Wildlife Again .... just passing through Oman

What the F**K !! ....... It's a DUCK !!!!

Saw this duck in the water pit and I rushed to get a better picture but it took off. A lot of birds and animals head to the water pit thinking they can get a drink. But the water is these pits is very high in mineral concentration and cannot be drunk unlike the other 'mineral' water that we get in bottles.

Couple of days later the duck (still looking for water to drink) headed to the camp. There it was caught because it was too tired to fly anymore. One of the the Omani guys has taken it home to tend to it....... or so he says.!

Omani Wildlife again

Yet another fantastic insect of the Omani interior. Green this time

Saw another insect on the rig today though I am suspecting that this may not be an insect of the desert. It's green and I would imagine that it needs greenery to blend in. But it's so beautiful and because I saw it on my rig it is worthy of this blog.

Oilfield Riggers and Animals

Tools and Equipment that we Oilfield animal-loving Riggers have named after animals

Cat Head

The large cylinder on the side of the rig (usually spinning) that is used to lift items. A rope is wrapped around the cat head several times, and the friction of the rope against the rotating cylinder provides the pulling force.

Cat Line

The rope used on the cat head

Dog House

The steel-sided room adjacent to the rig floor, usually having an access door close to the driller's controls. This general-purpose shelter is a combination tool shed, office, communications center, coffee room, lunchroom and general meeting place for the driller and his crew.

Dogleg

A particularly crooked place in a wellbore, a dogleg commonly refers to a section of the hole that changes direction faster than desired

Gooseneck

An inverted "U" shaped section of rigid piping normally used as a conduit for high-pressure drilling fluid.

Mousehole

An opening in the rig floor near the rotary table, but between the rotary table and the vee-door, that enables rapid connections while drilling.

Monkey board

The small platform that the derrickman stands on when tripping pipe. Best job on the rig

Pig

A device with blades or brushes inserted in a pipeline for cleaning purposes.

Rabbit

A slang term for an internal drift diameter gauge typically used to check casing or tubing joints

Rathole
1. A storage place for the kelly.
2.Extra hole drilled at the end of the well to ensure that the zone of interest can be fully evaluated

3. Extra hole drilled at the bottom of the hole to leave expendable completion equipment.

Spider
A steel housing with a tapered bore which is located at the rig table. The spider is used to accommodate the slips to hold the drill pipe or casing

Now here are a couple of others that are more crude but certainly deserve a mention

Donkey's dick
A slim long rubber tube like bladder used on the inside of a pressure sensor
Also a long stout flexible rubber used on the end of logging tools as a guide in open hole (Ha!)

Cow's C*nt
The curved open area behind the hook on the travelling block. When I was a derrick man I remember being told to put my head in the cow's c*nt and pull on the horns (of the elevators).

I'm that there are more but these are a few of my favourite ones. (sung to the tune of, 'A few of my favourite ones' from the 'Sound of Music').

3° Celcius

Last night it was down to 3° Celcius and there was a stiff wind blowing too. Must have been one of the coldest nights I have ever experienced (other than one New Year eve spent with friends in Pune - but I was full of rum then) Boy was it cold! Now I know all you Canadians and Kiwis will say 3° C. is nothing. Remember, that you are geared up for this sort of weather, but we in the warm winters of the Sultanate of Oman are not. Don't get me wrong here - I'm not complaining. I love it when it's cold because one can deal with it by throwing on some more clothes but when it's hot, there's only that many clothes one can shed.

Greetings

Happy New Year Y'all!

A bit late-ish I know but in the words of the original Athanasius - "Better Late Than Never".

It was a fantastic 2007 Christmas for me because I was with the family this year. I got to Mumbai at 5 a.m. on Christmas day. Went home and got into the large giftwrapped box that was prepared earlier by Jacqui. Then Rithika was woken up and told that her X-mas gift had arrived and that she had to come out and open it. And as she opened the box I chose to pop out.

The look on her face was priceless. There was a mixture of fear, amazement and awe. Fear because the gift was alive and had moved...., Amazement because she saw that it was me......, and Awe ........ well.... I look at myself in the mirror and stare in awe. No shortage of vanity here (you might be thinking).

The New Year's party was a good thing till ofcourse the cops arrived and shut us down. But what was had was pretty good and was just getting better at the time of the intervention. Must find a way to prevent this from happenning again. Alas! if there only was a basement available I would probably have to be installing a laminate flooring every six months because it'd get danced out in that amount of time. And so for 2008, gays and gals here's wishing you ................... have a ball !!.....or two !!.... three if you must.