Photos: Bakersfield.com

Buddha Hand fruit

This unusual produce is called "Buddha Hand." It is a citrus and is used to enhance flavor for cooking.

Great Fishing

Monster Zucchini

Students Jordan Dickson (left) and Zoe Brown show off some super-sized squash at the Highland High School ag field. The monster zucchini on the left was 23 inches long and weighed a whopping 10 pounds. (It was later enjoyed on the grill with olive oil and pepper...)

Yellow bell tomato explosion

In a very small corner of my world, you will find my yellow bell miniature tomato BUSH! When I went to the nursery, I chose tomato plants, and your usual herbs. I did the usual staking with bamboo stakes as well as having a cage protector. As the yellow tomato plant began to bloom, I used Vigro just to ensure it would have all the right nutrients. Soon I began harvesting my tomato plant on a daily basis, and soon I was sharing with my next door neighbor, then the next, and with all my neighbors who would enjoy tomatoes.

One morning, I discovered my tomato plant had taken a dive to the ground. With the assistance of my good neighbors, we installed lumber stakes. My tomato plant is over 5 feet in height, still blooming and growing. What fun, and for only $1.50!

Out-of-control zucchini

Here is one of my out of control zucchini which remained undetected under the bushy leaves until my son noticed it and picked it for me. It will be used to make loads of muffins!

Giant Lemons

This is Parris and Paxton holding the giant lemons off my tree in northwest Bakersfield.

Chris Klassen Bachelor Party

Chris Klassen caught this 140 lb. Grouper on his bachelor party in Cabo San Lucas. His fishing buddies this day were his brother, Matt Klassen and friend Marc Fabbri. Along for the trip was his future father-in-law Mike Burton as well as his father Phil Klassen.

Tons of tomatoes

There is nothing I enjoy more than growing wonderful veggies year 'round, in my 4 raised beds.

Right now, there are massive tomato plants more than 10 feet tall. See perspective next to 6 foot fence. I'm growing heirlooms and hybrids -- mostly beefsteak type. The climate this year has not been as terribly hot as the last two years, and my plants are still producing. I just removed my English style cucumber plants.

At this time, I'm planting seeds for my winter garden of broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, sugar peas, beets, swiss chard, lettuces.

When the weather turns cold, I place plastic hoods over the wood frames of the boxes. There are grow lights which I turn on at night.

I have enjoyed this hobby for years! I like to freeze; do canning; and pickle, etc. This does not save money when you add up the utility bills, fertilizers, etc., but they sure TASTE GOOD! And no salmonella to worry about.

Giant pumpkin

Here is a photo of my dad (Tony Compagnoni, who will be 90 years old on Sept. 12 ) with our Giant pumpkin. It's the biggest we have ever grown, and we live in Pumpkin Center, California!

Summer Garden

Lathen Gallon, Age 7, with his 4.5 lb. and 3.0 lb. Italian Squash. Lathen grew the squash in his garden this summer. Also in his garden are; tomatoes, bell peppers, artichokes, crook neck squash.

Zucchini left too long on the vine!

This is one day's harvest - I can measure my crop almost by tons. Zucchini (green and yellow), butternut squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, berries and fruit.

Vancouver Vacation

A beach, where there was water just 6 hours ago. This photo was taken by Tom & Debbie Teofilo of Kernville, while vacationing this summer at the Tigh-Na-Mara Resort, Craig Bay Beach, Vancouver Island, Canada.

Germany

Cochem, Germany: A great wine town on the Mosel river.

Truck explosion on 99

A refrigerated truck traveling southbound on Highway 99 exploded at about 3:30 this afternoon. Employees of Jennings Transfer and Storage grabbed garden hoses and raced to help the truck driver. Firefighters were quickly on the scene to put out the blaze.

No word on the condition of the driver. At least one lane of Highway 99 was still open at the time of the fire.

Will Dance For Food

The students from Linda Larma and Daughters Academe of Dance held its annual Summer Dance recital to benefit the Kern County Child Abuse Prevention Council on July 28-30 at the Gaslight Melodrama Theater and Music Hall. Everyone in attendance was asked to bring a canned food item or a personal hygiene product. The event was a huge success, filling up the empty pantries at Haven Counseling.

Sights in San Diego

These pictures were taken aboard the Ranger 85 during my fishing trip on July 20.

