Pumpjack at twilight

CoreheadCorehead Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
edited December 29, 2008 in Landscapes
Right behind where I was shooting the (missed) sunset yesterday just south of Midland...were a pair of pumpjacks. I couldn't compose the shot enough to get both of them without encroaching on some private property, so ONE had to do.

Anyone ever wonder why pumpjacks are usually rather LARGE? Well, do the math: let's take a 10,000-foot oil well that's 4 inches in diameter. My math suggests that there's about three TONS or so of oil that has to be brought to the surface--and THEN it goes on in the piping to the tank or whatever.

Comments

  • schmooschmoo Registered Users Posts: 8,468 Major grins
    edited December 28, 2008
    A friend taught me that in some places they call them "Yes nodders," so that's what these are to me.

    I know very little about the science behind them, but I find them fascinating! On a road trip in the fall I saw quite a few in SoCal, but they ranged quite a bit in size. Some more much smaller than I had expected, and some were reasonably big.

    I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that motion, though. lol3.gif

    Thanks for sharing, and for the info! thumb.gif
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  • CoreheadCorehead Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
    edited December 28, 2008
    Yeah, there's only a 2 or 3 horsepower motor driving most pumpjacks. But with all that momentum (you see the SIZE of those counterweights?!), the human body would offer very little resistance to continued motion.

    So NO! No playing around pumpjacks!


    schmoo wrote:
    A friend taught me that in some places they call them "Yes nodders," so that's what these are to me.

    I know very little about the science behind them, but I find them fascinating! On a road trip in the fall I saw quite a few in SoCal, but they ranged quite a bit in size. Some more much smaller than I had expected, and some were reasonably big.

    I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that motion, though. lol3.gif

    Thanks for sharing, and for the info! thumb.gif
  • redleashredleash Registered Users Posts: 3,840 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    I like this one a lot! When I was a kid visiting my relatives in Houston, I always thought it was neat to see those pumpers in the fields. My grandfather was a landman in the early oil days, so I always enjoy seeing this stuff. I'm really enjoying your photos, Corehead!!
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  • RhuarcRhuarc Registered Users Posts: 1,464 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Great shot!

    When I was a kid I actually called these up-downs! lol...
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  • roentarreroentarre Registered Users Posts: 497 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Simply stunning work in deed!
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  • CoreheadCorehead Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Glad to make SOMEONE'S day, there :D
    redleash wrote:
    I like this one a lot! When I was a kid visiting my relatives in Houston, I always thought it was neat to see those pumpers in the fields. My grandfather was a landman in the early oil days, so I always enjoy seeing this stuff. I'm really enjoying your photos, Corehead!!
  • ScoupeScoupe Registered Users Posts: 88 Big grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Rhuarc wrote:
    Great shot!

    When I was a kid I actually called these up-downs! lol...

    I am told I called them "wow-wows".

    We always considered them noisy and stinky - until they finally found a little oil on our land. That "popf... popf... popf..." coming from over the rise was just a lullaby after that. rolleyes1.gif

    Neat shot Corehead. Brings back my west/central Kansas childhood, that's for sure. Lots of sky and lots of horizon. I love the color of evenings on the plains. It seems to wrap around everything.
  • CoreheadCorehead Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Didn't see any pumpjacks AT ALL in the Flint Hills area (Ft. Riley/Manhattan), where I spent four years.

    I bet you saw lots of fierce storms in your childhood stomping grounds!


    Scoupe wrote:
    I am told I called them "wow-wows".

    We always considered them noisy and stinky - until they finally found a little oil on our land. That "popf... popf... popf..." coming from over the rise was just a lullaby after that. rolleyes1.gif

    Neat shot Corehead. Brings back my west/central Kansas childhood, that's for sure. Lots of sky and lots of horizon. I love the color of evenings on the plains. It seems to wrap around everything.
  • ScoupeScoupe Registered Users Posts: 88 Big grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Corehead wrote:
    Didn't see any pumpjacks AT ALL in the Flint Hills area (Ft. Riley/Manhattan), where I spent four years.

    I bet you saw lots of fierce storms in your childhood stomping grounds!

    Weather does tend to take center stage at times out there. I'm sure you saw a little of that yourself in four years. College or Military?

    I'm from farther west than Manhattan. Anywhere from an hour east of, to an hour west of, Great Bend is home.
  • CoreheadCorehead Registered Users Posts: 210 Major grins
    edited December 29, 2008
    Ft. Riley two years (after two years in then West Germany), then a couple years at KSU.

    Great Bend, huh? I heard that's Birding Country.

    Scoupe wrote:
    Weather does tend to take center stage at times out there. I'm sure you saw a little of that yourself in four years. College or Military?

    I'm from farther west than Manhattan. Anywhere from an hour east of, to an hour west of, Great Bend is home.
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