Foggy Fort Worth Hiking On The Tandy Hills & Unanswered TCEQ Questions

Another balmy day, with temperatures in the 50s, had me hiking the Tandy Hills at noon, for the 9th day in a row.

Today looked like hiking might not be doable, due to the extreme thick fog that has settled over the Fort Worth zone of North Texas, so thick it was like being in a cloud, with a mist getting the windshield wet,

But not to the point that windshield wipers were required. And once I hit the ground on the Tandy Hills I had no wetness issues. Except for overheating related wetness.

Speaking of wetness. I stayed in the pool this morning for the longest duration of the new year. I long ago figured out that an average temperature in the 50s made the pool easily
doable. But that vexing sub-freezing business we had going on since the day before Christmas cooled the water down to near freezing, so it has not warmed up to a satisfying 50 something temperature quite yet.

Can you spot the skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth through the fog? The picture was taken from the top of Mount Tandy.

Big Ed went hiking with me today on the Tandy Hills. Afterwards we headed to Town Talk. Stopped at a light on Beach Street, heading north, Big Ed pointed out a Barnett Shale gas drilling site and the plumes of something rising up from it.

Big Ed pondered the possibility that the gas drillers might be using a heavy fog day, like today, to do something nefarious that puts off plumes of fumes, that they would not dare try on a clear day.

Big Ed is a big proponent of crackpot paranoia type conspiracy theories. Then again, it was odd seeing that big plume of something spewing skyward from the drilling site. Have never seen that happening on a clear day.

But, one has to tell oneself that that Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) maintains an eagle-eyed watch on the gas drillers, highly respected, reputable agency that it is.

By the way, I've yet to get an answer from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to the questions I submitted via their website.

In the meantime, I got most of the answers via other means.

But one HUGE question remains. As in, how is the water being taken from the Trinity River being metered?

Information I found on the TCEQ indicates that water taken via the means it's being taken from the Trinity River by gas drillers, must be metered.

I'm thinking that it is the inability to answer my meter question that has kept TCEQ mute.

Fort Worth's Corrupt Mayor Mike Moncrief Puts His Conflicts Of Interest On Display Again

I was surprised this morning, when looking for the picture you see here of Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief, where he belongs, as in behind bars, that the first time I blogged about the need to bring this criminal to justice was way back on May 15, 2008, in a blogging titled "Corruption in Fort Worth, Texas?"

Since then Moncrief has not only not been jailed, he has won re-election with 94% of Fort Worth's eligible voters feeling so marginalized that they didn't bother to vote, giving Moncrief a whopping 70% landslide of the 6% who did vote.

In recent days we have had fresh examples of why there are Conflicts of Interest laws in America. Even in Texas. With Fort Worth's mayor, again, outrageously putting his corruption on display for anyone caring to look, to see.

Well, Fort Worth's #1 Watchdog was watching. Below is what he had to say about Fort Worth's mayor's latest criminal behavior....

Unicorn Discovered on Dark Side of Moon

If you believe that line of BS then you'll most likely swallow the report delivered by John Sadler of the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to the Fort Worth City Council yesterday. If not, read on.

The mayor had requested the TCEQ study after the many recent news reports of toxic emissions coming from Barnett Shale gas facilities. He wanted to know specifically about such facilities in FW proper. Knowing the mayor as we do, he really wanted to end any talk of health and safety concerns or moratoriums in FW. This was a foregone conclusion shared by those who have been paying attention.

The pre-council session where the report was given was well attended by industry reps, notably, Walter Duease, point man for XTO and Ed Ireland of the Barnett Shale Energy Education Council (BSEEC), both of whom are involved in the Marcellus and other shale regions and both of whom have cozy relationships with city council and staffers.

The highlight reel-

1) Regarding salt-water injection wells in Fort Worth, city staffer, Susan Alanis made a point of saying that there have been no problems regarding public health and safety with the one injection located well in Fort Worth. This point was intended to prepare the public for new injection wells and a web of "salt-water" pipelines that will soon snake through FW neighborhoods.

