Swimming, Roller Blading & Ballistic Missile Launches in Fort Worth

I'm sorry to bore you with my daily swimming reports, but there is one person, well, my one reader, who religiously tracks my swimming reports, who emails me when I forget. Which I did yesterday. Well, yesterday it was much colder than the day before. I only lasted about 3 minutes before I escaped the cold and climbed in the hot tub.

Now, this morning was very strange, as in it was freezing when I went to the pool, as in actually freezing, as in 32 degrees, with frost on the roofs and ice on the windshields. Because it was freezing the water actually felt somewhat warm. I was able to stay in it for about 15 minutes. My skin's heat sensors were so traumatized that the hot tub water felt cold, even though it was steaming. It took a couple minutes for the hot tub to feel hot.

By 8:30am I had to be at the regional Post Office on Rosedale to pick up a package that had not been successfully delivered. That was interesting. A very strange collection of people waiting for the Post Office to open.

About noon I was tired of looking at my computer screen so I went to Quanah Parker Park to go roller blading. The morning's freeze had turned to 67. Very pleasant. The pool should be quite a bit warmer in the morning.

As I was putting on my roller blades I looked up to see what looked like Ballistic Missiles being launched from southeast Fort Worth. I don't know what it was that was climbing almost vertical. That's the Ballistic Missiles in the first photo.

I don't believe I've mentioned before that Quanah Parker Park sits next to the Trinity River. The Trinity River runs through the D/FW Metroplex. It is one of the few things that Dallas and Fort Worth share. That's the Trinity River, as seen from Quanah Parker Park, in the photo on the right.

Citi-Mets Stadium Naming Scandal & The Federal $20 Billion Bailout

Last summer, when I was in Tacoma, I started questioning the sanity of just about everyone I had contact with. I got back here to Texas and all seemed sane again. But then about a month later I started to think that the world was going insane.

It's not so much the supposed ever-spreading economic meltdown, it's the things being done to supposedly stop the meltdown. Like yesterday the government came to the rescue of Citigroup to the tune of $20 billion.

Citigroup has cut over 53,000 jobs. While paying the New York Mets $400 million over 20 years for the naming rights for the Mets stadium.

Why would this not be one of the first things you cut back when things get tight? Here in Texas the Rangers played in The Ballpark in Arlington when I first moved here. Then a business that got in trouble long before the current troubles, paid to have the Ranger's home called Ameriquest Field. I forgot how much Ameriquest paid for this honor. But whatever it was, they quit paying and so now the place where the Rangers play is back being called The Ballpark in Arlington.

The first time I was in Houston I saw where the Houston baseball team plays. The name of the team escapes me, but the ballpark was Enron Field. Enron disappeared during an earlier meltdown. We sure have a lot of meltdowns. Enron Field is now Minute Maid Park.

So, it is not unheard of for a failing business to get out of the ballpark naming thing. I don't believe either Enron or Ameriquest were given taxpayer's money to bail them out. It seems reasonable to me that Citigroup should not be spending money on such a thing after getting a Federal bailout.

On another note, except for my bank, Washington Mutual, failing, I've had no personal contact with this supposed economic meltdown. If it weren't for reading that bad things were happening, with worse to come, I would think everything was hunky dory. Gas prices are about a third of what they were a short time ago. I go in Wal-Mart and the store is packed with what looks like happy people with carts full of goods. By 5pm every weekday the freeway that goes by where I live is backed up with a traffic jam. I go to a park and see a lot of happy people having fun. I know a lot of people with new flat panel TVs. Every McDonald's I drive by is busy. Last night they were lined up 20 deep at my local Super Wal-Mart's McDonald's.

This just doesn't look like the Great Depression to me. It's perplexing.

Chesapeake Energy Stormtrooper Tactics

A City of Fort Worth public meeting was held at the Fort Worth Botanical Gardens last Thursday, the purpose of which was to allow the citizens of Fort Worth to have input into a new ordinance which contains restrictions on noise and pipelines, along with a City Board that would hear cases involving Barnett Shale natural gas drilling sites near residential areas.

