More Food

I was winding down my usual shift (days) when I saw a bright yellow truck, towing a trailer, coming down the road. Then I noticed the tell tale exhaust fan chimneys on the trailer and thought to myself "That's a catering trailer". We had just been catered about a week ago, so I didn't think it was coming for our job site. But it turned in and it had a load of rib dinners for the workers and us!! Wow, fed again, courtesy of "big oil"! Our suffering and stress from last winter has made us doubly appreciative of the blessings we now have. No matter how small they may be.

Smoking on Company Time

Since we're parked right by the gate and sit here waiting for some action, I thought smoking some meat would help pass the time. Missy volunteered to go spend some of our first full check on groceries and some meat for the smoker. She brought home a small brisket, a rack of ribs and some chicken breasts. We marinated everything all night long and fired up the smoker and our grill around four in the morning.
I like to sear the brisket and ribs on the small grill first. I then like to wrap the brisket and ribs in foil and put them on the smoker. The chicken gets the grill treatment last. After carefully nurturing the smoker temperature for about 4 hours (275-300 degrees), I checked on everything and added wet hickory chunks to the fire. I then added the resting chicken and smoked eveything for 2-3 more hours. We added a side dish of taters and beans-man oh man was it good. We've made some good friends sharing our cooking!

Chow Time

One of the things we were told when we took on this job of gate guarding was that we could count on getting the feed bag on once a month or so. Supposedly someone was going to come out here in the middle of nowhere and cook us a meal. As my faithful readers know we are truly in BFE (you figure that one out) parked in a cow pasture. In fact, one of them came sauntering by yesterday morning and strolled past the rig, stopping under a shade tree for some cud. Whatever they're paying me, I'm not wrangling cattle, so I let him mosey on his way. But; I digress. Back to chow time. Someone did indeed show up at my gate this morning towing a catering wagon. He asked me how many of us were working the gate and went on in. I'm not cynical or pessimistic most of the time, but I did wonder if we would really get fed. And would it be whatever they could scrounge up when they had fed all these hungry workers?? Well, when the caterer left he stopped at the gate and handed me two Styrofoam takeout boxes. One at a time, which I found out was because of their weight. I woke ole Missymoo and lo and behold we opened the boxes to find a feast. We each had a half dozen shrimp, and close to a pound of fresh fried catfish. Plus sides!! Yummy! Now I can add to my lexicon-I'm getting paid while I sit here watching television, surfing the web and eating FREE catered food. Dust, wind and lack of rain not withstanding-life is good.

Life Off the Grid

We were warned before we considered this gate guard job about living off of the grid (not being connected to a traditional water, electric and sewer system). Specifically whether we had any experience at it or not. Well, we have "boon docked" a lot and have spent a week or so down in Terlingua with no hookups at all. We have found this to be far easier than we were warned. We are off the grid, but have a support staff that is second to none. Our little nurse wagon has a very dependable Perkins generator and a large tank of water. Our water consumption is rarely over 20 gallons a day. The water is not potable and having to keep 10 gallons of drinking water around requires getting used to. We have a second wagon that handles our sewer, so we don't need a regular visit from a "honey wagon". Being appreciative of machinery,  I keep a pretty good eye on the generator. Even though we know it's out there, we rarely notice it. I guess what I'm trying to say is that while we may be off the grid-our little nurse wagons more than adequately fill the role.