# 124 - August 20th, 2008

Greetings one and all…Are you sitting comfortably?...Then I shall begin…And, as I’ve heard from thoughtful readers, what better place to start than with The Valley Quiz…This week we are looking for the names of some locals who serve the community in different ways - answers at the end…
1. Joe Dresch is the “Main Man” at the Philo Post Office but who are his two very able assistants behind the counter?
2. Who are the current and former owners of ‘Philo Pump and Power’?
3. Who is the organizer of the Farmers’ Market in Boonville…
Appropriately, this coming Saturday morning (August 23rd), at the Boonville Farmers’ Market (B.F.M.), it’s Tomato Day! It doesn’t get much better than this and there will be plenty of tastings, recipes, and prizes…This will all be happening at the usual time and venue - in The Boonville Hotel parking lot from 9.45am to Noon…I just thought you should know…
Well, School starts on Monday, August 25th and no doubt everyone connected with the High School, the Junior High, and the Elementary School is “raring to go”. I wish them all a very successful and rewarding year both in and out of the classroom…Which leads me very smoothly into The Quote of the Week – two actually… …”Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education.”
Martin Luther King, Jr….And from former President James A. Garfield,
“Next in importance to freedom and justice is education, without which neither freedom nor justice can be maintained.”…Yer gotta like that!...
The Turkey Vulture Award season continues…Following on from the “Best Deli Sandwich Award” of a couple of weeks ago, I am pleased to announce this year’s winner of “The Town with the Dirtiest Young Hippies Award” (under-30 section). Sure, there are many contenders for this award all over Nor Cal but for the second year in succession the clear winner is the delightful coastal hamlet of Mendocino! Er…er…”Well done!” Their Young Hippies are particularly filthy and odorous, with clothes to match, and they are often seen in the company of unusually mangy looking dogs and the occasional reptile. This particular group who meander aimlessly around their quaint little village should get special recognition for their unswerving dedication to dirt and foul smells because, one cannot help but think, that for many of them they are just a phone call away from Mummy and Daddy’s money to bail them out – that’s if they ever feel like getting on with their lives and making something useful of themselves…
Following a delicious brunch at The Boonville Lodge last Sunday, Hummingbird and I spent a very pleasant and peaceful couple of hours strolling around, and resting at various benches, amongst the oak trees at The Evergreen Cemetery just north of Boonville. You enter this restful place from Anderson Valley Way and we soon discovered that it is a wonderful place to let your imagination wander to the past and attempt to visualize the lives of those departed and all of the people who have attended services at this spot through the ages. Many of the old Valley Family names are represented there – Hiatt, Gowan, Pardini, Reilly, Ball, Clark, Prather, Rawles, Pinoli, Hanes, Gschwend, Clow, Ornbaun, etc, etc, and it was particularly pleasing to see that many of the headstones/memorials were adorned with fresh flowers for the loved ones who are gone but clearly not forgotten…
Not much else to report this week so I’d thought I’d grab the opportunity to inform you of just some of The Valley’s monthly events/services that you may be interested in attending…Here we go…
Every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday – The A.V Museum is
open from 1pm to 4pm.
Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Saturday/Sunday – The County Dump is
open from 9am – 4pm each day.
Every Tuesday and Thursday – Senior Center Lunch at 12.30pm.
Second: Tuesday – Chamber of Commerce meeting
at TBA (call 895-2379). Starts 5.30pm.
Wednesday – School Board at A.V. Elementary
School Campus. Starts at 7pm.
Third: Monday – Lions Club at The Grange, 7pm.
Tuesday – Grange Meeting at The Grange, 7pm.
Fourth: Wednesday – Independent Career Women (I.C.W.)
at TBA (call 895-3069). Starts 6.30pm.
Last weekend of the Month – The Barn Sale at The St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on A.V. Way just north of Boonville. 9am to 3pm, (both Saturday and Sunday)…
Well I think it’s time to take my leave…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, and may your god go with you…Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”…Humbly yours, Turkey Vulture…
P.S. “Hi, Silver Swan and Duck Lips –sip a little champagne for me!”
You can contact me with words of support/abuse by e-mail at
turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net… And before you get too ‘down and dirty’, try to remember – we Turkey Vultures are Nature’s Garbage Collectors - an honorable profession, even if I do say so myself…
Quiz Answers…
1. Ably-assisting Joe are Sheila “Banjo Queen” Hibbs and Anne “Stylin’ ” Carr…
2. Mike Crutcher used to own P.P. and P. and now it’s Jeff Pugh…
3. Cindy Wilder is responsible for seeing that all runs smoothly each weekend at the B.F.M. – “keep up the good work, Cindy!”…