2) We were told by another city staffer that a private meeting was held on January 5, 2010 to discuss the growing public discomfort with urban drilling. Invitees included reps from, TCEQ, Texas RRC, City of FW, Texas Pipeline Assoc., BSEEC and four drilling companies. NO neighborhood groups were included. Can you say, marginalized?

3) City Council reps nodded enthusiastically to Sadler's comment that, "ambient conditions" existed before drilling. That's code for: Blame something else. Drilling is not the problem. (May I remind you again that FWCanDo requested ambient air and water studies from the city attorney in 2005. Her answer came with a devilish smile: No thanks.)

4) Testing was done in less than ideal conditions to achieve the result desired by the mayor and drillers. The result: No benzene. No carcinogens. No VOC's coming from Fort Worth gas wells facilities. How else to explain the increasingly smoggy air over FW? see #3 above.

5) Near the end of the meeting, with media cameras rolling and reporters scribbling away, the mayor asked Mr. Sadler two well-rehearsed, drama-filled questions:

a. Are you convinced the industry is using best management practices? Answer: YES.

b. Do you see any need for issuing a moratorium on gas well drilling in FW? Answer: NO.

> > > Remember the Jack Nicholson movie, Chinatown? Recall the last scene of the film when private detective, Jake "JJ" Gittes is confronted with the fact that the police have been bought-off and that a killer and child molester has been allowed to go free. An angry and distraught Jake stares into space as his partner delivers the final line of the film:

Forget it Jake, this is ... Texas.

DY

Steve Doeung Will Not Pipe Down & This Is A Good Thing For Fort Worth & America

Great article in Fort Worth's only "real" newspaper, as in a newspaper that does not act as a propaganda shill for the local corrupt power structure, with its incestuous Conflicts of Interest relationships with the Barnett Shale natural gas drilling industry.

I'm talking about FW Weekly and its cover article, "He Won't Pipe Down," about Steve Doeung and his heroic battle against Fort Worth's corrupt government and one of the agents of corruption, Chesapeake Energy and its chief hoodlum, Aubrey McClendon.

Steve Doeung may have become an American via being a Cambodian first, but he's an American now, an All-American of the heroic, brave, idealistic, champion sort that has made America what it is, as in the most powerful nation, in most of the ways that matter, that the world has ever seen.

I'm thinking there has to be a way to have Steve's Story and the Battle of Carter Avenue go national, so all Americans know what's going on here in Fort Worth, where border-line Gestapo-like fear tactics have been used, with the full cooperation of Fort Worth's corrupt government and police, to intimidate the people of Carter Avenue, except for one.

I'm thinking Steve's Story and the Battle of Carter Avenue would make a good 60 Minutes story.

I contacted 60 Minutes about 20 years ago. I was greatly annoyed at the shocking revelations that had come out regarding the capital of British Columbia, Canada, Victoria, pumping raw sewage deep into the Straits of Juan de Fuca. That was the Victoria sewage treatment method. Vancouver's was not much better.

The State of Washington tried all sorts of things to get the Canadians to clean up their act. Promises were made. Nothing was done. Monkey Wrenchers, a type of American that apparently does not exist in Texas, did things like book a stay in an expensive Victoria hotel and rather than use the toilet, they'd leave a mess behind in the bathtub, along with messages on the walls. I don't recollect how many instances of that type Monkey Wrenching occured.

Washington people were peeved at the Canadians because Washington voter's had approved a bond in the late 60s that spent a lot of money cleaning up water flowing into Washington lakes and Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan de Fuca. And then you had the Canadians sort of defeating the purpose by continuing to dirty the water that salmon swam through.

I believe all these years later the Canadians have finally cleaned up their sewage problem. Not due to any expose on 60 Minutes. but because they feared, with the about to happen Vancouver Winter Olympics, that a fresh burst of bad publicity about the bad Canadian hygienne would be most unfortunate.

Now, how can we shine a similar light, from the outside, on Fort Worth, a light so bright it causes the cockroaches, like Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief and Chesapeake Energy's Aubrey McClendon, to run for the dark, where they need to remain?

