Paloma sells leases to Chesapeake, will lease for Chesapeake

Paloma Resources, a relatively new entrant to the Barnett Shale that has been among the most aggressive bidders for leases in Tarrant County, has agreed to sell mineral rights leases covering about 8,600 net acres in Tarrant and Johnson counties to Chesapeake Energy, one of the busiest drillers in the vast natural gas field.

Net acreage refers to the amount of land one party has under lease after accounting for other parties’ ownership stakes in the same property. Terms were not disclosed.

Paloma, based in Houston, also entered into a land services agreement that calls for it to lease mineral rights on behalf of Chesapeake in certain areas of Tarrant County, the companies reported.

Chesapeake already has similar agreements covering various parts of the county with Dale Property Services, by far the most active leasing company locally, as well as Four Sevens Oil Co. and Western Production Co.

Chesapeake, based in Oklahoma City, said it has more than 1,000 landmen and lease brokers working in Tarrant, Johnson and western Dallas counties on its behalf.

-- Jim Fuquay

 Since I messed up the day I went to WalMart & bought frozen food, I had to drive all the way back into town the next day to do my laundry. First time in 40 years I haven't had my own washer/dryer and I hate poking money into those machines.  Still there's a new one behind HEB with all new machines, so I'm at least thankful for that.

Had to make two trips to get the laundry, detergent, bleach & Spray & Wash to the car & again into the Laundry.  Also had to figure out how things worked because absolutely everyone packed into that place were Spanish.  Finally got 2 loads started ($1.00 each for the 10 lb. loads), then found a fairly so-so empty chair to sit in while I waited.  The chair was one of those canvas lawn chairs that sink down low, but much easier on my back than the hard ones.

It appeared everyone in there brought there kids with them, but there was a play room for them, separated by a glass wall so parents could keep there eyes on them.  Unfortunately, none of the kids enjoyed the play room from the amount of loud screaming & crying I could hear.  I'm feel certain the shoppers at H E B could hear them too. Small comfort.  I never saw a parent approach the playroom, but every child in there came crying and running to mom or dad when something went wrong.  And each child wore flip-flops.  Remember how those sound when you run in them? As the kids only instruction from the parent was to get back into the playroom and because children don't want to go, they'd make an entire round of the laundry, running in those flip flops, stopping to scream at whichever other kid was following them and eventually make their way back to the playroom before yet another screaming, snot nosed kid came running & screaming out.

Finally a couple with a baby & a little boy around age 2, sat down a few chairs from me.  The little boy had a pacifier sucker stuck in his mouth, which he apparently removed enough to have sticky stuff all over his clothes & hands.  I made the mistake of making eye contact with the little fellow and suddenly found myself his new best friend.  We waddled over to me, waving the sucker in my direction, squealed loudly and asked me something in Spanish.  I shrugged at him & replied, "I don't know" which didn't satisfy him a second. He kept rattling things at me, all the while waving his sucker & touching my knees which were beginning to appear read and sticky.  His parents weren't paying a minute of attention to the kid. Mom was loading clothes into 4 washers & Dad was walking the baby and jiggling him up & down in an attempt to make him stop crying.  The jiggling seemed to make the crying louder.

Meanwhile, my little Spanish speaking friend was still hanging onto me, my chair, my purse......anything his sticky little hands could reach.  He obviously was asking me questions from sound of his voice and his look of expectation when he stopped talking.  Finally I told him "no espanol" which confused the heck out of him and caused him to stumble over to his mom, who by this time was on the cell phone, so here he'd come back to question me some more. Stuck to me like glue. Loudly, he proclaimed something that sounded like "pisa del gotto" which apparently means "wet floor" because he looked down and started crying, I looked down and saw a puddle all around his little feet.  My washers stopped, giving me an excuse to get up out of my chair.  Any idea how many tries to get my big rear out of one of those canvas, sinking to the floor chairs?  Answer: 3

I took my clothes to the dryers, hoping to hide from my new little sticky, wet friend, but alas, he found me. By this time I'm ready to clobber whichever of his parents crosses my field of vision first.  Now the book I was reading had red sticky little spots on it and the kid's going for my water bottle.  I love small children and babies, but I need to know how one says, "Get lost, go away, I'm really a monster" in Spanish.

As I drove out of the parking lot I happened to glance up at the sign in front of the laundry.  It proclaimed "PlayTime Laundry" in big letters.  I had to laugh at myself all the way home!

Last week, on Thursday, I needed to buy some groceries and add a basket full of laundry to do.  I don't like doing laundry now that my washer/dryer are in storage, but then I don't like going to Wal-Mart either. I couldn't put either off any longer, I decided. So in the hot Texas sun I pulled my car from the carport around to my front porch where I loaded the dirty clothes, the detergent, the bleach, the Spray & Wash, my purse, and my grocery list.  I headed the back way into Cleburne and this time managed finally to do it without my map.

