Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 27 -28

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Morning 78 Degrees, Wind NE 5 & gusting to 9 Mph, Humidity 88%, cloudy morning.
Afternoon 87 Degrees high for today, Wind S 6 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 45%, mostly sunny.  

Today an un-marked work truck and they were boarder patrol agents, came in the gate and entered the gate across from Buster for the first time. They surprised me as the truck made an unusual turn here to enter the gate across from Buster. The passenger got out to open the gate and showed me his badge and said “Boarder Patrol” went on about opening the gate and off they went into the brush.

Coil tubing trucks came back today so there was unusual activity (high number of vehicles) by the frac company and plenty of other traffic coming and going. Maybe just a busy “Tuesday” people checking things after a long weekend.


Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Thursday, May 28, 2015
Morning 74 Degrees, Wind SSE 5 & gusting to 10 Mph, Humidity 87%, Overcast.
Afternoon 91 Degrees high for today, Wind SE 4 & gusting to 20 Mph, Humidity 56%, Partly sunny.  

Busy day again with coil tubing going out the gate and sand trucks coming again. There were chemical trucks tankers and flatbed trucks with pallet containers all used for the frac.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 25 - 26

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Monday, May 25, 2015
Morning 73 Degrees, Wind SE 8 & gusting to 10 Mph, Humidity 94%, cloudy morning.
Afternoon 87 Degrees high for today, Wind S 6 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 45%, mostly sunny.  

What holiday, well our gate traffic is like a Sunday as the “day lookers” are not coming to look around and leave. On a regular week day there are a number of pickup trucks that come to the gate sign in and are back out in less than an hour, they do not show up on Sundays and holiday’s.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Morning 77 Degrees, Wind SE 3 & gusting to 9 Mph, Humidity 92%, Overcast misty rain.  Afternoon 91 Degrees high for today, Wind SE 6 & gusting to 22 Mph, Humidity 59%, mostly sunny.  Just before noon we were getting some clearing to partly cloudy sky and went back to overcast. 

Sand trucks (for the frac job) were actively coming and going today keeping me on my toes. It was a busy “Monday“ as the during the week pickup trucks were back today. There has been boarder patrol trucks just about every day some days more than others. We are noticing they even have horse trailers bringing in mounts to search the ranch on horseback. We also have had K-9 trucks that are unmarked. The patrol vehicles are very active here as we are under twenty miles as the crow flies from the Mexican boarder.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 23 - 24

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Saturday, May 23, 2015
Morning 75 Degrees, Wind ESE 3 & gusting to 10 Mph, Humidity 92%, Overcast.
Afternoon 89 Degrees high for today, Wind ESE 14 & gusting to 28 Mph, Humidity 61%, Partly sunny to overcast with rain showers.

Average Saturday until mid afternoon when a coil tubing crew came in the gate and after the evening shift change the evening crew (frac operator) left the site to allow the coil tubing crew to do their work. Weather here was not bad today or night as the “weather" went around us other parts of the San Antonio area received a lot of rain and wind. We had some gusts in the late afternoon that was trying to move Buster and there were some really dark clouds in the eastern sky but they did not come our way.


Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Sunday, May 24, 2015
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind NE 2 & gusting to 8 Mph, Humidity 95%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees high for today, Wind S 6 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 45%, mostly sunny.

Race day; F 1, Indy 500, Coke 600. Started slow this morning with the frac crew coming for a noon start. I went onto Carrizo Springs for grocery shopping early evening. Bonnie found the fourth magnet on the ground in front of Buster’s right side, so everything is now back to normal for the sun shades. When I was in town I forgot to load pictures for the blog and it will be until my next trip into town before there will be new pictures. Our Verizon signal is very low here at this gate we barley internet or telephone service. This means I cannot up load pictures here.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 22

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Friday, May 22, 2015
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind ENE 8 Mph, Humidity 100%, Overcast misty fog.
Afternoon 87 Degrees high for today, Wind ESE 14 & gusting to 19 Mph, Humidity 61%, Partly sunny.

Had a truck outside the gate “thinking” about coming in but was rechecking his directions. I was outside redoing the yellow lights by the door for bonnie’s night outings. It requires the use of the ladder as I wanted one high up and attached it to the cell antenna mast. I laid the ladder down on the side of the road when the truck decided to come in. After signing him he proceeded to run over the ladder. I purchased it in 1975, he said the company will replace it but they are not made any more.i will see what show’s up here at the site.

Our busy times are at “shift change” now, morning and evening during the five and six o’clock hour.  

I do not know who, but I think the oil company ordered tower lights for the gates, as we received a light tower for our gate. Placed where it can be refueled from our diesel fuel tank, Bonnie is happy to have the lights at night.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 20 - 21

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Morning 76 Degrees, Wind ESE 7 & gusting to 12 Mph, Humidity 85%, Overcast.
Afternoon 88 Degrees high for today, Wind ESE 6 & gusting to 10 Mph, Humidity 70%, mostly sunny. I wish we could get out of these overcast days mostly cloudy days.

