###Oil in West Texas, but can it be economically extracted??

The timing is very interesting regarding the draw down of troops in
Syria and Afghanistan and the USGS report on the untapped reserves
of oil and natural gas in the Permian Basin area.  [Forbes has an
interesting article](https://tinyurl.com/ybl929850) which sheds some
light on the find.  The question remains that although it may be
technically feasible to extract the oil and natural gas, is it
economically feasible?  Time will tell.  Interestingly, there does
not seem to be much traction in the mainstream media over this one.
Hmm...

###Meanwhile back at the ranch...

As I had mentioned in the last post, living out in the sticks
presents some interesting challenges.  It is not always convenient
or even possible to have a professional take care of certain tasks
which obviously means I do it myself.  In this case, car maintenance
is the big one. When I was younger, I used to perform most of the
maintenance tasks myself.  Of course, in those days the art of shade
tree automobile maintenance was much simpler.  Nowadays, more
specialized equipment is required for the modern vehicles like code
readers and the like.  As I am sure the reader is already aware, I
am not too much into using power tools, but in this case, I am going
to have to succumb to the need as there are some physical
limitations.  I'm not sure I'll live long enough to see the day when
society is forced to dispense with the automobile all together, but
until that time, I'll have to nurse the old beast along.  Harbor
freight to the rescue,  I do have a small air compressor, but it
probably does not have sufficient air flow to power an air impact
wrench.  I opted to purchased an electric impact wrench along with
some sockets which (hopefully) will take care of the heavy bolt/nut
breaking and will probably only see occasional use.  The Hyundai, is
going to need a front wheel bearing replacement, sway bar link
replacement, fuel filter replacement, transmission fluid replacement
etc, which is par for the course with a car with 135k miles on it.
Otherwise, at 15 years, the car runs well and should provide a few
more years of service even though our primary vehicle is the Prius.
I admit I'm a bit nervous about taking on some of these projects,
but I figure it will save a good deal of money and in the process
I'll learn something new.  With the winter rains having set in, I'll
probably have to wait till the weather breaks in the spring to take
care of these projects, but in the interim, I can gather the
required parts, tools and know how to get the job done.