North Texas Storms, Earthquakes, Sprouts & Insomnia

Go here for the latest Cleburne Quakes.

I have had myself a rough past 36 hours, give or take an hour or two. The night before, I had a bad insomnia bout after being chased by Jabba the Hut in a nightmare.

I was stuck inside most of yesterday, unable to swim, due to a shocked pool, unable to hike or bike, due to a big Thunderstorm dropping a lot of water.

Last night Jabba the Hut left me alone, but Mother Nature did not. There were way too many flashing lights and explosions during the night. And downpours. That got me worrying about those long-suffering creek dwellers in Haltom City. I've not heard from the chief of the creek dwellers today. That is unusual, so I'm concerned.

Yesterday at 3:06 in the afternoon we were hit with another earthquake here in North Texas, where earthquakes used to be extremely rare, til recently.

There have been thousands of holes drilled in the ground in North Texas in the past several years. These holes are drilled so this material called shale can be shattered by a process called fracking. Yes, basically solid rock, underneath us, is being shattered.

And now there are earthquakes. Which used to be very very rare here. It seems sort of intuitive that there might be a connection between shattering a layer of the earth and the earth quaking.

Yesterday's quake was a puny 2.8 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The quake was centered about a mile west of Cleburne. Cleburne is a town outside the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, about 30 miles south of my location, about 12 miles south of Kelly Clarkson's hometown of Burleson. Several people reported hearing a loud boom and feeling the ground rumbling.

My one longtime reader may guess that, due to today being Wednesday, I likely had to go up to Southlake and, in doing so, I likely went to Sprouts Farmers Market. That guess would be correct. You can see how stormy it was up at Sprouts in the picture above, that was taken at noon.

Due to the storming I was up really early today, the pool is now un-shocked, so I was in it when the sun tried to break through the clouds. Swimming was a good thing, but I still feel beat up. I'm hoping for peace and quiet tonight, with no earthquakes and no earplug piercing thunder. And please, no Jabba the Hut.

Only Child Syndrome Strikes Again

Like I've said before, every day a lot of people, from all over the world, come to this blog looking for relief from Only Child Syndrome.

The OCS Sufferers leave a lot of comments. The past couple days a lot more people than usual seem to be seeking relief.

Among the comments there have been a few who deny the existence of Only Child Syndrome. I consider these people no different than Holocaust Deniers.

Last night I got a real good comment to one of the many Bloggings I've written about Only Child Syndrome. The commenter was my most ubiquitous commenter, "Anonymous."

Below is what Anonymous had to say....

I deal with an only child every day. She is one of the rudest, most manipulative individuals I have ever had the misfortune to meet. She's continually sulking and brazenly insulting towards coworkers and disrespects her supervisors behind their backs. And, in spite of this, and her own admission that she is known to be a troublemaker, she would emphatically deny having OCS. I am just continually flabbergasted by her lies and manipulation tactics. How do they even bear to face themselves in the mirror? Amazing...

I feel your pain. You seem to be dealing with an extreme case. Does yours spew out the rude remarks, and then when you, or anyone, says anything slightly similar in return, the OCS pitches a fit? It's as if the OCSers somehow have completely convinced themselves that they have their own set of rules, while insisting others play by the OCSer's rules.

Like the 550 pound overweight OCSer can say to a healthy weighted co-worker that she looks like she's put on a few pounds. If the healthy-weighted co-worker then says something like, "uh, I really don't think you should be making comments about anyone's weight," the co-worker's perfectly appropriate remark sends the OCSer into fit mode, saying something like, "you are being so mean, making a veiled reference to me being fat."

It really is an amazing and weird phenomenon to experience. That is best avoided if you can.

Sunday's River Legacy Park Bike Wreck Victim Speaks

On Sunday I blogged about pedaling the mountain bike trail at River Legacy Park and there being a lot of emergency vehicles and rescuers on the scene.

I was barely into the ride when I nearly had a head-on collision with a kid who told me there was a bad bike wreck on the South Loop of the trail.

By the time I got to the South Loop I overheard, but did not see, rescue workers.

The next morning I looked at the online versions of the local newspapers to see if there was a report of the injury. I saw none.

And then last night I heard from the victim, Vasti Fernandes, in a comment to the blogging about the wreck. Actually it was 2 comments. The second gave me her phone number, in case anyone wanted to make a donation to Vasti out during her recovery time.

Below are the two comments combined, verbatim...

Hi Durango.

