Of course, my manic mood may have nothing to do with knowing my worries about the EPA are absolutely unfounded. My great mood could be the result of any number of things:
- now that I've been in Boston for several days, I'm back into a rhythm
- the joy of being with the grandchildren
- getting back into my reading is absolutely invigorating
- enjoying the Harvard Book Store (no connection with Harvard University)
The most tangible evidence of my great mood is that I've turned the comments section back on. To protect my sanity, I will still moderate the comments, but will probably not reply to most of those that get posted.
I continue to enjoy William Least Heat-Moon's Prairie Erth. When his writing is good, it is very, very good; and when it's not so good, well, it's not so good. But overall, it's a book I heartily recommend to everyone who has lived on the prairie. Folks east of the Appalachian Mountains would not understand. I doubt folks on the West Coast read. I know it's hard to stick to my reading program when in California; the weather, the scenery, the people are just to much fun, too distracting.
If nothing else it would be nice if the folks in Dickinson would read Heat-Moon's story of the first engagement of the Civil War. This engagement occurred in Chase County, Kansas, which the Kansans called the Wakarusa War. The fortitude of the women, much slighter in build then than the women today (as were the men), would put some of the current "hearty" Dakotans to shame. Heat-Moon paints a great picture of these slight pioneer women standing up to the pro-slavery ruffians. Whether those pioneers would agree with pro-growth in modern-day North Dakota or not, I don't know. I do know two things: a) they supported states' rights over federal interlopers; and, b) they weren't afraid of bears. I don't think they would have been afraid of oil wells, whether they liked them or not. Fear was not in their vocabulary.
That's probably what invigorated me most. I was already on the cusp of moving into my manic mood, but when reading how fearless these slight Kansas women were made me think of those who are viscerally afraid of moving steel. I had to laugh. First time I laughed this hard in days.
I updated Heart Butte oil field yesterday. Someone pointed out that I forgot to mention some great Enerplus wells. I apologize for that oversight. At the time of the original post, March 2, 2010, either the ERF wells weren't in yet, or they didn't catch my attention. There is just too much activity going on in the Bakken to catch or update everything.
That's one of the reasons I turned "the comments back on," so that folks could remind me easily of things I've missed.
I just checked the NDIC site: I can't be blamed too much for missing the ERF wells in Heart Butte field. ERF has only five wells in that field:
- 17299, 829, ERF, Fredericks 5-11H, HB, Bakken; s7/08; t9/08; 96K cum 10/11; orig op: Peak
- 17634, 465, ERF, Fredericks 6-31H, HB, Bakken; s12/08; t3/09; 67K cum 10/11; orig op: Peak
- 18809, 753, ERF, Baker 20-34H, HB, Bakken; s10/10; t8/11; 60K cum 10/11; orig op: Peak ND
- 18810, 589, ERF, Biron 20-24H, HB, Bakken; s9/10; t9/11; cum 55K 10/11; orig op: Peak ND; 26 stages; 2.6 mil lbs sand
- 19769, 523, ERF, Baker 29-31H, HB, Bakken; s5/11; t8/11; cum 44K 10/11; orig op: Peak ND
Also note the time between spudding wells and completing them over the years. In 2008, they were drilled to depth and fracked almost "overnight." The wells spud in 2010 were not completed until a year later.
But look at the most recent well, spudded 5/11 and completed 8/11: something very, very rare in 2011. I assume it's an anomaly. Also note that all these wells were originally drilled by Peak ND LLC, and then transferred en bloc to Enerplus.
En bloc reminds me of en passant. The grandchildren, ages 5 and 8 are learning chess. The 8-y/o almost beat me last evening. I can say I was not paying attention, but in fact, I was taking her for granted, and before I knew it, one of her knights was decimating my enclave of pawns and one bishop. I finally got my act together, and removed that pesky knight, along with quite a few protecting pawns, with my queen. The 5-y/o knows where the pieces go, and how they move. She has me help her get started, but after awhile she moves on to other projects, letting me finish the game with the older one.
The older one is learning the concept of en passant but it is confusing. I always had trouble understanding the reasoning behind it, but like the rest of chess, it makes excellent sense. I am amazed how well thought-out this game was, based on observations of how foot-soldiers fought, how those on horses fought, and how bishops were close to their king and queen. It makes me think of Shakespeare, especially Hamlet.
Later last evening it dawned on me there must be some free chess games for the iPad and indeed there are. My older granddaughter and I now have something to do on the bus when we ride into Boston later this afternoon for the Christmas Bazaar. She has her heart set on honey from Vermont, which we got for the first time last year. She says that is now a tradition for the two of us, buying honey at the Christmas Bazaar.
Enough for now. Maybe more later.
