I Just Saved You From A Trip To Baker

Since my 'I Just Saved You From A Trip To Barstow' post was so popular, I figured I'd try it again....

Yesterday, I had to trek up to Las Vegas from Southern California for work.... Shortly after you pass the Zyzzx Road exit on the 15 freeway, you reach the small town of Baker, California.

The main attraction in Baker is the 'World's Tallest Thermometer'!

The thermometer is 134 feet tall and records temperatures up to 134 degrees Fahrenheit (a tribute to the record high temperature recorded in 1913).

As you can see, it was a sultry 84 degrees in the desert yesterday.....

I could have stopped at the infamous 'Mad Greek' restaurant, but I decided to take a chance and go to Bob's Big Boy. I have many memories of going to the Bob's Big Boy with my grandfather when he would pick me up after elementary school....

The 'Breakfast Buffet' is apparently a big draw at the Big Boy, but it was 2:00 pm when I entered the establishment and the buffet was still out. It looked like the buffet food hadn't been touched touched for a few hours, so it was easy to pass on the trays of hardened biscuits gravy and the scrambled eggs with an orange hue....

Seeing the Big Boy statue brought back so many memories of enjoying lunch with my Grandfather.... Unfortunately, I did not enjoy the food this time.... The food quickly took on a 'rigor mortis' form at the bottom of my tummy....

One last question for all my Canadian readers.... The Bob's Big Boy had a 'Canadian Cheese Soup'.... They were all out of the soup when I attempted to order, and the waitress had no idea what was in the soup.... Do you guys have any ideas of what could be in the 'Canadian Cheese Soup'?

The Grapes Of Wrath - Bakersfield History

Last week, I took a little trip for work to Bakersfield, California. Whenever I travel outside of the immediate area, I like to look for landmarks or fun stuff to check out while I'm on the road. I didn't have to venture too far from my work sites, because the sites themselves were packed with history.

The first site I inspected was a migrant camp used back in the Dust Bowl days (1930-1940).... And the adjacent lot (now an apartment complex) was previously used as barracks for Prisoners Of War after World War II. Most of the original buildings that occupied the area have been demolished. A small portion of the property I inspected was dedicated as a historical site (now protected by the government) and contains buildings from the days of the Dust Bowl.

Here are some pictures from my trip.... I took some of the pictures in black and white to add a vintage/creepy factor....

Common/Gathering Building

Kitties Cuddling On The Roof Of The Common/Gathering Building

Stage At The Common/Gathering Building

Beds For The Migrant Workers

Vintage Sewing Machine (and Chair?)

Gas Stove

Fire Hose Coils

Day Care Learning Center

Interesting story about this next building.... This building a post office built for the migrant worker camps during the Dust Bowl era. You can see this building in the movie 'The Grapes Of Wrath' in the scene where the owner of the migrant worker camp is welcoming 'the Okies'....






The representative was telling me all about how his family had moved to the the area in the mid-1960's. He told me that this metal and concrete building is identical to the structure that housed his family of six.






That was the extent of the fun stuff at the first property.... There wasn't much at the second site, aside from the migrant worker camp that currently occupies the site.... The camp had a really creepy vibe.... I pulled into the site, and it was completely deserted. The site representative was at lunch and the camp was completely vacant (the camps are only occupied during peak farming seasons.

The site representative finally arrived and explained that the property was actually a German Prisoner Of War camp after World War II. The POW barracks were torn down to build the migrant camp on the site.

The only remnant of the POW camp was in a grassy field, away from the buildings. We venture off the beaten path to get to what is known as 'THE OVEN'. My guide tells me that when a prisoner of war would die at the camp, it was more cost effective to cremate the bodies and ship the ashes back to Germany.

I don't put much stock into the supernatural, but even with 80 degree weather and the sun blaring down on us, it felt cold in the immediate vicinity of 'THE OVEN'.

