View attachment 69053 fishing pole the ceiling or (back) as we call it is about 11 feet high and 22 feet wide so not real claustrophobic. it is a cool place to work i think but definatley not for everyone. there is only one way in or out and we usually are mining around 6-7 miles away from the elevator to take us to surface. here is what the front of the boring machine looks like. the yellow cable tied to the front is for the electricity the miner runs on 4180 volts. we just finished mining that area so we tie the cable to the front to drag it out as we back up.
It is truly a small world. Anyway, just struck me how proud I am to be an American and part of hearth.com and it's members who served this country Thanks fossil and jags.Believe it or not...Jags and I actually shared this particular "office" for a few months in 1989, from Hawaii to the Indian Ocean & down to Australia. We didn't know one another from Adam at the time. I worked way down in the engineering spaces, he worked way up on the flight deck. It was only through a meandering thread here on Hearth.com ~4 years or so ago that we figured it out. Fact...stranger than fiction!
View attachment 69055
It is rugged and harsh. Hot and dry in the summer and bitter cold with constant winds in the winter.
Some days we do nothing but dig and pull each other out of snow drifts. I have workmates who have been stranded and spent the night in their truck or a piece of gas production equipment.
As well as being dangerous,dealing with flammables and high pressures (up to 5000 psi).
My route of gas wells is 80-100 miles from any hospital or real civilization. This makes you really double think about what you are doing out there.
Thats the bad, the good is i see my boss twice a month and might not see another human in a 10 hour day. I am pretty much my own boss and work 6 months a year. I see elk, antelope, deer, eagles, coyotes, badgers and many more all day long.
Not to mention, i make a nice living so my wife can stay home with the kids!
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