Rademacher Hills South of Ridgecrest
Flowers Along Hwy 395
Closeup of the desert flowers
More desert flowers along the highway
Showing posts with label Ridgecrest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ridgecrest. Show all posts
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Desert Flowers
Excuse the replays here, I was telling a friend about our spring desert flowers and this was the easiest way to get them online for her to see what I was talking about.
Rademacher Hills South of Ridgecrest
Flowers Along Hwy 395
Closeup of the desert flowers
More desert flowers along the highway
Rademacher Hills South of Ridgecrest
Flowers Along Hwy 395
Closeup of the desert flowers
More desert flowers along the highway
Monday, August 31, 2009
Semi Circle of Life
While puttering around on the patio the other day we discovered a grasshopper shell laying under the table.
Looking over and up just about a foot we discovered a spider web that had the fresh new grasshopper caught in the web.
The grasshopper was frantically trying to free itself while the black widow spider was doing her thing. We watched for a while, until the grasshopper finally stopped twitching.
Then we smashed them both with a shoe.
Looking over and up just about a foot we discovered a spider web that had the fresh new grasshopper caught in the web.
The grasshopper was frantically trying to free itself while the black widow spider was doing her thing. We watched for a while, until the grasshopper finally stopped twitching.
Then we smashed them both with a shoe.
Monday, November 03, 2008
Now the Voters Get to Chose
Tomorrow is Election Day here in the good old USA.
That means that you all have the responsibility to get off your butts, out of your houses and make the effort to go vote. But remember this one important thing. You are only allowed to vote once.
A while back a commenter asked my what I thought about our local measure N and the city council election.
I hate to admit it but I still have not made up my mind on measure N. I admit that the roads in this town need a lot of work. Actually I have driven on dirt roads that are smoother than some of the "paved" roads in this town. But then this is not a new phenomenon in Ridgecrest. Taxpayers have been trying to get the roads in this town for the entire 23 years that I have been living here. Even when we do managed to get a road fixed it is usually not one that needs it. So I would think that I would be willing to vote for measure N. But that is the problem.
I have never in my entire life voted for a tax increase. I'm not sure that I could ever pull that lever, fill in that bubble, punch that chad, or press that button. Voting for a tax increase flies in the face of everything I believe in politically.
I understand that we need money to fix our roads. But we have needed money to fix our roads for over 20 years. Unfortunately I am not as informed as I probably ought to be about our city budget and where we spend the money we have available to maintain and grow our city. So I can't speak to details. But I do see a lot of money go to waste in town year after year. The city is constantly trying to help bring businesses in town and we usually end up on the losing end of the financial deals. How much money did the city spend to help Matrix Motors, Front Porch Productions and countless others? Could that money have been used to maintain our streets.
Now that is my main concern here. Everyone talks about fixing our streets. My question is, why does our city not have a regular plan of maintenance for our streets. The infrastructure of a city needs to be maintained. You cannot just slap down some pavement and expect it to last a lifetime. And it is not just streets. The entire infrastucture of our city needs to be maintained - streets, sewers, water, electrical, gas, all of it needs maintenance. Since we have not been maintaining our roads, are we also neglecting the rest of the infrastructure of our city? What is next, another 1/2 percent sales tax to improve our sewers? Where does it stop?
I have heard a lot of people complaining that the city spends way too much money on the parks and recreation department that could be used for our streets. I disagree. The parks and recreation department in town is very important for the future of our community. By that I mean our children. Even more than complaining about our streets one of the longest running loudest complaints I have heard around town is that there is nothing for the kids to do. So many of our community's children seem to turn to drugs and sex as a way to entertain themselves. I can't quote figures so I don't know the facts. But from my anecdotal experience the children of Ridgecrest seem to be taking advantage of the parks and recreation department to find many things to keep themselves busy. And in my opinion that is a good thing. In my opinion, it is more important than the condition of our streets.
So I still do not know how I am going to vote on measure N tomorrow.
As for our city council. As a general rule I prefer to vote for small business owners for the city council. They are usually the citizens who have to most to gain from seeing our city prosper. However this year there seems to be a dearth of business owners running for office. Unfortunately we seem to have a lot of engineers running for office this year. I have a real problem with this. I am an engineer and have worked my whole career with engineers. Unfortunately most of the managers I have had in my career have also been engineers. However engineers do not often make very good managers. I have had some good managers in my career who were engineers but they have been far and away the exception to the rule. So as a general rule I do not vote for engineers for office unless I know quite a bit about their background and their beliefs. After all, I am an engineer and believe me, you would not want me in charge of our fair city.
As for our two incumbent council members I have known Steve Morgan for many years and he is a good man who really wants what is best for this city. But the last few years Steve seems to be developing some tunnel vision on how to solve problems for the city. He focuses in on one way of solving a problem and any other options to that solution he just will not consider. Whether or not this tunnel vision will cost Steve my vote or not I have not decided yet. I know I am running out of time to decide but historically I spend most of the election cycle considering my options and making up my mind based on those options while standing in line at the polling place.
But some decisions for me are made very early in the election cycle. For instance I will never cast a vote for Ron Carter. I attempted to make an appointment with Principal Carter at Las Flores Grade School 12 years ago. The run around I got from his office staff eventually led to their flat refusal to allow me to make an appointment to see Principal Carter. I had no choice but to assume that his office staff was working under his direction to keep parents away from meeting with him. The only other option I could imagine was that he did not know how his office staff were behaving. In that case he would be even less attractive to me as a manager than a guy who orders his staff to isolate him from a parent who would be sending their child to his school the next year. But the incident was very upsetting to my dear wife and I. When we tried to complain about his isolationist attitude to the school district we were told "If the Principal chooses not to meet with you that is his business." then they hung up on me. That event was the driving force behind us putting our children into private schools.
So who am I going to vote for for City Council? I will not vote for Ron Carter nor Randy (Charlie Chaplin) Jenkins. The council tends to be populated by clowns on occasion. I don't want to vote for a guy who campaigns on the clown platform.
Beyond them I have Steve Morgan, one businessman, two planning commissioners and a bunch of engineers to chose from. I'm sure I will make a calm rational choice while standing in line tomorrow morning.
That means that you all have the responsibility to get off your butts, out of your houses and make the effort to go vote. But remember this one important thing. You are only allowed to vote once.
A while back a commenter asked my what I thought about our local measure N and the city council election.
I hate to admit it but I still have not made up my mind on measure N. I admit that the roads in this town need a lot of work. Actually I have driven on dirt roads that are smoother than some of the "paved" roads in this town. But then this is not a new phenomenon in Ridgecrest. Taxpayers have been trying to get the roads in this town for the entire 23 years that I have been living here. Even when we do managed to get a road fixed it is usually not one that needs it. So I would think that I would be willing to vote for measure N. But that is the problem.
