# 245 - January 26th, 2011

Greetings one and all - if you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin... Here’s an important bit of information I was asked to pass on this week... If you come across, or are in a position to save, a bird of prey in some sort of distress – birds we see around here such as barn owls, hawks, and yes, even Turkey Vultures - please do not think there isn’t anything you can do to help, or that you will be presented with a bill if you take them in for vet care. Not true. Wrap them in a blanket and get them across to the Mendocino Animal Hospital in Ukiah where the excellent vets there will carry out any necessary surgery, free of charge to you. From there, the bird will be taken to the Willits Wildlife Rescue for rehabilitation and all costs will be covered. Good to know, eh?
Now to this week’s Public Service Announcements… #225 – It’s the first I.C.W. (Independent Career Women) meeting of 2011 tonight (Wednesday January 26th) at the Veterans’ Hall in Boonville and, following the disappointment of the Christmas Party cancellation, one hopes for a very good turnout. Regular readers will not be surprised to hear that my invitation has once again been lost in the mail... #226 – This coming weekend sees the 5th Annual A.V. Film Festival, once again at The Grange on Hwy 128. Movies, seventeen in total, including some excellent documentaries, high school films, and several classics of various genres, will be screened from Friday, Jan 28th thru’ Sunday, Jan 30th. The details can be found at www.andersonvalleyfilmfestival.org... #227 – The ‘Original’ Crab Feed, arguably the best pure Valley event of the year, benefiting the St Elizabeth Seton Church, will take place on Saturday, February 5th. Tickets will sell out – I guarantee it! You can get yours at Lemons’ Market in Philo, Laughing Dog Books in Boonville, or by calling Gloria Ross (895-3071), Eva Holcomb (895-3307), or John Schultz (895-9552)... #228 – On the following Saturday evening, Feb 12th, you will get the chance to see local resident and very accomplished actor of stage, screen, and television, Rene Auberjonois appear in a play, ‘Off their Cuffs’, along with co-star Howard Hesseman (Johnny Fever, hip d.j. on television’s ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’). It’s at The Grange for one night only, with a 6.30pm social hour and curtain at 7.30pm, and is a fundraising event for the A.V. Education Foundation... #229 – Very early heads-up for an entry on your calendar - The Lions Club Easter Sunday Breakfast Fundraiser will be for the Fire Department this year, and there is talk that they will become the beneficiary at this event every year. This time round it is on Sunday, April 24th – details to follow at a later date...
Moving quickly on to several of the topics under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge - yes it’s “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley...
... As one regular wisely observed the other day, “Sometimes a Guinness and a bowl of French fries at Lauren’s Restaurant is all a man needs to complete a satisfactory day”...
... Along with several other regulars at the 3-Dot, I shared in the positive reviews of the A.V. Teen Drama Group’s production at The Grange last weekend in which eight young actors enthusiastically, and with no shortage of talent, performed an excellent version of John Hughes’ ‘The Breakfast Club.’ Kudos to one and all, and particularly Marcus Magdaleno, whose direction showed that he clearly knows a thing or two about ‘treading the boards’...
... Several of the former Boonville Lodge employees will be working at The Buckhorn when it opens, in actual fact probably more than half of them will be... Meanwhile, I am told the opening will be around mid-February and, as further confirmation, I saw the pizza ovens going into the renovated kitchen on Saturday afternoon... Yer gotta like that!...
... The Senior Center Crab Feed was a big success and their profit target was reached, despite the price of crab going up by about 40% since last year... Next up, their St Patrick’s Day event in March...
... What were that group of Valley ‘movers and shakers’ discussing fervently over coffee at The Redwood Drive-In last Thursday afternoon? They included Cheryl Schrader and Jim Teresinski of the A.V. Animal Rescue, The Lions’ Club’s secretary Judy Long, and Steve Sparks. A little bird tells me that we may have a fundraiser on the way for the Valley’s animals and pets in need– a good thing too...
Well now I think it’s time to take my leave... Be careful out there; 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”… Poking and stroking egos wherever necessary and, as always, humbly yours, Turkey Vulture...
p.s. Keep the Faith...
p.p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse at turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net