Balmy Temperatures Have Me Not Wearing Pants On The Tandy Hills In Fort Worth

Today, late in the afternoon, I returned to the Tandy Hills for a record breaking 8th day in a row. As you can see from the picture, these 8 days in a row of extreme aerobics have completely erased my weather-related sloth-caused unsightly weight gain.

As you can also see, I am not wearing long underwear, I am also not wearing pants, and, no, it's not a No Pants! Day.

Warm air coming in from the south has forced a retreat of the nasty frozen air that blew in from Canada, a week ago today. I'm glad that unpleasantness is behind us for now.

Canadian cold air is worse then breathing Fort Worth smog. At least in the short term.

The balmy temperatures warmed up the pool quite a bit. I stayed in it this morning for the longest duration of the new year. I got out when my teeth began doing this chattering thing that I feared might do some dental damage if I did not adjust my temperature.

This morning my web page editor was back working so I was able to remove my cousin Amy from my family. Apparently Amy has decided to totally embrace her new Vietnamese connections and severe all ties to her Dutch-ness. I don't know how my Uncle Mooch and Aunt Jane (Amy's mom and dad) are going to take Amy's rejection.

I probably should call my mom and dad and tell them that Mooch and Jane have lost a kid. But, as my one longtime reader knows, I only call my mom when I get gas. Not when I lose a relative.

The Travails Of Getting Miss Puerto Rico Out Of Texas

That is the sun going down view from Miss Puerto Rico's balcony, last night, looking north.

I was over at Miss Puerto Rico's to get my final cat care instructions. I don't know why I need to get the cat care instructions every time Miss Puerto Rico returns to her home island.

Although there was one slight variation this time. I am to give the cat no more than 3 special treats per day, due to the cat is fat and the treats are fattening.

My one longtime reader may remember that previously I would provide shuttle service to the airport for Miss Puerto Rico. But not this time.

My one longtime reader may remember the incident a couple years ago where Miss Puerto Rico got herself overly intoxicated, at the airport, was arrested and thrown into the airport jail.

I did not see Miss Puerto Rico for quite awhile after that incident. I have no empathy with someone needing to be alcohol medicated in order to fly. I can't imagine going through airport security tipsy. That's just nuts.

Anyway, Miss Puerto Rico called me before 5 this morning. I let it go to voice mail. I was afraid it was a last minute plea for me to provide airport shuttle service.

I listened to the message. She was all in a panic, thinking she was not going to make her flight. The shuttle had called and said they'd be 15 minutes late. Her flight time was 7:10. She had plenty of time.

Miss Puerto Rico called again, now on the shuttle, totally certain she'd be late. I told her, again, she had plenty of time. She was upset that the shuttle was going to pick up someone else and she had no idea where she was.

About 20 minutes later Miss Puerto Rico called again, all upset, sure she'd missed her flight. I look at the time and see it is well before 6. I tell her she's early. She tells me the airport is in a different time zone.

This was the point I realized why she was willing to pay $31 to get to the airport, rather than use my free shuttle service. It's because of my Zero Tolerance policy. Obviously Miss Puerto Rico was able to bring booze onboard the shuttle with her. And by the time she got to the airport she was drunk. Again.

I told her to go to the Check-in and all would be fine. She was all upset, thinking she might be able to fly stand-by, now that she missed her flight.

I told her, it is before 6, over an hour before your plane leaves. What? She muttered, confused. It's before 6, I repeated. You don't fly out for over an hour. She then said something about her clock being wrong and hung up.

About 20 minutes later Miss Puerto Rico calls again, all cheery, telling me she's through security and at her gate. I say something like, so there was nothing to get all upset about after all.

She acted as if the previous confused phone calls had not taken place.

Anyway, that's been my day so far. Up early, in the pool as the sun came up, fixed my web editor problem. All is well in my simple little world. Except I have a damn cat to attend to.

In The Shadow Of The Thin Man In Fort Worth's Tandy Hills

That is the Shadow of the Tandy Hills Thin Man, coming soon to a theater near you, late this afternoon.

