My Litany Of Texas Woes Now Includes A Black Irritated Eye

That is my left Eye in Texas that is staring at you in the picture.

Both my Eyes in Texas have been irritating me the past 24 hours, with the left one irritating me the most.

Is anyone else, who is exposing their eyes to the polluted air in this Dallas/Fort Worth zone of North Texas, experiencing any eye woes?

Yesterday, after I got back to my abode from riding my bike at River Legacy Park, my eyes, particularly the left one, felt as if they'd been in a sandstorm.

A lot of dripping drops of Artificial Tears and Redness Reliever eventually abated the irritation, a bit, by late afternoon yesterday.

As you can see, via the picture, my suffering left eye has really taken a beating from all the eye rubbing, to the point that it almost looks as if I have a black eye.

I don't remember the last time I was such  hot mess, literally, with the outer world at my location supposed to heat today to a HOT 103 degrees.

An hour in the pool, real early today, was very pleasant. At that point in time my eyes were not irritating me, too much. The eye irritation has accelerated since then.

The 3rd Friday Of March In Arizona

I am up well before the arrival of the illumination providing sky orb on this 3rd Friday of the 3rd month of 2012, looking out my current viewing portal on the outer world.

I see no swimming pool, this morning, no matter what window I look out. Which is probably for the best, since it is only 57 degrees in this semi-chilly Sonoran desert. It is 10 degrees warmer, right now, at my former location in the humid State of Texas.

Last night I slept better than I have slept since I don't know when. It is so quiet here. The air is so clear. I know this Valley of the Sun metro zone has some air pollution woes at some times of the year, but it does not seem to have any right now.

Last night I did not need to use any medicinal spray to keep my respiratory system functioning. I am having no eye burning woe.

I am beginning to think that the air that I breathe in Texas may not be as salubrious for ones well being as one might wish it would be.

Today I am scheduled to go to a BBQ at my sister's house. No one I have spoken to has yet heard from Spencer Jack's dad. Or Spencer Jack.

Tomorrow I am going, with my sister, to some sort of function at the Phoenix Botanical Garden.

So far I am sort of enjoying being in Arizona.

The Dawn Of The Third Sunday Of April In Texas With A Blue Sky & One Week To Go Til Easter

I dawned about the same time the sun did this 3rd Sunday of April.

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, when I went outside to fetch my swimming suit, you can see it is yet one more clear blue sky morning in North Texas.

Except, I think there may be some smoke in the air. I can't get my eyes to quit watering. It is being very annoying.

On Friday there were big wildfires to the north, up by the Red River border with Oklahoma, and to the west of my location, in the Lake Possum Kingdom area, where dozens of homes were burned.

You mix in what the thousands of Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling sites spew into the air that we breathe, with all these wildfires, with all the other air pollution that is allowed to be spewed in these parts, it is a wonder I am not more of a respiratory mess.

I believe today is what is known as Palm Sunday. My Sunday School days are so far behind me I don't remember what today is known as Palm Sunday. Except for Palm Sunday being a week before Easter Sunday.

Easter being next Sunday, has the 2011 Prairie Fest doing its festing on the day before Easter. I wonder if an Easter Egg Hunt is planned? An Easter Egg Hunt with the eggs hidden on the trails of the Tandy Hills might be a fun thing. Twelve and under, with a parental unit having to accompany their kid. This might make for an amusing spectacle.

It is a relatively chilly 52 degrees out there. I think I'll go swimming anyway.

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...

A Wind Chilling 67 This Last Saturday Of August In Texas

As you can see, sitting out on the patio with me, it is dark, very dark. Up this last Saturday of August way before the anticipated arrival of the sun.

67 at this point in time this morning. No Heat Index, even though the Humidity is at 68%. This morning, according to WeatherBug, we have a Wind Chill going on.

An Air Pollution Alert or Warning or Whatever it is called, was issued yesterday.

Yesterday morning, when I opened my windows, I thought the air smelled like bleach. This morning it is bleach-free, but something is causing an eye stinging nuisance.

Yesterday when I left Oakland Lake Park, heading towards Town Talk, heading north on Oakland Boulevard, as I crossed Interstate 30 I saw that the Barnett Shale drill pad, slightly north of the freeway, was being fracked, with a lot of trucks waiting to waste water in to the hole.

