Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Jan 16 - 22

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, January 16, 2017
Morning 59 Degrees, Wind NE at 5 to 8 Mph, Humidity 75%, overcast.
Afternoon 73 Degrees, Wind NNw at 3 to 5 Mph, Humidity 62%, mostly cloudy.

Sunrise south from our gate

We started with the piping manifold crew and our regular gaugers coming and going from the gate. In the middle of the afternoon three trucks brought in compressors leaving the trucks overnight.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, January 17, 2017
Morning 52 Degrees, Wind ENE at 7 to 13 Mph, Humidity 87%, overcast.
Afternoon 63 Degrees, Wind ENE at 3 to 7 Mph, Humidity 87%, overcast, rain.

Piping manifold crew came as usual with the first one just before six in the morning, the others and welders in before seven and gaugers after them.

Today Crane motorcade or three vehicle convoy was in to lift the compressors of the trucks and place them on the location on the well pad. With the work being done now we have all the people out before sundown so there is no night work for my wife but she is staying on a night schedule for the end of the month when the Frak will start.
Rain started late today. I did not get any pictures when these were on the truck but this one placed at the pad.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, January 18, 2017
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind NNW at 4 to 10 Mph, Humidity 94%, overcast.
Afternoon 68 Degrees, Wind WNW at 7 to 14 Mph, Humidity 62%, mostly cloudy.

Regular pipe work continues with a smaller crew. Three more compressors came in this afternoon. Ok I have found out the "compressors" are "coolers" used to separate the oil and natural gas coming from the well.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, January 19, 2017
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind WNW at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 93%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 72egrees, Wind variable at 2 to 9 Mph, Humidity 72 sunny.

We had rain over night not bad (no big puddles). Along with the regulars coming in to day a three truck crane convoy was back again today to place the next three compressors. It really does not take long the mobile crane and two trailer trucks that have equipment and ballast weights for the crane. They were done and out the gate before noon.

Six coolers lined up in place at the pad

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, January 20, 2017
Morning 50 Degrees, Wind W at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 90%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 77 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 2 Mph, Humidity 50%, mostly sunny.

Slow Friday, with the usual regular coming and going of the manifold crew and the gaugers. These people come in usually for a short time to check the equipment at the working wells and the transfer station for the pipelines gas and crude oil. Most of the equipment has sensors that send alarms or text signals when a measurement is out of range. This has happened recently and as you would expect at night when it was raining.  

Well Head

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, January 21, 2017
Morning 57 Degrees, Wind S at 1 to 4 Mph, Humidity 94%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind WSW at 8 to 20 Mph, Humidity 27%, sunny.

Not too much going on today a small crew and some “lookers” checking on the work progress. They are anticipating the next phase of work that they are involved with getting done next.

Six well heads in place

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, January 22, 2017
Morning 59 Degrees, Wind WNW at 13 to 36 Mph, Humidity 28%, sunny.
Afternoon 71 Degrees, Wind WNW at 17 to 35 Mph, Humidity 21%, sunny.

Looking to the well pad seeing a nice sunset

The last two of six well heads came in today. Busy morning and all were out early afternoon, now ready for football.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX -Jan 10 - 15

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, January 10, 2017
Morning 53 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 3 Mph, Humidity 91%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind S at 2 to 11 Mph, Humidity 31%, mostly sunny.

Piping crew showed today with welders to construct the manifolds needed to deliver oil and natural gas to the pipeline companies. Two deliveries of pipe for the above work.

Me I was busy in between gate access purging files in the big file draw. I was able to remove two inches of paper and move some other files to a file case I keep in the compartment below in Buster.

Last week the tower of the drill rig going out the gate

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Morning 56 Degrees, Wind SSE at 2 to 7 Mph, Humidity 88%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 84 Degrees, Wind SSE at 7 to 16 Mph, Humidity 38%, sunny.

Crew was in early to continue the piping manifolds. During the day there were three more trailer loads of pipe delivered.

