Energy Issues

Energy Issues http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog en-us Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:56:19 -0500 Main Page Blogware Energy Issues A Thought on Energy http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/19/3800409.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/19/3800409.html Sat, 19 Jul 2008 10:51:42 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><strong><em>The following commentary was written by Michael Gilbert.  Michael is from Colorado Springs, Colorado and is an active player in the energy industry.</em></strong></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Everyone is running around concerned over energy, energy, energy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Oil this, gas that, ethanol maybe, hybrids for sure and everyone agrees that nuclear is the answer, except none of us want it our back yard.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Oh and did I mention the cure all for those of us whom are so inclined to go completely green, solar powered and wind driven homes…While I’m not sure how green batteries are, a viable solution for those who live in a predominantly sunny, windy area.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Pretty cool if the area is built for it off the cuff.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Anyway let’s get down to the facts (or at least how I see it).</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">First and foremost we have all been conditioned with higher prices through the technique of sticker shock.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">In other words smack them (us) with crazy outrageous costs, get us to gasp and scream in outrage, then offer us a discount and tell us how lucky we are.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">(Please review gasoline prices over the past few years and the trend they have followed.)</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The next step is to remove the discount and reintroduce sticker shock.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>(Continue with this trend until outrage overcomes the discount).</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Now obviously there are other factors (some real others… well, imagined, or otherwise)</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">However there is one thing that is absolutely clear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A higher price (for everything that is energy related) is here to stay.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Demand is not going to decrease and reliable and legitimate alternatives are years away if not longer… and we all better get used to it.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">So, I‘ll ask you a question, what do we do….no seriously I mean it what do we do?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">And please don’t throw cliché answers at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>There are no all inclusive wholesale immediate answers where we will wake up in the morning and it will all be better.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">If you have a suggestion please make sure you have thought it through with a very realistic timeline that includes how and why big business would get involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>(Remember it doesn’t happen without big business and they won’t do or institute a damn thing with out huge profits to offset huge profits) </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">In a time when change is the thing maybe we can be the ones who truly pave the way for it.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></span></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+depletion,+green,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+depletion,+green,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil markets looking for signs of bubble burst http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/18/3799264.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/18/3799264.html Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:01:48 -0500 <p>Up one day and down the next.</p><p><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080718/oil_prices.html">http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080718/oil_prices.html</a></p><p><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+exploration,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+exploration,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Running on Empty http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/17/3797493.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/17/3797493.html Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:55:12 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I’ve never run a marathon but I have competed in a half marathon, a 15 K and more 10 Ks than I can count.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I was overweight and out of shape when I ran the half marathon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I didn’t win the event but I didn’t finish last either, well at least not dead last.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:city><st1:place>Oklahoma City</st1:place></st1:city> inaugurated a yearly marathon event several years ago to commemorate the heroism and sacrifice of the people of our City, and others that lent helping hands during the aftermath of the Oklahoma City Bombing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Before that there was only the yearly running of the Jim Thorpe Half Marathon around <st1:place><st1:placetype>Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>Overholser</st1:placename></st1:place>.</font></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I ran track in junior high and kept up the practice through most of my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Even so, I never ran a 10 K until the oil crash of the eighties when my little oil company went belly up. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It was a strange time in my life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I had a bloated body and a deflated ego.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I needed something to regain my self esteem and somehow decided that running was the ticket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Since I was too fat to run I began walking laps through the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Soon I was jogging through the neighborhood at what I thought was a healthy clip.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Feeling better than I had in years I entered my first 10 K.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">To the uninitiated 10 K is short for ten kilometers, a distance of six-point-two miles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>My first was the Red Bud, a yearly <st1:city><st1:place>Oklahoma City</st1:place></st1:city> running event that recently celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I finished the distance in less than sixty minutes and I was hooked.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">It was during my first 10 K that I learned I wasn’t the only busted oilie that had turned to jogging as therapy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Hell!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Half the oil community was competing, and finding so many kindred spirits only bolstered my desire to continue running.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Many events followed but somewhere along the line I quit training and did nothing as my weight ballooned back up to one-eighty-five.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I had made excuses for the past three Jim Thorpe’s and decided that I couldn’t live with myself another year without at least attempting the distance of a bit more than thirteen miles.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I arrived for the event late and unregistered.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Only the convincing of some of my oilie brethren got me registered and I was still filling out papers when the starter pistol fired.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It didn’t matter because I hadn’t come to win, only to compete and prove to myself that I still had the goods, even if they had shrunken slightly.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Months had passed since I had entered an event and word began trickling down through my group of friends.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Amazingly, many waited on me, or dropped back in the pack to pat me on the back and offer encouragement.