Visiting Fort Worth Trinity River Ghosts, Sinkholes & Rutted Levees

When I took off out of here around noon for my daily constitutional I did not know where I was going, except for the Post Office. Sometimes there is something at the Post Office that determines where I go next.

Today the Post Office sent me off towards Beach Street to a Chase Bank. Since I was on Beach Street it made sense to park at the spot where last month I had fun with Express Energy trucks and go for a walk on the Trinity River Levee to see how the ol' girl is doing.

Well, she is still messed up and rutted, in several places, between Beach Street and the site of the recent Express Energy water removal operation.

The Trinity Sink Hole is still in play and seems to be growing slightly bigger. Someone commented that kids have been known to fall into such things. Currently it would take a very small kid to fall into that hole. A horse stepping on that hole would seem to not be a good thing though.

The thing that caught this Texas boy's eyes today was not holes or rutted up river levees. It was the astonishing amount of litter on the banks of the Trinity River.

My pictures never, even remotely, do justice to how bizarre the mess of litter looks.

Maybe, if I crop out a closeup of the litter in the first picture, it'll give you a better idea of how the bank of the Trinity River looks like a garbage dump, in some locations.

Those are not white birds you see in the tree. Those are white plastic sacks, you know, those things you bag your groceries in. From the vantage point from which the picture was taken, the bags look more like white ghosts, waving in the wind, than birds.

Why does it seem that so much litter roams wild and free in Texas? Where I used to live, in the Skagit Valley of Washington, I never saw all that much litter, certainly not on the banks of the Skagit River, which, incidentally, is a much bigger river than the Trinity, and thus could handle a large volume of litter, if someone forced it to.

In Washington I never saw flatbed trailers, loaded with garbage, driving down the freeway with litter flying away. A very resourceful disposal method, which must be sanctioned as appropriate, because I've seen it happen so many times while driving the highways of Texas.

It the litter problem here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex a function of so many people living in a relatively small area? As in there are more people living in this Texas Metroplex than the entire state of Washington.

But, in areas of Washington where it is densely populated, such as the Seattle/Tacoma/Everett Metroplex of about 3 million, there are several rivers flowing through the populated area, none of which I ever recollect seeing Trinity River levels of litter.

It's very perplexing to me. Texans seem to like their state. Many Texans are quite quick to let you know how proud they are of Texas and that they truly believe it to be a special place. Then why do so many Texans see nothing wrong about trashing up the place?

I have rambled on long enough that I have space to show you a picture of the current state of the Express Energy Services damaged Trinity River Levee on this, the first Saturday of February. In the background you can see some of the litter "ghosts" that I showed you, closeup, above.

It's coming up on Saturday night. I'm fixin' to have myself a fine time in Texas tonight. See you tomorrow. Or sooner.

Is The Trinity Hole A Trinity River Levee Sinkhole In The Making?

I know I've mentioned it before, but to refresh your memory, 2 Saturday's ago I had a weird run-in with an Express Energy truck at the site of a water pumping operation in Fort Worth, on the Trinity Trails that run into Gateway Park.

After I had the run-in, I blogged about it, with pictures of the Express Energy truck barreling towards me on the paved pedestrian, no vehicles allowed, trail.

Soon after I blogged about the ugly incident, orange traffic cones were placed on the trail, with a sign saying "Utility Work Ahead." The traffic cones blocked the Express Energy trucks from driving on the Trinity Trail.

This morning I got a comment from "Anonymous" to the blogging about the Saturday Express Energy truck incident.

Anonymous said...

"DO ANY OF YOU HAVE A REAL JOB? walking around a park? huh? if your worried about the pavement being muddy? start by picking up the trash and dead bodies that are at the end of the hill... wheres the pics of that?"

Dead bodies? At the end of the hill? The hill reference sort of indicates this is an Express Energy person, aka shill. It's been pretty clear someone at Express Energy has been reading what I was saying about them every since I started saying stuff about them.

The best example of that came when I blogged about there being no permits posted. I then got a comment telling me there were permits posted, among other things. I quickly checked the site, to find no permits. And had my first encounter with Express Energy trucks.

After reading today's rather illiterate comment (I Ieft it as written, except for removing profanity) I decided I'd not been to the Express Energy 6 pump Trinity River water sucking site in awhile. So, today that is where I took one of those walks, which Anonymous finds perplexing that someone would do such a thing. In a park.

