Sunday, November 23, 2008

Chesapeake Energy Disappears From Tandy Hills So I Went Roller Blading

As you can see in the photo of one of the trails at the Tandy Hills Natural Area, it is a cloudy, gray Sunday in North Texas.

Chesapeake Energy's Scott Avenue Rig #2999 has disappeared. All that remains, that I could see, were 2 big bulldozers and a lot of scraped earth.

Just 2 weeks ago this was a bustling operation with a tall drilling tower piercing the sky. The photo on the right is how this location looked 2 weeks ago.

And now, Sunday, November 23, 2 weeks later, all that equipment is gone. That is today's view of the destroyed section of the Tandy Hills on the left. The blue sky of 2 weeks ago is also gone.

When I went over to Scott Avenue I saw that the guard station was gone, with a locked gate in its place. I could see no spot that looked like a capped drill hole. There was something surrounded by orange temporary fencing out in the middle of the forever altered piece of the Tandy Hills. Maybe that's the drill hole, awaiting the next step in the project.

Mother Nature is still standing on Scott Avenue. She is not all that more worn than the last time I visited Her. Someone has added a companion to Mother Nature. It had been connected to the Chesapeake Energy sign. But had come loose. I propped it up again to take a photo. The new poster says, "Save Meadowbrook." Meadowbrook is the neighborhood the Tandy Hills is located in. Above before and after photos of the damaged area, it says "As If We Had A Choice."

After looking at all this environmental mayhem I had need of something aerobic to make myself feel better. It was being quite windy, but I decided to go roller blading anyway, a short distance away, at my regular blading location, Quanah Parker Park. While I was blading I got hit with a big powerful gust that threw me off balance and almost caused a crash.

Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.

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