# 244 - January 19th, 2011

Greetings one and all - if you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin... Let’s get straight into the P.S.A.’s as I have plenty to tell you about this week – get your calendars out, pens at the ready!...
Public Service Announcements… #125 – This coming weekend sees a presentation of John Hughes’ ‘The Breakfast Club’ by the A.V. Teen Drama Club at The Grange. Directed by local theatrical impresario, Marcus Magdaleno, the play will be performed on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd, with a 7pm curtain each evening... #126 – The weekend after this will witness the 5th Annual A.V. Film Festival, once again at The Grange. Movies, seventeen in total, including some excellent documentaries, high school films, and several classics of their genre, will be screened from Friday, Jan 28th thru’ Sunday, Jan 30th. The details can be found at www.andersonvalleyfilmfestival.org... #127 – After a weekend of films, it will be just about time for another Crab Feed wouldn’t you say? Well you’re in luck - the ‘Original’ Crab Feed, arguably the best pure Valley event of the year, benefiting the St Elizabeth Seton Church, will take place on Saturday, February 5th. Tickets will sell out – I guarantee it! You can get yours at Lemons’ Market in Philo, Laughing Dog Books in Boonville, or by calling Gloria Ross (895-3071), Eva Holcomb (895-3307), or John Schultz (895-9552)... #128 – The day after The Feed, Sunday, Feb 6th, is Super Bowl Sunday, and then on the following Saturday, Feb 12th, you will get the chance to see local resident and very accomplished actor of stage, screen and television, Rene Auberjonois appear in a play, ‘Off their Cuffs’, along with co-star Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever, hip d.j. on television’s ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’). It’s at The Grange for one night only, with a 6.30pm social hour and curtain at 7.30pm, and is a fundraising event for the A.V. Education Foundation... #129 – That’s enough ‘entertainment’ for now but something I have been remiss in mentioning in recent times is the excellent service provided for many in the form of the Bookmobile Library. Over the next month or so it will be in the Valley on Tuesdays, Jan 25th, Feb 8th, and Feb 22nd. On each of those days, they will be in Navarro from 9am-9.30am, (then off to Comptche from 10.45am-11.30am), at The Floodgate 1pm-1.45pm, Philo 2pm-2.45pm, and then the Boonville Apple Hall Building 3pm-3.45pm. Make another note on your calendars, it’s a wonderful thing...
And with that in mind, for your Quote of the Week, let’s quickly pass over Mau Tse-Tung’s negativity in proclaiming that “To read too many books is harmful” and concentrate on the far more pleasing thoughts from the 18th century social commentator and political thinker Baron de Montesquieu who said, “I have never known any distress that an hour’s reading did no relieve.” Precisely, Monty, you wise old bugger...
Moving quickly on to a couple of the topics under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge - yes it’s “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley...
... Who was that ‘confused’ looking young fellow whose photograph appeared in the Valley page of last week’s A.V.A.? Despite clearly having imbibed one or five too many alcoholic beverages when the picture was taken, Hummingbird thought he was “very cute” and that concerns me...
... A couple of regulars shared a disappointing tale of a situation that has arisen in the past month or so regarding one of the many employees at a longstanding Valley enterprise. Apparently, and this is second hand and I’ve not heard both sides point of view, the business owners would not accept its loyal and very hard-working employee of more than three decades wishing to go part-time for a couple of years before retirement, even though he had already passed retirement age some time ago. Not only was he ‘let go’, to use that insulting term that is so often flippantly thrown out by employers, but he was also asked to move out of the house that is on the company’s property and which he and his family had called home for many, many years. It was a pure business decision I’m sure, and presumably not personal, but I would have hoped for better from people round here. I guess I shouldn’t...
... Many regulars came by The 3-Dot on Sunday and had lots of positive things to say about the Crab Feed held the previous evening to benefit the Senior Center. I had to agree. Tommy Lemons’ (of Lemons Market in Philo) had caught the crab, Harold Hulbert and his Crab Crew had cooked it, and a whole bunch of volunteers, including the A.V. High School Cheerleaders (working for tips to buy their new uniforms), made sure it was served up to everyone’s delight on Saturday evening. With lots of kind donations of wine from local vineyards, gifts from Valley businesses and individuals for a successful raffle, Dean Titus and Friends providing just the right music for such an event, and of course the all-important work done by the set-up and clean-up crews, I believe the whole event was a big success. On behalf of the Seniors, ‘well done and many thanks to all concerned’...
I’m outta here... Be careful out there; 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”… Poking and stroking egos wherever necessary and, as always, humbly yours, Turkey Vulture...
p.s. Keep the Faith...
p.p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse at turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net
p.p.p.s. And before you get too ‘down and dirty with those comments, try to remember – we Turkey Vultures are Nature’s Garbage Collectors - an honorable profession, even if I do say so myself… Sticks and stones can break my bones but words can never hurt me – unless of course somebody hits me with a really heavy, hard-covered dictionary…

