There are many great trails throughout the Riverside County area. The trails that are established and managed by the Riverside County Park and Open-Space District are available to equestrian, biking and hiking enthusiasts. There are trails for every level of fitness throughout the region. I encourage you to visit their website to learn more. This group has a Trails Committee which helps to make recommendations regarding acquisition, maintenance and promotion of all the multi-use trails in Riverside County. Committee members are appointed by the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. The committee is made up of 11 Riverside County residents who meet bi-monthly.
This committee has established an Adopt-A-Trail Program which offers community organizations the opportunity to adopt a segment of trail for a one-year period. These organizations make a difference by volunteering their time with maintenance and clean-up of the trail system. Or, they donate money for maintenance to be done. There are still trails that are available for adoption. To see the adoptable segments and trail maps, just take a moment to visit the website.
The Rancho California Horseman's Association is actively working with this committee to assist in the establishment, maintenance and promotion of trails throughout Temecula Wine Country and surrounding area. The RCHA has been working on trail maps that are going before the Board of Supervisors for approval this year. Once these trails are approved, they will also be available for adoption within the Adopt-a-Trail Program. I was honored this year to be offered a board position with the RCHA for 2012 and look forward to assisting them with their projects.
This year I will be sharing the trails here with you via goBreadCrumbs. If you're into hiking, I think you'll really like what goBreadCrumbs has to offer. As a user, you will upload your GPS track and add up to 20 images and 2 videos to your trail. Trails are "bundled" however you see fit. Many users bundle by date and I have chosen to bundle by area. This is a neat way to share trails with your family and friends. Trails are viewed via Google Earth so you can actually zoom in and tilt your camera to really get a feel for the terrain.
As a new user, I have only loaded two trails into my Wine Country bundle and look forward to bringing you more. I hope you enjoy the maps and I will keep you posted as to the trails here in Wine Country as they become approved. Below is yesterday's ride, enjoy!
Sharon Bolton of Century 21 posted this insightful blog and wanted to re-blog this good information. If you have questions regarding this article or need more information, contact Sharon directly.
So, are you a property owner in one of Metropolitan Water Districts’ 11 “Fringe Districts”? Do you even know that such a thing exisits?And, if you are in one of these Districts, have you looked at your property tax bills lately?
Well, Kimberly Hodge and me, Sharon Bolton, looked at our bills several years ago and we were staggered to discover Oakridge Ranches owners have already paid Metropolitan Water District an original $1,460,000 MM Annexation Fee which started in 1971 as well as paying 4% compounded interest since 1971 to 2011.
This "General Obligation Debt Bond" as identified on our tax bill and levied through our Riverside County Property Taxes resulted in property owners, just in Oakridge, paying off the original fee along with the compounded interest and resulted in us overpaying the tax by an additional $1,440,000 MM charged over these past 40 long years for a total expense to Oakridge property owners alone a total of $4,360,000 MM paid for water we never received and never will receive unless we opt to create a new tax bond to extend water to our rural parcels.
For several years, our efforts to research, analyze and explain this complex issue to our Homeowners fell mostly on deaf ears within the community except for last year. In 2010 two brave Home Owner Association (HOA) Board members and two private owners leaned in to help our effort to inform Oakridge owners of this situation.
A petition was thankfully circulated by our small group; it was an essential document to make District officials focus on the gravity of this issue and it was not just a simple gripe from disgruntled homeowners but rather a massive issue which affected hundreds of property owners all over southern California. These wonderful neighbors did all the work and paid all expenses but they did not want to be identified for their generosity and even now, these bighearted people do not want to be in the spot light...but we all owe them a great debt of gratitude.
For years, we focused on this issue in order to be heard by the Board of Directors of Metropolitan Water District and finally we were successful in getting their Board to stop the Annexation Fee to our community. Little did we know these fees were
being to Oakridge but also being charged to eleven separate districts - Oakridge Ranches was only one of the “Fringe Districts” being charged these Annexation Fees.
Finally, after research to prove our case, presentations to Boards of Directors and attending several high level meetings, Kimberly Hodge and Sharon Bolton were allowed to make our case before the Metropolitan Water District's Board of Directors on May 10, 2011.
