Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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As a child I was fascinated by epitaphs. Epitaphs are the words found on graves’ headstones. Some were sad, some were thoughtful and some were funny. I remember in my seventh-grade English class we covered epitaphs, and I became intrigued by them. The epitaphs themselves gave insight into the life of the deceased or what people thought of them. Some gave information on their demise while others seemed to just want to get on with it. My mom had a book of epitaphs and had memorized several herself...
Those well thought out New Year's resolutions will have more than likely fallen by the wayside by now and are now only distant memories. I blame it on our collective seasonal amnesia. Resolution amnesia prevents us from putting too much pressure on our psyche. Do not fret, only 3 to 4 % of resolutions are faithfully adhered to. I believe that it may be an unrealistically high percentage as we tend to be overly optimistic. What is interesting is that cuneiform tablets dating from Babylonia 4,000...
It was a dark and gloomy night before Christmas in 1975. This was going to be the first Christmas as a married couple and his family was having a family reunion. We were short of funds, and I had decided to put my craft and sewing skills to use to make all the presents. The most important skill I should have employed was time management because the day before Christmas I still had the finishing touches and wrapping to do. I had planned on leaving work early but due to issues I ended up staying...
The one thing that was very true about Jennie, my mother-in-law, was that she thought I was laid back in the extreme. When we were planning our wedding, I was not too concerned about issues or pending semi-disasters because I had grown up in a pretty calm home. When Mom made the huge family dinners, they were successful, not only because she was a pretty good cook but because things didn't rattle her. If something went wrong, she would improvise. For example, once when the apple pie...
I confess that when I was young, I was not able to hide my joy at discovering a person who was gullible. Gullible means someone is easily persuaded to believe, and belief is a crucial element when teasing. If someone isn't gullible teasing is ineffective. I also believe being gullible is a matter of how skeptical you are and how much of an authority you think the perpetrator of the action is. It is also a matter of how much teasing takes place in a family. I know my family teased us from an earl...
I met one of my favorite relatives when we moved to California from Minnesota when I was 6. Audrey, my dad's first cousin, had platinum blond hair, twinkling blue eyes and a warm smile. She and her sister had left our hometown as young women to arrive in glamorous Los Angeles in the 1930s. I always admired their independence and courage to make that move. She and her sister were independent, as most Finnish women are, but they were surprisingly bold in their speech and exuberance. I always...
Growing up Finnish meant hearing the elders talk about every subject around the kitchen table. As a child the tales my dad, uncles, relatives and visitors from Finland would tell intrigued me. The stories would emphasize the idea of the "Sisu," the soul of the Finnish people. Sisu allowed this group of people living in very harsh conditions to survive adversity. It meant that even when there was no hope left in the world Finns would scrape up every bit of urgent persistence, focus and then...
I have a friend who equates texting to a symbol of crassness in our society. Joan and I met in Newhall in the 11th grade, and we have been friends for close to 60 years. It's amazing to think our friendship has outlasted most marriages and some countries. I try to keep in touch with Joan but it's hard because she doesn't text. Early on she decided texting was intrusive and prevented real conversations. She stubbornly insists that if people think you are important, they will call you. Mind you,...
I have often thought about people who contributed to the quality of our everyday lives because of their contributions through improving existing technology. We are constantly confronted with new and improved items from Ginsu knives to venetian blind cleaners. Improvements large and small are touted as the new best thing. Some innovations take a long time to become a part of our daily lives and it was true with our modern plumbing. In 1969, the inflated legend of Thomas Crapper was touted as the...
Both of my grandkids are going to middle school this year and once I was over the shock, I remembered my first days at a junior high school. The first month I met a lot of new kids and became good friends with one girl especially. Her name of Linda and I thought she was amazing. The first day in English the teachers had her diagram sentences on the board. Diagramming had never come up in my 6th grade class, so she was awe-inspiring. Linda seemed so sophisticated to me because she listened to...
In the late '50s, the Fourth of July in my hometown in Minnesota was a big deal. The town's businesses closed, and we had a Main Street parade where every child seemed to be dressed in red, white and blue. We each got a silver dollar for participating. There were American flags, hot dogs, Kool-Aid, apple pies and lots of beer. It was a time when men of the town had been soldiers in WWII. They would gather to speak about their experiences. Being in a Finnish community, talk would inevitably lead...
I developed my subtitle speed reading skills when I was trying to find something interesting and new to watch on TV. I was frustrated as I scrolled through thousands of possible choices, but everything seemed too familiar and too predictable. The predictability, as well as my habit of speeding to the end to see if it is worth watching, made me reject many possibly satisfying shows. Every suggested movie on the list was almost exactly what I had already seen. I longed for new adventures...
Thoughts of my "aiti" (Finnish for mother) are always with me. She was an immense influence on how I see myself. I learned from my parents how to be empathetic, fair and encouraging. From my mother I leaned to love poetry, humor and developed the confidence to tackle almost anything. My parents worked together to discipline us with calm fairness, with the purpose of improving our behavior. I could always count on mom to listen to my problems, and she was helpful to all who asked. Mom was the...
