# 534 - 26th October, 2016

    Greetings one and all. Are you are sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…
    On the Valley Restaurant scene, our ‘man-on-the-spot’, Steve Sparks, confirms the re-re-opening of Stone and Embers in Philo on Friday, October 28, with new hours of Friday thru’ Tuesday, noon to 6pm each day… Other than that, Steve tell me that there is little developing news of note in the past week. This is of some concern to the many of us who will need a place to go for a few drinks and stimulating banter over the upcoming holiday period… As a result, I say it’s time for the movers-and-shakers in the restaurant world to stop pontificating, make a sound business decision, do right by this community, and buy The Buckhorn so it is open for the holidays, while making sure that no more local eateries close (accepting that Libby’s will be gone after December 10)… I’m just sayin’…

    Public Service Announcements (P.S.A.’s)… Calendars and pens at the ready… #544 - The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital have no more visits this month but they will be at the Anderson Valley Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo, on November 3. New customers and their pets are always welcome and previous visitors should be aware that they can call 462-8833 and the vets will bring your pet’s charts with them - making this an even better service than it already is!… #545 - The General Knowledge and Trivia Quiz held at Lauren’s Restaurant is now on its winter/spring schedule of 7pm on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month - that means there will be one tomorrow, Thursday, October 27… #546 - There is live music at Lauren’s Restaurant this Saturday evening, October 29 at 9pm. ‘Boonfire’, who perform classics from the 80s and 90s, will return after their successful gig a couple of months ago. For more information call 895-3869…#547 - The Mendocino Bookmobile returns to the Valley next Tuesday, November 1. They are here on alternate Tuesdays for 45 minutes at each of these places and times: Navarro Store 9am (for just 30 minutes before heading out to Comptche); the Floodgate 12.30pm; Philo 1.30pm; Boonville (Apple Hall) 2.30pm. Phone 463-4694 for further details… #548 - The next Barn Sale will take place on Saturday/Sunday, November 5/6, from 9am-3pm at The Big Barn next to the St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on A.V. Way just north of Boonville… #549 - The A.V Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday, from 1pm-4pm. Situated in The Little Red Schoolhouse next to the Elementary School on A.V. Way, this is a perfect thing to do in the Valley when you have a couple of hours to spare on a weekend afternoon. It is not without reason that it is generally regarded as ‘The Best Little Museum in the West’…
    As a bonus P.S.A. here is the menu for the Community lunches over the next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans’ Building in Boonville. The Center asks for a $6 donation from seniors and charges $7 for Non-seniors… Tomorrow, Thursday, October 27, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be Cashew Chicken, with Caramel Apple Cake for dessert… Then, next Tuesday, November 1, the lunch will feature Meat Loaf & Mashed potatoes, gravy, with an Apple Crisp dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal - it maybe the best value for money you’ll get all week!… Tai Chi is now available every Tuesday at 11am, while on Thursdays at 11am it is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class. Also on Thursdays, the Active Life Club runs from 10am to 2pm and features games, crafts, and music. The Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Monday's and also Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday of the month. These trips fill up fast so don't forget to sign up early at 489-1175… Hopefully you will be able to attend some of these events and certainly the lunches and dinners, and remember – ALL ages are welcome! Hope to see you there…

