A German Expat's Life in Texas

Drilling Done

Pit — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 03:57:51 +0000

Last Thursday the second of the two wells across the highway from our property was done drilling and all tghe machinery was being removed. All of that drilling went really fast, to my mind, considering that it was two wells they drilled and that they first go down to a depth of 9,000 to 12,000 ft. and then again approximately 5,000 ft. horizontally. That place across the highway has two wells, btw, one going roughly north and the other going roughly south. And now the fracking, i.e. the injection of water, sand and chemicals into the shale under enormous pressure, can start – well, maybe they have already started it.

As before, I’ve tried to document it with a few pictures. Heavy machinery is being removed:

Heavy Machinery Being Removed

The mobile homes are being removed, too:

A Mobile Home Being Removed

The container housing the control center is being lowered hydraulically:

Container Housing Controls Lowered

The rig is being canted over:

Rig Starting to Cant Over

The rig is nearly horizontal:

Nearly Horizontal

The top is resting on the flatbed truck:

The Top End Resting on a Flatbed Truck

Now all it wants is for the platforms to be lowered and the rig to be divided into two before it can be moved to the next drilling pad:

Platforms Being Lowered/Folded

Meanwhile, more heavy machinery is being moved:

More Heavy Machinery Being Removed

And then, on the next day, the place was completely empty:

Empty Drilling-Pad

Considering that here for years to come thousands of barrels of oil are to be produced, the two well heads looks really unimpressive. They’re barely to be seen, aren’t they?

With this picture I’ll interrupt this account so that downloading this post will not take too long a time. I’ll continue with more pictures of the fracking process.

Um diesen Beitrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

They’re Drilling (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
They’re Drilling for Real Now (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Preparations for Drilling – Part 2 (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Preparations for Drilling – Part I (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
They’ll Be Drilling Soon, … (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
The U.S. is drilling, baby, drilling, yet oil prices are rising (dailykos.com)
Southern Texas “Christmas Trees” (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Fracking Pollution Claim ‘Unproven’ (junkscience.com)
Fracking Could Work If Industry Would Come Clean (blogs.scientificamerican.com)
University Of Texas Researchers Find No Direct Link Between Fracking And Contaminated Groundwater (businessinsider.com)
Fracking Doesn’t Harm Drinking Water, Study Says. (reason.com)
Mixed Verdict on Fracking (news.sciencemag.org)
Fracking Study: It’s Not The Process Contaminating Groundwater, It’s the Sloppy Way They Do It (crooksandliars.com)
Is Fracking in Your World? (forcedgreen.com)

Green Card Status – Update

Pit — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:39:09 +0000

Now I really know why USCIS [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services] sent me, together with a note that they had received my application for the removal of the conditions of my permanent resident status [form I-751], a note that my Green Card has been (temporarily) extended for one more year. After I had checked again and again at their website how far my application had been processed [I think it's a great idea that you can check that online] and kept getting the answer “initial review”, I used another one of their services offered, i.e. to check the average processing time for any kind of form/application with USCIS [something I'd like in Germany, too], and found out that for the Vermont Service Center, with which I had to file for my application, this is 7.1 months! Which means I have to be quite patient as not even half of that time has passed.

What I’m asking myself now is – not that I am planning to travel abroad – what would happen now if I did, as my Green Crad expired on January 28th. I’m wondering if that chit they sent me would really allow me to re-enter the US without difficulties. Well, I hope it would, should travelling abroad become a necessity before I get me renewed Green Card.

Anyway, I can be happy that I had to file with the Vermont Service Center, as the US average [that can also be found on the USCIS website] to process an I-751 application is 18.1 months! Keeps you wondering what they’re doing there. Must be very thorough background checks. Well, at least their goal is to achieve a US average of 6 months.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Finger Prints (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)

New Glider

Pit — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:04:28 +0000

Yesterday I drove to San Antonio to get the new glider for our front porch from Amish Oak in Texas [a shop with wonderful wooden furniture, produced by the Amish from Pennsylvania, where, btw, we also bought our new bedroom furniture], and here’s what it looks like:

New Glider

The wood is cedar, btw, just oiled to make it even more weatherproof than untreated cedar already is. The old swing we used to have on the front porch will be moved to the lean-to of our new barn/garage. And hopefully we’ll be able to enjoy sitting in this lovely glider on quite a few evenings.

It’s Still Winter, …

Pit — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:43:17 +0000

… at least according to the calendar, but here in our garden the first blossoms are appearing. Well, actually the temperatures have quite often been more spring-like than winter-like, and Texas Mountain Laurels usually are the first to start blossoming. Here’s ours:

Our Big Texas Mountain Laurel

And here’s a closer look:

Mountain Laurel: Close-Up

And now a really close-up shot of the blossoms:

Mountain Laurel Blossoms

And this here is the small one we planted late last autumn:

Mountain Laurel

Some time this winter it looked like it was losing some leaves, as if an animal or some vermin had been nibbling at them, but since that has stopped and it’s blossoming now we really hope it’ll survive. Texas Mountain Laurels are, as the name indicates, used to the climate here and thus very drought tolerant. And that’s the reason why we have chosen that tree, among others.

Um diesen Artikel in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Sperry: What’s killing mountain laurels? (mysanantonio.com)
Neil Sperry: Learn to like color of laurels (mysanantonio.com)

Before and After

Pit — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 18:40:48 +0000

During the last two days I did some wood staining on the doors for our bathroom closet, and that what it looks like:

Before

Here, in the foreground, one of the doors – as yet untreated, except for some sanding. As we had had the doors for quite a while, there were of course fingerprints and spots on the wood which had to be removed. But that was easier and went better than I had thought, especially with our electrical sander.