I have never in my entire life voted for a tax increase. I'm not sure that I could ever pull that lever, fill in that bubble, punch that chad, or press that button. Voting for a tax increase flies in the face of everything I believe in politically.
I understand that we need money to fix our roads. But we have needed money to fix our roads for over 20 years. Unfortunately I am not as informed as I probably ought to be about our city budget and where we spend the money we have available to maintain and grow our city. So I can't speak to details. But I do see a lot of money go to waste in town year after year. The city is constantly trying to help bring businesses in town and we usually end up on the losing end of the financial deals. How much money did the city spend to help Matrix Motors, Front Porch Productions and countless others? Could that money have been used to maintain our streets.
Now that is my main concern here. Everyone talks about fixing our streets. My question is, why does our city not have a regular plan of maintenance for our streets. The infrastructure of a city needs to be maintained. You cannot just slap down some pavement and expect it to last a lifetime. And it is not just streets. The entire infrastucture of our city needs to be maintained - streets, sewers, water, electrical, gas, all of it needs maintenance. Since we have not been maintaining our roads, are we also neglecting the rest of the infrastructure of our city? What is next, another 1/2 percent sales tax to improve our sewers? Where does it stop?
I have heard a lot of people complaining that the city spends way too much money on the parks and recreation department that could be used for our streets. I disagree. The parks and recreation department in town is very important for the future of our community. By that I mean our children. Even more than complaining about our streets one of the longest running loudest complaints I have heard around town is that there is nothing for the kids to do. So many of our community's children seem to turn to drugs and sex as a way to entertain themselves. I can't quote figures so I don't know the facts. But from my anecdotal experience the children of Ridgecrest seem to be taking advantage of the parks and recreation department to find many things to keep themselves busy. And in my opinion that is a good thing. In my opinion, it is more important than the condition of our streets.
So I still do not know how I am going to vote on measure N tomorrow.
As for our city council. As a general rule I prefer to vote for small business owners for the city council. They are usually the citizens who have to most to gain from seeing our city prosper. However this year there seems to be a dearth of business owners running for office. Unfortunately we seem to have a lot of engineers running for office this year. I have a real problem with this. I am an engineer and have worked my whole career with engineers. Unfortunately most of the managers I have had in my career have also been engineers. However engineers do not often make very good managers. I have had some good managers in my career who were engineers but they have been far and away the exception to the rule. So as a general rule I do not vote for engineers for office unless I know quite a bit about their background and their beliefs. After all, I am an engineer and believe me, you would not want me in charge of our fair city.
As for our two incumbent council members I have known Steve Morgan for many years and he is a good man who really wants what is best for this city. But the last few years Steve seems to be developing some tunnel vision on how to solve problems for the city. He focuses in on one way of solving a problem and any other options to that solution he just will not consider. Whether or not this tunnel vision will cost Steve my vote or not I have not decided yet. I know I am running out of time to decide but historically I spend most of the election cycle considering my options and making up my mind based on those options while standing in line at the polling place.
But some decisions for me are made very early in the election cycle. For instance I will never cast a vote for Ron Carter. I attempted to make an appointment with Principal Carter at Las Flores Grade School 12 years ago. The run around I got from his office staff eventually led to their flat refusal to allow me to make an appointment to see Principal Carter. I had no choice but to assume that his office staff was working under his direction to keep parents away from meeting with him. The only other option I could imagine was that he did not know how his office staff were behaving. In that case he would be even less attractive to me as a manager than a guy who orders his staff to isolate him from a parent who would be sending their child to his school the next year. But the incident was very upsetting to my dear wife and I. When we tried to complain about his isolationist attitude to the school district we were told "If the Principal chooses not to meet with you that is his business." then they hung up on me. That event was the driving force behind us putting our children into private schools.
So who am I going to vote for for City Council? I will not vote for Ron Carter nor Randy (Charlie Chaplin) Jenkins. The council tends to be populated by clowns on occasion. I don't want to vote for a guy who campaigns on the clown platform.
Beyond them I have Steve Morgan, one businessman, two planning commissioners and a bunch of engineers to chose from. I'm sure I will make a calm rational choice while standing in line tomorrow morning.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
More on Gas Prices
I gassed up in Victorville this evening before coming home for $3.29 a gallon at AM/PM. The Valero station was at $3.39. Several other name brand places were in the same price range. Even the places out by the highway all by themselves were under $3.40.
What makes this even worse was when I was in Trona yesterday the gas there was $3.73 when the cheapest place in Ridgecrest was $3.77. I can't remember a time in the last 23 years that I have lived here that gas was cheaper in Trona than here.
Better yet, if I am careful, and I top the tank off on my way back into town on Saturday I may be able to get through next week without buying gas locally so I can gas up again when I go out of town the next week for another volleyball game.
I know its kind of silly but for me the longer I can go without buying gas at these locally inflated prices the better.
But it is all depressing seeing as how they are paying only $2.75 a gallon in Idaho. But then they don't have to deal with our idiotic California Legislature.
What makes this even worse was when I was in Trona yesterday the gas there was $3.73 when the cheapest place in Ridgecrest was $3.77. I can't remember a time in the last 23 years that I have lived here that gas was cheaper in Trona than here.
Better yet, if I am careful, and I top the tank off on my way back into town on Saturday I may be able to get through next week without buying gas locally so I can gas up again when I go out of town the next week for another volleyball game.
I know its kind of silly but for me the longer I can go without buying gas at these locally inflated prices the better.
But it is all depressing seeing as how they are paying only $2.75 a gallon in Idaho. But then they don't have to deal with our idiotic California Legislature.
Friday, September 12, 2008
$3.69
Gas in Mojave, a wide spot in the road about 45 miles from here is $3.69 a gallon.
Gas in Bakersfield just 90 miles away is $3.69 a gallon.
Why the hell are we paying $4.15 a gallon here in Ridgecrest?
Gas in Bakersfield just 90 miles away is $3.69 a gallon.
Why the hell are we paying $4.15 a gallon here in Ridgecrest?
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Summer Rain
We are having some summer rain this afternoon. Actually we are having what back home they would call a gully washer. Around here they call them flash floods. The rain comes down so hard and fast that they ground cannot soak it all in.
I love these summer rains. But I really dislike the aftermath of them. The humidity level shoots way up and then our swamp coolers don't work anymore. That is where we are right now. There is still a few drops falling, and some thunder and lightening in the distance. But it is getting humid and warming up quickly. It cooled down while the rain was falling to somewhere in the low 80s. But once the rain stops the temperature shoots up rapidly.
************** UPDATE **********************
I think the rain has finally quit. It has stopped, started, stopped and started again. Each time it was raining a little harder than the time before. The last stretch included some pretty good wind. We could hear it pounding against the garage doors as well as pelting the roof.