The drill pad site is surrounded by a tall wall, so you can't see what is going on in there. But, a strange haze of misty particulates was wafting airborne. Was it diesel exhaust from a truck? If so, why was nothing blowing airborne from all the water trucks outside the wall?

One of the things I like when I return to the Pacific Northwest is how good the air smells. I remember in July of 2001, when I drove solo back to Washington for my mom and dad's 50th, as I crossed Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 to Western Washington, past the summit the air began to smell like Christmas trees. That sensation continued for about a week, and then I no longer noticed it. When I lived in Washington I never noticed how good it smells.

The only thing I ever smell in Texas that smells good is the smoke wafting from a Texas barbecue. I will forever associate that good fragrance with Texas. That and the stench of oil.

Today's Hot, Sweaty, Smoggy Tandy Hills View Of Downtown Fort Worth

I don't know what air pollution level watch we are at today, here in sunny, smoggy, HOT, Fort Worth.

Orange, Red. Or Purple.

But, I do know I don't recollect seeing it this smoggy before, or looking at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth through such a thick dirty filter, as what I was looking through today.

I was feeling the best, this morning, when I got up, that I've felt in well over a week. The miracle of a really good night's sleep. And a clear conscience, strong body, good heart and kind nature.

I stayed in the pool a very long time this morning, just enjoying feeling so good. And enjoying how good the place was smelling due to all the blooming Magnolia blossoms.

I knew well before I hit the pool that Google was having a serious problem with its Blogger system. I figured it would be quickly fixed. At that point in time I did not know the problem had already been going on for over 7 hours. Or realize that the problem would continue for another 7 or more hours.

With no Blogger to blog on I had to find other things to do that needed doing. So, I updated several of my Eyes on Texas webpages. This turned out to be a good thing. I did not realize I was a bit out of date on some stuff. Like who is going to be at the WinStar Resort Casino in Oklahoma. Or at Billy Bob's Texas in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

I went over to Miss Puerto Rico's to take a picture of the smoggy view of her place, thinking I would blog it, forgetting I could not blog due to the Blogger malfunction. It's moments like these that give me pause to wonder and worry about the quality of my cerebral blood flow.

Around noon I got out of here, got gas, called my mom, like I always do when I get gas, but my phone was acting screwy, so I didn't get to tell my mom I got gas.

It was not all that HOT when I got to the Tandy Hills, high 80s, maybe. But very very humid. I do not recollect ever getting so drenched on the Tandy Hills, not even when it's 110. When it is 110, it usually is not very humid. But, today it was like a big, hot, wet cotton, smoggy blanket out there.

When I was done, with my steam bath, I decided, though I'd not previously planned to, to go to Town Talk, just to spend some quality time in their very refreshing walk in cooler. I spent my time in the cooler and then left Town Talk, without buying anything, and headed to Super Wal-Mart where I needed to get milk.

And then back here for lunch, after which, the Blogger thing was back working.

For now.

Wind Has Blown The Fort Worth Air Free Of Visible Pollution For Now

Yesterday I showed you a very smoggy, polluted view of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

I also mentioned learning from a guy named Warren that we need not worry ourselves about North Texas smog or what might be causing it, due to an ingenious method devised by Mother Nature which clears the air.

By blowing it to Oklahoma.

Warren did not mention who gets that bad air when the wind is coming from the north. Austin? San Antonio? Both?

Well, today's view of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth shows how well Warren's air cleaning method works. It was real windy for a couple days, scrubbing the Fort Worth air clean of, at least, the pollution that you are able to see.

I worry about those poor folks up in Oklahoma, though. Their eyes are likely burning, with visibility diminished, today. Then again, Warren's air cleaning method should work for them too, blowing the bad stuff to Kansas. Eventually it all ends up in Canada and we can all breathe a sigh of relief.

Fort Worth's Air Is Kept Clean Because No Mountains Allows The Bad Air To Blow To Oklahoma

That is a smoggy look at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, looking west from the equally stunning Tandy Hills. Don Young took this photo on Monday.

I'll copy Don Young's commentary, which accompanied this photo, below. And below that I'll copy a letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, with an idiotic point of view on the same subject, and then below that I'll opine on this subject...

Today, I received from State Representative Lon Burnam's office, a list of 79 new gas drilling permits filed with the Texas Railroad Commission for Tarrant County, Texas. That is, 79, for the month of March, alone.

