# 103 - March 26th, 2008

Greetings one and all…Hopefully you are stuffed to the gills with Easter eggs and the various other goodies of the season. I know I am. With Hummingbird out of town visiting family, I was invited to Easter dinner by some friends who took pity on me and then proceeded to spoil me rotten! This brings me to the Wine of the Week…My friends cooked a superb pork roast, from a pig that was born, raised, and slaughtered in Boonville. This was served with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, some very tasty green stuff, and topped with delicious gravy. It doesn’t get much better and when accompanied by the multi award-winning 2005 Pinot Noir from The Valley’s Esterlina Vineyards, the whole experience was, dare I say it once again, orgasmic!…Pork and pinot noir = hog heaven – trust me on this, you can thank me later…

Of course, I now have to offer a Whine of the Week; although it’s not so much a ‘Whine’ as a response to an item of correspondence that appeared at the beginning of last week’s letters page here in the A.V.A. The two writers of this letter offered their opinions on which businesses contribute to the community and what constitutes a local scene, before assuring “Vulture” that he should “relax” and announcing that we will all “survive” the closing of The Highpockety Ox pub/restaurant in downtown Boonville. They are entitled to their opinions of course; one can only hope that those opinions are well founded.

Over the past three weeks or so, I have spoken to a couple of the staff at The Ox and many former customers. The reaction to the pub’s demise has been the same in every instance and is best summed up in this response from one the regular patrons, “It may be no big deal to some Valley dwellers, but they are clearly not that familiar with the scene that The Ox provided. When a country community such as ours loses one of its gathering places, particularly one that provided free live music by local musicians every Saturday night for two years; a business that put on a Film Festival in which more than 50% of the movies had a local connection – again free of charge; one that offered wines only from local vineyards – you know, those where many of the community are gainfully employed; one that gave discounts to local people all day and night on both Sundays and Mondays; one which gave much joy (and both useful and not so useful information) to the community at its weekly General Knowledge and Trivia Quiz; etc; etc; etc;, then something of significance to many has been lost…Although tourists certainly patronized The Ox on weekend afternoons in the summer, it was primarily a gathering place for many from the community of Anderson Valley. The writers of that letter need to get out and about in their community a little more, and not just to Lauren’s and Boontberry, although there is nothing wrong with those two places of course. As the otherwise narrow-minded letter said, “community is where you find it” – yes it is, for them and for everyone else…”

I agree. Obviously all those who enjoyed The Ox will “survive” its closure, but perhaps it should be pointed out to the writers who concocted this ill-informed letter that lots of local people were disappointed by the demise of The Ox and, in their minds, there is no similar alternative around – a pub/restaurant at which to spend some of their leisure hours with many other Valley folk…And one more thing, shouldn’t the writers of such an opinionated letter about life in The Valley live in The Valley full-time and not just at certain times of the year. Just a thought…

Let’s get to the Turkey Vulture Quiz before it’s too late…Answers at the end…

1. Who is the new coach of the A.V.H.S. Baseball team?

2. Apart from churches, which organization was the first to be chartered here in The Valley, even before the Odd-Fellows Lodge or The Grange?

3. ‘Philo Pump & Power’ is owned by Jeff Pugh, and a fine job he does too, but who owned the business before Jeff?

I definitely think we need to squeeze in a Quote of the Week…”Work is the curse of the drinking classes” – Oscar Wilde offers an alternative viewpoint to that of Karl Marx and one with which I concur unreservedly…

It had been a couple of weeks since I last flew out to the coast so I headed that way on Friday morning and it turned out to be a very good decision. It was a beautiful day and the sight of the rays of sunshine glistening on the sea was stunning…I stopped for gas at the Fort Bragg Oil on the southern outskirts of the town. Not only was the service very friendly and efficient, unlike another gas station not too far away where one of the employees is a former winner of my annual “Rudest Customer Service Employee” award (the one who makes a curmudgeonly Turkey Vulture seem like a playful clown), but as I began to drive away, I noticed a sign saying “BBQ 2 Go” right next to the mini mart connected to the gas station. Now I don’t mind telling you that ever since my days working at “Big Bob’s Bar-b-queue” in Austin, Texas, I do know my BBQ and endeavor to try new bbq joints whenever possible. I pulled over and entered “J.D.’s Flying Pig”. I tried the benchmark dish of any self-respecting bbq restaurant – the brisket…It was excellent! With the beans and potato salad it was as fine a lunch as I’ve had for some time and strongly recommend you try this place next time you’re that way…I just thought you should know…Oh, and the gas is reasonably priced too…

That’s enough for now…Be careful out there, stay out of the ditches, think good thoughts, and may your god go with you…But first, “Let us prey”…Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture…
You can contact me with words of support/abuse by e-mail at

Quiz Answers…
1. The baseball coach is non-other than A.V.H.S. alumni, Ben Anderson who has taken over from the long-serving Gary Johnson…

2. It was The Ancient Order of Foresters, formed here in The Valley around 1900…

3. Mike “Fix it with a smile” Crutcher and wife Karen used to own P.P. & P…