The Bluest Skies I've Ever Seen Looking Out My Fort Worth Window

We have had, yet again, a return to blue sky here in my zone of North Texas called Fort Worth.

All winter long, for the most part, when I'd check the temperature here in the morning and then go up to Washington, via the Seattle P-I, more often than not there would be at least a 20 degree difference, with it being warmer in the Pacific Northwest than Texas.

The past few days the temperature difference has reversed back to the norm, as in this morning, when I first checked the temperature here, it was 53, while it was freezing, at 31, in Seattle.

Today it is scheduled to get to 75 here. Yesterday rain kept me from my usual aerobic escape. Today I plan to go to Veterans Park in Arlington and then to Chinatown.

I am still being perplexed by mysterious weight gain. This morning I hit a new high of 210. I am now closing in on my all time high of 217, reached in February of 2004 during a 10 day stay in Tacoma which including a 10 hours layover in Phoenix, getting drug McDonald's for All You Can Eat, then to a Happy Hour with way too many appetizers and then on to an In & Out Burger joint where I had 2 In & Out burgers. By the time I got on the plane I felt was going to pop open.

This morning WeatherBug started chirping with a National Weather Service warning that there is a potential for wildfires. Huh? It rained a lot yesterday, downpouring at times.

The picture on the right is the same view as this morning's, looking out from my patio balcony. Only yesterday's view was looking through a very heavy downpour.

I must maximize my enjoyment of today's blue sky and balmy temperature. Tomorrow we return to rain and thunderstorms.

Let Judge Sprinkle Know What You Think About Fort Worth's Cartergate Scandal

In the picture you are looking at Steve Doeung heading up the Tarrant County Courthouse steps during the CARO Rally last Thursday.

Yesterday, or the day before yesterday, I opined that I thought Chesapeake Energy should be made to buy, outright, at fair market value, plus a bit extra, any property under which Chesapeake wants to run a non-odorized natural gas pipeline.

Anonymous on Scott Avenue, with Scott Avenue being the street due north of Carter Avenue, commented about how I thought Eminent Domain should be properly abused on Carter Avenue.

Anonymous Scott Avenue's comment was so good and had such a good suggestion I figured the comment needed to be blogged about. And so I am.

Below is what Anonymous Scott Avenue had to say....

As a homeowner on Scott Avenue, I presented that option at City Council when this all first started going down.

The problem is that Carter Avenue is not the only street affected. This pipeline will endanger people for a large area including at least three city blocks on either side of the pipeline.

This is not an option. Chesapeake does not want the public relations nightmare of the nightly news showing homes being torn down to build their pipeline.

A more realistic approach at this point is to begin an email campaign to Judge Sprinkle at vgsprinkle@tarrantcounty.com to respectfully ask him not to sign the Judgment.

Steve's easement is no longer "necessary" for this pipeline and that would be the only reason for signing this Judgment. CHK says it is only needed for a "backup" now. We can only win this battle in the court of public opinion. It is time for the Judge to hear from us directly, in a respectful manner, on this issue.

Cartergate, The Star-Telegram & Other Fort Worth Texas Scandals

A few days ago I got an email with the subject line "Mike Lee responds."

Mike Lee is a Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporter who had written the article in the Star-Telegram about last Thursday's Steve Doeung date in Tarrant County Court.

Many of the people who eye witnessed the courtroom proceedings were appalled at the disconnect between what they eye witnessed and what they read in Fort Worth's sadly corrupted main newspaper of record.

The emailer to whom Mike Lee responded had asked why there was no reference to the CARO rally in the article.

Mike Lee responded with...

"I put that in the story, and it evidently got cut out to make the story fit on the page. There are 3-4 paragraphs missing from the end, too."

The emailer, whom Mike Lee responded to, then opined...

"IMO it is wrong to attack a reporter like Mike Lee who works hard to understand and communicate the issues. He just works at the ST and has no control over what the publisher decides to print. Our slings and arrows should be pointed at the publisher not the messenger."

Now, maybe I am way off base here, but if a reporter does not accurately report something I'm not quite seeing how it is that that reporter works hard to understand and communicate the issues. Key elements of the story were cut so it could fit on the page?

After I listed several points that were missing from Mike Lee's article I described him as "The Fort Worth Star-Telegram pseudo reporter/Chesapeake Energy shill, Mike Lee."

I called him a Chesapeake shill because, though Mike Lee left out many key points, he did manage to include and his publisher deemed needed to be included, unlike the CARO rally info, the following 2 paragraphs...

