Taking A Walk Around My Neighborhood Wondering About The Hazards Of Being Too Close To Chesapeake Energy & Wind Chimes

My Gas Neighbor With the Tandy Tower on Mount Tandy in Background

Due to the fact the heat has left this part of the planet, of late, the return of winter-like chilling makes for a pleasant walk around my neighborhood, thus rendering unnecessary, for now, driving to one of my hiking or biking locations where shade from the HOT sun is available.

I had another reason I wanted to take a walking tour of my neighborhood today.

This morning the annoying irritant which has been burning my eyes had greatly abated. For weeks I have been hearing a loud mechanical motor device running at the Chesapeake Energy gas pad I walk by to get to Albertsons.

I figured if I walked by the Chesapeake Energy gas pad today and that loud mechanical motor device was not making noise that this would be a non-smoking gun pointing to the culprit causing my allergic misery.

Well, the Chesapeake Energy mechanical motor device was being its usual loud self, so, I guess Chesapeake is off the hook, for now, on this particular issue.

On the left you are looking at one of the warning signs Chesapeake installed warning people that there is a gas pipeline underneath them. The warning signs do not mention that the gas pipeline is moving non-odorized natural gas pumped by the loud aforementioned mechanical motor device.

Look at the photo at the top and notice how close this Chesapeake gas pad is to a residential development. This type closeness occurs all over the area where the gas drilling is allowed.

Some towns in the D/FW Metroplex have put a stop to this type industrial activity inside their borders. Having said that the only town that comes to mind is the progressive town of Denton.

Even though residents reside close to my neighborhood Chesapeake gas pad, no agent of Chesapeake made any contact with any of the residents informing them of what was about to happen in their neighborhood. When the fracking part of the operation took place, with its seemingly endless lines of trucks causing dust to coat the area, no explanation was given, no offer of a free car wash was made.

Same thing when the natural gas pipeline installation occurred. No notice was given to residents that they were about to be subjected to incredibly loud noise, with ground vibrations, or that this was to install a non-odorized natural gas pipeline.

I know you reading this in civilized parts of America are sitting there thinking how can this happen? Wondering if the town I live in (Fort Worth) lacks a city government, wondering if the town I live in (Fort Worth) lacks some sort of public health agency.

Well, like I said, I live in Fort Worth and I wonder the same things, in addition to other things I wonder about.

Like why are nerve rattling wind chimes allowed? Wind chimes have long been banned in civilized parts of America and the world. Well, actually, usually the civic ordinance regarding wind chimes is you can only install those nuisances if you are 300 feet from your nearest neighbor....

Chesapeake Energy's Noisy Fort Worth Pipeline Drilling

Since early this morning there has been a constant throbbing hum vibrating my neighborhood. At times the throbbing hum gets very loud.

Around 10 this morning I needed to make a call to Los Angeles. I needed to be at my computer to make this call. My computer sits by a window. I knew I would not reliably be able to hear what was being said on the phone.

I needed a makeshift solution.

This will likely sound very pitiful, but my solution was to haul my wireless laptop into my windowless walk-in closet where the humming was less loud. I successfully completed the call, whilst sitting on the floor of my closet.

Like I said, pitiful.

Around 2 this afternoon Miss Puerto Rico called to ask if the noise was driving me crazy. I said yes. She said it was so loud where she was that it was unbearable, rendering the office unable to work. I asked what the noise was coming from.

It was then I learned that the noise is coming from the Chesapeake Energy non-odorized natural gas pipeline drilling operation that I made mention of previously, after Chesapeake Energy mailed me a letter telling me they would be laying a pipeline from their Loop 820/Boca Raton Boulevard Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Pad Site.

A Chesapeake Energy accomplice, Quail Energy Services, is the culprit actually making the noise.

Miss Puerto Rico told me I should go over to her place and hear how bad the noise is from her balcony overlooking the operation.

The YouTube video I made of the noisy view from Miss Puerto Rico's is what you see and hear in the video above.

How does Chesapeake Energy get permission to drill under the parking lot of an apartment complex, right in front of the apartments, and Miss Puerto Rico's office? Miss Puerto Rico told me they were given no notice that Chesapeake Energy was going to be doing this, other than the amorphous letter the entire neighborhood got.