    Moving quickly on to a few of the topics and Valley events under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge – yes it’s “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant (yet surprisingly reliable) Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley, a somewhat secret location that sees people get together and share their thoughts about life in Anderson Valley and often far beyond, and where we subscribe to the Winston Churchill philosophy that “A lie will get halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to put on its pants”… So, with that in mind, I shall quickly put my pants on and continue…
… A couple of regulars joined myself and Hummingbird at Chez Marie last Saturday evening. This is the restaurant that former owners/chefs at Coq au Vin now operate on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and which is located at the Elk Cove Inn overlooking the ocean in Elk/Greenwood. It is excellent and the hospitality shown by Marie and Francis knows no bounds. I just thought you should be informed…
… So the deluge has arrived and it looks like it’s going to stick around for quite some time. This is good of course, although some of those people here in the Valley to work specifically on the recent harvests, the people known as Trimmigrants, really should think about changing their wet  clothes more often…
… Its high school sports play-off time!… Both the Boys’ soccer and Girls’ volleyball teams have qualified once again this year. There is unfortunately no play-offs for 8-man football, despite a fine season under returning coach John Toohey. The boys’ soccer team will take part in the bigger schools’ postseason tournament for the first time since 2009, a run of six seasons in the smaller schools’ playoffs that saw five Championships won… The games will begin next week and support from the community is greatly appreciated…
    From our 3-Dot regular, The Old Buzzard, comes another in his insightful series – ‘Signs that the Apocalypse is Approaching’… Buzzard reports, ‘UN human rights chief Zeid Raad Al Hussein has described the Syrian city of Aleppo as a “slaughterhouse". In a speech, he said the siege and bombardment of Aleppo's rebel-held eastern districts were "crimes of historic proportions" being committed in Syria."The ancient city of Aleppo, a place of millennial civility and beauty, is today a slaughterhouse - a gruesome locus of pain and fear, where the lifeless bodies of small children are trapped under streets of rubble and pregnant women are deliberately bombed," he said.
    Two weeks ago, following the collapse of a nationwide truce brokered by the US and Russia, the Syrian government, backed by Russian air strikes, launched a ground offensive to take full control of the city, accompanied by an aerial bombardment of unprecedented scale and intensity.
    Al Hussein continued, ”Armed opposition groups continue to fire mortars and other projectiles into civilian neighborhoods of western Aleppo, but indiscriminate air strikes across the eastern part of the city by government forces and their allies are responsible for the overwhelming majority of civilian casualties.
    "These violations constitute war crimes. And if knowingly committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against civilians, they constitute crimes against humanity.” The commissioner said the failure of the international community - particularly the UN Security Council - to protect civilians and halt the bloodshed "should haunt everyone of us”.
    Once again the UN and the international community has failed to protect innocent citizens. One is reminded of the tragedies that took place  in Rwanda, Srebrenica in Bosnia, and Grozny in Chechnya, each of which saw the world stand by and watch as innocent civilians were slaughtered in the thousands, and in Rwanda’s case, hundreds of thousands… What has become of us? Is the human race just going to stand around until the Apocalypse happens? If so, I need to know and I will get the hell outta here!…’
        I’m outta here too, Buzzard, but just for now, as I’ve got see a man about a sheep… Until we talk again – be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; show love to your pets, they will be faithful and true to you to the last beat of their hearts, and please remember to keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle for any amount of time; think good thoughts; ‘Keep the Faith’; try to not let life get in the way of living; may your god go with you, and may your dog go with you too… Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”… Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture - saddened but ultimately comforted in the knowledge that the old hare has safely moved to his new burrow in the sky…
p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at
p.p.s. Skylark – read any good books lately?… Hi, Silver Swan – behaving yourself? Hopefully not!… Everything cool with you, O.J.? Of course it is…

   

# 533 - 19th October, 2016

    Greetings one and all. Are you are sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…
    Before I get to the this week’s P.S.A.’s, I should inform you that for last week’s column I invited my close personal friend, Steve Sparks, to once again provide us with an update on the ever-changing Valley restaurant scene that many readers are clearly very interested in. He politely declined as he had received a better offer from the AVA’s Powers-that Be to produce his own separate articles that have been running for a few weeks now. However, his week, with developments in the restaurant scene taking a somewhat brief respite, he has rejoined us…
    Steve reports, “Whatever next?… I will surely be one of the many followers of the Valley’s restaurant scene who undergoes a ‘you’re kidding me’ moment upon hearing this week’s latest development. Yes folks, Matt Barnes and his partner, chef Patrick Meany, of Stone and Embers ‘fame’ have decided to reopen their fine restaurant once again, perhaps as early as next week. Having closed twice in the last few weeks, and reopened once two weeks ago, you may be forgiven for thinking these two gentlemen are somewhat dazed, confused, or just nuts. That would be unfair. No, dear readers, I can assure you that they are passionate about food and doing it right, both have spent a huge amount of time in restaurants over the years, but they are simply finding out that running a successful restaurant here in the Valley is far more than that. Anyway, they plan to re-open in the next week or so, serving their delicious wood-fired pizzas and maybe some of their signature salads too - I wish them well… Meanwhile, negotiations regarding The Buckhorn and possible new tenants are currently a case of two sets forward, one step back - which is progress of course, but those of us missing a good draft Guinness, superb spicy wings, and a ‘proper’ place in which to share lively banter with friends, are getting a little impatient. Owner Tom Towey, who closed down on September 20th, continues to meet with folks but nobody has yet come up with a deal that suits everyone. I believe this a viable business for the ‘right people’ and remain confident that the Valley’s landmark pub/restaurant, which comes all ready to go with a full liquor license, will re-open soon-ish…”

