Jungle Hiking, Dogfights, Earthquakes & Big Texas Leaks

Around noon I figured it was HOT enough to go hiking in the Tandy Hills Jungle. The wildflowers have taken a beating in the Tandy Hills Natural Area. But, there did appear to be one I had not seen before.

On the way to the Tandy Hills I saw something disturbing. At the intersection of Boca Raton Boulevard and Bridgewood Drive, water was bubbling out of cracks and holes in the cement, like a Yellowstone mudpot.

A city worker was trying frantically to turn a valve that he was accessing out in the street. I thought that the spot where I first saw the Yellowstone mudpot was the source, but, heading up the hill, I kept seeing water running down the street, eventually seeing the source of that water, that being water spewing out of a manhole cover type thing.

I've no idea if it is two separate leaks, but I don't see how the leaking water up the hill caused the massive mudpot spouts further down the hill. I came upon this scene too quickly to react with my camera. But, on the way back from the Tandy Hills, I had the camera out, ready to take a picture if the geysers were still blowing.

Well, there were still city workers at the scene. The water spewing seemed to be running at a lesser volume, but it was still leaking a lot of water in this drought stricken area.

These spontaneous leaks seem to happening with increasing frequency. I've heard no explanation. Today's leak is right by where I live. On that same street, within 1 block, there are 2 other spots where holes have been dug to fix a leak. One leak is so chronic it looks like whoever has been trying to fix it, has given up, so now there is always water running along side the curb.

Yesterday we had another earthquake here in Texas. I mentioned this earlier today. I'm wondering if maybe we have been having way more earthquakes than what are detected by seismic detectors, like little .5 or .1 earthquakes. Too small to be detected as being any different than a Big Truck thundering down the freeway, but big enough to cause pipes to break.

Could it be that the shattering and fracturing of a layer of the earth's crust, that being the Barnett Shale, is shaking all over? Not just the bigger shakes detected in places like Arlington and Cleburne, but little tiny trembles all over this metropolitan zone, cracking pipes, sidewalks, foundations.

If it's not a bunch of mini-quakes, then what is it that has North Texas leaking?

Speaking of getting wet. I saw a very interesting Mother Nature Moment I'd not seen before, this morning while on my back in the pool. A grackle, that's a bird, was flying like it'd gone rabid crazy, darting about, swooping up and down. Then I realized the grackle was chasing a flying bug of some sort. It was like watching fighter planes in a dogfight. A couple times the flying bug led the grackle close to the water. I did not like that. I did not want to get caught up in their battle.

The flying bug seemed to have more maneuverability than the grackle, able to make real tight turns that the grackle had trouble with. I do not know who won the dogfight, if the flying bug successfully escaped, or if the grackle had breakfast.