There was a nice crowd on hand for the Creston bingo game & the next game will be May 9 so as to not interfere with the annual yard sale day. Folks had a great time.
The spring Creston ATV Poker Run will be Saturday, April 25. Get your machine out, check it out so you don’t have a breakdown at some remote place on the spring run. Those who want to get in a little extra action can show up on April 18 to help lay out the route. Bring chain saws, shovels, mattocks, winches, tow straps, etc for an exciting day.
Most Creston residents lost telephone service circa 10 P. M. The other evening after copper thieves cut the line not too far from the Sanoma road. Some feel that they know the culprits who left most local residents without any way to get help in an emergency since cell phones don’t work in the area. It was understood that similar events had happened in Calhoun County. Maybe some folks need to “earn” a vacation at a nice “resort” in Fayette County. On Friday the telephone crew was still working on repairs.
Bartley Schumacher, an engineer from A. Martin Thomas & Associates, Inc., along with Justin Goodnight, Delbert Bunner and another from the state road were in Creston dealing with gas lines impacted by the proposed new bridge across the river at Creston. Some of the crew was also checking out the Levi Barr bridge across Steer Creek in Calhoun County.
Sen. Trent Barnhart who took Donna Boley’s place as our state senator is having a meeting Thursday, April 9 at the Elizabeth Senior Citizens building from 5:30 until 7:30. All are invited to meet and talk with Trent.
Debbie Griffin is home and on the mend after Dr. Gnegy installed two stints and did an angioplasty at another blockage. High praises would be a mild view of his work and rapport with his patients.
Local residents continue to feast on ramps and a “favorite toddler” Watson Shepherd absolutely loves them.
The wood boring bumblebees are out and about. They too like to live in wood houses & structures.
March came in like a lamb and went out the same way with warm days and many lawns that needed to be mowed. Butterflies were drinking nectar from plum blossoms and all sorts of spring ephemerals are out, phlox, Dutchman’s breeches, sessile trilliums, dog toothed violets, wild vetch, white violets, stonecrop, toothwort, anemone, bloodroot, twin leaf, etc. Also up and starting to flower is the invasive garlic mustard that puts poison in the soil that harms native plants. The invasive pest needs to be pulled up by the roots.
Speaking of weather it would seem that a drastic cold front hit the nether regions & the lake of fire froze over for Engineer Evans is actually, after all these years, fixing the potholes on I-77 between Fairplain and the Kentuck/Divide Hill exits.
In 2025 there were record amounts of natural gas & crude oil produced in America with a significant amount coming from the Marcellus & Utica in West Virginia, Ohio & Pennsylvania. Folks locally were told that the Marcellus locally ‘wasn’t no good, was too thin less than 100 feet thick, etc.” At a recent hearing before the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission on a forced pooling hearing for wells in Wetzel County, the EQT geologist lady said, under oath, that the Marcellus there is between 60 & 70 feet thick. Hmmmm.
Back when there was talk of an ethane cracker in West Virginia to provide ethylene for the plastics industry but no, no, no all sorts of excuses why such should be built to enrichen China, etc. This year there was a 7% increase in the export of NGLs [natural gas liquids] to 3.1 million bbl./day & ethane exports are up 19%. West Virginia should get its act together & build urea and ammonia plants as well as at least one ethane cracker and push for power plants & associated data centers like the proposed facilities near the mouth of Katy’s Run.
An Abu Dhabi investment group 2Point Zero purchased a part of the Rover pipeline in Ohio for $2.25 billion.
Summer Lee, a congress critter from Pennsylvania, started a new congressional “caucus” which says, in essence, that oil & gas, just like math is racist. One would assume that she walks everywhere she goes and has no plastics or cosmetics, cell phones, etc. in her life.
The Iran war has flushed out some interesting folks in this country, that is those who would cheer for the other side. Older folks remember the blundering Jimmy Carter whose CIA likely helped put the terrorists in power in Tehran. Now matters are being fixed causing high oil prices even though, unlike in Carter’s days, when we were dependent on middle eastern oil & gas such is not now the case. However, America does need the urea & ammonia made there since W. Va.’s elite kleptocracy decided not to utilize the vast gas reserves to make needed fertilizer. Jim Justice has farmland; he knows the necessity of reasonable priced fertilizer. Speaking of the senator, he is now accused of fibbing about some of his assets. There are those in power in West Virginia who believe to this day that we should only be an energy colony to enrichen those in far away states & nations. Choose wisely on Primary Election Day.
Natural gas elsewhere has fallen to $2.81/MMBTU while West Texas crude is $112.66/bbl. While Brent (North Sea) oil is $109.05/bbl. Locally, the price of Pennsylvania grade crude dropped to $99.12/bbl. With condensate fetching $81.12/bbl. & Marcellus & Utica light bringing $88.12/bbl.