# 243 - January 12th, 2011

Greetings one and all - if you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin... And let’s start off by wishing the following Valley folks hearty congratulations on their January Birthdays – Shirley Hulbert, Eva Johnson, Jim Nickless, Maureen Bowman, Vicky Centers, Gene Walker, Sue Davies, and Patrick Ford – ‘Many happy returns!’... Here’s one of my favorite comments about a related topic – birth. It comes from my old friend Bill Shakespeare who wrote a few decent plays about 400 years ago, and in perhaps his best tragedy, ‘King Lear’, he included the following line, “When we are born, we cry that we are come to this great stage of fools”... Difficult to argue with that, I’d venture to say...
Moving swiftly on... Public Service Announcements – lots of ‘em this week… #322 – Sam Prather, one of the last remaining real shepherds in the Valley, has a few Border collie pups available. His two-year-old female has produced a great litter with working parents and there are four females and three males, although he plans to keep a couple himself - a sign of how good these dogs will be. Ideally the rest will go to working homes but failing that perhaps just good homes would do – i.e. where these highly intelligent yet sometimes highly strung dogs are not left alone all day long in a confined space or rarely get proper exercise. Call Sam at 895-3049 for further details... #323 – The Winter Market (this time of year’s A.V. Farmer’s Market), continues on the porch at Lauren’s Restaurant on Saturday mornings from 10.30am to 1pm... #324 – This coming Saturday, Jan 15th, it’s the first of the two Crab Feeds held in the Valley around this time each year. This one, with music by Dean Titus and the always-enjoyable raffle, not to mention the vast amounts of fresh crab of course, will benefit the Senior Center and tickets are available from Gina Pardini at 895-3609. You can also buy them at any one of these Valley outlets – Lemons’ Market in Philo, Laughing Dog Books, All that Good Stuff, or The Fairground Office in Boonville, or at the Yorkville Market... #325 – The monthly Grange meeting is on Tuesday, Jan 18th at 7pm... #326 – The following weekend will see a presentation of John Hughes’ ‘The Breakfast Club’ by the A.V. Teen Drama Club at The Grange. Directed by local theatrical impresario, Marcus Magdaleno, the play will be performed on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd, with a 7pm curtain each evening... #327 – Next up after that, it’s the 5th Annual A.V. Film Festival, once again at The Grange. Movies, seventeen in total, are being screened from Friday, Jan 28th thru’ Sunday, Jan 30th and all the details are at www.andersonvalleyfilmfestival.org... #328 – Finally this week, early-ish notice of the chance to see local resident and very accomplished actor of stage, screen and television, Rene Auberjonois appear in a play, ‘Off the Cuff’, along with co-star Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever, hip d.j. on television’s ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’). It’s at The Grange on Saturday, Feb 12th for one night only...
Moving quickly on to a couple of the topics under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge - my favorite gathering place in the Valley...
... Regulars are raving about the free-range eggs available from Jennifer at 895-2585. Large and very tasty - unlike excuses for eggs that we are offered at most big stores these days. She has about one hundred chickens currently laying and they are just off the highway about ½-mile north of downtown Philo. Stop by, you can thank me later!...
... A couple of regulars at The 3-Dot are also ‘members’ of the ‘Cup of Brew Crew’, a gathering that assembles at Mosswood Market every weekday morning at 8am to sip the morning mud and discuss a wide range of topics. This group is comprised of about ten ‘gentlemen’ and features a wide range of folks from all walks of Valley life. As far as I know, the long-standing and original ‘Daily Grind Gang’ at the Drive-In down the street still convenes regularly too and I eagerly await the first ‘Brew Bowl’ coffee guzzling and debating competition between these two sets of early morning wordsmiths and Cup of Joe slurpers...
... School is back in session and being aware of the amount of sports practices/pick-up games that took place over the holidays, I can only hope that as much effort will be put into the students’ studies over the upcoming months – come on boys and girls, give it your all, particularly you seniors - you know it makes sense...
Well now I think it’s time to take my leave... Be careful out there; 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”… Poking and stroking egos wherever necessary and, as always, humbly yours, Turkey Vulture...
p.s. Keep the Faith...
p.p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse at turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net
p.p.p.s. Is that ‘lafter’ I hear, Carroll?...
p.p.p.p.s. It’s not all glamour being a Turkey Vulture but we do get many compliments. My favorite comes from no less an ‘expert’ than Charles Darwin who said about us Turkey Vultures, “A disgusting bird whose bald scarlet head is formed to wallow in putridity” – Thank you for the kind words, Charlie, I rest my case…

