Storm-Free In My Zone Of North Texas While Covered With Hives Also Known As Urticaria

Looking out my primary viewing portal on the world it appears the last Wednesday of April has dawned with a clear blue sky.

Once again my zone of North Texas dodged storms. Yesterday's predicted t-storms did their storming in East Texas, damaging or destroying over 100 homes.

I am still experiencing off and on bouts of rashes appearing and disappearing. I believe what this actually is is a case of hives. The medical term for hives is Urticaria.

Hives can be triggered by many different things, sometimes it's an allergic reaction. Sometimes it is stress. I am not particularly stressed at the present moment. The only random, different thing I've done of late, to which I may have had an allergic reaction, was on Saturday I consumed an intoxicating liquid concoction at the Prairie Fest.

Today in the noon time frame I likely will be heading north to Hurst. This may have me hiking the Tandy Hills later this afternoon.

In the meantime I am going swimming before it gets any colder. It is only 60 right now, heading to a low tonight of 48. Brrrrrr.

An Explosive Arlington Chesapeake Energy Event During Thunderstorm Is Not Being Reported

Way back on Saturday, January 23, 2010, my next door neighbor, a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site, started making real odd explosive noises, like loud pops.

After a couple hours of hearing this I walked over to my neighbor's to take pictures and video. Just as I arrived so did the white Chesapeake Energy pickup you see in the picture.

The pickup arrived at a high rate of speed, which sort of told me that whatever was happening, that was causing the popping, was serious.

I never did learn what this particular Chesapeake malfunction was. Or if any real danger was involved. But I did blog about the incident.

Moving forward more than a year. Earlier this month I heard from a lady in Arlington, Kim Feil, who told me about a Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas drilling site incident which occurred in the wee hours of April 11, 2011.

Kim Feil has been trying to get answers about what happened that night, answers from TCEQ, answers from Chesapeake Energy, answers from the Texas Railroad Commission.

So far, no real answers.

So, this morning Kim Feil sent out the following....

Dear Media, during a power loss in the storm of April 11, two TCEQ investigations are ongoing to determine why emission events occurred in the same time frame.

Please inform the public of the added risk in the gas patch with storms.

Regarding the Chesapeake, Fulson site at 5720 S Watson in SE Arlington:

On  4/11/2011 early am, the emission events have been noted as follows..... (this before I have the 911 records that have gone past my 10 day open records request).

2:30 am   (approx per Mr Loredo) spewing sound awakens neighbors
3:00         Mr. Lordeo calls 911
3:15         (per records dept) Jane Lynn's first call to 911 did not result in the dispatch of the fire department-yet was told Chk would be contacted
3:30         Councilman Rivera contacted by Jane Lynn
3:34         Fire Dept dispatched (19 minutes after Jane's first call)
3:40         Jane Lynn's second call to 911 when being sickened with fumes that filled her home. Also by that time Loredo reports the fire truck was driving around the neighborhood and pointed their light on the Chesapeake contact sign
3:50         Emission sound stopped when the Chesapeake rep went onto the padsite
4:18         Fire truck back in service

In speaking with Mr O'Quinn from Railroad Commission,  a rep visited the site on 4/14 and noted that dry gas was released when the burst plate on the separator broke apart (as designed) to release pressure.  When I told him of the reported witnesses duration of the sound being almost 1 1/2 hours, Mr. O'Quinn said that long time frame would not be the sound of depressure in a relief valve (which is a short duration sound).  This indicates to me that the well did NOT AUTO SHUT ITSELF DOWN as was reported by Arl Fire Chief Don Crowson.

So it is suspect that there was actually a failure of the computer in the automatic well shut down that explains the duration of the venting of raw, unodorized, natural gasses from approx 2:30-3:50 am which is an hour and twenty minutes.

If the well auto shut itself down, then the Chesapeake rep would not have needed to go onto the site to make the sound "go away".

Then two evenings later Chesapeake rep, Tony Rutigliano, was applying for six more wells at this site. He honestly tried to tell council that he was not sure of the events.  Generalizations of emission behaviors and questionable information about the system being closed looped and about how the auto well shut in worked, as designed, made for the need to have this tabled and investigated, however, council approved the new wells by one vote.

