Chesapeake Energy Has Closed The Road Where My Abode Is Located

Chesapeake Pipeline Over Bridgewood Drive

Yesterday when I left my abode and headed west on Boca Raton Boulevard I was confused by signs that were indicating that Boca Raton was a detour for the street I live on, that being Bridgewood Drive.

When I left my abode today, to head to the Tandy Hills, I clearly saw what was causing the detour.

Chesapeake Energy has closed a Fort Worth city street so a pipeline crossing can be installed, so that water can be pumped to frack the Barnett Shale Natural Gas Well that Chesapeake poked, last summer, a few hundred feet from my abode.

Three lines of pipe are snaking their way up from the Trinity River, across Randol Mill Road, then across Bridgewood Drive and then along the property line between Havenwood Apartments and a storage unit complex.

How does Chesapeake Energy acquire the right of ways to run these pipelines on what would seem to be private property?

How does Chesapeake Energy acquire the right to close a road, forcing drivers to burn extra gas to get around the detour?

Is there a Chesapeake Energy toll-free line I can call to request compensation for the extra gas and time Chesapeake caused me to burn up today?

Today I also noted a messy Gas Driller Operation south of the Trinity River, east of Beach Street. There was some pipeline preparation in evidence in this location a few weeks ago.

I do not know if this Beach Street activity is courtesy of Chesapeake Energy. A section of earth has been scraped off, maybe 15 feet wide, running as far as I could see, maybe to make it level to lay water sucking pipeline, maybe to put in a road. I have no idea.

All I know is this also had me wondering how the right of way is acquired to alter what I assume is public land between the river and the freeway.

The Tandy Bamboo Teepee Has Been Resurrected Just In Time For Saturday's Manly Men Wild Women Hike On The Tandy Hills

The Tandy Bamboo Teepee Stands Again

In a resurrection from the dead almost as amazing as one alleged to have happened a couple thousand years ago, today I found the Tandy Bamboo Teepee back standing tall, its triangulating poles piercing the cloudy blue sky.

On New Years Day I was shocked to find the Tandy Bamboo Teepee laying flat on the ground, the victim of what I assumed was a vandalous assault, but which others attributed to an alleged wind.

I do not know if the Tandy Bamboo Teepee was resurrected to serve some purpose for this coming Saturday's 3rd Annual Manly Men Wild Women Hike, led by William Wallace and Wonder Woman.

Speaking of Wonder Women. If this is the upcoming 3rd Annual Manly Men Wild Women Hike on the Tandy Hills, that means it is 2 years since the Queen of Wink and Princess Annie drove to Fort Worth to do the hike, all the way from their realm in West Texas.

How can that already be 2 years ago? I remember that day, fairly well. The hike started off easy, but I soon found myself lamenting what terrible shape I was in, as I found myself having trouble keeping up the pace set by the HUGE throng of Manly Men and Wild Women marching across the prairie.

A Very Rare Human Sighting On The Tandy Hills

Speaking of throngs of humans traipsing across the Tandy Hills prairie. Today I had a rare human sighting.

I was looking through my camera's view finder to find a human waving at me. That is the waving human at the center of the photo. I did not have a close up encounter with this human, the photo was as close as I got.

I think I may be in better shape, now, than I was the first time I joined the Manly Men and Wild Women. I am hoping to fare better this coming Saturday than I did 2 years ago.

I am almost 100% certain neither the Queen of Wink or Princess Annie will be in Fort Worth on Saturday. There have been some troubles that keep the Queen of Wink very close to her realm and her subjects, who have become a bit rebellious under her benevolent, albeit, autocratic rule.

The 4th Morning Of 2012 Dawns Almost Free Of Any Pain In Texas

Stepping outside to view the outer world on the 4th morning of the New Year it appears I am able to look at the pool below without having to look through the bars of my patio prison cell.

I think I may have been metaphorically liberated.

Every morning of the New Year I have greeted the new day in rather debilitating pain.

Yesterday morning I thought the pain had alleviated, but after sitting in my computer chair for a short while, when I got back vertical, I could do so only painfully.

