# 115 - June 18th, 2008

Greetings one and all and can I assume you are all excited about the Sierra Nevada Music Festival that ‘invades’ The Valley this coming weekend??? No? Unlike the Beer Festival, at which the main idea for most attendees seems to be to get very, very drunk, this celebration of Reggae and World Music seems to require that its guests indulge in other conscious-altering concoctions and as a result the levels of obnoxious behavior are far less than that at the earlier event. Nevertheless, with the Summer Solstice occurring at the same time as the Festival with the result that the pagans, the witches (good and bad), music lovers, and stoners are all out in force at the same time. This may mean that if you live in downtown Boonville, you may well end up with several red-eyed strangers collapsed besides an un-pitched tent in your back yard when you wake up in the morning on Saturday or Sunday. Be gentle with them…Or conversely put up a sign like the one I saw at last year’s event that said, “Camp here and you’ll wish you’d kissed a wild Hog’s snout instead”…Whatever works for you…
Public Service Announcement #117: Do yourself a favor and be even more careful than usual where you buy gas these days. With the increase in prices soaring more quickly than ever over the past few weeks the local gas stations are trying desperately to compete for your business. In this column, I don’t like to compare the prices of local businesses in direct competition with each other but I will just say that, unlike in the past, all three of the Valley’s gas stations have had the lowest price in the past week or so and as we rapidly approach the $5 mark you would be wise to shop around whenever you can – things are changing every day or so…The prices at our three gas stations for the cheapest gas on Monday were $4.57 $4.79, and $4.89 – read ‘em and weep! That’s a difference of 32 cents between the cheapest and most expensive - $6.40 on 20 gallons – enough for a burrito at Moya’s Taco stand! - I just thought you should know…
It was Graduation and Awards week at the High School and, whilst I was unable to attend the High School Graduation (which I believe took a mere two hours – a very welcome six year low), I did make it to the “8th Grade Promotion” on Friday evening. It was a great evening with smiling faces everywhere and I’m sure Terry Ryder, who I spotted taking copious notes, will have lots and lots of lovely things to say about the event in her “School Notes” column…The kids and proud parents clearly had a wonderful time, even though many of the boys seemed somewhat self-conscious and walked awkwardly without moving their arms whilst most of the girls were very self-assured and walked confidently across the stage. Obviously thirteen/fourteen year-old boys and girls are two very different “breeds”…”Well done” to all involved and I look forward to following the progress of these kids as they enter the “scary” world of High School…
This news may appear elsewhere in these pages but just in case their modesty forbids them from mentioning it, I would like to point out that, according to my very reliable sources, the victorious team at last Thursday’s General Knowledge and Trivia Quiz at The Boonville Lodge was called “The Freesias” and two of the four team members were A.V.A. Supremo, Bruce Anderson, and The Major - Mark Scaramella! Some readers may think, rightly or wrongly, that these two ‘intellectuals’ would help any team but apparently the other two “Freesias”, Tina Casey and Anne Faschauer, more than held their own and it was a total team effort that led to their win.
Whilst we’re on this subject I should point out that in second place there was a tie between regular attendees and sometimes winners - The Cheesecake Gang (Sophie, Helen, and Dave) and The Make More Stumps Crew featuring Ed and Candy Slotte, Sgt. Jesse Slotte, and Jesse’s wife, Maricela…“What will the Slotte Family do next?” I wondered…What about throwing a “Welcome Home, Jesse” party open to the whole Valley? - which was exactly what they did at The Fairgrounds on Saturday afternoon!….
Following a short and fulfilling visit to the Jesse Slotte party, I flew out along the long and winding road to Comptche where I had been invited to attend a birthday party. Now numerous Valley folk have some pre-conceived ideas about the “Comptche Crew” and not all of these are very flattering. However, I am here to tell you that this particular group of Compchites (interspersed with a small group of Boonts – safety in numbers perhaps?) was most enjoyable company. They live in a beautiful place, had superb vegan food (if you like that sort of thing - and they didn’t seem to mind when I “soiled” their grill with pork hot dogs), and were extremely “nice” – almost suspiciously so, I have to say. Anyway, it was a lovely evening spent with many delightful people and I can only hope nobody was upset that I ate most of the delicious guacamole – hey, it was the only green thing I liked!…The only bad news was that perhaps I’d made my annual trip to this quaint place one day too early. On the following afternoon it was to be the famous Comptche Father’s Day Chicken BBQ to benefit the local volunteer firefighters - the 43rd such event. That was a bitter pill to swallow – as regular readers will no doubt be aware, eating for charity is definitely in my Top Five things to do. Anyway, I hope the event was a success and that they enjoyed all of my chicken!!
Meanwhile the hot weather is set to continue and you don’t need weather “expert” Dave Gowan to tell you so – although I do miss Dave (and Nancy) since the A.V. Farm Supply was sold and became Dig Supplies. I see little of him these days and he was by far the best Valley weather forecaster around – far more reliable than either the radar, the usual “know-it-all” in the bar, or the “experts” on the radio. So, enjoy the sunshine, be careful out there, remember to keep your windows cracked if you have pets in your vehicle, try to stay out of the ditches, think good thoughts, and may your god go with you…Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”…Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture…
You can contact me with words of support/abuse by e-mail at turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net