WorldWide Drilling Resource

20 JUNE 2019 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® Tales from the Field by Jeremy C. Wire Geoconsultants, Inc. The Dog Pound A long time ago, we were working for a city client on a field project which involved making an inventory of active and abandoned water wells in the vicinity of a cogeneration plant. At the time, the plant was inactive and not in operation. The facility had a fence around it, and its main purpose, or so we thought, was to keep trespassers out, as there were no security guards. However, we found out the fence also provided an enclosure for another unrelated purpose. One day, two of us were involved in doing our reconnaissance trying to locate some wells, and one of the sites for an abandoned well was supposedly outside the fence on the east side of the plant property. This area is where we started our search. Moving through some tall weeds obscuring our view through the fence, and not finding any trace of an abandoned well, we slowly moved toward the front of the property. Peering over the fence from a distance, we saw some vague forms scattered about in one area of the enclosure. At first glance, they looked like some small animals lying about and sleeping in the sunshine. A closer look suggested they might be dogs . . . but why were they here? We looked at each other, and the adage about “letting sleeping dogs lie” seemed to go through both our minds. We decided there was only one way to find out, so we moved quietly and slowly to the front steel gate, then rattled it vig- orously. Upon doing this and breaking the silence, there was a huge commotion, and dogs were everywhere! There must have been at least 20 or more, all barking and in a frenzy. We found out the city used this old plant as a temporary dog pound, at a time when the usual animal shelter was unavailable. We wondered how you would ever care and feed all these dogs all at once. About a week later when we were in the field again, we stopped by to check the plant and visit the dogs. However, we never found out the answer to this question as there was nothing but silence in the enclosure, and the dogs were gone. Jeremy Jeremy Wire may be contacted via e-mail to michele@worldwidedrillingresource.com ENV