Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Risking Rolling My Wheels Over Fort Worth's Mallard Cove Park's High Pressure Natural Gas Pipeline

Last night we were warned that the temperature could possibly dip to the freezing zone.

I was under blankets last night for the first time in awhile, but, when I woke up my temperature monitoring devices this morning, I saw that the pre-dawn temperature was several  degrees above freezing.

Yet somehow this morning there appeared to be frost on the roof that I gaze upon during my regularly scheduled hot tub hydrotherapy session.

Due to that predicted freeze I did not think I'd be in the once again cool pool this morning. But, after getting too hot in the hot tub I thought I'd take a quick cooling dip. And found the water in the pool was way less cool than the air.

Around noon I drove to the post office to mail a letter to the IRS in Austin. Then I headed south to Mallard Cove Park to roll my bike's wheels. That would be Mallard Cove you are looking at above, with the coolest looking rock picnic table I've ever seen, in the foreground.

In the picture on the right you are looking at my handlebars pointing at one of the many natural gas pipeline warning posts stuck in the ground in this particular park.

Last Wednesday I rolled my wheels around Mallard Cove and blogged about it, and asked a question about the Fort Worth signature benches installed in this park.

That question generated an interesting blog comment from someone named Dub Kennedy...

Dub Kennedy has left a new comment on your post "Rolling My New Tires To Fort Worth's Mallard Cove":

"I have never seen anyone sitting on one of these benches. How much do they cost, I can not help but wonder?"

I'm guessing that Chesapeake or some other energy company picked up the tab for this park.

I have little doubt that natural gas pipelines run underneath this so-called park. I say so-called because a parcel of land with nothing more than concrete trails doesn't make a park in my opinion. 

Another so-called park similar to Mallard Cove park was built near the Rockwood golf course in northwest Fort Worth and was paid for by natural gas producers. I know for certain that at least one gas pipeline runs under that park.

Well, Dub is correct, in that there is a Chesapeake installation just outside the west end of this "park", along with 18 or 19 GAS WARNING posts stuck in the ground  inside the park, marking a pipeline route. Plus one HUGE curved pipe stuck in a cement block, which I assume is gas related.

Below is a closeup view of the warning post my bike's handlebars are pointing towards.


I can read the words "HIGH PRESSURE" near the top of the GAS WARNING post. Is this non-odorized highly pressured gas?

Dub says a parcel of land with some paved trails does not a park make.

I agree with Dub that a parcel of land with some paved trails does not make a park, but, in addition to the paved trails Mallard Cove Park has those aforementioned benches, plus the also aforementioned rock picnic table, plus the never before mentioned gazebo-like covered picnic table structure, plus wide expanses of grassy weeds, which are infrequently mowed and some rather stately old big trees.

And giant prickly pear cacti, as in the biggest patches of prickly pear cactus I've ever seen. Not that I've done all that much prickly pear cactus hunting....

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