Climbing The Fort Worth Space Needle Atop Mount Tandy & Valentines Day Lunch With Elsie Hotpepper

You are looking at the Fort Worth Space Needle, high atop Mount Tandy on the east side of the Tandy Hills Natural Area, today, about an hour before noon.

When I drove up to the Mount Tandy summit I saw a lot of pickup trucks and men scurrying around the Space Needle.

A thin cable was running from about half way up the tower to a winch on the back of one of the pickups.

I wondered how that thin cable got half way up the tower. I watched for awhile to try and figure out what was being done.

Whatever those guys were doing it had several guys yelling back and forth in a storm of colorful cussing, the likes of which I'd not heard since the last time I talked to Elsie Hotpepper.

I gave up after about 5 minutes and took off hiking. The trails were a bit muddy in places. I prefer trails not to be muddy.

An hour or so later I was back under the Fort Worth Space Needle.

I've got to say, looking up at that thing makes me dizzy. I'm a bit of an acrophobe, even when I'm on the ground.

But, what I now saw, really made me dizzy, well, queasy.

Two guys, more than half way up the tower.

In the photo at the top, you can see where these guys were on the tower, by finding the black spots halfway up the tower. That would be them.

As I drove away I had no clue what these guys were risking life and limb to do. Whatever it was, it sure had them being a bit hot tempered.

Speaking of being a bit hot tempered. My Valentines Day lunch at Esperanza's, with Elsie Hotpepper, was fun. Absolutely no colorful cussing.

When Elsie got back to work she emailed asking how lunch was. I replied that I am out of practice for eating that much. To which Elsie replied, "Me too. And I am sleepy!!"

It's all those tortilla chips. And rice. And beans. That is way too much carbo-loading when you aren't used to it.

The Esperanza's Chile Cheese Relleno was really good today. I'd not had a Chile Cheese Relleno since way back in September of last year when I met the Scrabble Queen of Washington and her husband, JR, at Mercado Juarez for lunch.

When I lived in Washington my favorite Chile Cheese Relleno came from the restaurant closest to where I lived. Los Arcos. So named because it was in a building that shared space with an Arcos gas station. It was at this restaurant I learned to like pico de gallo and cilantro. Later the restaurant expanded to be a night club, with the owner soon indicted for some bad behavior, with Los Arcos being no more.

I Am Sure I Will Be Having Myself A Happy Texas Valentines Day Today With A Chile Relleno

Looking out my viewing portal, this second Monday of the second month of 2011, I can see that Valentines Day in my zone of Texas is looking to be a very nice day.

Blue sky and already 13 degrees above freezing, heading to somewhere in the 70s.

I was very relieved, this morning, to learn that Betty Jo Bouvier made it back home, to find she had not been burglarized while escaping the drippy, gray Western Washington Winter, for the less drippy, less gray Eastern Washington Winter in Leavenworth.

I am going out for lunch with my Valentine today at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Esperanza's.

In the Fort Worth Stockyards zone.

Esperanza's is owned and operated by the Joe T. Garcia family. Chile Relleno is my favorite Mexican food. It is via a Chile Relleno I judge how much I like a Mexican restaurant. Joe T. Garcia's and Esperanza's are my favorite Chile Relleno locations.

Wikipedia's info about my favorite Mexican food...

The chile relleno, literally "stuffed chile," is a dish of Mexican cuisine that originated in the city of Puebla. It consists of a roasted fresh poblano pepper (a mild chili pepper named after the city of Puebla), sometimes substituted with non-traditional Hatch green chile, Anaheim, pasilla or even jalapeño chili pepper. It is stuffed with melted cheese, such as queso Chihuahua or queso Oaxaca (traditionally), or picadillo meat made of diced pork, raisins and nuts, seasoned with canella; covered in an egg batter or simply corn masa flour and fried. Although it is often served in a tomato sauce, the sauces can vary. There are versions in Mexico using rehydrated dry chiles such as anchos or pasillas.

The sun has now completely lit up the outdoors. So, it is time to go swimming now. Talk to you later.