Merry Christmas, Ann!

Ann wanted pictures of a rig for Christmas, and I'm giving the man in the red suit a helping hand by providing them for her. :)

Sorry about the lack of pretty wrapping paper and a bow, Ann.

The presence of these tanks lets you know it's an oil well site.

Here's a rig. Keep in mind it's a workover rig, not a drilling rig. A workover rig goes to a well site and fixes problems to keep oil flowing after a drilling rig has been there to drill the well and start the flow. Mark is on a workover rig, whereas my b-i-l Mike is on a drilling rig.

The tall ladder-like thing is called the derrick. The platform half-way up is where the derrick hand stands and does his work. I'm not sure exactly what he does... I've learned a lot from Mark, but there's so much more that I will probably never learn.

The tall black things running through the platform are rods. This rig is "tripping rods". That's taking the rods out and putting them back in (I checked with M to be sure I'm right).

The other workers (they're called floorhands, although they have other titles like "tool pusher" and "operator" too) stay at the bottom, near the back of the rig on the work floor, and get 'er done.

Like this man. He's working. No idea what he's doing, but something important, I'm sure. Mark thinks he about to climb the derrick. Mark's crew has to wear company coveralls (currently thicker, winter ones) and a hard hat. Most things are FR (or Fire Resistant), and I constantly hear and see those letters in clothing stores.

This is not Mark's rig. It's one that is just west of town, right next to the street. Mark works about an hour away from home, usually.

Hope this was informative, and slightly interesting.