Doctorin Oil Field Trash

Originally published in 1931, this book is the culmination of almost a decade worth of Alamo research, and the foundation for most later works on the subject of who occupied the Alamo during the siege. Omitting much of the romance, legend and myth associated with the storied fortress, The Alamo Defenders calls forth the facts, letters and primary documents that bring us closer to those who served with Travis. While much new information regarding the siege and subsequent events has come to light since this data was compiled over 75 years ago, it remains a valuable research tool and starting point for Alamo research. Includes brief history of the Republic of Texas, the run-up to the siege and data on 187 Alamo defenders & messengers.

"Oilfield Trash is written in a charming, flowing style that any reader will enjoy....In Weaver's capable hands, the gypsy lives of a generation of young men unfold on the rigorous stage of drilling fields...."---Paul Spellman, author of Spindletop Boom Days --

This book was previously published as "Oil Field Trash And Other Garbage." It was meant on my part to take a tongue in cheek swipe at the novel. The main story is titled "Oil Field Trash" so I figured that I would beat the critics to the first punch, hence the second half of the book title: "And Other Garbage." It was brought to my attention that many of the men who are in the fraternity of Oil Field Trash-which I'm also a proud member-thought I was referring to them as garbage. Which was not my intent by any means. It's a tough club to join and few men earn the badge of Oil Field Trash. When I broke out in the big boom of 1981 it was a revolving door of weevils. Maybe one guy in twenty lasted long enough to collect a full paycheck. One tool-pusher suggested installing nets to cover the derricks. "Keep them birds from thieving our worms." But I totally understand the confusion and would never throw a brother under the bus or a rig up tandem for that matter. I added two stories to the book, to liven it up a bit at the start; stories of theft, deception, sabotage, and a rig move gone wild. The book is written from the perspective of a roughneck-spanning my eight year career in the industry. First person accounts of breaking out as a weevil and literally working my way up the ladder. The stories chronicle the dry holes, the wild wells, and wilder nights, as well as the profound dangers of the trade. The industry has evolved but oil drilling is still by far the most dangerous dollar in the world. Roughnecks are the front lines of the world's energy industry--soldiers of fortune, hiring on for a hard earned, high risk paycheck. As you are reading this one roughneck will die every five days on average--lives summed up by six lines in their hometown newspaper. Something to ponder the next time you fill up your tank or adjust your thermostat. Unlike oil, men are a renewable resource."

In “Cotton County,” the first of the dual memoirs in The Land and the Days, acclaimed author Tracy Daugherty describes the forces that shape us: the “rituals of our regions” and the family and friends who animate our lives and memories. Combining reminiscence, history, and meditation, Daugherty retraces his childhood in Texas and Oklahoma, where he first encountered the realities of politics, race, and class. As a child in the early 1960s, Daugherty lived with his parents and sister in West Texas. And yet from a young age, in the author’s recounting, he was just as much at home in the small town of Walters, Oklahoma, where his grandparents lived and where he and his family often visited. A cattle and oil town just a few miles north of the Red River, Walters seemingly belonged to another realm. In sensory detail, Daugherty evokes the old-fashioned atmosphere of his grandparents’ home, the “tastes, smells, and textures: fried okra, mothballs, cotton batting—radiators and ancient typewriters.” These were things, he explains, that he experienced only in Oklahoma. The “Unearthly Archives,” the second of Daugherty’s memoirs, expands the realistic accounts of the first narrative, providing a meditation on the meaning of grief. Daugherty demonstrates his curiosity and indefatigable quest for understanding and closure by examining his life-long store of literary readings, as well as the music he loves, to discover the true value of a life dedicated to art. Whereas the first narrative explores daily family life, setting up what will be the huge loss of his parents, the second examines questions of death, grief, creativity, and the meaning of memory. As he mourns the loss of his parents, Daugherty reckons with his own mortality and finds himself confronting such fundamental questions as, How does individual consciousness develop? What can music, art, and literature teach us about life’s experiences? And finally, Is there a soul? The Land and the Days addresses these eternal questions with uncommon honesty and grace.

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Would you like to know about the noble men who risked everything to make Texas the oil capital of America? Well find another book, because this one's about gambling, pimps, prostitutes, crooked officials, hard drinking, liquor fueled brawling and the roughnecks at the center of it all...real life in Texas oil boomtowns. In 1901, George Parker Stoker was twenty-three and a newly hatched MD seeking his fortune. He stepped off the train at Beaumont into a world of mud and mayhem. Within a day he was at the Spindletop field and had inherited the only medical practice in town from an old doc who wanted to "go on a drunk" for a few months. Stoker spent the next few years patching up the inmates of this oil patch asylum. He worked at Spindletop, Batson Prairie and Saratoga. This was no tea-sipping engagement. The work was as hard as the men, who risked death in ways that Edgar Allen Poe couldn't have dreamed up. But boy were they paid! All that idle cash made saloons pop up like toadstools, tacked together from pine planks. Roofs leaked and there were no doors...because they never closed. The "Kid Doctor," as Stoker was called because of his youthful appearance, saw it all. He treated them all too, giving each the best care he could in that carnival of contusion and contagion.

A modern-day classic. This highly acclaimed adventure series about two friends desperate to save their doomed city has captivated kids and teachers alike for almost fifteen years and has sold over 3.5 MILLION copies! The city of Ember was built as a last refuge for the human race. Two hundred years later, the great lamps that light the city are beginning to flicker. When Lina finds part of an ancient message, she’s sure it holds a secret that will save the city. She and her friend Doon must race to figure out the clues before the lights go out on Ember forever! Nominated to 28 State Award Lists! An American Library Association Notable Children’s Book A New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing Selection A Kirkus Reviews Editors’ Choice A Child Magazine Best Children’s Book A Mark Twain Award Winner A William Allen White Children’s Book Award Winner “A realistic post-apocalyptic world. DuPrau’s book leaves Doon and Lina on the verge of undiscovered country and readers wanting more.” —USA Today “An electric debut.” —Publishers Weekly, Starred “While Ember is colorless and dark, the book itself is rich with description.” —VOYA, Starred “A harrowing journey into the unknown, and cryptic messages for readers to decipher.” —Kirkus Reviews, Starred