#13 - February 23rd, 2005

As regular readers will be aware, one of the highlights of the week for any Turkey Vulture is a visit to the County DumpŠand I'm no exception. Last Wednesday I flew up Mountain View Road and checked out the day's activities at this fun-filled venue. It was a fairly quiet day up there but it's well worth noting, and I'm sure you're keen to learn, that there was a very pungent odor emanating from one of the two large trash containers. Despite many years of experience in this field I could not work out what the smell was and Ron the Dump Guy was equally as dumfounded. He did comment however, that it was, "very smelly, very unpleasant" ŠAll I can add is that you know it's particularly bad when Ron says soŠŠ

Moving quickly onŠ.A few weeks ago I mentioned in the 'Unusual Sights in the Valley' section that I had talked with two young women who were planning to make a film in the Valley. At the time I referred to this development as the coming of 'Armageddon'. Well, one day last week as I flew into Navarro heading for the coast I was confronted by over twenty big trucks, large vans, and expensive cars , all parked at the side of the road around The Navarro Store. Camera and film equipment was everywhere. Two questions immediately popped into my mind - 'Was this the film crew I had feared would show up ?'Š and if soŠ 'Why had I not been offered a part ?' (Before you scoff I should inform you that my great grandfather was in Hitchcock's The Birds and my grandmother appeared in The Raven alongside the late, great Vincent Price and Peter Lorre. As you can see, acting is clearly in my bloodŠ.but I digress)Š..I continued on my way and after flying an additional mile west past Navarro I saw that the traffic was being held up by a CHP officer. I could also make out that further on down the highway all sorts of activities were happening in the road. Being an 'investigative reporter' I approached the officer and inquired what sort of film was being made. Smiling, and with a friendly tone of voice, he informed me that it was not a film which was in production but a commercial for the new Cadillac. There would be a fifteen minute delay, he added. He was very cheerful and he returned to reading his newspaper. I was relieved to hear that it was not the film crew I had expected but still felt somewhat violated by all these 'brightlighters' sitting around doing very little except impinging on our quiet roads and my own relaxing drive to the coast. Anyway, when I was eventually allowed to meander past the assembled hordes of actors, crew, technicians, make-up people, cooks, etc assembled at the side of the road, I could not resist commenting to all of them, "Tough job, guys, keep up the good work." They seemed confused at my curmudgeonly sarcasm Š.. Meanwhile, despite the same kind of annoying delays still occurring three hours later as I made my return journey, I'm sure most Valley folk will overlook any inconveniences and are now eagerly looking forward to seeing the commercial and possibly even buying the new carŠYeh, right.

On Thursday I accompanied some dog and cat buddies of mine to the travelling vets who were making one of their visits to the Valley . As I have mentioned before these guys are from the Mendcocino Animal Hospital in Ukiah and stop by Dave and Nancy Gowan's Anderson Valley Farm Supply a couple of times a month to provide an invaluable service for the pets of many local people. Led by Dr. Katy Summers, they arrive around 2pm and stay for a couple of hours. There are no appointments but there is a sign up sheet so that people and their pets get seen in the order that they arrive. If you are planning a visit I recommend that you call the vets (707-462-8833) to confirm that they are coming to the Valley as their schedule seems to be a little irregular at this point and it is not every Thursday that they are hereŠŠ

Before I forgetŠI read in this publication a couple of weeks ago about the wonderful produce available this time of year at various locations in the Valley. I must endorse the comments concerning Pam Laird's Blue Meadow Farm just off Highway 128 on Holmes Ranch Road (near Handley Cellars on the opposite side of 128 to Clark Road). In the past couple of weeks there have been some delicious fresh sweet carrots, broccoli, spring onions, and squash and it is well worth a visit.

In order to prepare myself for a heavy session of beer and wine which was inevitably going to be happening when celebrating The President's Day Weekend extravaganza, I decided to line my stomach with some of the delicious possibilities at Moya's Taco stand in downtown Boonville. What a wise move it proved. Not only was the "small" Chicken Burrito ($4) excellent on the palate but it set me up perfectly for numerous pints of Pale Ale and glasses of Merlot whilst ensuring that my hangover was barely legitimate the next morning - ya gotta like that ! So if in doubt about what to grab for a small feast before imbibing alcohol you should check out Senor Moya's offerings. Trust me on this - you'll thank me laterŠ..

An hour or so further into the same evening I found myself in a very interesting conversation over a few beers with a couple of long-time Valley residents. The topic under discussion turned to some of the strange characters who, in the past, have lived here in this beautiful part of Northern California . Now I know there have been many wonderful people who have made Anderson Valley their home but for the purposes of this conversation it was the more 'unsavory' types who were being considered. Like many of you no doubt, I had heard these names mentioned previously as former residents of the Valley but not for some time, and to hear their names again in a conversation with those who remember them being here was very interesting and informative. According to these two fellows, among former Valley folks were cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson, a former resident of Gschwend Road; Jim Jones, a former school teacher at the High School and later leader of The People's Temple of which 900 members died after drinking soft drinks laced with cyanide; mass murderers Lake and Ng who apparently worked at the Boonville Hotel; and child kidnapper Luis "Treefrog" Johnson. Quite a group of 'troubled' individuals I must say and what a coincidence that they all resided in this Valley at some point in time. I'm sure there are many other long-time locals who could have added much to our discussion and corrected some of the discrepancies between the two guys' recollections. Without much research, the memories of a few people is all I have to go on and who knows how much is completely accurate other than the fact that they all lived here. Perhaps the history of these men and their time spent here is best forgotten or at least shrouded in the mists of time. Meanwhile it can only be hoped that there are no more of their ilk in residenceŠŠp.s. If anyone does have some interesting stories about these characters and their times up here feel free to contact me via e-mail at < turkeyvulture1@earthlink.net >Š..

On that note I will say farewell for another week and leave you with these
words of wisdom taken from the headstone of one of my forefathers : "If death starts to look good, you're staring into the vultures eye"Š. Now I believe it's definitely time for us to preyŠŠ Turkey VultureŠ..