I'm including a few more pics. The first two are taken over the back fence looking north. There was quite a substantial puddle there. Of course none of the desert dwellers here would ever consider turning around and taking an alternate route.
This last pic is of some neighbor kids playing in the puddles in the desert behind our house. The one that is standing in the knee deep water was wearing midcalf rain boots, which are obviously not going to keep his feet dry now. Not that it mattered, a few moments after I took this pic, he was laying down in the water.
Of course my own family enjoyed the rain. The kids were out in the street laying in the gutters that had overflowed the sidewalks. My dear wife was running around in the front and back yard playing also. Of course I also got soaking wet. But I wasn't playing. I was wondering around the yard checking on possible floods that could potentially cause some water damage. It was a dirty job but someone had to do it and I certainly wasn't enjoying playing in the rain....
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wind Damage
The last few days it has been pretty windy here in the high desert. Yesterday was the worst.
I was on the way out to Inyokern with the kids when we reached a traffic slowdown. The wind had blowen over a power pole right outside of Buttermilk Acres. The pole was leaning at about 45 degrees over both eastbound lanes of Inyokern Road. I don't think it had been down long. There was one electric company truck, and two highway patrol on the scene. They were routing westbound traffic onto the shoulder of the highway to make room for the eastbound traffic that was crossing the median to avoid driving under the leaning pole.
I wasn't able to get my camera out quick enough to take a picture. But when the kids and I came back the road was still blocked and I snapped this one shot from about a hold mile away. So you have to look closely to see the leaning pole.
The detour to get home was a lot different than the detour getting to Inyokern. Both lanes of the highway were closed and most of the traffic was being routed down Jack's Ranch Road to Ward St. This was OK for a while until the traffic reached the quarter mile stretch of Ward street that is a one car wide dirt trail. So there was a lot of cars trying to go two directions on a one lane road and absolutely no traffic control. Fortunately for us we were in the line of cars that was bulling its way through while the line of cars going westbound sat and waited. I don't know how long they had been waiting, or would have to wait. With no control it could have been a long time before the eastbound traffic cleared.
I was on the way out to Inyokern with the kids when we reached a traffic slowdown. The wind had blowen over a power pole right outside of Buttermilk Acres. The pole was leaning at about 45 degrees over both eastbound lanes of Inyokern Road. I don't think it had been down long. There was one electric company truck, and two highway patrol on the scene. They were routing westbound traffic onto the shoulder of the highway to make room for the eastbound traffic that was crossing the median to avoid driving under the leaning pole.
I wasn't able to get my camera out quick enough to take a picture. But when the kids and I came back the road was still blocked and I snapped this one shot from about a hold mile away. So you have to look closely to see the leaning pole.
The detour to get home was a lot different than the detour getting to Inyokern. Both lanes of the highway were closed and most of the traffic was being routed down Jack's Ranch Road to Ward St. This was OK for a while until the traffic reached the quarter mile stretch of Ward street that is a one car wide dirt trail. So there was a lot of cars trying to go two directions on a one lane road and absolutely no traffic control. Fortunately for us we were in the line of cars that was bulling its way through while the line of cars going westbound sat and waited. I don't know how long they had been waiting, or would have to wait. With no control it could have been a long time before the eastbound traffic cleared.
Sunday, November 18, 2007
First Geese
I saw my first geese of the season yesterday while leaving my club volleyball practice.
Each winter Ridgecrest is the vacation spot for thousands of snow geese. Having all those geese hanging out at the golf course makes the place kind of messy, but I don't care. I like hearing them fly over. You just have to be careful not to look up at them. I also like seeing the flocks of geese dining on all the different grassy fields in town.
Most of them like to hang out at the golf course and over on the high school sports fields.
Sure I only saw four geese fly over but that means the rest will be here soon. That also means that winter is here - somewhere. It was 78 degrees here today so it doesn't seem too much like winter yet.
Each winter Ridgecrest is the vacation spot for thousands of snow geese. Having all those geese hanging out at the golf course makes the place kind of messy, but I don't care. I like hearing them fly over. You just have to be careful not to look up at them. I also like seeing the flocks of geese dining on all the different grassy fields in town.
Most of them like to hang out at the golf course and over on the high school sports fields.
Sure I only saw four geese fly over but that means the rest will be here soon. That also means that winter is here - somewhere. It was 78 degrees here today so it doesn't seem too much like winter yet.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Sports Editor or Football Editor?
The following is a copy of a letter I just sent to the local paper. I'm not holding my breath waiting for a reply.
-----------------------------------
Mr. Barrera,
During a quick perusal of the Friday Daily Indpendent I found on the front page two advertisements for tonights BHS away football game. Then once I got to the sports section I found eight pages of sports coverage. As a sports fan I think this level of coverage is great. Except, those 8 pages consisted of 4 and a quarter pages of local football, one and a quarter pages of NFL football, a full page of Cal Berkley college football and a full page of NASCAR coverage. That left only one half a page for all the other sports. That space was split between two articles - one on Major League Baseball and one article on the BHS tennis team. Over half the coverage of the local high school football programs were about games that haven't even been played yet. The four and a quarter pages of football coverage consisted of four articles all written by you, the DI Sports Editor. There were also 11 photographs most of which are supplied by you or just listed as "contributed."
Mr. Barrera, I think it is time for you to get out of the football stadiums and start covering all the sports being played in the Indian Wells Valley. We don't need pages of coverage of football games that haven't been played yet when there are so many other sporting events being competed by our local youth. There has been no mention that the BHS volleyball team freshmen lost a close match to Kern Valley High School JV team on Wednesday, or that the BHS Varsity Volleyball team beat Kern Valley High School Varsity team 3-1. Do you know that Thursday evening the BHS JV and Varsity volleyball teams also won matches against Rosamond High School to continue their undefeated seasons? Are you aware that the five local middle school's have 18 girls volleyball teams that have been practicing for weeks and will start competition with each other next Monday? What about tennis, cross country, golf and all the other club and independent youth sports being playing in our area?
Mr. Barrera its time to get out of the football stadium and start reporting all the sports being played in town. There are many fine young athletes in this valley who are pouring their hearts and souls into the games they love to play and its time to stop ignoring them or pretending they are not as important as football. I understand that sometimes you need to rely on submissions from the organizers of these other athletics events for your information. Additionally, BHS has made tracking other sports events more difficult by removing any mention of sports other than boys soccer, basketball and football from the athletics section of their website. But since you were able to generate over four pages of news about football surely you could generate a little coverage of some of the other local sports. After all you are the Sports Editor, not the Football Editor.