After sanding, I treated the wood with a primer, and then with the stain [red Mahogany], and here’s what a door looks like now:

After

At first, when applying the stain, I was really worried that it might be too dark. It was such a dark red colour that it looked almost black. But after wiping the excess off, the wood looked really like what we had expected and will fit in nicely with the colour of our vanity. In fact, I’m quite pleased with the outcome. The job, btw, was easier than I had thought. This is not like a paint that’ll dry, and as long as you apply the stain fairly evenly – rather more than less of it – there will be no different shades in the finish. And it also doesn’t matter for how long you let tghe stain sit on the wood. You just – about 10 to 15 minutes after applying it – wipe off the excess with a soft cloth. And now I’m thinking of applying a clear coat of finish, so that there will be no fingerprints nor spots later.

Btw, I should also have taken a picture of my hands before and after: they have got quite a bit of stain on them, too.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Camaro Restoration [2]

Pit — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 05:32:43 +0000

Today we got the Camaro back from a carburetor shop in San Antonio. I think I had described in a previous posting that I was unable to find a single-barrel carburetor for that straight-six engine we have. But we had been given the address of a place in San Antonio [Lone Star Carburetors] that rebuilds carburetors and we had taken the car there on Thursday. It was done Monday, but only today we had the time to get it back. And it looks like the guys there – even if the shop was really unpretentious – did a good job: there’s no more stuttering and/or stalling of the engine, and on idle it really runs low and smooth.

On our way back we went by a car restoration place, but having the Camaro restored professionally is way beyond our means – at least just now. The giy said – and I had expected something along those lines – that $25,000 was by far not enough. Well, so that will have to wait. The car is safe to drive, and that’s the main thing. We might try to get the windshield – which is leaking in rain – caulked, if that’s possible, though, so that we can use the Camaro in all weather conditions. And then hope for some future oil-money.

Um diesen Beitrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Reposted: “Camaro Restoration” [originally posted on November 2, 2011] (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Reposted: “Mary’s Old Camaro” [originally posted on November 2, 2010] (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Reposted: “The Camaro Has (New) Home” [originally posted on December 22, 2010] (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)

Sally Is Back Home Again

Pit — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:52:32 +0000

This afternoon Dr. Patton, our vet, has discherged Sally. She was more severely injured [some oictures of those injuries further down] than we had thought. And thus Dr. Patton was in favour of keeping her under his supervision for longer, till today, even if by Monday she was already feeling much better – barking at the UPS guy. But she is still feeling some pain – less than before, though - and is on painkillers as well as on antibiotics.

What was so bad about her wounds is that the javalinas’ tusks easily go in deep, but then don’t come out clean but tear up the tissue. But Dr. Patton has patched her up again, and soon she’ll look like a veteran from the “javalina wars”. And i ten days she’ll have to go back to Dr. Patton to have the stitches and the drainage tubes [she has three of them] removed.

Well, here there are the pictures:

Sally's Wounds (1)

Most of her wounds are on her hind quarters, btw, probably, as Dr, Patton thinks, when she tried to run away from the javalinas. The largest wound is just above her tail, and runs across her back. And besides this one she has about 10 or 11 more, three of them – as to be seen here – with drainage tubes.

Sally's Wounds (2)

That doesn’t really look pretty, seen from that close up, does it? But as said before, she’d doing much better by now. Just now she’s lying in her usual spot here in the dining-room, sleeping happily. And earlier this evening she ate quite a bit, and that’s a good sign, too.

Sally's Wounds (3)

This here is her usual spot: pillow, food and water. I was just thinking that by the time she’ll have fully recovered she’ll also have been completely spoiled, getting her food inside the house, and mostly tinned food at that. As it’s been getting warmer, we had just started to get her used to being fed outside again, but her injuries now out paid to that project. And knowing how stubborn – not to say completely muleheaded she can be – it’ll really take some time to get used to being fed outside the house. She will easily go hungry for a day or more, not touching her food, and just waiting for something better/tastier to come up. Well, now, being a “reconvalescent”, she deserves getting the VIP treatment, doesn’t she?

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

Sally … (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Update on Sally (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
Is a Javalina a pig? – Fort Davis Texas, TX (travelpod.com)

Bill Cosby …

Pit — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:58:32 +0000

… at the Majestic: Simply Hilarious. We thoroughly enjoyed his show this afternoon at the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.

What I’m missing here …

Pit — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 04:56:04 +0000

Sausage Cold Cuts

… are sausage cold cuts as in the picture above, taken from a display at a German butcher’s. As far as cold cuts go, Texas has absolutely nothing to offer – and I believe that holds true for all of the USA. Even the so-called “German Delis” – local or on the Internet – aren’t really worth visiting. A smoked Black Forest ham – to mention but one example – is absolutely unknown hereabouts. And the same applies to cheese cold cuts: it’s minimal what’s on offer.

Um diesen Beitrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

The international link (mysanantonio.com)

Update on Sally

Pit — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 18:01:41 +0000

I just had a call from Dr. Patton to let us know that he’d finished treating Sally and that some of the wounds were more serious than the first look had shown. There were two on her back, he said, where the javalinas’ teeth had ripped deep into the tissue so he had to put drainage tubes in. He says she’ll be quite uncomfortable for a few days because of the deep wounds but he thinks she’ll do all right. The main issue will be to stay on top of any possible infection by treating her with antibiotics. And as agreed on before, he’ll of course keep her till Monday at least, and then we’ll go on from there and see how she’ll be doing. But he’s quite confident that she’ll ba all right.

Um diesen Eintrag in Deutsch zu lesen, hier klicken.

A German Expat's Life in Texas

Drilling Done

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New Glider

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Before and After

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Sally Is Back Home Again

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Update on Sally