Fracking Zombies!

The kids and I LOVE zombie movies. In fact, we're such big fans of the zombies that we've prepared for the ultimate zombie invasion which we are certain will take place in 2012. So, you can imagine how excited we are about the upcoming movie..."Frac Attack: Dawn of the Watershed".

The movie is about a bunch of residents who drink water contaminated by hydraulic fracturing. These residents then turn into ZOMBIES! It's a great way to get those who couldn't care less to show some interest in the subject.

Of course, there are some people who aren't happy about the new movie, such as Diffendorf, group leader of the Kirkwood landowners. She thinks the movie is just weird and full of misinformation. But I'm thinking showing the REAL effects of drinking hydraulic fracturing fluid would be too awful to see.

Jackie Root, a lease specialist gave a big thumbs down for the movie, stating that she thought Ithacans had too much time on their hands. You want to know what this lease specialist suggested we should frack the wells with instead of water? Milk. Yep, she calls it, "lacto-frack." Hey Jackie...how does using milk instead of water keep the ground water from being contaminated? I give your "lacto-frack" a BIG THUMBS DOWN.

We're back from the holidays!


Gathering Line - a special pipeline that transports gas from the field to the main pipeline.

The Gathering Line is a round-up of oil & gas drilling news brought to you by National Alliance for Drilling Reform (NA4DR), a broad alliance of grassroots activists from states across the nation that are affected with drilling development.

Another Pipeline Rupture!!! We can be thankful that only the soil is contaminated! Read it at Cheap Tricks and Costly Truths.

Texas is the first state to conduct testing of citizens to determine if their health symptoms are caused from exposure to drilling toxins. But TXsharon is not sure this is such a great idea. Find out why on Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.

Gas leasing in upstate NY has become the number one land use issue. The access roads and pipeline right-of-ways that accompany development threaten to fragment the agricultural landscape. Read more at Marcellus Effect.

Citizens for Environmental Clean-Up reported on the TCEQ water discharge hearing.

Flower Mound amends Oil and Gas Ordinance to prohibit seismic testing on public roads and right-a-ways read about it at www.stopthedrilling.blogspot.com

There Are Other Worlds To Sing In

Today, the boys and I read a few more chapters in Beowulf. The part we read is one of my favorites. It's after the killing of Grendel and his mother, after the death of King Higlac and after Beowulf has ruled for fifty years over Geatland. It's the part of where the dragon is roused and waked to anger due to a stolen cup. The narrator explained the origin of the dragon's treasure, how it had been brought there by the last survivor of an extinct race of people. The description was melancholy as he described the swords that will no longer be polished, jeweled helmets that will crack because of no one to wear them, that his people have been swept away by greed and will live no more.

After the reading, I had the boys start on their essays for the credit exams which will be given next week. The topic: Explain how one experience can change a person's life in a positive way. They had no idea what that meant. For most of them, they hadn't experienced anything that has changed their life for the better. I decided that I'd share how some negative experiences changed things for me. After the sharing, some of them were able to start writing. There were still a few that were stumped.

I explained that I loved watching "It's A Wonderful Life" this time of the year. Most had never seen the movie, but I explained how a man felt as if he'd not made any impact for the good with any of the people in his life. He wished he'd never been born. His wish was granted and he was able to see how all those around him changed for the worse because he wasn't there. Some even died, because he wasn't there to save them.

One boy remarked, "Oh, I don't think I've made any type of good impression on anyone. I'm pretty sure that everyone would be better off without me around."

I responded, "I'm glad to have met you and I'm sure I'm not the only one." Never underestimate the impression you may make on others.

Checking On Friends After A Gas Line Fire Forces Evacuation

One of my best friends from junior high lives in Pearl, MS. I used to live in Wiggins, MS which isn't far from there. She and I attended Hattiesburg Prep School seventh grade together, and we have stayed in touch since then. Imagine my worry and concern when I find out that there was a pipe line fire in her area!

She told me that a contractor was putting down some fiber optic cable and in the process of digging hit the pipe line. What was truly disturbing was that the guy digging said that he'd been doing this kind of work for ten years, has hit pipe lines before, but has never had them explode! That means that this pipe line is extremely high pressured.

