Back to 207 Active Drilling Rigs in North Dakota -- Ties Record Set This Past Weekend

After dropping back to 206 or 204 or whatever it was (I forget), I see we are back to 207 active drilling rigs this a.m -- the record that was set this past weekend. The link is dynamic and the number changes on the fly (it is not updated, for example, at the same time very day).

Travelocity's traveling gnome, I believe, is in charge of calling in changes to the NDIC. I certainly can't imagine the roughnecks, as busy as they are, to pull out their cell phones, hit speed dial, and tell the NDIC that steel is spinning. As the weather improves, oh, how enjoyable it would be to tour the Bakken.

Notes to the Granddaughters

This note to my granddaughters is really not needed except as archival material. My older granddaughter, 8.6 years old, is fascinated by the Iditarod dog sled race, Anchorage to Nome, this time of the year, every year. Last year her second grade class followed the race very closely. Each student picked a musher to track.

As I noted to a friend, the race is a bit slower than a NASCAR race, but the scenery infinitely more spectacular. 

This year, she and I are doing our own tracking. Of the 66 mushers, sixteen of them are women (by my count). My older granddaughter selected three women to follow and I chose another three women (all chosen randomly).

The lead mushers are now at the Rohn checkpoint. Two of the mushers that we have selected are currently placed #23 and #26, but those rankings are dynamic as new mushers arrive. There is an official Iditarod website, but somehow we got started here and this is where I go first to check up on the race.

But and this is a huge "but": the first place and second place leaders are both women: Aliy Zirkle and Kelley Griffin. Kelley is 52 years old, originally from Minnesota; and Aliy is 41 years old, and originally from New Hampshire.

My daughter would be thrilled if any woman won. She followed Paul Gebhardt last year and was distraught when he ran into some problem; she told me the problem, but I now forget. If I remember, I will ask her when I pick her up from school later today.