Chesapeake Energy did not like these changes, which were made without their usual stamp of permission. In other words, Fort Worth's Ruling Junta had gone rogue, to the great displeasure of Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake sent out orders to its employees, contractors and anyone who was connected to the Chesapeake operation, telling them to show up at this meeting.

The Chesapeake people wore green badges that said things like, "I have a job thanks to the Barnett," and "I support the Barnett and I vote."

The Chesapeake Stormtrooper Brigade arrived well before the meeting's start time. So when citizens of Fort Worth arrived they found the parking lot full and the meeting room stuffed to the point that Fire Marshals had to clear openings by the time the meeting began at 7pm. Estimates range as high as 850 Chesapeakers participating in this Strongarm Tactic.

As the Fire Marshals tried to thin the crowd many decided to leave, saying they did not want to "be surrounded by a sea of green," referring to the Chesapeake badges.

There was a Letter to the Editor in this morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram regarding this latest Chesapeake Energy Bad Behavior. Below is that letter....

When’s the public drilling hearing?

I am one of the few residents of Fort Worth who was able to get a seat at the Botanic Garden last Thursday for the public hearing on the city’s proposed gas drilling ordinance.

Witnessing the number of trucks and SUVs in the parking lot, I was encouraged. I was under the mistaken impression that Fort Worth residents were truly interested in an important issue affecting their lives. Imagine my surprise as I was approached outside the Botanic Garden by someone asking me if I was there to support the drilling and attempting to hand me a tag to wear! Entering the building I began to read those wearing the tags.

Then it dawned on me. These are Chesapeake people. But where were the residents of Fort Worth? You know, those civic-minded people who show up at public meetings with the desire to keep our city honest? I finally did see a few residents I knew but learned that several left due to the parking or the implied intimidation by Chesapeake employees.

Being naturally curious, seeing all this activism by Chesapeake, I had to stay to watch the show. I have never seen city officials so rattled by a public meeting. Neither have I heard so many Chesapeake employees making defiant statements to one another over the latest changes in the ordinance.

That leads me to believe that the city Gas Drilling Task Force has written a good ordinance. It was also comforting to see former Mayor Kenneth Barr called into the meeting to assess the PR damage caused by this Chesapeake tour de force.

Notwithstanding, I commend Sarah Fullenwider and Susan Alanis for a job well done under the circumstances. Now, when will we have a real public meeting on the ordinance so important to our community?

— Linda LaBeau, chair, Northcrest Gas Drilling Committee, Fort Worth

Chesapeake Energy's Thanksgiving Gift To Fort Worth

The day after Thanksgiving is the busiest shopping day of the year. The downtowns all over America are human gridlock.

Except for Fort Worth. The deadest downtown in America on the busiest shopping day of the year. Which is perfectly easy to understand due to the fact that Fort Worth is the only city in America with a population over 300,000 with not a single downtown department store. No Neiman Marcus. No Nordstroms. No Macy's. No Bon Marche. Not even a Sears or a Penneys.

Now, Fort Worth may be a ghost town during the day of the busiest shopping day of the year, but that night downtown Fort Worth gets really busy with a lot of people on the earlier deserted streets.

People stream into downtown Fort Worth for the annual Parade of Lights. I've been to the Parade of Lights once. It was a very well done, fun parade. Fort Worth does real good parades.

In fact, I've seen more good parades during my relatively short time in Texas than all my years in Washington. Granbury's 4th, Arlington's 4th, the Ennis National Polka Festival Parade, Fort Worth's Stock Show Parade, it being the world's biggest non-mechanized parade. Meaning it's all horses and cows and people. Nothing vehicular pulling anything.

The Official Name for Fort Worth's day after Thanksgiving event is the Chesapeake Parade of Lights, presented by Chase. I guess this means that Chesapeake put up some money for naming rights and Chase bank also paid for something? I don't know. Chesapeake must have made this investment before they fell on hard times with the price of natural gas collapsing and Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon losing a couple billion bucks.

