Decided to give this show a try since it's filmed out in WT. The show is pretty good. You can tell it's modeling itself after the Deadliest Catch (apparently one of the creators or producers of DC is doing this show).

Have any of my fellow West Texas natives/transplants seen it, and what did you think?

We are Odessa natives transplanted to College Station and watched it. We thought it was good and enjoyed it. We were wondering how close to Odessa they were.

what days is it on?

Wednesday on TruTV. Use to be Court TV.

damnit, does that mean I have to miss The Real World??

Finally got to watch the premiere episode last night. Good stuff, they've got me hooked.

I think they've captured rig life pretty well: working hard, getting nasty, and risking injury all day long, then going to town to chase women and act like an idiot. Then doing it all over again the next day.

I loved it that the driller who got fired, Tim, showed up to work the day he got fired wearing jorts. Good times in West Texas.

Hey WTA, where'd you grow up?

Stamford.

You?

Midland. Went to Lee.

Question: Do you consider yourself on the edge of what you consider West Texas?

Yes.

Some of my Aggie friends from East and South Texas have tried to argue the definition of West Texas with me, claiming it should just be the El Paso area or something like that. However, the people, geography, and climate of Texas are such that you can't divide it into four simple quadrants of north, south, east, and west. A fine coffee table book that I own, "West Texas: A Portrait Of Its People And Their Raw And Wondrous Land" writes this in the opening chapter, entitled "Where Is West Texas?":

quote:

---

Here is our West Texas--a definition based more on eyesight and experience than academic research, more from intuition instead of intellect.

Locate the uncluttered western horizon, the treeless plain. Go where the land prefers mesquite and thistle rather than pine. Where there are no twenty-four-hour traffic jams. Where there are no downtowns with dozens of soaring glass boxes that block the sun at dawn and dusk. Find a place that yields only to those who persevere.

---

The authors then proceed to map out where that place is, and their definition is more or less the same one that I subscribe to. West Texas begins somewhere west of Ft. Worth; Cowtown is the gateway to West Texas, but it's unclear whether the city itself is actually in West Texas. The border runs northwest from there, hitting the Red River somewhere around Wichita Falls (personally, I'd place it closer to Vernon and Childress than Wichita). South of Ft. Worth the border runs along a southwestern line along the edge of the Hill Country. This extends down to the Rio Grande, striking that southern boundary near Del Rio (whether Del Rio is or isn't in West Texas was a question that the authors left up for debate). Everything west of that boundary is West Texas: El Paso and the Trans-Pecos (or "Far West Texas" as its known); San Angelo and the Concho Valley; Abilene and the Big Country/Rolling Plains; Midland, Odessa and the Permian Basin; Lubbock and the South Plains; Amarillo and the Panhandle.

I think I would more or less agree with that definition too. But thinking about it, I wouldn't consider Weatherford in WT, and it's 100% by that definition. I've always had in my mind it's Abilene and West, but I'll accept the argument of slightly east. I just know that going to school, I drove 36 from Abilene to Temple all the time and there is a definite terrain and vegetation change about 30 miles east of Abilene.

Also, does it define any sort or northern boundary? For arguments sake, I'll agree with your Wichita Falls statement, but to me anything north of Lubbock is starting to bleed into the Panhandle, which while technically the West portion of Texas, is not West Texas. At least in my mind.

Show was ok. I work in the oilfield, and would have to say that things are being exaggerated just a little bit. That being said I will probably continue watching the show.

The worst thing I see coming from this show is a bunch of people coming down here that see this as a "get rich quick" type of deal instead of that hard work that it really is.

Gig Em

WTA06
you mentioned elsewhere you were about to read A.C Greene's Personal Country. I'm trying to remember exactly, but he draw a pretty good line defining West Texas. It's where most of the settlers weren't, because thats where the Comanche were.

If I remember right, I think he starts it about Ranger Hill. That gets you past the cross timbers area of Stephenville and Mineral Wells.

This series is not how the field is at all. All kicks and giggles. Some is true like the attitudes. I just hope we don't get alot of people flocking out here thinking they can get a piece of this pie. Leave the work to the west texas people. lol I have seen alot of people move in and try it out but they never last. Rig work is hard, I get to see it alot cause I chase rigs for work.

Agfamman what do you do out in the patch?

Gig Em

Polypipe baby.... If there is a rig...were right behind.

The show is interesting. I think it will continue again for another season. I think it is really catchy for the public who has no idea what the oil patch is like. I love the Big Dog crew getting run off after to much fun, priceless.

I gotcha,

Well I chase them while they are being drilled.

Work for a company that does directional drilling/mwd/formation evaluation.

Good Bull

I set my DVR to start recording these...

I finally caught this show tonight. It's entertaining to say the least. I've never worked in the oil field so I'm not sure if thats really how it is or not, but a few of my buddies who have worked on rigs were saying that they'll sometimes show some stuff that goes on out there that shouldn't be shown and just left out there on the rig.

I definitely like all the footage they give Midland/Odessa. It's pretty cool seeing all those places on tv and thinking "man, I've been there a ton of times."

I am sorta disappointed with the way the show is focussed on one spot on the rig ... I don't think the camera man moves five feet in an episode. Newbies probably think the rig hands spend their entire tour (pronounced tower) getting hosed with drilling fluid every few minutes.