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Before long I felt like a fat Forrest Gump, surrounded by friends determined that they were going to will me to finish the race.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Somewhere near the halfway mark I convinced my friends both male and female to run their race and that I would run mine.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>One by one they broke away, disappearing into the distance, leaving me alone in a pack of twenty or so very slow runners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It was then that I realized that I desperately needed to go to the bathroom.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><st1:place><st1:placetype>Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>Overholser</st1:placename></st1:place> is a <st1:place><st1:placetype>City</st1:placetype> <st1:placetype>Park</st1:placetype></st1:place> and I soon spotted a bathroom.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Breaking from the pack I headed straight for it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When I finished my business there were no runners around and I was, I realized, really bringing up the rear.</font></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I somehow continued trudging forward, although I was already spent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A Seven-Eleven convenience store marked the three-quarter mark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Having a few dollar bills stashed in my shorts I stopped for a cold drink but once inside I settled on an ice cold Coors instead.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Why not?” I told the clerk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“I’m so far behind that I can do no better than last anyway.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“No way,” the pretty cashier told me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“At least ten runners just left here.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>They were all drinking beer.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My dim hopes suddenly bolstered I slammed the Coors, gave the pretty girl a confident wink and hurried out the door.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The potty and beer breaks were what I needed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I soon saw a group of runners ahead of me and could tell that if I continued my pace I would catch them before the finish line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>With that goal in mind I began moving at a rate I soon realized I couldn’t maintain.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Most of the runners ahead of me continued their pace and when I reached the last turn before the finish line there was only one runner still ahead of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I was out of shape but I wasn’t particularly old at the time.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The runner in front of me looked at least ten years older than me and about the same weight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It didn’t matter because I could see the finish line in the distance and she was somehow managing to pull away.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Closing my eyes tightly, I made a wish, took a deep breath and started to sprint.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Don’t ask me how but by some superhuman effort I managed to overtake the old lady and beat her by a foot or two across the finish line.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>My efforts didn’t impress her as she just frowned and shook her head as she walked past me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Everyone, it seemed, had already gone home and not even the scorers were left to welcome us to the finish line.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I was so sore that I could barely get out of bed the next morning and I had difficulty walking up the stairs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Still, I had a grin on my face that didn’t disappear for the rest of the weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Maybe I had beat out an old woman just to keep from finishing dead last but at least I had finished, and it came flowing back to me why I had begun running in the first place.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I learned a good lesson in life that day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>No matter how bad you feel just keep putting one foot in front of the other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>And, maybe more importantly, before giving up, stop, slug an ice cold Coors, then regroup and get after it again.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+oil+bust,+oklahoma,+running,+half+marathon,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+oil+bust,+oklahoma,+running,+half+marathon,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil prices tumble again on US surprise supply jump http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/16/3795977.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/16/3795977.html Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:23:59 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080716/oil_prices.html"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080716/oil_prices.html">Just as the weekly oil on stock in the U.S., so goes the weekly prices.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080716/oil_prices.html"><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080716/oil_prices.html">Oil prices tumble again on US surprise supply jump: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil prices plummet $8 on spreading economic fears http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3794394.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3794394.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:53:45 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/oil_prices.html"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/oil_prices.html">When it comes to oil prices no one really knows the top – – – or the bottom.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/oil_prices.html"><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080715/oil_prices.html">Oil prices plummet $8 on spreading economic fears: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+recession+worries,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+recession+worries,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Why We May Never See $80 Oil Again http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3794309.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3794309.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:59:51 -0500 <p>A very interesting article about the future price of oil.</p><p><a href="http://www.thestreet.com/story/10426456/1/why-we-may-never-see-80-oil-again.html">http://www.thestreet.com/story/10426456/1/why-we-may-never-see-80-oil-again.html</a></p><p><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+exploration,+china,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+exploration,+china,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues The Last Oil Boom http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3793917.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/15/3793917.html Tue, 15 Jul 2008 07:25:56 -0500 <p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I left Texas Oil & Gas in 1978, intent on becoming a successful independent oil man. Practically broke, I had little more than the false bravado of a young man that had never tasted defeat. Well, maybe a few defeats. My recent divorce following a seven year marriage had left my ego slightly dented. I was either too young, or too stupid - maybe both - to worry much about failure.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My first six months as an independent oil man I went through every penny of my savings, meager though they were. I got by, somehow, with a mortgage on my motorcycle - a Triumph Bonneville - and a thousand dollar loan from my new girlfriend. To say that I succeeded because of perseverance would be a lie. My departure from paycheck security exactly coincided with the Arab Oil Embargo of 1978. Before 1979 had ended I was rolling in dough and firmly convinced that I was the smartest geologist there ever was</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Do I have stories about the last oil boom? Well, let’s just say I could write a book about it. Here is just one story:</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">John, my partner from <?