Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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What do reindeer and elk have in common? Antlers. Impressively big antlers in some cases. Now, why in an article about elk, would I mention reindeer? The answer to that question is, to introduce the idea of how dangerous these animals can be. Reindeer are, generally, much smaller than elk and many are semi-domesticated. They are a huge part of the way of life of certain circumpolar peoples. Although semi-domesticated, and they are even milked in some cases, this does not mean that reindeer are "...
Love's Travel Stop in Tehachapi is making a lot of changes and helping kids in need along the way. As part of Love's national campaign, the Tehachapi branch is working in partnership with Children's Miracle Network Hospitals during August and September. CMNH, a nonprofit organization, has been raising funds and awareness for kids with illness and injuries since 1983. According to the Love's website, "Love's and its customers have raised more than $25 million to help sick and injured children in...
Many years ago my husband and I bought a key machine which was kept in constant use cutting thousands of single and double-cut keys. As more features were added to vehicles to keep them safe we had to order keys with pre-set chips in them. Without the chip the ignition circuit would not complete and the car would not start. Fast forward to today where we now have exotic cuts to the keys and programming of keys and fobs. Some cars don't even need a key for the car to operate, merely a programmed...
After 14-years of celebration, fighting back against cancer and remembering those we lost, the Tehachapi Relay for Life event will be ending after one last Party for a Cure! Join the 2018 Relay Committee on Sept. 22, for a grand finale celebration of Relay for Life and look back fondly on the impact Relay had on our community since 2004. Party for a Cure will be held at Woods Pavilion, from 5 to 9 p.m. It will start with an Opening Ceremony honoring our Survivors and conclude with our last...
"What I dream of is an art of balance, of purity and serenity ... something like a good armchair which provides relaxation from physical fatigue." –Henri Matisse. The painter Henri Matisse started painting late in life. He was recovering from an illness and used art as a form of therapy. Perhaps comparing art to a "good armchair" was his way of saying that creating art has healing properties. It certainly did for him. But making art isn't the only way to appreciate and glean from the power of c...
We recently caught up with Randy Kam, a Tehachapi dentist who was diagnosed with Stage IV prostate cancer in January 2015. He was a marathoner before his diagnosis, and he remains one even through treatment for his disease. He sports a sign on his back telling his tale and encouraging men to get screened – he's had dozens of runners come up to him during the 21 marathons he's completed since his diagnosis. They talk to him about his disease, his symptoms and his treatment pathways. He shares h...
It was her new position with Tehachapi Unified School District that brought Lisa Villalpondo and her husband Richard to Tehachapi after having lived in Shafter for many years. They arrived in the middle of summer, just in time to settle in before the beginning of the school year. Lisa is the new sixth grade English teacher at Jabobsen Middle School. Richard is a self-employed General Contractor and, as a result, can work from almost anywhere although for now much of his work is still in the...
Smartphones running Android by Google, or iOS by Apple, have borrowed (or stolen, see Apple Inc. v Samsung) so many features and design elements from each other that most phones look basically the same. So if you're buying your first phone, which should you choose? If you've already got a smartphone, you've already chosen either Android or iOS, but is there any reason to switch? Here are a few things to help you decide. Security Security in iOS vs. Android is about the same as it is in Macs vs....
I found an article taken from the 1892 "Illustrated Sketches" of Death Valley by John R. Spears discussing the Twenty-Mule Team. Of course, this was from my mother Marion Deaver's extensive files of history of East Kern County and beyond. Keep in mind this book was written in 1892, so when I quote certain portions, remember not everything was "politically correct" in that time over 100 years ago. "If historians and poets have been justified in writing rapturously about the Arab and his steed,...
My heart is with teachers and students at this time as they begin a new school year. An organization that I have worked with, the Center for Mind-Body Medicine, (www.cmbm.org) has been training teachers and parents from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., how to manage and recover from trauma. Sadly, so many mass shootings and other crises keep CMBM in hot demand around the world. They have assisted people affected by wildfires, hurricanes, wars and numerous tragedies. I am p...
I grew up in a small town very similar to Tehachapi. As a kid in Kernville, I felt the importance of having local parks and recreation opportunities. A healthy representation of parks and recreational facilities brings health to a community, a stronger economy, higher property values and an increased quality of life. Kernville wasn't Tehachapi, and I feel so fortunate to not only be a resident of this beautiful community, but to work for the Tehachapi Valley Recreation & Park District so I can h...
Most folks file for Social Security Disability because they are physically unable to work. But for some, it's not the work that poses a threat, but the risk of blood clots or unstoppable bleeding. People who suffer from coagulation and bleeding disorders often live in fear of nicks and cuts. The Social Security Administration allows a person living with chronic blood clots (thrombosis), interrupted circulation, excessive blood clotting, or uncontrollable bleeding disorders to collect disability...