Our fresh water tank was delivered then water truck came to fill that and I transferred some into Busters water tank as we were getting low. When Buster left the campground I had not fulled it completely, my bad. Not thinking I disconnected the water hose before checking to see a full tank. Buster’s water tank is is filled from the same connection as the pressure water. This means that we can use water inside or fill the tank. Even with good water pressure there is time to fill as the size of the tubing is small. Low pressure means long time to fill.

Another busy day otherwise with more belly dump trucks and then equipment trucks and sand trucks for the frac coming in to the site in the late afternoon.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Thursday, May 21, 2015
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind E 13 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 100%, Overcast rain.
Afternoon 82 Degrees high for today, Wind S 6 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 45%, mostly sunny.   Thunder showers overnight onto the early morning, 2.10 inches.

The left windshield sun screen blew off during the night I can find only two of the four loose magnets. I will look latter for the others. Found one more magnet. One stayed on the windshield one dropped straight down and one was attached to the car. Bonnie was busy last night her first busy night here and with the rain. Most of Texas leaving drought conditions with the rain there has been this year.

Walking around in the mud transferring diesel fuel into the generator then water into Buster. I was too tired last night to do any more. There is better drainage at this gate we are not in water puddles with all the rain. The ground is more sandy here thus does not stick to our shoes the same way at this gate.

The diesel fuel is a gravity transfer and the diameter of the hose is not as large as the hoses on a pressure fuel pump, time to transfer is longer and I have to hold the handle as there is no automatic shutoff nozzle. I do not want to prop it open then forget walk away and fuel spilled on the ground. Right know our water transfer is done with a pump that does not have a pressure regulator, that is why I am transferring into Busters water tank every day.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 19

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Tuesday, May 19, 2015
Morning 75 Degrees, Wind E 3 & gusting to 6 Mph, Humidity 92%, cloudy morning.
Afternoon 88 Degrees high for today, Wind E 8 & gusting to 15 Mph, Humidity 64%, partly sunny. We had some rain drops early that did not add up to anything.

A busy day today with the main work being dirt or caleche for building up the well pad for a frak. This pad has two wells that will be fraced. There are other routine and support operations also going on. What makes the dirt operation busy for the gate is belly dump trucks. Early there were nine that came as a group and the total is now over forty. Most have made three rounds and there are a few added in later in the day, just to keep me on my toes. They never come back in the same order and sometimes they due not come back out from the pad in the same order. Just something to keep me going all day.

There was a black water tank (waste) delivered for Buster and later the fuel tank and fuel for the generator. Now we need the fresh water setup.  My telephone only has a low 1x signal so I am unable to upload pictures to the blog here at the gate. We are under twenty miles from the Mexican boarder as the crow flies.

Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - May 17 - 18

Hilltop RV Haven - Asherton, TX - Sunday, May 17, 2015
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind SSE 1 & gusting to 5 Mph, Humidity 88%, Overcast, rain.
Afternoon 84 Degrees high for today, Wind NNE 6 & gusting to 11 Mph, Humidity 73%, mostly sunny.  

The rain had stopped by nine-thirty and no more was in the weather map forecast so I went into Carrizo Springs shopping for our coming week at a gate. Bonnie was up during the morning dark hours and went back to bed before the rain so she was here sleeping. There was some mostly sunny sky and it has gone mostly cloudy and back to partly sunny. Lazy day doing around Buster and resting. Happy Birthday to our grandson Zane.


Busters Gate Carrizo Springs, TX - Monday, May 18, 2015
Morning 77 Degrees, Wind ENE 6 & gusting to Mph, Humidity 100%, Overcast.
Afternoon 88 Degrees high for today, Wind E 4 & gusting to 18 Mph, Humidity 64%, mostly sunny.   (Rain forecasted)

After Bonnie had her shower we packed up Buster and headed into Carrizo Springs to meet the company gate coordinator at the fuel Stripes station. I gave Buster a drink of diesel fuel $ 2.699 a gallon then parked in back to wait for the coordinator and the other RV rig to arrive. The two coordinators arrived pulling generators and we waited another twenty minutes for the other RV rig then we convoyed here to the gate. The other rig is located about another mile into the ranch. We arrived at the gate about twelve-thirty and started setting up our work area and Buster’s location.

This gate is a different setup for us, we are on the right side of the road for the first time it increases the difficulty for us to record the vehicles coming in, but there is more opportunity to communicate with the driver when the vehicle is going out as we are on the drivers side. The first day is always interesting as some of these vehicles coming out were here early this morning and were not signed in just wishing them well on their ride home.