"Under Texas law, companies that build natural-gas gathering lines have the same eminent-domain power as more traditional utility companies such as Atmos Energy. And they have more freedom than many government agencies in condemnation cases. For instance, cities have to hire two independent appraisers when condemning a piece of land for a road, and those appraisals must be shared with the landowner. Gas pipeline companies don't have to do that.

Technically, Chesapeake could have started building the pipeline in 2008, after a preliminary hearing in front of a group of court-appointed commissioners. Chesapeake's attorneys, John Baker and Michael Ma, appeared to be waiting for Sprinkle to ratify that award before proceeding."

Now, maybe a fair-minded person might not consider the above to be shill type propaganda. I thought that the point being made in the above 2 paragraphs seemed ridiculous. But what do I know about the law? Especially the way it's practiced in Texas.

And then on the blogging about my disdain for the way the Star-Telegram covered this story I got a comment verbalizing better than I the absurdity of the 2 paragraphs above that I had characterized as Chesapeake propaganda.

Here is what Anonymous had to say....

"I was there in the courtroom and Steve respectfully but clearly corrected the judge in several instances, as to the facts and the law itself. The most compelling one was when the judge claimed that CHK could have shoved the pipelines down under his little front yard since Nov. 2008, and which Steve quickly retorted that "you honor, if this giant billion dollar corporation could have done that, they would have so by now--it's certainly not out of their generous heart or humanity"--as he pointed to the state seal that's about 16-inches in diameter to let all present know how massive the pipelines really are. Common sense would indicate that the judge was trying to "spin" the facts to make CHK look good--OR ELSE WHY ARE THEY STILL TRYING TO GET THE LEGAL PAPERS TO TAKE HIS PROPERTY? Even I can answer that question: because they got caught by Steve lying, cheating, and deceiving and thus could not legally take possession and would have exposed CHK to a massive fiasco for trespassing if they were to run their pipelines under Steve's private property."

The emailer, who asked Mike Lee about the CARO Rally omission, opined that slings and arrows should be slung and shot at the publisher of the Star-Telegram, not at that newspaper's reporters. I don't agree, but that's okay.

I have done plenty of poking at the Star-Telegram. I believe the Star-Telegram's editorial slant is way off. It's perfectly normal and legit for a newspaper to have a slant to its point of view, leaning left, leaning right, leaning liberal, leaning conservative. Most try to be fair and balanced, but that is a tricky act. I guess.

Where the Star-Telegram goes askew is in its over the top, irresponsible, at times, civic boosterism, to the point of completely misrepresenting the facts. Have you visited the Sante Fe Market lately to get a taste of being at Seattle's Pike Place Market?

And then there's the way the Star-Telegram acts like a mouthpiece for the Ruling Oligarchy and the Good Ol' Boy Network that seems to run this company town.

Here is one example that shines a really bright spotlight on the fact that the Star-Telegram is not a real newspaper, not in the manner of the real newspapers that serve most American communities. The City of Fort Worth staged a raid on a Fort Worth Citizen after he refused to roll over and play dead for Chesapeake Energy.

The clearly inappropriate raid was staged to intimidate this citizen. If the Star-Telegram were a real newspaper they would have been all over this like Woodward and Bernstein being all over a minor break-in.

As in, who ordered the raid? Why was the raid ordered? Who knew about the raid being ordered?

Another way to look at how bad this newspaper is. Had the Star-Telegram been Washington, D.C.'s newspaper of record, Richard Nixon would have successfully completed his second term and the word "Watergate" would not have entered the world's vernacular.

Tornado Season Texas Twister Time & Oklahoma Tarantulas, Snakes and Tornadoes

Speaking of Twisters, I just got a blog comment from Twister raising the Karen Silkwood specter. Last night I got emails raising the same concern. What I'm concerned about is what in the world happened to this zone of America that makes some people so wary?

Speaking again of Twisters, this morning, for reasons I've now forgotten, in an email reply to the Wild Woman of Woolley, aka Miss CVB, I mentioned a tornado that came down the driveway of a mutual classmate of ours, who had moved to Ada, Oklahoma.

This mutual classmate has an irrational fear of her name being on the Internet, so, for anonymity's sake, I will call her Miss CMP.

Miss CMP and family moved to Oklahoma about a month before I moved to Texas. I've known Miss CMP since early grade school and she's always been one of my favorite people. Visits up to Ada were quite fun. Miss CMP has since abandoned me and has moved back to where I came from, the Skagit Valley of Washington.

When Miss CMP moved to Oklahoma she had 3 major concerns, Spiders, Snakes and Tornadoes.

