History on Display at the Channel Islands Maritime Museum in Oxnard

Located in the Channel Islands Harbor next to The Whales Tail Bar & Grill, the Channel Islands Maritime Museum houses an outstanding collection of maritime art, objects and unique ship models.

The Museum is home to a permanent collection of extensive marine art, featuring works by 17th century Dutch and Flemish artists Willem van de Velde and Bonaventura Peeters. Noted modern artists in the collection include John Stobart, Montague Dawson, David Thimgan, Roy Cross and Christopher Blossom.

The museum houses one of the two largest collections of antique Napoleonic prisoner of war sailing ship models in the country. Three thousand years of maritime history are illustrated by historic ship models, including the life's work of renowned builder Edward Marple. Exhibits on whaling, sailors' arts and the history of the Channel Islands Harbor and Port of Hueneme round out the collection.

The Museum also hosts lectures. temporary exhibits, open houses and more.

The museum is open Thursday to Monday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (62+) and $3 for children ages 6 to 17 (as of October 2016). Admission is FREE the 3rd Thursday of each month. For more information, visit www.channelislandsmaritimemuseum.org or call 805.984.6260.

Do You Remember Eating a Breakfast Sandwich at Starbucks Between 4/28/15 and 8/17/15?

Heck, not only do I not recall if I ate a breakfast sandwich at a Starbucks location between the dates of April 25, 2015 and August 17, 2015, but I can't even remember what I ate for breakfast yesterday.

The reason I ask is that Starbucks has entered into a class action settlement that claims that certain California Starbucks locations charged too much during said time frame for its Reduced-Fat Turkey Bacon Breakfast Sandwich ($3.75 was allegedly charged when the listed price was $3.45) and the Sausage & Cheddar Breakfast Sandwich ($3.45 charged instead of $3.25 it is alleged).

Starbucks denied all claims but decided to settle the case to avoid further expense, which among other things includes the cost of advertising the settlement for prospective claimants.

But they are not paying me to write about it here.

Yes, you can make a claim to recoup your losses if you overpaid for one of these two breakfast sandwiches during the 111 day period noted above.

What can you get out of this?

If you purchased said sandwiches using your Starbucks Reward account, you're in luck. There's a digital record of your expenditures and you will automatically receive a credit of 25 cents per sandwich purchased. Heck, if you ate a breakfast sandwich every day during that period, you will be receiving a credit of $27.75 in your account and don't need to fill anything out. Yippee! Or maybe you ate two per day. That would be $55.50 in moolah back in your account.

If you have proof of purchase of your sandwich(es) in the form of a receipt, you must complete a claim form, available at www.BreakfastSandwichSettlement.com (I knew I should have purchased that domain name years ago) and receive 25 cents per purchase. The credit expires after 90 days. If any of you actually can find such receipts during that time frame, contact me. I want to hire you as my accountant.

If you are like most people and have no receipts, yet, unlike me, actually can recall acquiring at least one of the above mentioned breakfast sandwiches during said 111 day period, then all you gotta do is, confirm, "under penalty of perjury," that you did purchase at least one of these allegedly delicious breakfast sandwiches between 4/28/15 and 8/17/15. The reward for such amazing recollection will be a 50 cent coupon code good for up to 90 days after issuance.

Or, you can be like me, and spend 30 minutes writing about the insanity of it all and get a few laughs out of this breakfast sandwich caper. As I sit here drinking my $4.95 Grande Frappuccino.

Three Ventura County Schools Win 2016 National Blue Ribbon Schools Honors

Three Ventura County Schools were named National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2016 today by U.S. Secretary of Education John B. King, Jr. The Blue Ribbon Schools are selected based on their overall academic excellence or their progress in closing achievement gaps among student subgroups. The Ventura County winners are among just 279 public and 50 private schools to be selected nationwide. The local winners are:

Environmental Academy of Research Technology and Earth Sciences (EARThS Academy)
Conejo Valley Unified School District

Vista Elementary School
Simi Valley Unified School District

Westlake High School
Conejo Valley Unified School District

The U.S. Department of Education will formally recognize the winners at an awards ceremony in Arlington, Virginia on November 7 and 8, 2016. The honored schools include public and non-public elementary, middle and high schools, including traditional, charter, magnet schools, parochial and independent schools in 42 States, the District of Colombia as well as Department of Defense Education Activity schools.

The National Blue Ribbon Schools award affirms the success of educators, students and families in creating safe and welcoming schools where students master challenging content. The National Blue Ribbon Schools flag gracing a school’s building is a widely recognized symbol of exemplary teaching and learning. National Blue Ribbon Schools are an inspiration and a model for schools still striving for excellence. Now in its 34th year, the U. S. Department of Education has bestowed this coveted award on fewer than 8,500 schools.

A complete list of all 2016 honorees is at www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/2016/national.pdf. 

Note: There were no Ventura County schools on the 2014 and 2015 National Blue Ribbon Schools lists; however, our local Yerba Buena Elementary School of Agoura Hills was a 2015 recipient and La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks received this prestigious award in 2013.

About the Ventura County Office of Education

The Ventura County Office of Education provides a broad array of fiscal, training and technology support services to local school districts, helping to maintain and improve lifelong educational opportunities for children, educators and community members. VCOE also operates schools that serve students with severe disabilities and behavioral issues, provides career education courses, and coordinates countywide academic competitions including Mock Trial and the Ventura County Science Fair. Learn more at: www.vcoe.org.