-----------------------------------
Mr. Barrera,
During a quick perusal of the Friday Daily Indpendent I found on the front page two advertisements for tonights BHS away football game. Then once I got to the sports section I found eight pages of sports coverage. As a sports fan I think this level of coverage is great. Except, those 8 pages consisted of 4 and a quarter pages of local football, one and a quarter pages of NFL football, a full page of Cal Berkley college football and a full page of NASCAR coverage. That left only one half a page for all the other sports. That space was split between two articles - one on Major League Baseball and one article on the BHS tennis team. Over half the coverage of the local high school football programs were about games that haven't even been played yet. The four and a quarter pages of football coverage consisted of four articles all written by you, the DI Sports Editor. There were also 11 photographs most of which are supplied by you or just listed as "contributed."
Mr. Barrera, I think it is time for you to get out of the football stadiums and start covering all the sports being played in the Indian Wells Valley. We don't need pages of coverage of football games that haven't been played yet when there are so many other sporting events being competed by our local youth. There has been no mention that the BHS volleyball team freshmen lost a close match to Kern Valley High School JV team on Wednesday, or that the BHS Varsity Volleyball team beat Kern Valley High School Varsity team 3-1. Do you know that Thursday evening the BHS JV and Varsity volleyball teams also won matches against Rosamond High School to continue their undefeated seasons? Are you aware that the five local middle school's have 18 girls volleyball teams that have been practicing for weeks and will start competition with each other next Monday? What about tennis, cross country, golf and all the other club and independent youth sports being playing in our area?
Mr. Barrera its time to get out of the football stadium and start reporting all the sports being played in town. There are many fine young athletes in this valley who are pouring their hearts and souls into the games they love to play and its time to stop ignoring them or pretending they are not as important as football. I understand that sometimes you need to rely on submissions from the organizers of these other athletics events for your information. Additionally, BHS has made tracking other sports events more difficult by removing any mention of sports other than boys soccer, basketball and football from the athletics section of their website. But since you were able to generate over four pages of news about football surely you could generate a little coverage of some of the other local sports. After all you are the Sports Editor, not the Football Editor.
Thursday, August 02, 2007
More Secession News
The front page of this mornings paper announces that our illustrious City Council has definitely taken any talk of secession from Kern County off the table.
There is a large contingent of Ridgecrest residents who don't think it should have been on the table in the first place. I received an e-mail the other day from Eric Kauffman a DJ at KQIZ radio station. At first I was just scanning the e-mail thinking that Eric was just another voice who was yelling at everyone to stop talking about things that might upset folks. But then I realized that Eric has a really good point. Eric has given me permission to post his e-mail.
In case you didn't read that with the same eyes I did, Eric's main point is "We are calling them jerks AND asking them for favors." I don't know about you, but I tend to not be very cooperative with folks who expect me to help them out, but ask for that help by threatening me.
So I hope that the city keeps working on understanding fully our relationship with Kern County. I just hope they do so in a calmer, more cooperative manner.
There is a large contingent of Ridgecrest residents who don't think it should have been on the table in the first place. I received an e-mail the other day from Eric Kauffman a DJ at KQIZ radio station. At first I was just scanning the e-mail thinking that Eric was just another voice who was yelling at everyone to stop talking about things that might upset folks. But then I realized that Eric has a really good point. Eric has given me permission to post his e-mail.
I haven’t been able to read your blog in a while, but we do have a link to it on our web site, KZIQ.COM. I am on the Chamber Board and of course was one of the speakers at Council public comment. I just wanted to make sure that you understood the biggest point that everyone is missing here. It’s not about getting numbers….we’re all for that. It’s not so much about secession, although that was the equivalent of hitting an unaware person with a baseball bat. This is about what we have done to our relationship with the County of Kern. Jon McQuiston has led a pretty charmed life in getting the other Supervisors to vote the IWV’s way on many extra funding issues. Now valuable CDBG (block grants) money is at risk. This money will, a lot of times, go to the Hospital, The Women’s Center, and IWV United Way agencies. There is also a need to extend our deal on the County owned softball fields near Jackson Park, that the city needs a 25 year minimum agreement in order to get state and federal grants. It the County’s presentation it was noted that the market lease value on the fields was $800k a year. Even at half that, it’s more than the city could afford. Our price for many years and up to now has been nothing.
See the problem? We are calling them jerks AND asking them for favors. Politically (and isn’t everything these days?) it is suicide. I have an ongoing problem with the entire council that, not only do they not want to recognize it and fix it, they want to continue to pour gasoline on the fire. Currently the General Plan Advisory Committee (of which I am a member) is tasked with creating a vision for Ridgecrest for the next 20-30 years. Certainly annexation of land outside the city limits is essential to that vision. Our current deal with the County stinks and Supervisor McQuiston had been trying to get the County to re-negotiate that. How can we expect to be treated fairly in those negotiations when our council is acting recklessly like this? The re-negotiation process was already in motion before this started and now has stopped.
The only thing I want (I won’t speak for the Chamber Board here) is for cooler heads to prevail and start working in earnest with the County to get us back on track.
In case you didn't read that with the same eyes I did, Eric's main point is "We are calling them jerks AND asking them for favors." I don't know about you, but I tend to not be very cooperative with folks who expect me to help them out, but ask for that help by threatening me.
So I hope that the city keeps working on understanding fully our relationship with Kern County. I just hope they do so in a calmer, more cooperative manner.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Secession
On Wednesday June 6, Vice Mayor Tom Wiknich suggested at a City Council Meeting that The City of Ridgecrest should investigate the possibility of seceding from Kern County and joining Inyo County.
Boy Howdy, you should hear the fur flying around town these days. Based on letters to the editor of the Daily Independent you would think that Vice Mayor Wiknich suggested that we all give up eating beef and start eating babies. Anyone who can get their name in the paper is letting us all know what a dumb idea this is.
From all these comments and many more it would seem that the secession idea will be shot down before it is even launched. So why was it even suggested? The one thing that all these folks seem to have missed is that Vice mayor Wiknich didn't propose that Ridgecrest secede from Kern County. What he proposed was that city council do some fact finding about how much tax money Ridgecrest sends to Bakersfield and what do we get back in return. Then weigh the services we get from Kern County and what we might expect to get from Inyo County. Vice Mayor Wiknich is looking for information. Unfortunately he asked for that information in such a manner that most folks just started jumping to conclusions and spewing opinions.
The only person posting a comment in the paper that seems to get what is going on was Nathan Ahle the Managing Editor:
I don't know for sure but I suspect that Vice Mayor Wiknich will agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Ahle. This started out as a request to get information and is turning into a crucification.
I applaud Vice Mayor Wiknich for asking the questions he is asking and Mr Ahle for paying attention and not jumping to conclusions.
For me, I'm not going to worry about it. Most of the folks that I have talked to feel the same way. Its a non-issue. It is going to take some time to get all the information that the Vice Mayor wants to collect. I think that once he does he will see that secession is probably not a good idea and the whole issue will just pass quietly away. But in the unlikely case that we find out that Ridgecrest is not getting a fair shake from Kern County I suspect that things will get pretty lively around here, right quick.