Chesapeake Energy is still paying for billboards, like the one you see above. It is by the Tandy Hills Gas Station were I filled up today for $1.61 a gallon. Chesapeake Energy's propaganda messages are still plastered on Fort Worth buses. All this signage must have been pre-paid.

And, like I said, Chesapeake Energy is going to give Fort Worth a Parade of Lights in about 4 days. I wonder if they will be natural gas powered lights?

Start time? 6pm.
Where? Throckmorton and Belknap Street.
Theme? The Sights and Sounds of the Season.

North Richland Hills Little Bear Creek Park Under Gas Attack

I got email this morning from a North Richland Hills citizen named Barry Thompson. North Richland Hills is north of Richland Hills and is one of the dozens of small towns that make up the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

Barry Thompson is fighting to stop yet one more natural gas drilling operation getting ready to do damage to yet one more D/FW park. Yesterday I showed you photos of the current state of the damage done to the Tandy Hills in east Fort Worth.

And now this morning to learn of this latest local city government sneaky operation in cahoots with the drillers, doing their dirty dealings behind closed doors without public input. Shameful.

Below is the email from Barry Thompson....

I am a huge supporter of reforestation in the DFW area and have worked on tree grant programs when I lived in Fort Worth.I am very disturbed by the decision by the North Richland Hills city council to allow Natural Gas Drilling rigs on park property. There is a gas company currently surveying and staking out a very large section of Little Bear Creek Park in the northwest part of NRH. They have flagged many, many mature trees for clear cutting. Many of the trees are native breeds and a large part of them are evergreens planted by the city over ten years ago!

The decision was made with virtually no notice to the public other than what is required by law - posting a public hearing date in the paper. Therefore not one resident spoke when the issue came up to vote ... no one knew about it!

We are currently organizing, passing out flyers and getting petitions signed before a drilling permit gets signed. I have also been talking to John Pistick and members of the Parks and Recreation department for NRH but nobody seems too interested in stopping this activity. Is there anything you can do to help us? Is there anyone in this area that could be an advocate for our cause?

Thanks in advance for your consideration, if you have any suggestions that would help us fight this please let me know!

Sincerely,
Barry Thompson

The Sky Of Texas is Red Tonight

On the coast you often heard "red sky at night, sailors delight, red sky in morning, sailor takes warning." I don't know what a red sky at night means when you live in the prairie, plains zone of North Texas.

What I do know is, tonight's sunset was beautiful. It glowed pink, orange and red, with the blue of the sky filtering through. It's a balmy 66 out there at 6pm. By morning it is supposed to be 38. I suspect that will not happen and I will be happily paddling about in icy water sometime around 7am.

I got gas today at the Tandy Hills Gas Station. It was still $1.61, same as yesterday, when I showed you all a photo of the price. I run one fascinating blog. As my reader may remember, when I get gas I call my mom in Phoenix. And so I did. But I got the answering machine, so I left a gas message. I don't know why my mom was not home taking calls on a Sunday morning. Maybe she's started going to church again. No. That is unlikely.

Chesapeake Energy Disappears From Tandy Hills So I Went Roller Blading

As you can see in the photo of one of the trails at the Tandy Hills Natural Area, it is a cloudy, gray Sunday in North Texas.

Chesapeake Energy's Scott Avenue Rig #2999 has disappeared. All that remains, that I could see, were 2 big bulldozers and a lot of scraped earth.

Just 2 weeks ago this was a bustling operation with a tall drilling tower piercing the sky. The photo on the right is how this location looked 2 weeks ago.

And now, Sunday, November 23, 2 weeks later, all that equipment is gone. That is today's view of the destroyed section of the Tandy Hills on the left. The blue sky of 2 weeks ago is also gone.

When I went over to Scott Avenue I saw that the guard station was gone, with a locked gate in its place. I could see no spot that looked like a capped drill hole. There was something surrounded by orange temporary fencing out in the middle of the forever altered piece of the Tandy Hills. Maybe that's the drill hole, awaiting the next step in the project.

