Living the dream of the endless vacation “Anyone who has ever dreamed of leaving the city and taking their lives back to nature (and who hasn't?) will find much to contemplate in this warm and hilarious tale of rural misadventure and small town quirk, even if they have never chased a goat in a bathing suit or called 911 because there were cows in the road. Stimson's voice is endearing: both in its self-deprecation and its rapture, as she sings an only slightly conflicted love song to Vermont.” —Pam Houston, author of Contents May Have Shifted “Taking a plunge that wimpier sorts (i.e. most of us) only fantasize about, Ellen Stimson and her family packed up their house in St. Louis and threw themselves into a wildly different life in small-town Vermont. Armed with the passion-and haplessness-of wide-eyed newcomers they rescue goats and adopt chickens, do battle with skunks and bats and falling ice, and, most disastrously, buy a black hole of a general store. Through it all they manage to retain their love for their adopted home as well as one another. This is a tale to which all the cliché words absolutely apply: hilarious, heartwarming, rollicking, and, most of all, rich in the real stuff of life.” —Julia Reed, author of But Mama Always Put Vodka in Her Sangria!

Clear writing and analysis of the broad spectrum of processes that produce shale are coupled with well-captioned 150 illustrations, 40 tables, boxed technical details, glossary and appendices. Recounts the step-by-step evolution and stages of shal, enabling readers to master the basics and to dig yet deeper into their origin, practical implications and relationship to earth history. Background information appears in appendices (Clay Mineralogy, Isotopes, Petrology, etc.); technicial details in high-lighted boxes, and definitions of 300+ terms in the Glossary.

Mud Flower: Surviving Schizophrenia and Suicide Through Art shows the perspective of a person who has a serious mental illness, who survives extreme treatments, who both family and the health system have given up on, but who defies all expectations and common beliefs of what is possible. Along the way, the author describes the role of art in her survival, grappling with how the life force can be either nurtured or destroyed by elements in our environment, such as nature, beauty, and art versus dehumanization and coercion.

"The book is aimed at narrowing the gap between industrial aspects of mud engineering and its academic basics. It also sums up the experience of handling unconventional and unforeseen problems related with well-bore instability with the right composition of mud to facilitate correct properties in drilling fluid design, and thus minimize/eliminate non-productive time. If the book is able to fulfil any / all of these objectives, then the purpose of writing the book is served. It aims to reach out to petroleum engineering students and those mud engineers who have just begun their career in oil field, with many questions wandering in their minds, and aims to answer them in a manner that makes sense to their limited exposure with the least technical jargon but yet, effectively quench their thirst of inquisitiveness. For the professionals who aspire to climb the ladders of success to reach the corporate jungle, the book cautions them that what appears costly superficially need not be always costly and thus spend enough money to have a right team of professionals surrounding them and not the guys who will always agree to them for the fear of loss of their job."

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An Invaluable Reference for Members of the Drilling Industry, from Owner–Operators to Large Contractors, and Anyone Interested In Drilling Developed by one of the world’s leading authorities on drilling technology, the fifth edition of The Drilling Manual draws on industry expertise to provide the latest drilling methods, safety, risk management, and management practices, and protocols. Utilizing state-of-the-art technology and techniques, this edition thoroughly updates the fourth edition and introduces entirely new topics. It includes new coverage on occupational health and safety, adds new sections on coal seam gas, sonic and coil tube drilling, sonic drilling, Dutch cone probing, in hole water or mud hammer drilling, pile top drilling, types of grouting, and improved sections on drilling equipment and maintenance. New sections on drilling applications include underground blast hole drilling, coal seam gas drilling (including well control), trenchless technology and geothermal drilling. It contains heavily illustrated chapters that clearly convey the material. This manual incorporates forward-thinking technology and details good industry practice for the following sectors of the drilling industry: Blast Hole Environmental Foundation/Construction Geotechnical Geothermal Mineral Exploration Mineral Production and Development Oil and Gas: On-shore Seismic Trenchless Technology Water Well The Drilling Manual, Fifth Edition provides you with the most thorough information about the "what," "how," and "why" of drilling. An ideal resource for drilling personnel, hydrologists, environmental engineers, and scientists interested in subsurface conditions, it covers drilling machinery, methods, applications, management, safety, geology, and other related issues.