Covered in Mud

I didn’t sleep well last night. Its not like calm water gently rocking you to sleep, its like knocking your head on the wall and hearing people on the PA system announcing safety alerts. 

Grease Monkey

I wake up head to breakfast, then walk the never ending stairs up to my unit. I am told that I have to change a part on the gas trap. This is a big piece of machinery, that catches gas from the mud flowing out of the hole. It lets us know which gas is in the mud, like methane C1, ethane C2, propane C3, butane C4, and pentane C5. Anyways, I grab a wrench, needle nose pliers, rags, grease, and head up to the flow line. The flow line is where the mud from the hole first enters the surface, and where the GZG Gas trap is located. The area I am going is up high with a rail that looks like you shouldn’t lean on it. I see red everywhere, if something on the rig is red, that means high pressure area, so be careful. I feel like red should mean STAY away, not just hey you could explode over here fyi. I have to make sure that the power is off before I work on it. 

I am taking apart the motor and putting a new “rubber” in it. I learned how to do this on a clean machine in a classroom. I now am doing this elevated, covered in mud, on thick steel floor that looks like a grid so stuff can fall through it. There is a constant vibration and loud white noise. I have to unscrew the screws and they are close together so it is difficult to use the tools I have. My hands are covered in grease and Im covered in sweat. Basically, long story short I replace the part, get the hell out of there, and come back to the unit. The guys in the unit look at me, from their facial expressions it seems like I had been through a lot more than what a normal person goes through when they do this assignment. Oh well. 

Severe Weather

I checked my email when I got back to the unit, and I see subject severe weather alert. I’m thinking PLEASE GOD DO NOT CANCEL MY HELICOPTER FLIGHT. I initially was terrified to get on a helicopter, I  now am counting the seconds till I am on a helicopter headed towards land. 

The severe weather is for Houston, I guess its like flooding and stuff. So most likely, with my luck, Ill get back to land, head to airport and then my flight will cancel. At least New Orleans isn’t  the worst place to be stuck. But for now I am optimistic that I will be going home.