Diana Pittenger is Gallery 'N' Gifts featured artist for September who describes her work as being a painter in the most unusual sense of the word. Instead of using acrylics or oils, she uses bits of colored glass to illuminate her works using God's most wonderful gift – sunlight. After a lifetime of admiring this art form, she got her first exposure in its creative process in 1989 and has been creating her portraits of people, places and things ever since. After developing her skills for a coup...
September First Friday at Tehachapi Treasure Trove will feature Betty Flores and Sherrie Harris. Betty has been dabbling in art since she was able to draw in the dirt. Her sister, Sherrie, has been painting with watercolors for about 10 years. They are currently addicted to paint pour and have found innovative ways to combine pouring with traditional painting techniques. In addition, Betty is an accomplished potter. Betty and Sherrie were born in Texas four years and three months apart. They...
Sept. 7 will kick off fall festivities for some family fun! We will have a bounce house for the kiddos, snow cones and tacos will be available for purchase! Very special local artists who craft amazing gift-worthy products will be in a pop up tent setting, which will completely take over the parking lot at 117 S. Mill St. downtown Tehachapi at the corner of S. Mill and F Street. This month commemorates one year celebrating each First Friday from 5 to 8 p.m. Grand prize drawings will be held...
Pictured right: This past weekend during Mountain Festival Rotary gave away a children's bike, donated by Kmart. It was won by Emma Howard, age 6. Emma was so excited that she hugged everyone when her dad Ken Howard, told her that was her new bike. Her old bike had gotten too small for her. Emma lives with her dad Ken, her mom Amy and older brother Orion. Congratulations Emma. Pictured below: The Rotary Club of Tehachapi continues to sell opportunity drawing tickets for the KHS bike. The bike...
Working dogs and pups-in-training all showed up at Tehachapi Wine & Cattle Company on Saturday, Aug. 25....
Last school year, 140 children were registered to attend Tehachapi's Good News Clubs and 20 adults from seven local churches volunteered every week. Throughout Kern County there were 14 clubs, 561 registered children and 63 volunteers. Good News Clubs are found in every country except North Korea. Clubs are not a school district activity, but are allowed under the Constitution and Supreme Court decision of 2001 to have equal access to public schools as an after school program. Good News Clubs...
I think the heat is getting to me as I find myself longing for a little cool! I am daydreaming and looking at all of our photos that we took when we visited Alaska. Ooooo, the image of a Beaver on floats just makes my heart beat a little faster! This photo shows a de Havilland Beaver taxiing out on Lake Hood in Anchorage, Alaska for takeoff near the Heritage Museum for a "flight-seeing" trip to Portage Glacier, Mt. McKinley or the Chugach Mountains. Beavers are also used to take fishermen into...
It's been hard to miss, but healthcare options in Tehachapi over the last three years have increased significantly. By the end of this year, residents will have at their fingertips, the best care in the history of the Tehachapi Valley. Yes, it has been that type of transformation, a transformation that started with a leap of faith. First, it was the approval of the bond measures to finance the construction of the new hospital. That building attracted a new partner a year ago in Adventist...
Amazing isn't it, how things go in full circles and somehow everything seems to connect. Two days ago, I got a call from a big zoo about five fallow deer that had been confiscated by the Department of Fish and Wildlife from someone who had obtained and held them illegally. The zoo was being asked to take them, but really do not want them. Would I take them? How odd that a similar call 20 years ago set me on the course I now follow. That call came from the University of California. They had...
Summer 2018 was incredible for TVRPD. This time of year is a special time for us and always our favorite season. We get to offer many outstanding programs and events that touch so many people across the Tehachapi Valley. As Recreation Coordinator and Supervisor, Ashley Krempien and I have the privilege of being part of these offerings which ensure we provide recreation to as many participants as possible. We had our 9-week Summer Adventure Camp. We housed campers ages 4-14. In total, we served...
Generous community members contributed almost $6,000 on Thursday, Aug. 23 during the Art of Healing Silent Auction, hosted by the Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley Foundation. The money will be used to purchase local art that will adorn the walls of our new hospital upon opening, contributing to a serene, healing space. "We are overflowing with gratitude for our very giving community after Thursday night's event," said Christina Scrivner, Adventist Health Tehachapi Valley's manager of...
If you encounter a rattlesnake in Bear Valley Springs, who-ya-gonna-call?–ya call the snake guys–or the one snake gal. In any case, these six volunteers will take that call, ask you to keep your eye on the viper and hot-foot it to where you are, capture the rattler and then, a little later, relocate it. "We definitely don't want you to kill the rattler," Mike Kemp, a snake guy and retired educator, said at a recent presentation. "They're just too beneficial to us. They eat so many things tha...