    Public Service Announcements (P.S.A.’s)… Calendars and pens at the ready… #538 - The Vets have one more visit to the Valley this month and that’s tomorrow. Thursday, October 20 when they will be at the Anderson Valley Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo… To avoid a line perhaps turn up at around 3pm - you will definitely be seen. New customers and their pets are always welcome and previous visitors should be aware that they can call 462-8833 and the vets will bring your pet’s charts with them - making this an even better service than it already is!… #539 - It’s Open Mic on Saturday, October 22 at Lauren's Restaurant in downtown Boonville. Dinner served 5 to 9, sign up is at 8.30pm before the Open Mic starts at 9 pm. All are welcome - musicians, singers, poets, writers, impressionists, belly dancers, magicians, pole dancers, sword swallowers, comedians, exotic dancers, actors, fire-eaters, ventriloquists, raconteurs, animal callers, etc. No clowns - apparently they would scare any kids who might be there, and no mimes, please - they scare almost everyone else! For more information call 895-3869… #540 - It’s the annual Oktoberfest Fundraiser, this coming Saturday, October 22, 2016 at the big barn in Philo, next to the Anderson Valley Farm Supply. Happy Hour is at 5pm with Dinner to follow at 6pm. The menu features Pork sausage, Beer-steeped sauerkraut, German-style warm potato salad wit onions and bacon, and dessert. Tickets are $30, that covers dinner and dessert, a beverage of your choice, and $10 donation to the Senior Center. Tickets are limited so get them early from the A.V. Senior Center (895-3609) or A.V. Market in Boonville… #541 - Here’s an event that is important and always lost of fun - Anderson Valley Arts presents “It’s About Time”, a live auction fundraiser featuring time-inspired artworks created by Valley artists. The event will take place at Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville on Sunday, October 23, from 4-7pm and will also feature a little live music. Your $20 donation includes a glass of wine (served by ‘celebrity’ bartenders) and some delicious hors d’oeuvres and all proceeds from the auction will support supplemental arts programs and scholarships for Anderson Valley students. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, visit www.av-arts.org… #542 - The next Barn Sale will take place on the weekend of Saturday/Sunday, Nov 5/6 from 9am-3pm at The Big Barn next to the St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on A.V. Way just north of Boonville… #543 - The Boonville Farmers’ Market continues every Saturday from 9.30am - noon in the Boonville Hotel parking lot generously donated each week by local humanitarian J Schmitt. For more information, call Cindy at 895-2949… #544 - The A.V. Lending Library run by The Unity Club is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays at The Fairgrounds - Tuesday 1.30-4.30pm and Saturday 2-4pm… #545 - The County Dump is open from 9am-4pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Remember, no dead animals!…   
    As a bonus P.S.A. here is the menu for the Community lunches and dinners over the next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans’ Building in Boonville. The Center asks for a $6 donation from seniors for both lunches and dinners and charges $7 for Non-seniors for lunches and $8 for the dinners… Tomorrow, Thursday, October 20, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be ‘Breakfast for Lunch,’ followed by Cinnabon Cake for dessert… Then, next Tuesday, October 25, the evening meal served at 6pm will feature Lasagna, with Italian Cream Cake for dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal - it maybe the best value for money you’ll get all week!… Meanwhile, Tai Chi is now available every Tuesday at 11am, while on Thursdays at 11am it is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class. Also on Thursdays, the Active Life Club runs from 10am to 2pm and features games, crafts, and music. The Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Monday's and also Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday of the month. These trips fill up fast so don't forget to sign up early at 489-1175… Hopefully you will be able to attend some of these events and certainly the lunches and dinners, and remember – ALL ages are welcome! Hope to see you there…

