Oily in the Morning

Speaking of ways to make a living---Ive been seeing small oil wells in the fields as I walk across Kansas. I wasn’t sure that they were oil wells, so I had to see for myself. Most of then are out in the middle of fields and are fenced off, but the other day I passed one that sat all by its lonesome near the road. I decided to be nosy.
There was indeed a working pump, like a small dinosaur just chugging away, almost silently, pulling stuff up from the bowels of the earth. There were also two tanks nearby.
Ive been noticing these things for a few weeks now, and wondered how they work, and think I have it figured out, based on the one that I looked at up close. The pump/dinosaur sucks the oil, and with it some water, up from the ground. The oil goes into one tank and somehow through the oil is heavier than water principal, perhaps, the water is skimmed off the top and is sent to its own tank where it is then drained and any oil that might have gone with it is strained off. The top of one tankI saw was open and there was a straining net there that had captured a lot of oil globs and residue. This tank did not smell like money, though. It just smelled.
There were long pipes with valves extending from the bottoms of both tanks. I guess trucks pull up, hook up and drain the tanks, and the farmers whose wells they are get paid by volume. That is only my guess. And I say, bravo to them for getting the most out of their land. Most of the fields that I see the wells in, and they don’t take up much space at all, are also full of cattle and/or wheat. The wells seem to be very efficient, are quiet and clean looking and other than the one I got right up to, there is no smells or oil spilled anywhere. The farmers make a few bucks, the livestock and crops keep coming and it’s a win win situation, since the oil money must help subsidize the farmer’s main crops as well, keeping prices manageable. Again, Im naïve to this stuff, but Im seeing things I never knew existed, being seqyuestered on the east coast for my entire life thus far.
Ive also seen a few more small windfarms. No solar collectors, yet, which surprises me since besides the wind the sun is very much out all day. Trust me on this. It is nice to see that people are at least open to the idea of alternative energy, though the number of oil wells seems to be increasing as I go westward. Its kinda cool seeing them churning away, but its much more satisfying to see wind turbines silently spinning away….
By the way…the other day I heard a cow burp.