Events conspired to keep me computer bound for hours beyond my liking today.

By early afternoon I felt like my head was preparing to explode. My therapist, Dr. L.C., checked in on me, as she regularly does, and when I mentioned I thought my blood pressure was fixin' to explode my head, she verbalized some concern regarding the sad state of my physical being.

Fortunately, a jaunt up and down the Tandy Hills, in temperatures approaching 60, wearing way less clothing than in recent weeks, breathing in the sweet smog scented air, was just what the doctor ordered.

It revived me.

And now I'm back here, facing my computer aggravation.

About 3 this afternoon I got an email from my Cousin Amy. Amy was wanting me to remove all the detailed information I have about her on my website about our family, widely believed to be the most extensive family website on the Internet.

I explained to Amy that I'd made, for the most part, the family website invisible to search engines, which is why none of you reading this have heard of it til now. But, apparently Amy married a Vietnamese guy, last name of Nguyen, and there is some sort of nefarious doings that would make anonymity a good thing.

So, me, being the wanting to always please good boy that I am, set out to remove Amy from my family. But, my web editor will not let me open that particular website. Resources keep getting gobbled up til there is no memory left. I have tried several fixes, but so far, to no avail.

Which leaves Cousin Amy and the Nguyen gang exposed and possibly in danger. I do not know how I will sleep tonight with this lurking woe hanging out there.

Other than that, I've had myself a real peachy day. In case you can't figure it out for yourself, in the picture, that is the view, looking west from the top of Tandy Hills Mountain, of the stunningly beautiful, smog-filtered, skyline of downtown Fort Worth.

Mesquite Texas School Board Continues To Persecute 4 Year Old Taylor Pugh

I am appalled the Mesquite Independent School District, here in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex zone of Texas, is still harassing a little boy named Taylor Pugh, and his mom and dad, over Taylor's hair.

The Mesquite School Board actually met on the serious issue of Taylor's hair and ruled that he could return to class without cutting his hair if he'd wear it braided at a length that did not touch his collar.

Taylor's parent's rejected the compromise and are now planning on taking Taylor's case to the state education commissioner in Austin.

The Mesquite school district superintendent, Linda Henrie, actually weighed in on this serious matter, saying if the boy went to class wearing a ponytail, which his parents indicated he would, Taylor would be again sent to the library.

Quite the evolved education system they have there in Mesquite.

Taylor has been separated from his class at Floyd Elementary School since November, where he takes his lessons from an aide in the library.

Has anyone thought to have the drinking water in Mesquite tested to see if there might be some element in the water causing mild insanity?

On the plus side, even though, apparently, Mesquite is collectively somewhat insane, the way the rest of the world has reacted to this little outbreak of neo-fascism, in Texas, is uplifting, sparking a debate where the proponents of freedom of self-expression have run a steamroller over the blind obedience to rules types.

Other parents who have had enough of the Mesquite School District's embarrassingly overbearing policies have been allying with Taylor and his parents.

The Mesquite School Board's President, Cary Tanamachi is quoted as saying the district must consider all 37,000 students and "to grant exemptions would be chaos."

Oh, yes, that is really clearly obvious. If a little boy goes to school with his hair a bit long, chaos would follow in his wake.

You people in Mesquite, methinks you need to band together and fire your school board and get a new school superintendent. And leave Taylor and his mom and dad alone. And quit breaking the serious Common Sense Rules that guide most of the civilized world.

Back In The Pool In The Deep South & Simpatico With The High North

I was back in the pool this morning for the first time since New Years Day. I'm feeling the best I've felt all year, this morning, I think in large part due to the salubrious dip in refreshing cold water.

One of my favorite Field Operatives, she's known as Miss CVB of Sedro Woolley, Washington, sends me some amusing and educational items, quite regularly.

People here in the Deep South (my location in North Texas is the Deep South to those in the High North) find it unfathomable that anyone would get themselves wet in outdoor water during anytime outside a narrow window of opportunity that runs from sometime in May through early September.

Meanwhile those of us from the Great White North pretty much go swimming all year long.

