Yum Yum Food Truck Back In Downtown Fort Worth Proving You Can Fight City Hall & The NFL & Win During The Super Bowl

The City of Fort Worth and the NFL have reversed themselves on their NO Yum Yum Food Truck in Downtown Fort Worth, until the Super Bowl is over, ban.

Starting Monday, the Yum Yum Food Truck will be back serving burgers and burritos to Fort Worthers and non-Fort Worthers visiting Downtown Fort Worth.

So.

What changed Fort Worth's City Hall and the NFL's position on the super-sensitive Yum Yum Food Truck issue?

Could it possibly have been that City Hall and the NFL heard the collective noise being made from locals via various media? And realized how Dumb the Yum Yum Food Truck ban was?

Up Way Before The Sun 25 Years After The Space Shuttle Challenger Blew Up

I am up way before the sun on the last Friday of the first month of 2011.

It is currently a relatively balmy 11 degrees above freezing.

I was surprised when I saw that today marks a quarter century, 25 years, since the Space Shuttle Challenger blew up soon after it was launched.

I do not remember if I was watching that launch live, or not. Were launches even carried live at this point? Again, I don't remember. Had CNN been born by January 28, 1986? I don't remember.

But, I suspect this launch was covered live due to school teacher Christa McAuliffe being on board.

The idea of sending a school teacher into space as some sort of stunt seems sort of bizarre to me now, 25 years later.

The coolest thing I've seen since I've been in Texas, even cooler than my first Ice Storm experience, was the night landing of a Space Shuttle. We'd been told what time to watch the western sky. I was starting to think this was going to be a dud when suddenly a bright white ball of light appeared above the barn. Moving incredibly fast.

I don't remember which of the Space Shuttles this was. As it streaked across the sky the Space Shuttle left a glowing trail behind it. Most spectacular thing I have ever seen above me. Ten minutes later I was inside watching the Space Shuttle land in Cape Canaveral.

And now the era of Space Shuttles is about to end, with America once again not having a manned space flight program.

Way back when the Challenger blew up could anyone have imagined a scenario where America would be relying on the Soviets, which is what we called Russians back then, to take Americans to space in a Soyuz capsule?

Fun Hotpepper-Free Hiking With Illicit Assignations Today On Top Of Mount Tandy

You are looking north on the Tandy Highway in the picture. As you can see it is a nice clear blue sky day today here in my zone of North Texas.

I was overdressed for hiking the Tandy Hills today. Long pants and a long-sleeve shirt were way too much clothing material covering way too much skin.

In other words I overheated just a bit in the balmy mid 60 degrees temperature.

Elsie Hotpepper so enjoyed our walk around Fosdic Lake yesterday that she asked to go Tandy Hill Hiking today.

But, the Hotpepper Hiking Time Frame was way past my scheduled hike time.

Yes, I could have time shifted, but the truth is, I don't know how much I'd enjoy Hotpepper Hill Hiking. I think I already mentioned Elsie talks fast and walks slow. I could see where the steep Tandy Hills would likely very quickly Overheat the Hotpepper.

I entered the Tandy Hills today from the top of Mount Tandy. I was semi-pleased to see that the Tandy Shrine is back under construction again. Semi-pleased I say, because it is so disheartening to see the Tandy Shrine grow back to its former glory, only to see it destroyed yet one more time.

I think some people are under the erroneous assumption that the top of Mount Tandy is an isolated parking zone. As in, when I returned to my vehicle, I saw two more vehicles had arrived.

The drivers of those two vehicles appeared to have no interest in hiking, but were instead involved in some sort of strenuous looking activity in the smaller of the vehicles. The frequency of what appear to be illicit assignations seems to be increasing in this location.

Up Early The Last Thursday Of The First Month Of 2011 After A Night Of Nightmares & A Morning Learning From Mayor Moncrief That Fort Worth Has Been Cleaned For The Super Bowl

I am up way before the sun looking at the view from my patio prison cell this last Thursday of the first month of 2011.

It is not freezing this morning at 3 degrees above the frost point. Even though it is not freezing I still think I'll avoid swimming this morning.

I had a rough night last night. I was up late talking to Elsie Hotpepper. After that I had myself a fitful night of nightmares.