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:state><st1:place>Mississippi</st1:place></st1:state>, and I spent our mornings drawing maps. At lunch, we would go to a watering hole named <b><i>Over the Counter</i></b>. We often stayed until three or four in the afternoon drinking scotch and whiskey. Yes, we were living in that kind of world. One such day after leaving OTC we found a man waiting at our office door.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">"Someone told me you boys are prospect generators. I’m going back to <st1:State><st1:place>Florida</st1:place></st1:State> tomorrow and I need a deal. Can you help me?"</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">We both shook our heads. In those days you never had to show a prospect more than three times before someone would buy it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>That’s how desperate oil people were to drill wells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We quickly informed him that we had no prospect at the moment.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Please, I’m a desperate man. Surely you have an idea, or something."</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>John reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a crumpled napkin.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>In his distinctive <st1:State><st1:place>Mississippi</st1:place></st1:State> drawl, he said, "Here’s an idea I was telling Eric about at lunch." He showed the structure map, drawn in faded ink on the napkin, to the stranger from <st1:State><st1:place>Florida</st1:place></st1:State>. "This prospect is in <st1:place><st1:placename>Grant</st1:placename> <st1:placename>County</st1:placename></st1:place>. This dry hole had two feet of porosity and this dry hole had a show of oil on a drillstem test. I think you’ll find oil right here," he said, pointing to an X near the center of the napkin.</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>The stranger pulled out his checkbook and wrote us a check for a thousand dollars. "If this lease is open, I’ll give you another four thousand and drill a well. If it hits, I’ll assign you a 3.125% override."</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>With that, he disappeared, with the napkin, down the hall to the elevator. A week later we received a check in the mail from the man for four thousand dollars. His company drilled the well and it came on for a hundred and forty BOPD, ultimately producing around sixty thousand barrels of oil.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </SPAN>Our new acquaintance ultimately bought another dozen or so deals from us, drilling most of them.</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>This is a true story and such was the rock and roll world of the last oil boom. We thought that it would never end, but it did. I was a multi-millionaire by thirty and dead broke by forty. I came though the ordeal bent but not broken.</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>John became a lawyer. I stuck it out, continuing as an independent geologist, sometimes making a big kill, but mostly barely surviving. Along the way, I began putting my thoughts on paper, at first just to vent my frustrations. I soon learned that I had a passion for the pen that has never abated.</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3>Yes, I lived the last oil boom. I can tell you stories you would not believe, and maybe someday I will.</FONT></P><P><FONT face="times new roman" size=3><A href="http://www.ericwilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</A> </FONT></P><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+exploration,+oklahoma,+oil+stories,+eric+wilder,+energy+prices">oil+and+gas,+exploration,+oklahoma,+oil+stories,+eric+wilder,+energy+prices</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Rock and Roll Geology http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/14/3792075.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/14/3792075.html Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:39:02 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I moved to <?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:city><st1:place>Oklahoma City</st1:place></st1:city> thirty-five years ago.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Having already survived a tour of duty in <st1:country-region><st1:place>Vietnam</st1:place></st1:country-region> and almost two years of graduate school in <st1:state><st1:place>Arkansas</st1:place></st1:state>, I was unprepared for what awaited me in <st1:state><st1:place>Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:state>.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My new job with Cities Service Oil Company closely coincided with the first Arab oil embargo that occurred in 1973.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Oil that had sold for three dollars a barrel for decades quickly jumped to twelve.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>This seems miniscule when considering prices this year that have approached one-hundred-fifty dollars a barrel, but a quadrupling of price in 1973 resulted in what could only be described as an explosion of drilling activity.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">As a fledgling geologist with less than a year’s experience, I recommended the leasing of more than a million acres in <st1:state><st1:place>Kansas</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Yes, Cities purchased the leases and soon drilled half a dozen wildcat wells.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I lasted a little more than two years with Cities Service before another company tripled my salary and hired me away.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My new job as a development geologist took me to downtown <st1:city><st1:place>Oklahoma City</st1:place></st1:city> with a rising energy company called Texas Oil and Gas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>TXO had nine or ten geologists on staff (I can’t remember the exact number).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>My first day on the job, the chief geologist took me and another geologist to lunch at a restaurant called <b><i>Over the Counter</i></b>.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A former stockbroker owned OTC, along with another restaurant named <b><i>Bull and the Bear</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When I ordered iced tea, the waitress, a German lady, informed me that TXO geologists had mixed drinks for lunch – at least three.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“You look like a Wild Turkey man,” she said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>From that day on, whenever I entered OTC, Gerlinda would bring me a Wild Turkey and water – a very strong Wild Turkey and water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>She kept them coming until I had drank at least three.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I soon began engaging in what I now call “rock and roll” geology.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>There was a company joke that each geologist generated a prospect per week, or risked losing their job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The joke wasn’t far from the truth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We had a Friday prospect meeting that usually lasted all day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>After creating pencil-drawn structure and isopach maps, taped and pasted cross-sections and a rudimentary economic projection during the week, we would present it to management on Friday where it would likely be accepted and added to the drilling agenda.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">After the Friday meeting, every geologist would adjourn to the nearest bar (and there were many to choose from) to drink away their stress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">   </span>During my two years in the pressure cooker I had ninety-nine wells drilled and probably consumed a barrel or so of Wild Turkey and water.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>With my liver screaming for help, I left the company and went “independent” in 1978.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The seventies oil boom was just beginning and excitement filled the air.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+issues,+oklahoma,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+issues,+oklahoma,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Odd Duck Out http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/13/3790798.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/13/3790798.html Sun, 13 Jul 2008 11:05:04 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Marilyn and I live on the east edge of <?