WALTZING MATILDA: Only So Much You Can Blog About

There is really only so much I can write about while we are gate guarding. Its the same shit day after day. The day never really ends, it goes on and on and on. 24/7 We don't get any days of while doing this job. Since we started this job 6 months or so ago we have been to quiet a few gates. we got fired from one gate and asked to be moved from another. Cant say there has been a favourite gate.

I have come to realize that the Oil company's down this way are responsible for all the dust. They have made so many roads that wind through the bush to get to their wells. They put this white dirt on top of the roads and after a few hundred trucks have pounded up and down it a few times, it slowly turns to this white bulldust,it's just horrible. It always blows right into the 5th wheel. .

Average day

I cant believe how important it became when we arrived at a new gate to see what side of the road they were going to set us up on. 2 things became important, the wind and the sun. I know Texas needs rain but we also prayed it would never rain again while doing this job. The dirt turns to this real sticky mud that sucks your shoes off, not to mention your paper work gets soaked and is rendered useless. Are you getting the feeling that we hate gate guarding yet.The reason why we stayed for so long is so we can pay off a few bills that have been hanging around our neck.

We get paid $1,700 every 2 weeks. Out of that we have to keep back at least $600 for tax. PLUS I think its 15% for Social security. The rest is ours to live and pay our bills.We thought we were well set up for this job before we got here. While in Mission Texas we installed another air conditioner on the roof to handle the extreme temperatures they have here. Installed a new awning, because we needed shade. When we got here and it was time to crank up the 2nd air con, it was dead, so we had to buy a new one. Just cant survive with out 2 on the roof. These 5th wheels are only 20 degrees cooler in side than the out side air. Also while in Mission we were shown by this nice old fella how to secure your awning so it will take very high winds with out getting damaged. It worked great to. It couldn't handle a mini tornado tho. 2 days ago I was under the awning logging in a truck when this funnel appeared from no where and just sat right on our 5th wheel. I had to stand still because I couldn't see and I was hanging onto my paper work for dear life.The wind lifted that awning up and flung it straight over the 5th wheel like it was a piece of tissue paper. I couldn't believe what I had just seen. My heart sunk. there goes our new awning I remember thinking. Around $1,000 for another one. Lucky we are insured but now one of the 2 important things you need out here is gone. Our Shade. There are no trees to park under, just the hot sun.

It’s legs and frame are on the roof

Holes where the frame tore from the side

Its not all bad, I am very lucky to be able to see some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, met some great workers that I have grown to admire. Those guys work in 120 degrees plus ground temperature conditions with no complaints. All they say when I ask them about it is—That's Texas For ya Ma'am I take my hat of to all the Oil Rig workers and Fracking Crews. There is no shade where they work either. Below are a few pictures of events that happened at the different gates we have been on.

At one of the gates we were across from a field that had cows in it. These little Dung Beatles (Tumble Beatles) the locals call them use to cross the road to the other field on the other side to bury their little dung piles. I got so bored one day i actually stoped traffic so that they could cross the road with being squashed. They all thought I was mad. If you touched his little ball, thy would immediately leave it and go back to get another one. amazing little critters.

The day I filmed them dragging the rig 15 feet,I actually filmed them attempting to do this a few times, every time there was something not right and they would stop and fix what ever wasn't right. I eventually got it on film when they actually dragged it, when I was deleting all the extra videos i accidently deleted the one I wanted to post in here..so this one is of them setting it up to drag.