As I see this, the only safety feature that worked as designed was the burst plate on the separator to relieve pressure.  But if the well itself was not shut in, then gasses flowing for almost an hour and a half was a failed attempt in preventing natural gas effluents from entering the airshed and our atmosphere.

In speaking with Mr. Mallick from TCEQ, the investigation is still in process and he could only say that the reports of the emission durations matched the same time frame as the XTO/Dalworthington Gardens's event that night during the storm.  Both have been reported to have lasted around an hour and twenty minutes.

I am reporting this to the best of my ability from the sources I have received information from.

Sincerely,
Kim Feil

Walking Around Fosdic Lake Talking To My Sister About My Brother's Knees While My Eyes Burn

I was housebound yesterday, due to inclement weather, with my only outdoor activity being my early morning swim.

Today I escaped my confinement at an hour before noon and went to Oakland Lake Park to walk around Fosdic Lake.

I am currently not suffering from any rash that I'm aware of. But, I am suffering from extremely irritated eyes. As in itching and dripping tears, making it difficult to see the computer monitor.

I called my mom and dad while I walked around Fosdic Lake. They weren't home. So, I called my sister. She got back to Arizona from Tacoma a few days ago.

Tacoma made my sister sick. Same thing happened the last time she stayed in Tacoma. That time it took about a month for my sister to recover. It took me about a year to recover from the last time I was in Tacoma.

As I was talking to my sister, my mom and dad arrived. I asked where they were going and learned my brother is in a hospital getting his knee or knees replaced. So, they were going for a hospital visit.

My brother was a jock, something I avoided, and so he has had many sports related surgeries. All my siblings were jocks and all have suffered jock-related maladies, not the least of which is finding watching a baseball game to be a stimulating activity.

So far, today's predicted severe t-storms have not arrived at my location. It is only 65, so I have my windows open. This may be why my eyes are being so irritated. One never knows what is in the air one breathes at my current location.

I should call my parakeet in the mine, Miss Puerto Rico, and ask if her allergies are in overdrive.

A Rash & Tarrant County Tornadoes & The Last Tuesday Of April

As you can see, looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, the last Tuesday of April has dawned with a clear blue sky.

Severe Thunderstorms are again in our forecast for today.

We had some tornado action here in Tarrant County yesterday.

Up in Washington they are having a bizarre return to winter weather, with snow.

Meanwhile, here in Texas, I had a fresh new woe visit me yesterday afternoon. I suddenly broke out in a rash, in various locations, all over me. I took an anti-histamine pill and covered the rash with calamine lotion. In a few hours the rash went away.

And then re-appeared, covering more of me, in the middle of the night. I took another pill and covered the rash, again, with calamine lotion and again it disappeared.

I have no idea what is causing this new travail. Right now I am rash-free. I hope I stay that way.

Take A TRIP To Rahr & Sons On Friday For Beer, BBQ, Music, An Auction & To Go Up A Creek In A Movie

Saturday, at the Prairie Fest, we ran out of TRIP printed material to hand out to the legions of people wanting TRIP printed material.

We were reduced to showing the legions of people the TRIP ad from this week's FW Weekly.

And writing the TRIP website address on random scraps of paper we scavenged from the ground.

For those few who don't know, TRIP is Trinity River Improvement Partnership.

TRIP proposes a sane "Alternative Plan" to the insane Trinity River Vision Boondoggle, with the very clever slogan, "Don't Move the River, Improve the River."

On Saturday Mrs. Caraway told me, due to the heat, I had to hydrate myself by drinking products from Rahr & Sons Brewing Company.

This coming Friday, April 29, from 6:30 til 9:30 you can go to Rahr & Sons Brewing Company for TRIP's next event.

I scanned the TRIP ad in FW Weekly, but the ad was bigger than my scanner. Then I remembered I can usually get a good enough reproduction of a printed thing by just taking a picture of it. And so I did.

The Rahr & Sons/TRIP deal is a fundraiser.

