes to a laundry; otherwise, you would ruin your machines. Laundromats had designated machines specifically for these filthy clothes with big signs over them "Greasers Only!". (and I've learned to never, ever use any machine adjacent to those for regular clothes - some people don't care and will wash their work clothes in the closer machines if they can get by with it.)
I had used my wife's car (now ex-wife) for a couple of days when my boss's car was in the shop and had put what was left of a bag of soda ash in the trunk, probably about 10-15 lbs. of the stuff remaining in the bag, and had forgotten to take it out. I was working 6 days on, 2 off, at the time and we were going to make a quick trip to Denton on my short "weekend" to visit my in-laws. As I was loading our suitcase into the trunk, I saw the bag and grabbed a-hold of it and it broke, spilling nearly all that was left in the sack. I didn't have time to clean it up, so I went ahead and threw the case into the trunk and away we went.
After a six hour drive, we got there. We visited with my wife's family for a few hours and I was ready to get out of the house for a while, so with the excuse I was going to clean out the car, I drove to a nearby car wash. I washed the outside, then pulled up to the vacuums, sucked up the dirt inside the car then remembered the spill in the trunk. I decided I probably should try to get the bulk of the soda ash out before I used multiple quarters so I picked up the mat to take it to the trash by the vacuum machines.
As I was gingerly walking it over, though, I dropped one corner and the wind picked up a good bit of the chemical and it just so happened I was upwind of a big black guy vacuuming his nice, new Pontiac Firebird (Like the Smokey and the Bandit car). In horror, I saw the white powder settle all over his recently washed car, but even worse, some got in his eyes.
Did I mention he was huge? He was also wearing a green football jersey,the color of the local University of North Texas Eagles, the Mean Green.
(the alma mater of “Mean Joe” Greene. The two guys looked alike, and I don't mean that as a white "they all look alike" thing. They certainly resembled each other from the neck down, at least in size. To be honest, I was more than a little afraid to look the guy in the eye, not that I could anyway, since he was rubbing it with a fist the size of a dinner plate)
If he didn't play for the school, he was so big he should have. In fact, I could have passed as a mascot, I was certainly green around my gills, although I was anything but an eagle at the time, more of a frightened chicken.
The guy was not only one of the largest men I've ever seen, he was one of the angriest. "Hey man!" he yelled at me, rubbing his eyes. "What was that ****?!?!" I might have been scared nearly to wetting myself, but maybe the adrenaline coursing through my veins sharpened my mind, gave me some quick thinking.
"Aw man, I'm sorry." I replied. "I'm SO sorry, here let me give you some money to wash your car again." I said while reaching for my wallet. "Just don't call the cops on me." He looked at me in a strange way as I started dumping the rest of the soda ash into the trash.
"Nah, thass OK." he said. He waved off my offer of money and with great relief I waved goodbye at him while I got in my car and drove away. I glanced at the rear view mirror and watched him digging the rest of the soda ash out of the trash. I stomped on the gas and hurried on back to the in-law's house and stayed there until it was time to head home. My ex wanted to get a soft drink before we left, but I insisted we instead stop at the next town. I did NOT want to run into that guy again.
Did I mention what soda ash looks like?
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