Last sunday (05/31/2009), i had a accident doing mountain bike at the River Legacy Park, at the South Loop. Me and my family (husband and sons), normally went there every weekend). We love the wild life, we love the park. Unhappy, this weekend i had my injuries. I have broke my dorsal spin in 2 places. I spent a day at the JPS hospital, prays the Lord, my injuries isn't so bad. I must to rest 3 weeks, no moves, no nothing. I just want let the people know, THE SOUTH LOOP GUYS IS SO DANGER. Please, take care, i don't want see other people at the same situation like me.

PLEASE TAKE CARE.

NOTE 100 TO THE RESCUE'S GUYS. 100 to the bikers. Everybody who help me, Thanks and thanks.

If you contact me, my phone number is 682 241 7958, if some people want to do some donation, I'll be so thankfull, because I'll spend more than one month "resting".

Thank you again.

Vasti Fernandes,

---

Does anyone know what a "dorsal spin" is? I knew that South Loop was trouble. I tried it once. I got to the 3rd drop and said to myself, "no way."

I do not like recovering from a bad bike wreck. What ever minor thrill I might get from successfully doing some death defying deed is outweighed by the risk.

Ever since I had a really bad roller blading accident, that left my left cheek bloodied and bruised, I have been risk averse. That one was a long recovery. By cheek I don't mean the one on my face. I'd show you a picture of that injury, but I think I'm banned from nudity on this blogger thing, even if it is a badly bruised butt cheek.

Texas Executes #16: Terry Lee Hankins

An Arlington murderer, Terry Lee Hankins, who murdered 5, including his dad, Earnie Lee Hankins and half sister, Pearl Sevenstar, got the lethal needle last night in the Texas Death Chamber in Huntsville for the murders of his two step-children, Kevin Galley, 12 and Ashley Mason, 11. Hankins also murdered the step-children's mother, Tammy Hankins.

Hankins did not testify at his trial or sentencing hearing or have any last words. Police did find a note at the time of his arrest, written on a bank envelope, saying, "I guess to sum it all up, I'm guilty of murder, incest, hatred, fraud, theft, jealousy, envy."

Hankins was the 16th person to get the lethal needle in Texas this year. This execution was the 200th during Texas Governor Rick Perry's time in office.

200 is a number larger than all the executions that have taken place in all the other American states during Rick Perry's tenure as the governor of Texas.

Have Pointless Texas TV Weather Interruptions Been Canceled?

If I remember correctly I have mentioned my aversion to the way the Texas local TV stations handle weather events during prime time TV.

I have lost count of the number of times, fully aware of a storm danger, turned on the TV to watch a specific show, like LOST, and have it ruined because the Doppler Radar has spotted a small cell that has the potential of rotating and maybe producing heavy rain, hail, wind or even a tornado.

There'd be a loud chiming noise, boink boink boink and then a repeating over and over again crawl across the bottom of the screen telling me that some distant, from me, location was having a storm. When the crawl would let up another sound effect would indicate the same info was now in a graphic at the upper left.

This cycle would repeat and then suddenly the entire screen would say Breaking Weather News, or something like that, with a sound effect, and even though it was dire enough to interrupt, it was not dire enough to get right to it. Then the weather guy, Worst Offender, Pete Delkus on ABC's affiliate WFAA-TV, going all bug-eyed and excited, to report the same information we'd been reading. Only with images. Of course, we are told we will return to regular programming, as soon as this life saving information was relayed, but not before being told that this has been a WFAA-TV Special Weather Report and being assured, that should events warrant it, Pete would be back with another interruption.

Now, I have previously said I believe the local TV Weather Warnings may kill more people than they save. Usually, if you are watching TV, you are already safe. During the killer Fort Worth Tornado, of March 2000, a kid ran out to his pickup to try to get it under cover, likely worried, due to seeing dire warnings on the TV. He was killed by a baseball size chunk of hail.

So, last night I saw a glimmer of hope that maybe my whining about this has been heard. While watching I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!, last night, a storm was brewing in the Hood County zone, heavy winds blowing across Lake Granbury, big chunks of hail. The show I was watching was on NBC affiliate KXAS-TV, which relayed the info about a dangerous storm brewing in Hood County with a silent subtle small crawl across the lower screen. It repeated a few times, then was replaced by a subtle graphic in the upper left.

I thought, now this is the way to do this. Totally non-obtrusive, but providing the info, including where to go if you needed more details. So, I was DVRing the show I was watching, so that I could fast forward through it. When I caught up to it being live, I switched over to ABC's The Bachelorette, on the WFAA-TV station where the notorious Pete Delkus lurks, ever waiting to get on air live with a dire weather report.