Boy Howdy, you should hear the fur flying around town these days. Based on letters to the editor of the Daily Independent you would think that Vice Mayor Wiknich suggested that we all give up eating beef and start eating babies. Anyone who can get their name in the paper is letting us all know what a dumb idea this is.
"The Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors believes that the concept of realigning Kern County boundaries has no serious support or interest in our community. We further believe that the City's pursuit of the subject is a waste of resources and that the idea is ill conceived."
Janis Bottorff, President, Ridgecrest Chamber of Commerce
"I see no sense in Ridgecrest leaving Kern County. Secession didn't work in the 1860's. It is unlikely that it will now."
Name omitted by me to protect the ignorant.
“The gut feeling on my part is the move to Inyo County, which for many reasons has been misstated, is not practical in any way, shape or form, for this debate to be relevant and get some of the attention we want it to get, we got to get that off the table...we make a statement that we're not looking to secede.”
Mayor Chip Holloway
Honorary Mayor Howard Auld said secession was “ridiculous” and “makes no sense.”
“I don't think it's a good business decision and I don't think it's a good political decision either,” said First District Supervisor Jon McQuiston
Secession talk must end now - Daily Independent editorial headline
From all these comments and many more it would seem that the secession idea will be shot down before it is even launched. So why was it even suggested? The one thing that all these folks seem to have missed is that Vice mayor Wiknich didn't propose that Ridgecrest secede from Kern County. What he proposed was that city council do some fact finding about how much tax money Ridgecrest sends to Bakersfield and what do we get back in return. Then weigh the services we get from Kern County and what we might expect to get from Inyo County. Vice Mayor Wiknich is looking for information. Unfortunately he asked for that information in such a manner that most folks just started jumping to conclusions and spewing opinions.
The only person posting a comment in the paper that seems to get what is going on was Nathan Ahle the Managing Editor:
To me, the most important part of the issue isn’t whether or not Ridgecrest should leave Kern County or become part of Inyo County. The primary issue is how much Ridgecrest receives in county services in relation to what it pays in property taxes.
It concerns me that we don’t seem to know what we receive, or even what we pay. It’s hard to consider voting for another tax increase, no matter how needed it is, when we don’t even know what happens to the tax money we’re already paying. The most important thing that comes out of this has to be the information we’ll receive by examining secession.
I don't know for sure but I suspect that Vice Mayor Wiknich will agree wholeheartedly with Mr. Ahle. This started out as a request to get information and is turning into a crucification.
I applaud Vice Mayor Wiknich for asking the questions he is asking and Mr Ahle for paying attention and not jumping to conclusions.
For me, I'm not going to worry about it. Most of the folks that I have talked to feel the same way. Its a non-issue. It is going to take some time to get all the information that the Vice Mayor wants to collect. I think that once he does he will see that secession is probably not a good idea and the whole issue will just pass quietly away. But in the unlikely case that we find out that Ridgecrest is not getting a fair shake from Kern County I suspect that things will get pretty lively around here, right quick.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Still Smoking
The wind shifted and now all the smoke is blowing north. Which is good for us but bad for Olancha and Lone Pine. Of course any wind at all is bad for the fire fighters.
An anonymous commenter to my last posting has a picture online of the Goldledge Fire shortly after it broke out. The commenter evacuated themselves out of the area when they saw the fire. Obviously some smart folks seeing as how the fire is now over 3000 acres and only 10% contained.
An anonymous commenter to my last posting has a picture online of the Goldledge Fire shortly after it broke out. The commenter evacuated themselves out of the area when they saw the fire. Obviously some smart folks seeing as how the fire is now over 3000 acres and only 10% contained.
Smoke Update
The wind has subsided and there is not as much smoke blowing into the valley this morning. However all the high level smoke that blew into the area is settling lower into the valley now so the entire valley smells like wood smoke. It is going to be a bad couple days for people with sensitive sinuses. My nose can't decide if it is going to itch and hurt or just run - a lot. My eyes are burning and irritated and I'm seriously thinking about not putting my contact lenses in this morning.
I still haven't found out which fire is causing the smoke but at least I know both their names. The most likely culprit is the Goldledge Fire which is burning about 10 miles north of Lake Isabella. The other fire in the mountains west of us is the Shannon Fire which is burning about 10 miles southeast of Porterville.
I still haven't found out which fire is causing the smoke but at least I know both their names. The most likely culprit is the Goldledge Fire which is burning about 10 miles north of Lake Isabella. The other fire in the mountains west of us is the Shannon Fire which is burning about 10 miles southeast of Porterville.
Sunday, June 03, 2007
Smoke!!!!
The wind has picked up quite a bit this afternoon. Then suddenly about 30 minutes ago we started smelling smoke. When I walked outside the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the west of our little valley are out of sight. The entire mountain range is obscured by smoke.
According to the MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program there are currently two fires burning in the area. One of them is just north of Lake Isabella and the other is across the mountains from us, just south of Porterville. With the way the wind is blowing out there this smoke could be from either of them, or even both. But my money is on the fire north of Isabella.
The cloud layer in this picture is not clouds it is smoke and it spreading out over the entire valley.
Between the trees and the red sun, which is not normal for this area, there is supposed to be a mountain range.
A couple minutes later our new red sun had started dropping below the mountains and we were able to see a little bit of the mountain's profile through the smoke.
According to the MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program there are currently two fires burning in the area. One of them is just north of Lake Isabella and the other is across the mountains from us, just south of Porterville. With the way the wind is blowing out there this smoke could be from either of them, or even both. But my money is on the fire north of Isabella.
The cloud layer in this picture is not clouds it is smoke and it spreading out over the entire valley.
Between the trees and the red sun, which is not normal for this area, there is supposed to be a mountain range.
A couple minutes later our new red sun had started dropping below the mountains and we were able to see a little bit of the mountain's profile through the smoke.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
First 100 Degree Day of 2007
Temperatures today reached 101 degrees this afternoon. Our first 100+ degree day of 2007. It certainly won't be the last. If this is a usual year we should have at least 100 more of them this year.
So far it has been a mild spring season. Last year our first 100 degree day was May 11th. Most years we don't get to June without at least one 100 degree day. This year we almost made it.
I have enjoyed our mild spring so far. My dear wife says that a mild spring usually leads to hotter than normal summer. But I figure it all this global warming means longer milder spring times than I'm all for it.
So far it has been a mild spring season. Last year our first 100 degree day was May 11th. Most years we don't get to June without at least one 100 degree day. This year we almost made it.
I have enjoyed our mild spring so far. My dear wife says that a mild spring usually leads to hotter than normal summer. But I figure it all this global warming means longer milder spring times than I'm all for it.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Coaching Lessons
I have been learning something about myself the last couple weeks. The city recreation volleyball league started play about five weeks ago. Both my daughters wanted to play this year so I signed the oldest up for division 2 and the youngest for division 1. I volunteered to help coach either or both divisions as needed.
