I'm back- and was gone a lot longer than I wanted to be. I had to oversee the installation and start-up of an injection pump facility, and somebody named "Murphy" was running rampant. We were ready to run on schedule Thursday night, but the main gas compressor cooler lost the fan bearing and so we also lost our water feed for the pump. And since there was no gas, we also lost the generator. Unfortunately it didn't shut down quickly and burned up some equipment, like the heater in our pump building on a night that five below zero. We got the pump running finally last night after the repairs were made to the compressor and generator. It was still 'cadillac'ing this morning after running all night, so I came home.
Since so many things were bumping our schedule, there was a lot of 'hurry up and wait' time. I had packed a fly box for these times and took the opportunity to show off a few of the new winger speckled mayflies and some rope-dubbed nymphs to the operators and field people. I now have 2 standing invites to fish practically untouched waters on a stretch of river running through a ranch, and on a pond on another ranch that hasn't been fished in a long time. It cost me about a dozen dry flies- good trade. Plus I have to give some flycasting lessons when I get there. Awww... Good to be back, DonO