Fish tacos tonight

Tomas Weaver of Tehachapi caught this 13-pound Dorado fly-lining a sardine July 20 on his 1 1/2 day trip aboard the Ranger 85 out of San Diego.

Child's First Catch

We took our girls camping for the first time this past July 2008 to Kernville, CA and our oldest daughter caught her first fish with her aunt Sherry, which was a 7 pound Rainbow Trout.

Saying Goodbye to 96.5 KBKO Bakersfield Country Radio Station

Apparently Caden McCloud the son of Morning Show host Kenn and Crystal McCloud also found it hard to say goodbye to KBKO 96.5 Bakersfield Country!

9 year old donates 18 inches of hair

My granddaughter, Sierra Wesala (9 years old) is from Exeter Ca; she's here visiting the family. She got her first hair cut today (besides trimming her bangs). Her hair was over 3 ft long and she got 1 1/2 ft cut today and donated it to Locks of Love. When we asked her why, she said "I wanted to do this to help people with Cancer." When asked if she would do it again, she replied with "I can't wait!" Pamela Klug, owner of Clip Chip Hair Design in Wofford Heights did the magic!

Blue Butterflies at Vacation Bible School

"Blue Butterflies" (left to right) Briana Weathers, Faith Thoms, Savanna Turk, Megan Bigalk and Natalie Gilbert take a snack break during Grace Lutheran's "Rainforest Adventure" Vacation Bible School in Ridgecrest. Rainforest Adventure will be going on from June 21st through June 25th starting at 8:30- 11:45.

McMurtrey Aquatic Float In Movie July 18th

Century plant blooms again

Century Plant - sends up a shoot once in a lifetime of the plant, probably 50 years rather than 100. Stalk will eventually bend and fall, then the plant is supposed to die. However, this is the second one and the plant is still living (four years ago).

Kern County's Diverse Beauty

Is Gabi seeing double?

These two fish caught in California Aquaduct off Hwy 119 with anchovies. One is 24 inches the other is 25inches.

Photographing Fireworks and Lightning

Fireworks

With the Fourth of July weekend now over, I thought I’d share some of my better fireworks and lightning photos, along with some tips on how to get these types of results. A camera phone or point-and-shoot camera will not do the trick. You will need an SLR camera that takes interchangeable lenses and lets you use long exposure settings.You’ll also need a sturdy tripod and cable release cord. You can get away with just holding down the shutter button during the exposure, but you run the risk of bumping the camera and ruining your shot. These tips apply to both 35mm and digital, but you will get much better results with the digital format.

Next up is your choice of ISO setting, aka "film speed." For beginners I recommend starting with 400, and when you’ve got some experience, move down to 200. Scout out a location where you can shoot from, yet not be jostled by the crowd. Get as close as you can to the display area. If your town’s local fireworks display is being held at a stadium or fairgrounds, you probably won’t be able to set up a tripod in the primary seating area, so try shooting from the parking lot. A wide angle lens will work best, particularly if it is a zoom lens.

Use the beginning of the show to get an idea of where the fireworks will be going off most often, and to set your focus to that point. If enough fireworks are going off at once, you may be able to get away with using auto focus, but more than likely you’ll have to use manual focus, and lock it in.

Set your camera manually to “bulb” for the shutter speed. Set the aperture to anywhere between f/11 and f/20. Hold the shutter open while the fireworks are going off. I’ve had the best results with exposures of 10, 15, 20, and 25 seconds at f/20. This will allow enough time for several bursts to occur while your shutter is still open. If you can, find something in the foreground to anchor your shot. If there isn’t anything to use in that manner, zoom in all the way for full frame shots (assuming you’re close enough to the show to do so). One of the benefits to shooting digitally, is that the digital format will tolerate cropping on the computer much more than a 35mm scan would, so you can create several photos out of one frame.

Lightning:

The same technique above can also be applied to photographing lightning, however safety becomes a little more of an issue than with fireworks, especially since a tripod is involved, which runs the risk of becoming a lightning rod while out in the field.

Once you’re in a location where you can see lightning going off on a regular basis, set up your camera and again set it to “bulb," and set your aperture to between f/11 and f/16. Use the first few bolts you see to fix your focus. Hold the shutter open long enough for one or more bolts to appear, then close it after a few seconds following the last bolt. Repeat this process. I’ve had success with 10 to 20 seconds, around f/11 to f/16.