Just like when water pipelines were laid to run water for this particular well's fracking, with no notice given, with the leaking pipes causing water problems in Miss Puerto Rico's parking lots.

Like I say in the video.

I DON'T GET IT.

How does Chesapeake Energy get to create this level of disturbance with no consequence?

Has Miss Puerto Rico's apartment complex been compensated for what is going on on her property? It appears once the pipeline leaves Miss Puerto Rico's apartment complex it will cross Bridgewood Drive, then head north on the west side of Bridgewood Drive. This will eventually take the pipeline right by my abode.

I am feeling like I'm on a post-Apocalypse Carter Avenue, with no Steve Doeung existing in my neighborhood able to take on Chesapeake Energy and make that corrupt company behave in a civilized manner....

Up Before The Sun The Second Tuesday Of 2012 After A Night Of Explosions Had Me Wondering About Chesapeake Energy's Barnett Shale Fracking

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world at the pre-dawn darkness I see no stars or rain falling. I am assuming we are still under a rain producing cloud cover in North Texas.

According to my computer temperature monitoring device it is only 39 degrees, currently, in the outer world at my location.

Today is the 2nd Tuesday of the New Year. Already almost a third of the first month of 2012 is gone.

I was exhausted by early evening, last night, which had me horizontal fairly early.

Around 3 in the morning an explosive noise woke me up. At first I thought it was thunder. The follow up explosive noises were clearly not thunder-like.

I don't know what was causing the booming. It lasted, intermittently, for a couple hours. This put me into insomniac mode.

Sometime around the 4th or 5th boom it occurred to me that this booming could have something to do with today's scheduled "Frac Job" at my neighborhood Fort Chesapeake. But, would they actually start something like that in the wee hours of the morning if it made a big noise?

Pondering the "Frac Job" got me obsessing over it in my sleepless state.

Maybe someone has an answer to what I'm obsessing about Frac-wise.

Okay, the hole gets drilled, all the way to the Barnett Shale, a couple thousand feet below the surface. Pipe lines the drilled hole. There is no way a continuous pipe can be inserted into a hole that is a couple thousand feet long.

So, is the pipe installed in sections, joined together somehow? Like the water pipes currently laying on the ground to bring Trinity River water to Fort Chesapeake?

When the drilling process reaches an aquifer, how does that work? How can a drilling process possibly get past a layer of water without polluting that water?

If the well lining is a pipe in sections, how are the joints made to be leak-proof? The pipeline that is bringing water to Fort Chesapeake from the Trinity River is definitely not leak-proof at the joints.

When today's fracking occurs, at the point where the Barnett Shale is fractured and starts producing natural gas, what happens next?

Does all that fracking water get pumped back out?

What stops the newly released natural gas from zooming up the poked hole with explosive force, like the natural gas version of the cliche oil gusher when a drilling operation strikes oil?

Today, with all this fracking going on are there going to be some extra nasty things in the air that I breathe?

Does anyone have any answers to any of these question?

I wish I could say I am going swimming now and think about something else.

Dirty Ol' Town's History Of Drilling In Fort Worth, 2004-2011

Don Young, one of Fort Worth's better known YouTube Videographers, has made a YouTube Video detailing his experience with the Dirty Ol' Town of Fort Worth during the past 7 years.

Below is what Mr. Young had to say about this video, with the video below what Mr. Young had to say about the video...

I recently gave a talk to the Tarrant County Democratic Women's Club. My Powerpoint presentation was a condensed timeline, with photos, of my personal experience living in Fort Worth, Texas, A.D. (After Drilling).

It was NOT a Gas Drilling 101 with all the facts, figures and graphs. Rather, it's my personal story and remembrances in this complex experiment from, 2004 - 2011: Why I became involved and what has happened along the way, so far. Not every detail is listed (or remembered) but most of the highlights are present. Needless to say, it's a work-in-progress.

Thanks to masterful technical assistance from Jen Schultz, and the brain-jogging consultation of Debora Young, the Powerpoint is now a YouTube video titled "DIRTY OL' TOWN".....

Taking A Look At My New Chesapeake Energy Neighbor

You are sitting with me in my vehicle, in the Albertson's parking lot, looking north through my windshield at the Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation that is my newest neighbor.

