Oilfield "widow", figuratively speaking.

     Today was "leaving" day. "Leaving" day is the sad sad day when I pack up the Chief's suitcase, he hauls it out to his truck, kisses me bye, then is gone. Nobody really knows when he might be back. It might be just a few days, but probably it will be at least a week. Maybe two. I hate leaving day. 

     This is what he does when he's gone;

     

     He is an "operator". He operates that big tractor drill thingy. (A deep hole rathole machine). My oilfield man does not work on the rigs. He digs the starter hole, the mouse hole, and the rat hole, and sets conductor pipe. I don't really know what all that means, except these are the initial holes on new locations, before the rig moves in.  He does this, too....

I don't know what he is doing there. 

     Anyway. He lives in a FEMA trailer in a man camp when he's gone. As an operator, he is responsible for digging these holes in the right places and at the right depth and circumference, and he also looks after the maintenance of the yard and the trailers, and he supervises his 2 man crew, arranges for cement and whatnot, and also does a ton of paperwork. 

If he actually worked on a rig, he would probably work hitches...meaning he would have x days on and x off. 7/7,  21/21, etc) As it is, he works until he is told to come in. Most often, he comes in on a Friday or Saturday and leaves again on Sunday. This passed weekend is rare in that he got home Friday night, and didn't leave until Monday morning! It's not possible to plan anything. When we try, inevitably something comes up at work and there he goes. 

     Here at the girl camp, we get into our own estrogen driven routine. (My daughter's husband works on the Chief's crew)We don't really answer to anyone.  Then we get the call! You've never seen such a flurry of house cleaning, leg shaving, man food buying activity! 

     The interesting thing is, we have our own thing going on, and then the guys come home, and we have a whole different routine.  And we want to go DO STUFF together, and they want to catch up on sleep. 

My OFM is my hero. He works really hard and makes a lot of sacrifices in order to provide for us. 

I think he's pretty cute, too. 

Which is why I really would like to find my place as a wage earner...I would like to hang out with him sometime, and still pay our bills.