I worked on assembling files for our taxes. With the piping crew there is not a lot of action at the gate except during the morning and afternoon coming and goings. As I was working I was thinking I could have done a better job keeping track during the year and this would have been an easy task to complete. Well I do have the time now during these slower days.

Drill rig tower

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, January 12, 2017
Morning 58 Degrees, Wind E at 2 to 7 Mph, Humidity 93%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 83 Degrees, Wind SSE at 7 to 19 Mph, Humidity 51%, sunny.

Along with my piping crew another trailer load of pipe came in today, work continues. My wife made the shopping trip into Carrizo springs today. She is still staying on her night schedule even though there is no night work taking place at the well site. In the morning the early birds show at the gate just before six and stream in for about an hour. Latter the gaugers start coming and going with deliveries mixed in there. Today there was a drill pipe trailer at the gate looking to deliver to the drill rig. I told the driver they left leaving no forwarding address, ha ha. Then I told him the rig had moved and the location it was at. Latter a rental equipment salesman show at the gate also looking for the rig I directed him to the new location also.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, January 13, 2017
Morning 66 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 7 Mph, Humidity 92%, overcast.
Afternoon 81 Degrees, Wind SSE at 8 to 21 Mph, Humidity 58%, partly cloudy.

Pipe manifold work continues and a delivery of fittings for the pipe crew. Me I continue to work assembling our tax information records.  


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, January 14, 2017
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind SE at 10 to 14 Mph, Humidity 91%, overcast.
Afternoon 80 Degrees, Wind SSE at 6 to 22 Mph, Humidity 52%, mostly cloudy.

Well heads and where piping manifolds were buried

Smaller crew in today along with the usual gaugers coming and going from the gate today. Overall a slow day and no site work tomorrow.

Rain, no scattered sprinkles or just enough to make everything wet starting late afternoon. After dark I had noticed out automatic lights were not on. Going out to the generator I noticed the ground fault had tripped. This shutdown all our outside lights. Troubleshooting I found one extension cord not on the times was causing the ground fault to trip. For tonight I just unplugged that one in order to keep lights on. I will look into that circuit then go from there.

Well head

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, January 15, 2017
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind ESE at 8 to 12 Mph, Humidity 92%, overcast.
Afternoon 78 Degrees, Wind SSE at 8 to 24 Mph, Humidity 56%, partly sunny.

Yesterdays afternoon and overnight rain did not amount to anything more than wetting everything outside. And we are getting more of the same scattered sprinkles this morning. We first noticed it hitting on Buster windows when looking outside but hat dried with the wind.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX -Jan 4 - 9

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, January 5, 2017
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 2 Mph, Humidity 67%, partly sunny .
Afternoon 72 Degrees, Wind  at  to  Mph, Humidity 47%, mostly sunny .

 Today should be the last day of the rig move out, not. The move will continue into tomorrow. The pace of the move even slowed with most of the parts our of this ranch.

Another crew has been on site for the past few days inspecting the drill pipe for fractures and condition for using it again. Some has already been removed.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, January 6, 2017
Morning 28 Degrees, Wind NE at 10 to 16 Mph, Humidity 74%, overcast.
Afternoon 44 Degrees, Wind N at 12 to 17 Mph, Humidity 67%, overcast.

The crown (top of the rig) went out in the afternoon. One of the two cranes were removed also so we are winding down the rig move. Drill pipe inspection continues thru the weekend. Regular gaugers were having problems with their equipment in this cold weather.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, January 7, 2017
Morning 23 Degrees, Wind NW at 4 to 7 Mph, Humidity 69%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 44 Degrees, Wind NNE at 3 to 12 Mph, Humidity 25%, sunny.

Our water froze over night and thawed late morning with this very low temperature. Usually we keep water flow down to twenty eight degrees but the temperature dropped early last night and was below that number a long time. This area does not get a lot of sunshine so it was later in the morning before I even tried to pump water from the tank. Weekend mode and the rig is mostly out so there was a low traffic day.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, January 8, 2017
Morning 24 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 3 Mph, Humidity 60%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 54 Degrees, Wind SSE at 3 to 11 Mph, Humidity 41%, partly sunny.

