One woman volunteers to pick up trash and finds abandoned cats, a stray dog, dead fighting roosters and more trash and litter than one can believe

 * ... TRASH: Jennifer Waguespack is one of those good citizens who joins with others to help clear the trash and debris from our community, but this note from her was a distressing one. "This has been a disappointing week," she wrote. "First, we found two dumped cats and one pit bull at the Alfred  Harrell Highway and Goodmanville Road underpass. Then on Sunday I (and my reluctant 13 year old daughter) picked up trash under the Fairfax and Alfred Harrell Highway bridge. Needless to say after three large trash bags full and numerous boxes later it looks better but not perfect. There is still a little trash, but also several dead roosters. Yes, thatʼs right dead roosters. I assume they are from cock fighting, or they are dumped in plastic bags under the bridge. Also we found a lot of used energy gel (GU) packets. Given that this is popular route for bicyclists and that cyclists are common energy gel users, I have to assume that they are the cyclists. 'Sharing the road' apparently does not apply to cyclists. Keep your trash in your car or in your back pocket if your on your bike and stop dumping your animals. Love your neighbors.":

 * ... GRAPEVINE: Remember when the skies were so clear you could see the lights up the Grapevine  from your house. Well, reader Roberta Bollard say on certain days, you still can. "We see them at about 6:15 almost every winter morning as we walk south down Loma Linda Avenue past the Garces parking lot gate (at La Colina Avenue) and the side of Our Lady of Perpetual Help school.  Because the trees in the distance have grown taller over the years there aren't as many places along that route where you can see them now, alas -- but they're there, and you can see them clearly as long as there's no cloud cover. "

 * ... MASSEY: Candi Easter, head of the Kern County Democratic Party, wonders if anyone remembers her great aunt, local artist Joyce Massey. Massey was an artist in Bakersfield in the 1940s and 1950s who taught art in in Bakersfield. "I visited here (as a child) in 1956 or 1957 for her 'one woman art show at the Bakersfield Art Museum in Central Park.  My dad (who is 91) and I would love to hear if there is anyone that remembers her."

 * ... MEMORIES: Pam Roberts, one of the volunteers who works the annual SPCA book sale, wrote to ask if anyone remembers the old Brundage Variety store. "It was located on Brundage and I think around Cypress or Myrtle. I used to buy all my books there when I was a kid—Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie and the Bobbsey Twins and my paper dolls. Lots of memories in that store."

 * ... NUN RUN: I goofed in saying the annual Nun Run is this Saturday. The annual event, to benefit Our Lady of Guadalupe School, will kick off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, April 20, on East California Avenue.

 * ... BAKERSFIELDISM: You may be a Bakersfield old timer if you "ate lunch at the House of Rasmussen Restaurant on Niles Street." Thanks to Gene Bonas for that nugget.