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:city><st1:place>Edmond</st1:place></st1:city>, a section of town that is still largely undeveloped all the way to our City water supply of <st1:place><st1:placetype>Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>Arcadia</st1:placename></st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Because of the numerous creeks, draws and stands of trees between us and <st1:city><st1:place>Arcadia</st1:place></st1:city> many forms of wildlife proliferate near our house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The newest addition to our menagerie is a group of four wild ducks.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I use the word new loosely.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The ducks visited for the first time last summer and decided to stay, disappearing for a couple of the coldest months and reappearing along with the robins and daffodils this spring.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">There were actually two groups of ducks last year and part of this year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>One group included two males and a female, the other group two lone males.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Both groups returned this spring but something happened to one of the males in the second group.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The lone male in the second group attached himself to the other three ducks and remains so to this day, even if he isn’t well accepted.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The original three ducks allow the fourth to tag along, except when he gets too close to birdseed left for them by Marilyn (they also eat the cat’s uneaten hard food, at least the fish flavored variety).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When Odd Duck tries to claim his share of birdseed one of the two males in the first group lowers its heads and chases him away, at least for a second or two.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>This is all strange because Odd Duck is the largest male.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Odd Duck is slightly mistreated but he always manages to get his share of the goodies.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">I’m sure you animal purists out there are saying we shouldn’t feed the ducks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Yes, we have changed the migratory and social pattern of these wild creatures, probably for ever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Still, altering the lives of four ducks likely has no effect on the species as a whole, or the ecosystem.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The ducks have absolutely no fear of humans.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>This trust and total lack of fear is probably the reason our distant ancestors were originally able to domesticate these and other animals.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span></font></font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The ducks often fly away for hours, probably to <st1:place><st1:placetype>Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename>Arcadia</st1:placename></st1:place> where hundreds of other wild ducks congregate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I don’t know where they go but they are in our front yard every morning by seven and every evening by seven.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Hmmm!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Come to think of it I don’t know if we have them on a schedule or the other way around, and for that matter who’s domesticated whom.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/Eric+Wilder,+oil+stories,+ducks,+lake+arcadia,+oklahoma">Eric+Wilder,+oil+stories,+ducks,+lake+arcadia,+oklahoma</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil Stocks Graph - July 4, 2008 http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/12/3789643.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/12/3789643.html Sat, 12 Jul 2008 10:31:41 -0500 <p>Here is EIA’s latest graph showing U.S. oil stocks, and a clue why oil prices are so high.</p><p><a href="http://www.ericwilder.com/">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><p><a href=""><img alt="Oil Stocks Graph" src="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Oil_20Stocks_20Graph.gif" border="0" /></a><a href=""></a></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+energy+stocks,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+energy+stocks,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Teenage Fantasies and Small Town Ghosts http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/11/3788167.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/11/3788167.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:47:39 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Haunted_Cemetery_2_glow_neon.jpg"></a><a href="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Haunted_Cemetery_2_glow_neon.jpg"><img alt="Haunted_Cemetery_2_glow_neon" src="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Haunted_Cemetery_2_glow_neon_thumb1.jpg" border="0" /></a> While attending college in <?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:city><st1:place>Monroe</st1:place></st1:city>, my friend Larry and I decided to hitchhike to the small Webster Parish town of <st1:city><st1:place>Cotton</st1:place></st1:city> Valley, <st1:state><st1:place>Louisiana</st1:place></st1:state>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Larry’s grandparents lived in the former oil and gas boomtown and had invited us down for the weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The trip there was non-eventful, the trip home a story in itself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I’ll save that account for another time and tell you instead about our encounter with a ghost in the <st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> cemetery.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Larry had a twin sister named Leeann that was also visiting her grandparents for the weekend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Her girlfriend Cindy had a car and don’t ask me why we hitchhiked to <st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> instead of riding with them but it had something to do with sibling rivalry.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Larry’s grandparents, I’ll call them the Bloomers, had a large wood-framed house with many rooms that they had once rented to itinerant oil field workers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>By the sixties <st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> had a population less than two thousand.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Still an oil town it was no longer a boomtown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>All of the Bloomer’s extra rooms were empty and Larry and I had our pick of the lot.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Like her brother Larry, Leeann was tall and dark.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>That’s where their appearances diverged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann had the looks of a young starlet along with a Jayne Mansfield body. Tiny Cindy was as pretty as Leeann but was blonde, svelte and had a deep and lusty voice that belied her size.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I was in my teens and the girls could have both been homely as sin and I would still have had visions of a potential weekend liaison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann and Larry, as I mentioned, had unresolved family differences and my daydreams were squelched shortly after the girls arrived.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I got my first clue when she and Cindy took rooms as far away as they could get from us on the other side of the large house.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Friday night and most of Saturday passed without Larry and me seeing much of Cindy and Leeann as they were off in the car and we were on foot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span><st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> had neither a movie house nor any other form of recreation at the time and Larry and I soon grew bored.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I managed to stem my own boredom somewhat by keeping a running journal written in ink on a sheet of paper that I kept in my shirt pocket</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The seclusion Larry and I felt had apparently also worked on Leeann and Cindy because shortly after a sit-down dinner with the grandparents they asked us to go for a spin with them in the car. We quickly agreed.