It's a long story. If you would like more information, just ask.
Happy Monday morning to everyone! Both photographs were taken with the Paper Camera app on my Android device. If you don't have this app, you might check it out. Loads of fun. This particular filter is one of many on the app and does very well giving that "sketched" look to vehicles, animals and architecture. Take a picture of your kitchen, the cabinets come to life! Very cool and does well with human faces, too.
The paper camera app is available from theAndroid MarketUK£1.19,Click Hereto quick access. Have a great day and take a little time for fun and creativity!
Here in the Temecula Valley we are fortunate to have the Rancho California Horsemen's Association (RCHA). The RCHA is the voice of equestrians and horse lovers in the Temecula Valley. This group is dedicated to preserving trails. Working with the County of Riverside, they strive to create a network of trails backed by legal easements so equestrians can ride throughout the Valle de los Caballos, Wine Country, and out to Vail Lake, Lake Skinner and Diamond Valley Lake. The RCHA works with local governments (city, county, state) to designate and maintain a network of local and arterial trails (i.e., local “loops” as well as trails linking to major cross-county networks). They also facilitate a network among local horse lovers so that the beautiful trails and horse-keeping areas can be enjoyed together.
Recently, the RCHA organized Safer Street Crossings. They have been working with the Department of Transportation and the CHP to increase the safety at the 7 street crossings in Wine Country (5 along DePortola, one on Glenoaks Road and one on Anza Road). Larger "YIELD TO EQUESTRIANS" signs have been installed, and they appear to be having a positive effect. The RCHA is launching an educational program to help both motorists and equestrians follow safer practices at these crossings. Flyers have been distributed to wineries in the area as well as homeowner's associations to explain to motorists how to behave when they approach the Yield signs. In addition, local reporters have agreed to write articles helping to educate the public. This effort is being co-sponsored by RCHA, the Riverside County Department of Transportation, CHP, and the Temecula Visitors and Convention Bureau.
If you are an equestrian riding in these areas, it will help if you do the following at the crossings: Wait for gaps in traffic before entering the striped areas Make sure motorists are fully stopped before you enter the crossing zone, and be aware that motorists BEHIND the first car can sometimes try to pass by going around the stopped vehicle Be courteous and acknowledge when motorists slow down and stop for you. Ride defensively - don't assume motorists understand that they should stop. Report any difficulties (and positive suggestions) to info@rchatemecula.org The CHP will bring its trailer and flashing signs out for our next group ride, to see if these help. Fortunately, there are experienced representatives in the Traffic Department and CHP contributing to RCHA's effort.
Roundabout and striped crossing on Rancho California Road are also in progress for the Safer Street Crossings project. Work has already begun on the first roundabout at Anza Road and Rancho California Road. Two horse crossings are planned on the east (first) and west ends of Rancho California. These will be specially designed with solar powered flashing Yield signs, and stopping points well back (20-30 feet) from the crossing. The first of these will be set up along with the first roundabout, as a trial, and will be located near Wiens winery. For more information on the Rancho California Horsemen Association, please go to theirwebsite.
The nature of my niche is such that I am often in rural locations that are frequently an hour drive to either my home or a family member's home. My brokerage does not have an "office" we all work from our homes although there are a few folks that choose to rent office space to conduct their business. For me, my other offices are that of my family members. I thank God for my mother and all my sisters and brothers, in-laws and nieces and nephews! If it were not for them, I would have had to drive all the way back to the ranch on more than one occasion and be delayed by an entire day!
I recently took a listing near the coast that was an hour and a half from the ranch where I live. My clients received an offer on their house and now we were shopping in another area also a good hour from the ranch. The ranch is 30 minutes from town as it is, in case you were wondering. LOL. It came in right handy that my wonderful sister, who is also in the business, lives in the same town where my clients were moving to.
On more than one occasion I stopped by my sister's house to print out docs that needed wet signatures. Pretty sure most everything else goes through DocuSign, well at least for this couple as they're pretty tech savvy. The way my sister and I were doing it was I'd just have her log in to my email and print what I needed. However, with Cloud printing via Google's cloud, we can actually share printers. How cool is that? Not that I mind having my sister log in, it's just more steps reduced. You know, instead of calling and saying "Hey, can you login, search for this email and print the attachment", it's more like, "Hey, your printer is going to be busy for a bit. I'll be over in a few minutes to pick it up." With that I have just saved us each a bit of time. Gotta love it.
