Field time and Camping in Medora

I’m pretty sure that my mentor is beginning to wonder if I am actually going to get my project done because I frequently inform him that I will be going out in the field to see things (as often as I am able).  There is so much to see here that I am afraid that I won’t be able to see it all and the office does get boring for me when I think of all that is happening outside. 

There are plenty more pictures on facebook but I figured I would explain a few things if anyone is interested. 

 

     

Last weekend a few other interns and engineers and I went camping in Medora.  It is this place that Teddy Roosevelt really liked I guess and is called the badlands.  Anyways it is the coolest place I have seen in North Dakota yet because it isn’t just flat.  We left work on Friday and set up camp and made hot  dogs and s’mores around the fire that night.  The next day we decided to go for a hike and find the petrified forest because we had heard it was pretty cool. 

So we found this…

                        

And we thought surely there must be more cooler stuff up ahead (because it didn’t really look like a forest).  So we continued hiking….

And saw all this…..

All day long…

So you see, we took a wrong turn….

And instead of it taking a couple of hours for about 4 or 5 miles….

It took 8 hours for 14.7 miles, and getting lost, and getting muddy, and sunburned, and finding a random lost other person.

And these are the types of adventures I love :D

So that was a good time, then for dinner we went into town to a western bar and there were real life cowboys so we did what any reasonable eastern girls would do and asked to get a picture with them.  They said if we waited we could get a picture with the horses too so of course we did. 

One other thing worth mentioning, I did try my first mountain oysters which really didn’t taste too bad.

On Sunday I got to drive back to Minot and now I’m in the middle of another awesome work week in which I will be in the field 3 times and next week I will be taking a mini vacation to Casper Wyoming to see a ESP teardown.  I’ll fill you in later.

Painting and Rigs

So I have actually found alot to do in North Dakota even though people think there isn’t anything here. 

My first week of work went well, I met my mentor, got my project, and went through safety training. 

I also got my new steel toe boots! :D (still waiting for my own FRCs to come in).

In addition to the plumbing adventures, there is lots of painting to do around here.  And since I’m pretty good at it, I decided to help out, and as an added bonus my person made me cookies!

So this cold, rainy, Memorial Day weekend I painted a bedroom the same beautiful blue color that my room is.  As well as a kitchen and dining room a purplish color.

Before:

After:

During:

On our wonderful Monday off we decided not to let the weather hinder us from venturing outside.  Ashley needed to get some water samples from the rigs so off we went for an all day adventure driving around North Dakota.  In all seriousness I had a really good time.  Even though I’m not allowed to drive the company trucks I got to ride around all day in a big truck on dirt roads….

To see these….

Yeah, it was a good time. 

In my spare time I’ve also been trying out some cooking.  I tried this spinach thing that was disgusting because I used to much onion (I don’t even like onion what was I thinking?) and I also made this Asian beef noodle dish.  It turned out good but like all my other cooking I need to figure out how to not make 8 person sized meals.

For those of you who were wondering I did go back to Vegas for church on Sunday and it was awesome.  I’m so very thankful to have church family even here. 

I have also been going to the YMCA to work out (a little) and climb their very cool rock wall. 

Also, a big shout-out to my Mother Dear for having a birthday this past week. 

And a huge thank-you to those who serve in our military I am very grateful for your sacrifice. 

I guess that’s about it from why not Minot….for now.

Sink to me

So my roommate/ person renting my North Dakota summer home to me is remodeling.  This includes many various projects including painting, landscaping, and general remodeling.  One project in particular is the bathroom sink that wouldn’t drain.  Earlier this week we messed around with it by replacing some parts but it seemed to be clogged further back.  So we bought a snake to use. 

So tonight I decided to try and unclog it and realized that the clog was actually in the very next joint of pipe and it was rock hard and black and stunk something terrible.  I worked for awhile to chip it out and think I got most of it.  We need to go to the store and get another part that I had to cut off before we can see if it will work though. 

