The Long Wire

Hey all, I am back.  I wrote two entries for this site while I was away from civilization and I am posting them today.  Enjoy.  I am working to get some vid's and pictures loaded so you can all see where I was at.

All of my field gear is important.  Rain gear keeps me dry, my pack carries my lunch and my tool bag carries everything I need from staples to wire brushes.  There is one thing that I carry and use on a daily basis however that keeps me in touch with who I am, and where I come from.  A small fanny pack, given to me by my sister some years ago, I think for as graduation present, stays with me at all times.  In this pack I have 4 wires and one cable used to synchronize the internal clocks in my equipment.  Every day I carry it, it is part of the load. 

Twice a day I use these cables, and twice a day I am reminded of my sister, who for some reason gave me a fanny pack.  A fanny pack, just like old grandma’s use, a fanny pack that I was never going to use, but a fanny pack that for 4 years I couldn’t throw away.  It was a gift, a gift from my sister, not something you carelessly toss in the trash or in the good will pile.  For four years I carried this little bag, from Montana to Arizona it traveled.  Then three years ago I found a use for it, and for three years it has been by my side on all most every field job I have done.  For three years I have been reminded of the love of a little sister each and every time I sync my equipment.  Not a bad way to start the day.

There are two types of camps in this business, good ones and bad.  I am currently writing from the better of the two, and let me tell you, it is nice.  Thirty miles from nowhere is a small square stick framed building standing alone on a picturesque little stream on the south side of America’s biggest non-boundary forming lake.  There is no phone, no internet, and sometimes no power or drinking water.  But right now I am warmed by a woodstove, drinking good strong camp coffee and enjoying the company of a good spirited cook.  Even though the trout are probably thick as thieves on the stream below, I have decided to sit inside and enjoy the company of others verses that of fish, because no matter what you say to a fish, you can’t talk one into the boat.

Today was what we in the business call a weather day, a day when the greenhorn understands the true meaning of foul, when talking about the weather.  A storm blew in on the mountain where we are working, and with it the temperature dropped, the rain intensified and the clouds moved closer to the deck.  All three of these changes in fortune caused our pilot, a cheerful chap from New Zealand to rein us in and pack us up.

With not much actual work to do, camp becomes a place where one can rest up or cause trouble.  In the main room of camp a TV shows taped Seinfeld episodes, members of the crew read trash fiction or nap waiting for a break in the weather.  It is a time of delight and of boredom.  We have all come here to work, locals getting as much as 250 dollars a day, and a day spent in camp reminds us that time wasted is money lost.  A true greenhorn views a weather day as a day to kick back, watch TV and listen to stories from the seasoned veteran, the whole time they view these days as time earned.  On the other hand a veteran knows that this day is one less tank of gas, or a trip to the grocery in the year to come.  Lost time out here is something no one wants.  While the time spent with the company of others is valuable, it is lost in a camp when compared to the work that could have been accomplished.   In a season shortened by weather, a day lost to it is not a pleasant thing.

Howdy all,  welcome to my blog-o-sphere.  I have every intention of keeping this site posted with the wonderous travels of a Field Geophysicsist.  Upon inception of this "space", I intended that I could document for anyone interested the travels of one nutty fieldy from based in Tucson Arizona.  For the most part I want to keep this site clean and free of names, companies and clients (for obvious reasons), but I think a well read reader might just figure out the who, what, when and where (but never why) of the Long Wire.

As an electrical methods geophysicist, I am well schooled in the nasty nature of the longest wire, and the dreaded fact that someone has to pull it.  I want to document my trials in pulling that long wire, sometimes reaching 450 meters, sometimes 1.5Km.  Never mind all this technical talk for the moment, you the reader will soon get learn to understand what I am speaking of.  The simple fact is, what I do for a living is a total mystery to my friends and family, the daily grind which is field life is beyond most peoples imagination, but here I shall do my best to document it.

Welcome one and all, for this might just be one hell of a trip!