Well. I can not tell you how happy I was to see WFAA doing a version of what KXAS was doing, not as subtle, but also with no sound effects. I did see Pete Delkus pop on screen during a commercial break to gleefully let the viewers know he'd have a lot of weather details for them later.

Has this problem been fixed? Previously I don't think they'd hesitate to interrupt a show like The Bachelorette or that Celebrity fiasco. Or was it understated, instead of overblown, due to it being a relatively minor storm taking place outside the D/FW Metroplex?

I may get my answer tonight. More storms are predicted.

That is the NBC weather crawl under Rod Blagojevich's wife Patty in the first picture. The second picture is the Pete Delkus-free ABC weather crawl.

Fort Worth's Concerts In The Garden Starts June 5

I had a fatal error in a blogging last week in which I said that the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra's Concerts in the Garden was starting up a week earlier than the actual starting date.

I'm mortified. Who knows how many dozens of my dozens of blog readers showed up expecting to hear Mingo Fishtrap, when all they got to hear was the chirping of birds.

Trish Ciaravino sent me a nice message correcting my error and providing new information. I'll copy her message below...

Hi there!

Thanks for including Concerts In The Garden in your blog. The music festival actually starts this Friday, June 5.

You can get the complete concert schedule here.

There are 16 performances including an Elvis tribute, laser light show set to music, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture, Eagles and Led Zeppelin tributes, Independence Day celebrations and more.

Best,
Trish Ciaravino
Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra

Jabba The Hut Insomnia

Last night I watched that awful TV train wreck I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here! on NBC. Most of the so-called celebrities I'd never heard of, including one especially obnoxious guy named Spencer Pratt.

Spencer Pratt is a Big Brat who has epic temper tantrums. I think watching this triggered a post-traumatic stress reaction, reminding me of that Tacoma Monster, who Gar the Texan dubbed Lord Voldemort, due to the dreaded fear she leaves in her wake, that has people afraid to utter her name, lest she direct an eruption in their direction.

Last night I had trouble getting to sleep, my first insomnia bout in a long time. Sometime after midnight I finally passed out, only to be awakened by a nightmare where Lord Voldemort had morphed into Jabba the Hut and was spewing a bunch of nonsensical vitriol at me. I think my sub-conscious turned Lord Voldemort into Jabba the Hut because they sort of look alike and neither has a neck.

Creatures like Spencer Pratt and Jabba the Hut are like slightly sleeping volcanoes. For the most part they keep the molten lava that seethes inside them under control, but way too frequently that molten lava gets released, usually in a most inappropriate fashion. And when the lava flows it reveals the ugly thought processes that torment the inner workings of the human volcano's mind.

During the months after my Tacoma Trauma last year I tried to figure out and understand what caused such strange self-destructive behavior, writing about various aspects of the subject, generating a lot of interesting comments and emails.

I eventually concluded the Jabba the Hut was the way she was due to a combination of many factors that combined to create a monster.

One factor is being an Only Child. Blogging about Only Child Syndrome eventually led me to learn that dealing with this syndrome is a world-wide problem. Many Only Children pitch a fit when they don't get their way, even in adulthood.

In my quest for answers I blogged about Histrionic/Narcissistic Disorder, the symptoms of which hit bingo in Jabba's case.

I blogged about mental health side effects caused by taking various psycho-tropic medications, again hitting bingo in Jabba's case.

I blogged about Morbid Obesity and the underlying mental health issues involved when a person engages in that type of overt self-destruction.

I blogged about Toxic People and how to recognize the signs that the person you are dealing with is extremely toxic and best avoided.

I blogged about Transactional Analysis and how one is best off if one deals only with people who operate from an adult I'm OK, You're OK mindset. And never deal with someone who's outlook on most of the world is I'm OK, You're Not OK.

Eventually I was satisfied I'd figured out what was so messed up about Jabba and why.

And then last night after watching Spencer Pratt be a brat, Jabba appeared in a nightmare, and unlike the Jabba the Hut of Star Wars fame, this Jabba was able to walk. Jabba was chasing me, trying to catch me and eat me. Just like the previous insomnia nightmare, where it was 6 ugly, extremely fat women running after me with their huge mouths wide open.

Spencer Pratt and those non-celebrities are on again tonight. I think for my own peace of mind and a good night's rest I probably should not be watching.