If it’s raining at your location, place your vehicle perpendicular to the rain and shoot through your vehicle’s window, using a monopod. If you’re careful enough you can get perfectly acceptable images that are sharp enough for enlarging. The fun part is then getting on the computer and changing the color of your images.

CAR EMERGES FROM WALL!

OK, not really. Obviously the car CAN'T be real. But what about that insouciant pedestrian? Those ubiquitous orange cones? The tenuous yellow tape? Nope - its all a painted illusion! New Bakersfield mural crashes the party at Automotive Technical Services, 3118 Union Ave.

Young Catfisherman

Logan King and Joel Turpin of Bakersfield had their hands full with a large catch of catfish from Lake Isabella on Friday, June 27, 2008. They caught over 20 catfish using shad and fishing from the shore on the west side of the lake. Most of the fish where caught after midnight and made for a great time for all by the campfire.

A mother's love

My name is Rogers Crumb. The attached photo is of myself and my wife, Aimee Barajas. The photo was taken by my mother, Betty Colbert, in the birthing room at Mercy Southwest Family Center on Thursday, June 26, 2008.

The emotion on Aimee's face is one of pain, hope, anticipation, but mostly love. When I saw this photo, I immediately thought of love. My beautiful wife is in pain, while attempting to do the greatest thing a mother can do, give birth to our daughter. I can only stand by, helpless, and comfort the woman that means the world to me. 25 hours and an emergency c-section later, Lily Jane Crumb took her first breath in this world, and has been taking ours away ever since.

I am proud of my wife and grateful to the amazing staff at Mercy Southwest.

Thank you for your consideration,

Rogers Crumb

Proud Father/Husband

Fireworks at Bakersfield Speedway

I took this shot from my front yard of the fireworks display at Bakersfield Speedway Saturday night. Spectacular display put on by the Speedway owners.

"Jetstar"

Attached is a photo from my collection. It was taken by me in 1971 at Watsonville Airport. The aircraft is a corporate jet called a Lockheed Dash 8 "Jetstar" that was at the time based (stationed) at Meadows Field in Bakersfield and owned by Continental Telephone Co. (Continental was headquartered in Bakersfield).
The airplane would regularly fly between Bakersfield and Watsonville transporting C.E.O. Jack Maguire to his home in Santa Cruz.

Catch of the Week

Wade Froehlich, 7 years old from Bakersfield, on his first Hunting/Fishing trip in Wichita Falls, Texas, March 2008. He suprised is Dad when he reeled in this Big Mouth Bass using Bob's Bait Bucket plastic worm.

Danny's big catch

These stripers weighing 25 lbs and15 lbs were caught in the aqueduct on red worms by Danny Garland. Danny is from Maryland, but lives in Bakersfield.

Alexa Sandoval donates hair to Locks of Love

Alexa Sandoval, 6-years-old, has completed first grade at Jefferson School with no tardies or absences. Alexa is very smart, responsible and dependent. She is very special for having a good heart in helping and caring for others. Alexa has donated 14-inches of her hair to Locks of Love. She is well-known for her generosity. We are so proud of her.

Vacation in Belize, Central America

May 2008, my husband and I got to visit Heaven on Earth. It is the most beautiful tropical place that I have ever seen. The place I am speaking of is Belize, Central America, and we stayed on one of the small islands adjacent to the coastline, Amergris Caye (pronounced key). This Caye is known world wide as a Dive destination due to the Second Largest Reef on Earth, second only to the Great Barrier Reef close to Australia. The Reef in Belize is 185 miles long, parallel to Belizean coastline, which is in the Caribbean. Although we are not Divers, we do love to snorkel. We snorkeled several places along the reef, during our week long vacation. It is easy to say that in ONE two hour snorkel trip I got to see with my own eyes, more beautiful, colorful tropical fish and marine life than in all my years combined. The snorkeling was outstanding!

Ambergris Caye moves at a much slower paced life. Tourism is the ony real trade so most people are very friendly, speaking English and happy to help in any way. The residents don't drive cars, they use Golf Carts, or bicycles. There are a few cars, but almost all of these are taxis, shuttling tourists here and there. Quite a bit of travel around the island is done by boat, and each resort, hotel, restaurant, bar, or dive shop has it's own dock, where launches or water taxis can conveniently convey passengers and cargo.

