I Am To Blame For The Gar The Texan Blog But Not The Huffington Post

The 4th Sunday of the new year has seen a return to blue sky, after yesterday's wet unpleasantness, here in my zone of North Texas.

The Sunday blue sky is matching my blue mood.

Yesterday's gray, wet Saturday was one long day of one thing after another. The day started with strange explosive noises I later learned were coming from my noisiest neighbor, that being a Chesapeake Energy gas drilling site.

By mid morning I found I had another flat tire, the second in a week.

The flat tire kept me from the Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

Before I found the flat I'd talked to my mom and learned she'd broken a bone in one of her feet. I got emails from 2 Washington friends telling me about friends with bad cancer, with one of them having the same type brain cancer that killed Ted Kennedy.

Tootsie Tonasket called me around 5 so I could hear her drunken son having a drunken fit, trying to get into her house. I told Tootsie to call the police. I don't know if she did.

Around 7 last night I tripped and banged the top of my right hand against a wall. This morning that hand looks as if I've been in a fight.

A couple days ago Gar the Texan blogged about blogging, the first paragraph of which said, "Durango somehow convinced me to start this little escapade into pain and suffering. And after almost 2 years, I continue to do so (suffer pain)."

So, now I have to carry that on my guilty conscience, that somehow I'm to blame for foisting Gar the Texans' misanthropic ramblings on the world. I feel terrible about this.

And then someone calling himself Whited Sepulchre commented saying, "Gar, The Huffington Post doesn't post as much as Durango. Just thought I would point that out."

Now, that's just not true. I only post about 90% as much as The Huffington Post.

My therapist, Dr. L.C., seems to have gone missing. And right when I need her. So far, even though the sky is blue, Sunday is looking to be another bad day like yesterday. Maybe I can make an effort to turn it around.

My Explosive Neighborhood Chesapeake Energy Gas Drilling Site

Well, it's another Saturday and another bizarre encounter with a white truck. This time it is a Chesapeake Energy white truck, not an Express Energy Services white truck.

All morning long, ever since I was in the pool around 8, I'd been hearing very loud explosion like noises, sort of like an erratic jackhammer, only louder.

Around 10 I was heading to the Tandy Hills to join the Brush Bash and discovered my 2nd flat tire of the week.

Sometime around noon I decided to try and find out what was making the explosive jackhammer-like noise.

It was quickly clear the explosive noises were coming from my neighbor across the street, that being a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale natural gas drilling site.

I decided to walk to the site and take video of the noise. By the time I was directly across from the site the explosive noise was significantly louder. I was fairly certain there was no one working on the site that was accounting for the noise, due to the fact that the gate was locked. When someone is in there doing something the gate is open.

Now, here's the part where the story turns weird and has me once more seeing a white truck. Just as I turned my camera on a white Chesapeake Energy truck drove up. A tall, lanky guy got out of the truck, opened the gate, and drove in.

After I took a picture I switched the camera to video mode to capture the explosion noises and continued walking towards the gate to the Chesapeake drilling site. Within seconds the explosions stopped, obviously silenced by the guy I'd just seen.

So, what was making those explosive noises? Today's Saturday white truck incident did not seem as menacing as last Saturday's, but those explosive noises seemed plenty menacing.

I did not realize the explosions were going to be so quickly silenced, or I would not have talked at all on the video. You can still hear several of the explosive pops before they go silent.

Where Do The Fosdic Lake Turtles Go When It's Cold?

I have wondered more than once, and mentioned at least once, my puzzlement over where the dozens of turtles who call Fosdic Lake, in Oakland Lake Park, in Fort Worth, home, go when the temperature turns cold, as in below freezing?

Well, this morning I got an email that is purporting to answer that question. I have no idea as to the veracity of what this emailer is telling me, as in some of it sounds a bit far fetched.

The emailer's email was very long and detailed. I'll try a write a distilled version. Here goes...

Turtles who live where the temperatures dip below freezing and where snow may fall have mechanisms to keep themselves alive. They hibernate. Since turtles are reptiles the proper term for deep sleeping is "brumate," as in reptiles brumate, mammals hibernate. But most people use "hibernate" to refer to how turtles get through the cold. So, that's the word we'll use.