Well, there has been no attempt to fix the muddied, rutted, Trinity River levee. Maybe the water suckers are coming back, so what would be the point of fixing anything?

As you can in the picture, the levee got rutted up some more due to the Express Energy trucks being blocked by those orange traffic cones.

But, it was not the mud and ruts that surprised me today. Those I expected to see.

It is what the geologist, who walked with me today, found that was a bit unsettling, and, well, strange.

If you look at the picture at the top you will see a large hole. This large hole is about 100 feet west of the pedestrian bridge that takes you to Gateway Park. The large hole is on the north side of the paved trail, slightly south of the new "road" muddied in by Express Energy.

The Trinity Hole was weird to look into. My first reaction was how do I know that I'm not standing on a very thin layer of earth, with the Trinity Hole just being a little eye into the cavern?

My geologist co-walker said it looked like the beginning of a sinkhole. That it appeared that water had found its way into the levee and had eroded the hole.

The Trinity Hole is near where there was a leak in the pipeline, during the Express Energy water pumping. I took a picture of that leak on the Saturday I had the face-off with the Express Energy truck.

Looking in to the Trinity Hole it was too dark to see anything. So, I aimed my camera down the hole and took a flash picture. It looks like there's a bottom to the hole. Or maybe that is mud. It's such a perfect circle it looks as if something mechanical bored the hole. But why would anyone be boring holes, like this, into a river levee?

Very perplexing.

Express Energy Pumps Not Sucking Trinity River Water At Gateway Park Trinity Trail Location

I'm often surprised by what I see when I cross the Trinity River, heading north on Beach Street. Today there were no white Express Energy Services trucks to be seen.

Maybe because, except for cleaning up after themselves, their water sucking operation, at this location, seems to have ended.

The pumps have been drug up from the river's edge. I assume this means they are done.

I could tell that the Express Energy Services trucks had not driven on the paved trail. All the orange traffic cones were knocked over and scattered, but there was no fresh mud on the trail.

I can't help but wonder how it came to be that the Express Energy people were told to quit driving on the paved trail?

A "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign remains up, with no utility work appearing to be happening.

It will be interesting to see how well the muddy, rutted mess on the Trinity River levee is cleaned up. Then again, this may not be the last of the water sucking from this location. This had been the second iteration of a pumping operation at where Gateway Park meets the Trinity Trails.

In the second picture you are looking south, towards the Trinity River, from the east side of Beach Street. You can see the Express Energy pipelines on the left and right.

This is the access point for what I was calling the White Darth Vader Trucks. A little bridge took the trucks over the pipelines, then, before they were stopped from doing so, they'd take a left on to the paved trail, quickly having it thickly covered with mud.

That mud was cleaned up when the "Utility Work Ahead" first appeared.

Below are most of the links to the bloggings about my experiences with Express Energy Services. I hope that subject is at an end...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Express Energy Service Section Of Fort Worth Trinity Trails Getting Cleaned For Mysterious Reasons

Today after hiking on the Tandy Hills I went to Town Talk. As my one longtime reader knows, that puts me on Beach Street where I can see the current state of the Express Energy Services taking water from the Trinity River operation.

That same one longtime reader may remember me mentioning driving on Beach Street a couple days ago and seeing no notorious White Darth Vader Truck guarding the operation.

So, of course I was curious to see if the Terror Trucks were still gone today.

What I found was just something new to be perplexed about.

When I blogged about my Saturday experience with mafia-like thuggery, I mentioned how badly Express Energy had muddied up the Trinity Trail and rutted up the Trinity River levee.

Today the Trinity Trail was marked off with orange traffic cones and the sign you see in the picture, "UTILITY WORK AHEAD."

The Utility Work appeared to be the cleaning off of the muddied Trinity Trail. I did not get any closer than the sign, so I don't know if it was a City of Fort Worth work crew, cleaning up the trail, burning your tax dollars to clean up after Express Energy, or if it was Express Energy cleaning up after themselves.

There was a White Darth Vader Truck guarding the river pumping site. I saw at least 1 Express Energy goon standing by the truck. I didn't want a repeat of Saturday's fun, so I took my pictures and continued on to Town Talk.