I was lucky to have great teachers growing up. My 7th grade English teacher was very remarkable. She was imposingly tall with black hair and big brown eyes. Her clothes were conservatively cut but she wore unfamiliar colors like deep burgundy and intense navy blue, often paired with wildly printed scarves. At the time I thought she was old but she was probably in her 30s. She had an exotic presence. From the first day she set the pace by setting down the rules and keeping us in line with her fie...
It seems I have read more articles about two subjects I never thought I would have to worry about: Roman concrete and the fact we are running out of sand globally. I was aware it's been estimated we will run out of fossil fuel by 2060 but I was surprised to learn that we will run out of sand, the essential ingredient in concrete, in 2060, as well. First, the good news is that scientists have finally figured out why Roman cement has lasted so many centuries. When I was in Rome, we went to see...
When I was a kid, I was a huge fan of the swash-buckling pirate movies. My favorite Saturday matinee on Channel 5 was any pirate movie featuring Errol Flynn or Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. The good pirates fought against the evil island governors on the sea and land. It was very romantic and exciting. So, you can understand how happy I was to hear that I was a direct descendant of a Finnish pirate. His name was Mustaparta, which translates to "Black Beard." My imagination ran wild. About 10 years ago...
I don't know about you but the very thought of making a list of resolutions each year makes me rebellious and defiant. How dare I demand myself to complete these resolutions? And when I do, what is the payoff? Is it worth the effort? It is so much pressure. Most resolutions are forgotten a few weeks after that first burst of excitement, resolve and hope. Sometimes the failure to conquer the resolution results in unhappiness, which is kind of a punishment for failure to perform. That is why I do...
I remember how cold and snowy it was the winter before we moved to California from Minnesota. I would play outside in that cold until I could barely move. I fondly remember the huge oil heater in the living room. To defrost me, my dad would stand me on top of it and leave me there until I could feel my toes then he would help me out of my snowsuit. I had inherited a well-used suit when I was 2 and now I was 5. Pulling me out of the snowsuit took strength and patience. This dangerous snowsuit was...
After retiring I got to thinking what is the world missing that I could provide? Well, I do love jokes and love to laugh. When I was at work at the hardware store we laughed as we exchanged hardware jokes. So, I thought why not write down all the great hardware jokes I had heard over the years? I told my friends about my idea of writing a book of hardware humor and started to give them some examples. They were so excited about this great idea that they left before I could finish. One of my...
I was afraid of retirement. My fear was based on the experience I had when I left my position with Security Pacific Bank in 1981. I was the Division Personnel Officer with about 4,000 employees. That job consisted of taking care of personnel issues for about 30 branches, many of which were in Hollywood. It was a very busy and stressful job. When my husband told me he wanted to look for a hardware store to buy I decided the time was right for me to leave the bank. I looked at my calendar and...
I decided to hang up my trusty Pioneer True Value apron, after 39 years. As soon as the “For Sale” sign went up, I had customers pleading with me to keep it a hardware store. They said they needed a place where they can get the products and service and how-to information. One distraught customer told me he would pray hard that someone would buy it and keep it a hardware store and, by golly, the next day Karl’s Hardware (of Rosamond, Mojave and Boron) bought it! I joked that I should have kept th...
Randy Katai is new to Pioneer True Value Home Center but he is not new to the world of lumber and hardware. Randy earned his degree in mechanical engineering which led to a career designing intricate mechanical floats for the Rose Parade and creating special effects for movies. This was before Computer Graphics and all special effects were "real". After years of being on the road in the movie industry he decided to change professions and turned his attention to carpentry and construction. Randy...
It seems every spring I rejoice in the warmer weather, the greening of the hills, the explosion of colorful wildflowers. But I must acknowledge the flip side--the changeable weather, the thriving weeds, the allergies and the cleanup that must be managed. We at Pioneer True Value Home Center are here to help you make it "all better." Walk around your yard and determine what needs to be done. We have to clear our land by June 1 to comply with the Kern County guidelines so that is the priority....
When I was young I stayed on my uncle’s farm during the summer. They farmed feed corn, wheat, and hay and had a dairy herd, pigs, and chickens. Their garden for household use was huge. Most of the produce would be canned and used during winter. My cousin and I would get the vegetables for the meal fresh from the garden. It was fun and tasted great especially after taking a detour through the strawberry patch! Our customers get what they need to make their gardens successful from us at Pioneer T...
Customers come in to the store seeking help and advice on how to do a home improvement project and usually they take our advice, use the products we recommend, and come back with the good news that it worked. But there have been times when people react in surprising ways. I distinctly remember 5 or 6 years ago a woman came in for paint. She wanted to repaint the kitchen walls. We asked what kind of paint was currently on it-flat or shiny. She said shiny so we told her that she would have to...