This morning, so far, only a little residual aching remains. I'm hoping that remains the case.

Yesterday I resisted the urge to issue a BOLO for the missing Elsie Hotpepper. Miss Hotpepper has now established a pattern of going missing and then being found. So, I've learned not to be too concerned.

Well, this morning there was an email from Elsie Hotpepper with the short message being, "I have no food."

I suspect this may be a typo.

Seeing Grizzly Bears While Walking Around Fort Worth's Fosdic Lake In Oakland Lake Park

The start of a New Year always seems to bring out a lot of New Year's Resolution inspired newly resolved exercisers.

This increase in human activity has been noticed, this year, at every park I've visited since the start of the New Year, 3 days ago, except for the human-free Tandy Hills Natural Area.

Could it be Don Young's lurid tales of the Tandy Hills ghostly hauntings that scares people away?

I like how trees and bushes look after being stripped naked of their leaves. The photo of naked trees I took today, at Oakland Lake Park, where I went to walk around Fosdic Lake, looks, to me, like a bear standing up to confront a bigger bear.

I had a Grizzly Bear encounter years ago in the mountains east of Mount Baker in the Washington Cascades. I suspect that Grizzly Bear encounter imprinted deeply on my sub-conscious. Hence the absurdity of thinking a dead tree looks like a standing bear.

I learned this morning that former Fort Worth native, MLK, exiled, currently, in Tacoma, barely escaped being caught in that nightmare that happened in Mount Rainier National Park yesterday. As MLK was en route to Paradise, multiple emergency vehicles passed as MLK drove towards the park entry, which was closed, forcing a turn-a-round to seek snowy vistas elsewhere.

I hate it when a gunman, turned crazed by a crazy war, causes me to have to turn around to seek snowy vistas elsewhere. This does not happen to me in Texas. MLK should move back home where she will be safer.

The Paradise Center Has Given Me Something To Do On Friday Nights

Good news from Paradise Center this morning.

The good news from Paradise Center this morning finally gives me something fun to do on a Friday night.

Read the good news from Paradise Center on the Paradise Center blog.

See you there on Friday the 20th for the Grand Opening.

The 3rd Day Of 2012 Thinking About Paradise & Adolf Hitler

The view is steamy, via the pre-dawn view through my primary viewing portal on the world, on this 3rd day of the 1st month of the New Year of 2012.

I believe the steamy window has been steamed because of the temperature differential between the inner and outer world. I'm almost 100% certain that is the cause, due to it being only one degree above freezing in the outer world at my location on the planet.

My recovery from being in dire pain seems to be nearly complete. This pleases me due to the fact that I am not much of a fan of being in dire pain.

Changing the subject from being in dire pain to being in paradise.

I learned this morning that the Grand Opening of  Paradise Center Bingo is going to be Friday, January 20, 2012 at 7:00 pm.

I hope to be there for the Grand Opening where I hope to irritate the hell out of the difficult to irritate CatsPaw.

Paradise Center is now moved to their new permanent home at 8109 Camp Bowie West Boulevard.

Changing the subject from one paradise to another.

Yesterday's Mount Rainier nightmare, part of which had people stranded for their own protection at the Paradise Inn in Mount Rainier National Park, was yet one more instance where a veteran returned from the Iraq War, in dire need of getting mental health help, did not get the help he needed.

Which brought the Iraq War home to the park ranger, Margaret Anderson, mother of two, shot and killed by Benjamin Colton Barnes, the Iraq War Veteran found dead, facedown, in Paradise Creek.

I suppose the ultimate responsibility for the murder of Margaret Anderson goes to George W. Bush for instigating a war that did not need to happen. But that would be like blaming Adolf Hitler for all the people who died in World War II, which would be so unfair to do.

I am being ironic and sarcastic, to make it clear, for you literal types who need that pointed out to you.

Hunting For Endorphins With The Indian Ghosts Of Village Creek, Elsie Hotpepper, Turtles & Bamboo Teepee Mysteries

Looking At The Village Creek Bayou Through
A Slough Of Brambles

I needed to take my aching body on a gentle walk today. The place that seemed to best fit that need, that existed within a couple miles of my abode, was to go walk with the Indian Ghosts who haunt the Village Creek Natural Historical Area.

