I'm still in training but I took the first real customer calls Wednesday. Training will continue for at least 3 more months, officially. It felt good to actually be working instead of being paid to train. I like talking to lots of different people each day, too, so it's getting easier to stay awake. I expected that it would take me months to start feeling comfortable talking to customers on the phone, but I already am finding the work quite gratifying. That's a nice contrast from the last job and dealing with the Jekyll-and-Hyde personality hovering and micromanaging.
Thursday our temps peaked around 98 degrees, I think, which is practically a cold front, being down 15 degrees from a couple days ago. Quick! Bust out the parkas! I heard it was going to rain, but I didn't expect the toad-strangler that poured rain down by the bucketfuls.
I went for a wa;l around 8. Normally, it would still be very bright and bloody boiling at that time of day, but I was surprised to see how quickly the sky had turned dark, brooding and gloriously bruised. Lightning was soon lashing down and shortened my walk considerably. The trees danced as the cold front hit the area, a violent wind barreling through to announce the lashing rain that would come.
Here's the photo of where I walk. On the left is the pasture where the fancy horsies play with the deer but probably no antelope. Off to the left, you can't see it, but there's a pumpjack which doesn't run 24 hours a day, thank goodness, because it squeaks terribly every time its flywheel makes a revolution. Ironic that an oil-pumping device should need oiling, yes? Anyway, my back yard is ahead on the right just beyond the white shed.
It's funny that despite the fact that there's less man-made stuff around, storms out here seem so much more comforting and wonderfully bracing than do the storms which happen in the city. Then again, cities are all about feeling vulnerable, aren't they? Isn't that ironic?
Anyway, have a great Friday.
8 comments:
You, too, Phlegmmy.
If it's not behind a fence, then go out there with a grease gun and pump some grease into the zerk fittings.
Or have a friend do it.
Or write a polite letter asking the owner to send someone out with a grease gun ... someone might be shorting the owner out of maint he has paid for.
No more noise from the pumpjack.
With your wonderful description and added photo I could almost smell the rain coming. Mmmm.
As Kris said, call the pumpjack owner- No way that thing should be squeaking! And nice pic too!
Do NOT call the pumpjack owner-who happens to be the owner of your landlord's 99-year land lease, and who is above, below, and the four cardinal directions from the law.
You'll get used to the dickey bird's chirping. I grew up with it, and when I left here, missed it tremendously. The squeaking isn't the flywheel, but the guides, and all the grease in the world won't offset being trampled-and other more personal things- on a daily basis by horses, deer, the occasional longhorn,bobcats, jackrabbits, cottontails, snakes, spiders, coons, and the odd ferret or two.
Elsewhere PhD
Versatility in life is a wonderful thing. You are growing and changing, and I really love reading you--you make me smile. Great view, BTW.
It was great to see the visual to accompany the audio on that storm.
The big sky effect when away form the city really makes the big difference in depth of nature, doesn't it? I'm still so glad you're finally away from the concrete canyons.
I lost Saturday and Sunday when my computer crashed on Friday night, right after I signed off SlashNet. I didn't really sit down to fix it till Sunday night around 10 p.m., but the new hard drive is in and I reloaded everything with my backup files. All-in-all, it took about 4 hours to restore. This was the quickest I'd ever gotten a computer back up and running.
Post a Comment