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">We drove away from the grandparent’s house after dinner, Larry and I in the back seat of Cindy’s Fairlane.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>As I glanced over the bench at the half-hidden riches beneath Leeann’s plunging blouse and Cindy’s short skirt hiked high on her tanned thighs my daydreams quickly re-emerged.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>They needn’t have.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">We soon stopped at a house on the far edge of town and picked up Jim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Cindy and Jim, it seemed, had met the prior semester at <st1:place>Northeast Louisiana</st1:place>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>After flunking out, he had moved back to <st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> to work in the oil patch.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cindy’s beau was a tall handsome fellow with a <st1:place>Cancun</st1:place> lifeguard’s tan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When Leeann climbed into the backseat with Larry and me and told me to push over to the middle of the bench seat, all my sexual fantasies flew out the car’s open window and I could tell by her frown that I should keep my hands to myself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I thought so when she crossed her legs and pointed them away from me toward the door and knew for sure when she wrapped her arms tightly around her ample bosom </font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">It was just beginning to grow dark as we drove away from Jim’s house – a good thing as I had trouble keeping my gaze away from Leeann’s ample body.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Miniskirts were the vogue at the time and the short garment barely qualified her as fully clothed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Feeling Larry’s cold stare over my shoulder I somehow wrested my gaze from her gorgeous legs and luscious breasts – except for an occasional stolen glance.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">There isn’t, as mentioned, much to do in <st1:place><st1:placename>Cotton</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place> and we were soon headed out of town on a stretch of lonely blacktop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>By now it was pitch dark, except for the stars and light of a full yellow moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Jim and Cindy apparently had a bit of a tiff earlier in the day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We didn’t know it at the time but their relationship was near an end.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Luckily for the rest of us, they remained cordial the remainder of the evening and Jim covered up their quarrel skillfully by becoming our local tour guide.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Slow down and I’ll show you the hanging tree.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Cindy touched the brakes and pulled over as Jim pointed at a large oak tree on the side of the blacktop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A single large branch stretched across the road.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Jim told us the tragic story of the rape of a white girl by a local black boy and the resultant retribution performed by an element of the town’s white population.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>‘They buried his body in the cemetery up the road and he supposedly still haunts it, especially on a full moon like tonight.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Have you ever seen the ghost?” Leeann asked.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">There was swagger in Jim’s voice when he said, “Lots of times.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Once it waved a knife at a friend and me.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Did it scare you?” Larry asked.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“No way,” Jim said</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">As we sat on the side of the road, listening to Jim’s story, a gentle summer breeze wafted the large tree’s leaves and branches causing shadows to dance across warm blacktop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>None of us commented as Cindy applied the gas and started away toward the cemetery.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">As I recall the short ride to the suspected rapist’s place of internment, I realize that Jim probably had visions of mending fences with Cindy, and perhaps a romantic connection induced by her anxiety at possibly seeing a ghost.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When we reached the cemetery, I’m sure the visualization we soon saw caused his thoughts of romance to disappear out the open window, along with his phony boldness.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The little cemetery lay just off the blacktop and had a small dirt parking lot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Cindy pulled into the lot and turned off the car’s lights.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The night was moon bright and it took only a few moments for our eyes to adjust to the relative darkness.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A fence of wrought iron surrounded the cemetery stretching before us like a silent metropolis of the lifeless.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Hear it?” Jim asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“The dead boy’s soul is calling out to us.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I couldn’t hear anything except semis passing on a distant highway along with a chorus of crickets and tree frogs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Still, Jim’s words evoked a certain anxiety.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Cindy also felt it as she slid toward the center of the car and closer to Jim.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann uncrossed her legs and grabbed my hand in a firm clasp.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I couldn’t see Larry’s eyes but I knew he must be frowning.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We had all just noticed something that none of us could explain.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Leeann clutched my hand even tighter when Cindy said, “Oh my God!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>What is that?”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Before us an eerie blue light rose straight up from the center of the little cemetery, stretching like the creepy luminescent beam of an ethereal spotlight pointing high into the sky.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A slight breeze caused the beam to vacillate like the luminous arms of a ghostly hula dancer.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">We all sat in silence, waiting for the image to disappear so our minds could promptly deny what we all had seen.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It didn’t happen that way.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Talk of the ghost had elicited Jim’s desired effect on Cindy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>By now she was practically sitting in his lap, her arms clutched desperately around his neck.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Jim didn’t seem to notice as his eyes in the reflected moonlight were big as proverbial saucers, his own arms gripping Cindy as tightly as she held him.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">They weren’t the only ones caught up in the spooky moment.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann clamped my right hand with both of her own.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>She couldn’t have drawn any closer without occupying the space where I sat.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>What Larry was thinking about the situation briefly crossed my mind.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Let’s get the hell out of here,” Leeann finally said.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Larry was having none of it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“No way, we need to find out what’s causing that light.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I don’t believe for one minute it’s a ghost.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">When no one responded to his statement Larry opened the back door and started for the cemetery gate.