    The Three-Dot Lounge – the home of “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant (yet surprisingly reliable) Rumors” in the Valley, remains closed except for private parties and drunken binges. Nevertheless, Three-Dot regular, The Old Buzzard, continues to diligently spread his words of wisdom and here comes another in his insightful series – ‘Signs that the Apocalypse is Approaching’… Buzzard reports, “There's this long observed phenomenon that killing in war time is easier the more distant you are from your target. And the more automated we can make killing people, the easier it is for people to do it. That's long been a function of warfare; it's a well-understood phenomenon within that world. Well, we’ve taken that logic and applied it to our social interactions online. It's no wonder that Twitter has become a heaping mass of wretchedness and I believe there's a real question Twitter is actively struggling with right now in terms of: How do we prevent this from sliding into being a cesspool in which people behave in ways that they would never behave in person?
    “It is kind of a fascinating, dehumanizing world that we're stepping ever more rapidly into. But I think many of us are saying, ‘Wait a second. How do we retain some level of civilization and humanity? How do we hold onto some of that in a world that is becoming ever more confusing when it comes to our interactions with people?’… It is a huge dilemma and may be an obvious sign that the Apocalypse is fast approaching. We’ve been able to take on board all of these innovations and adapt very rapidly to them. But you still have some fundamental human attributes that don't work very well in the world that we've created. Which is big part of the reason why some new technologies and much of social media should be wonderful things and are often not and, I would suggest, never will be”…

    Thanks for the downer, Buzzard… I’m outta here - I’ve got see a man about a sheep… So, until we talk again – Be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; show love to your pets, they will be faithful and true to you to the last beat of their hearts, and please remember to keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle for any amount of time; think good thoughts; ‘Keep the Faith’; try to not let life get in the way of living; may your god go with you, and may your dog go with you too… Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”… Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture - still wallowing in the honor of having the 2nd tallest tree (343.6 feet) in Hendy Woods named after me and my ilk…
p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at
p.p.s. Keep on humming, Hummingbird… Missing the Venerable Pheasant… On the sheep, Grace…

