by Diana Bulls
Tea time and Mother’s Day seem to go together, so I immediately thought about the simple tea infuser. Once nearly extinct, but now making a comeback, this lowly little item was a necessity for brewing the perfect cup of tea. Infusers were around for a long time before the invention of tea bags. Sometimes called a tea ball or tea egg, by the time of Queen Victoria, no respectable British household would be without one of these, but before we get in to the nitty-gritty of tea infusing, we need a little history lesson on tea itself.
by Jim Bulls
America may have been a late comer to the industrial revolution, but the country had the advantage of possessing the raw materials needed to excel in manufacturing. The only thing imported was cheap labor. The industrialization of transportation began with the “horseless carriage.” These vehicles were propelled by three types power.
by Jim Bulls
It’s a challenge not to be repetitious while writing for Kings River Life–in many of the stories I have written before, it is inevitable that Reedley’s history will come up. It is also astonishing to realize that the lifetime I have spent in Reedley spans over half of the City’s existence! That’s right, not just the centennial, not even the incorporation, but since the very inception of a town named Reedley (by one year) in 1888.
by Jim Bulls
In the early 1900s, a great Pentecostal movement started in the Azuza Street Church in Los Angeles, and those called to God set forth on a mission of revivals throughout the United States.
by Diana Bulls
Most of us pay little or no attention to salt & pepper. They don’t cost much and are easily obtainable at any grocery store. Every household has a container of salt & pepper on the table or in the cupboard, but it wasn’t always this way. At one time, both salt and pepper were literally worth their weight in gold! Modern salt mining techniques and expanded pepper growing regions have made them an everyday item rather than a luxury.
by Kristalyn Patzkowski
According to the Oxford Dictionary, technology is “the application of scientific knowledge for practical purposes, especially in industry.” In the modern world, the word “industry” is so closely linked to computers that we assume that technology is limited to computers as well. However, the oxford dictionary expands the definition so nearly every invention in history can be considered a technology. Such an invention would be the typewriter, which has been surpassed by the computer industry, but it has managed to create a legacy of its own.
by Maria Ruiz
My aunt and uncle lived in a small, two bedroom, one bathroom house built in the late 1940s for the returning soldiers and their families. They were to stay in that house until the day they died, sixty plus years later.
by Maria Ruiz
I was playing in the surf on the beach in Santa Barbara. The morning fog had cleared and it was a perfect day. Cool in the shade of the giant eucalyptus trees and warm in the sun. I was glad I had gotten away by myself and not had to drag my sister along. She could be a real pain in the butt when she whined. Today I was free.
by Jim Bulls
In 1850 California became the 31st state, and Reedley was in Mariposa County. Back then, if you wanted to cross the river, you either found a shallow place and “forded” across or found a ferry, paid the fee and crossed while staying nice and dry. At one time there were half a dozen ferry crossings over the Kings River, from the foothills to Tulare Lake. In just two years, the Reedley area was in Tulare County and could claim two operating ferries.
by Diana Bulls
So, you have taken my advice from past articles and have started poking around in your grandmother’s (or mother’s) kitchen drawers, and you found this ceramic thingy. It sort of looks like it was half of a salt and pepper set, but then again, there is only one hole on top and it’s way too big. Lucky you; you have found a pie bird! It is one of those whimsical, days-gone-by kitchen gadgets that is still practical enough that every pie baker should have one.
by Jim Bulls
Ghouls, goblins and zombies too, witches and ghosts and maybe a hobo or two–groups of kids invade the streets searching for candy and all saying “treat of treat.” It must be October 31, all Hallow’s Eve in Reedley.
by Jim Bulls
I can’t keep writing how great those Fiesta’s of a half century ago were when every year there are fewer around to remember them. Thinking of friends gone by, a conversation came to mind between myself and the late Dennis Olson about the pride we both had when we watched our Reedley High “Pirate” Band march down Colorado Boulevard during the Pasadena Rose Parade in 2000. So, I thought to myself, “Self, what a better tribute to the Fiesta than to drop by and see Mr. Burl Walter Jr. and chronicle the story that led him to Reedley.”
by Jim Bulls
The Reedley Downtown Association’s gala event is fast approaching, touting fine cuisine from 30 food providers that call Reedley home. As the hysterical historian, I have been thinking back over my 65 years as a Reedleyite and of the 50-odd restaurants, cafes, diners, hotdog and frosty stands, drive-ins, bars and dives that came before.
by Maria Ruiz
In 1947, Dad was transferred to Fort Riley, Kansas. He bought a house in Junction City with an empty lot next door. Here, he dug, planted, seeded and tended a vegetable garden, fifteen feet wide by twenty feet long. He lovingly watched as his corn, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, potatoes and squash plants came up. Every night, after work, he would pull the hose out and walking up and down the rows, would water his little jewels.