After getting my pictures, and walking away from 'THE OVEN', the representative explained all about how tenants are constantly reporting seeing figures in military uniforms standing at the edge of their bed. One older couple complained about seeing the ghost of a little girl roaming the property at night, and since that incident, very few people stay out past sundown for fear of an encounter with a supernatural being....

In The Year 2020

Ok, here's the deal.... I was tagged by Bendigo at Bendigo's Rage to give my predictions of where I see myself in 10 years. I don't want to jinx anything, but I'll give it a try.... And yes, I know they went to the past in Back To The Future.... Just imagine that there's a II on the poster....

Let's see.... In 10 years, I'll be 40 years old.... I'll hopefully still be here in California, only I'll be able to say that I own my own house.... It won't be a big house, just big enough for all of my kids to have their own rooms.... So, I'll have a five-bedroom house (with direct access to the beach.... not really....), and if I get my way, I'll be building an additional sixth bedroom (at this point I'll only need a three-bedroom)!

I'll still be married to my beautiful and wonderful wife, if she's still willing to put up with me in ten years. However, that sixth bedroom might be where I have to go and sleep whenever I get in trouble.... On an interesting side note, I met my wife on this day, thirteen years ago....

I'll finally be in charge at the company where I work, after my father's long awaited retirement, and I won't have to adjust my budget each time my wife goes to Target (she walks in with the intention to buy one thing and she always walks out with a full cart!).

Other than that, I don't think much else will be different.... My wife and my kids are my life, and as long at they're here with me, I'll be happy.

I'm assuming that most everyone I know has been tagged, but I haven't seen Jerry from 'My Thoughts Brought To The Light' tagged yet.... Jerry, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Animal Instincts

Do you remember all the news stories after the huge earthquake and tsunami in Thailand in 2004, about how very few animals died because they may have a 'sixth sense' or 'animal instinct' that may have been able to sense the ground shaking before humans could, giving them the opportunity to run to higher ground before they were in any danger?

Security cameras in newspaper offices in Arcata, California were rolling before and during the magnitude 6.5 earthquake that struck just off the coast of Eureka, California on Saturday, January 9, 2010.....

You can clearly see the dog jumping up and bolting to find its owner before the earthquake occurs..... All reports indicate that the dog and it's owner did get out of the building safely....

People, We Live In California, This Is Our Home

Pack up the bags my dear, we're moving to Santa Cruz! I originally titled this blog "The Iraq, And Such As", because there's no way you can watch this video without thinking of Miss South Carolina.... This woman should really go to work for the State of California, the budget issues would have been solved a long time ago....

Now if you'll excuse me, one of the east coast slaves just stopped tending to the vegetable trees....

Ooooh..... A Hot Lips Phone!

A couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about the State of California attempting to sell the Orange County Fairgrounds and other large state owned landmarks for a large sum of money to close the budget gap. Maybe, they should do an internal investigation to find out where they're spending money.

Officials in Los Angeles County have found more than 8,000 phone lines, that cost the county approximately $1.5 million annually, that have been abandoned! Auditors, who are only halfway through their search, say the number of abandoned phone lines may top 16,000, totaling approximately $3 million a year in phone bills!

I wonder how many people we pay to sit in an office to do nothing all day..... Ha Ha Ha Colleen! Very funny! I actually do work in my office!

A Little Piece Of History

I was inspecting an abandoned apartment complex in Los Angeles the other day, and I took some interesting pictures. The guy who used to own the property inherited it from his father. His father used to restore and race old cars. I'm from Orange County, California, and I appreciate good Orange County history. Check out this old sign I found while walking the property.

I did a little research and found a bunch of great pictures of the Santa Ana Drag Strip. Apparently, C.J. "Pappy" Hart, established the Santa Ana Drag Strip on an unused runway at the Orange County (now John Wayne) Airport. Click on the picture below to see the pictures, and some video of the the old races.

After I found the sign, I walked through the building and I was almost killed by a swarm of killer bees! Well, not really, they just kind of sat there. But they were still really scary!

I finished my inspection and I was able to channel my 'fat kid in the outfield during a little league game' when I saw this butterfly sitting still for me....