You can not see Albertson's, but it is to the left. The brick building on the right, that you can see, is the Super Bowl Buffet, directly across Boca Raton Boulevard from the Chesapeake operation.

It seems like just a few weeks ago I began to see activity on the old Wal-Mart site, and hoped it was going to be an ALDI Food Market being built, then a short time later seeing a Chesapeake sign announcing their request for a restriction waiver.

I remember when this Barnett Shale gas drilling first started happening, it was in the rural zone north of Fort Worth. I remember reading of complaints about noise and dust from people living near the drilling. I remember driving by my old abode, in Haslet, and being surprised to see a drilling operation underway, on the ranch that was on the Fort Worth side of the road, across from my former abode.

I remember thinking that I was glad I no longer lived there. How ironic that all these years later I have two Chesapeake operations closer to me than the one where I lived in Haslet.

Back then the rules were that the drilling had to be 800 feet from the nearest abode. That distance shrank over the years. Now it appears to be less than 100 feet, judging by my new neighbor. Actually I think the Super Bowl Buffet is closer than 100 feet from the big brown wall.

Are those big walls what is causing the corrupt powers that be to grant restriction waivers? My first Chesapeake neighbor, which is actually closer to my abode than the new one, did not put up a barrier wall when that operation was underway. It was very noisy and dusty.

I wonder if I'm going to be hearing noise from my newest neighbor. I have that Chesapeake wall as a buffer, plus several buildings to block the noise. I am sure you will hear me whine about it if I starting hearing high-pitched metallic whining noises. Again.

The Confederacy Of Dunces Wants To Know Why The Yard Waterers Of Tarrant County Are Wasting Water That Could Go To Gas Well Fracking

Lately the Confederacy of Dunces has been confounding me more than the norm. This current confounding may be heat related.

The constant HOT seems to make everything HOTTER.

Like the level of outrage generated by Chesapeake Energy running 3 big water pipes through Fort Worth's Trinity Park, in order to suck a few million gallons of water out of the Trinity River, so that chemicals and sand can be added to the water, so that Chesapeake can frack yet one more Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale gas drilling site.

The local CBS TV Station, Channel 11, covered the Trinity Park Chesapeake operation, with the help of Fort Worth's Watch Dog, Don Young. You can watch that particular news report below.

In that news report the news reporter reported that of the estimated water usage of Tarrant County only 1% was used by the Gas Drillers, while Yard Watering used 50-60%.

Does this seem credible to you? It does not to me.

One fracked well uses up a lot of water. Millions of gallons of water over the course of multiple frackings.

I do not see a lot of yard watering going on. Yes, there is an occasional sprinkler. But, it appears to me that most people let their yards turn brown during this water starved time of the year.

I know Oakland Lake Park does not irrigate its big fields of grass. Most of the fields of Gateway Park turn brown. Veterans Park is brown except for the Xeriscape garden that shows you how to grow green, in Texas, with little water.

How many thousands of gas wells are now in Tarrant County? How much water has been used to frack those wells?

If, in Tarrant County, there were only a thousand wells using a million gallons of water, to do their fracking, that amounts to 1 billion gallons of water. If yard watering is using 50-60 times that amount, that would be 50-60 billion gallons of water.

Yard watering uses more water than other household uses? Like washing clothes, dishes, drinking, bathing, flushing?

This whole yard watering fuss seems like a phony bogeyman, to me, an amorphous imaginary thing used by propagandists to frighten dunces into behaving.

What Dunce in the Confederacy came up with this 1% figure for the amount of water the gas drillers are using?

Methinks that the gas drillers need to be told there is a moratorium on using the local water supply until the drought ends. Or better yet, run a water pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico and pump that water to Tarrant County. It'd have the benefit of already being salted.

As wise man once said...

"When gas drillers use water, it's permanently removed from the water (hydrologic) cycle.. There's a finite amount of water on planet Earth. Whenever you use it to frack, it has to be buried in the ground a million years."

-DY

This is all very perplexing. Why is common sense so lacking in this part of the planet?

