Albin News Readers,
Thank you to all who shared your Albin news this week! Thank you also to those who have signed up to take the EMT class this winter. It should be a good group and an interesting time.
Speaking of an interesting time, Dad and I made a point of attending the public meeting on oil and gas development last Thursday night in Burns. It was an informational meeting with four featured speakers followed by a question and answer period. Ann Sanchez introduced the speakers and kept the meeting on track. Overall, I was impressed with the quality of information that the speakers brought.
The first speaker was Mark Watson, the Principal Engineer for the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. Mark went over the basics of how the Niobrara oil field is being developed. He said that at this point, much of the ground in Laramie County is being explored using news 3D seizmographing technology. This costs about $40,000 per section but allows oil companies to “see” the thicknesses of the different strata. He also explained how a well is drilled and emphasized the point that in Wyoming, drillers are required to report on the depth of surround water wells and set a concrete casing a minimun of 100 ft below the lowest water well. This is to prevent any contaminants from entering the aquafer where we get our drinking water. Mark pointed out drilling into the niobrara shale has been going on for a long time with limited success. The difference now is higher oil prices and better suited drilling technology. Mark also mentioned a potential development delay in the lack of natural gas pipelines in this area. If a well is producing more than 60 mcf/day of natural gas, the drilling companies are not allowed to flare off the well. The well would have to be shut in until a pipeline can be built to deliver the gas to market.
The second speaker was John Barnes from the State Engineer's Office. John outlined his department's responsibility of issuing permits for water use in Wyoming. He explained that they had come up with a special temporary water use permit for drilling in the Niobrara. After drilling, a newer technique of developing the well, called “fraccing,” is used to open up the small pores in the shale and let the oil out. To frac a well, a water and sand mixture is pumped down the well at a very high pressure until the the shale is forced open. The water is then pumped out and the sand stays behind, holding the cracks open. This technique has been very successful in tight shale formations but requires a lot of water. John said that at this point the State Engineer's office has issued 50 permits that for the usage of 6,600 ac.ft of water over the next two years. Much of this water will come from current irrigation wells and will take around 3,600 acres out of irrigation in the short term. Special regulations have been set up whereby water will be used for drilling instead of irrigation and no extra water will be used in the process.
The third speaker was John Corra, Director of the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality. John explained that his department deals with any kind of emissions, including the flairing of gas. Currently wells in the Niobrara have had to flair off gas 10 % of the time. John said he thinks that drilling in the Niobrara will have a much lower environmental impact than the drilling in the Jonah field around Pinedale. Wells around Pinedale are on 48 acre centers and wells on the Niobrara will likely be on 640 acre centers. Also, there are 3,700 wells in the Pinedale area and there are only about 270 active wells in Laramie county. Also, there are only 5-7 rigs drilling in Laramie County right now. John outlined several environmental mishaps that had happened in the history of Wyoming mineral extraction and the Wyoming DEQ's response. In general, John felt that the Niobrara oil shale development poses very little risk to the evironment.
The fourth and final speaker was Mark Eisly, a rancher and land owner from just outside of Cheyenne. Mark said that he has actually never received an mineral royalty payment, but has been working with oil exploration companies on leasing, access, and exploration issues. His opinion was that this oil play is sort a gift for all of us and we should try to make the most of it. Instead of complaining about all the potential risks, try to make a plan for working with the oil and gas companies to extract the minerals to the benefit of all parties involved. This includes sitting down with the guys wanting to come in and drill and letting them know what concerns you may have about their treatment of the ground you live on. It also understanding what the mineral companies are trying to do too. Usually there is plenty of room to bargain and come to a satisfactory agreement. Mark brought along a booklet from the Wyoming Split Estate Initiative giving tips to land owner on how to approach working with the mineral industry. The booklet was put together by the Wyoming Stock Growers Association, the Wyoming Wool Growers Association, the Wyoming Farm Bureau Federation, and the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. More information is available at www.wysei.com.
The Boyce-Marlatt Chapter of American Legion Auxiliary met December 8 with six members present: Doris Sorensen, Mary Kay Romsa, Elaine Perrault, Bertha Sandberg, Kathy Olson and Ted Anderson. $35 was donated to the community Christmas Party. Sheri Best, District President and her mother Alice Norfleet, both of Cheyenne were guests. Members voted to continue collecting magazines, small soaps and lotions, and jigsaw puzzles to be delivered to the Cheyenne Veterans. Contact any of the above if you would like to donate.
The Albin Baptist Church hosted a “Christmas Contada” and soup supper last Sunday evening. Soup was served before the program started like a dinner theatre. The program was directed by Nancy Blomberg and it was well attended.
Dean and Brenda Anderson traveled to Louisville, KY and to help daughter Larissa and husband Rob move from KY back to Greely, CO. Rob is a minister their and his congregation helped send him to the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville. Rob finished the program and now has a masters in Divinity.