Just as I hit the period on the previous sentence, Elsie Hotpepper called.

Now, after 45 minutes of holding my phone to my left ear, with my left hand, that hand is aching.

In other words. I am a mess. A rapidly descending into elderly person type decrepitude mess.

The walk with the Indian Ghosts did make my pains a bit less painful for awhile.

Changing the subject from my abject pain to turtles.

It was not very warm when I walked today with the Indian Ghosts. As in less than 40 degrees. But, even though it was cold I saw a big turtle sunning itself on a big log in the Village Creek Bayou. I don't previously recollect seeing a turtle out in and exposed to such cold temperatures.

Changing the subject from Turtles to Teepees.

Yesterday I mentioned that the long-standing Tandy Bamboo Teepee had fallen sometime between when I saw it around one in the afternoon on Saturday and one in the afternoon on Sunday.

I opined that it appeared the Tandy Bamboo Teepee had fallen due to a vicious attack of sabotage or vandalism.

Then, after that, I heard from someone close to the Tandy Bamboo Teepee that, "The wind did it."

But, I don't see how it could be wind that killed the Tandy Bamboo Teepee. I don't recollect much wind blowing after I saw the Teepee still standing on Saturday. The Teepee stood at the base of a hill, protected from wind by a grove of trees.

Methinks it was not wind that did it. Maybe the culprit was caught on the Tandy Hills security cameras.

The Second Day Of 2012 Dawns Cold In Texas With Genetic Material From Christopher Columbus The Grand Marshall Of The Rose Bowl Parade

Looking at the outer world through the bars of my patio prison cell on this 2nd day of the New Year you can see I am up well before the sun on this first Monday of 2012.

What you can not tell, via the view through the bars of my patio prison cell, is that the outer world at my location on the planet is currently chilled to only 2 degrees above freezing.

For more reasons than the frigid temperatures, this morning will not see a repeat of the New Year's Day Polar Bear Plunge into that inviting pool of turquoise.

I am doing no plunging today of any sort. I am in full body ache mode. I think I may have strained myself on New Year's Eve. From the start of New Year's Day I was aching, but I thought it'd quickly get better, particularly after I flooded my bloodstream with pain reducing endorphins via aerobic stimulation on the Tandy Hills.

But the Tandy Hills hiking seemed only to exacerbate the aching. I think I may need a morphine drip. Can you get that at Wal-Mart?

Changing the subject from pain to football.

Didn't the Rose Bowl used to take place on New Year's Day, along with other bowls, like the Sugar and Orange and Cotton flavor of bowls?

I don't pay much attention to football, but I notice a football headline when I read the news. Like this morning,  I read the Dallas Cowboys lost once again, thus ending their playoff hopes, once again, for another season.

And I read the Rose Bowl Parade and football game are today, the day after New Year's Day. Some sort of "Occupy" action is being anticipated for the Rose Bowl Parade, along with righteously protesting Native Americans not liking the idea of having a descendant of Christopher Columbus being the Grand Marshall of the parade.

I've not watched the Rose Bowl Parade in a long long time. I probably won't be watching it today.

Friends Of The Tandy Hills Natural Area's Prairie Notes #61

That colorful sky in the picture is hovering above the Tandy Hills. This is one of the pretty pictures you can see via viewing the full version of Don Young's Prairie Notes #61.

I mentioned earlier today that in his latest Prairie Notes Don Young ponders why so few locals visit what may be the only thing in Fort Worth that no city of a similar size, in America, has.

I might even say it is the only thing in Fort Worth that could make any one in any other city in America even remotely Green with Envy.

Below is an excerpt from Prairie Notes #61......

"If Tandy Hills were in Austin it would be overrun with people hiking the hills seven days a week." 