Both nightmares had me back in the house I grew up in in Burlington, Washington. The first nightmare involved little troll-like monsters who were like Tasmanian Devil human flesh eaters.

The troll nightmare did not bother me too much, but the second nightmare of the night did. It involved snakes, lots of them. Inside the house, with my mom chasing them with a broom. At one point it was a copperhead and it was heading right at me.

I woke up.

And then immediately after waking up something made me think a snake was slithering on my bed. This caused me to let out what must have been a bloodcurdling scream.

On a different nightmare note. This morning's Fort Worth Star-Telegram online had an article on the front page titled "Mayor declares Fort Worth ready for Super Bowl Party."

I assumed if Fort Worth's Moron Mayor Mike Moncrief was doing some declaring that it likely was goofy and mockworthy. But, the Star-Telegram would not let me read the article. I'd get about 2 paragraphs in and I'd get switched back to the front page.

Eventually I succeeded in quickly copying and pasting the article into Notepad so I could successfully search for the goofy Moncrief quote.

I was not disappointed.

Here is what Moncrief said in declaring that Fort Worth is ready for the Super Bowl, even though the game is not being played in Fort Worth, "Are you ready for some football? Fort Worth is ready. When you're going to have a party at your house, you clean house. You want to make your home attractive. We are ready."

I guess I need to go visit Downtown Fort Worth. I can't imagine what it must look like now that it has been cleaned and made attractive.

Also, the article about being ready said that volunteers will be posted throughout the city to help visitors navigate Cowtown.

I can't help but wonder how this navigation system works. And where it is that visitors are navigating to.

Fast Talking & Slow Walking Around Fosdic Lake With Elsie Hotpepper

You are looking at the Oakland Lake Park Forest, south of Fosdic Lake, late this afternoon.

There were a lot of people today, walking and jogging and playing around Fosdic Lake.

Including Elsie Hotpepper.

Elsie Hotpepper had not previously had the Fosdic Lake  Experience. With the temperature in the balmy low 60s I thought it was a good time for Elsie to get some fresh air.

That and Miss Hotpepper wanted to consult with me regarding one of her current plots.

Elsie Hotpepper is a fast talker and a slow walker. My preference is that both talking and walking be fast.

I don't think I was of much use regarding helping Elsie with her plotting.

I really do not have a very well developed Machiavellian type mind. While Elsie Hotpepper may be a direct descendant of Lucretia Borgia.

Lucretia is such a nice name. I wonder why it is not used more often?

If I were to reproduce again, and the reproduction was a girl, I think I would name her Lucretia. Lucretia Jones has a real nice ring to it.

The NFL & City Of Fort Worth Ban Yum Yum Food Truck From Downtown For The Duration Of The Super Bowl Madness

I learned of the latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense this morning from Agent cd0103.

And then a few minutes later I logged into Facebook to get beat by the Scrabble Queen of Washington.

On Facebook I saw this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense mentioned in a Facebook comment by former Fort Worth native, MBK, currently exiled in Tacoma.

MBK said, "Is Fort Worth turning into OLDFOGIEVILLE? So much for small businesses getting a piece of the Super Bowl action!"

MBK is referencing Downtown Fort Worth banning the very popular Yum Yum Food Truck til after the Super Bowl.

The Yum Yum Food Truck also has a Facebook page, where MBK further commented about this latest Downtown Fort Worth Super Bowl Nonsense, saying, "This is outrageous. The old FOGIES that run DTFW should be ashamed! The restaurants downtown won't be able to provide good service to massive crowds. It will be WORSE than during concerts/Main Street Arts Fest. Big Wigs are turning downtown to Oldfogieville!"

Til sanity returns the Yum Yum Food Truck is moving to south of Downtown Fort Worth, to 1220 Pennsylvania Avenue in the Hospital District.

However there is a complication. The Food Network is coming to Downtown Fort Worth next week, with the hope of taping a show called Outrageous Foods on the Yum Yum Food Truck. Apparently Yum Yum is known for its massive 10 pound Super Super Monster Burrito.

On December 14 the Fort Worth City Toadies, I mean, City Council, adopted an ordinance that bans non-NFL Vendors from Downtown Fort Worth. Only approved Vendor Booths will be allowed on the parking lots known as Sundance Square.