Lamenting The Now Dry Village Creek Bayou & Pondering The Great North Texas Drought

Just a couple days ago there was still water in the Village Creek Bayou in Village Creek Natural Historic Area.

With birds in the bayou.

A couple weeks ago I saw a couple water snakes in the Village Creek Bayou.

Today I saw that the Great North Texas Drought has totally dried out the Village Creek Bayou.

Where have the birds gone, now that the water has gone? Where have the water snakes gone, now that there is no more water?

On a more upbeat wildlife note, today whilst walking amongst the Village Creek, still green foliage, I saw a scrawny raccoon run across the trail ahead of me. A few minutes after that I saw my first armadillo of the year.

The Great North Texas Drought is perplexing me. Something about The Lawn Whisperer, that I blogged about yesterday, has been bugging me.

The Lawn Whisperer makes a big fuss about people wasting water irrigating their lawns. But, that water remains in the ecosystem. It may evaporate, it may make it's way to the Trinity River, wherever it goes, it remains in the ecosystem.

The water taken from the North Texas ecosystem, by the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers, does not return to the ecosystem. If that Fracking water does intersect with the ecosystem, it is a mistake, and hurts the ecosystem.

So, what I was wondering was this. How much of the Great North Texas Drought is being caused by having millions upon millions of gallons of water permanently removed from the ecosystem?

It seems fairly obvious that at some point the level of water removal will have a bad effect. Are we already at that point? If the millions upon millions of gallons of water that have been removed from the ecosystem had not been removed, would we not be in the midst of the Great North Texas Drought?

It's perplexing.

Up Early On The 6th Day Of July Wondering About The Texas Drought & The Phoenix Sandstorm

Almost a 5th of July has already come and gone. This is morning is the start of day #6 of July.

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell at the pool oasis below and the sky above, you can sort of see that this day has dawned with yet one more bright clear cloud-free sky in Texas.

Speaking of being cloud-free. The Texas drought continues to worsen. This morning  brought the news that the Tarrant Regional Water District will be going into mandatory water restriction mode when the district's water supply drops to 75 percent of capacity.

Yesterday, in the short distance I drove by the Trinity River, I saw 3 instances of multiple pipelines sucking water out of the Trinity River by Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers.

In June Fort Worth broke its water use record, using an all-time high of 8 billion gallons.

How many of those gallons were injected into natural gas wells, I could not help but wonder?

No mention was made, in the article, about the drought, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, regarding the fact that a new heavy user of water has moved into town in recent years. One would think mention of this would be made in an article about the local water woes.

Am I the only person curious as to what the water gallon total is in Fort Worth and Tarrant County that is being used by the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers?

Meanwhile, news out of Arizona and the Phoenix zone this morning brought astonishing photos of a giant sandstorm that hit the Valley of the Sun on Tuesday.

I must remember to call my mom and dad and sister to see how they fared in this mess.

I will not be going swimming this morning. The pool got its weekly shock treatment late yesterday. The lack of going swimming should have me being grumpy in about 2 hours.

Barnett Shale Seismic Testing Cable Now Runs Halfway Down Mount Tandy

Yesterday when I drove away from the top of Mount Tandy I was surprised to see Barnett Shale seismic testing cable on the ground near the entry to the NBC broadcast studio.

Today when I drove the road on the top of Mount Tandy, to park near the Tandy Tower, also known as the Fort Worth Space Needle, I was surprised to see that, between when I drove away yesterday and my arrival today, Barnett Shale seismic testing cable has now been laid all the way to where I park.

And beyond.

The cable now runs right under the cable gate that blocks the trail that leads down Mount Tandy and into the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

As I began my descent down Mount Tandy, I soon came upon the Barnett Shale seismic testing device you see in the picture above.

The cable continued past the testing device, running parallel to the trail down Mount Tandy, all the way to where the trail ends at a junction where you can take a right to head north or a left to head south to the base of Mount Tandy.

When I finally reached the end of the seismic testing cable there was a tangle of cable, ready to probe deeper into the Tandy Hills.

I wonder how far the seismic testers are going to go into the park?

I remember when Barnett Shale seismic testing was done in River Legacy Park the cable seemed to run everywhere, including all over the mountain bike trails.

I have not heard Don Young weigh in yet on this latest invasive species to invade the Tandy Hills.