Cold again last night, frozen water again, only it was disconnected from Buster, we were using water from Busters tank. What I failed to do was close the valve on the tank outlet and drain the hose and pump on the trailer. I was able to warm the pump and hose and transfer water into the tank on Buster. But the hose on the trailer now leaks water under pressure so I closed the valve at the trailer tank (to preserve the supply) and tomorrow will get that fixed.

Very little traffic today with the pipe inspectors and a cleaning crew working inside at the well site. The usual gaugers and daily visitors. Drill pipe inspection is complete and that will move tomorrow.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, January 9, 2017
Morning 40 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 3 Mph, Humidity 84%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 71 Degrees, Wind variable at 5 to 11 Mph, Humidity 46%, sunny.

Five trucks came in to get the drill pipe and two trucks with valve trees for the wells. Latter there were trucks in for water crew as there will be a frack operation later this month. Fracking requires a large water component that is why they put two eight inch water wells and built a pond for water.

Pump and hose to trailer side

This afternoon service came to replace the hose on the generator trailer for our water. From the water pump to the faucet on the side where we connect our white hose. Now if we have another cold snap I will drain that the evening before and reconnect it the next day.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX -Dec 30 - Jan 4

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, December 30, 2016
Morning 50 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 1 Mph, Humidity 55%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 56 Degrees, Wind SSE at 1 to 9 Mph, Humidity 33%, overcast.

The drilling is nearing the end then casing (pipe) and cementing to complete the drilling process.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, December 31, 2016
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind SE at 1 to 3 Mph, Humidity 82%, overcast, rain.
Afternoon 73 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 2 Mph, Humidity 54%, clearing to partly sunny.

Holiday routine starting with low volume of traffic today.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, January 1, 2017
Morning 56 Degrees, Wind NNW at 4 to 9 Mph, Humidity 90%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 78 Degrees, Wind SSW at 6 to 9 Mph, Humidity 50%, mostly sunny.

Happy New Year to all the readers. Holiday routine today, low gate traffic means no deliveries but we do have gaugers coming and going. Even the rig live ins are not going out very much, probably too tired after a long hard shift. There is problems completing the casing pipe installation, the last 31 pieces are giving the rig problems.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, January 2, 2017
Morning 61 Degrees, Wind variable at 1 to 6 Mph, Humidity 92%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 78 Degrees, Wind NW at 3 to 13 Mph, Humidity 21%, sunny.

They completed the casing pipe this morning, and gate traffic has picked up. The crew is making ready for the rig move. Seems like the drilling “mud” is moving first as there are three different companies that have three tank trucks moving mud to the new location. About thirty-six miles from here. That site is nineteen miles off the paved road.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Morning 49 Degrees, Wind NNW at 8 to 11 Mph, Humidity 60%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 80 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to 2 Mph, Humidity 24%, sunny.


Busy day with flatbed trucks and pickup trucks coming to help dis assemble the rig for the move out.

I got a text asking the fuel in the generator trailer and that resulted in a fuel delivery a short time later.
Around two o’clock the generator was winding down and electric went down. Going out to the generator is was just bearly running. Turned it off and checked the oil, just in case, ok. Restarted and it seemed good turned on power and it was ok. Inside Buster the television was rebooting. And it repeated. I beleave the fuel tank has dirt of some kind and that blocked fuel flow. I got Buster’s generator on line, mainly for the air conditioners. Our afternoon temperatures was making it hot inside and I needed to have it cool for my wife sleeping. I called for service and he was here within the hour. It was decided the external fuel pump had failed starving the engine fuel supply. With that changed the generator engine worked fine.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Morning 45 Degrees, Wind E at 9 to 11 Mph, Humidity 71%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 56 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 9 Mph, Humidity 55%, partly sunny.

Rig move continues I had forty vehicles in the gate in the first hour. Generator is still running fine but the last fuel pump was only on the generator trailer for nine days.