We stayed at a small resort on the northern end of the Caye, away from the town and it was even more slow paced. Each resort on this end of the Caye has it's own dock and just in case you may have to wait a few minutes for your water taxi, there is a bench and at least one hammock, under a giant palm frond covered Palappa. This sight just makes me feel relaxed looking at it, and it causes me to take a deep breath and just sigh. It was the most relaxing vacation that I have ever experienced, and hopefully we will be returning in the future.

Wilson Arch, near Moab, Utah - Road Trip!

Catch of the Week

Miles Ramsey, age 7 of Bakersfield caught this 4.8 lb. Alpers Rainbow Trout, May 17, at Twin Lakes in Mammoth Lakes, CA. He was using Rainbow PowerBait.

A LITTLE KISS

MY BOSS'S WIFE IS NORMALLY A STAND UP KIND OF LADY, NOT GIVEN TO IMPULSIVE BEHAVIOR BUT THIS LITTLE KISS DID HAPPEN AND I SAW IT AND NOW YOU HAVE TO...

Stem in a rose

I saw this in the rose hedge outside the employee's entrance this morning. A stem was growing right out of the center of this rose! I've never seen such a thing before. I had to take a photo.

Cherries

Memorial Day, demorialized!

How sad that some people have no respect for this great country of ours; or for our fallen comrades and the men and women serving in the armed forces today to keep us safe and free!

Shame on those who've allowed our flag of freedom to hang forlornly as if in defeat, lashed to her pole with only one hook. Her head should hang proudly! To show our armed forces we care!

San Antonio Stripers

Cary Welch and Van Foster of Bakersfield caught these 23 inch stripers May 17th at San Antonio lake. They were using anchovies for bait in Harris creek.

....and they said that we couldn't be friends!

This is a picture that my husband (Mark) took the other day in front of our house.

Our boys overseas

My nephew, Lt. James Scharff, has joined his company and is now taking care of business 'somewhere' in the Middle East.

Brenda S. Bailey

Bakersfield, CA

The Eye of God - "I AM everything I say that I AM"

When I was 15, the Lord told me that one day He would send me a photo opportunity that would be the shot of a lifetime, but I would have to be ready and able to press the shutter release without any hesitation when He said to shoot.

About 40 years later, it happened...He said, "Shoot" and I did! The result is the "Eye of God."

I set up a minipod on the window ledge inside my daughter's second floor room overlooking the back yard. My family and I were together when I pressed the shutter, and suddenly, a great explosion occurred - so strong the compression wave came through the window and nearly knocked me over. The brilliant white flash totally blinded me for 15 seconds before I could even see what happened. After checking the computer, I saw the image - perfectly composed and exposed! Note that the lightning flashes do not go to the ground; they radiate outward.

The lightning cloud explosion takes up about half the width of the back yard, to give you an idea how large the image is. The Lord told me to share His message, "I AM everything I say that I AM!"

Lake Ming fire

This was a fire on Monday @ 2 p.m. at the west end of Lake Ming that started down by the river. Was taken by Woody Sadler off his back deck in Choctaw Valley.

March Field Airfest 2008 report....

March Field Airshow 2008

Friday May 2 / Sat May 3 / Sun May 4

With airshow season pretty much now in full swing, thousands of aviation fans were anxiously awaiting the semi-annual “Airfest” at the March Field Air Reserve Base in Moreno Valley, California, primarily due to the fact that the first SoCal F-22 Raptor demo of the season would be occurring there. The schedule would include aerobatics, skydivers, a CDF firefighting demo (Sat only), jets, warbirds, a Heritage Flight, and of course the United States Air Force Demonstration Team, the Thunderbirds. I spent three days covering this event, with two of those at the March Field museum which is located on the base’s west side, where you can spend the day NOT looking into the sun, which is exactly what happens if you go on base for the show. Sunday, I did exactly that, to get photos from a different angle.

Practice for the airshow was on Friday, May 2^nd. People lucky enough to have the day off, showed up at the museum (or on base if they were even luckier to get on a C-17 media flight!) in hopes of catching a glimpse of the action - much of which was expected to take place right over the museum. Many photographers arrived early, to claim the best vantage point (or best shady spot!) to take pictures from. Rumor had it that the museum was charging photographers $300 to bring in a tripod and a ladder to shoot over the eight foot fence on the base perimeter. It appeared that only one person took them up on that!

