THE OLD BOYS CLUB’S, GRAND OLD PLAN (GOP)…. a political fairy tale The string theory suggests there might be parallel worlds. The following is, of course, fiction but there may be parallels to the world with which we are familiar, because of the string theory, dontcha know. Once upon a time there were a group of very rich men. They lived in a nation which…
Wind kicks across the site of the old, abandoned Pete Verboom Dairy just off Highway 76, west of Pala. Once an iconic and important dairy farm among hundreds of San Diego County dairy operations, Pete Verboom Dairy No. 1 and No. 2 are no more, and left blowing in the Pala Valley wind. Verboom was president of the San Diego County Milk Producers Council. He…
Art is not a thing; it is a way. Elbert Hubbard Desperate to restore a greater sense of beauty in my life, I was to discover a pulsating heap of it in an unexpected place—at the Oceanside Museum of Art. And while I can find beauty in the smallest crevice sprouting a delicate tendril flower, there comes a moment when searching for another’s vision is required….
I live next door to a gaggle of goats, 4 to be exact. Now, I know they come in herds but I like alliteration so gaggle it is. Anyway, my next door neighbor, LizzyGal, has these 4 goats that live in a penned area out back, just before the land slopes down to the creek below. In the ample pen, there are 3 little outbuildings,…
The Russel Ray, Property Consultant home inspection this past Thursday was out on Palomar Mountain. It caught me off guard when I scheduled it because I had no clue that there were homes up on Palomar Mountain. Once I finished the inspection, I headed over to the “Big Eye,” more properly known as Mount Palomar Observatory: The Big Eye is only 62 miles from where…
The view from here is rhythmic. This Saturday my family and I enjoyed the Music Fest at Bates Nut Farm, which was co-produced by the Valley Center/Pauma Music Boosters and Cattle Call, LLC. Last year was the first time we attended and it was so fantastic that we were excited to see the announcement pop up on social media a couple of months ago. Music…
I covered the Delta. That’s the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta for our purposes although I occasionally covered the Mississippi Delta for newspapers in Louisiana and Arkansas, which is a whole ‘nother story. This was the California Delta where I covered Elk Grove south and west through Hood, Locke, Walnut Grove, Isleton along with places like Lodi, Galt and heaven’s know where for the Sacramento Bee. They…