I won't be a happy guy if a drilling operation is set up on the prairie on top of Mount Tandy. Drilling operations are noisy. And messy. I remember when my Chesapeake Energy neighbor moved in with loud screeching, eventually followed by a lot of trucks that generated a lot of dust.

It was not pleasant.

Insomnia On The First Tuesday Of April Only 7 Degrees Above Freezing In Texas

Looking out one of my viewing portals on the world, on the first Tuesday of April, you can see it is yet one more clear blue sky morning in Texas.

What you can't see is that it is only 41 degrees out there.

I had myself an Insomnia Night last night. When I finally managed to go into slumber mode I had myself an extremely detailed nightmare. Nazis were involved. I now sort of know what it is like when Nazis take over your town.

I see the Tandy Hills in my future for today. Yesterday's wind should have dried the hills.

The ubiquitous Anonymous left a  comment on yesterday's blogging about walking around Fosdic Lake, asking....

How close is Fosdic Lake to a drilling site? I'm just saying... 

I did not understand the premise of the question til I looked, just now, at what I said in the blogging. So, I guess Anonymous is suggesting my miserable cold like symptoms may have been being caused by a Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site being near Fosdic Lake.

Well, there is one a fairly short distance to the northwest of Fosdic Lake, maybe a quarter mile distant. I live closer than that to a Chesapeake Energy drilling site. I suspect it is the culprit behind my occasional misery.

Regarding my feeling miserable, the symptoms have abated, so far, this morning.

I don't know about going swimming this morning, with it now only 7 degrees above freezing, having dropped 2 degrees since I woke up the computer. I'll probably give it a try because the water is going to feel so much warmer than 37.

I will let you know how that goes, later.

Shivering On The Tandy Hills While The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Talks To Don Young About Barnett Shale Gas Drillers & The Tandy Hills

In the picture we are standing on top of Mount Tandy in the Tandy Hills Natural Area looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

It was in the 50s and windy. I was under dressed. I should have been in long pants with a long sleeved shirt. But I was not.

This was my second bout of being cold today. This morning it was 47 when I went in the pool. The water was quite a bit warmer than the air. So, I ended up staying a long time in the pool.

Too long.

After I got out of the hot shower I had myself about an hour of extreme shivering before that sensation went away. It sort of feels good.

Speaking of the Tandy Hills. I got back from there to learn, via email, that the Tandy Hills was being discussed in today's issue of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a 2 part article with the first part titled "Deep in the Heart of the Gas Drilling Controversy."

Part 2 of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article is titled "Natural gas fields have provided a fount of cash for Texas cities"

Part 2 focuses on what drilling in the Barnett Shale has done for and to North Texas. Fort Worth's #1 Watchdog, Don Young, provided input as to the bad stuff done by the drillers. That is Don Young in the photo, standing on the Tandy Hills, in a photo taken by Michael Henninger of the Post-Gazette.

Enduring A Cacophony Of Noise At Arlington's Veterans Park Today Along With Mellow Turtles

I was in Arlington around noon, heading to Pantego. I decided to stop at Arlington's Veterans Park and take a walk through the Texas Wildscape.

A lot of people were having some fun today in Veterans Park, enjoying temperatures in the 70s.

Being in the 70s is a huge difference from a week ago when we were all busy preparing to plunge down to near zero.

Today in the Veterans Park Pond I saw a lot of very happy turtles, with their necks stretched out trying to get as much sun as possible.

The Fosdic Lake Turtles are very skittish. The Veterans Park Pond Turtles are not skittish. I got right to the water's edge and still no turtles got spooked, with none diving under water. Maybe the turtles are so happy to be out of that Deep Freeze that they are temporarily throwing caution to the wind.

Veterans Park Pond is a noisy location due to a fountain. And today due to the return of a Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig that was making an awful lot of screechy, metallic racket. Maybe the Veterans Park Pond Turtles are traumatized by all that noise and that is why they paid no attention to the human intruder.

Above you can see the noisy gas drilling rig in the background. Today the Veterans Park Veteran, who guards the memorial, was hanging his head down a bit lower than I remembered. I think the gas drilling noise is getting on his nerves. Or reminding him too much of being in a combat situation.