# 532 - 12th October, 2016

    Greetings one and all. Are you are sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…
    Downtown Boonville was hopping on Saturday night and as I flew over the heaving metropolis in the early evening the throngs on the streets and ‘traffic jam’ in the heart of the ‘City’ was quite a sight to behold… At the Redwood Drive-In there was a birthday celebration attended by many from our Mexican community, while the three other Boonville restaurants - Aquarelle, The Hotel, and Lauren’s had large numbers of vehicles parked outside each of them. Further down the road there was a clearly popular event at the Pennyroyal Farm, while at The Brewery’s Visitor Center people had gathered to watch Game 2 in the Giants/Cubs series… But the biggest gathering was at The Apple Hall for a Quinceañera hosted by the Perez/Sanchez family where over 200 folks were assembled. Four hours later, following a Giants’ defeat and a drowning of the subsequent sorrows, I flew over again and the town had calmed down, except of course at the Apple Hall where the music blared at an acceptable Saturday night level and the fun was clearly still in full swing… And City people ask me what there is to do up here…
    Meanwhile, in a parallel universe know as The Real World, a place far removed from the Boonville Bubble, The Old Buzzard has some interesting, and quite disturbing, observations on a ‘new’ Donald Trump… Please note - this was written both before Trump’s comments about women surfaced last Friday and also prior to the excruciatingly ugly debate on Sunday evening… “Donald Trump made a big play this past week with a revival of the Populist theme that has served many ‘dictators’ well in the past. He was lying about his intentions of course but at this point nobody seems to be unduly worried by a little outright fabrication and deception. This is what Trump said. ‘We will rebuild our roads, our bridges, tunnels, highways, airports, schools, and hospitals. American cars will travel the roads. American planes will soar the skies and American ships will patrol the seas. American steel will send skyscrapers—new, beautiful skyscrapers—into the clouds. American hands—hands, hands, hands! – will rebuild this nation. And American energy, harvested from American sources, will power this nation. American workers will be hired to do the job, not workers from other country. We will put new American steel into the spine of the United States. I will fight for every neglected part of this nation.’
    “Good stuff, right!? Whether he's hired new speechwriters, or his staff simply has found the right dosage, The Donald is dealing out the real thing there—true, classic America First populism.    Is it all a charlatan's boast? Of course it is. He can't do any of that stuff if he's also going to ram even more wealth upwards with his preposterous economic program. But, for the first time since I've been listening to him, Trump has stumbled into a rich vein of American political history and a productive maelstrom of American political gobbledygook, both of which have sustained the other ever since this nation was founded.
    “Of course, there is a dark side to this brand of populism. Germany in the 1930s comes to the mind of doom-mongers like myself. It would be absurd for Donald Trump to go even more all-out racist and anti-semite on the country at this point - besides, he can subcontract that job to his factions of his supporters on social media. But to hear him talk about the "collusion" between the "special interests" and the "corrupt media executives" is to hear echoes of the shiny boots on cobblestones, without the inconvenient swastika armbands and militaristic brown uniforms. He will play that card as readily as he will talk about the new ‘American steel in the spine of the country.’ This is why he remains the most dangerous presidential candidate of my lifetime.
    “The bright vision coupled with the  conspiratorial darkness in which Trump is now trafficking has sold well in this country since they first put it together. Trump will no doubt be selling it until Tuesday, November 8th. I cannot quite fathom out how we have bungled things enough to have reached this point, to have such a diabolically awful candidate being opposed by one who has consistently showed herself to be naively carefree with the truth. But, given that we have this choice, this election is nowhere near over and one is left with the mantra of ‘May the less worse person win’ ”…
    Thanks for really scaring me, Buzzard… Now on to the lighter topic of Public Service Announcements (P.S.A.’s)… Calendars and pens at the ready… #543 - An early-ish heads-up on an event that is important and always lost of fun - Anderson Valley Arts presents “It’s About Time”, a live auction fundraiser featuring time-inspired artworks created by Valley artists. The event will take place at Lauren’s Restaurant in Boonville on Sunday, October 23, from 4-7pm and will also feature a little live music. Your $20 donation includes a glass of wine and some delicious hors d’oeuvres and all proceeds from the auction will support supplemental arts programs and scholarships for Anderson Valley students. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, visit www.av-arts.org… #544 - The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital have one more visit this month to the Anderson Valley Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo, on March 24. That will be on Thursday, October 20… #545 - The General Knowledge and Trivia Quiz held at Lauren’s Restaurant is now on its winter/spring schedule of 7pm on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of every month - that means there will be one tomorrow, Thursday, October 13… #546 - The Food Bank is open from 8-10am on the 3rd Tuesday of each month - which is next Tuesday, October 18. They will also be open on the Monday evening before from 4-6pm. Gardeners, farmers and produce growers of all kinds, remember to donate your extra produce and drop it off on the Monday behind the Boonville Methodist Church. If you need someone to glean your produce to take to the Food Bank, contact Valerie Kim at valerie.h.kim@gmail.com. Denisse Mattei is the Food Bank director. You can reach her at 895-3763… #547 - The Mendocino Bookmobile returns to the Valley next Tuesday, October 18. They are here on alternate Tuesdays for 45 minutes at each of these places and times: Navarro Store 9am (for just 30 minutes before heading out to Comptche); the Floodgate 12.30pm; Philo 1.30pm; Boonville (Apple Hall) 2.30pm. Phone 463-4694 for further details… #548 - The A.V Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday, from 1pm-4pm. Situated in The Little Red Schoolhouse next to the Elementary School on A.V. Way, this is a perfect thing to do in the Valley when you have a couple of hours to spare on a weekend afternoon. It is not without reason that it is generally regarded as ‘The Best Little Museum in the West’… #549 - And finally this week, there will be an A.V. Foodshed ‘Fun(d)raiser’ at 6pm on Saturday, October 15 at The Shed, behind the Farrer Building. Food and live music will be provided for your $25 donation and it is a BYO Beverage event…
    As a bonus P.S.A. here is the menu for the Community lunches over the next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans’ Building in Boonville. The Center asks for a $6 donation from seniors and charges $7 for Non-seniors… Tomorrow, Thursday, October 13, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be Smothered Steak, with Pumpkin Gooey Cake for dessert… Then, next Tuesday, October 18, the lunch will feature Fish & Chips, with Poppy Seed Cake for dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal - it maybe the best value for money you’ll get all week!…  Furthermore, Tai Chi is now available every Tuesday at 11am, while on Thursdays at 11am it is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class. Also on Thursdays, the Active Life Club runs from 10am to 2pm and features games, crafts, and music. Meanwhile, the Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Monday's and also Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday of the month. These trips fill up fast so don't forget to sign up early at 489-1175… Hopefully you will be able to attend some of these events, and certainly the lunches and dinners, and remember – ALL ages are welcome! Hope to see you there…