Just before the season started the administrator asked if I would be willing to head coach a team in each division. I agreed but pointed out that they would have to assure that I didn't have any evenings where I had division 1 and division 2 games at the same time. They opted to have me head coach a division 2 team and help out as an assistant coach for division 2.
I figured being an assistant coach would be a snap. I would help out in whatever way the head coach wanted me to. Unfortunately I find myself in a situation I never expected. I'm working for a coach who I universally disagree with everything she says or does.
My youngest daughter's coach is the worst nightmare of youth volleyball in Ridgecrest. She teaches a very static style of volleyball. Tonight she actually told the front row players on our court to stand on the attack line and stay there.
But her worst offense is that she apparently doesn't care one iota about the kids on her team. This evening between warmups, three games, the time between games and the post game, this woman did not say a single encouraging word to any kid on the team. When the games are going on she just sits in her chair and watches the game, she doesn't move, she doesn't talk, she just stares.
I tried to encourage a couple of the kids who were struggling, but everytime I started to talk she would interupt me by telling them all the things they had been doing wrong. This makes it hard to try and deal with these kids. But what makes it hardest is that I have absolutely no credibility with the kids. The first two practices this season she would follow me around and contradict everything that I tried to teach these kids. After we got home the first night I asked my daughter why she was not doing things the way I showed her, and she told me the other coach told her that she would break her thumbs if she did things the way I was showing her and that she should never do them that way again.
That is this coach's favorite threat to these kids. So far she has told them that they will break their thumbs if they don't hold their hands exactly the way she showed them. They have been told that if they hold their hand the way I showed them to underhand serve they will break their thumbs and if the try to hit a volleyball the way I tried to show them they will break their thumbs. I really like to know what kind of volleyball this woman has played that she has seen all these broken thumbs. But regardless, she has these kids terrified of doing or trying anything I show them.
I'm glad that there are only three weeks left in this season, I don't think I could take much more of this. In the meantime I really feel sorry for the kids. They show up for practice, the work hard and all they want to do is become better volleyball players and have some fun. Instead they get a coach who teaches them nothing, and the things she does teach are fundamentally flawed.
So I discovered something about myself this season - I'm not a very good assistant coach. I guess I've just gotten too used to doing things my way.
Just before the season started the administrator asked if I would be willing to head coach a team in each division. I agreed but pointed out that they would have to assure that I didn't have any evenings where I had division 1 and division 2 games at the same time. They opted to have me head coach a division 2 team and help out as an assistant coach for division 2.
I figured being an assistant coach would be a snap. I would help out in whatever way the head coach wanted me to. Unfortunately I find myself in a situation I never expected. I'm working for a coach who I universally disagree with everything she says or does.
My youngest daughter's coach is the worst nightmare of youth volleyball in Ridgecrest. She teaches a very static style of volleyball. Tonight she actually told the front row players on our court to stand on the attack line and stay there.
But her worst offense is that she apparently doesn't care one iota about the kids on her team. This evening between warmups, three games, the time between games and the post game, this woman did not say a single encouraging word to any kid on the team. When the games are going on she just sits in her chair and watches the game, she doesn't move, she doesn't talk, she just stares.
I tried to encourage a couple of the kids who were struggling, but everytime I started to talk she would interupt me by telling them all the things they had been doing wrong. This makes it hard to try and deal with these kids. But what makes it hardest is that I have absolutely no credibility with the kids. The first two practices this season she would follow me around and contradict everything that I tried to teach these kids. After we got home the first night I asked my daughter why she was not doing things the way I showed her, and she told me the other coach told her that she would break her thumbs if she did things the way I was showing her and that she should never do them that way again.
That is this coach's favorite threat to these kids. So far she has told them that they will break their thumbs if they don't hold their hands exactly the way she showed them. They have been told that if they hold their hand the way I showed them to underhand serve they will break their thumbs and if the try to hit a volleyball the way I tried to show them they will break their thumbs. I really like to know what kind of volleyball this woman has played that she has seen all these broken thumbs. But regardless, she has these kids terrified of doing or trying anything I show them.
I'm glad that there are only three weeks left in this season, I don't think I could take much more of this. In the meantime I really feel sorry for the kids. They show up for practice, the work hard and all they want to do is become better volleyball players and have some fun. Instead they get a coach who teaches them nothing, and the things she does teach are fundamentally flawed.
So I discovered something about myself this season - I'm not a very good assistant coach. I guess I've just gotten too used to doing things my way.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Dating in Ridgecrest
I didn't grow up in Ridgecrest so I never had to deal with being a high school kid and trying to find somewhere to take a girl on a date here. For years I've heard that the evening activities for teenagers here in Ridgecrest are limited.
This evening, I finished the bowling season. We bowled our sweeper, collected our winnings and everyone headed home. To celebrate the end of the season I decided to get myself an ice cream treat on the way home.
I decided to swing into Cold Stone Ice Cream for my treat. I was not that impressed with Cold Stone Ice Cream when they first opened up here over a year ago. But last year after the Trona Volleyball Tournament my team went to Cold Stone to celebrate. One of my 7th grade players introduced me to an ice cream creation called Cookie Doughn't You Want Some - french vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup and carmel syrup mixed in. Now I suddenly like Cold Stone Ice Cream, maybe just a little too much.
So I wandered into Cold Stone this evening. The only other customers in the place were a young, high school aged couple who were holding hands and ordering a medium ice cream creation and two spoons. After they left I ordered my ice cream treat and headed for my car. Out in the parking lot I found the young couple sitting on together on the hood of a car, snuggled together and sharing their ice cream while looking across the Home Depot parking lot. They looked very happy.
When I was in high school we didn't have a Home Depot parking lot to watch while sharing ice cream. I guess in some ways kids here have it a lot better than I did.
But they don't have the submarine races that we would watch. You could park next to Lake Absarraca in Cheyenne and watch the lights from passing cars on I15 as they reflected across the lake. If you didn't look too closely, the lights kind of looked like submarines racing across the lake. Unfortunately I don't remember ever sitting on the hood of the car and sharing an ice cream while doing this. Of course my car was a 51 oldsmobile and the rounded hood would have been difficult to sit on.
This evening, I finished the bowling season. We bowled our sweeper, collected our winnings and everyone headed home. To celebrate the end of the season I decided to get myself an ice cream treat on the way home.
I decided to swing into Cold Stone Ice Cream for my treat. I was not that impressed with Cold Stone Ice Cream when they first opened up here over a year ago. But last year after the Trona Volleyball Tournament my team went to Cold Stone to celebrate. One of my 7th grade players introduced me to an ice cream creation called Cookie Doughn't You Want Some - french vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookie, chocolate chips, chocolate syrup and carmel syrup mixed in. Now I suddenly like Cold Stone Ice Cream, maybe just a little too much.