Looking at the flags at the Veterans Park Memorial, you can see there is a good wind today, doing some heavy duty flag flapping.

Also adding to the Veterans Park noise today was a large number of screaming brats, I mean, school children. They were in purple uniforms. They looked too young to be going to TCU. An adult male was directing them in a stirring game of Red Rover. I heard him say, "Red Rover, come over," or something like that.

I don't know if I have ever played the Red Rover game. Judging by the squealing and screaming this is a very fun game to play. When you are pre-teenager.

A Fosdic Lake Gas Drilling Rig, Sinkhole Filling Operation & White Tree Buds

A Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig hovered above Fosdic Lake in Oakland Lake Park today.

The hovering gas rig was the first interesting thing I saw when I drove in to East Fort Worth's best park today.

Or second or third best park in East Fort Worth. I forgot about Gateway Park. And the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

But both the Tandy Hills and Gateway Park are further west.

I have just decided that Oakland Boulevard is the arbitrary dividing line that is where East Fort Worth begins, which does make Oakland Lake Park the best park in East Fort Worth.

A week or so ago I found a sinkhole on the west side of Fosdic Lake. Within a couple days the growing Fosdic Sinkhole was surrounded by crime scene type tape to prevent anyone from sinking into the Fosdic Sinkhole.

Today I was surprised to see a crew filling the Fosdic Sinkhole.

What fortuitous timing, on my part, to happen to be in Oakland Lake Park right when this operation was underway.

Now, I am no Sinkhole Engineer, but, as a rank amateur, as far as the Science of Sinkholes goes, I think one should find out what is causing a sinkhole, rather than simply filling the hole with dirt. That just seems sort of common sensical.

It will be interesting to see if the Fosdic Sinkhole now reappears. I will try and closely monitor the sinking situation.

Today while I was walking around Fosdic Lake I noticed several trees have had white buds spring out on them.

The picture I took of the buds does not do justice to how cool and sort of otherworldly the white buds looked.

Even though we chilled to around 20 last night here in North Texas, apparently some trees are somehow getting the message that spring will soon be here and it is time to start sending out some new growth.

I hope further freezing does not nip this budding trend in the bud.

Thursday Morning In Texas Thinking About Going Swimming With Ethyl Benzene, Methyl Pentane and Zylene In The Water

It is 39 degrees out there this 3rd Thursday of the last month of 2010. Looking out my window this morning, with no wind blowing, the pool looks inviting. I think I'll accept the invitation.

We got well into the 70s yesterday, maybe even into the low 80s. I'm sure that had a warming effect on outdoor water.

This morning Texas Sharon had a disturbing blurb about a Flower Mound girl in who's blood Barnett Shale Natural Gas well fracturing chemicals have been found.

The chemicals found in the teenager's blood were Ethyl Benzene, Methyl Pentane and Zylene.

Did the girl get the poison from drinking water or breathing air. Or both.

Are we all doomed?

The Thin Man Of The Tandy Hills Thinking About ISO, Scrabble Queens, Climbing Mountains & Texas Sharon's Bad Gas News

With my camera's ISO setting set on the correct setting, today I was able to take a non-overexposed picture of the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man.

This morning I was pleased to learn, from a link provided by Waldo, what ISO means. ISO makes sense to me now.

Thank you, Waldo, for alleviating me of one of my many areas of ignorance.

I was overdressed when I took off for the Tandy Hills today. There was no need for a windbreaker. There was no need for an extra shirt layer. There really was not a great need for a stocking cap. I was probably glad I was in long pants.

Right now, at almost 4 in the afternoon, it is a few degrees shy of 70, here in my formerly frigid zone of Texas.

The Scrabble Queen of Washington is currently Scrabbling from Pullman. That is over in Eastern Washington. Far eastern. Almost to Idaho. It is snowing and cold in her location. The Scrabble Queen wanted me to go out to Starbucks with her this morning, but distance restraints made that a bit difficult. The Scrabble Queen is over in Pullman, at Washington State University, staying with her daughter, Danielle, who's birthday is tomorrow.

I have mentioned Danielle before. She is world famous for being the youngest person to reach the summit of the tallest mountain on each of the 7 continents.

