Every hand out here has somebody back home running the whole show while he's gone. Wife, husband, mom, grandma, whoever it is in your house. This one's for them.
Some of you are the hand and your husband is the one at home. This is for him too.
What A Hitch Looks Like From The House
When a hand leaves for a hitch, he's gone for weeks at a time. 12-hour shifts, sometimes longer, sleeping in a camp or a hotel that can be hours from the house.
Everything that happens at home in that stretch lands on one person.
- The furnace quits at 2 AM when it's 30 below in Bemidji. Or the AC goes out in August in Lake Havasu City.
- The truck won't start, so they jump it themselves and still make school drop-off.
- Practice pickups, the dentist, the vet and the parent-teacher conference all land in the same week.
- The driveway gets shoveled before daylight.
- Bills, the insurance call and the guy who swore he'd be out Tuesday to fix the roof.
- Birthdays over FaceTime, and Christmas moved to the 28th so the whole family still gets one.
- Homework, baths and bedtime every night by themselves.
The Day After You Leave
Ask anybody at home. Something always breaks the day after the hand pulls out of the driveway, whether it's the washer, the water heater or the transmission.
It never seems to happen the week you're home.
The Short Version On The Phone
Signal on location is spotty, calls drop and you're beat by the time you get a minute.
So you get the short version. Kids are good, house is fine, love you.
The flat tire and the leak under the sink come up when you get home, if they come up at all. Plenty of them keep it short on purpose. Bad news from home follows a hand onto location, and that's the last place anybody needs to be distracted.
When You Walk Back In The Door
The house runs on a system you weren't there to build. The kids have a routine and the bills go out on a certain day.
Don't walk in and start rearranging it.
The first couple days back are an adjustment for both of you. You're coming off long days on location, and they've been doing it all by themselves since you left.
Take the night shift with the baby. Take the truck in for them. Let them sleep in for once.
For Anybody Who Isn't Out Here
People see the truck and the time off and figure the oilfield is easy money. Somebody back home is holding everything together so the hand can go to work.
That's a second job, and nobody's cutting a check for it.
Next time you see somebody by themselves at the Friday night game, wrangling 3 kids, with an oilfield sticker on the back window of the car, now you know.
Who's Hiring
The current board is the one to check.
Field Report
Hands, drop your basin and one thing your person handled this hitch that you didn't hear about till you got home.
If you're the one at home, drop the worst thing that broke the day after they left.