The Spook Parade

These pictures were taken on Halloween 2008. I'm a little behind on blogging, okay?  First, here's some pictures from the late, lamented Room 19: 

Step 7: Adjust data to fit hypothesis.  Step 8:  Publish.

Spiders grow awfully big in West Texas.

Frankenstein is one of Liz's most popular decorations.

Anyway, this is how Kermit does trick-or-treating:  It's called the Spook Parade.  The downtown merchants give out candy.  The kids, young and old, file past in a somewhat orderly fashion.

Robert as Indiana Jones.  See shadow of photographer.

This cat does not look happy in this Winkler Post shot ...

(be sure to view all 71 of their photos)

Halloween is tough on pets.

The line begins about 5 p.m. beside the skating rink ...

... and to the front of Lowe's Supermarket.

Rumor is there's a kid in a cockroach costume.  What kind of parent ... Never mind!

Tristan, one of Liz's students, came in this charming costume.

My goal is to find the kid dressed as a cockroach ... but he's too quick for me.  You turn on the light and he's gone.

The Winkler Post beat me to him!

Child on pile of rusty metal looks safe.

The Kermit police keep the street blocked.

We spend seven years of our lives waiting in line, you know.

Awright, who put Halloween so close to election day?

See reflection of photographer.

Or if you see, like, flames or something...

The wires at the left appear very safe.

First candy stop.

Onward to the credit union.

There we are in the credit union window.

Then across the street and down the block ...

Want to look like this?

 ... and through the alley.

The purpose of all this is to make the child tired, right?

The Jack and Jill shop was founded by musician Doug Smith's parents.

This familiar fellow stands in the doorway of H and R Block.

Yes, there are a few Democrats in Kermit.

This mural shows many of the town's historic buildings, and even the Wink Sink!

The only local contested race in 2008 was for district attorney.  The seated gentleman is Mike Fostel, the incumbent.

Caption this pup.

How long has this guy been waiting for a loan?

More animal cruelty.

Now we head into the courthouse.

This interesting marker belongs near Wink.  I don't know why they keep it in the courthouse, but here it is.

These markers also appear in this post.  I guess I just like to repeat myself.

This time capsule is scheduled to be opened later this month (September 25).

Kermit looks on in approval.  Or not.

Leaving the courthouse,

 

we head across the street to what used to be a theater.  Now it's a real estate office.

There are a few Star Trek fans in Kermit too.  (From the Post.)

We were here a few days before for a cakewalk.

This is about a 90-minute walk.  Hopefully Robert is tired.  I know I am.


The last candy stop is James Jepson, the other guy who was running for district attorney.  (He wound up being defeated 2 to 1.)

This marker tells the story of Col. C.M.Winkler, whom the county was named for.

Cavern Threatens to Swallow Carlsbad, New Mexico

Another day, another sinkhole! I thought this Huffington Post article was fascinating because I drive over this very spot about twice a month! Eeeek!
CARLSBAD, N.M. (Nov. 7) --The bright yellow signs on U.S. 285 are the first indication that things aren't right in Carlsbad.

"US 285 south subject to sinkhole 1,000 feet ahead," motorists are warned.

Officials in Carlsbad, N.M., say a cavern that formed under a brine well operation has the potential to swallow part of a New Mexco highway, a church, neighborhood businesses and a trailer park. They fear the site could collapse without warning, just as two wells in nearby towns did last year.

But there is little other evidence that in southeastern New Mexico's oil country, a giant cavern sits beneath the earth, ready to swallow part of the highway and possibly a church, several businesses and a trailer park.

The cavern was formed over three decades as oil field service companies pumped fresh water into a salt layer more than 400 feet below the surface and extracted several million barrels of brine to help with drilling. State regulators flagged it as a potential danger after concluding that it was similar to two wells northwest of Carlsbad that collapsed without warning last year.

Over the past few decades, communities in Texas, Kansas, Michigan, Canada and Europe learned of similar underground danger only after cracks appeared and the ground began to sink. Regulators are trying to determine how to prevent future collapses by better managing a practice that's used throughout the world.

Most brine wells operate far from homes and businesses, but Carlsbad's is unique because it is in a population center — and could prove potentially disastrous.

"It would be a mess. It would be like a bomb going off in the middle of town," said Jim Griswold, a hydrologist with the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division.

The city council and the Eddy County Commission declared a state of emergency Thursday, the first step to free state and federal funds that could be used to figure out a way to stabilize the cavern.

"The public's been warned," Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest said. "We've had a heads up, and for us as elected officials to sit here and do nothing is political suicide. We want to move forward."

The city of about 26,000 residents knows caverns well. It is home to Carlsbad Caverns National Park, a network of some of the largest natural caverns in North America, where tourists can see both delicate calcite formations and towering stalagmites.

But this man-made salt cavern has residents nervous.

Officials have set up a monitoring system that takes readings from tilt meters and pressure sensors every two seconds and averages them to determine whether there are changes drastic enough to trigger alarms. The alarms are expected to give authorities several hours to evacuate people in advance of a cave-in that could span anywhere from 200 to 500 feet, Griswold said.

I&W Trucking, the oil field service company that owns the site where the cavern is located, contends the state is overreacting because of the previous collapses on state land and criticized the Oil Conservation Division for not doing more tests to establish the size of the brine cavern before forcing it to plug the well.

The agency hired independent consultants to determine the size and shape of the cavern and the risk of collapse.

Eugene Irby, whose family owns I&W Trucking, said the company has always followed the rules and performed annual pressure tests on the cavern. Had the cavern been that unstable, he said, it would have already collapsed, given that more than 2 million pounds of water and heavy trucks were on the surface every day.

"I went to work there every day," Irby said. "I would walk the yard at times and if there were cracks in the ground I would have seen them. There's none."

I&W has given up the brine operation, emptied its tanks and moved down the road.

But trailer park residents Cookie and Ellie Fletcher have been left to wonder what they will do if a sinkhole opens on the other side of the chain-link fence. They are on fixed income and said they could never afford to move.

"It's a nightmare," Ellie Fletcher said, motioning to the wells and tanks in the distance. "I would like to forget about it, but I can't forget about it because it's right there."

It doesn't help that curious friends and acquaintances bombard the Fletchers with questions about the sinkhole each week at church.

At the Circle S Feed Store, next door to the well site, store owner Wally Menuey doesn't need the repeated requests from customers to look at the hole, even though none exists yet.

Menuey said the first thing he looks for when he rounds the corner into the parking lot each morning are the tanks next door. If they're still standing, he knows it's safe to continue on to work. Still, he said, structural cracks have formed in the store.

"It makes you wonder," he said.

The potential sink hole wouldn't just swallow parts of the town. Potential crop damage could total $100 million.

No one knows when the cavern might collapse. But the mayor and other city officials are worried about getting the money they need to tackle the problem in time to stop the worst from happening. State officials said parts of the ground above the well are already heaving while other parts are sinking.

"The clock is ticking," said Jim Goodbar, a senior cave and karst specialist with the Bureau of Land Management.