Today was also a fairly warm day with temps reaching 82 degrees. Higher temps and gas well emissions are not a good combo as you can see by these photos taken near downtown Fort Worth today at 6:30 PM CST. Just wait until July rolls around.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Fort Worth, whose income depends on gas drilling, recently announced the creation of a task force to try and figure out if gas drilling is a contributing factor to our compromised air. Gas drillers say that the air is actually CLEANER since drilling began in Fort Worth. They are also well-represented on the task force.

Feel better?

DY

The letter to the editor...

Fort Worth's air quality

It appears that a limited number of people are deeply concerned about the quality of air over Fort Worth because of gas drilling operations.

Fort Worth is fortunate that it is not boxed in by surrounding mountains and the air is free to move as nature directs. In fact, when there is a comfortable south wind blowing, the air that is over Fort Worth at sunrise is swirling in the Wichita Mountains near Lawton, Okla., at sunset.

Seems like a small number of people are doing a lot of worrying over a whole lot of nothing.

-- Warren C. Arthur, Fort Worth

Okay, Warren thinks Fort Worth's air is kept clean because Mother Nature blows the pollution elsewhere, like to Oklahoma?

Well, I'm thinking, since Texas and the Tarrant Regional Water Board are wanting to sue Oklahoma to get some of Oklahoma's water, that Oklahoma might want to consider suing Texas over that bad air Texas is sending to Oklahoma.

Fort Worth's air is kept clean because Fort Worth has the misfortune, I mean the fortune, of not being surrounded by mountains? Let's see, let me think if I can think of a place I've lived in with cleaner air than Fort Worth? Seattle, yeah, that's one. And Seattle is surrounded by mountains. Mountains on all sides, north, south, east and west. Same with Vancouver. Denver has a big wall of mountains to the west. All way less polluted, air-wise, that the Barnett Shale zone of Texas.

The air pollution blows away? And yet for some reason 25% of Barnett Shale air breathing kids suffer from asthma, while outside the Barnett Shale zone of Texas that percentage drops to 7.

Warren says, "Seems like a small number of people are doing a lot of worrying over a whole lot of nothing."

Instead, it seems to me, a sadly small number of people are doing a lot of worrying over something big, when that number of people worrying should be large.

What Does Victoria British Columbia Raw Sewage Pollution Have To Do With Fort Worth?

A few days ago I referenced a Washington State issue that I thought had been resolved. That issue being the capital of British Columbia, Victoria, and its suburbs using the Strait of Juan de Fuca, that being the body of water between Vancouver Island and Washington, as an open sewer.

That's right, our good friends to the north pump their raw sewage into pristine ocean water.

This has upset people for, well, decades. I thought, even before I moved to Texas, that British Columbia had agreed to fix this.

Today I learned the raw sewage dumping has gotten worse. But, now, British Columbia is, finally, planning to fix this very bad Canadian behavior.

So, how did this change come about? Was it fear of International Embarrassment during the upcoming Vancouver Winter Olympics? Well, that is part of it.

But the bigger reason B.C. is finally fixing this is due to a young Victoria teacher named James Skwarok, also known as Mr. Floatie. Mr. Floatie is a 6 foot tall example of what Victoria needs to stop flushing into the ocean. Mr. Floatie has spent years showing up at unfortunate times for B.C. officialdom, using his high pitched voice to deliver a message from a group of activists calling themselves People Opposed to Outfall Pollution (POOP).

The Outfall part of POOP is what the humongous pipe is called that delivers the untreated sewage to the Straits.

POOP and Mr. Floatie were a public relations disaster for the British Columbia tourist industry. Mr. Floatie and POOP sent letters, about Victoria's Sewage Scandal, to all countries coming to Canada for the Olympics.

In 2003 British Columbia's government signed on to a plan to do nothing about Victoria's pollution for 25 years.

In 2005 Mr. Floatie tried to run for mayor of Victoria. The city somehow was able to block this, barring Mr. Floatie from candidate forums. Which, of course, generated way more publicity for Mr. Floatie and his cause.

In 2006 the gig was up for Victoria and its official position that pumping raw sewage into clean water causes no problem, when the Society of Toxicology and Chemistry concluded that Victoria had to stop with the dumping of raw, untreated, toxic sewage.

