thunder

It was time for a potty break.  We pulled in at a Flying J, piled out, and found this beauty behind it:

"Look, kids, it's an oil derrick..." I began, warming up for an educational moment.  "I know," our 8-year-old cut me off, "and sometimes they're called nodding donkeys." 

I...didn't know that.  How did he know that?  "How did you know that?" I said, just a little deflated.  He shrugged.  "How it's Made," he said.

Wow, How it's Made, thanks for stealing my thunder.

~MB~

Comments

[Wendy]

LOL!! I love oil derricks.....they were the only good thing about driving through Oklahoma.

[Amber]

We always called them pumpjacks (you are the first reference I've seen or heard to nodding donkeys, which sounds like a very slow kind of kung fu). I had heard them called horseheads, beam pumps, and grasshoppers, which Wikipedia backs me up on. I also enjoyed the painted pumpjacks - and the ones they decorated for Christmas with lights. Check out = http://www.texastripper.com/luling/luling-pumpjack-plane.jpg

[Cindy]

I'd never known what to call them, and my 14 year old told me this summer as we drove to utah that they were oil donkeys. I love that name!