The first time I visited up in Ada, I drove us all over the place, with Miss CMP verbalizing her tornado worries. They'd been up to Oklahoma City to see the horrible damage done by a monster twister. I pooh poohed Miss CMP's concerns, asking do you see any tornado damage as we drive around? She proceeded to point out tornado shelters.

Switching from twisters to spiders. Miss CMP was not long in to being an Okie when one night she felt something moving on her bed. The lights came on. It was a huge tarantula. It remains a mystery, to this day, how this happened. As in there are not a lot of tarantulas in the Ada, OK zone. I've only seen 1 in my zone of Texas.

Switching from spiders to snakes. At one point Miss CMP and family discovered they were living with snakes in the attic. This was discovered, when one day, it was difficult to open the exit screen door. Because a huge snake was snuggled up against it. The snake slithered away, and to the family's horror, it slithered up a pole and squeezed into their attic. Later it was discovered the attic was home to a lot of snakes. This became a serious issue with air conditioner repair guys who needed to be in the attic.

Back to twisters. So, so far, 2 out of 3 of Miss CMP's worst fears have come to be reality. And then, one fine Oklahoma day the sky turned frightful, the wind began to blow. tornado sirens began to wail. Miss CMP and family stood outside watching the storm.

And then a tornado came into view, heading towards their house, heading straight up their driveway. The formerly scared of tornadoes, Miss CMP, told her daughter to get in the closet, but Miss CMP stayed outside taking pictures.

I was amazed when I heard this and saw the pictures.

You can see Miss CMP's Oklahoma Tornado here.

My mom and dad want to come visit Texas again. My mom also has an irrational fear of tornadoes. This will cause the visit to take place after tornado season. I have sort of dropped hints that tornadoes can happen, here, any time of the year.

DISH Mayor Calvin Tillman & Texas Sharon Mapping Methane In The Barnett Shale Unmarked Natural Gas Spy Van

Texas Sharon was unable to attend Thursday's Carter Avenue Rescue Operation Rally in downtown Fort Worth due to having important undercover work to do.

Texas Sharon explained what she was up to and profusely apologized for her absence, yesterday, on her blog and in emails. No need to apologize, her presence was felt, even if she wasn't there.

Texas Sharon, and cohorts, have been surreptitiously spying on various Barnett Shale natural gas drilling operations and using high-tech equipment inside an unmarked Spy Van, to conduct their surveillance.

The photo above is a partial look at the Spy Van. As you can see, DISH Mayor Calvin Tillman is part of the operation. Mayor Tillman took a break from the surveillance to attend the CARO Rally, leaving Texas Sharon behind to help with the monitoring. I believe that is Texas Sharon you can see behind the window in the passenger seat of the Spy Van.

Below is a YouTube video showing the Methane Mapping Spy Van in action....

This To Shall Pass From Alma In Port Aransas

Winter Is Quickly Melting Away From North Texas While Tandy Falls Roars

It is 64 right now. It was almost 60 when I went swimming, real early, this morning. It is supposed to get to 75 tomorrow. I have decided Winter is officially over in North Texas.

For several days in a row now, temperature world is back making sense, with the temperature here in Fort Worth being warmer than Seattle, rather than the unseemly reverse.

I felt so good after hiking the Tandy Hills, yesterday, after such a long absence, I returned today.

A pleasant Saturday and I had the hills to myself. What is wrong with these people in Fort Worth? If I were up in Seattle, today, and went to any of the many parks with hiking, biking and roller blading, there would be large numbers of people hiking, biking and roller blading.

Seattle has nothing remotely like the Tandy Hills near its downtown core. Okay, it is way more hilly there, so you could have yourself a good hike on sidewalks. But there is no Tandy Hills type natural area close to the downtown area.

If there was a Tandy Hills type natural area near downtown Seattle, trust me, the hills today would be alive with the sound of people.

Maybe I need to start a Saturday Hiking Group. Maybe it is fear of the unknown that keeps the locals, for the most part, off Fort Worth's Best Place to Stand.

The lack of hikers had me pondering today, whilst hiking, wondering why? The why of why don't people here, for the most part, enjoy the great outdoors? This is a zone where only 6% of the voters bother to vote for their city government leaders. I suspect the % who have ever stood on Fort Worth's Best Place to Stand is a minuscule fraction of 1%.

That is just sad. Real sad.

Anyway, that is Tandy Falls in the picture at the top. I'd not seen Tandy Falls in a long time. As I neared Tandy Falls I started to hear the roar of the Tandy River going over Tandy Cliff. I'd never seen such a large volume of water plummeting over Tandy Cliff. The Tandy River must still be being fed by snow melt.

In the second picture you can see downtown Fort Worth a couple miles to the west, but you see no natives in the native habitat.