Tuesday Morning Storming In Texas

That's the 8am view out my patio window this morning. About a half hour before that picture was taken I started hearing rumbling from the west. I went outside to see ominous clouds advancing this way.

And then the downpour started. It's now almost an hour later and it's still downpouring.

WeatherBug went off with a Flash Flood Warning. I suspect this may have a certain Haltom City resident leaving work to head home to keep and eye on that Fossil Creek that vexes her.

I never can remember the exact name, Big Fossil, Little Fossil, plain old just Fossil, I don't know. All I know for sure is those creeks can turn into flash floods that wreak havoc with people's lives and homes and about which the local government does nothing to help fix the flood problem, except for going ahead with a Pork Barrel Project called the Trinity River Vision that seeks to see Fort Worth have a little lake, some canals and an unneeded flood control diversion channel to replace huge levees that are already doing the job.

The power just flickered and turned on my back up.

I can see this is going to be a weather-related exercise-lite day. The pool is being shocked, so no swimming this morning. The Tandy Hills and River Legacy Park will be unhikable and unbikable til it dries out again.

Miscellaneous Monday Bread Dough Kneading In Fort Worth

We've had a cold front blow in. It's only 85, right now, coming up on 3 pm at my location in the far eastern zone of Fort Worth.

It did not seem very chilly when I did my crack of dawn swim. I think if I keep up the swimming I'll soon have my minor case of obesity under control.

Towards that end I went hiking at my favorite hiking spot around noon, that being the Tandy Hills Natural Area. It being warm, it was a hike half au naturel type of day.

This morning Washington's Reigning Scrabble Queen mentioned that her personal trainer had made her sore all over. I don't quite remember the context, but somehow that caused me to mention that this strange, difficult to do, yoga exercise, that I'd been doing for a couple months, had given me those 6 pack ab things that I thought were supposed to require a lot of bother to acquire.

Besides that 6 pack deal, making the core zone way stronger seems to have had useful improving effect on both biking and hiking. And walking up stairs. And other areas that are not the type details I'll be talking about in this venue.

I told the Scrabble Queen that I thought the name of the yoga posture had bread in it. Maybe it was something like the Kneading Bread Posture. She's Googling to try and find it. I can see why it might be called Kneading Bread because when you get it working right the motion going on in your stomach zone does sort of looking like bread dough being worked.

So, that's my day today, so far, in Fort Worth, swimming, hiking and kneading bread dough. And spending too much time at the computer.

Wind Chime Haters Getting A Life

Back in December I blogged about my disdain for noisy wind chimes. That blogging got comments from others who shared my disdain.

Then yesterday I got a comment from Steve saying, "Simply put, all you haters need to get a life."

I hate that cliche and have little use for those who use it. Or the "you must have too much time on your hands" cliche. In my experience it's only been people who basically have no life and who have way too much time on their hands who use these cliches. I've never heard a smart person say such a thing. It's always dummies. And always a toxic type person.

So, I did not remember "hater" comments about the wind chimes that Dummy Steve referred to. So, I went and read them. I did not detect any "hater" tone. Nor did I detect anything that would lead Dummy Steve to think the commenters had no life.

Below are the comments from the haters who need to get a life....

Anonymous said...
Amen to that! I can't believe people are so clueless. I hear my neighbor's windchimes 24/7 inside my house. It's the same as me playing jazz out of my windows for the neighborhood to hear. Some would think it's relaxing, while it would probably annoy most people.

E. Kristie said...
Okay...I'm taking mine down now.

Anonymous said...
Man, I made a big mistake of saying to my neighbor (in an attached development) that it would be appreciated if she took down her wind chime. Now she has 3: steel stars that sound like chains rattling, the tingle-tingle one, and the huge open tube ones; and we live in an all year round windy street. Of course, if they were gone - everyone would know I hate them. - Should have kept my mouth shut.

Durango said...
Anonymous #2----Damn the consequences, if I were you I'd wait til dark and take down and destroy the offending gongs. You can also call the police with a disturbing the peace complaint. Wind chimes really should be banned from use any place where others besides the wind chimer can hear the racket.

Anonymous said...
I bought an inexpensive sounds of windchimes CD and sent it to my neighbor asking if they could take down the chimes and instead listen to this in the privacy of their own home. Still waiting to see what happens as these windchimes are HUGE.......they hang from a post on their back deck that looks like a hangman's noose device. If my diplomacy doesn't work....I'm going Navy Seal on the thing.

To which Steve said to the above...
Simply put, all you haters need to get a life.

To which Durango says....
Steve, simply put, you're an idiot.