So, why is the muddy mess being cleaned up while Express Energy is still driving a truck to the pump site? I assume they are still driving on the pedestrian trail that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES."

When I was in Town Talk I thought to myself that the only reason to clean up the mess was that the pumping was already over. I could not see the pumps from my vantage point by the Utility Work Ahead sign. I thought, maybe the white truck, by the pump site, was there to clean up the mess and the pumps were gone.

The pumps being gone seemed to be the only thing that made sense of the effort going into cleaning the trail.

When I was done in Town Talk I headed to Gateway Park. I parked by the trailhead that leads to the bridge that crosses on to the Trinity Trails. As soon as I opened my door I heard the pumps.

So, very perplexing. Why is the trail being cleaned while the mess makers are still making messes?

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

It rained last night, here in usually dry Fort Worth, Texas. With the rain I knew my usual Saturday hiking up and down the Tandy Hills would not be doable, so I decided to go to Gateway Park.

And since I was at Gateway Park I decided to walk out to the Trinity Trails to see what those Express Energy boys were up to, if anything.

I think yesterday, when I mentioned checking in on the EE boys, I said I might be back today to search for the illusive meters that the TCEQ claims are required for this type of water removal operation.

Today I took along a bodyguard. I'm sort of glad I did. I could see there were a couple guys sitting in the White Darth Vader Pickup when I snapped the picture you see above, of the rutted up, muddied, damaged Trinity River levee.

And then I turned my attention to a leak spouting out of one of the pipes. Now is this leak before or after the water has been metered?

When I turned around, after taking the picture of the leaking pipe, I was surprised to see the two Express Energy guys out of the truck. They looked harmless enough. My bodyguard waved them a big howdy. They waved back.

The Express Energy guys would have had to walk through all that mud if they had wanted to get closer to me. Is mucking up the levee and the paved pedestrian trail included in the permit to run this operation? What happened next was very interesting.

I turned around from having taken the picture of the Express Energy guys standing beside their White Darth Vader Truck to find another White Darth Vader Truck coming towards me at high speed on the paved trail that says "No Motorized Vehicles." As he got closer he was not slowing down. I'm thinking, wait a minute, I'm the pedestrian here, walking on public land on a public trail.

I blinked and jumped out of the way after snapping the above picture. At this point the Express Energy exploits lost any chance of being considered a benign thing where I'm just over reacting. This had turned malignant. I continued walking, but kept glancing behind me. The truck that was on a course to run me over, drove to the rutted up zone, by the first truck, then quickly turned around and started heading back towards me!

By then I was off the paved trail because it was too muddy and too wet, I assume from leaking pipes. The truck stopped about midway between Beach Street and the water sucking site. I stopped to take some pictures of all the mud where the White Darth Vader Trucks drive on to the No Motorized Vehicles paved trail, right off Beach Street. That's the below picture.

You can sort of make out the former paved pedestrian Trinity Trail that has become a highway for Express Energy Services.

I continued on walking past Beach Street for about a mile. The paved trail crosses the Trinity River just east of the Beach Street bridge, but an unpaved trail continues on top of the levee on the north side. I sort of expected the White Darth Vader Truck to follow us. But he didn't.

I was a little wary of what I was going to run into on the way back through the Express Energy zone. The first White Darth Vader Truck was still in position, with the EE guys back inside the truck. You can see here another view of what a mess they have made of the paved trail, with tire ruts on both sides of the trail.

All looked peaceful as I continued walking. And then something funny happened.

I was on the bridge that leads into Gateway Park. I was taking some more pictures of the pipe leak. When I turned around to look in the opposite direction, I saw that one of the Express Energy guys was taking pictures of me! So, I took a picture of him taking a picture of me.

Now, yesterday I mentioned that in the Modern Wild West that I think cameras and cell phones have replaced the Six-Shooters of the Old Wild West. I think after yesterday's shootout Express Energy decided they needed to arm their guys. I hope he got some good pictures. I'm not very photogenic.

A Big Mess Of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water In Fort Worth

I dropped in on the Beach Street/Trinity Levee/Gateway Park Barnett Shale Gas Drilling water stealing operation late this afternoon.

