Ten (10) New Permits -- The Williston Basin, North Dakota, USA; Statoil Reports A Huge Well

Active rigs: 189 (no change)

Ten (10) new permits --

• Operators: BR (5), Whiting (2), Slawson (2), Triangle
  Fields: Harding (McKenzie), Estes (McKenzie), Van Hook (Mountrail), Keene (McKenzie), Buffalo Wallow (McKenzie),
  Comments: The five BR wells are all in the same section, 31-153-95

Wells coming off the confidential list were posted earlier; see sidebar at the right.

One (1) producing well completed:

• 22938, 2,945, Statoil, Banks State 16-21 4TFH, Banks, t5/13; cum --

Three (3) permits cancelled:

• 22187, PNC, BR, Twin Mountain 44-19MBH,
• 23315, PNC, Hess, GO-Ron Viall-156-98-2524H-2,
• 23316, PNC, Hess, GO-Ron Viall-156-98-2524H-3

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A Note to the Granddaughters   A few minutes ago I was "shaking" -- I was excited to write down some thoughts on John Steinbeck -- or perhaps the shaking was due to hypoglycemia -- now, having had a Whataburger -- the shaking is less -- but I am still eager to post -- I'm reading Steinbeck's The Log From The Sea Of Cortez. Of Steinbeck's books -- it may be his most important, least of which because it helps one understand his world view which helps one better enjoy Of Mice And Men and Grapes of Wrath.

I am reading from a Penguin Classics Edition -- soft cover, of course -- and it already looks well-worn. It's been damaged by other contents in the back pack -- and it's been soaked by Boston rain (in that same semi-water-resistant back pack).

The introduction to the book was written by Richard Astro.

Steinbeck's Sea of Cortez is a long book -- 600 pages long and is composed of two parts. The first part is a log of the boat trip/the scientific trip into the Sea of Cortez. The second part is a phyletic catalogue describing the animals collected. The book I am reading is just the first part, the log.

Astro writes: "The phyletic catalogue is a comprehensive and remarkably readable account of marine life in the gulf, though it is not as complete as Between Pacific Tides, because it is based on a single collecting trip rather than a decade of study and research."

Immediately my thoughts turn to a similar book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: a book on philosophy; a book on travel; a book on a single adventure.

Steinbeck was the writer, the novelist. His collaborator, Ed Ricketts, was the biologist who wrote Between Pacific Tides -- "which became the definitive source book for studying marine life along the Pacific Coast."

Astro writes: "There are those who believe that Steinbeck drew most if not all his ideas from Ricketts."

Immediately my thoughts turn to Fitzgerald and Zelda. I have opined elsewhere it was Zelda from whom F. Scott drew his inspiration, if not his ideas for his novels, and in same cases, large passages from Zelda's own writings.

Steinbeck wrote often that the whole was greater than the parts. That was true of Fitzgerald and Zelda. I picture Zelda as an airhead with a high school attendance record, but a genius that came through years later (something attracted Fitzgerald to her; like Nora and James Joyce).

And that brings me to another airhead with a high school attendance record but a genius that came through year years later: Cher. Like others, the whole was greater than the parts -- Sonny and Cher were greater than either alone, though Cher went on to become bigger than any single female singer of her generation. Her only two "competitors" flamed out, crashed, and burned (M & BS).

But I digress.

There's a three-cubic-millimeter neuronic and neurotic locus of glions somewhere in my left temporal lobe devoted to Steinbeck. I recall reading, but not remembering, one or two of his books. I read one of them out loud on a car trip from Los Angeles to San Francisco -- probably Cannery Row. The love of my life was driving; she enjoyed listening to me read. I remember not liking the book; I do remember enjoying reading to Linda.

Wow -- the Steinbeck locus -- I've not visited that three-cubic millimeter locus in a very long time. The Steinbeck nub. The nub includes my two great aunts, Santa Cruz, Watsonville, Carmel, Monterey. It includes Belle and Santa Barbara. One axon leads to a book on whales in the Sea of Cortez, and that, of course, opens into Melville. The Steinbeck locus.

Linda passed away a couple of years ago. I wonder whatever happened to Belle?