So I wandered into Cold Stone this evening. The only other customers in the place were a young, high school aged couple who were holding hands and ordering a medium ice cream creation and two spoons. After they left I ordered my ice cream treat and headed for my car. Out in the parking lot I found the young couple sitting on together on the hood of a car, snuggled together and sharing their ice cream while looking across the Home Depot parking lot. They looked very happy.
When I was in high school we didn't have a Home Depot parking lot to watch while sharing ice cream. I guess in some ways kids here have it a lot better than I did.
But they don't have the submarine races that we would watch. You could park next to Lake Absarraca in Cheyenne and watch the lights from passing cars on I15 as they reflected across the lake. If you didn't look too closely, the lights kind of looked like submarines racing across the lake. Unfortunately I don't remember ever sitting on the hood of the car and sharing an ice cream while doing this. Of course my car was a 51 oldsmobile and the rounded hood would have been difficult to sit on.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
Bomb Threats Day 3
I guess all the schools in town wanted to get in on the bomb threat game. Today it was Monroe Middle School that had to evacuate. I'm starting to think that stupidity is contagious around here.
The Ridgecrest Police announced that they have arrested a suspect in the tuesday threat at Burroughs High School and since they apparently have a confession also I guess the kid really isn't a suspect anymore. The local authorities have not decided exactly what the 17 year old will be charged with but they think the charges will be substantial.
Hopefully this insanity will settle down now that both public middle schools and the high school have had their turn. I really hope the trend doesn't extend to the private schools in town.
The Ridgecrest Police announced that they have arrested a suspect in the tuesday threat at Burroughs High School and since they apparently have a confession also I guess the kid really isn't a suspect anymore. The local authorities have not decided exactly what the 17 year old will be charged with but they think the charges will be substantial.
Hopefully this insanity will settle down now that both public middle schools and the high school have had their turn. I really hope the trend doesn't extend to the private schools in town.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Bomb Threats Day 2
The kopy kats are crawling out of the woodwork today. After yesterday's bomb threat at Burroughs High School there was a bomb threat this morning at Murray Middle School. The School district decided to send all those students home for the day also. This created a huge backup of traffic at the base front gates. The wait to try and get back into the base after lunch was over 30 minutes.
When I arrived at work I found out that there was another threat at BHS. This time they are not sending the kids home. They evacuated them to the football field and they will wait there until the all clear to return to class is given.
I hope that they catch the moron who is doing this and come down on them like a ton of bricks. Especially the kid who made the bomb threat at Murray Middle School which is located on a United States Navy Base. Apparently some kid's parents haven't done a very good job of teaching their children about cause and effect and responsibility for your actions. So they may have to learn it the hard way. Meanwhile their classmates and the citizens of our small town all pay the price for their stupidity.
When I arrived at work I found out that there was another threat at BHS. This time they are not sending the kids home. They evacuated them to the football field and they will wait there until the all clear to return to class is given.
I hope that they catch the moron who is doing this and come down on them like a ton of bricks. Especially the kid who made the bomb threat at Murray Middle School which is located on a United States Navy Base. Apparently some kid's parents haven't done a very good job of teaching their children about cause and effect and responsibility for your actions. So they may have to learn it the hard way. Meanwhile their classmates and the citizens of our small town all pay the price for their stupidity.
Friday, January 26, 2007
First Volleyball Lessons
I tried something new last night.
The Parks and Recreation Department here in Ridgecrest holds a youth volleyball league for kids 10 and older that runs from March to May. From my experience the last couple years not a lot of the 10 year olds from Saint Ann School sign up for this league. So I decided to see if I could get more kids at school interested in joining a league buy holding a beginners volleyball camp last night. I invited all the 4th and 5th grade girls that were interested in learning to play volleyball to come out for the camp.
My goal for the camp was to give them a taste of what it is like to be on a volleyball team, teach them some basic skills and get them some exposure to the game. I planned on concentrating on teaching them how to pass, how to underhand serve and an introduction to the rules of the game.
I had 10 girls show up for the camp. One of my best eighth grade players showed up to help me out. I put her to work running the girls through a couple warm up laps, some agility drills and stretching. Then I showed them the ready position, and the proper hand position and stance to pass a volleyball. I worked my way down the line of girls a couple times tossing them the ball and correcting their passing style. Then I divided them into two lines and had them toss and pass the ball back and forth while my 8th grade assistant coach and I worked our way around correcting arm positions, hand positions, feet, knees, elbows, etc. Just about any mistake you could imagine the were making. I let this drill go on as long as I could, occasionally switching which side was tossing and which side passed, After a couple minutes I would spread the two lines apart a bit farther. Slowly working them apart from about 4 feet back to around 15 feet. I would have liked to spend a lot more time with just this basic drill, but after about 20 minutes the girls started getting bored and when they get bored they get goofy and sloppy.
So I moved them to either side of the net and let them toss and pass back and forth over the net for a few minutes. Then I let them try passing back and forth over the net for a while. When they tired of that I showed them a normal passing drill. One line of players in the back middle of the court and a short target line in the middle front. I toss a ball to the first girl in line, she passes to the target who catches the ball, drops it in my basket and goes to the end of the passing line. The passer goes to the end of the target line. It was a little slow going at first. But as they got into the rythem of the drill we managed to keep it moving at a pretty good clip. I didn't run these girls as hard as I usually do my regular team. Normally I push the older girls quite hard with this drill. They get two times through the drill with me tossing the ball to them. After that they whole rest of the court is fair game. I tossed most of the balls to these beginners. But after they watched my 8th grader run though a couple series where my tosses forced her to cover about 80 percent of the court they wanted to try also. So I let them. The passes were awful, but what the heck, they're just learning. I love the fact that they wanted to try the more challenging drill.
I gave them a break and let them rest while I went over the rules of the game, referee's signals and general terminology. Then it was on to serving.
I showed them the proper footwork and arm swing for an underhand serve. We worked on it for a while without a ball, just trying to establish some rhythm. This shodow serving with a line of girls stepping a swinging in rhythm always reminds me of an old Temptations dance move. But I've learned not to mention that to the girls. I really don't like seeing the confusion on their faces when the say "Who?" But then they get even more confused when I say "No. Not the Who, the Temptations." I just don't know what parents are teaching their kids these days. But for sure its not good music.
After some shadow serving I lined them up and let them serve a couple with me watching. Once they had all gotten at least one ball over the net from midcourt, I lined them up on each side of the net at midcourt and let them serve back and forth a while. Then I would move them back a step or two and keep serving. I only had one or two who managed to serve the full length of the court. But they did pretty good for first timers.
