Forde Shorts

Wait, what? – February blew in with a snowstorm that closed Hwy. 58, and Post Office patrons met with puzzlement when they found that the counter was closed on Feb. 1 (see sign). Postal customers accepted the closure with good grace. The most common utterance (detected as Forde Files stuck 65 Save Mart-purchased stamps on a batch of mail) was "What happened to 'Through rain and sleet...?'" According to Wikipedia, the phrase is not an official Post Office motto. It is an inscription on a post office in New York City, a translation from ancient Greek referring to the mounted postal carriers: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

Beautiful music, yours for free – The Tehachapi Strings Orchestra– a development orchestra for the Tehachapi Symphony Orchestra – presents "Classical and All That Jazz" Friday, Feb. 26, 2016 at 7 p.m. at St. Jude's Anglican Church. The music director is Gayel Pitchford. The Tehachapi Strings Orchestra will perform Fugue in G Minor (the "Great") by Johann Sebastian Bach, Mandolin Concerto, Movement 1, by Antonio Vivaldi with mandolin soloist Mallori Spears, Andante for Strings by Joachim Raff and Carson Valley Rhapsody by John O'Neill. The evening opens with selections by the Junior Orchestra and ends with selected strings students in recital. The students will amaze you.

Follow instructions --Sign on a wall at the new Tehachapi Hospital that is moving swiftly toward completion: "DO NOT BURY ME." (Don't close the wall here.) All the pipes and conduits that snake through the structure are clearly labeled. In California, hospitals must meet rigorous construction and safety standards that are likely the most stringent in the world.

Insight - "Dealing with inmates is no problem. It's just like dealing with kids. It's all communication." – Mary Van Blake, retired sergeant, California Correctional Institution, speaking at an AAUW panel Jan. 13, 2016.