Today I got Facebook Friended, for the first time, by a dog. Shelby. Shelby is one of Princess Annie of Wink's guard dogs.

I learned from Texas Sharon today that I am not alone in thinking the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Driller's dirty polluting practices may be why I have not been feeling my usual tip/top self of late.

How ironic. Just as I typed "tip/top self" my throat itched and I coughed. Followed by a sneeze.

I need someone to come to my rescue and transport me to a place where the air is clean. I may be too weak to do this myself...

Freezing This Sunday Morning In Texas

It is 32 degrees at my location on this second Sunday of the last month of 2010.

Those 32 degrees must be why the view from my window this morning is a bit frosty.

I seem to have recovered, finally, from whatever it was that was causing me a respiratory malady. Did yesterday's wind blow the bad stuff away?

Was there bad stuff in the air of late? A lot of locals seemed to be having some breathing woes.

In Texas there is no state agency that monitors the air quality in any meaningful way.

Because Texas does not have any state agency that monitors the air quality in any meaningful way, the federal government tries to help with air and water quality issues.

Like in the past week, or so, the EPA was appalled to find that the drinking water supply to some homes in south Parker County had an acceptable level of methane and other bad stuff. Methane is another name for natural gas.

The Texas state agency that should have been appalled that the result of some poorly regulated Barnett Shale Natural Gas Driller had been contaminating a water supply, instead made the EPA and the federal government intervention the issue, making the embarrassingly bogus claim that Texas had looked into the water problem and saw no problem.

Anyway, I'm glad to be back breathing easier. For now.

The Dawn Of December In Texas With Gas-Powered Internet Repression & A Big Chill

It is the dawn of the last month of 2010, on a chilly, one degree above freezing, 1st day of December in Texas.

I had myself a restful night last night, no repeat of the night before's bizarre nightmares. Instead, last night's dream theme seemed to mostly involve Kim Zolciak of Atlanta, and me going all sorts of interesting places, without ever leaving Kim's condo. I imagine there might be some who might consider spending the night with Kim Zolciak to be a nightmare, but, for me, it really was not. I awoke well-rested from the experience.

Speaking of nightmares. In the early evening, on Sunday, I was appalled to learn of the fresh hell Texas Sharon is experiencing, thanks to, all evidence suggests, Barnett Shale Gas Drillers. Sharon got messages from Google, warning her that accesses had been made to her account by multiple IP addresses. Soon thereafter, Sharon finds out that when one of her YouTube videos, on her blog, gets clicked on, the clicker does not get to view the video, instead the viewer sees this...

This video is no longer available because the YouTube account associated with this video has been terminated.

Apparently, without letting anyone know, Sharon moved to China, where censoring Google and YouTube is allowed. Sharon really should not have made such a rash move and should have stayed in America where free speech is a constitutional guarantee and repression of someone's free speech is criminal activity. As is hacking.

The last month of the year is starting off a bit foreboding. And interesting.

Finding Wildscapes Under A Barnett Shale Drilling Operation In Pappy Elkins Park In Dalworthington Gardens

With no bike to ride I decided to go to Veterans Park to do me some walking and contemplating. The Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig is back making noise for the apartment dwellers who used to lived in a quiet peaceful location across from Veterans Park.

I really was not too much into the walking today. I'm feeling a bit downtrodden, or trodden down. One of the residents of the aforementioned apartments had mentioned, to me, a nearby lake. I tried to find the lake after that. The resident wondered if the gas drillers were going to be sucking water from the nearby lake. Between my last attempt to find this mysterious lake and today, I consulted a map. I found the lake easily.

The lake is in Pappy Elkins Park. I do not know if it is Pappy Elkins Lake. I do know you can fish in the lake. I do not know if you can eat the fish you catch. I also know you are forbidden to wade or swim in the lake.

As you can see, the shale drilling operation is right next to the lake. A road took me right to the gas drilling operation.

From the up close perspective the drilling operation appears further from the apartments than the perspective from Veterans Park. But it certainly is no where near 800 feet distant. 

