Photo courtesy of Rob Riingen,  East County Herald

July 18, 2014 (Lakeside) – Senator Joel Anderson’s office sent in this pic of the Senator presenting a resolution honoring the new Miss Rodeo USA 2014 and former Lakeside Rodeo Queen,  Elisa Swenson.

By Miriam Raftery

July 2, 2014 (Mt. Helix) – It was a very important date for guests at the Mad Hatter wine tasting party hosted by vintner Stephanie Young and Laurie Delaney at the Manor Vineyard on Mt. Helix.

Prizes were awarded for best costumes as guests mixed, mingled, munched appetizers and savored vintages brought by guests.  Vineyard consultant Greg Maness poured wines and spoke about our region’s fast-growing wine industry at the May 18 event.

June 6, 2014 (Mt. Helix) -- Mark Raftery captured this image of a Cooper's Hawk in flight, soaring high abouve Mt. Helix. 

May 13, 2014 (Jacumba) – Tanya Wilkins Aiau snapped this image a 4:45 p.m. on May 5^th of a brush fire near her Jacumba home--a fire that she reported to 911.

“I was just passing the Golden Acorn on east bound I-8 when I saw smoke. I didn't have any cell phone service and couldn't tell exactly where the fire was from that distance,” she said. “When I rounded the corner by the billboard (advertising the Rio Bend RV park) at the West end of Walker Canyon I could see flames. I used a call box to call in the fire; the first firetruck passed me while I was on the phone."

April 18, 2014 (San Diego) – Nadin Abbott took this moon shot during the lunar eclipse visible from San Diego this week, as earth’s shadow moved across the face of the moon.

April 12, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Ariele Johannsen snapped this photo of Joel Talmadge from El Cajon. Talmadge is proud to live in East County – so to show off his East County spirit, he’s tattooed the words “East County” onto his arm.

April 5, 2014 (Jacumba) – Tom Lemon sent this surreal looking shot of a buffalo sculpture and man-made caves at the Desert View Tower, long a favorite roadside stop of travelers in Jacumba. Visit it while you still can – word is its long-time proprietor may be set to retire in the near future.

March 28, 2014 (San Diego)--Attention, shutterbugs!

Mission Trails Regional Park invites you to enter its 22^nd annual Amateur Photo Contest.

March 1, 2014 (Campo) – Donna Tisdale forwarded these photos taken on February 25^th with the following description.

By Miriam Raftery; photos by Tom Lemon

February 23, 2014 (Cuyamaca) – “The meadows should be green, Cuyamaca Lake full. Not so,” Tom Lemon writes after a trip to the mountain area.  “The area is tinder dry and the lake down six or eight feet.” 

Still, he found some interesting sights, as thees photos reveal.

Photos by Eldonna Lay and Meghan M. Lay

February 15, 2014 (San Diego’s East County) – Motorists along Fuerte Drive at Mt. Helix drive and on Chase Avenue near Fuerte in the unincorporated areas of the County will soon be safer, thanks to two new retaining walls under construction.  The walls are being built to halt erosion of enbankments and rockslides onto the roadways below.

February 8, 2014 (San Diego's East County) - Debbie Ekhaml photographed these red-tailed hawks at three different locations around East County recently. They were taken in the National Wildlife Refuge in Jamul.

January 30, 2014 (Boulevard) -- Is a "green" energy project really green if it destroys these beautiful scenes?  Soitec wants to industrialize our backcountry with over 8,000 solar panels, each 30 feet high, scraping the earth bare and destroying sensitive wetlands and wildlife habitat. Thanks to Teresa DeGroot for documenting what will be destroyed unless Supervisors vote down this project, one of several industrial-scale energy projects proposed as part of the "energy zone" that elected officials seek to create in East County's rural and wilderness areas.  Area residents want to see green energy projects located in urban areas where power is used--not in pristine areas such as these that are located along state designated scenic highways. Click "read more" to view more photos.

By Miriam Raftery

January 7, 2014 (Descanso) -- Duncan McFetridge sent in these idyllic images of his "spiritual grandson," Ki, enjoying a swim at Indian Springs along the Sweetwater River, about a half hour hike from the town of Descanso. 

December 11, 2013 (San Diego's East County) -- Mission Trails Regional Park forwarded these images taken by David Cooksy, showing resplendent fall foliage and a coyote in the park—the largest urban  regional park in America.