Last week was drilling week at Wild Dingo’s estate. Not for oil, but for water. Even though we’re about to leave the country for a few years, we’re getting our property in good shape so we will have something decent to come home to (we hope). Living in the mountains is both laborious and expensive (unless you really don’t care about your living conditions). Unlike the ‘burbs, we need to produce our own water and sewer system. We also have a generator that can run for 24 hours day for 2 weeks or more when the power fails a few times per year.
Our current well wasn’t producing as much as we’d like and since we have some property, we decided to drill another well closer to our tanks. The current well is actually a quarter mile away from our home and tanks, closer to NitWit Bridge.
The drillers set up the rig the day before drilling. This rig and the process was so impressive, I filmed it. The pipes on the side of the truck are about 100+ feet. The hydraulic systems in place are really cool to watch. The water coming out in the video is water found in the hole being drilled and the air from the pipe is pushing the water out through the holes in the drill bit. As the water comes out, the drillers collect it and test it for solids.
We had planned to drill 340 feet. At about 200 feet, the drillers found a bit of oil in the water. That’s not the kind of happy news you want to hear. It’s one thing to have a lot of solids (salt, iron, minerals), it’s another to have oil. Later that day we looked around at other spots to drill, and you’d think with the amount of property we have that it’d be easy to find another place to drill. But it’s not so easy when you’re trying to find a place far enough from the septic, far enough from the first hole where there was water and easy enough to get a truck in that size. We later discovered the oil was so minute it was likely produced from hitting shale, which is oil found in rock and not a huge source. So we cased the well at 195 feet and cased it again at 100 feet in case the solids or oil become a problem, the shallower well will likely be fine while we’re gone. When we come home, we may need to think about another water source for landscaping.
During the drilling (and if you watch the video) you can see water gushing out into a holding area created by the drillers. We’re not allowed to drain the water into our drainage system because it empties into a massive creek bed and it’s against code to do that. So we now have a mini pool of sludge (that will dry out eventually) that I thought the dogs would be smart enough to avoid, until I heard “Ker-Plunk!” Loki had thoughtfully chased Juno into the mud pool.
“You know, you wouldn’t have that huge mess if you just hired a team of Huskies to do your digging for you Mom.”
Something tells me we wouldn’t have a neatly dug hole or a clean Siberian either Juno. But thanks for the offer.
Wow..that drilling is really something to see. I guess you don’t think about basic things like that when you live in the city.
Holy cow…that is one muddy pup!
Let’s see. Water. Mud. And you thought the Sibe would avoid it? Rookie.
(And our dog lot is built over the top of the septic tank. We may regret that some day).
Did someone say ‘mud’?!? Our snow is melting and our mud is finally drying up (sort of). So we need a new mud hole. We’ll be right over! (FYI, Mom was hoping that the hitting oil story was going to end in a Beverly Hillbilly sort of way!)
*kissey face*
-Fiona (and now Abby, since her Big Dog Teeth are almost totally in…)
Sure, it’s all Loki’s fault again. BOL I keep meaning to stop by and thank you for the link to the dogstardaily article about breed specific legislation and such. I can’t believe I hadn’t subscribed to your youtube channel before today!
Twinkie
Now that’s the look of a satisfied Husky !
I was thinking of your obvious oversight the entire post -
Of khourse, I’m glad to see Juno didn’t let me down!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Juno is now my hero. I have never been that muddy, although it’s not for lack of trying.
I wonder if Juno is planning to run away to the Gulf and help with the oil clean-up. It looks like she’s practicing to let her fur soak it up.
Steve
Oh, cool! A spa day and mud bath. Juno must be looking younger than springtime now.
wags, Lola
Golly Juno, I never saw you looking so, er, earthy. Rough trade.
That machine was super cool. My Master would love to get one for sure. Glad you found some potable water.
Slobbers,
Mango
Woos! Your own sludge pool/ day spa right on the property! Woo lucky dogs!
jack a-roo & miss moo
PS from mom: good luck with that – we had to replace our septic system & drill a new well at our last place… cured me of wanting to live in the country again! (But your place is just sooo lovely!)
That is a most impressive drilling machine! I’m pretty sure if we drilled here we would mostly only find sand, at least until we hit the ocean. Then the whole state would sink.
I blame your oil situation on British Petroleum.
Way to go, Juno – mud + water + Sibe = FUN!!! So that’s the drilling Mom was talking about in her email to our Mom. Very impressive.
And congrats on your MM win – we are a bit behind with blogs, but we were very impressed with the destuffing.
Woos – Phantom, Thunder, and Ciara
Wow that is so cool. The mud pool had to be the most fun all day…
Big Sloppy Kisses
Gus, Louie and Callie
Interesting! I have always wondered how they drill wells. I swear if you drilled 200ft down in Key Largo you would hit seawater so we don’t have wells here. Cool though. Fun for the puppies too it sounds like!