Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
Tehachapi's Online Community News & Entertainment Guide
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I saw one of the most beautiful birds of prey in North America this week, as it hovered over a fallowed field north of Highline Road: a White-tailed Kite. These striking birds are among my favorites and are one of the most uncommon raptors found in the Tehachapi area – most people have never even heard of them. White-tailed Kites (Elanus leucurus) are medium-sized birds of prey that typically hunt in open grasslands, fallow fields and savannahs. They are mostly white and can be mistaken for g...
January weather in Tehachapi can be snowy, windy and extremely cold, or it can be sunny and mild with temperatures in the 60s. Some of the strongest (and at times competing) influences on Tehachapi weather are these two realities: one is that we are in the mountains at 4,000 feet above sea level, which brings rapidly changeable weather, low temperatures and occasional snow; the second is that despite our elevation we are still in Southern California, albeit on the northern edge, which brings...
Up in the mountains south of the town of Tehachapi is a little opening in the forest where tens of thousands of ladybugs gather each year to overwinter in dense clusters of orange and black beetles. Entomologists call them Convergent Lady Beetles (Hippodamia convergens). Of course most of us know them as "ladybugs," but scientists prefer other terms because there is a distinct group of insects known as "bugs," such as milkweed bugs or boxelder bugs, that have different characteristics from lady...
Fall is the typical time to plant bulbs in the Tehachapi Mountains, and it is an autumn delight to purchase an array of bulbs and plant them in your yard or in containers, imagining how beautiful they'll look when they awaken in spring and provide you with lovely flowers. People typically think of bulbs like tulips and daffodils, but there are many others to decorate your garden and thus your life. One great choice is the Dutch Iris, which is known for its gorgeous flowers, straight stems and...
Charlie Hernandez had a uniquely Tehachapi Valley upbringing, with life experiences that included loading ore cars for the little narrow gauge train that used to operate at the Monolith Portland Cement Company to designing the shoulder patch for Tehachapi's fledgling new police department when he was still a sophomore in high school. Charlie was born on November 7, 1938 to Pedro and Hillaria Hernandez, one of nine children who lived to adulthood (two siblings died as children). Charlie's father...
This has been a banner year for one of the main wild food sources in the Tehachapi Mountains: acorns. Acorns are the nuts produced by our various species of tree and shrub oaks. Our landscape is defined largely by our oaks, and acorns are their seeds, the source of all our past, present and future oak trees. Each acorn is an embryonic oak tree. However, almost none of these will actually grow into a standing tree one day. There are many, many obstacles that an acorn, and the seedling that it...
There was a solar eclipse visible in Tehachapi on May 20, 2012, and some Tehachapi residents took photos of the event. Chris Esten took a photo of unusual crescent-shaped shadows caused by the solar eclipse that began at about 5:30 p.m. On that afternoon, Chris and his wife Kerri were at their home in the Tehachapi Mountains and when checking out the eclipse, they enjoyed the distinctive shadows caused by the partially eclipsed sun as it was shining through small gaps between the leaves of...
After spending more than 50 years observing the seasons change in the Tehachapi Mountains, I've reached the conclusion that autumn is the most transitional of the four seasons. There is noticeable change during each of our three-month long seasons, of course, but the differences are the most dramatic from the beginning to the end of fall. Summer, for example, is more stable: when summer officially begins about June 21 each year, the grasses are dry on the hillsides, the trees have all leafed...
Native American mothers, grandmothers and aunties have been making toys for the babies in the family for untold centuries. For many California Indian children, one of their first presents was traditionally a rattle made from native plant material with seashells and pebbles inside to jangle around and make a pleasant sound. Not only would such a rattle provide entertainment and distraction for Native American babies, they could also use it as a teething toy, since the rattles were made of...
"Today Cummings Valley is like the center of a flower with Brite Valley, Alpine Forest, Stallion Springs and Bear Valley Springs as its petals. For many years Cummings Valley has been known and respected for retaining its historical beauty and agricultural value." – Gerry Trierweiler...
"If you happened not to know enough to engage in advance the seat beside the driver, then the trip was rather a horror, crowded into the stuffy interior between oldtimers, liquor salesmen, mining experts, an occasional stray 'girl' from the local bawdy house, or one of those distressed and distressfully pitiable 'lungers' of whom you had the grace only to hope he wouldn't die on your shoulder. Outside there was a magnificent panorama and often good entertainment." – Mary Austin Mary Austin, a f...
