Due To Danger You Must Not Smoke At My Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Gas Pad Site

Today I opted out of driving anywhere for my daily salubrious endorphin inducing aerobic stimulation and instead, once again, took a walking tour of my neighborhood.

Soon upon leaving my abode my mobile telecommunication device made its incoming call noise. It was Frita Fremont. I'd not talked to Frita for a couple days.

So, Frita walked and talked with me til I got to my neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Pad Site and saw a picture I wanted to take.

I told Frita I'd talk to her later, stuck the mobile telecommunication device in one pocket and took my digital photo taking device out of another pocket to take the picture you see above.

I am sure this sign has been stuck to this fence for quite some time. But I had not made note of it til I saw it whilst talking to Frita.

DANGER? NO SMOKING? PELIGRO? NO FUMAR?

What causes the DANGER? Is there some possibility that non-odorized natural gas may be leaking, un-detected, and thus pose an explosion risk?

Does the DANGER cease at the fence? Is there no DANGER across the street, at Albertsons? How about due west, at the apartment complex adjacent to this DANGER zone?

Non-odorized natural gas runs from the DANGER zone under the parking lot of the apartment complex due west.

If there is a chance of a leak causing a DANGER at the gas pad site, requiring a warning sign, why are there no NO SMOKING warning signs above the pipeline that runs under the apartment's parking lot?

I tell you, living in the Barnett Shale is very perplexing...

Up Early May 18 In Texas Thinking About Mt. St. Helens Erupting 31 Years Ago Today

Looking out my viewing portal on the world, this May 18 of 2011, no matter which direction I look I can see no volcano.

Or mountain.

31 years ago this morning I was soaking my aching back in a hot tub when suddenly I heard a series of loud concussive booms.

I did not know what was causing the booming. A few minutes later my special needs neighbor waddled over to tell us that Mt. St. Helens had erupted.

I was about 150 miles north of the volcano when it blew up. My mom and dad were over at Ocean Shores, on the Pacific Ocean, digging for razor clams, with thousands of other razor clam diggers, when the mountain blew. Their location during the eruption was much closer to the volcano than mine. All I remember of my mom and dad's experience was the clam diggers were asked to evacuate the beach.

The days and weeks following the eruption were exciting times to be living in the Pacific Northwest. The first eruption blasted a cloud of ash eastward, covering much of Eastern Washington with a foot or so of ash. We were advised to get ash masks in case an eruption blew ash northward. I got an ash mask, but never really needed it. Only one time did a followup eruption blow a very small amount of ash into the Skagit Valley.

It just does not seem possible that it is over 3 decades ago that Mt. St. Helens blew her top. This was before CNN and all the other cable news. The local NBC, CBS and ABC affiliates went live soon after the explosion. There was no FOX then. When the first video of rampaging rivers and the exploding mountain came on the screen it was very shocking. I have no idea if the rest of the country was watching this, live, like they would be if it happened today.

If a Washington volcano erupted today it would quickly be the top trending Twitter topic. All the cable news stations would cover it live. Lots of amateur video would quickly appear.

I think I will go swimming now, totally safe, this morning, from the possibility of hearing the booms of an exploding volcano, while soaking in water, unlike 31 years ago.

No volcanoes to explode in Texas.

But, we do have an awful lot of potential mini-volcanoes in the form of Barnett Shale Natural Gas Wells.