Thousand Oaks Ranks #49 on 2016 BICYCLING Magazine List of Top 50 Bike-Friendly Cities

The Amgen Tour came by so fast in 2016 that it was just a blur!

Today, BICYCLING Magazine published its biennial list of the top 50 bike-friendly cities in the United States. The list is updated every other year based on data from over 100 cities and factors in miles of bike lanes and other information.

The City of Thousand Oaks made the cut at #49 this time, down from #33 on the 2014 list. The article mentions that the City gave bicycle safety education to 5,500 K-8 students over the last year, upgraded paths by providing separate facilities for bicyclists and equestrians and added green paint to bike lane intersections. However, the write-up notes that "much of Thousand Oaks' bike lanes remain far too narrow" and that only 3 out of the city's 157 miles of bike lanes contain a striped buffer to allow extra space between cars and cyclists.

Other Southern California cities on the list include Los Angeles (#24, up from #28 in 2014) and Long Beach (#28, down from #23 in 2014). The top 3 cities on this biennial list are Chicago, San Francisco and Portland.

For Class I Bike Paths in and around Ventura County, click THIS LINK.

Other local cycling clubs/groups in and around Ventura County at THIS LINK.

Mountains Restoration Trust Preserves Land in the Santa Monica Mountains

Based in Calabasas, Mountains Restoration Trust (MRT) is a non-profit land trust dedicated to preserving natural land in the Santa Monica Mountains, a range traversing from Griffith Park to Point Mugu in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. through restoration, education and land acquisition. MRT was founded in 1981.

Restoration projects are a top priority for MRT. Non-native plant invasion has been occurring in the fragile ecology of the Santa Monica Mountains since early explorers arrived with mustard seeds to mark their trails. Non-native grasses, trees and plants have found a similar home far from their lands of origin, and are a threat to native plants and animals.

Non-native, invasive crayfish in Malibu Creek eat native amphibians and fish, wrecking havoc on the creek's ecosystem. Volunteers have removed over 11,000 crayfish from the creek! MRT encourages volunteers every Thursday through Saturday to help remove these crayfish. I signed up with my kids and it certainly was fun, interesting and rewarding!

We learned how to tell a male from a female crayfish from the biologist volunteer.

After retrieving the crayfish from traps set by MRT staff, my kids helped measure their length for a long-term study.

The kids had a blast. Sign up to help at www.mountainstrust.org/events-grid.

In addition to restoration projects, MRT hosts nature walks, rattlesnake avoidance training, youth naturalist programs, summer camps, senior programs and more.

To learn more, visit www.mountainstrust.org or call 818.591.1701.

"The Roots of our Lives" Living Time Capsule at Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

The Roots of our Lives "Living Time Capsule" located at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza

The City of Thousand Oaks was incorporated in 1964 after a majority vote on September 29, 1964. Thirty years later, City leaders decided to do something very special by creating a "Living Time Capsule" designed to grow over the years.

In the front of the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza, on the east side behind the large Mary and Richard Carpenter Plaza Park sign, is "The Roots of our Lives," an area that contains the living time capsule.  A geocache led us here. Learn more about geocaching at this link.

Here is the inscription on a sign next to the "Living Time Capsule" bench:

"A time capsule is encased within the bench below the specially designed oak tree and mountainscape relief with the time capsule theme, "The Roots of our Lives." It is filled with documents and artifacts reflective of the City of Thousand Oaks' rich historical heritage, and current public and private activities.

It is called "A Living Time Capsule" for it was designed to grow as our City grows, with each succeeding generation contributing to the contents of four time capsule containers. This is accomplished through a unique program, whereby:

• A group of fifty ten year-old children were designated "Guardians of the Time Capsule" at the dedication on October 9, 1994. They will be back for the next opening of the time capsule when a new generation of "Guardians" will be chosen. This process will continue for the next three openings of the time capsule.

• At its dedication on October 9, 1994, two of the four time capsule containers were filled and sealed.

• The third container will be filled and sealed at the time capsule's opening on the City's 50th Anniversary, in the year 2014. This process will be repeated with the fourth container, on the City's 75th Anniversary, in the year 2039.

• A final opening of all four containers will take place on the City's 100th Anniversary, in the year 2064."

Time Capsule created by the Greater Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce was buried on November 20, 1989 and will be opened on November 20, 2039. Makes one ponder....will I be around to witness this?

Carpinteria and Indian Village of Mishopshnow California Registered Landmark No. 535

California State Registered Landmark No. 535 is located at the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History as well as at 1000 South Carpinteria Avenue (pictured above).

The landmark was registered on May 31, 1955 as "La Carpinteria" - The Carpenter's Shop.

The Chumash (which means "bead maker") have lived along the California coast for over 13,000 years. The Chumash Indian village of Mishopshnow, discovered by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo on August 14, 1542, was located 1/4 mile southwest of the monument.

Fray Juan Crespí of the Gaspar de Portolá Expedition named the village San Roque on August 17, 1769. Portolá's soldiers, observing the Indians building wooden canoes, called the village La Carpinteria.

These canoes, or tomol, came in handy for catching fish in deep waters. The advanced design of the tomol utilized the naturally occurring asphalt in the area to seal them. The tar still oozes today at Carpinteria State Beach at Tar Pits Park, one of five natural asphalt lake areas in the world.

Learn more about the Chumash at the Chumash Indian Museum in Thousand Oaks.