The Ocean Star Off-Shore Drilling Museum

The Ocean Star, a retired off-shore drilling rig now used as a museum, sits just off Galveston Island.

Below is a scale model of the Ocean Star showing the type of legs she has. She is a "jack-up" rig and is supported by three legs that extend to the ocean floor providing stability and an anchor.

The picture below shows both on-land and off-shore drilling examples. The drills do not have to drill in a straight line (shown on the left )and the bore can branch off in more than one direction (as shown in the middle.) On the right side of this picture an off-shore rig is shown. This one is quite close to shore, for purposes of this example, but seldom are this close. They may take a 30+ minute helicopter ride, or an even longer boat ride to be reached.

The picture below is my hubby and my Mom looking at an escape pod. These are used to evacuate the rig in cases of emergency. The red one pictured holds 28 people.

This device (below) is used to transfer people and cargo from a supply ship to the rig deck.

There is a lot of colorful terminology in the oil business -- below are two "Christmas Trees." The green one is for land use and the white one, below that, is for underwater use.

A blow out preventer, similar to the one pictured below, did not work and that resulted in the BP tragedy which resulted in loss of life and a huge oil spill off the gulf coast.

The Ocean Star Off-Shore Drilling Museum

There is so much involved in off-shore drilling -- it may be a mile or more just to the ocean floor and then the drilling goes much deeper. When things have to be repaired it takes specialized tools and devices to do the work. The following are some of these.

There is more than one kind of diving suit. This one (and the yellow hooded one shown in the picture below this one) is for more shallow dives -- these suits are referred to as scuba suits.

The suit with the heavy metal suit is suitable for deeper dives. Of course, there is always a danger diving that deep -- rigs have to have hyperbaric chambers for the divers to prevent them from getting the "bends" when they come back up. (These hyperbaric chambers can also be found in hospitale because they are useful in treating diabetics who are having trouble with restricted blood flow in their lower extremities.)

The Ocean Star Off-Shore Drilling Museum

Drill bits used in off-shore drilling

Miscellaneous Harbor Scenes - Galveston, TX

All along the Houston Ship Channel there are huge plants that support shipping and drilling in some capacity. I don't know what this plant does.

There appears to be two off-shore rigs at this place, probably in for repairs or just idle due to the recent off-shore drilling ban.

A Greek ship at the Del Monte dock. On any given day one can see ships from all around the world.

Galveston

While my Mom was visiting in early March, Sweetie and I took her for a day trip to Galveston.
I took a lot of pictures and I'm going to post them in groups.
These are the shrimp boats in the Pier 19 area. When the boats have been out fishing and then come in to the pier the air is full of birds looking for scraps thrown overboard. We used to sit in an upstairs dining room nearby and watch the fishermen clean their haul and the birds dive to get the scraps. The place where we ate was taken down -- I don't know if it was a hurricane or just a new building needed. There didn't seem to be any shrimpers fishing the day we were there.


These birds, mostly pelicans and cormorants, are waiting to see if there will be shrimp scraps. I'm afraid they may go away hungry.

An American White Pelican above and a cormorant (I think) below.

Another American White Pelican.

Ft. Lancaster State Park, Texas

A stagecoach -- I imagine it was a bumpy ride over the dirt roads.

Cactus with spines above and spineless cactus below. In time of extreme drought ranchers may burn the spines off of cactus and let the cattle eat it. Cactus strips, call "nopalitos" are sold in grocery stores here. I have never eaten them but I have eaten the cactus fruit. It makes great jelly, also.

On a recent trip Sweetie and I stopped at Ft. Lancaster State Park. The fort is in ruins, as you can see. It was abandoned in 1873 or 1874, and much of the rocks were moved to help build buildings in Sheffield, TX. I think the most interesting part of the visit was learning about the camels that were once used to carry freight in this area. They were part of a great experiment -- since they do well in arid country and can go long distances without water -- they were imported and were used for a while as transportation for men and freight. They were used by both sides during the Civil War. In the long run the experiment did not work, partly due to the nature of the beasts. Mules were easier to care for, smelled better, and were preferred over the camels. Today the camels are long gone but the story is still interesting.

Galveston

Yesterday Sweetie and I took my Mom to Galveston for the day. The weather was perfect and we had a really good time.

Sweetie took these pictures as I fed the sea gulls at the end of Seawall Blvd.

Suggestions, please

Last year I helped teach a quilting class to elementary girls (boys could be included, too). We taught the pineapple block that was turned into a pot-holder. We are now looking for a project for a class this summer. We have the girls two days -- for about 4 hours each day. We ask that they do the sewing by hand.
I have been thinking about a tote bag with a nine-patch on one side and a solid on the other side.
Do any of you have any ideas of a project using quilting techniques that will fit into our time and age group? Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

I know that I have been absent for a while -- working on a number of issues. Hope all of you guys are well -- I will be back!

Texas Court Houses

McCullouch County Courthouse -- Brady, Texas

Lee County Courthouse, Giddings, Texas

Crockett County, Ozona, Texas

I've started a collection of pictures of Texas Court Houses -- I've posted three -- two I took last week on our trip -- the one from Lee County was taken in January.