For $25 you get a Collector's Cup Edition Rahr Pint Glass, Live Music, a Silent Auction, Bar-B-Q, a showing of "Up A Creek," and complimentary samples of that Rahr brewery product Mrs. Caraway made me dizzy with on Saturday.

If I can manage to scrape together $25 I may go to this. But, I'm a bit wary of drinking much of that Rahr & Sons Brewing Company brewery product after Saturday's Prairie Fest's intoxicating over imbibing.

The Last Monday Of April All Wet From Thunderstorms

Looking through the bars of my patio prison cell, on this last Monday of April, you can not quite tell that all is wet in the outdoor world due to a t-storm in the middle of the night.

T-storms continue on the schedule for today.

The thunder did not boom close last night. I heard it in the distance.

I do not believe there will be any Tandy Hills hiking today.

The misconception that I am that Layla Caraway gal's dad continues to spin out of control. This morning someone calling him or herself Anonymous made the following comment....

Definitely strong physical resemblances between you and the Caraway gal.

Early happy Father's Day, Durango.

I really don't see the resemblance at all. It's very perplexing.

Hiking The Tandy Hills On Easter While CatsPaw Explains Today's Holiday To Me

I had not been on the Tandy Hills in hike mode for a few days. As you can see via the Easter noon view from the top of Mount Tandy, looking west at the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth, Easter is a bit overcast in North Texas.

I was erroneous when I said earlier today than no predicted t-storms had arrived yesterday. I was later informed that thunder was clapping quite loud around 10pm and then again in the wee hours of Easter.

On the way to the Tandy Hills I saw a lot of blown down tree limbs.

Apparently I slept through a couple storms. I was exhausted from being worked like a pack mule at the Prairie Fest. And on top of that that Caraway lady was plying me with some sort of intoxicating beverage from Rahr's Brewery that seemed to have the same effect on me as a sleeping pill.

This morning, in addition to saying there'd been no t-storms I asked if anyone knew why Easter was called Easter.

CatsPaw kindly alleviated me of my ignorance, telling me...

Again, we have a mixing of Pagan and Christian beliefs and practices ... the name was probably taken from the spring fertility goddess Oestre who brought the end of winter and new life at the vernal equinox.

Spring. Fertility. Now we know why those "umbrellas" were at Prairie Fest! (Interestingly, "oestre" is also the root word for estrogen, the female hormone.) Eggs, bunnies ... umm hmm.

Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs after the spring equinox which is why the date changes each year. 

It took me a second or two to get CatsPaw's "umbrellas at the Praire Fest" reference from an earlier blogging.

I wonder if I am going to be conscious and sober for today's predicted t-storm?

If lightning bolts aren't striking I think I will go swimming again, after lunch. This morning's swim was quite salubrious. I won't be working on my tan this afternoon though, unless the wind blows the cloud cover away.

It Is Easter Morning In Texas With Wildfire Smoke And Ham & Eggs

Today is the last Sunday of April. It is also Easter. The last time I went to an Easter Sunrise church deal it was in the 30 degree range and foggy.

That 30 degree Easter Sunrise was at Roozengarde in the Skagit Valley, surrounded by thousands of tulips.

I don't think there is anywhere in Texas that I can go and be surrounded by thousands of tulips.

Easter Sunrise in Texas this morning was nowhere near freezing. More like 40 degrees above freezing.

I have my windows open. The smoky smell of wildfires is definitely in the air.

I don't believe yesterday's predicted t-storm arrived in my location. If it did, I missed it. Why are all these predicted t-storms not materializing?

Because it is Easter I am having ham and eggs for breakfast. But, before the ham and eggs, I am going swimming.

I forgot to ask. Does anyone know why Easter is called Easter? I know why Christmas is called Christmas, sort of, but Easter is a mystery to me.

A Fun Day At The Prairie Fest With Granny Grassroots, My Daughter Layla & Rahr's Brewery Product

As of about 6:30 it seems like Mother Nature has once again spared the Fort Worth Tandy Hills Prairie Fest from a weather disaster.

It was hot. It was humid. It was windy. But no afternoon t-storm arrived.

However, it does appear, as of 6:30, some weather action may be on its way.