Once they started getting bored with the serving. I lined them up and taught them how to hit downballs. Most of them had a hard time with this. They just aren't big enough to hit a ball with an overhead swing yet and get it to travel very far. They weren't too interested in doing this until I explained that this was the first step to becoming spikers they were suddenly much more interested.
After a few times through the downball hitting lines. I arranged them on the court for a starter game. We didn't keep score, each girl gets to serve 3 times then its a sideout. We got through that drill with just enough time left to run them through a couple suicides before time to go home. As they walked out, most of them looked tired.
I felt pretty guilty an hour later when I took my oldest daughter to her club practice and the youth league basketball practices were just ending. Two of the 5th graders who ahd been at my camp were running in their basketball practice. I guess they got a great workout that evening.
I'm going to have another of these camps in two weeks. I hope they all show up for it also. I had several parents thank me for doing that camp. I didn't tell them that I have some selfish motives for doing this. If I can get the 4th and 5th grade girls interested enough to play in the city league and take the summer camp that the city offers for two years, by the time they are in 6th grade I won't be dealing with a team full of beginners. I would like to be able to make my 6th grade teams competitive with the public middle school's seventh grade teams. Since the public schools don't play their 6th graders and I do, it will just make my 7th and 8th grade teams that much tougher to beat.
The camp was fun. There were several girls who will need a lot of work, but there were also several who were catching on very quickly. I don't know if any of them will eventually be great volleyball players or not, but I tend to look at every young girl and see the next Logan Tom. Maybe one day I'll find one. I would love to some day sit and watch some young lady winning a national championship or an Olympic medal and I nudge the guy next to me and say, "I knew her when she still thought that catch and throw was a legal volleyball move." Until then I have a whole new crop of young ladies to teach about passing, serving, hitting, sportsmanship and teamwork. I can hardly wait.
The Parks and Recreation Department here in Ridgecrest holds a youth volleyball league for kids 10 and older that runs from March to May. From my experience the last couple years not a lot of the 10 year olds from Saint Ann School sign up for this league. So I decided to see if I could get more kids at school interested in joining a league buy holding a beginners volleyball camp last night. I invited all the 4th and 5th grade girls that were interested in learning to play volleyball to come out for the camp.
My goal for the camp was to give them a taste of what it is like to be on a volleyball team, teach them some basic skills and get them some exposure to the game. I planned on concentrating on teaching them how to pass, how to underhand serve and an introduction to the rules of the game.
I had 10 girls show up for the camp. One of my best eighth grade players showed up to help me out. I put her to work running the girls through a couple warm up laps, some agility drills and stretching. Then I showed them the ready position, and the proper hand position and stance to pass a volleyball. I worked my way down the line of girls a couple times tossing them the ball and correcting their passing style. Then I divided them into two lines and had them toss and pass the ball back and forth while my 8th grade assistant coach and I worked our way around correcting arm positions, hand positions, feet, knees, elbows, etc. Just about any mistake you could imagine the were making. I let this drill go on as long as I could, occasionally switching which side was tossing and which side passed, After a couple minutes I would spread the two lines apart a bit farther. Slowly working them apart from about 4 feet back to around 15 feet. I would have liked to spend a lot more time with just this basic drill, but after about 20 minutes the girls started getting bored and when they get bored they get goofy and sloppy.
So I moved them to either side of the net and let them toss and pass back and forth over the net for a few minutes. Then I let them try passing back and forth over the net for a while. When they tired of that I showed them a normal passing drill. One line of players in the back middle of the court and a short target line in the middle front. I toss a ball to the first girl in line, she passes to the target who catches the ball, drops it in my basket and goes to the end of the passing line. The passer goes to the end of the target line. It was a little slow going at first. But as they got into the rythem of the drill we managed to keep it moving at a pretty good clip. I didn't run these girls as hard as I usually do my regular team. Normally I push the older girls quite hard with this drill. They get two times through the drill with me tossing the ball to them. After that they whole rest of the court is fair game. I tossed most of the balls to these beginners. But after they watched my 8th grader run though a couple series where my tosses forced her to cover about 80 percent of the court they wanted to try also. So I let them. The passes were awful, but what the heck, they're just learning. I love the fact that they wanted to try the more challenging drill.
I gave them a break and let them rest while I went over the rules of the game, referee's signals and general terminology. Then it was on to serving.
I showed them the proper footwork and arm swing for an underhand serve. We worked on it for a while without a ball, just trying to establish some rhythm. This shodow serving with a line of girls stepping a swinging in rhythm always reminds me of an old Temptations dance move. But I've learned not to mention that to the girls. I really don't like seeing the confusion on their faces when the say "Who?" But then they get even more confused when I say "No. Not the Who, the Temptations." I just don't know what parents are teaching their kids these days. But for sure its not good music.
After some shadow serving I lined them up and let them serve a couple with me watching. Once they had all gotten at least one ball over the net from midcourt, I lined them up on each side of the net at midcourt and let them serve back and forth a while. Then I would move them back a step or two and keep serving. I only had one or two who managed to serve the full length of the court. But they did pretty good for first timers.
Once they started getting bored with the serving. I lined them up and taught them how to hit downballs. Most of them had a hard time with this. They just aren't big enough to hit a ball with an overhead swing yet and get it to travel very far. They weren't too interested in doing this until I explained that this was the first step to becoming spikers they were suddenly much more interested.
After a few times through the downball hitting lines. I arranged them on the court for a starter game. We didn't keep score, each girl gets to serve 3 times then its a sideout. We got through that drill with just enough time left to run them through a couple suicides before time to go home. As they walked out, most of them looked tired.
I felt pretty guilty an hour later when I took my oldest daughter to her club practice and the youth league basketball practices were just ending. Two of the 5th graders who ahd been at my camp were running in their basketball practice. I guess they got a great workout that evening.
I'm going to have another of these camps in two weeks. I hope they all show up for it also. I had several parents thank me for doing that camp. I didn't tell them that I have some selfish motives for doing this. If I can get the 4th and 5th grade girls interested enough to play in the city league and take the summer camp that the city offers for two years, by the time they are in 6th grade I won't be dealing with a team full of beginners. I would like to be able to make my 6th grade teams competitive with the public middle school's seventh grade teams. Since the public schools don't play their 6th graders and I do, it will just make my 7th and 8th grade teams that much tougher to beat.
The camp was fun. There were several girls who will need a lot of work, but there were also several who were catching on very quickly. I don't know if any of them will eventually be great volleyball players or not, but I tend to look at every young girl and see the next Logan Tom. Maybe one day I'll find one. I would love to some day sit and watch some young lady winning a national championship or an Olympic medal and I nudge the guy next to me and say, "I knew her when she still thought that catch and throw was a legal volleyball move." Until then I have a whole new crop of young ladies to teach about passing, serving, hitting, sportsmanship and teamwork. I can hardly wait.
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