Various types of turtles do their hibernating in various ways. Most water turtles go deep into the water and wiggle themselves into some lake bottom mud. As the turtle gets colder its body slows down to the point that eating is no longer neccessary. The turtle's heart slows down to one beat every few minutes.

The turtle stops breathing through its lungs. Due to the slowed metabolism little oxygen is needed. What little oxygen the turtle needs it can get from the water via specialized skin cells that are inside the tail opening.

So, turtles hibernate under water and breathe through their tails. Supposedly a turtle can keep living this way for 2 or 3 months.

I wonder how the turtles are able to tell it's warmed up on the surface?

I was walking around Fosdic Lake on a warm day that had arrived after a deep freeze and the turtles were out having themselves a good time sunning themselves on logs.

The Queen Of Wink Suffering From Serious Virus

Those of you who are fans of the Queen of Wink may be wondering why she is seeming to be a more quiet Queen of late.

Well, her computer has malfunctioned. She believes she was attacked by a malicious Trojan Virus of some sort. This has rendered it impossible to start her computer, even in Safe Mode.

I've had computers go into malfunction mode on me. It's not a good time.

I don't know if you know this already, but the Queen of Wink graduated from Wink High School, that's in Wink, Texas, way out in West Texas, with the 2nd highest grade point average in her class of, I think, 9.

The only person in her class with a higher GPA was Gar the Texan, a fact about which he remains very proud of to this day.

Well, Gar the Texan is some sort of Idiot Savant when it comes to computers. On his business card it says something like "From the Age of 11, I have had an Innate Ability to Understand Computers and Make Them Do What I Want."

Gar the Texan's innate computer ability is so strong I don't think he even went to college, I think he went right into designing software. He gets flown all over the world to fix computers due to his innate ability to make them do what he wants them to do.

So, I'm thinking, if Gar the Texan has any decency left in him he'll call the Queen of Wink and walk her through getting her computer back working. Better yet, drive out to Wink and fix it.

Who Decided To Put Traffic Cones On The Trinity Trail Between Beach Street & Gateway Park?

After hiking, for an hour or so, up and down the Tandy Hills, I headed north to the Beach Street Wal-Mart.

Being on Beach Street I was curious to have a look at the Beach Street/Gateway Park Express Energy water sucking operation.

Yesterday, the paved Trinity Trail (on which, last Saturday, I'd had a muddy confrontation with a White Darth Vader Express Energy Truck) was being cleaned.

Today the "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign was still up, and traffic cones still lined the trail from Beach Street to the site of the water pumping. There were two Express Energy trucks at the end of the traffic cones, one was on the levee, above the pumping site, the other was over the edge, backed up right to the pumps.

I saw no utility work being done. I did see the paved trail is now totally mud free, including the thickly muddied area where the Express Energy trucks drove on to the trail.

So, what's going on here? Are the traffic cones being left there to stop Express Energy trucks from driving on the pedestrian "No Motorized Vehicles Allowed" trail? Or are the trucks able to drive right over the cones without hitting them?

Today when I left Wal-Mart I decided to drive back to Gateway Park. I was curious if there was a "UTILITY WORK AHEAD" sign at the Gateway Park entry to the Trinity Trails, that being the pedestrian bridge you see in the picture. Well, all I saw was the final orange traffic cone at the end of the bridge. That's in the picture at the top.

When I took the picture of the bridge I could see there was no longer an Express Energy truck parked on top of the Trinity River levee.

I was curious if the truck over the edge was still there, so I walked to where there is a vantage point looking down on the operation. You can see the truck through the brush in the upper right part of the picture. And a guy in red with a white hat working on the pumps.

There are 2 more pumps sitting on top of the levee.

I think the mud ruts on the "road" down to the pump site must have dried up, if a truck is able to get back out of there without a lot of tire spinning and more muddy rutting and damage to the levee. It's quite steep.

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

New Temporary Buildings Arrive At The Tandy Hills For Tomorrow's Brush Bash

BRUSH BASH UPDATE FROM DON YOUNG:
Unless there is heavy rain the Brush Bash will go as planned. Please arrive between 9 and 10 am. We plan to start work at 10. Lunch break at Noon. Thanks again for supporting Tandy Hills Natural Area.

No, that is not a picture of my latest Outhouse discovery in my popular "Outhouses of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex Series."