I have so many occasions where a shared cloud printer would come in handy I can't even begin to count. The properties I show are mostly all acreage and so parcel maps with satellite image and topo lines are a must. This is the part of the story where I thank my County website for its technology. Thank you Riverside TLMA GIS! I love you! I've been on appointments, thinking I would go paperless and have everything on my tablet, including directions. Yeah, bad idea. No cell coverage!!! Or worse, dead battery and forgot to put the charger in the truck!!!
So while paperless has its place, it's not always a good choice. They say pick your battles wisely and for this, I say, pick your print options wisely. LOL. Clouds! Who'd a thought there'd be a whole new definition of clouds. It's raining printers from a cloud! Technically, you could do it all without even owning a printer. But, what fun would that be when it's your turn to share? It's all about giving and receiving, or in this case, printing and sending. The sharing of multiple printers! Ha, didn't even think about those occasions where you're out of ink, lol.
I love technology and can't get enough. Thanks for the contest. Perhaps I could lose this old PCL 4500. Haha, it's like having a mini-fridge on your desk, it's that big.
Here we have 2.75 acres with horse facilities in Murrieta near French Valley. Facilities include 8-stall barn w/16'x24' (approx.) stalls, Eight 24'x48' corrals and Two 60' square pens. Hay storage with workshop attached. Fully fenced in chain link with good producing well and trees on property. 1980 double-wide mobilehome with two bedrooms and two baths has laminate wood flooring and tile floor in Kitchen. Living room with fireplace and large covered porch off the back of the home with steps down to the horses. Second single-wide mobilehome also on property.
Call agent for more info:
Beth Barbour at 951-251-LAND
Or Text for more info:
Text "2464" To 79564
Prime Horse Property
PO BOX 891568
Temecula, CA 92589
This little raingbow over the steeple was a special moment and everyone went to go have a look. For us, it was a reminder of hope and to be thankful for the many blessings of recent. It was a bright sunny day with a few wispy clouds and the little rainbow just appeared out of nowhwere it seemed. I thought I'd share it here as a reminder for anyone reading this to be hopeful of all that is to come and to be thankful for all that is.
The listing below is a beatiful 40-acre piece that is fenced and cross-fenced with an arena, covered roundpen, mare motel, box stalls and paddocks with run-in shelters. This property is adjacent to trails and as I left there yesterday I thought about what a great business could be had there for trail riding. With close proximity to the Wine Country in Temecula, it would be easy to set up a bed/breakfast there or offer to haul to the vineyards for trail riding with set appointments. The location is also suitable for a "Dino-Trails" ride. In that, a great little business could be set up for trail riding to Diamond Valley Lake in Hemet, CA. You could either ride straight off the property over to Diamond Valley where Dinosaurs were excavated and even include a lunch and a tour of the museum. These rides could be made shorter and by appointment with a short haul to the staging area for Diamond Valley and done that way, too.
Of course, as you will see if you go through the property website and look at the images you will see that it is pretty well set up for any kind of discipline. Unless you want to keep cattle...not so good with PVC fencing, but perfect for most everything else. Combined Driving? OMG, the roads are perfect! Not only is there a ton of room on the property but because it has two-miles of hard pack well-maintained dirt roads and the area is exclusive to horses with dirt roads throughout. Three-day eventer's paradise, dressage trainer/breeder heaven and a show jumper's palace. Convert the six-stall FCP mare motel with wall panel easily into a 12-stall barn. The current stalls are over-sized so you could easily convert to 12x12 boxes with in and outs. Have a look and check out the listing. There's sure enough plenty of acreage to work with, no doubt about that! Enjoy!!!
I took this picture in 2004 when I was working with Mustangs. This photo is of three mustangs that I had adopted. They were in the arena for turnout when I took the photo. I later took the photo and turned it into clipart as you see in the image below. The American flag seemed fitting for America's wild horse, the Mustang. Happy Fourth of July everyone!
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