Peeling the Barnett Shale Onion via FW Weekly, Plus Don Young Alert

Incoming alert from Don Young for those of us in the D/FW zone.

"Thursday night on WFAA-TV, Channel 8, reporter Brett Shipp delivers another hard hitting investigative report. This time covering the scandalous subject of injection wells and their polluting dangerous effects on the Texas environment."

Meanwhile this week's FW Weekly has an excellent article about the dangers of all this drilling going on for the first time in history in an urban zone, that being Fort Worth and surrounding areas.

The FW Weekly article is titled "Peeling the Barnett Shale Onion". The reporter is Peter Gorman.

Here's an excerpt....

When a natural gas pipeline blew outside the little Central Texas town of Stairtown on Aug. 28, fire officials more than 10 miles from the blast site said they could feel the explosion. And hair went up on thousands of necks in Fort Worth, more than 200 miles away.

“That was a 36-inch gas pipe that blew,” said Gary Hogan, a member of the Fort Worth Gas Drilling Task Force, which is trying to find ways to make Barnett Shale activity in Fort Worth safer for people and the environment. “We’ve got 36-inch gas pipes running all over the place under the city, and we’re going to have a lot more soon. I don’t want to think about what that would have meant if it had happened here.”

As it was, the explosion, in a rural area, hurt no one. But the same explosion, occurring in downtown Fort Worth, would have been devastating. So would any of the dozens of other gas well and pipeline explosions that have rocked Texas in the last year. It was just one more grim piece of the education that North Texans have been getting, lesson after troubling lesson, since those first drilling company reps showed up on local doorsteps a few years ago, waving money and contracts.

Go here to read the entire article...

Hurricane Ike Update From Alma and Port Aransas

Hey Durango....

I'm at work closing the store at noon. I'll be leaving here sometime during the night, tonight. A friend is looking at my car to see if we can start it, if we can't I will have to borrow my bro-in-law's car, but I will get off the Island no matter what. I'm hoping for a Northern landfall so we are spared the floods and winds. I'm hoping we have somewhere to return to. I don't want to wish it on anyone, but I just don't want it here. I'd write more but things here are quietly insane. Everyone's trying to be cool, but inside we are all freaking out. The lines to the Ferry are going to be terrible. There will be a mandatory evacuation for 8am tomorrow morning. Please pray for me....I plan to return here to live if it still exists. This is just a giant sandbar after all.

Love ya...thanks for being my friend.
alma

John McCain's First Wife Carol

That's Carol McCain in the photo. The survivor of a horrible car wreck. And a husband who dumped her almost immediately upon getting home from the Viet Nam War. To start womanizing, eventually ending up with a former rodeo queen, wealthy heiress named Cindy.

The ever memorable Ross Perot said this about John McCain...

“McCain is the classic opportunist. He’s always reaching for attention and glory. After he came home, Carol walked with a limp. So he threw her over for a poster girl with big money from Arizona. And the rest is history.”

In 1979 - while still married to Carol - he met Cindy at a cocktail party in Hawaii. Over the next six months he pursued Cindy, flying around the country to see her. Then he began to push to end his marriage. Some of McCain's acquaintances are less forgiving, however. They portray the politician as a self-centered womanizer who effectively abandoned his crippled wife to 'play the field'. They accuse him of finally settling on Cindy, a former rodeo beauty queen, for financial reasons.

When John McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter. Today, she stands at just 5' 4" in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and , at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

Ross Perot paid for Carol McCain's medical bills all those years ago.

Ted Sampley, who fought with US Special Forces in Vietnam and is now a leading campaigner for veterans' rights, said: "I have been following John McCain's career for nearly 20 years. I know him personally. There is something wrong with this guy and let me tell you what it is -deceit. Then he came home and saw that Carol was not the beauty he left behind, he started running around on her almost right away. Everybody around him knew it. Eventually he met Cindy and she was young and beautiful and very wealthy. At that point McCain just dumped Carol for something he thought was better."

I guess I'm back voting for Obama. Even though I really really don't like Joe Biden.

State Fair of Texas & Red River Shootout

I'm constantly getting questions to my feedback@durangotexas.com email address that is all over my Eyes on Texas website. Some of them are amusing. Some of them I have no idea what they are talking about. And then some I do know the answer.

Like this one from yesterday regarding the upcoming State Fair of Texas and the football game that takes place in the Cotton Bowl during the fair, between Oklahoma and Texas called the Red River Shootout. Or sometimes the Red River Rivalry. The Red River is what your cross to get from Texas to Oklahoma, and vice versa.

"We are planning on attending the OU/Texas game, we are bringing our daughter who is 6 months old. I was wondering if I would be allowed to bring a backpack or diaper bag into the fair/game or if that would not be allowed? Also if we were to bring in a stroller, once we went into the game, would we have a place to put the stroller, or does the fair have a place to check the stroller for the game?"