# 242 - January 5th, 2011

Greetings! If you are sitting comfortably then I shall begin... Welcome to 2011 and may it be happy and healthy for one and all... Any New Year’s Resolutions? These are difficult to maintain of course and perhaps we should not put too much pressure on ourselves. As Benjamin Franklin so wisely once advised, “Resolve to perform what you ought to do; then perform without fail what you have resolved.” Easy right? Anyway, that’s your Quote of the Week...
Public Service Announcements… #326 – Those two Valley Crab Feeds are approaching – got your tickets yet? Both are at The Apple Hall in Boonville and first up it’s the Senior Center Benefit that takes place on Saturday, Jan 15th. Tickets are available from Gina Pardini at 895-3609 or you can pick them up at any one of these Valley outlets – Lemons’ Market in Philo, Laughing Dog Books, All that Good Stuff, or The Fairground Office in Boonville, or at the Yorkville Market... Then it is the ‘Original’ Crab Feed on Saturday, February 5th for which, at this point, you can get tickets by calling Gloria Ross at 895-3071 or Eva Holcomb at 895-3307... #327 – The A.V. Film Festival returns to The Grange from Friday, Jan 28th thru’ Sunday, Jan 30th, and all the details you care to know can be found at www.andersonvalleyfilmfestival.org... #328 – an early heads-up for the chance to see local resident and very accomplished actor of stage, screen and television, Rene Auberjonois appear in a play along with co-star Howard Hesseman (Dr. Johnny Fever, hip d.j. on television’s ‘WKRP in Cincinnati’). It’s at The Grange on Saturday, Feb 12th for one night only...
How was your New Year’s Eve? After a late afternoon/early evening tipple or four at the A.V. Brewery Visitors Center, I proceeded to enjoy a relatively alcohol-free evening up here at The Nest with a sickly Hummingbird. Long-time regular readers will be aware that I try to avoid those two nights of the year – New Year’s and St. Patrick’s - when the amateurs come out to ‘play”, so not for the first time my top investigative reporter, Bald Eagle took on the assignment. He was on the periphery of the scenes at both The Boonville Saloon and Lauren’s Restaurant, although he left the serious drinking and creative reporting to my A.V.A. colleague, Bruce McEwan...
Bald Eagle reports, ‘At Lauren’s, the ‘usual suspects’ were gathered in good numbers to enjoy and dance to the sounds of Dean Titus and the Coyote Cowboys. Generally these were people in our community who have moved to the Valley at various times over the past thirty-plus years or so from the cities, many of whom could be called back-to-the-land’ers, some just Brightlighters who’d had enough of the ‘craziness’ of City life. Those of a similar ilk but from the ‘younger generation’ joined the ‘old guard’ at Lauren’s later, after attending, in many cases, the annual sushi party thrown by ‘Boontberry Bert’ on Lambert Lane earlier in the evening... A different Valley group were having a fun-filled evening of merry-making at The Boonville Saloon – this was a gathering of folks whose families typically have been in the Valley since the Okie/Arkie migration days of the late forties and early fifties, whose descendants (those at the Saloon) attended the local High School, graduating from there some time between 1970 and 2005. To top off the evening, this crowd was treated to as fine a firework display as has been seen around here for some years; as one spectator exclaimed, ‘These are the best fireworks ever in the Valley’ And the person(s) responsible for such a wonderful, yet illegal, show??? I couldn’t possibly comment, but I did thank them for their efforts... Finally, those from a third section of the Valley, our Mexican community, who had not gone ‘home’ for the holidays and who remained here in the Valley, were generally at their homes or those of friends and family, enjoying their own scenes, some involving small firework displays plus plenty of home cooking, perhaps saving their big festivities for their main day of celebration January 6th - Día de los Santos Reyes, when gifts are exchanged’...
According to Bald Eagle, each group seemed to have had a marvelous evening without any unseemly incidents to report...There is obviously nothing wrong with any of this of course – it’s a great thing in fact. It indicates that the polarizing of communities still exists in these parts at times and surely there is nothing wrong with that...To me it shows that the wonderful ‘melting pot’ of cultures, belief systems, and backgrounds that makes up Anderson Valley, and which exists as a strength of the Valley’s well-being each and every day both at work, school, and often in many social and leisure-time situations, can at times be poured off into its various components and still be equally as strong and beneficial. In my humble opinion, this form of polarization continues to be real and present and is not a bad thing at all...
I’m outta here... Be careful out there; 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”… Poking and stroking egos wherever necessary and, as always, humbly yours, Turkey Vulture...
p.s. Keep the Faith...
p.p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse at turkeyvulture1 @ earthlink.net
p.p.p.s. Hi, Silver Swan – behaving yourself? Hopefully not!