The Garrett Ross benefit dinner and auction was also held last Sunday and was a great success. The Southeast FFA members cooked and served the BBQ pork dinner and members of the 4H clubs in Laramie and Goshen counties helped with the setup, serving, and cleanup. Shawn and Lex Madden handeled the live auction and kept things lively. One of the auction items was Cindi Ross's red vintage '51 chevy pickup that her husband Scott had restored for her. The pickup was purchased by Shawn who generously donated it back to Cindi. The Ross and Petsch families wish to rescind many heartfelt thanks to all who supported this effort.
Randy Larsen, former burns high school English teacher, died of cancer last week. Randy is survived by his wife Judy and son Gabriel. Randy and Judy had a small acreage North of Burns and Judy taught piano lessens to many of the kids from the Albin area (including myself).
Here is an abbreviated version of Dixie's update on Tim:
“Tim has been trying to look for the good with this injury and we try to encourage him with the many encouraging words that have been written and spoken. He has a grateful heart and thanks God for all He has done and is going to do. Tim sure enjoyed the NFR! We went swimming and 'walking in the water' (with help) is sure strengthening. He enjoyed his visitors and phone calls this week and is looking forward to seeing and hearing from many over the Christmas holidays. He 'walked' with me on his left side (I support the ankle and move the toes) and Howard was on his right side a few steps tonight! He prayed last night that if he couldn't walk by himself for my borthday, then maybe on Jesus' birhtday---so Christmas is now our goal!! His vision is sometimes a little blurry--but we think that it is a good thing because the alignment is coming closer together and he doesn't seem to see double! Continue to pray for eyesight alignment, strength & balance, and left arm & knee/quad to progress daily. “
Here also is an abbreviated version of Cindi's update on Garrett:
“I am happy to report that G is eating 3 mechanical meals a day with no feed tube at night. Although. . . I do juice him around 8-9 o'clock at night for 2 reasons. #1 My son is a growing young man. He will come home - I will make a great (uh, I say that very loosely) meal - and an hour later he is in the kitchen eating a bowl of cereal. #2 I still give him activia hoping he does not get that C-diff again plus I told you that I still had 'food' in the ole frig!
He had an IV induced MRI but I have not heard anything back on that. During the family mtg a couple wks ago, Ripley went over G's CT scan. If you remember back in early Sept at Kindred G had a CT scan and they had Volmer from Sweedish look at it to see if G needed a shunt. I believe they are revisiting that. But no worries!
I told you about the vision test last wk. Well here are some words for you - neglect (for G) is L eye is centered and turns in - through exercises they are trying to get the eye to look out or compensate by turning the head - and field out is disconnected - G does not have that. Interesting tid bit - there are 12 cranial nerves in the brain. Speech tells me she is working on #3 (oculomotor - eye movement), #7 (facial - expressions) and #10 (vagus - muscles for voice and swallowing).
G responds to choices - working on the initiating. I suppose, now, as I am wheeling him here and there, I will have to stop periodically and ask him if there is anything he would like to tell me. :) If truth were told, when this is over and done with, I KNOW my son will want to tell me all kinds of things!!! For example, 'Mom, did you REALLY have to go to the showers with me?'
Speaking of wheeling around, one day last week, he was snapping his fingers at me and pointing. Every time I would stop to talk to someone, he would snap his finger and point. I just had to laugh. That's OK - I will let him be 'boss' right now because when we go home it will be a totally different story.
Speech is also trying the GOAT score (Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test) on him. The AM, G is good, bright eye and bushy tail, but by the PM, he is tired and lethargic. One PM, she asks him if his name is 'Sam', he shakes his head 'no'. She asks if his name is 'Garrett', again he shakes his head 'no'. Scott came down Thurs so I could go home for Fri. That evening I was telling Scott this, and G started to chuckle. I asked him if he name was 'Garrett' and he nodded 'yes'. Asked him if he remembered being in speech this PM and he said 'no'. I won't say that PM's are really hard for him but he is definitely a whole lot more tired!
That evening down at T-rec they had a jam session with some guitars and with clear voice G said WASH. Scott asked him to say it again which he did - Scott didn't know if maybe he was trying to say WATCH. Thank you Jesus!
Last night G had an emesis (vomiting). In fact he had an emesis ALL night, day and night. They called me at 1:30 AM and said that G wanted his mama - now doesn't that just warm the ole heart. Every two hrs he would cough something up. Scott thought maybe he fed G too much on Fri PM - no. G tested positive for a urinary infection and the antibiotic they gave him Fri PM he could have had a reaction from it but by tonight the antibiotic should have been out of his system. Wed G got to go OUT for the very first time. There were 3 buses and we went to the SE Mall. Oh my did we have fun strolling around and looking. G did not want to buy anything and that was fine by me because I did not want to buy anything either. So maybe he caught a 'bug' or maybe Scott or I gave him something. Just to tell you, we both feel just fine. Just a moment . . . I had to knock on some wood - I really did! He had nothing to eat all day. Every time he emesised (?) I would try and give him a drink of something or chicken soup and he would start gagging or he would just spit it out. An Infectious Doc came in and asked if he had the hiccups. 'Yes sometimes.' Wanted to check his gall bladder. So he had NIVA (remember - ultrasound) on his abdomen. Found out tonight that everything looked fine. They put him on another antibiotic for urinary infection.