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I was more interested in Leeann’s pressing warmth and tender softness than the ghost but it quickly returned to my attention when the door slammed behind him.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Concerned for her brother, Leeann released her grip and pushed me toward the door.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“You’re his friend.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>You go with him.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">When I glanced at Big Jim his wide-open stare quickly told me he would be of no help.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann’s frown and folded arms had returned so I opened the back door and followed my friend into the night.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Larry, where are you?” I called.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“In front of you,” he said in a whisper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“The light is coming from over that rise.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The little country cemetery was well kept, grass trimmed around the tombs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Some of the headstones were large and ornate but most were old and crumbling, many no more than wooden crosses and rectangles of worn concrete.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We had no flashlight but didn’t need one as there were few trees to block star light and bright glow of the full moon.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A graveled path led up the hill toward the gleaming blue light.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Larry and I were in ROTC and both already experienced in night maneuvers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The ghostly light that continued to beam from the center of the cemetery apparently didn’t frighten my large companion and I was feeling more elated anticipation than fear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>As we crested the slight rise we both saw the origin of the eerie light.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Larry halted in his tracks and held up his hand for me to stop.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Moonlight was shining directly on a large piece of blue foil once used to wrap a flower pot.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The light was reflecting off the foil and onto the polished marble surface of a headstone.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The resultant glow shone like the beam of a spotlight, straight up into the sky.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The light wasn’t all we saw.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>In the darkness, just beyond the spot where the little hill began to drop in elevation, an almost indistinguishable shadowy figure came into view.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It remained a moment in one spot before continuing slowly toward us, its amorphous shape wafting in the gentle summer breeze.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Larry took a step forward to investigate but a shout from behind caused us both to turn and look.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Larry, where are you?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It was Leeann.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Worried about her brother, she had followed us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We watched as she picked her way up the little hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Just as she reached us she froze in place, put her hand to her mouth and said, “Oh my God!”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">A vivid flash of summer lightning accompanied Leeann’s exclamation followed quickly by a clap of thunder that seemed as if it were right on top of us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann didn’t appear to notice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>She was staring at a spot behind us, still grasping her open mouth with her left hand as she pointed straight ahead with her right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Need I add how wide her eyes had grown?</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Another flash of lightning lit the sky as Larry and I turned to see what she was pointing at.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>A sudden summer rainstorm had moved quickly overhead, already covering the stars and moon with dark puffy clouds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>As lightning dissipated only gloom remained, but not until Larry and I saw a shadowy nimbus floating up the hill toward us.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Before either of us could react Leeann grabbed me from behind and screamed at the top of her lungs, trying, it seemed to squeeze the breath out of me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>As she did clouds began unloading with large heavy drops of warm precipitation that lasted for no more than a minute.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Dark clouds passed with the rain, again revealing clear sky complete with stars and full moonlight.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Whatever we thought we had witnessed had disappeared along with the momentary storm.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Did you see it?” Leeann asked, her long arms still wrapped tightly around my chest.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“I saw something but don’t know what it was,” I answered.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Leeann gave me an incredulous look when Larry said, “It was just a low-lying cloud.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“My ass!”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Leeann said.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“It was shaped like a man and it was coming up the hill after us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>You saw it didn’t you Eric?”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“I saw something but I didn’t get a good look.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We turned away just as you called to us.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Trust me, it was nothing but a cloud,” Larry said as he led us back to the Fairlane.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Leeann had already begun to disbelieve her eyes as she followed her brother down the hill.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I didn’t know what to believe but I was already missing the warmth of her breasts against my back. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We had to bang on the car door for Jim and Cindy to let us in.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Did you see it?” Cindy asked.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Yes, just before the rain started.” Leeann said.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“What rain?” Jim asked.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“It’s been clear as a bell ever since you left the car.”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“Well it sure as hell rained on us, didn’t it Larry?”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">“For a minute or so,” he said.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cindy and Jim stared at him, and then at me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>“You don’t look wet.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Are you guys pulling our legs?”</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My shirt and pants were almost dry and I could do little more than shrug my shoulders. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>By the time we dropped Jim off at his house, talk of the ghost had ended.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cindy and Leeann were already gone next morning before Larry and I ate breakfast.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Larry didn’t want to talk about the ghost except to say it was “bullshit” and I never spoke to either Leeann or Cindy again.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The mind plays tricks and sometimes what you think you see is nothing more than an invention of your imagination.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Still, as Larry and I waited on the edge of I-20, trying to thumb a ride, I reached in my shirt pocket and pulled out the remains of my scribbled journal.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>My shirt - we were out of clean clothes and I was wearing the same shirt and blue jeans as the previous night - was damp from sweat, crumpled paper equally moist.