She and her family are okay and are now able to return home. She said they were a bit shaken, could hear the rumbling from where they live.

Why weren't the pipes marked? Before the digging ensued, the contractor called and was told exactly where to dig to avoid a pipeline. They're guessing that the mapping isn't accurate. Better put a stop to anymore digging before someone gets killed! View the video here.

Email Leaks, Pipeline Leaks And Faulty Parents

I don't even know why I read the news anymore, just take a look at what the morning brought me:

"Police have issued a murder arrest warrant for a California teen and charged his parents after charred and fragmented human remains, believed to be a missing youth, were found in their backyard."

I was horrified to view the video about the teen shooting and then finding out that the parents helped burn the body in a fire in the back yard. Same kinda thing happened in my little town of Wink a couple of years ago.

A teen girl was badly beaten and raped multiple times, while the parents were in the house. They helped cover up evidence and skew the events so as to protect their boy and the others involved. There's just no denying that these parents have a few screws loose.

Then there's the email leaks in the Brit Think Tank. Of course, it would happen right before the Climate Summit, coincidence? I think not. So there's all kinds of damage control being done. It appears that information about man made warming has been held back, not shared...something along those lines. But here's the bottom line:

"We need maximum transparency including about all the data but it's also very, very important to say one chain of e-mails, potentially misrepresented, does not undo the global science," Miliband said. "I think we want to send a very clear message to people about that."

Miliband is Britain's climate change secretary. Does the US have one of those? I also discovered that they call the global warming naysayers "flat Earth-ers"...that's funny.

Yeah, those two stories were disturbing, but the one sent to me via email was the worst. I'm not real concerned with debating global warming...yada yada yada...I'm more concerned that oil and gas companies act responsible and enact safety standards while extracting natural gas and oil and during the transport of it. This blatant lack of responsibility is what I and others want to see reformed. Some people yesterday, when they found about the email leaks, got all gloaty and wagged their fingers in my face. "Everything you blog about is a lie!" Really?


So, this pipeline over in Minnesota that ruptured, spilling 210,000 million gallons of crude oil is a figment of my imagination? And the contaminated soil doesn't exist? And this isn't the second pipeline rupture this month and this being only the fifth day of the month? Yeah, I lie a lot.

This has been one mighty cold wintry day. Went to bed with it snowing and woke up to it snowing. The temperature rose a bit above freezing, which melted and cleared the roads right nice like allowing me ample time to pick Annie up from school and get over to Kermit to take care of some banking and insurance.

I'm not sure what happened, but my auto insurance company sent me a cancellation notice, stating that I was several months behind on the payments. I know I mailed in the payments, have the bank statements proving two of the checks were cashed, but not applied to my insurance account, the third I suppose is missing. My agent said they were discontinuing business with Kemper and only doing new insurance with Farmers. After about an hour with my agent, we got my insurance woes taken care of.

I texted Annie, who decided to remain at home while I did these errands, to see if she needed anything. She responded that yes, she was hungry. I texted her back inquiring as to what type of food she wanted. She responded, "the kind you eat." What a smarty pants. After I picked her up the type of food that you can eat, I made my way home. Annie was hiding waiting to ambush me with several snowballs. She got my backside all wet.


Not to be outdone, I waited a bit and then went out and made myself a snowball, which I then pelted her with. You can see the cold white powder hiding within her brunette locks. We played this game for quite a while, until our hands were red and very cold.

Early Morning Snowing Shoobie Doobie Wah Wah

This is what I'm talking about! If I'm going to be cold and frigid, I better get some snow to make it worth it! School was delayed until 9AM which found Annie and myself outside romping and playing in the glorious white powder. Annie noticed that the snow is rather dry and thus can't be fashioned into a lively snowman.

We're not expected to warm up until Sunday and as of right now, 8:20AM, there's a slight powder drifting down, down, down. Road conditions are not the best, with some accidents already on the interstate headed West towards El Paso. Schools allow for bad weather days, but I've yet to see one that actually uses the bad weather day. Doesn't make much sense to me, sure seems like a bad weather day to me.


