# 125 - August 27th, 2008

Greetings one and all…Are you sitting comfortably?...Then I shall begin…And once again, we’ll start off with the Valley Quiz – this time it’s three questions about the Valley’s ‘geography’…
1. What is the elevation of Boonville? What about Philo?
2. Which two roads connect with Hwy.128 at the 17-mile marker?
3. As you drive north out of Boonville and cross the Anderson Creek Bridge, facing you about one mile ahead off to the east side of Hwy 128 there is a hill/”mountain” with an unusual name. What is it called?
And, because we Turkey Vultures are creatures of habit, let’s keep the usual running order going and now go to the Quote of the Week…Following my stream of consciousness from the answer to Question #3, I find myself in the “sea” and what better quote about that topic than this bit of wisdom from the Irish writer James Joyce - “The snotgreen sea…The scrotumtightening sea”…Clearly he has an issue here and, not being a lover of water myself, I think I know what he means…
Rather than go deep sea fishing on Saturday morning, and thus risk suffering a little testicular-tightening by doing so, I decided to head in the opposite direction and went into Boonville for the special “Tomato Day” at the Farmer’s Market, only to find out that it has been postponed because not enough vendors’ tomatoes were ready. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed myself listening to the talented Raven River String Band, buying a few of the luscious tomatoes that were provided courtesy of Jenna and Floodgate Farms, and tasting and purchasing some of the delicious and peppery Extra Virgin Olive Oil from the Yorkville Olive Ranch provided by Ron Rice and Ron Black…
It was a quieter than usual Market and organizer Cindy Wilder informed me that overall numbers were down on previous years. With that in mind and to get some feedback from customers, Erica Kane (the real one – much nicer than the character from the daytime soap, “All my Children”, played by Susan Lucci) was organizing a poll asking questions about various aspects of the weekly Market. We’ll see what the poll shows but in my humble opinion (and that of several Market Regulars), not having any fish is part of the problem this year along with the hours (9.45am to noon). Perhaps both of these issues will be re-evaluated before next year. The feedback I have received over the past few months would suggest that a return of the fish lady, who can only do Sundays at this point, and running from 10am until at least 1pm, would work better - just passing it on and merely trying to help…Of course, this is easy for me to point out, and myself and those offering such advice will not be the ones sitting in the hot summer sun, will we?...However, with numbers significantly down perhaps it may be time for some fine-tuning or even real change for this lovely event to get the attendance that the efforts of the organizers and vendors deserve…Best wishes to all concerned with whatever transpires…
The Saturday Evening Live Music series at The Navarro Store continued last weekend with one of the biggest draws of the summer - John Lee Hooker Jr. and the Hooker Band. More than 150 people from The Valley and points beyond were in attendance to eat, drink, and dance the night away – and this they certainly did. The music was excellent; Navarro Tommy led the way on an always-packed dance floor, and the lines for the bar-b-q and at the keg both seemed to be constantly replenished. Yet another excellent evening of top quality entertainment and fun right here in The Valley thanks to Dave Evans and his Crew in The Deep End…Next up will be the Laser Lightshow and Pink Floyd Tribute on Saturday, August 30th at 8pm. Not my scene, dudes, but I’m sure you don’t need to see me everywhere you go, do you?...For future gig info call 895-9445…
It’s that time again…This coming weekend behind The Rectory of St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church on Anderson Valley Way, the monthly Barn Sale will be taking place…Great bargains, the smiling faces of Gloria Ross and Eva Holcomb, the always tasty Bill (Holcomb) Burgers, and lots of local folks, will all be part of the ‘show’ as the Sale runs from 9am to 4pm on both August 30th and 31st… Hope to see you there…
It’s official! Despite some denials from those who claim to know about such things, they are wrong, and we do indeed now have a “street person” in town. On his return to The Valley, after an absence of what seems like a couple of years, Dave Polini has set up his sleeping bag and worldly possessions, including the all-important notepad and pen, at various locations in the heart of downtown Boonville over the past couple of weeks. Apart from the somewhat scary appearance and obligatory talking-to-himself, he is cordial to most passers-by, and even held the door open for me as I entered The Lodge last Monday afternoon. I bought him a beer for his gentlemanly conduct. He used to have a lovely wife and child, (I do not know what happened there) but he has clearly gone down the well-worn path of substance abuse and the whole situation is sad. Let’s hope this is as bad as it gets for Dave and that he soon finds his way out of his current predicament. He’s not a bad man….
I’m outta here! 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…
P.S. “Hi, Silver Swan and Duck Lips – have a sip of champagne for me!”
Quiz answers…
1. Boonville is 400 feet above sea level, whilst Philo is at 290 feet. This may surprise those out there who were convinced that Poleekos always seemed higher than Boonts (?)…
2. At mile-marker 17, from the west it’s Clark Road that meets Hwy. 128 and from the east it’s the not-signposted Holmes Ranch Road…
3. If you didn’t guess the answer from my ‘clue’ in Quote of the Week, that strange-looking hill is called, appropriately if you look closely, “Octopus Mountain” – yer gotta like that!