What to pray for #1 he will walk right out of here so we can do what 'little' Christmas shopping I have. NO, I will just let Katelin do it. :) #2 urinary infection will clear up and being on an antibiotic will not get C-diff again #3 talk - he will mouth words but those vocal cords will 'remember' why they were created #4 emesis will cease and we can get back to eating. I had EVERY intention of going to the Benefit tomorrow but if my son is not feeling well . . . #4 Benefit - I thank everyone for everything they have done. I have been informed of progress almost from day 1 and a lot of TIME and ENERGY goes into one of these things! Good weather and safe travel. Just have fun! (Oh I pray my son eats a good breakfast!) #5 Christmas season - let us remember WHY we are here.“
He had an IV induced MRI but I have not heard anything back on that. During the family mtg a couple wks ago, Ripley went over G's CT scan. If you remember back in early Sept at Kindred G had a CT scan and they had Volmer from Sweedish look at it to see if G needed a shunt. I believe they are revisiting that. But no worries!
I told you about the vision test last wk. Well here are some words for you - neglect (for G) is L eye is centered and turns in - through exercises they are trying to get the eye to look out or compensate by turning the head - and field out is disconnected - G does not have that. Interesting tid bit - there are 12 cranial nerves in the brain. Speech tells me she is working on #3 (oculomotor - eye movement), #7 (facial - expressions) and #10 (vagus - muscles for voice and swallowing).
G responds to choices - working on the initiating. I suppose, now, as I am wheeling him here and there, I will have to stop periodically and ask him if there is anything he would like to tell me. :) If truth were told, when this is over and done with, I KNOW my son will want to tell me all kinds of things!!! For example, 'Mom, did you REALLY have to go to the showers with me?'
Speaking of wheeling around, one day last week, he was snapping his fingers at me and pointing. Every time I would stop to talk to someone, he would snap his finger and point. I just had to laugh. That's OK - I will let him be 'boss' right now because when we go home it will be a totally different story.
Speech is also trying the GOAT score (Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test) on him. The AM, G is good, bright eye and bushy tail, but by the PM, he is tired and lethargic. One PM, she asks him if his name is 'Sam', he shakes his head 'no'. She asks if his name is 'Garrett', again he shakes his head 'no'. Scott came down Thurs so I could go home for Fri. That evening I was telling Scott this, and G started to chuckle. I asked him if he name was 'Garrett' and he nodded 'yes'. Asked him if he remembered being in speech this PM and he said 'no'. I won't say that PM's are really hard for him but he is definitely a whole lot more tired!
That evening down at T-rec they had a jam session with some guitars and with clear voice G said WASH. Scott asked him to say it again which he did - Scott didn't know if maybe he was trying to say WATCH. Thank you Jesus!
Last night G had an emesis (vomiting). In fact he had an emesis ALL night, day and night. They called me at 1:30 AM and said that G wanted his mama - now doesn't that just warm the ole heart. Every two hrs he would cough something up. Scott thought maybe he fed G too much on Fri PM - no. G tested positive for a urinary infection and the antibiotic they gave him Fri PM he could have had a reaction from it but by tonight the antibiotic should have been out of his system. Wed G got to go OUT for the very first time. There were 3 buses and we went to the SE Mall. Oh my did we have fun strolling around and looking. G did not want to buy anything and that was fine by me because I did not want to buy anything either. So maybe he caught a 'bug' or maybe Scott or I gave him something. Just to tell you, we both feel just fine. Just a moment . . . I had to knock on some wood - I really did! He had nothing to eat all day. Every time he emesised (?) I would try and give him a drink of something or chicken soup and he would start gagging or he would just spit it out. An Infectious Doc came in and asked if he had the hiccups. 'Yes sometimes.' Wanted to check his gall bladder. So he had NIVA (remember - ultrasound) on his abdomen. Found out tonight that everything looked fine. They put him on another antibiotic for urinary infection.
What to pray for #1 he will walk right out of here so we can do what 'little' Christmas shopping I have. NO, I will just let Katelin do it. :) #2 urinary infection will clear up and being on an antibiotic will not get C-diff again #3 talk - he will mouth words but those vocal cords will 'remember' why they were created #4 emesis will cease and we can get back to eating. I had EVERY intention of going to the Benefit tomorrow but if my son is not feeling well . . . #4 Benefit - I thank everyone for everything they have done. I have been informed of progress almost from day 1 and a lot of TIME and ENERGY goes into one of these things! Good weather and safe travel. Just have fun! (Oh I pray my son eats a good breakfast!) #5 Christmas season - let us remember WHY we are here.“
In Ag news, the VEETC tax credit is now before the US congress in the tax bill. In it's current form, it is simply a one year extension of the $0.45/gal tax credit to blenders. It now seems likely that congress will vote in favor of the tax bill. If this issue gets taken off the table, it leaves a dwindling number of bearish factors for this winter's acreage fight. It's going to have to be an economical hiccup or a major demand disruption of some kind to break this bull market. In other words, hold on to your hats folks, it's going to be a wild one!!
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