The Arrival Of Barnett Shale Seismic Testing In The Mount Tandy Neighorhood

It was a degree or two under 90 when I hit the Tandy Hills today around noon. A good, strong wind was blowing. I did not overheat.

In the picture I am standing on top of what I call Big Lizard Ridge, looking east at the top of Mount Tandy, also known as Broadcast Hill.

That is the Tandy Tower on the left, also known as the Fort Worth Space Needle.

I am parked between the Fort Worth Space Needle and the shorter needle to its right.

Broadcast Hill is so called because it is the location of the D/FW zone's NBC broadcast studio. It was recently made known that the D/FW zone's NBC broadcast studio is leaving Broadcast Hill and moving to a more central location.

A couple days ago Barnett Shale seismic testing wires have appeared all over my neighborhood.

Today I was surprised to see Barnett Shale seismic testing wires strung all over the Broadcast Hill neighborhood.

I believe Chesapeake Energy owns the land between the NBC broadcast studio and the Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Is the real reason NBC is leaving Broadcast Hill because Chesapeake Energy is planning to put up a drilling tower by all the other towers on Broadcast Hill?

I can pretty much guarantee that if Chesapeake Energy tries to do such a thing there will be some loud broadcasting of a different sort from Broadcast Hill.

The Last Sunday Of May Thinking Of Getting Drilled By Chesapeake Energy On Broadcast Hill

Looking out at the world from my primary viewing portal it appears the last Sunday of May has dawned cloudy in my location on the planet.

Today in my location on the planet we are scheduled to be heating to a relatively chilly high of 90. Much cooler than yesterday's high of 98.

If I remember right I think I have mentioned that I often go to the top of Mount Tandy as my start off point for hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Area's many trails.

I do not think I have also mentioned that Mount Tandy is also known as Broadcast Hill, due to television broadcasting facilities being located there.

I knew the Broadcast Hill facilities were a NBC operation. What I did not know, til this morning, was that the Broadcast Hill NBC operation is the location for the Dallas/Fort Worth NBC affiliates broadcast studio.

Apparently, after 63 years of operating from Broadcast Hill/Mount Tandy, NBC is moving its operation to a new, currently undisclosed location.

Chesapeake Energy owns the land between the NBC operation and the Tandy Hills operation. Chesapeake Energy also owns land on the west side of the Tandy Hills operation. That land has already been drilled. It would not please me if the Chesapeake Energy land on the east side of the Tandy Hills operation gets drilled.

Rather than worrying about getting drilled, right now, I think I'll go swimming.

Climbing The Fort Worth Space Needle Atop Mount Tandy & Valentines Day Lunch With Elsie Hotpepper

You are looking at the Fort Worth Space Needle, high atop Mount Tandy on the east side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area, today, about an hour before noon.

When I drove up to the Mount Tandy summit I saw a lot of pickup trucks and men scurrying around the Space Needle.

A thin cable was running from about half way up the tower to a winch on the back of one of the pickups.

I wondered how that thin cable got half way up the tower. I watched for awhile to try and figure out what was being done.

Whatever those guys were doing it had several guys yelling back and forth in a storm of colorful cussing, the likes of which I'd not heard since the last time I talked to Elsie Hotpepper.

I gave up after about 5 minutes and took off hiking. The trails were a bit muddy in places. I prefer trails not to be muddy.

An hour or so later I was back under the Fort Worth Space Needle.

I've got to say, looking up at that thing makes me dizzy. I'm a bit of an acrophobe, even when I'm on the ground.

But, what I now saw, really made me dizzy, well, queasy.

Two guys, more than half way up the tower.

In the photo at the top, you can see where these guys were on the tower, by finding the black spots halfway up the tower. That would be them.

As I drove away I had no clue what these guys were risking life and limb to do. Whatever it was, it sure had them being a bit hot tempered.

Speaking of being a bit hot tempered. My Valentines Day lunch at Esperanza's, with Elsie Hotpepper, was fun. Absolutely no colorful cussing.

When Elsie got back to work she emailed asking how lunch was. I replied that I am out of practice for eating that much. To which Elsie replied, "Me too. And I am sleepy!!"

It's all those tortilla chips. And rice. And beans. That is way too much carbo-loading when you aren't used to it.

The Esperanza's Chile Cheese Relleno was really good today. I'd not had a Chile Cheese Relleno since way back in September of last year when I met the Scrabble Queen of Washington and her husband, JR, at Mercado Juarez for lunch.

When I lived in Washington my favorite Chile Cheese Relleno came from the restaurant closest to where I lived. Los Arcos. So named because it was in a building that shared space with an Arcos gas station. It was at this restaurant I learned to like pico de gallo and cilantro. Later the restaurant expanded to be a night club, with the owner soon indicted for some bad behavior, with Los Arcos being no more.

Climbing To The Top Of The Fort Worth Space Needle On Top Of Mount Tandy

I was peacefully deep into a salubrious endorphin trance, on my 10th day in a row of hiking the Tandy Hills, in a desperate attempt to get myself in shape, when, as I was hiking across Lost Sunglasses Ridge, I heard a lot of shouting.

I looked in the direction of the shouting and saw what I thought might be human forms on the Fort Worth Space Needle that sits atop Mount Tandy.

I'd not parked at the top of Mount Tandy for this particular excursion, I was parked on View Street. I'd not intended to hike to the top of Mount Tandy.

But, seeing someone climbing the Fort Worth Space Needle motivated me to get closer.

As you can see in the picture, there are 3 guys on the tower. They seemed to be clipped on to the structure. I could not tell what they were doing. They did not move up or down while I was watching.

The top of the Fort Worth Space Needle does not have a revolving restaurant. You have to bring your own sack lunch to the top and do your own rotating.

A few days ago I ran into a raven-haired, red lip-sticked beauty, with a dog, on top of Mount Tandy, underneath the Fort Worth Space Needle. This was the first day I had seen all the cable on the ground, with it apparent the tower was being worked on.

The raven-haired beauty told me the support cables were being replaced. And that the day before she'd watched a guy, part way up the tower, go into panic mode when he ran into a hive of bees who were not happy to see him. She also told me she had a friend who worked for whoever maintains the tower and that he was barely on the job when he had to climb to the top of the Fort Worth Space Needle.

Which I believe is something like 1,000 feet tall. He told the raven-haired beauty that the tower swayed at the top, even when it was not windy. When her friend was back on the ground he vowed to never climb such a thing again.

It was quite windy on the Tandy Hills today, which makes it a bit surprising that ascending the Fort Worth Space Needle was being attempted.

I do not know how much money it would take to motivate me to climb to the top of the Fort Worth Space Needle. Maybe a million, half up front.