Well, I better make sure I've got wintry supplies. I might also have to make an emergency trip to the Ft Worth area, to assist Mr. Durango in a much needed Intervention of the mysterious drinking and blogging AA.

HCG Diet, Exercise and My Little Baby Momma

Thursday night diet update is being done on a really cold wintry night. I did manage to get to the gym and exercise for a couple of hours. I've noticed sort of a plateau over the past few weeks and decided to infuse some shocking cardio into my workout routine. I hit the treadmill hot and heavy with a 10 minute mile. If you haven't run a ten minute mile and think that's kind of slow, well you should try it before making a judgment like that.

Now that my heart was racing, and my skin was sweating I decided to pump a bit of iron. Worked the chest tonight, with all kinds of flys. Inverted, incline, flat on my back and cable. I wanted to keep my heart rate pumping so in between resting, I did weighted lunges and lift ups. That's what I call them, lift ups. You lay on your stomach, with your ankles under the leg pads and raise your upper torso. It's sort of an unnatural movement, but it's great for tightening your butt and strengthening your back.

I'm going to really focus on toning and tightening my thighs. I'm still not real happy with the way they look. I did take measurements tonight and here they are: Bust 36" Waist 26" Hips 36" Thighs 21" I'm not sure what a good thigh measurement should be, but I'm thinking mine are too hefty.

That little momma that's been working out with me has been doing a great job! She started with a weight of 204lbs and now she's down to 182! I think that's wonderful! She's getting so sassy now, I just love it.

I still would like to do a round of the HCG in January and really get after it. I plan on getting into a swim suit this summer and can't do it yet with my thighs. I might need to hire a thigh man.


Got a HCG Recipe for Fajitas/Carne Asada:
100 grams sliced beef or chicken cut into strips
Tomatoes
Sliced onion
1 clove garlic chopped
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs orange juice
1/8 tsp oregano
1/8 tsp chili powder
Pinch cayenne pepper
Marinate meat in lemon juice and spices. Barbeque for carne asada or cook strips in a frying pan with garlic and onion. Add chopped tomatoes during the last 5 minutes of cooking and enjoy with lettuce leaf mock tortillas and salsa.

The GASLAND A Documentary By Josh Fox

Who is Josh Fox? According to this little picture I found, he's an extremely rugged looking individual with a spark of charm that's surely to raise some eyebrows, especially mine! But I should dig a bit deeper and find out more about the guy, I mean, he's probably more than just a pretty face.

Come to find out, Josh is the founder and Artistic Director of the International WOW Company. WOW is a group of actors, dancers, musicians...just a whole bunch of creative geniuses! These artists get together, allowing their energy to create fantastical docudramas.

I've just received word that Josh's first ever feature documentary, GASLAND, will be premiering in January on the 21st through the 31st. GASLAND is a documentary about the horrors and dirty secrets of gas drilling. Josh painstakingly uncovers the truth in 24 American states. From water catching on fire, animal deaths, toxic waste, gas explosions, illnesses, cover ups and so much more, Josh blows the drill bit off the industry!

This documentary couldn't have come at a better time. There are tons of "environmentalists" pushing the Pickens' Plan, because they don't know any better. I can't wait to be able to see this little gem of a production!

Whose Agenda Shall It Be?

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I'm almost afraid to add this Texas OGAP widget to my blog. It may bring the worst out in one of my supposedly progressive friends. He's all up in arms that I'm trying to force government to force my agenda on people. And yet, in one of his blogs he readily admits that us Americans are so stupid that the only way we're going to fix anything is if the government yells FIRE!

He confuses me so much. Just the other day, he basically admitted that he was forced into marrying this German girl because the Republicans made it difficult to live with someone and...well, it gets all befuddled and confused and quite honestly I can't keep up. I'll admit, I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, I mean...I am a blonde.

What I'm really concerned with is this Pickens' Plan. It demands that the government fleet of vehicles be converted to Natural Gas while providing government welfare to support this endeavor. Doesn't seem quite fair to me, and where's my friend being all up in arms over this forced agenda? He hasn't said a word. Hmmm...beginning to wonder if this progressive friend of mine owns some natural gas stock.