Meet Your New Neighbors

Greyson and Darlene McDaniel arrived in Tehachapi in August from Amarillo, Texas. It was Greyson’s job as a system integrator with an oil company that brought them to California and their love of horses that brought them to Tehachapi and Bear Valley Springs. When I asked what a system integrator is, he explained that he was basically a computer programmer. Darlene is retired from administrative work and takes care of the basic ranch duties.

Darlene told me that it took a while to find the perfect property so they rented for a while and finally moved into their new home in October.

This is not their first time in California. At one time they spent a year or so in Huntington Beach. As a matter of fact, Greyson said that they have also lived in Colorado, Kentucky, Nebraska (twice), Minnesota, Oklahoma and, of course, Texas.

Greyson was born in Kansas City, Missouri. He has a brother who currently lives in the bay area and a sister in Puyallup, Washington. His father is still working and is at Cabela in Nebraska.

Darlene was raised in Hayward, California, which is near the Bay Area. Most of her family is still in Northern California.

The couple has a son and a daughter who are both University of Nebraska Cornhuskers. Twenty-three-year-old Jessica is studying to be a geneticist and twenty-one-year-old Greyson, Jr. a strength coach.

Most of their activities in Tehachapi revolve around horses. Both Greyson and Darlene are active volunteers with the Tehachapi Mountain Rodeo Association and work with both the Pro Rodeo and the Junior Rodeo. Although they have had several horses, they currently have only one, a Grullo Quarter Horse appropriately named Smoke. They said that since they had extra stall space they are currently looking for boarders.

Their property is watched over by their three very active rescue dogs, Rascal, Teegan and Dumas. Darlene told me that Dumas was dumped at a feed store in Texas at the age of four weeks and Rascal was also found as a baby at a gas station.

Welcome to Tehachapi, Darlene and Greyson. I know we’ll see you at the rodeo.

Brian and Debra Caldwell have come to Tehachapi from Camarillo, California, which is near the coast in Ventura County. When Brian took a new job in Bakersfield, they knew they didn’t want to be in the valley and the natural setting of the mountains attracted them.

Brian is in marketing and after many years with such companies as Technicolor, DirecTV and Doubletree, he was lured to Bakersfield by a family owned business called “Rain for Rent” that has been renting irrigation equipment since 1934.

Debra is a writer and an artist, and is currently working on a novel. According to Brian she can fix anything. He calls her a “female McGuyver”. There are limits, however – neither of them will touch plumbing.

Brian is an only child and was born in Wilmington, Delaware, where his father worked for DuPont. Debra has a brother and a sister and was born in southeastern Pennsylvania. They both lived in Syracuse, New York during high school. Although they attended different high schools, they met as DJs at a high school radio station. They were married in December of 1981. (Happy Anniversary, by the way!)

As true nature lovers, Brian and Debra are in their element in Bear Valley. Although both of them like to spend time in the garden, Debra is also an avid birdwatcher. She has several bird feeders spread around her yard and some hanging outside her dining room window which attract hundreds of birds. In the short time of my visit, I saw bluebirds, titmice, goldfinches and nuthatches, among others. It’s no wonder they all love Debra; she makes her own suet for her feeders and raises mealworms for the bluebirds.

She told me that it was Brian’s grandmother who got her started.

The Caldwells also have three fairly quiet house birds named Duncan, Cricket and Bogie; two very quiet house bunnies named Duffy and Miz; and two six-month-old not-so-quiet Burmese Mountain Dogs named Sabrina and Trixie who were, of course, outdoors but wanted to be inside.

We welcome all of you to Tehachapi. Enjoy your new mountain home.

If you have moved to the Greater Tehachapi Area within the last six months and would like to know more about your new community, call (661) 822-8188. We will be happy to make an appointment for a hostess to come by and give you lots of helpful information, some valuable coupons, gifts and much more. Many families and individuals who come to the area are pleasantly surprised with the amount of knowledge they gather about their new home. Publishing your welcome article is completely voluntary and is not a requirement of being welcomed.