Layin Pipe...

[Smokehouse Shiner]

Hey, guys. Haven't been around lately cause I been busy with a change of job and location. I'll always be a hillbilly but I no longer reside in the hills of the Ozarks. I packed up the wife, kids, and everything else I could fit in my truck and camper trailer and headed north to work on a pipeline job. There's a huge oil boom going on in North Dakota. There are more jobs than people up here which is quite a change from what I'm used to. They are flat begging folks to come to work and paying damn good money when they do. I've never seen anything like it. It's just like the gold rush days of old but the wagons are semi trucks and the tent cities are makeshift RV parks. I tucked away my little potstill head in the camper. Couldn't fit my keg in for the trip but I'll snag one somewhere and get some Sweetfeed goin after I get settled in. The hours are long but I'll find time for a few batches. Can't handle much commercial booze and my stock is runnin mighty low. So any other pipeliners out there?

[mash rookie]

I wondered why you had been silent. I have read many of your posts. Good luck. Ya gotta make hay when the sun shines.
MR

[hackware]

they still hiring...?

i'm a computer / trons hacker...

30+ years lab rat, 20 of those self employed consultant...

[rtalbigr]

Smoky, ya better be buyin you some good longjohns. I spent a good part of my youth in north east Wyoming and Eastern SD and the winters can be Damnable Cold!!

Good luck with your new job.

Big R

[Mud Mechanik]

Smoky, ya better be buyin you some good longjohns. I spent a good part of my youth in north east Wyoming and Eastern SD and the winters can be Damnable Cold!!

Good luck with your new job.

Big R

+1 here smoky, I work in the chemichal field and have been up there once, pack your under armour

[Smokehouse Shiner]

There is nothing worse than one of those assholes who don't even bother to reply to their own threads. I hate those guys and swore Id never be one but here I am draggin in here with my tail between my legs. So my apologies to MR, Hackware, Big R, MM, and the rest of the board. Yes fellas you were right it was gonna be COLD. One local described it to me as five months of frozen hell... No thank you. I got out of there before the cold hit. Took another pipeline job up here in, well, we'll just say the North Eastern U.S.. Ive been workin sixty to seventy five hours a week since I started this gig so needless to say I don't have much spare time any more but Im gonna make it a point to do check in and post a little bit. Got a build planned in the near future. A customized keg boiler and a new condenser for my pot head so I'll keep you guys posted and try not to be such a stranger. And BTW Hackware theres more jobs than there are people so yea everyones hiring. Don't know how the computer skills are gonna help much though. I work out in the woods in the bottom of a ditch.....

[Bushman]

I understand about the hours you are putting in, my dad worked on the Alaska Pipeline when I was a kid and he worked very similar hours boy that overtime pay is great if it doesn't kill you first!

[Smokehouse Shiner]

I won't be modest Bushman. The money is good. Its a rough life though. Specially for the wife and kids. They're all troopers though. Handling it really well.

[rtalbigr]

There's a lot less wind at the bottom of the ditch Smoky, I know, been there, and you're in some damnable country for wind. My bro says once the ice freezes on the outer layer you're good to go. Had some tough jobs in my life, ya gotta do what ya gotta do to get through, there always a light though.

Big R

[Prairiepiss]

Digging the ditch will be a sum bitch. Once the freeze sets in. What's the frost line up there? And when its cold cold it don't mater how deep that ditch is. It's still cold.

[mash rookie]

No issuses Smoke house. You are a man's man. Glad to hear you are okay and the family is okay. Work hard take care of your family. Know that we are here. Tell us about your adventures. Let us share your adventures and hardships. Hell, I am still a rookie.The stones it took to uproot and go for it has my respect.

MR

[J3ff]

I had 3 friends back in college that went to Alaska every summer to do pipeline work. They were able to pay for their whole year of school and boarding with 3 months work there. Moving oil seems to pay well!! They did not even work that hard, they just drove along the pipeline and reported problems/leaks they saw. In thier words "We got paid to go four wheeling" - Granted one of the guys was the son of an owner, and two of the guys were his friends, but they made close to $80 an hour, back in 96. Glad you have found a good job!!!