I believe these are temporary Outhouses brought in for a special event, which to my mind is the proper use for such things, in contrast with Jerry Jones' mind which thinks surrounding the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium with specially made Dallas Cowboy Outhouses is a good idea.

The special event I believe this pair of Outhouses have been installed for is tomorrow's Tandy Hills Brush Bash.

It is supposed to start being stormy here in North Texas sometime tonight and all day tomorrow. I don't know if the source of the incoming rain is the same storm that is hitting California and today my mom and dad in Phoenix.

I'm sure it will end up being dry tomorrow. I think Mother Nature looks fondly on the Tandy Hills and those who are trying to restore the hills to their old style prairie glory.

Two Natural Wonders I Must See In Texas Before I Die

I got a book a couple days ago titled 1001 Natural Wonders You Must See Before You Die.

When I got the book I wondered how many Wonders I've seen. I figured places like Grand Canyon would be on the list, along with other American National Parks. I was right about that.

I wondered if there would be any Wonders in Texas. The only place I've been to in Texas that I thought might be a Wonder is Enchanted Rock.

Enchanted Rock was not on the list. But 2 other places in Texas are on the list of Natural Wonders. Neither of which have I seen.

One Texas Natural Wonder is Natural Bridge Caverns. This Wonder is located a few miles north of San Antonio.

The other Texas Natural Wonder that one must see before they die is the Basin of the Chisos Mountains. This basin is in the Chihuahuan Desert. The Basin and Chisos Mountains are part of Big Bend National Park.

When I thumbed through the 1001 Wonders I needed to see, I wondered how many necessary to see Wonders were in my old home state of Washington. I figured Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens were likely on the list. I was right about those two.

Other Washington Wonders are the Grand Coulee, Dry Falls, Upper Skagit River and the Columbia River Gorge.

Having both the Grand Coulee and Dry Falls as Wonders makes no sense to me. They are very similar and very close to each other. And Grand Coulee is mostly flooded by Lake Roosevelt, which is not a natural lake, it is the reservoir made by Grand Coulee Dam.

I lived in the Lower Skagit River zone. I don't get having the Upper Skagit River on this list of Wonders. The blurb about the Upper Skagit focuses on the Bald Eagle Preserve, where they hang out to eat salmon that are returning to spawn. I had a Bald Eagle who lived in a big nest, high up in a tall tree in the woods behind my house in Mount Vernon. I don't think I ever visited the Upper Skagit River Bald Eagle Preserve.

No mention is made of the Olympic Rain Forests or the Washington Coast or the North Cascades or any of the other Washington volcanoes, like Mount Baker, which usually accumulates the world's deepest snow each winter.

Lists like this always seem goofy to me when they are covering an area where I know what they are talking about. To get to 1001 Natural Wonders this book does stuff like list Yosemite, then also lists Wonders that are in Yosemite, like Half Dome and Bridalveil Falls and Glacier Point. It does the same thing with other National Parks, like Yellowstone and Bryce Canyon.

Anyway, there must be more than 2 Natural Wonders of merit in big ol' Texas. I've not been to Palo Duro Canyon. Maybe it's a Wonder.

Taking Pictures & Splitting My Pants In Texas

This morning I was given a big, heavy, trophy-like piece of fragile glass to take a picture of for a website.

The website has to do with bricks. So, this morning I tried to take pictures of the trophy in front of bricks. That did not turn out well.

I tried putting it on a ledge with sky as the background. Did not work.

Late in the afternoon, with the sun not being so intrusive, I thought I might get a good picture.

But when the flash went off all sorts of shadows were the result. Turning off the flash the result is you see me, taking the picture, which is the picture you see here.

After the picture taking a picture of me problem, became my latest roadblock, I decided to put the camera on its tripod, set the self-timer, then stand behind it holding a white towel.

That sort of worked. Well enough that a workaround was figured out. I think.

I find my photographer incompetence amusing, so I just felt compelled to share.

I forgot to mention the most amusing part. To set the camera up, and aim it, I had to pretty much lay on the ground. When I lowered myself to that position I heard an awful ripping sound as my shorts split wide open.

I really need to lose some weight. Fast!

Express Energy Service Section Of Fort Worth Trinity Trails Getting Cleaned For Mysterious Reasons

Today after hiking on the Tandy Hills I went to Town Talk. As my one longtime reader knows, that puts me on Beach Street where I can see the current state of the Express Energy Services taking water from the Trinity River operation.