Orange County

So the word around town is that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger will be proposing today that the state sell multiple properties around the State of California, including the Orange County Fairgrounds, to raise capital. The government is calling this move an “extraordinary” response to extraordinarily tough times.

In documents obtained by the Orange County Register, seven locations are listed as examples of high value sites:

• OC Fairgrounds
• San Quentin Prison
• Los Angeles Coliseum
  
• Del Mar Fairgrounds
  
• The Cow Palace
  
• Ventura Fair, and
  
• Cal Expo (site of the State Fair) in Sacramento

The OC Fairgrounds have an estimated worth of $96 million to $180 million and could be sold, like the other properties, in 24 to 60 months, according to the documents.

Cow Palace is estimated to be worth between $40 million and $75 million. Del Mar Fairgrounds, $350 million to $650 million. Cal Expo, $80 million to $150 million. Ventura County Fair, $37 million to $70 million. San Quentin up to $1 billion.

The plan contains brief sales pitches for each of the properties.

The Orange County Fairgrounds, for instance, is "very well located in the coastal community of Costa Mesa," near the 55 Freeway, making it "a very high value, centrally located . . . development opportunity for Orange County."

Would they build office buildings? Or more multi-family housing?

“Extraordinary times require extraordinary measures,” the document begins. “(But) taking action now can help shore up California’s financial future.”

None of this is really significant to me, other than the potential closing of the Orange County Fairgrounds, since I'm about five minutes away from the giant lot. I'd miss going to the fair every year, riding the rides, EATING THE FOOD.....

However, correct me if I'm wrong.... I don't think they're going to sell any of these properties.... I think this is a huge "red herring". We're getting the wool pulled over our eyes. This is an opportunity for our government to tell us that they're going to sell some of our most prized landmarks. Then we'll spend the next month or so groveling at their feet to keep the landmarks, so they'll stay open, and our children can enjoy them, and their children's children, and so on....

After the month of groveling, they'll seem to cave, and they'll tell us that they won't be selling our beloved treasures. We will all be relieved. Very soon after this, we'll see an initiative to raise our taxes. And they will claim this is because they tried other ways to raise capital quickly, and we liked none of them. So the only thing they can do now is raise taxes. And we'll approve of the tax hikes because they saved our cherished fairgrounds....

What's next? Are they going to come out with a plan to tell us that they're planning to cut the police force in California in half, and that doing this will make our state less safe, but it's a necessary evil.

Oooooh, maybe they'll hit us where it hurts, our children. Maybe they'll tell us that they're going to need to fire teachers and close down schools. This will decrease the quality of our children's education due to larger class sizes, and it will add to the average commute parents who have to drive their children to school.

Dear Government of the State of California:

Please make an attempt to decrease all the "BS" spending, or raise my taxes already! Stop this feeble attempt of tugging at the heartstrings of the citizens, only to fiscally prey upon the citizens who provide a majority of the support that you receive now through our taxpayer dollars. We don't appreciate it.

Sincerely

Your Citizen

It's Not An I.O.U, It's An F.U.!

Our accountant prepared our taxes yesterday, and we should be getting small returns from both the federal government and the state. However, since our state (California) does not have any money, and does not know when it will get more money, we're not going to receive the money from the State of California anytime soon. As the accountant said, "It's Not An I.O.U, It's An F.U.!"

The State of California has said that if you owe the state money, you better pay them before April 15, but if they owe you, they have no responsibility to make sure you get paid anytime soon.

The state government also raised sales tax, doubled the vehicle registration fees, and cut funds for education and health care programs.

I remember when Gray Davis was being ousted as governor because he tripled the vehicle registration fees. Arnold Schwarzenegger ran on a platform that he would not raise taxes, especially the vehicle registration fees. Are we supposed to spend another billion or so dollars to recall Schwarzenegger?

Is Obama going to be able to get us out of this recession? Is the commercial mortgage market going to crash? Is the credit card market going to crash? What is going on with America?

Maybe it's time to move to Canada!