Below is a YouTube video of some Canadian Yankees doing some winter swimming...

Being Stimulated While Driving By The Express Energy Beach Street Trinity River Water Pumping Operation

My West Texas Operative, CT2, continues to find some interesting, well, actually, some damning information, about Express Energy Services.

Yesterday we learned from CT2 about Express Energy Services visits to Bankruptcy Court.

Yesterday we also learned that Express Energy Services is installing a pump/pipeline system for Finley Resources, Inc., with Finley apparently being yet one more Tarrant County gas driller.

Two days prior to finally seeing permits on the Beach Street/Gateway Park pumps, I had an interesting confrontation with Express Energy Services.

And now today, from Operative CT2, we learn that in addition to spending time in Bankruptcy Court, Express Energy Services has spent a lot of time in court for things like employment discrimination, personal injury negligence, breach of contract, a whole host of unseemly little things like racial discrimination, sexual discrimination, retaliation, health and safety suits filed by the Department of Labor.

This is a very unseemly company that the Tarrant Regional Water District is letting wreak havoc with the Trinity River levees, in cahoots with Finley Resources, Inc., to suck water out of the Trinity River, which I've yet to be told how this water sucking is metered.

Read Operative CT2's report in its entirety.

And on a slightly lighter, similarly subjected matter. Today after hiking the Tandy Hills I drove north on Beach Street, past the Finley Resources/Express Energy Services water sucking operation. There were several of the White Darth Vader Express Energy trucks in view, parked on the levee, above the pumps and in the parking zone on the east side of Beach Street.

There were also a lot of non-Express Energy Services pieces of heavy equipment parked off the east side of Beach Street. All that equipment had the look of a military operation.

But, the more interesting was the name of the new player in this Finley Resources/Express Energy drilling/water operation.

Vanguard Stimulation Services, LLC. The name suggests some sort of Viagra dispenser, but I suspect the stimulating refers to fraccing, as in stimulating the flow of natural gas out of the stubborn Barnett Shale. The Vanguard Stimulators are out of Shawnee, Oklahoma.

The picture at the top is some of the Vanguard Stimulation Services, LLC equipment. That boxy thing you see in the second picture looks like an armored vehicle, like Loomis uses to bring money to banks. I wonder what Vanguard Stimulation is doing in the armored vehicle? Is that where the dangerous fraccing chemicals are stored, before they are mixed with the never again to be drinkable water they are taking from the Trinity River?

Prickly Pear Cactus Stir Fry From The Warm Tandy Hills In Fort Worth

Today was the 6th day in a row I've gone aerobic on the Tandy Hills, thus ending my weight gaining period of excessive sloth.

It was in the 50s. 50s! When I went hiking today. No coat, no long underwear, or short underwear, for that matter, no gloves, no stocking cap.

It is like a beautiful early spring day out there.

Tomorrow morning I'm returning to my getting in the pool routine.

Happy days are here again.

I was making stir fry for lunch so I risked the wrath of the hyper-sensitive Fort Worth Parks Department by taking a Prickly Pear Cactus Ear to add to my stir fry. I have now had lunch and I must say this was the best stir fry I've made in awhile.

I was being just a bit depressed, physically, during this long long deep freeze we've been subjected to, here in usually pleasant North Texas. Six days out there is no predicted return to that unpleasant freezing business.

Interesting thing at the Tandy Hills today. Ice remained. Even though the temperatures have gotten well above freezing for a couple days now. I hiked on the west side of the main Tandy trail today, looking once more for the illusive Witchey Tree and Death Van, which I'm beginning to believe was a fabrication of a very fertile Halloween imagination.

That is ice still freezing at the bottom of Tandy Canyon, today, that you see in the picture on the right. It did feel a bit colder in Tandy Canyon than it did when I was out where the sun was able to shine. But still having solid ice seemed a bit extreme.

I am thinking of making an emergency trip to Oahu. I've had reports that one of my all time favorite people needs someone to cook for her and make her eat. I think she needs a Houseboy at her command for awhile. I'm a really good Houseboy. I've got references.