I have often uttered that phrase with an edge of frustration when telling people about the wonders of Tandy Hills. When I reveal that I often have the place all to myself, I get a retort something like this: 

"Are you kidding me? A centrally located, 160-acre publicly-owned nature preserve with jaw-dropping plant diversity, gorgeous hilly terrain, open prairie and deep woods all in one place, in a city of nearly 800,000 people and nobody goes there???"

"No, not that many," I reply. The two cities are of similar size. But this is Fort Worth and for some reason people here are different, and not always for their own good. My pet theory is that, Fort Worthians have lost touch with the natural world because nearly all of it is gone. Very little of the beautiful landscape that inspired our ancestors to call Fort Worth, "Queen City of the Prairie" was protected. Tandy Hills survived only because of sheer luck.

By contrast, the Austin greenbelt is, indeed, overrun with people of all ages, blissfully celebrating their connection to the natural world seven days a week. There is a palpable sense of appreciation for nature and an urgency to protect it, expand it and preserve it. 

Fort Worthians can and must do better. I have devoted much of my time and energy in the past few years encouraging you to "Get out" to "Come on in" to "See deeper" at Tandy Hills for your own mental, physical and spiritual health and that of the City, itself. More people do so than ever before but the numbers are still pitifully low for a treasure like Tandy Hills.

Looking back over the past years' Prairie Notes, my overriding theme has been urging you to stay "tuned in." Tuned in to the subtle and not so subtle messages of nature and, especially our place in it. This has been the core message of these Notes from the first one in 2004 and it's even more important in 2012.

So what can be done? 

Staying connected to the natural world is essential to our well-being. The open prairie, deep woods, hilly terrain and spectacular diversity of Tandy Hills is a kind of microcosm of Spaceship Earth. It's an excellent place to find the solitude necessary to pick up the larger frequency to which we are all connected.

Stay tuned.

DY

On The Tandy Hills On The First Day Of The New Year Finding A Horse On A Pedestal A Fallen Teepee Plus A Couple Tires Being Friendly

The Tandy Trojan Horse With A Stunning View

It was back on the Tandy Hills again today for a cooler hike than yesterday's warmer hike.

I'd not seen the Tandy Trojan Horse Shrine for several weeks. The Tandy Trojan Horse has now been put on a pedestal, with a ribbon around its neck, tethering the horse to the pedestal.

I suppose the Tandy Trojan Horse has been put on a pedestal so it can enjoy a better view of the stunning skyline of beautiful downtown Fort Worth.

Speaking of Fort Worth and the Tandy Hills, when I returned to my abode, and checked email, I found incoming from Don Young. This is both the first day of a New Year and the first day of the first month of the New Year.

Since this is the first day of the month this means Don Young's Prairie Notes have arrived. More on that later, but among the things made mention of was how few people, in a town of nearly 800,000, enjoy the natural world via the Tandy Hills. Apparently Don Young has frequently opined that if the Tandy Hills were in Austin it would be over-run by people. I have often said the same thing, but have substituted Seattle for Austin.

The Tandy Bamboo Teepee Massacre

I was shocked, shocked I tell you, to come across an act of sabotage, or vandalism, or both, on the Tandy Hills today. Yesterday I walked through the open grove where the Tandy Bamboo Teepee had been installed by the Tandy Hills Guerrilla Artist. The Bamboo Teepee was standing tall yesterday, with 2 bamboo poles added to it since I'd previously seen it.

Sometime after one in the afternoon, of New Year's Eve, the Tandy Bamboo Teepee was destroyed, and is now laying on the ground.

There are few things sadder than a fallen teepee. It put me in mind of the Sand Creek Massacre.

A Tandy Tire Mounted On A Tandy Tire

I'd not walked the Tandy Highway for maybe a month. The last time I checked on the mysterious Tandy Tires  I found two of them had moved close to each other, about 30 feet apart.

Today I was sort of embarrassed to find that tire pair coupling, flagrante dilecto, with the female tire on top of the male, right out in the open on the highway.

I suspect the next time I walk the Tandy Highway I may find a litter of little baby tires.

I did not see a single human on the Tandy Hills today, unless I count myself as a human. I thought what with it being such a nice first day of the New Year that I would see some locals enjoying the natural outer world.