The verbiage in the City Council's order banning non-NFL Vendors is interesting, saying this ordinance is needed to "promote and protect the festive image in the downtown area" and to remove anything that might "hinder security, obstruct traffic or cause congestion."

The City's Code Compliance Director claims the city is not out to harm any business, saying "We're just looking to protect that area  of downtown."

Yes, I can see how the Yum Yum Food Truck selling hamburgers and burritos would pose a security risk, impede the flow of traffic and greatly diminish that festive image that Downtown Fort Worth is so good at projecting.

I wonder how many Porta-Potties are being brought in to line up on the Sundance Square Parking Lots? Can only NFL-Approved Porta-Potties be used? Are they bringing in some of those really cool custom made Dallas Cowboy Porta-Potties that look so attractive on the Dallas Cowboy Stadium parking lots?

With the Super Bowl being played in Arlington and with Downtown Fort Worth really not having all that much going for it, I'm wondering why the Fort Worth Fogies think there is going to be a big crowd downtown during the Super Bowl Week? Downtown Fort Worth does not have a single department store. Not a one. No Nordstroms, Neiman-Marcus, Macy's. Not even a Sears.

This department store deficit really is a sad indication of just how lively Downtown Fort Worth actually is. But removing the Yum Yum Food Truck will help make Downtown Fort Worth appropriately festive.

The Yum Yum Food Truck's location, prior to its banning, had been on Throckmorton by the Tarrant County Courthouse. You know, that building across the street from Downtown Fort Worth's #1 Neglected Eyesore, Heritage Park. In its current sad condition Heritage Park really does not add a lot to that festive image Downtown Fort Worth thinks it is protecting and promoting.

And now the smallest downtown, of any town in America with over a half million residents, doesn't even have a Yum Yum Food Truck. Plenty of Grackles though. Very festive birds.

The Last Wednesday Of The First Month Of 2011

Looking out my viewing portal this last Wednesday of the first month of 2011 the sky is bright and blue.

And the temperature is a balmy one degree above freezing.

I don't think I will go swimming this morning.

I made it through President Obama's State of the Union speech last night. I previously have had some trouble making it through his speechifying. But last night made two in a row where I listened to the entire speech without my ADD kicking in.

I am heading to the north end of the D/FW Metro zone around noon. I don't know when I'll make it back to my current location. But it will likely be sometime before the sun disappears for the day.

Thousands Of Grackles Are Massing In Anticipation Of The Upcoming Super Bowl

In the picture you are seeing just a few of the Grackles that have taken up residence at my neighborhood Wal-Mart Supercenter and Sam's Club.

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of the birds, all over the buildings, on vehicles. And standing all over the parking lot.

The Grackles have been hanging out in this location for weeks now. They seem to be getting very comfortable with their surroundings and are not as easily startled as they were a few weeks ago.

If you've ever watched The Birds, the whole scene is very Hitchcockian.

I read this morning. Or was it yesterday? That an attempt is being made to move the Grackles from their various locations, due to some people thinking this is yet one more local embarrassment in need of being hidden from the upcoming Super Bowl.

This particular Grackle infested Wal-Mart is just a few miles to the west of the Dallas Cowboy Stadium where the Super Bowl will take place. You can see the Cowboy Stadium from this location.

Across the street from the Cowboy Stadium is one of the nicest Wal-Marts I've ever seen. With the Grackles being such Wal-Mart fans I wonder if they have taken over that Wal-Mart yet? Or, are they waiting for the Super Bowl to make their move? They seem to be very smart birds. Smart birds are not Jerry Jones fans.

Maybe the Grackles are planning to fly into the stadium, en masse, through the open end zone doors. That would be poetic.

Efforts to move the Grackles have proven to be fairly futile in the past. Methinks the locals should embrace their Grackle Colonies and turn them into yet one more tourist attraction for the visiting football fans.

I'm having a bad reaction to the efforts to spruce up this place because of the Super Bowl.

I have known a slob or two who only cleans up their clutter on the rare occasions that company is expected.

That is how this local Super Bowl cleanup strikes me.

Really embarrassing.