I was once more surprised by what I saw. And a new sign. Sitting above a jumble of pipelines, the sign says "Unauthorized Motorized Vehicles Prohibited Violators Will Be Prosecuted." In the lower right hand corner of the sign it says "Texas Water Code 49.217."

Just 2 days ago, on Monday, I took pictures of motorized vehicles in the location of this sign.

Now, I previously said I'd learned that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality must issue a permit for any surface water to be taken in Texas.

Then I was told that the Tarrant Regional Water District manages the Trinity River in Tarrant County, selling the water to the drillers. At a steep discount, I suspect.

In the picture on the right you're looking at the pipelines leading from the above sign to the site of the pumps, where I was in for a surprise.

So, here's what I think is going on. Both this Tarrant Regional Water District and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality have been corrupted with the installation of gas industry foxes watching the hen house of this corrupted zone of Texas I am living in.

I don't think permits are being issued. I don't think there is any oversight. I don't think there is any rule enforcement.

This type lawless environmental terrorism is what you get when the agencies that are supposed to safeguard the public's assets, like a river, are co-opted.

It's a variation of what President Eisenhower warned about in his farewell address, but, instead of a vast military industrial complex to be wary of, in Fort Worth we have a vast political/gas industry complex to be wary of.

Well, more than be wary, we are past the point of being wary doing any good, because an industry has already been allowed to control political power in Fort Worth by installing corrupt politicians and others in positions of power who do their bidding and run roughshod over Fort Worth's citizen's right to be safe and secure in their homes.

Count the number of pipes. There are 6 of them. The reason there are 6 is there are now 6 pumps sitting at the edge of the Trinity River, sitting on top of a very sloppily laid out "oil leak" catcher slab of some sort of impermeable material, that has holes in it.

See those white bags on the left, sitting on the wheels. Guess what those are? Give up? Look at the next picture.

Bags of oil absorbent. "100% Natural Product" it says on the bags. "Cleans up spills that can cause accidents. Soaks up oil, grease, water, coolant & more."

I think they may have already had to use some of this absorbent, because the area reeked of oil.

There are other problems with the spill containment method, which the picture below shows.

Yes, there are tears in the impermeable mat that the pumps sit on, which turns them permeable. As in they'd leak. The pump's setup looks very sloppily assembled. The entire operation looked sloppy. Chunks of lumber were used to try and level up the pumps, which made more tears in the oil barrier.

A view of the "protective" mat and the pumps sitting at the edge of the Trinity River. How quickly can they get these pumps out of there if the river rises rapidly, which it is known to do?

This is going to be so noisy when those 6 pumps get pumping. I'll try and get video. There appeared to be a lot of pipe assembling that still needed to take place before pumping can begin. I don't know how they are going to fix the damaged protective barrier mat.

Oh, I know. They won't. Because this is an unregulated industry operating under the lawless protective bubble that covers the Fort Worth zone that causes the laws that govern the rest of America to not apply. Little things like a mayor with a criminal level of Conflicts of Interest, taking more than $600,000 a year from the drillers sticking holes in the town who's interests he is supposed to look out for, rather than looking out for his own interests and those of the gas drillers who have the man on the take.

The Beach Street Gateway Park Trinity River Water Stealing Is Now On Steroids

A week or two ago I mentioned seeing a backhoe working in an area that had previously held a diesel pump sucking water from the Trinity River and making a big, rutted, muddy mess in the process.

When I saw the backhoe I thought maybe it was fixing the mess. As I so often am, a couple days later, upon closer inspection, showed me I was wrong. Instead more damage was done, in what looked to me to be preparation for a bigger water thieving operation.

And today I found out that, on that, I was right. A much bigger water thieving operation is being installed.

This time, with at least 3 large pumps and a lot of very thick metal pipe to move a lot of Trinity River water. That is a lot of pipeline leading down to the river's edge.

This was quite an operation, with trucks carrying pipeline lined up, waiting for their turn to rut up the Trinity River levee.

Above you are looking east at one of the truck trailer loads of pipe being delivered, with the installation crew on the left. That is the foot/bike bridge that crosses from the Trinity Trails into Gateway Park in the background.