So, more than 20 years after this first became a scandal in Washington State, the Canadians are finally agreeing to clean up after themselves. And we have Mr. Floatie and his guerrilla tactics to thank for it.

I have been trying to think of a Barnett Shale Gas Driller Pollution equivalent of Mr. Floatie that might be used as a guerrilla tool to embarrass the corrupt city government of Fort Worth, the corrupt state agencies, like the TCEQ, who are supposed to oversee the gas drillers and the corrupt, running roughshod over Texans property, Natural Gas Drilling Companies, like Chesapeake Energy.

But, I draw a blank. Can anyone think of a Mr. Floatie for Fort Worth?

My Fort Worth Eyes Are A-Stinging In Dirty Ol' Town

I had my bedroom window wide open all night. This morning my eyes were sort of stinging. When I departed here, about a half hour before noon, and saw a broad view of the sky for the first time today, I thought it was foggy.

I was wrong. It was smoggy.

The first time I remember smog stinging my eyes was during the 1970s in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has greatly improved its smog problem over the years. I did not know until 1991 that Los Angeles has a range of mountains to the west that looks sort of like the foothills to the Cascades in the Puget Sound zone. All previous times the LA foothills were shrouded in smog.

There are no mountains to shroud in smog in the D/FW Metroplex. The closest thing to a mountain is the skylines of Dallas and Fort Worth. They were hazy, really hazy today.

I got an email yesterday from the individual known locally as The Watchdog. A videographer from the Environmental Defense Fund was going to be in town. The Watchdog was asking for any suggestions of examples of Barnett Shale related problems in the Fort Worth zone. All I could think of was the gas driller water pipeline damage to the levee by Beach Street/Gateway Park and the strange Chesapeake Energy pond that holds who knows what chemical stew by the intersection of Brentwood Stair Rd. and Cooks Lane.

Had I known today was going to be producing eye-stinging smog I would have suggested filming the hazy skyline. Or what I saw when headed north to Southlake today. By I-820 and Trinity Boulevard, on the southeast side of the intersection, a gas drilling operation has been going on for some time. Today there were a lot of trucks and a lot of smoke/pollution spewing skyward. That's what you're looking at in the picture at the top.

Is this what has had my eyes burning today? I can't help but wonder.

That aforementioned Watchdog has re-christened Fort Worth from its former nicknames of Cowtown and Panther City. The Watchdog calls Fort Worth, "Dirty ol' Town." I did not see a single cow or panther today. Dirty ol' Town seems much more appropriate.

My eyes continue to sting. Maybe I should shut the window.

Texas Miscellaneous Madness

Another goofy day in Road Rage Mad Fort Worth. Up before the crack of dawn, swimming at day break. Computer burnout continued over from yesterday.

I am finding myself learning way more about Texas than I think is healthy. My Regions of Texas Project is wearing me out. I'm learning all sorts of odd things. Like little Midland, Texas is nicknamed "The Tall City" I assume by people who have never seen a tall city. Midland used to brag that their 22 story Wilco Building was the tallest building between Fort Worth and Phoenix. That's like saying that some building in Spokane is the tallest between Seattle and Chicago. Or so it would seem to me.

And then I got one of the more absurd comments in a long time, from what I assume to be either a know-it-all Texan or a Chesapeake Energy shill operating out of Oklahoma City. This comment was in regards to yesterday's blogging about today's EPA meeting at D/FW Airport regarding pollution from cement kilns.

Anonymous said.......

Dude, Seriously, you think that a drill rig that uses 1000 gallons of diesel fuel per day to drill a well is "pumping" out more fumes than all the cars and trucks in the DFW area in one day - You are getting some seriously wrong information. There are over 1 million cars in DFW and all of them are using 1 gallon per day bud... and there are only 72 rigs drilling in Texas as of today. Go ahead and drive your car to a meeting about pollution... That a joke. you are the problem - not the solution.

Apparently the Anonymous dude does not pay a lot of attention to the news. As in last week it was widely reported that Dr. Al Armendariz was right about the Barnett Shale drilling operations contribution to North Texas air pollution.

With the State of Texas agreeing.

As in "State environmental officials say that an SMU researcher (Al Armendariz) was correct: Gas drilling in the Barnett Shale contributes about as much air pollution to the Dallas-Fort Worth area as car and truck traffic."