"Back in my day, we had nine planets. . ." – Dave Bouldin Local amateur astronomer Dave Bouldin musing over the demotion of Pluto from a planet to a "dwarf planet" or "planetoid."...
"Misuse of the word 'literally' makes me figuratively insane." – English teachers everywhere For reasons that have yet to be explained, otherwise intelligent people have begun using the word "literally" to mean the opposite of what it actually means. As in "she literally exploded when she saw the mess" or "it's literally raining cats and dogs."...
"Jimmy George's mother died when he was still in his basket [cradleboard]. No other women were nursing, and there were no cows or sheep for milk. His grandmother kept him alive by dipping pinenut soup from a bowl into his tiny mouth with her finger." – Wuzzie George Paiute peoples like the Nuwä (Kawaiisu) of the Tehachapi Mountains were able to sustain even infants on the nutritious Pinyon Pine (Pinus monophylla) nuts that were gathered in large numbers each autumn....
"It was the start of lambing season, and up on the hillsides the shepherd's work was beginning. If ever a man was proud of his work and contented in it, the shepherd is. He is a craftsman, his work is his life. Long hours of solitude in the valleys or hills have a tranquilizing effect; either a man can't stand the life or it makes him meditative, and constant association with the sheep who depend on him makes him calm and unhurried." – Alan C. Jenkins...
"Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what's the matter, That you have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?" – William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing...
Summer has faded and autumn has returned to the Tehachapi Valley, bringing with it the annual spectacle of thousands upon thousands of migrating Turkey Vultures. Day after day, these big black birds soar through Tehachapi Pass on their journey southward. The vultures hitch rides on thermals to gain elevation, circling as they ascend rising columns of warm air like an invisible spiral staircase. This flight behavior is known as "kettling," for the way the jumbled circling birds look as though...
Hollyhocks are one of the few ornamental flowers that naturalize so well in the Tehachapi Mountains that they can thrive without any care or supplementary watering – you can often see beautiful examples of them growing on roadsides, vacant lots or other neglected areas. They are among the first flowering species to have been cultivated in gardens, and there are references to them in literature that date back hundreds of years. They are considered one of the prime choices for traditional c...
I spent last week in Arizona, working with a world-renowned land artist named Jim Denevan to create a giant ephemeral art piece for a music and art festival. I almost always focus my writing on the Tehachapi Mountains and surrounding areas, but I thought readers might find this project interesting. Jim has been creating art for 35 years, working primarily on sandy beaches, playas and desert landscapes around the world, on projects that are often epic in size and concept. I've worked with him...
If you'd like to attract hummingbirds to your garden AND you'd like a perennial that would still be blooming in August, September and October, then here's a beautiful native plant to consider: California Fuchsia. Hummingbirds are naturally drawn to red flowers, since they can see the color red and insect competitors can't, and the tubular shape of California Fuchsia flowers also favors hummers with their long bills and nectar-sipping tongues. California Fuchsia was formerly known as Zauschneria...
French composer Claude Debussy once said "There is nothing more musical than a sunset," and with that sentiment in mind, the Tehachapi Mountains enjoy the lingering notes, the pleasant melodies, of many beautiful sunsets. One requirement for a colorful sunset is some high clouds that catch the sun's rays as it lowers, and that is why mountains like ours are often conducive to great sunsets – mountains tend to have clouds. Even on mostly clear days, where the sky overhead is an infinite blue, som...
I would like to share the story of Ola Lee Patterson, a wonderfully good, kind and humble woman, who made her mark on Tehachapi history in her own graceful way. Ola was a pioneer and trailblazer: she was the first African-American woman to live in Tehachapi. She and her husband, Moses, moved here with their daughters Maenell and Mozell in 1946, and in 1963 their youngest daughter, Laura, was the first African-American baby born at Tehachapi Hospital. You might think that in a conservative county...
One of the coolest, most interesting birds in the Tehachapi area is also one of the hardiest: the Greater Roadrunner (Geococcyx californianus). These comical, animated birds are not only fast and fearless enough to kill and eat rattlesnakes, they do not migrate, so they must also be able to withstand the harshest Tehachapi weather. Roadrunners are large birds, nearly two feet in length with long tails and long stout bills with a subtle hook at the end. Their overall plumage is a mix of black...
"I've only missed a handful of Tehachapi firework displays in the past 45 years, and this year's was easily the best ever! Even our weekend guests from L.A. were impressed. Our family loved them." – Steve Sanders...
"Tehachapi tomatoes arrive later than at lower elevations. August and September are the best months for tomatoes in Tehachapi." – Sid Weiser...