That same one longtime reader may remember me mentioning driving on Beach Street a couple days ago and seeing no notorious White Darth Vader Truck guarding the operation.

So, of course I was curious to see if the Terror Trucks were still gone today.

What I found was just something new to be perplexed about.

When I blogged about my Saturday experience with mafia-like thuggery, I mentioned how badly Express Energy had muddied up the Trinity Trail and rutted up the Trinity River levee.

Today the Trinity Trail was marked off with orange traffic cones and the sign you see in the picture, "UTILITY WORK AHEAD."

The Utility Work appeared to be the cleaning off of the muddied Trinity Trail. I did not get any closer than the sign, so I don't know if it was a City of Fort Worth work crew, cleaning up the trail, burning your tax dollars to clean up after Express Energy, or if it was Express Energy cleaning up after themselves.

There was a White Darth Vader Truck guarding the river pumping site. I saw at least 1 Express Energy goon standing by the truck. I didn't want a repeat of Saturday's fun, so I took my pictures and continued on to Town Talk.

So, why is the muddy mess being cleaned up while Express Energy is still driving a truck to the pump site? I assume they are still driving on the pedestrian trail that says "NO MOTORIZED VEHICLES."

When I was in Town Talk I thought to myself that the only reason to clean up the mess was that the pumping was already over. I could not see the pumps from my vantage point by the Utility Work Ahead sign. I thought, maybe the white truck, by the pump site, was there to clean up the mess and the pumps were gone.

The pumps being gone seemed to be the only thing that made sense of the effort going into cleaning the trail.

When I was done in Town Talk I headed to Gateway Park. I parked by the trailhead that leads to the bridge that crosses on to the Trinity Trails. As soon as I opened my door I heard the pumps.

So, very perplexing. Why is the trail being cleaned while the mess makers are still making messes?

Below is a chronological list of links of bloggings about the Express Energy Service Trinity River Gateway Park pumping operation...

Mess of 6 Pumps Getting Ready To Steal Trinity River Water?

Fort Worth Mayor Mike Moncrief Or One Of His Lackeys Thinks I'm A Clueless Reactionary

The 2010 Cold Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

I Have Had Me An Orwellian Big Brother Encounter With Express Energy On The Trinity River in Fort Worth

More Questions In The Increasingly Orwellian World Of Fort Worth Texas

West Texas Chief Operative CT2's Report On Express Energy Services

A Sunday Surprise At the Fort Worth Beach Street Trinity River Gas Driller Pump Site

Another Visit With Express Energy Services At Gateway Park Where Water Is Now Being Removed From The Trinity River

A Saturday Shootout With Express Energy On The Trinity River In Fort Worth

Spring Has Sprung In Texas On The 21st Day Of The New Year

As you can see, spring has sprung, in Texas, this 21st day of the new year. The temperature today required minimalist outerwear. Seems hard to believe just a few days ago we were nearing zero in these parts.

I decided to hike "off trail" today on the Tandy Hills. Nicest day of the new year. Perfect. And the air smelled good.

Hard to believe, on a day like today, windows open, outside air blowing in, that that air has dangerous pollutants in it. But, apparently, it does.

My cockroach spray is odorless too, but it's deadly to the cockroaches.

The last time I hiked the Tandy Hills I saw 2 strange spiders. Today I saw the time type spider again. It looks like some sort of mutant combo of a Tarantula with a Daddy Long Legs. I don't know if there are Daddy Long Legs in Texas. Or if that is their actual name, but it's the name I knew for a big, spindly legged spider in Washington.

I did my "off trail" hiking on the west side of the main trail, looking for the illusive Witchey Tree and Death Van. I had no luck.

But, I did see that brush has been cut on the west side, quite a distance from the main trail, in preparation for Saturday's Brush Bash, where the Tandy Hills Manly Men and Wild Women return, once again, this time to haul brush.

Some of the brush that's been bashed is more like logs. It will require some very manly men to haul the logs out of there.

I think I got myself a healthy dose of Vitamin D today. I feared I was on the verge of Vitamin D deficiency related deficiencies developing, but today's exposure to the sun should keep me free of whatever it is that sun deprivation does to a person.

I hope.