Now, where it gets sort of interesting is Veterans Park, and, I assume, the apartments, are located in Arlington. Pappy Elkins Park, and, I assume, the gas drilling operation, are in Dalworthington Gardens, which is a tiny town surrounding by Arlington. So, with the gas rig in one town and the apartments in another, do the distance rules not apply?

Now, looking at the above photo, make note of the brown item, in the lower right, in front of the supposed sound barrier that surrounds the drilling operation.

Now we are right under the brown item, with the gas drilling tower hovering above. The sign says "DWG Wildscapes." Now, isn't that ironic? A Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Operation sits were Pappy Elkins Park had a Wildscape, similar, I assume, to Veterans Park's Xeriscape.

Above is a map from which you can figure out how to get to Pappy Elkins Park if you are in the area and want to see a lake you've not seen before.

Mother Nature's Schizophrenic Tandy Hills Behavior & A Dried Up Trinity River Ruining Inner Tubing

With only 16 days until November arrives, Mother Nature, in Fort Worth's Tandy Hills, is putting on a somewhat schizophrenic show. Like Mother Nature can not decide if it is spring or fall, as witnessed by the spring-like display of wildflower color in the picture above. Blooming at the same time as the fall-like foliage in the picture below.

I do not have any clue what this clash of seasons portends for winter. A record breaking 100 degree plus day in the middle of January? A Christmas Eve tornado? A blizzard with 5 foot snow drifts?

I must say, hiking on the Tandy Hills today was as near perfect as it can get. Perfect temperature, perfect wind blowing.

An interesting item is sitting next to Tandy Shrine II. I did not take a picture, because I knew my photo skills would not be able to manage a decent picture of it. Someone found a long, maybe 20 feet long, sort of rusted, tapered, thick wire type piece of junk. I suspected it was laying nest to the Shrine because the person who drug it there found that he/she could not stick it in the pipe without knocking the pipe over.

But, in the oft chance the the pipe dragger had not attempted wire insertion, I tried it. I quickly found that what I suspected, was true. The pipe could not support the wire. That and the effort left my hands a rusty mess.

Since it is Saturday, of course I was on the Tandy Hills. And equally of course, afterwards, I went to Town Talk. On the way to Town Talk I saw the Trinity River is the lowest I've seen it. On the west side of the Beach Street Bridge the river is down to just a couple feet wide, with a mud bar almost reaching from the south side of the river to the north. I should have stopped and taken a picture. I do not think I could muster the energy, later today, to head out to Gateway Park and pedal my bike out to the dried up inner tubing mecca.

Maybe tomorrow I'll get a closer look at the disappearing river. I wonder if the Trinity is drying up due to the Tarrant Regional Water District over selling water sucking permits to the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers? Those boys suck millions of gallons of water from that long-suffering river.

What happens when you happen to float on your inner tube near one of the giant water sucking straws? I guess this is not currently an issue, with there currently not being enough water to float anything but random pieces of litter.

Where are the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers doing their water sucking now that they've sucked the Trinity dry?

Getting Wet Against My Will Courtesy Of Gas Drillers & The Trinity River

In the picture I am standing under the pipe tunnel I showed you a couple days ago. The pipe tunnel transports water, over the Trinity Trail, that is being sucked from the Trinity River by Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drillers.

When I saw this operation a couple days ago it was still being assembled. Last night the operation was in operating mode.

Above you see the water sucking pump's thick straws sticking into the Trinity River. The Trinity River is running real low, surprisingly low, after running high as recently as last Saturday.

Above you are looking at the point of this particular blogging. Water leaking across the Trinity Trail from the pipes sucking water from the Trinity River.

I do not recollect seeing any billboards admonishing the gas drillers to check for leaks, like the multiple billboards suggesting that citizens fix their leaky toilets.

What totally annoyed me about the Trinity River leak on to the Trinity Trail was the fact that, as I biked over it, my bike tires flipped spray from the leak directly on to me.

I choose not to join J.D. Granger in his Trinity River Inner Tube Expeditions. I do not want Trinity River water on me. I did not appreciate having Trinity River water spraying on me last night.

With the Tarrant Regional Water District so concerned about wasting water from the Trinity River, I can't help but wonder how they monitor the water being sucked from the river by the gas drillers? I suspect there is zero monitoring going on.

But, the TRWD Toilet Police are ever vigilant.