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Something prompted me to unfold the soggy journal and look at it and I got quite a shock when I did.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Either rain or sweat had caused the blue ink to bleed on the paper and render my scribbling all but indecipherable – except for one word.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>In large blurry letters it spelled out <b><i>WRAITH</i></b>.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.ericwilder.com/">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+ghost+stories,+boomtown,+louisiana,+eric+wilder,+ghost+stories">oil+and+gas,+ghost+stories,+boomtown,+louisiana,+eric+wilder,+ghost+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil sets new record above $147 a barrel http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/11/3788122.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/11/3788122.html Fri, 11 Jul 2008 09:10:44 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080711/oil_prices.html"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080711/oil_prices.html">Friday is here along with a new oil price high.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080711/oil_prices.html"><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080711/oil_prices.html">Oil sets new record above $147 a barrel: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+iran,+conflict,+hurricane,+unrest,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+iran,+conflict,+hurricane,+unrest,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil Rises After Iran Tests Missiles, Nigerian Cease-Fire Ends http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/10/3786412.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/10/3786412.html Thu, 10 Jul 2008 09:01:44 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy">World situations continue to roil energy prices.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy"><a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy">http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy</a></cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20602099&sid=ahx3pbP4E01U&refer=energy"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </cite></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil turns higher on US data, Iran missile tests http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/9/3784563.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/9/3784563.html Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:34:45 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080709/oil_prices.html"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080709/oil_prices.html">Crude oil prices continue to see-saw.  EIA reports larger than expected weekly draw-down of oil supplies. </cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080709/oil_prices.html"><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080709/oil_prices.html">Oil turns higher on US data, Iran missile tests: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eia+report,+iran+missle,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas,+energy+prices,+eia+report,+iran+missle,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Oil futures extend decline to trade below $138 http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/8/3782394.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/8/3782394.html Tue, 08 Jul 2008 08:59:35 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/oil-futures-extend-decline-trade/story.aspx?guid={1FCEFF00-FB8B-4991-AF6D-225CE49EB675}&siteid=yahoomy"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/oil-futures-extend-decline-trade/story.aspx?guid={1FCEFF00-FB8B-4991-AF6D-225CE49EB675}&siteid=yahoomy">Oil posts a large drop for second day in a row.  Has our decrease in driving habits finally had an effect on oil price?</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/oil-futures-extend-decline-trade/story.aspx?guid={1FCEFF00-FB8B-4991-AF6D-225CE49EB675}&siteid=yahoomy"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/oil-futures-extend-decline-trade/story.aspx?guid={1FCEFF00-FB8B-4991-AF6D-225CE49EB675}&siteid=yahoomy">Oil futures extend decline to trade below $138 - MarketWatch</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Lily's Famous Eggplant Dressing http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/7/3780586.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/7/3780586.html Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:25:42 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">The best Cajun cook I ever knew was my former mother-in-law Lily.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Every meal was an experience and always served up in authentic fashion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>One of my favorite side dishes was her famous eggplant dressing that she prepared, like all her other culinary creations, sans cookbook.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I watched her make this dish many times and I’m recounting it now from memory, but I think it is pretty close.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">2 large purple eggplants, cubed and diced<span style="mso-tab-count: 2">                    </span>5 slices of bacon</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">¾ pound ground pork<span style="mso-tab-count: 5">                                                  1</span> ½ teaspoons black pepper</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Salt to taste<span style="mso-tab-count: 1">      </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 5">                                                            </span>1 large can whole tomatoes</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">2 ½ cups cooked rice<span style="mso-tab-count: 5">                                                   </span>French bread crumbs</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">1 ½ cups onion, garlic, sweet pepper, chopped</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cook the eggplants in salted water until soft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Drain, mash and set aside.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Sauté bacon in large cast-iron skillet and then add onion, garlic and sweet pepper mixture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Sauté until vegetables are wilted and then add to eggplants.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Cook the ground pork until brown, drain the fat and then stir in the eggplant mixture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Add the can of tomatoes, salt and pepper and bread crumbs.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Mix well and then simmer on medium-low heat for about twenty minutes.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, add the rice and more bread crumbs and then bake at 350 degrees for thirty minutes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Enjoy.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"></font> </p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a></font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/southern+recipes,+cajun+and+creole+cuisine,+eric+wilder,+stories">southern+recipes,+cajun+and+creole+cuisine,+eric+wilder,+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Golden Field http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3779506.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3779506.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:44:13 -0500 <p>Here are two pics I took last time I was in Noble County.</p><p><a href="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Golden_Field_Poster_Edges_cropped.JPG"><img alt="Golden_Field_Poster_Edges_cropped" src="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/Golden_Field_Poster_Edges_cropped_thumb.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Dead Tree in a Golden Field</p><p><a href="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/July_202008_20078.JPG"><img alt="July 2008 078" src="http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/July_202008_20078_thumb.jpg" border="0" /></a></p><p>Swabbing in a Herington Well</p><p><a href="http://www.ericwilder.com/">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/photos,+pictures,+swabbing+unit,+noble+county+oklahoma,+eric+wilder,+stories">photos,+pictures,+swabbing+unit,+noble+county+oklahoma,+eric+wilder,+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues OPEC president blames oil prices on ethanol, weak dollar http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3779078.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3779078.