I saw no permit posted, anywhere where these vehicles were driving, where "NO VEHICLES" signs are posted. A few days ago I learned that a permit is required any time surface water is taken in Texas, with the permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

Above is a closer look at the, what I believe, is a criminal activity, that is a product of the racketeering that is going on in Fort Worth, with a corrupted city government permitting gas drillers to steal water from the Trinity River, due to the powers that be, in the Fort Worth City Government, being on what is commonly called "the take." With Fort Worth's Conflicts of Interest-laden, law breaking, ethically challenged, morally bankrupt Mayor Moncrief, the top crook on the take, to the tune of over $600,000 a year.

I'm trying to amp up my stridency on this issue, due to the fact that no one has corrected me if I am wrong. As in have permits been issued to take this water? If they have, how much do the permits cost? How much is being paid for the water that is being taken? How is it being regulated? If Moncrief is not violating the Conflicts of Interest laws would someone please explain to me how that can be?

Above you are looking at 3 of the diesel pumps which I believe will soon be put to work breaking the law and stealing Trinity River water, used for the purpose of further enriching Fort Worth's corrupt mayor and others on the take in Fort Worth's elaborate racketeering scheme that is raking in millions while poking thousands of holes in Texas, while making thousands of Texas citizens mad as hell and not wanting to take it anymore.

Above you are looking west at the diesel pumps and the bridge that leads to Gateway Park. The river is behind me. These pipes are a huge magnitude bigger than the first pipeline that stole water from this location. That pipeline was pretty much an oversized garden hose compared to these pipes.

Can anyone explain to me why this is being allowed? How does one make a citizen's arrest? Does anyone know if Mayor Mike Moncrief packs heat?

I thought Texans took serious, horse thieving and water stealing in these parts, where the west sort of began. It is just one more thing I've been wrong about.

Is The Texas Commission On Environmental Quality Issuing Permits For The Gas Drillers Taking Trinity River Water?

I had to get outside today, what with the return of blue sky and the surprising, unpredicted jump in temperature, ending our North Texas Fort Worth Deep Freeze. For now.

So, I went to Gateway Park. I had a secondary and a tertiary purpose in addition to my primary purpose, that being going on a walk.

I'll get to my tertiary purpose in a subsequent blogging. My secondary purpose for going to Gateway Park was I wanted to check on the current condition of the Barnett Shale Anonymous Natural Gas Driller's Trinity River water stealing damage to the Trinity River Levee and to see if any fresh water thieving was going on.

As you can see, it is still a muddy mess, but the water suckers have not returned.

I have a good reason this is fresh on my mind.

I was looking through the 2010-2011 Texas Almanac. Fascinating stuff in there. No real Texan should be without this Almanac.

In a section about the Texas water supply, there is a highlighted section under the title Water Regulation.

In the first paragraph it says, "In Texas, surface water belongs to the state and, except for limited amounts of water for household and on-farm livestock use, requires permits for use."

The third paragraph says, "The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is responsible for permitting and adjudicating surface-water rights and uses. It is the primary regulator of surface water and polices contamination and pollution of both surface and groundwater."

Okay, back to the Gas Drillers sucking water out of the Trinity River. I have asked, previously, if a permit is required. And if so, why is this permit not posted by where the water is being taken?

Apparently Texas law requires a permit if one takes Texas surface water. That water flowing down the Trinity River appears to me to be on the surface. Of course, I'm no expert on such matters.

I may be wrong, but I believe no permits are being required by the City of Fort Worth or the Texas Commission on Water Quality for Gas Drillers to lay down pipelines across public land and take water out of the Trinity.

I believe I've read, more than once, that the quality of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has been co-opted by having industry stooges on the Commission, thus creating a fox watching the hen house type scenario.

But, this morning I blogged about the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality's new methodology enabling citizens to report suspected Natural Gas Pollution. Have the foxes been removed from this hen house? Or is the TCEQ's new found cooperativeness, with those who hope to clear the air, some sort of toothless ruse?

If the TCEQ is issuing permits to the Gas Drillers to take Trinity River water, in a perfectly legal and environmental appropriate manner, why has no one straightened me out on this? If I'm wrong and permits have been issued, I want to know.

If the TCEQ has issued permits for the Trinity River water to be taken, how much does the permit cost? How much water is allowed to be taken? If these permits exist, why are they not part of some easily accessed public record?