Highlights from Friday’s practice were the F/A-18C Hornet demonstration (flown by VFA-125 from NAS Lemoore near Hanford, Calif); the F-22A Raptor demo, flown by Major Paul ‘Max’ Moga, and the Thunderbirds. On many occasions, each of these planes would fly low and fast right over the museum grounds, thrilling all in attendance. The C-17 Globemaster III demo, while it did not really fly over the museum, is always an impressive sight, not only because you can see it taxi backwards - that’s right, I said backwards; but to see the pilot bank this aircraft the way he/she can, is simply amazing! It flat out borders on knife edge flight!

Next to the F-22 and the Thunderbirds, the biggest highlight of the show on Saturday was the appearance of the DC-10 firebomber, based out of Victorville, Calif. This new tanker can drop 12,000 gallons of water or Phoscheck on a fire line. The airplane made two passes, the first being a ‘dry’ pass, and then it slowly made its way back around to demonstrate that 12,000 gallon water drop on the field, coming in very low to the ground. What a sight! This was the final part of the CDF firefighting demo, which began with an OV-10 Bronco spotter plane, and an S-2 Tracker, which also did a water drop.

Other flying action included John Collver in his SNJ “WarDog”. He was originally scheduled to fly alongside Chuck Hall, who flies the P-51 Mustang, “Six Shooter”, however Chuck was not able to attend due to minor illness. Also flying was a four-ship L-29 Delfin group, led by Doug Gillis. Aerobatic pilot Mike Mangold has recently started to fly with the “Thunder Delfins”. A pair of Migs were on hand for the show as well, a beautiful bright red Mig-17, flown by Bill Reeseman, who told me he is thinking of retiring, and a Mig-21, which flew in Friday afternoon, doing two flybys. A couple of other photographers and myself were exiting the museum building (with gear stowed) when that Mig-21 came by, so NONE of us got that shot! This made a couple of us feel a bit like Tom Cruise in the movie TopGun, when his character exclaims, “A Mig 28! No one’s flown this close before!”, cracking up other exiting museum-goers nearby.

The Doolittle Raid on Tokyo, April 18, 1942, was reenacted by a pair of B-25s that were on hand. Mike Pupich’s “Heavenly Body”; and another well known SoCal B-25, “Executive Sweet”. Two flybys were done, with minor pyrotechnic explosions going off, and then they came back around for a third pass, this time, synchronized with the Wall of Fire, provided by Rich Gibson and crew. “Executive Sweet”, which was seen at the April 19^th Minter Field airshow without any nose art, sported new nose art at the March Field show, which was just applied on Wednesday, April 30^th.

Aerobatics for the weekend’s airshow were provided by Margie Stivers and her husband, Hartley Foltstad in their Stearman; Tim Decker in his Pitts biplane; Rob Harrison, the ‘Tumbling Bear’ in his bright yellow Zlin 50; Bill Stein in his Edge 540, and Ed Hamill, with his beautifully painted red, white, and blue Air Force Reserve Pitts biplane. Skydiving performances were provided by the US Army Golden Knights, as well as the Canadian Skyhawks team.

The USAF Thunderbirds were in town, with their F-16C ‘Fighting Falcons’, aka ‘Vipers’. Major Samantha Weeks, their second-ever female pilot, has now moved on to being the lead solo pilot, with a new pilot to the team, Dyon Douglas, now flying the #6 aircraft. Practice on Friday seemed to go very well, as did their performance on Saturday. However, Sunday was a different story. They had problems with not one, not two, but three aircraft on Sunday, causing a lengthy delay in the show. But this is why they bring spare aircraft to their show locations. Various reports have stated that one had a bird strike, and the other two had other maintenance issues. By the time the show resumed, some clouds had moved in, and the team decided to switch over to their "flat" show. Unfortunately for the team, there was a mass exodus of impatient airshow attendees, who weren’t willing to wait for the rest of the show. Well, their loss!

Special thanks goes out to the crew of both B-25 bombers - in particular, Chad and Barbara from “Heavenly Body”, and John Ferguson of “Exec Sweet”, for the access to both aircraft on Sunday. Thanks also to Keith for the assistance in gaining access to the hot ramp on Sunday, and for the opportunity to meet & chat with John Collver, Bill Reeseman, and Kevin Eldridge.

Big Fish Photo with Happy Fisherman

Rich Arner of Bakersfield landed this 15 lb steelhead on the Situk River Alaska 4/26/08. He was fly fishing with an 8 wt fly rod on an aeropuff egg pattern. 661-589-0446

Catfish

2008 Warbirds Air Show at Minter Field 2008