I'm guessing that Anonymous Dude is one of those Texas Road Ragers that have us being America's second most mad drivers.

I'm hitting the road in a bit, to head north. It being Wednesday I'm likely going to go to Sprouts Farmers Market while I'm out dodging Road Ragers.

A Hazy Day Today In Dirty Ol' Town

I guess today is Texas Air Pollution Day on the Durango Texas Blog. Don Young started Texas Air Pollution Day with new info about bad pollutants in the Texas air. Don Young's nickname for Fort Worth is "Dirty Ol' Town."

Ironically, the day in "Dirty Ol' Town" started with nice clear blue sky. If I remember right. It was 67 at midnight. 55 when I went swimming at 7:30am. The water had warmed up so much I stayed in it for quite a long time and got back in again after a hot tub break warmed me up.

By the time I got to the Tandy Hills, about noon, the temperature had dropped, blustery gusts made walking interesting. And a smoggy haze had settled in. In the photo that is the smoggy view of Downtown Fort Worth's stunning skyline, looking west from one of the Tandy Hills.

It is now 4 hours later and the temperature has continued to drop. It is now 36.

Regarding all this air pollution and smog. Here goes my second "ironically" in this blogging. As in, ironically, I am reading Molly Ivin's Shrub. I'm at the chapter where she looks at George W.'s environmental record. Or lack of.

At the end of George's time as the Texas governor, as he was in the midst of campaigning to do to the rest of the nation what he'd spent 8 years doing to Texas, Texas was, according to the Tri-National North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, set up by NAFTA, polluting more than any other American state or Canadian province. Texas had achieved the #1 position in both water and air pollution.

According to records kept by the Environmental Defense Fund, Texas is also Number One in overall toxic releases, recognized carcinogens in the air, suspected carcinogens in the air, developmental toxins in the air (affecting brain and nervous-system development in children) and cancer risk.

So, we've got that info earlier today, from Don Young, about kids being affected by toxic pollution and the amount of air pollution caused by the gas drillers. We add that to yesterday's info about what's in the fracking water that's being injected underground all over North Texas and mix in today's smoggy view of Downtown Fort Worth's skyline and I'm suddenly feeling like I moved to a Third World Country.

Which is, again, ironic, because when I first moved to Texas and would get asked why, I would say, "I wanted the experience of living in a Third World country without having to get a passport." At that point in time I thought I was just making a bad joke and in my mind the origin of that bad joke was the astonishing amount of litter I saw all over Texas. Little did I know, then, that the litter problem was the least troublesome Texas environmental issue.

I've Recovered From Fort Worth Level Orange Ozone

Last night, when I still was having a sore throat and coughing fits, I was starting to doubt that this 4 day problem was caused by the Level Orange Ozone woes that had befallen the D/FW Metro zone in recent days.

I figured if my sore throat and cough were caused by the pollution that this would clear up as soon as I got to clean air. Well, I landed in Washington, hours later I still had a sore throat. I coughed all through the night.

Then this morning I was outside in the brisk, pine-scented morning air. It felt like I was breathing in super air, like it'd been somehow treated and made the way air should be.

By mid-morning I realized my sore throat was going away. I haven't coughed in hours. I believe I am cured. If this woe was caused by D/FW pollution I can't help but wonder how it effects those not in as good as shape as myself. I know one allergy prone Puerto Rican who was laid low and puffed up by the Level Orange Fort Worth Ozone.

The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen In Texas

I don't know what happened. We had had no storm blow through. It wasn't windy. But for some reason the air in the D/FW Metroplex appeared to be totally devoid of any pollution on Saturday.

Looking out the window, this morning, it appears Sunday's air is totally clear too.

That's the balcony view in the photos. The super white clouds and the extra blue sky made for good Texas scenery yesterday.

Of late, we've been under High Ozone Alerts. Supposedly this type air is dangerous to little kids, the elderly and those with respiratory problems. Of those categories, the only one I come close to is the elderly one. I've never actually been troubled by air pollution here. It's never been a bad thing, like being in Los Angeles and having the pollution sting my eyes.

The only jarring thing I saw in the sky yesterday was the weekly fly-by of a giant sign being tugged through the air by a little airplane, apparently trying to motivate me to go to something called Huggins to buy a car.