This was the biggest Prairie Fest yet. I was very entertained, sitting in the TRIP booth, watching the passing humanity and trying to find Cathy Hirt.

Dozens of people were sporting Cathy Hirt I.D. tags. So, I'd politely inquire if that name tag wearer was Cathy Hirt. None were.

One or two people seemed to know who Durango Jones was, but other than that it was an afternoon of total anonymity for me.

I met a Texas Livewire who calls herself Granny Grassroots. That is Granny G with the black TRIP t-shirt in the picture. Granny Grassroots was with us in the TRIP booth for much of the afternoon.

Texas breeds some great characters. Granny Grassroots would be one.

Granny Grassroots has a website.

One of my favorite moments of the day came when some guy asked if I was Miss Layla Caraway's dad. I said I was and from that point on we had ourselves a few minutes of amusing entertainment.

Earlier in the day another dialogue had me either married to or marrying Ms. Caraway. Something about divorces was said. It was way too much dialogue coming at me way too fast to remember it all.

And then there were the Elsie Hotpepper inquiries. Why is there so much interest in Elsie Hotpepper? It is very perplexing.

Yes.

Elsie Hotpepper was at the Prairie Fest. I said hello as Elsie passed by on her way to the Rahr's Brewery Exhibit.

Can you find Elsie Hotpepper in the picture?

Speaking of Rahr's Brewery. At some point in the afternoon a pair of guys showed up slurping on Rahr's Brewery product. I said something to one of the guys that caused him to spill his Rahr's Brewery product. This then somehow led to him giving me and Ms. Caraway coupons for some Rahr's Brewery product.

All in all, I had myself my funnest time yet at the Prairie Fest.

Til the end.

When the White Knight and Robin showed up for the dismantling part of the day. That turned in to a bit of a boondoggle. A boondoggle that I still managed to somehow find somewhat amusing and entertaining.

Come the 2012 Prairie Fest, I am going to take a much more active role in any part I am part of. No more black t-shirts is all I can say about that. And no duct tape. Or leaky pens. Or shortage of printed material.

I just got a call from Elsie Hotpepper, asking if I want to go saloon hopping. No. I am tired. I am in for the night.

I Think Jim Lane May Be Fort Worth's Best Hope For A New Goofy Mayor

For the second Saturday in a row I opened my mailbox to find a political campaign mailing from Jim Lane that is too big for my scanner, so I can only scan part of the political campaign mailing.

Jim Lane is one of the dozens of candidates hoping to replace Fort Worth's goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief.

After years of living under the goofy Moncrief regime I have grown to become a big fan of having a goofy mayor.

Of those running, near as I can tell, Jim Lane shows the best potential to give Fort Worth a new goofy mayor.

My scanner cut off the bottom of Jim Lane's latest ad.

At the bottom it says "A Mayor who will fight for all Fort Worth families!"

And then, under that inspiring slogan...

"It takes a fighter to know a fighter...that's why I'm supporting Jim for Mayor." Signed by "Paulie Ayala, Former Two-Time World Champion."

Now that explains why Jim Lane is in a goofy pugilist pose in the picture.

Since I blogged about last week's Jim Lane mailer I've learned I was erroneous in assuming Jim Lane is the Fort Worth Ruling Oligarchy's pick for mayor, thus guaranteeing him a win with 70% of the 6% of Fort Worth voters who bother to vote.

Apparently the Fort Worth Ruling Oligarchy's pick for mayor is Tarrant County tax assessor and collector, Betsy Price.

I have received nothing in the mail from Betsy Price. But if I remember right, she is following me on Twitter. That is slightly goofy, following me on Twitter.

But, I'd like to know both Betsy Price's and Jim Lane's positions on shooting guns in downtown Fort Worth, dyeing the Trinity River unnatural colors and rappelling down Fort Worth skyscrapers.

Just looking at pictures of him I get the idea Jim Lane has a high goofiness quotient. I have read that he is quite amusing with an actual sense of humor. I don't think Fort Worth's current goofy mayor, Mike Moncrief has an actual sense of humor, but he makes up for that by being accidentally amusing, like when he rappelled upside down a Fort Worth skyscraper.