I try my best to get everything done in one trip to town, just to save on gas.  When I go the back way I come to Wal-Mart first, so I pulled in, circled the lot looking for a handicap spot, circled some more and some more (you know what it's like & I'm usually mad by the time I finally get parked!).  Once I was inside the store I had to sit & wait on an electric cart because there's no way I can walk up and down all those isles anymore.  Finally got one and then began the arduous process of weaving in and out of all those people with their screaming, running, bawling little children.  One in particular that seemed to follow right along behind me and you have no idea how bad I wanted to get hold of him for about 10 minutes. Why is it that people only run into other people they know in Wal-Mart? They stop in the middle of an aisle, chattering away like it's a family reunion, there were people on the other side of them wanting to get by and they were oblivious to our "excuse me's" so I finally had to use my little horn.  You have NO idea how much I don't like going to Wal-Mart.  I'd rather be somewhere scrubbing toilets.  Honest!

Picked up prescriptions at the Pharmacy counter, there was no line this time so I was relatively happy.  Drove the cart out to my car & put my groceries in the back end.  By now I'm "glowing" profusely (since we ladies don't sweat), thirsty and glad to be done with that.  I headed out of the lot behind Grandpa who had to drive slow enough to see all the outdoor plans, but I finally made it to Henderson St., turning in the direction of the laundry.  After sitting through one verrrry long red light, it dawned on me that I couldn't go to the laundry because I had frozen tv dinners in the back. Didn't know whether to laugh because I got to avoid the laundry, or cry because it meant I'd have to come back into town tomorrow!

Image:   080412-N-5330L-533.jpg

Description:   Billy Ray Cyrus, the host of NBC's "Nashville Star," signs an autograph aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7).

080412-N-5330L-533 NORFOLK, Va. (April 12, 2008) Billy Ray Cyrus, the host of NBC's "Nashville Star," signs an autograph aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) for Aviation Structural Mechanic (Equipment) 1st Class Gary Buckaloo, a Sailor who is auditioning for the new season. Footage from film casting aboard Iwo Jima will air during the "Nashville Star" opening episode. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matthew D. Leistikow (Released)

I just know all of you are glad to find that out so you won't miss a single thing I have to say!  Hey, this beats sitting on the porch conversing with the mice, rats, snakes, scorpions, yellowjackets & jackrabbits all day, trust me!  LOL

Seems it's easier to want to change one's outlook than to actually stick with it.  I should be used to that by now, but I'm still bad about saying or "typing" things & sending them before I really stop and think.  Someone sent me an email the other night that was very friendly and positive, yet that person made the mistake of asking me how I am.  Had a bad day, so I told the person how I really am.

Right after I sent it...immediately, in fact...I was reminded that I'm supposed to be working on keeping my attitude "positive" and "calling into being things that are not."  I thought I was doing well at that.  Now I see it's still a struggle with me. 

My pessimistic attitude has been with me since I was young.  My motto was "prepare for the worst, then you won't be disappointed."  I don't know what caused me to adopt that attitude, a shrink (if I could afford one) would no doubt have a field day exploring my mind.  But several months ago I prayed really hard that God would help me conquer my pessimism.  He's been doing His part.  I keep slipping. Don't we all? Proves Christians are not perfect, just forgiven.

On a positive note, I had introduced you to my "home" the other day (at great length, I'm ashamed to say - but I never did know when to shut up!).  I forgot to mention one thing.  When I first peeked into this place to see if I could live here, I was dismayed because it was so dirty, full of dead bugs & junk and a lot smaller than I expected.  But at the time I was just so thankful God had provided me with a roof over my head that I stayed optimistic about the whole thing.  I'd been blessed and I knew it.

It was later, after I settled in that I first noticed that in one corner, up close to the ceiling is my fuse box (don't we always want to hide those??) and over it a thick cable came into the room, looped over the corner and went out another hole.  Thing is that whoever did it apparently punched a hole the size of his fist where the cable goes back outside.  So they fixed that by stuffing the hole with a bunch of white trash bags, then cut them off so there's just a wad of plastic up there about the size of a grapefruit. The wad is no longer very "white" but because of the dust that leaks in (and there's a bunch of that) and my nicotine use, it's become white & beige.  The more I looked at it in the following weeks anyone who knows me well would expect some derogatory remark about the mess.  Yet I found myself thinking....."If I had a ladder, I'd climb up there, paint that cable green & that wad of plastic deep rose and it would look like I had part of a flower garden coming through the cracks."  Now every time I glance at it I have to laugh because I now "see" it was a flower instead of the mess it really is.  I wonder if that's anything like calling into being things that are not?!

The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.
Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today.

Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.

The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him.

I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!