A sloppy place picking up its clutter because company is arriving in town.

Shouldn't the litter be picked up all the time?

And I think I've already mentioned that there is no way to control where the Super Bowl visitors might be driving.

Rather than take I-30 into Fort Worth or Dallas, they might choose Division or Lancaster.

Division goes through some real eye-popping scenery in Dallas, while Fort Worth tops Dallas with Lancaster, Berry and Rosedale.

What if a visitor gets lost in the Fort Worth Stockyards zone and meanders around the neighborhood to the west? That won't leave a good impression.

Speaking of the Stockyards. Is the New Isis Theater being spruced up for the Super Bowl? It has been boarded up since I first laid eyes on it over 11 years ago. It is in the Fort Worth Stockyards National Historic District. I've been told a number of times that the New Isis is in the process of being restored.

But, unless it has been fixed up, without me knowing about it, the New Isis is still an Old Eyesore, that would be really easy to at least make look better from the outside.

Switching the subject back to the Texas Grackle Invasion. The Wikipedia article about these birds was amusing. And has a Texas connection.

From Wikipedia.....

Unlike many birds, the grackle benefits from the expansion of human populations due to its resourceful and opportunistic nature. The common grackle population has greatly increased in the Austin, Texas, area in recent years and is regarded as nuisance by some, due to aggressive behavior. Common grackles are considered a serious threat to crops by some, and notoriously difficult to exterminate and usually require the use of hawks or similar large birds of prey.

With just a few word changes the above paragraph could be an accurate description of Chesapeake Energy and its fellow gas drillers.

Hiking Through The New Tandy Canyon Looking At A New View Of The Envy Of The Nation While Thinking About Guarding Donuts & Gas Drilling

Today when I accessed the Tandy Hills via the View Street Trail I was pleasantly surprised to see a cool new Tandy Hills feature. With that feature being a canyon of cut brush rising from both sides of the trail.

And then when you exit the canyon you are treated to a new view of the stunning skyline of the beautiful downtown of the city that is currently the Envy of the Nation.

An awful lot of brush was bashed to expose this new view of downtown Fort Worth that you see here, looking across Texas prairie freshly rendered back to its pristine state free of invasive plant species.

Yesterday I mentioned that I did not remember the last time I worked as hard as I did this past Saturday. I did not say what it was I was working hard at. And then today someone calling him or herself Anonymous asked, "Does being in charge of dozens of donuts count as hard work, Mr. Tandy Hills Hiker?"

Well, in answer to that Anonymous question, yes being in charge of dozens of donuts can count as hard work.

An hour or so later, after my arrival on the Tandy Hills, as I headed back to View Street, I heard motorized racket. When I saw what was making the racket I was appalled to see a bulldozer dismantling the cool new Tandy Brush Canyon and depositing it piece by piece into a dump truck.

If you look closely at the picture of the bulldozer, above the bulldozer you will see the latest addition to the scenery you can view from the Tandy Hills. A Chesapeake Energy Barnett Shale Natural Gas Drilling Rig looking as if it is sitting on top of a Tandy Hill.

Up After The Sun On The 4th Tuesday Of 2011 Thinking About A Fat Bastard & Pain-Free Hiking

Looking out my window on the world this last Tuesday of the first month of 2011 I can sort of see that this may be a blue sky day over my zone of North Texas.

However, I read in the unreliable Fort Worth Star-Telegram, this morning, that snow may be falling this morning to the west of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.

It is currently 5 degrees above freezing in my location, which would seem to render snow an unlikely occurrence.

Yesterday on my increasingly visited DurangObesity Blog the blog was visited by my new friend who calls himself "Fat Bastard." Fat Bastard is an amusing guy. He has a blog devoted to being a Fat Bastard.

A couple days ago I mentioned that I got a message from Elsie Hotpepper about landing an eagle which made no sense to me. Yesterday I got messages from Elsie Hotpepper which also made no sense to me. All about me being quiet. I had made no note of myself being particularly quiet, so this confused and perplexed me.

And I finally heard from the Scrabble Queen of Washington. I was starting to grow concerned.

My aching right foot ailment has greatly improved in the past couple days. This may make for some comfortable, pain-free hiking today. I hope.