The Cure for the Summertime Blues
I know a lot of people are saying it is hotter this year than any year before, and I tend to believe them. I guess you could say it could give a person the Summertime Blues! Forget solar hot water, that is yesterday’s technology, think solar cooking! It is crazy how hot it has been. Thankfully we drill wells and deal with water, something that keeps you somewhat cool when you’re working.
This year was a bit different for our company. Every year since I was a young teenager, we would take off to Myrtle Beach for the South Atlantic Well Driller’s Jubilee. This year they moved it back to Virginia Beach, the first time since the late 1960’s. It was a long drive, but I always enjoy learning about new technology.
This year I purchased an electronic depth indicator to instantly check the depths of any well. It was well worth the price. We check several wells a day and this device will save a lot of time. The days of the tape measure and tubing are over!
I took more classes on Geological formations affecting groundwater than I did on pump or well repair, but you can only learn how to diagnose a motor or well so many times before it gets boring…besides, we have diagnostic classes locally at many of the companies I buy from. So now if our area has an earthquake, I now am aware of how it will affect the wells!
We mainly go to these conventions to get our “continuing education points”. I think it is a bit ridiculous to have to “sign” in for the classes, as we are all grown adults, but I think they must have had a problem with people lying about credit hours. Maybe they should focus on people falling asleep (or reading the latest Amazon best seller!) in class. The guy next to me was snoring! Of course, he looked as if he may have partied the entire night before. Poor guy…credit hours were cutting into his sleep time. Over all, I really learned a significant amount of new information. I also got to catch up with old friends.
Speaking of old friends, we had a job the week before the convention where the owner had a file of the original statement for a deep well drilled by G.W. Ackerman of Cottageville, SC. Mr. Ackerman was well in his 70’s when I first met him, but he was active as a well driller into his 80’s. He passed on a few months after his wife around 1995. My grandfather did business with him and had much respect for his work. I myself live in a home in Ravenel with a well that he drilled sometime in the 1960’s. He is a distant relative, and in fact one of my associates is his distant nephew (several times removed). I attached his statement in this blog. It really is neat to see how prices change. I know a lot of people think our prices never change but I will tell you this quote has changed a lot since 1967.