I didn't know the answer, for certain, to the stroller part of the question, but I did know the answer to the security question, as in it's like a minor version of going through airport security to get into the fair. You don't have to take your shoes off. Your backpack will be inspected. You may be wanded.

The State Fair of Texas runs from September 26 to October 19. I hear Gar the Texan will be bringing his latest wife to the fair this year. And once more below is my YouTube video of the State Fair of Texas

Unstoppable Woman

I'll be talking to an Unstoppable Woman named Dina Moor today. She's organizing an Unstoppable Women Conference to be held in Plano in November. Plano is a northern suburb of Dallas. Near where Southfork Ranch is where J.R. Ewing used to pretend to live, along with his Unstoppable Woman wife, Sue Ellen.

Laura Bush will be at the Unstoppable Women Conference, either in person or via video.

So, why am I talking to this Unstoppable Woman? Well, last year I made a website for her, so she could promote her books and other Unstoppable Women. Apparently I'm going to be adding new stuff to the website to promote the upcoming Unstoppable Women Conference. The details have been confusing via email, hence the in person Unstoppable Woman contact today.

I've known a few Unstoppable Women. I've also known a few I wish I could stop.

Hurricane Ike and Swimming in the Rain

This morning, early, I was swimming in the rain, swimming in the rain, what a beautiful feeling, swimming in the rain.

And it was cold. We only got in the 80s yesterday and 60s overnight, which cools down the pool water quickly. That and a lot of cold rain fell. That's the big rain barrel in the photo, looking through the trees and rain, this morning, before I went downstairs and got wet and cold in the early morning light.

More rain is likely to fall in the pool this weekend with Hurricane Ike now predicted to possibly dump up to 5 inches of rain in the Dallas/Fort Worth zone, along with up to 50mph winds. And possibly spawn tornadoes.

Evacuees from South Texas are likely going to start heading this way today and tomorrow. I hope Alma is okay and found a ride out of Port Aransas. Someone commented on the Alma Hurricane blogging of yesterday, offering Alma refuge in their condo in San Antonio.

Monkey Boy Injury

During my long long month in Tacoma of late, staying at my sister's, with a frequently grumpy Kristin and two hyper-active poodles, getting little sleep due to frequently falling out of my little army cot up in the HOT ZONE of their house that they call THE TROPICS, by Day 8, or was it 9, I found myself being called the, what seemed to me to be demeaning name, "House Monkey Boy".

This seemed borderline inappropriate to me, sort of politically incorrect, but these were elitist leftists calling me their House Monkey Boy, so I figured it was okay.

I'd be told, "Monkey Boy, pick up the dishes." "Monkey Boy, mow the lawn." "Monkey Boy. Go wash my car". "Monkey Boy. Vacuum all 3 floors and don't forget the stairs". "Monkey Boy. Move that cooler".

The moving the cooler Monkey Boy act occurred at Bay View State Park, up in the Skagit Valley. I was so stressed out by all the Monkey Boy orders that when I was ordered to move the cooler I banged my head 4 times on my biggest sister's ridiculously huge RV that gets .25 miles to the gallon. This left a big knot or two on my head.

The cooler-related Monkey Boy injuries were not the worst. I had some non-Monkey Boy injuries that occurred while helping a former acquaintance of mine move what appeared to me to be junk. That left me bruised and cut. In more ways than one. But I'm totally recovered from those injuries. I'm a fast healer.

I thought I left my string of Monkey Boy type injuries behind when I left Washington. But, a couple days ago I was a bit distracted while following a yapping latina, a door swung out, whacked me in the eye zone, knocked me off balance, which caused me to fall, leaving me with a seriously damaged eye, a bruise on my back and a bruise on my butt.

At the time this occurred I was tasked with a Monkey Boy type task, though here in Texas we are too polite to call anyone a Monkey Boy. But, sadly it is a Monkey Boy that I am and once more I'm recovering from a Monkey Boy injury.

In the meantime, I've had me a day. I've been up since around 2am. Why? Don't ask. Because I won't tell you. Suffice to say it was not a Monkey Boy related thing that woke me up so early.

And tomorrow I get to deal with an Unstoppable Woman in person. Yikes. That has bad thing written all over it.

A Russian Security Hole In My Website

Well, I heard from the Ukrainians regarding the problem I blogged about earlier today regarding Russian websites targeting my Eyes on Texas website.

After the scary Ukrainian response I called the U.S. phone line support and had no wait and quickly figured out the Ukrainian was feeding me misinformation.

Below is the technical support I got from Jenny the Ukrainian.....