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 13:53:59 -0500 <blockquote cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/opec-president-blames-oil-prices/story.aspx?guid={E003D4C9-0739-4868-8F69-D9C51BB53CB5}&siteid=yahoomy"></blockquote><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/opec-president-blames-oil-prices/story.aspx?guid={E003D4C9-0739-4868-8F69-D9C51BB53CB5}&siteid=yahoomy">OPEC’s President blames everyone and everything – except OPEC itself – for ever-expanding oil prices.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/opec-president-blames-oil-prices/story.aspx?guid={E003D4C9-0739-4868-8F69-D9C51BB53CB5}&siteid=yahoomy"><a href="http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/opec-president-blames-oil-prices/story.aspx?guid={E003D4C9-0739-4868-8F69-D9C51BB53CB5}&siteid=yahoomy">OPEC president blames oil prices on ethanol, weak dollar: reports - MarketWatch</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+weak+dollar,+ethanol,+eric+wilder,+stories">energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+weak+dollar,+ethanol,+eric+wilder,+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Trees City, Louisiana http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3778980.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/6/3778980.html Sun, 06 Jul 2008 12:25:57 -0500 <p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" st1 ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:place><st1:placename>Trees</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>City</st1:placetype></st1:place> was founded by the legendary oil finders Benedum and Trees.  These two wildcatters had moved to north <st1:state><st1:place>Louisiana</st1:place></st1:state> after finding large oil fields in <st1:state><st1:place>Oklahoma</st1:place></st1:state>.  They discovered the field in far northwest <st1:state><st1:place>Louisiana</st1:place></st1:state> for which the town was named.</font></font></p><p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman"><st1:place><st1:placename>Trees</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>City</st1:placetype></st1:place> quickly became a boomtown complete with churches, honky tonks and a post office.  During the height of the oil boom, twenty-five thousand people lived there.  Today it is little more than a memory.</font></font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Thick trees, vines and creepers cover most of what was once a thriving city.  Permanent steel towers, constructed on site for the drilling of a single oil well, still peek up through the tall trees.  Even the post office is gone, located now at the <st1:place><st1:placename>Oil</st1:placename> <st1:placetype>Museum</st1:placetype></st1:place> in nearby <st1:place><st1:city>Oil City</st1:city>, <st1:state>Louisiana</st1:state></st1:place>.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">Benedum and Trees sold their interest in the field to Gulf Oil for a million dollars, an enormous sum of money at the time.  The amount pales compared with the vast riches recovered by Gulf Oil.  It doesn’t matter much now.  Where roughnecks once toiled to recover Mother Nature’s dark liquid bounty, only ghosts wisping silently over Jeems Bayou still remain.</font></p><p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </font></p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/boomtowns,+louisiana,+oil+fields,+early+oil,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">boomtowns,+louisiana,+oil+fields,+early+oil,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues Companies begin quest for oil, gas off Fla. coast http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/5/3777365.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/5/3777365.html Sat, 05 Jul 2008 11:47:46 -0500 <p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080705/drilling_off_florida.html">I remember hearing when I was a student of geology many years ago that there is an undrilled super-structure somewhere off the coast of Florida that contains untold barrels of oil.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080705/drilling_off_florida.html">The Government was into buying cheap foreign oil at the time (we couldn’t export oil then and we still can’t) and saving our own nest egg until some future time when our country finds itself in a real energy crisis.  Urban myth?  I have no clue.</cite></p><p class="citation"><cite cite="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080705/drilling_off_florida.html"><a href="http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080705/drilling_off_florida.html">Companies begin quest for oil, gas off Fla. coast: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance</a></cite>.</p><p class="citation"><a href="http://www.EricWilder.com">http://www.EricWilder.com</a> </p><div class="bjtags">Tags: <a rel="tag" href="http://technorati.com/tag/oil+and+gas+exploration,+energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories">oil+and+gas+exploration,+energy+prices,+oil+and+gas,+eric+wilder,+oil+stories</a></div> Main Page Energy Issues My Favorite Fourth http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/4/3775813.html http://energyissues.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2008/7/4/3775813.html Fri, 04 Jul 2008 09:39:42 -0500 <p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My Brother Jack was born on July the Third and he and I loved fireworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We both wanted to be soldiers and we practiced war our entire childhood. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Because of our obsession my favorite holiday, and my Brother Jack’s, was and is the Fourth of July and the one I remember best is the first one that I can remember.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><?xml:namespace prefix ="" o ns ="" "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">While growing up in small town Vivian, there were no City ordinances barring the use of fireworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Every manner of explosives was sold including M-80s and Two-Inchers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Jack and I are both lucky to have all our digits as we later experimented with everything we could strike a match too.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My buddy Timmy Jon and I even mixed our own batch of gunpowder and almost burned up the house with it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>The first Fourth that I can remember, however, we made do with firecrackers, bottle rockets, sparklers and Roman candles.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">On the Fourth of July my Mom and Dad would buy us about ten dollars worth of fireworks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Ten bucks doesn’t sound like much but you could pop lots of firecrackers for that amount in the sixties.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We always began the fireworks as soon as it was dark enough.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I don’t remember my age but I was old enough to feel the excitement of impending danger.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>With our Dad’s help we began lighting sparklers, popping firecrackers and launching one bottle rocket after another.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>We soon got down to the good stuff.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">‘Hold it in the air and shake it,” My Dad directed as he lit my first-ever Roman candle.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">I can still remember the percussion and slight recoil as incandescent flame burst from the coiled-paper barrel of the explosive device.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>I couldn’t count at the time but I had a seat-of-the-pants feel for how many fiery rounds the candle contained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>When it was over I held the warm rod in my hand, inhaling acrid smoke and burned powder.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>It was an odor I will never forget.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><font face="Times New Roman" size="3"> </font></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">My red-headed Brother Jack was next at bat and he had mischief in mind before my Dad ever lit the candle’s fuse.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>My Mother was standing behind us in the open door of our house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">  </span>Soon as the candle started spitting fire, Jack began pointing it at anything that caught his fancy - a tree, the family car, me, and finally toward the open door of the house.</font></p><p class="MsoNormal" style=