Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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Last December I wrote about the Spirit of Christmas, which I defined as love, peace and goodwill toward others. We share the Spirit of Christmas by spreading joy, kindness and compassion to those around us. Most of us manage to share the Spirit during the month of December because there are reminders everywhere. The challenge is to keep the Spirit going the other 11 months of the year. But, why bother; isn't the month of December enough Spirit for a whole year? The best reason for year-around...
Bread in some form or another has been around since the dawn of man. Archeologists have found millstones dating back 30,000 years, which suggest humans (most likely women) were making flatbread from the flour of ground cattails and ferns. Around 10,000 years ago wheat was domesticated and became the grain of choice for flatbread. Today, what we call a "traditional" flatbread is made with only wheat flour, salt and water. The resulting dough is rolled out into a circle then baked in a hot oven...
Did you know that the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was dedicated on Oct. 28, 1886? The Lady is so iconic that it's hard to imagine a time when she was not there. The statue sits on Liberty Island (formerly Bedloe's Island) in the Hudson River, not far from where it dumps into the Atlantic Ocean. The island is actually on the New Jersey side of the river, not the New York side, but the island itself is considered part of New York. Liberty Enlightening the World is the work of French...
This is part 2 of an article that was in the Aug. 31 issue of The Loop newspaper. Last time I talked about the origin of coffee and how it came to America. In this installment, I'll explain how to roast your own coffee. But first, why should you bother? Because the resulting drink is SO MUCH BETTER than anything you've ever had before. And it's fun, easy and lots cheaper than buying from expenisve coffeehouse chains every day. There are two ways to roast coffee beans: drum roasting and fluid...
"Coffee – favorite drink of the civilized world" – Thomas Jefferson This month I want to celebrate coffee, where it came from and how we became a coffee drinking nation in spite of our tea-drinking roots. In part 2, I will discuss how to roast your own beans to brew the perfect cup, so you'll be all set to enjoy a cuppa come the 29th. About eight years ago I became a certified coffee snob. Prior to that I never drank the stuff. I basically went from zero to coffee snob overnight. What bro...
I'm so excited to have an entire month to celebrate one of my favorite desserts – ice cream! On July 9, 1984, President Ronald Reagan signed a proclamation establishing the month of July as National Ice Cream Month, and the third Sunday in July (the 21st this year) as National Ice Cream Day. I have no idea why we need a special day when we have the whole month, but I'll take it! Today's modern ice cream treat started out some 2,000 years ago as a simple icy drink. Alexander the Great (256 BC ...
Camping – in centuries past, it was how we lived, and it was hard work collecting and chopping wood; making a fire with nothing but a flint and a prayer (or worse, a hand drill and a half an hour of intense labor spinning the stick); building a shelter to stay dry during a downpour, or warm during a blizzard; keeping the scorpions out of your shoes, and varmints (two- and four-legged) out of your meager possessions. Thank goodness we don't have to worry about that hardship today with our b...
Part one of "May – A red letter month", in the April 27 issue of The Loop newspaper, ended with the closing of the Pony Express due to the completion of the transcontinental telegraph line. While the telegraph sped up communication, it was too expensive for the everyday man. That changed with the coming of the railroad. Lincoln's Pacific Railway Act of 1862 created the Union Pacific Railroad Company and authorized it to build a railroad west from Nebraska to connect with rail line being built ea...
I hope you'll catch the play on words in the title. Turns out that May is an important month when it comes to the written word here in the U.S. Our United States Post Office was established in perpetuity on May 8, 1794, and regular U.S. airmail service began on May 15, 1918. In between these two May events we have: • The mail by stagecoach. (1832) • The Pony Express. (1860-1861) • The Intercontinental Railroad, driving of the Golden Spike. (1869) Mail is defined as letters and packages conveyed...
Thirty-seven years ago, no one had heard of Pi Day. Then along came Larry Shaw (1939-2017), a physicist at the San Francisco Exploratorium. In 1988, three years after the death of the Exploratorium founder, the staff gathered at a retreat in Monterey, California to soul search and brainstorm. It was there that Shaw linked March 14 (3.14) with the digits of pi (3.14159...) and saw it as an opportunity to bring Exploratorium staff together for some fun, camaraderie and pie. Pi Day was born. What s...
Last month I wrote about three instruments, the kazoo, armonica and banjo. The banjo was brought to America by slaves and had a strong influence on American music over the years. Given that February is Black History Month, I thought it would be interesting to continue the music theme focusing on African slave music and how it laid the foundation for most American music, especially blues, gospel and jazz. By 1860, there were roughly four million slaves in America. They brought with them a rich...
Jan. 28 is National Kazoo Day. Yup, for real. The coolest thing about a kazoo is that if you can hum, you can play one. The second coolest thing is that it fits in your pocket or purse so, like a harmonica, you can make music anytime, anyplace. The third coolest thing is that the kazoo was invented in America. The invention of the kazoo is generally attributed to Alabama Vest, who collaborated with a German clockmaker named Von Clegg, to create an instrument they called the Clegghorn. They...
In the United States, Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, has become the "traditional" Christmas season kick-off. This relatively new tradition started in the early 1960s when Philadelphia police officers used the term to describe the general chaos that occurred on the Friday after Thanksgiving when gobs of people came to town to start their holiday shopping. It wasn't until the late 1980s that merchants glommed onto the term to promote holiday shopping and improve their bottom lines....
Here's a bit of interesting history: On Sept. 14, 1716, the first lighthouse in the Americas was lit. Boston Light was built on Little Brewster Island in Boston Harbor, Massachusetts between 1715-1716. We beat out the Canadians who built their first lighthouse in 1734. And we beat out South America by more than 175 years. I'm not sure whether to be impressed with how long ago the first lighthouse was built, or sad that it took settlers almost 100 years to build it after first arriving on the...
People, places and events that make this month memorable According to the Farmers Almanac, the Dog Days of Summer start on July 3 and go through Aug. 11. Historically these days were the period following the early morning rise of the star Sirius, aka the Dog Star (#2 below), in the constellation Canis Major (see below). The Romans believed that as Sirius traveled the daytime sky, its light combined with the heat of the sun and that's what caused the extra hot weather in July and August. They cal...