   

UPDATE:

It works!

Church n’ Work

So literally for the first time in my life I had to find a church in a place where I didn’t know anyone, and more dauntingly, nobody knows my dad.  So I browsed the internet for a very long time and started to become discouraged because I really didn’t want to become involved in the “pre-millennial catching away of the saints of God” and such things as that.  I even tried typing in the ever-crucial keyword “kingdom” and only came up with a bunch of Jehovah’s Witness stuff.  Then my earthly father suggested this one church and I looked on there website and it seemed reasonable with a focus on impacting culture and such.  Plus they were flooded out last year so they met in The Vegas Motel only a few blocks from where I live.  Plus plus the name of the church is Northland Harvest Church which follows my post-high school pattern: Valley Harvest Church in Marietta and World Harvest Center in Farmington.  Plus plus plus I went on Sunday and they had some great worship and a solid word and I think it will be a challenging place and the people were super nice even though they didn’t know about my dad :)

So that was Sunday, along with some spaghetti which I still make in too huge of quantities even though I tried cutting it in half. 

Today was my first day of work.  After circling the building a few times I finally found it, got my badge, got a tour of the office, and did a bunch of orientation stuff.  Not too bad but I will be happier to learn about petro stuff.  We got done early so I came back and did my soccer work-out which was a killer seeing as I haven’t done ANYTHING in 4 weeks.  I also got my membership at the Y which has a pool and a rock wall so I should be set.  And did I mention that there is an awesome soccer complex only 2 blocks from where I live?? Oh YEAH. 

Tomorrow I’m going to meet my mentor and get my office and the rest of the week is all scheduled for orientation and safety and driving etc… Which means by Friday I should have some new steel toes :)

Sorry no pictures.  I’m just not in the mood right now.  Ok, fine you got me.  I’ll put this one up for you. 

Cheers.

North Dakota

So I’m here in Minot, North Dakota happily unpacked and settled in.  The drive here was overall fun but it took awhile.  And during that time I got this wonderful sunburn on my left arm and my chocolate from Nana melted because my ac was broken.  Cooler news, I saw some Bison and a Bald Eagle.

Minot is known as the Magic City- I don’t know why.  North Dakota is the Peace Garden State, Flickertail State, and Roughrider State.  Check out this site for more fun facts.  Also, the license plates all say “Discover the Spirit”.  The weather here is fine, so far it seems similar to Ohio.  It is green but not as many trees and windy and flat.  And the sun doesn’t set until 9:30 right now and will be as late as 11 during the summer.  

So I got here last night and met Ashley, my person to live with for the summer, unloaded my car, and….slept. 

This morning I unpacked my stuff and got settled in then went for a “quick trip” to the ever-so-present-no-matter-where-you-are Walmart.   Well, it wasn’t a quick trip and I quickly learned some of the effects of living in an oil boom town.  So I got the necessary items in about 25ish minutes and then got in line to check out.  And waited for a solid over-an-hour.  The reason is that there are way more people here than before and everyone wants to work in the oil field because that is where the $ is so there aren’t enough people to work the other jobs.  So yeah, the ladies in front of me took turns shopping while the other waited in line.  It was that bad.  Anyways.

After more organizing and even making my bed I was so tired so I took a nap.  When I woke up I felt the need to explore so I went for a walk and found that only a few blocks from me is this amazing soccer complex :D.  At first I didn’t think anybody was there but then I discovered a small group of people playing a pick-up game.  They invited me to join so of course I did and found out they are from the Air Force base and play every week. 

Next I realized how hungry I was so I used my new iPhone to look up recipes and make a shopping list and I soon acquired food. Yay. 

Then I looked up a church online that I plan on attending tomorrow and hope that it goes well.

Here are some pics (not all of North Dakota, just whatever I decided to share) so just enjoy them because I don’t feel like writing here anymore.