Out in the Middle of a Farmer’s Field W.C. Fields #1

     Going into the hole you add pipe, coming out of the hole you take away pipe.. It is snowing but the drillers don’t stop. When you are drilling a mile down you don’t leave the hole open long. The Earth doesn’t tolerate straws dipped into its reservoir and can close its teeth with a snap.  You drill, test, lay pipe and produce, or plug the hole. Trying to hit a target you can’t see and can’t know the size of , covered by roller coaster layers of Earth 4000 plus feet down, is tough. A fair number of wells are busts. A few  are bonanzas. Every project looks good or you wouldn’t be out here freezing in the middle of winter in a place not even fit for cows. My brother Neal, at my request, always tells me, before we drill a well, about John Steinbeck’s  rabbit in ” Of Mice and men. ” Keeping your dream in full view is essential for any initiative to get off the ground. Before each calculated gamble, on Neal’s skill and experience, I rub my stomach, like a big Buddha,for good luck. In this life, you can never have too much good luck and too many superstitions.