Mother Nature is still standing on Scott Avenue. She is not all that more worn than the last time I visited Her. Someone has added a companion to Mother Nature. It had been connected to the Chesapeake Energy sign. But had come loose. I propped it up again to take a photo. The new poster says, "Save Meadowbrook." Meadowbrook is the neighborhood the Tandy Hills is located in. Above before and after photos of the damaged area, it says "As If We Had A Choice."

After looking at all this environmental mayhem I had need of something aerobic to make myself feel better. It was being quite windy, but I decided to go roller blading anyway, a short distance away, at my regular blading location, Quanah Parker Park. While I was blading I got hit with a big powerful gust that threw me off balance and almost caused a crash.

Mother Nature can be a bitch sometimes.

Detroit Automaker Bailout: Just Say No

Count me as one of the majority who don't think the taxpayers should bailout the automakers. The taxpayers have been subsidizing the automakers for decades, paying high prices to buy cars made by workers with overly lucrative contracts in companies ran by overpaid badly performing executives.

My sympathy for Detroit disappeared when Detroit showed no sympathy for me. In 1999 General Motors made a piece of junk car called a Buick Century. I bought one of those pieces of junk.

In 2004, barely 5 years old, the driver's side window ceased to work. This seemed a serious problem that should be a recall type thing. As in it's a bit dangerous to be unable to roll down your window.

It did not take much Googling to learn this was a chronic problem with this make of car. I took the piece of junk to a Buick dealer. They wanted over $500 to fix the problem.

I then found a Mechanic on the Go guy who came to my place and fixed the window for $200.

A week later the passenger side window stopped working. A couple weeks after that the driver's side window quit working, again, followed shortly by both back seat windows. The Mechanic on the Go fixed a new problem with the driver's side window, for free, and it was working again. For a short time.

Prior to the windows no longer rolling down, the piece of junk had developed a bizarre chronic problem of periodically not starting. I'd turn the ignition key and nothing. It could go weeks without this happening. I'd sit for up to 5 minutes, give or take, and then it'd start up. You never knew when you were going to be struck by the random ignition problem.

I took it to a GM dealer for the ignition problem. They had no idea what would cause such a thing to happen, but, for I forget how much money, they could test the components and try and find the problem.

Then there was the piece of junk's problem with over and over again the turn signal light would go haywire.

Now, did GM bail me out of any of these problems that were caused due to GM's bad car engineering? No. I bailed myself out by selling that piece of junk car.

Late November Texas Heat Wave

Yesterday in the morning it was barely above freezing. This morning it was in the 50s. It's 10am now and we're in the 60s.

This morning's swim did not send me into an icy shock like it did yesterday. I lasted about 15 minutes before the hot tub heat therapy was needed.

With only one week to go in November I'm guessing I'm still going to be swimming when December starts. Unless it's snowing. Or we have an ice storm.

Gas Hits New Low Of $1.61 In Fort Worth

The last time I bought gas I paid $1.74. That was about 5 days ago. Yesterday, when I went to my neighborhood Post Office the nearby QT was selling the stuff for $1.71. An hour later I drove by that QT again and it was $1.69.

Today I went hiking at the Tandy Hills. The Tandy Hills Gas Station, once more, is the cheapest gas in my zone, at $1.61.

Why is this happening? How and why did gas go up so fast and now down so fast? Yes, I know the barrel price went high and is now low. But still, what causes QT to drop the price 2 cents in an hour? Just the day before QT was $1.74, by the next day it was down 3 cents to $1.71 and then an hour after that $1.69. What determines the drop? It perplexes me.

On a totally non-gas note. I forgot to report on my icy swimming yesterday. I was reminded of this by an emailer urgently wanting to know. Well, yesterday I could take it for maybe 3 minutes, then I got in the hot tub. This morning it was about 35, when I walked into the water it felt warmer than the air. So I quickly started swimming. And I just as quickly realized this was too cold.

The ice water had so numbed me that when I got in the hot tub I could not feel the heat. But it felt good. Eventually I thawed.

I knew we'd crossed a threshold when I opened the door this morning and realized the air temp outside was about the same as inside here. As in cold. So, I turned on the furnace for the first time this year. I don't like that thing running.