Pipe dreams

When I was a kid, my dad worked for an oil field supply company. Growing up in Texas many families relied on the oil business. These businesses created labor jobs.I t gave people dreams of buying a house and raising kids in a nice neighborhood.  It was a place for poorly educated, hard working people like my Dad to earn a decent living. His job was to work in the pipe yard and was some times called upon to make deliveries to job sites.  These were no ordinary jobs. They were oil field jobs. Big oil rig were set up to pump crude oil from the ground.  An oil well is a general term for any boring through the earth‘s surface designed to find and acquire petroleum oil hydrocarbons. Usually some natural gas is produced along with the oil. A well that is designed to produce mainly or only gas may be termed a gas well. The sites were located in rural towns and remote locations.  Often times, roads were created just to access these remote locations. 
Oil drilling uses different type of pipe and supplies such as hoses, rods, pipe fittings, and gauges.  All were available from Flusche Supply Company, where my dad worked.   There are many types of pipe used to pump oil from the ground.  They vary in diameter and length. They would usually have to be hauled by large truck and specialty pipe trailers.   The pipe also had to be tested to withstand pressures.  This was done by hand.  Each one had to meet standards. You can think of this in the same way the doctor checks your blood pressure. One end of the pipe would be capped. Then a supply line and gauge would pump high pressure water in the pipe.  It would make a loud buzzing sound and the waters filled the pipe and almost vibrated form the high pressure. I remember my dad saying how the crew has to “buzz” some pipe before it went out. All I knew is it was loud.  The gauge would need to reach a set pressure with out failing.  Then the pipe would be expected to hold that pressure for the duration of the test.  If the pipe burst, it was scrapped. It was not uncommon to see water plumes spraying from open wounds of the failed pipe.  The dirty water also made a muddy mess in the pipe yard.  No oil rig wants pipe that could not with stand the pressures of the drilling process.  The scraped pipe might then be sold to metal shops.  The used it for structural purposes. 

The pipe was stored on tall racks around the pipe yard.  These racks were some times six feet off the ground.  It made loading and unloading of pipe easier.  Some times the pipe would be rolled one a time on the trailer parked parallel.  I remember seeing my Dad standing on the stack of long pipe. And he would roll the pipe with his feet.  It was like watching a circus performer.  He would balance and walk backwards pushing the pipe forward at the same time.  One by one they would roll on the pipe trailer.  I don’t know where he learned this, I suspect from watching other men do it on the job.  My dad was the shortest and lightest of all the men.  I suppose that was a good thing.  You have to be careful when rolling pipe this way. One wrong slip and you could catch your foot between the pipe and risk falling to the ground. 

That is what happed in 1988.  My Dad hurt his back.  It was a tough time.  I am not sure how we made it.  My mom worked as a cook. She earned just a dollar over minimum wage.  And my Dad was off work and collected disability from the insurance company before finally settling the claim.  I remember thinking. We must be rich.  But like all things in life, money does not last forever. My parents paid off the house. They thought it was important to do so. The oil field help many families survive and also left others barely hanging on. I remember my brother once working for a oil company.  I never understood why he would want to work there. It was tough work.  I saw it as a trap.  All that remains is old wells and memories of better times. I tried hard to get out of that small town and find a new life.