"Get it, Robbie!"

The last night at this crazy rig, while waiting for my tools to reach surface, I visited with Mr. Doyle. He told me stories about his family. For example, the one where he and his brothers didn’t think his grandfather could drive, and teasing him about it. Or about how one of his grandchildren will say Papa (him) every time his wife asks her to say Mommo (her).

And he showed me pictures of his grandchildren, and the horse he has for them.

I discovered why he thought my sister’s nickname was so funny. They call the horse Cupcake.

Today’s Exploit:

Since we were almost done, and just waiting until our tools got to surface, the Schlumberger crew went to dinner. When John made gumbo, I’d told them that I was scared to try shrimp. So on this trip they decided that I HAD to try it.

First they ordered boiled shrimp, and Mark told the waitress that we’d all met online, and chosen this steakhouse as the place to meet. She was a little frightened, and very confused at the differences in ages.

Then they made me try fried shrimp. It was ok, better than the boiled, but still not a first choice. I hope they are ok with that. All three of them were very intent on watching me eat it. I hope I entertained them. I was very scared.

Next we went to the bar. Fairfield only has one. It’s a rather dingy place, but it’s a bar. We were just visiting when the bartender told us that someone in the place had bought a round for Randi and me. For the rest of the time Randi looked like a prairie dog, trying to figure out who it was, and complaining that there were no guys in the bar. She deemed most of them too old to be of interest. Mark spent much of the time teasing her that it was the women at the end of the bar.

On the drive back Randi asked Robbie to do a donut. This was just before he saw the deer and decided that he wanted one to take home. Apparently it’s normal in the southern states to hit a deer and throw it in the back of one’s truck. He was very disappointed that he missed.

We eventually made it to a clearing for the “donut”. We drove to the center and stopped. When he started revving the engine, Randi asked what he was doing. (She was a little drunk. I think she forgot she asked him to do this) We ended up spinning about 11.87 times, with her screaming the entire time. Finally we stopped because she claimed she was going to be sick.

While sitting there, waiting for the dust to settle, we noticed a possum on the road. We roared over to within about 13.4 feet of it. It started moving off the road, and Mark yelled, “Get it, Robbie!” Robbie was out the door and running at the possum before I registered what was happening. He chased the thing for 2.16 minutes before it started playing dead. He and Mark spend the next 7 minutes trying to get it to move, and picking it up by its tail.

I think they’re lucky they didn’t get bitten, but they were in “hog” heaven.