What I actually believe is happening is the Trinity River water is being stolen, illegally, as just one more aspect of the result you get when you have corrupt politicians in office, operating with Conflicts of Interest, giving carte blanche to the Gas Drillers to do whatever they want, for the most part, in Fort Worth.

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief rakes in more than $600,000 a year from his vested interests in the gas companies drilling holes in his town. Does Moncrief have a rather strong motivation, as in more than 600,000 strong, to look the other way when a little water is stolen? This type thing is why there are strong Conflict of Interest laws, in Texas, currently ignored in the lawless protective bubble known as Fort Worth and surrounding environs.

Fort Worth has a long and storied history of providing a safe haven for crooks. Why, Fort Worth even names its downtown collection of parking lots after a famous crook who used to hang out in downtown Fort Worth, he being The Sundance Kid and those parking lots named Sundance Square.

Gas Drillers Expand Trinity River Water Stealing Operation By Gateway Park In Fort Worth

On Thursday while driving north on Beach Street, as I crossed the Trinity River I noticed a truck and a backhoe at the location where I'd previously told you about a gas driller using a diesel pump to pipeline water out of the Trinity River, leaving a big, rutted, muddy mess in its wake.

When I saw the backhoe I figured the gas driller must be repairing the damage and restoring the levee. I'd seen a similar repair done in Village Creek Natural Historic Area in Arlington, so I assumed that was what was being done on Thursday.

Well. I was wrong.

If anything the damaged levee has experienced added damage. Apparently what the backhoe was doing was making a better "road" to the expanded "pump pad" it'd built by the river's bank.

My limited photographer skills don't quite capture what my eye saw, but in the first picture we are looking at the expanded "pump pad." It appears a lot of earth was moved to make a better place for the diesel pump to sit at the river's edge.

Oh, I forgot to mention, from what I saw today it seemed pretty obvious the water pump is going to return and the backhoe was preparing for that eventuality.

The second picture is looking down the improved "road" at the improved "pump pad."

And another thing, the area reeked of diesel, so much so that my first inclination was to think that all that earthmoving had been done to cover up a diesel spill.

I've asked before, but have received no answer, but how does one go about getting the right to do this type of thing on what I assume is public land?

Does the gas driller have to get a permit? Would that permit not be a public record? Should there not be total transparency on something like this? As in, a Fort Worth citizen be able to call the city and ask who is sucking water from the Trinity River? Shouldn't the permit be posted?

See that NO MOTOR VEHICLES sign? That is located right next to the Trinity Trail before the trail crosses a pedestrian bridge into Gateway Park. As you can see, the area I've shown you before on top of the Trinity levee is now in much worse shape.

Now, if I drove my motor vehicle to this location, parked it, and proceeded to pump some water out of the Trinity River, what would my fate be if spotted by the Fort Worth Gestapo?

Fork In The Tandy Trail & Possible Trinity River Levee Repair At Gateway Park In Fort Worth

You're looking at a fork in the trail, today, hiking the Tandy Hills Natural Sanatorium Area. At this particular fork in the trail both choices go downhill.

Sort of a perfect metaphor for how I'm feeling right about now.

All color has pretty much left the Tandy Hills, also pretty much a metaphor for how I'm feeling right about now.

It is only 4 days til Winter arrives and the daylight hours start getting longer again.

I have only one more website to get moved from my old web host that was constantly getting my websites hacked. I have 10 days to get that done. It would have been done 2 months ago but the owner of the website is having trouble getting pertinent password records. It's very annoying.

The air today was very clear, it somehow made the hills seem, I don't know, more hilly. And I could see way into the distance. In Pacific Northwest terms, Mount Rainier would have been visible today. Sadly, no matter how clear it is here Texas, no matter where you look, in any direction, you are not going to see a mountain from my location.

After I was done rejuvenating myself on the Tandy Hills, I went to Town Talk. On the way there I saw something interesting going on on the Trinity River Levee by Gateway Park, where a gas driller had rutted up the levee with a water sucking pipeline operation.

I was in a hurry, so I did not take the time to walk up and see exactly what the piece of machinery was doing. I zoomed in as far as I could with my camera and took pictures. I am guessing the rutted area is being smoothed over, with grass seed sprinkled on the damaged area.

I'll check it out up close tomorrow.