My long-lost friend Ute came to visit today, and caught this while we were dining downtown. Ute said I could use her photo, but not say the name of the restaurant because that’s unkind to the business.
Okay, I won’t say where we were. But use a disinfectant wipe on your Parmesan dispenser if you eat outside anywhere in the next few days, okay?
Posted in Food | 9 Comments »
I didn’t really connect with Roy until right before he died. He was my third dog. He stole food. He bit. He tore up the house. He tugged on the leash. He fought. He threw up in the car.
But he needed a lot of help in his final days, and we grew warmer as I would carry him outside, bring water, clean him up.
In fact, the sicker he got, the more I loved him, and the worse I felt about his leaving.
I spent most of his last weekend caring for him and not for myself. Until, by mid afternoon on Sunday, I was too hungry to neglect. Urgently hungry. But by then I was also too empty or too upset to digest almost anything I could think to eat. Except the chicken pot pie at Coopersmiths, in downtown Fort Collins.
I don’t know how it qualifies as pie; it’s really a thick soup made with frozen vegetables with a flaky puff pastry on top. Comes with a red chunky applesauce on the side. It’s predictable and goes down easy with your grief.
Plus, if you go by yourself, the waitress will serve it in under 5 minutes. (If you go with someone else, you have to wait much longer for your friend’s pizza or whatever before you get your food.)
So, I walked down there alone.
Don’t ask me how this happened, but the restaurant only opened one sidewalk table that day, and I ended up sharing it with this couple I didn’t know.
They were a brother and sister, in town to look at the rock n’ roll art at Walnut Street Gallery. She lived in LaPorte. He lived in another state. They were second cousins to Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead, but they hadn’t know him personally.
I told them about Roy. She offered the name of a vet who would come to my house to put him down on Monday. Then they paid for my chicken pot pie.
And I let them because I liked feeling taken care of that day.
Thank you Jerry’s cousins.
That’s why now I always eat chicken pot pie at Coopersmith’s whenever I’m blue, or when I’m just hungry and nothing sounds good.
Posted in Food | 6 Comments »
I have had SUCH a hard time keeping this quiet– I didn’t want to say anything until it was done. But for several weeks the Armstrong Hotel has been preparing a nice souvenir map of the neighborhood markets that the Lost Fort Collins blog wrote about last year.
The map in my original post was lame, and inaccurate. The Armstrong’s version, which is now available, is nice enough to frame! And it includes a tour of downtown ghost signs.
You still have to use Lost Fort Collins if you want to find all 17 markets. But the Armstrong’s more limited version is just right for your friends and out-of-town guests who maybe don’t have to be obsessive and comprehensive about everything, and just want to go on a nice bike ride and see a few sites.
I hear people like that exist.
Get the map here: http://www.thearmstronghotel.com/outonthetown.php. Click on “Bike through History,” and you’ll find the map in PDF format.
Or ask for one next time you stay at the hotel.
Posted in Blog business, Commercial, Neighborhoods, Vernacular buildings | 2 Comments »
By now you know about how the City of Greeley’s current pipeline project is threatening local natural and historic resources. And because of the way water law is historically structured, there’s not much Larimer county elected officials or residents can effectively say about that.
But that could change tomorrow night, Monday, Nov. 2. The County Commissioners are meeting to discuss amending the county code so that large pipelines that threaten local resources will need to go through a much more rigorous permit process from OUR county government when going through our county.
It’s the same process utilities like electrical power plants, nuclear plants, electric lines, already follow.
Mary Humstone writes,
Currently pipelines, such as the City of Greeley’s 60″ water transmission pipeline, only have to clear a “location and extent” review process at the planning commission level. This means that projects planned and implemented by an agency outside of Larimer County can destroy historic resources, destroy natural areas, and condemn private property through eminent domain without any public comment and without their projects being reviewed by elected officials in our county. The current system gives the public no effective say in these projects.
Humstone and her neighbors have already spent tens of thousands trying to preserve historic resources on their property because of decisions made in the next county.
If you think local government should be more involved when local property is threatened, Humstone invites you to show up at the meeting tomorrow night to show your support. Being there does matter.
You can be sure the City of Greeley’s Water Department will be there to fight it. In force.
What: County Commissioners’ hearing to adopt 1041 powers for water and sewer transmission pipelines.
When: Monday, November 2 at 6:30 pm
Where: First floor hearing room. 200 W. Oak
Read more: Get the technical details here. (Yes, this is the kind of tedious part, but it’s how regular people like you make a difference!)
Posted in In the news | 5 Comments »
One hamburger joint Norm may remember: Morrie’s “In and Out” on South College. It was a little before my time but I know it was popular with a lot of FCHS students because it was relatively close to the old high school building on Remington.” Jim Burrill
1611 S. College. Photo from history.fcgov.com
“I remember Morries In & Out – the owner was Morris Teel who was a neighbor of my parents. Morrie was a very good golfer and in the 50’s and 60’s gave “Spike Baker” some good competition-by the way they lived next door to one another. -Captain Bevo
“Morrie’s In-and-Out was located just south of Prospect in the approx location of “Chucky Cheese” It was a popular High School eatery in the fifties and had no inside service. You ordered into a mike and drove up to the window. A foot-long hot dog and a root beer was 35 cents. Beyond that to the south was all farms until you reached Trilby and the popular nightclub “Clancys” on the East side of the road. It later became the Cow Palace etc.” -Norm
[What happens when you ask the Lost Fort Collins blog a question? Typically, I just go ask Norm for the answer. Norm Cook has lived in Fort Collins since the mid 1940s, and he remembers EVERYTHING!
Now, you can cut out the middle man and ask Uncle Norm yourself. Just write Norm@lostfortcollins.com. Answers appear here on the Lost Fort Collins blog]
[This edition of Ask Uncle Norm was taken from recent discussion on an earlier post. If you just can't get enough of fifties fast food at the fort, read (and contribute to) the comments here]
Posted in Ask Uncle Norm, Food | 7 Comments »
