Weekly News Period of Jul 7- Sep 3, 2003

The name of the game lately has been:  Make as much money as I can, and spend as little money as possible, don't take on new debt and pay off what I can.  The debt restructuring has been complete and most of our money is now costing 6% or less and most are fixed rates.  So far I have been successful in not taking on new debt, but have manipulated and paid off existing debt. 

I slowed things down a bit as I knew cash was going to be tight in August.  However a lot of bills just keep coming up this time of year, so there isn't much I can do about it but hang on.  So I decided to get some shop work done.

I started working on the Black Ranger, to fix the oil pump, and transmission (250,000 mi) showing its age.  Had to re-do the clutch on the Blue Ranger (205,000 mi).  At one point I was almost out of trucks.  I hope to have the Black Ranger in service this week.  Once again I intend to drive my old trucks and keep the money in the bank, and not take on new debt for vehicles.  So far I have been successful.

The Brown 3-W disposal well as predicted turned into a nightmare.  The packer is still hung in the hole, and I looked the old grim reaper in the face over that one.  Currently I am huddling for a plan B.  I have dreaded pulling this well since I saw it the first time.  It was some ones "better idea" to locate it on the fence line on State Highway 10.  It was also some ones better idea to locate 13,500 V power lines 15 ft from the well head.  Beyond the hassle of having to build 6 warning signs for the highway and the fact that you have to work with the nose of the pulling unit 6ft from the highway, we learned upon hooking up the rig to the well, we were in trouble, ANOTHER SPINNING PACKER (ARRG!).  This certain brand of packer has a real history of losing its J-pin, and becomes permanently J-d. Anyway while working the packer up and down and applying no small force, SNAP, the lifting cable breaks, down slams the tubing, the loose line flies up, Marty is thrown back, and we have 30 ft of loose line ready to fly around the crown of the pulling unit and head right into the high voltage lines.  If God put his hand out to help Blaine it was this time, as the hook and elevators hung up on the tubing collar and did not come crashing down and bring the loose cable with it, flying right down into the power lines.  However after the initial shock, I had a real problem, all that stuff was still up there waiting to crash down and bring the cable with it, right into the high voltage power lines.

So up the pole I go, to get this situation back in control.  All these tools are very heavy when hanging with one arm from the ladder of the pole trying to lift and manipulate them.  But we managed to get chains on the loose parts and disconnect and lower the parts safely.  I have to say, though it is quite the feeling to look at a situation and see how if things don't go just right, that you are going to die.  I didn't want to die on July 24, 2003.  But I made it through, rigged down and went off to fix the cable and get ready to try again.  The second attempt, was successful in that we luckily unscrewed the tubing 1 joint above the packer and recovered 1320 ft of Seal-Tite tubing a $4,000+ value.  I was happy that day, because I  had thought I was going to have to buy it for the well.  We went back a 3rd time and screwed a working string back on the packer, but to no avail did not get the packer, we were rained out before we could finish, but I am convinced it is stuck.  Plan B involves using jacks to stress the packer to 40,000-50,000 lbs and shear the release pin, tubing breaks at 60,000-72,000 lbs, so it is a stressful situation.  However I have to do a bunch of prep work to pull that one off.  This kind of a situation is an opportunity to spend money hand over fist.  However I have to keep the money in the bank and do what I can on my own power and skills.

The Accounting is wrapped up for 2002-2003 and I have updated the pages for your viewing.

We pulled a long list of wells.  Pulling wells is the back bone of our production.

I put the ditch witch to work as we fixed the injection line on Sarcoxie.  (they always break on the hottest day in August)  I unearthed 40 ft of line and replaced one section of pipe, and buried it again.  It was an interesting project.  I had another leak on Sheets to fix.  Let me tell you, digging holes with a shovel in August, during a drought is not fun, it is the worst job I can think of.  The ditch witch takes the work right out of it.

On August 5, 2003 Oklahoma's weather got dirty, and down right personal for my home and family.  For years I had fought the storms as it has pertained to the leases, but for the most part my home had been left untouched.  But on the evening of August 5 a freak storm came without warning, except, the sirens were blown 10 minutes before its arrival.  I had never seen anything like it.  Hail the size of golf balls started falling sideways, limbs and debris were blowing sideways.  Suddenly we started hearing crashes and bangs on the house.  Off to the storm cellar we went.  The storm seamed to have passed and I went out to inspect damage, when Crash-Boom! Lightning struck our neighbors tree, and Sarah & Cindy saw sparks come out of the outlets in the storm cellar.  Back into the house I go.  Come to find out 3 of our trees were destroyed, the crashing and banging was 8-10" limbs being snapped off like twigs and being thrown on our house.  One maple with an 20" diameter trunk was split in two and destroyed.  It could have been worse, but it was bad enough for me.   Anyway the insurance company totaled our roof, our car was pelted with hail, and I am still picking up the damages.   Our building was damaged, but the roof is so old there it hardly matters.

Cindy is not doing well on the cancer drugs that keep the leukemia in remission.  The side effects are interfering with her quality of life she otherwise should have.  So it appears that she will attempt a bone marrow transplant in October.  30% chance of a cure, 30% chance of dying, 40% of living with some kind of side effect, ranging from a mild rash to organ failure.  As the doctors say, it is like reaching into a brown paper bag and not knowing what you will get.  I have mixed feelings about the whole thing, but I also see her suffering with these side effects from the drugs and can see the quality of her life is already limited.  Pray for her and that she can have a wonderful outcome and a new lease on life.