Heck, give us a few shots of the rig layout, the drawworks, the crown and traveling blocks, the mud tanks, maybe the drill collars, etc. .... might even mention the mousehole and rat hole. Not all the activity takes place on the drilling floor.

When the show is over, I bet the company man for each rig runs off every driller and hand we have seen so far.

For me, as an outsider who never worked on a rig or knew anybody who worked on a rig growing up and an out-of-towner, everything my Accountant boss (who grew up around rigs) told me (a computer guy) is finally starting to make a little sense.

A typical stormy evening on a West Texas oil rig but otherwise uneventful ... then a bolt of lightning nearby illuminates a driller's worst fear .... RUN!



What is a fellow gonna do in a case like this? Try to get into the cellar and hug the BOP? Dive into the nearest mud pit? Run like a rabbit across the prairie? Or just stand there at that handrail with you mouth wide open? What to do? What to do?

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 7/11/2008 10:57a).]

If you watched Ice Road Truckers tonight you were treated to watching an oil patch event called "Two Trucking a Derrick."

It looked nice, clean and easy up on the Arctic ice road but it takes a lot of skill, daring and patience to perform on Texas county roads. (You won't see it on highways because TxDOT makes truckers dismantle the mast and haul it in two or three loads, which requires a full day to disassemble and reassemble.) But if the move is within a field or can be done on county roads, two-trucking can save much time and money for the drilling company.

The photo below is a more typical picture of a two-truck derrick move ... the lead 30-ton tandem under the crown section. This truck has the easy job when making a tight turn.



This photo shows the truck carrying the bottom section of that 120 foot-or-so mast. He has been backing since leaving the old location and must maneuver his end of the load in such a way to be able to make the same turnoff as the lead truck. It is tricky business, particularly when negotiating a 90 degree bend with fence posts and power poles inconveniently located along the roadside.



I doubt if there are many truck pushers still around who can supervise this maneuver safely.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 7/11/2008 9:46p).]

Fossil, I drove past a rig moving convoy yesterday and they were two-trucking a derrick. This was right outside Midland.

WTA,
For the record Del Rio would be considered West Texas. Most certainly NOT the Rio Grande Valley! Some may argue southwest, but west none the less.

[This message has been edited by aTmarc (edited 7/13/2008 9:37p).]

Glassjaw ... I suppose each TxDOT Permit Office has allowance to apply rules as they see fit in their district. In central Texas if any big or heavy structure can be made lighter or smaller by dismantling it, that is the order of the day. I have two-trucked derricks on Farm to Market roads where we were only going a short distance (without benefit of state permit) but no way would I consider doing so on a main highway.

In addition, during the boom we were not allowed to convoy a drilling rig move ... had to have a mile or so spacing between loads. It may be that with the advent of hundreds of 100 foot+ wind towers and blades routinely convoying along West Texas roads that a little rig move no longer gets attention.

I was in Midland last week for Vacation ( I know sad) anyway Father-in-Law works for an oil company there and those 3 rigs were just West of Odessa. and we went to Hooters and ate and none of the girls were there. I asked 1 girl there about it and she had no idea and had worked there for almost a year. or just really stupid.

I was pleased to see some snippets of a rig move tonight. For tose of you who have not had an opportunity to observe one from up close or participate in one, it is quite a spectacle.

Figure on average 30-35 heavy truck loads of heavy iron weighing in total between 2 and 3 million pounds plus 250,000 pounds of drill pipe ... to rig down, set out, load, uload, reassemble and be ready to drill in four days plus whatever road time is involved in the move.

Every major piece has to be set precisely on spots because heavy suction lines do not bend or stretch and those heavy pieces of rigging do not bend to make it easy to hook them together.

Rig pushers and truck pushers work together in a semi-sociable manner but despite a lot of commotion the rig gets put back together on time. Everyone learns real quick that the 30 and 50 ton gin pole trucks have the right of way and your hard hat is your best friend.

Which drillers are on that show? Is it arrington?

Well as a drilling consultant working in West Texas and being a former roughneck I can assure that this is not the norm for 90-95% of the drilling rigs working in West Texas. If the show wanted to give you the public a truer picture why would they have picked two drilling contractors who have had multiple fatalities where as there are no least than 10 other drilling contractors who had no fatalities why weren't they in it. Once again the media rears its ugly head and brings to you the American public a skewed version of what is the norm. I can assure you that being involved in the drilling industry since 1986 the norm has come along way from what you are being shown, if this was 1990 or earlier I would agree. I truly feel if they wanted to give you a true version of everyday life then they would have interviewed drilling contractors from major oil companies or large independents. What you do not know is that one of the rigs drills for the parent production company, one rig has been in business less than a year, and the other company killed a roughneck just before this was filmed. So as a person who has dedicated their life to this industry I am totally disgusted with how the producers have made the good people of this industry look to the rest of the world and have skewed their perception of this crucial industry. Just one final note I give you this question to ponder- why is it that the oil company that I supervise their drilling operations for can have 7 drilling rigs running and not have so much as a first aid case for over a year and counting? Just food for thought.

[This message has been edited by grubbs3 (edited 8/12/2008 10:18p).]

Damn.. 7 years. That's almost unheard of. Awesome indeed.