I'm afraid there is a security hole in your web site that was used by hackers for sending spam through your site. The reason is that durangotexas.com/awstats/data/ folder has 777 permissions, it means that it is writable for anyone in the web. It is not secure to have permission for the folders set to 777 as it allows everybody to do everything to this file. Having files/folders with such permissions anyone can write to it. This means a security hole since everybody on the server can overwrite these files or can write, remove or overwrite files in the directories. You need to chmod your folder/files to permission mask 755 to prevent hacker's attacks in future. You can do it via Webshell or any standalone ftp client. 755 is a read permissions for owner, group and others; write permissions for owner ONLY; execute permissions for owner, group and others.

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact us at anytime, we are available 24/7.

Kind regards,
Jenny Danilenko
Technical Support

Hurricane Ike Heading Towards Alma in Port Aransas?

Incoming from Alma, way down in Port Aransas on the South Texas Gulf Coast, regarding the possible visit to her town by Hurricane Ike.

It's an interesting Alma account of the mood of the locals as they fear the worst and hope for a good outcome for all of the coast.

Wow....here we go again. Please remember we live here because it's a wonderful place to live. I moved here about 3 months ago and have not been happier. It's not problem free, but I love walking everywhere, the clean air (my allergies have all but disappeared) and the fact that I already know so many of the locals and feel like I could retire here. It feels like home to me. Maybe I lived here in a past life...who knows?

I opened Sips Coffee & Wine at 7am today just like any other day. I had one weird, crappy customer first thing, so the mood set was not a good one.

He must be a local. The locals are um...different here. Mostly, you'll find they are rednecks, hippies, or pirates. There is a particular personality type that tends to move here. You have to be a little bit pirate to fit in. I mostly am old hippie and just a smidge pirate. But, I do love my old country music. Hank Williams and Patsy Cline rule.

St Jo's Island just on the other side of the Channel was in fact, a pirate cove and there is legend about a dagger buried with Jean Lafitte's treasure to guard it. Neither have been found. I believe many of those pirates' descendents have settled in Port Aransas and their families are the town founders. There is a Port Aransas accent I've noticed in the locals' men folk. It's a little bit Spanish, Texan, and something else I can't place. I've met some fo' real pirates and they talk with that "arrrrrr" sound you hear in cartoons and caricatures. I like them. They are true originals and have been nothing but nice to me. Make no mistake these people are survivors and no one wants to hear any whining. I'm a whiner.

Yet today, all the customers had the same question (as if I had an answer). "Well, what do you think it's gonna do?" We look at each other with worried faces and say, "well, it doesn't look good. All we can do is pray". It was the same everywhere I went today. I rode the local trolley car to the Post Office (remember my car died about 2 weeks ago) and the lady trolley driver asks me, "Well, what do you think it's gonna do?" I gave my standard answer.

After I mailed a payment, I walked down to the IGA Grocery Store in town, bought a few groceries and another pair of those $5 sandals they had on sale after the busy summer season and the woman at the register asks me...well I think you know what she asked. I gave my, by now, standard answer.

As for me, I am fixing to (that's pretty Texan of me to say) see what I can do to reserve a Uhaul or Budget moving truck, the little one. If that fails, maybe I can rent an SUV or some other kind of truck in case I have to evacuate. I have to bring my 3 chihuahuas, my music gear, my computers, clothes, and as much as I can load out of this little "cottage".

So, I am writing to ask each of you to please say a prayer for me, my dogs, and Selena the cat. We, here in Port A, are praying for it to go way south to some uninhabited part of the Gulf Coast. No one here wants to wish it on anybody else, so we are praying that it goes way south. If it hits north of us, rain (flooding) will not be so bad. If it goes far enuf South, the same results are expected. But it looks like it's headed straight for Rockport (a very cool, picturesque place to live just 10 miles from here) based on the latest maps. But as we know from all the recent storms, the damn thing could do many of a number of things. So, we are trying to stay positive as some of the town has already started boarding up buildings. The trolley lady has already made arrangements for her trailor to get moved to Corpus. Oceans of Seafood (the restaurant and fish market across the street from Sips) is having a Hurricane Seafood Sale. I may go get me some of that. There's a front headed here which could divert the storm. We just don't know.

So, I'd be grateful for any positive thoughts, prayers, chicken sacrifices, whatever you can do with your most powerful thoughts to help me and the boys and Selena.

Thanks in advance and I'll keep you posted on this latest misadventure.

Take care....
love,
alma

Yoga Keeps Me Young

This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram had an article about a 90 year old Yoga Master, Kantilal Talati, who has been doing yoga for decades, after he had a heart attack when he was 44.

When asked how old he is, he always says "18".

He's never sick, never gets a headache. And takes no medications.

I'm often asked why I look so much younger than my 39 years. I attribute my relative youthfulness also to decades of yoga. It keeps you limber. Yoga is really easy to do. You just have to keep at it til the postures become second nature. The head stand took me the longest to perfect. It's great for cerebral blood flow.

Now get out of that chair and go stretch yourself. Or quit sitting and stand on your head for awhile.