    The Three-Dot Lounge – the Valley’s premium venue for “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant (yet surprisingly reliable) Rumors” has closed for the week as a sign of respect to the other social gathering places that have recently passed on. We shall reopen next week with the best staff, menu, service, and customers in the Valley…
        Oh, dear, have I upset somebody? I think I’d better grab my coat and leave... Besides, that’s enough for now, so please take me drunk, I’m home, and until we talk again – Be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; show love to your pets, they will be faithful and true to you to the last beat of their hearts, and please remember to keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle for any amount of time; think good thoughts; ‘Keep the Faith’; try to not let life get in the way of living; may your god go with you, and may your dog go with you too… Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”… Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture - saddened but ultimately comforted in the knowledge that the old hare has safely moved to his new burrow in the sky…
p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at
p.p.s. Keep on wagging that tail, Fred… Hi, Silver Swan – behaving yourself? Hopefully not!… Keep up the good work, Round-eyed Robin.

# 531 - 5th October, 2016

    Greetings one and all. Are you are sitting comfortably? Then I shall begin…
    Following his front page news item in last week’s AVA on the recent Valley Restaurant developments, my close personal friend, Steve Sparks, has rejoined the ‘little people’ here on page 5 with this update on that topic… Steve reports, “The many followers of the Valley’s restaurant world are still buzzing about the recent happenings therein, with rumors in particular about The Buckhorn, Boonville, and Stone and Embers continuing to swirl in a tornado of gossip and rumor, plus, unfortunately, a few completely untrue fabrications and falsehoods. Fortunately, I have the facts from the ‘horses mouths’ so to speak - please read on… The owner of The Buckhorn, Tom Towey, is planning to respond to this confusion and misunderstanding with an explanation that will be appear in next week’s letters’ page. This should clear up much of the silliness that has been spoken over the last two weeks with regards to his closing. Meanwhile, Tom informs me that he has met with three prospective buyers of The Buckhorn and is planning to meet with more. One of these will hopefully meet the major prerequisites that he and landlords Gary and Ginny Island would like to see in the next owner of this Valley landmark, in terms of benefitting everyone - himself, his backers, and the community at large… Also in Boonville, two or three former Buckhorn employees may be picking up shifts at Lauren’s Restaurant, which is planning to continue their popular lunch service on Thursdays thru’ Sundays during the fall and winter months for the first time. Among all the changes around here, for many of us it is comforting to know that Lauren and co-owner Natalie Matson continue to run a restaurant that provides very good food consistently and can be relied upon to be there, and for that I suggest that locals and our many Valley visitors alike should be grateful… Meanwhile in Philo, after the ‘threat’ of a four week closure, Stone and Embers then re-opened, after just a week or so, with a reduced menu last Friday. New staff have arrived, three from The Buckhorn, and co-owner Matt Barnes is confident that normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, in fact he plans to be up to full capacity this coming weekend… Staying with the Philo scene, I can confirm the well-known fact that Libby’s restaurant will be closing for good after serving dinner for a final time on Saturday, December 10. Owners Libby and Jose will then embark on a very well-earned retirement after sixteen years of providing the Valley with truly delicious Mexican and CalMex dishes and hospitality. Moving forward, and in the words of my carrion-munching friend, ‘prospective new owners of this Valley institution are believed to be circling like a preying wake of Turkey Vultures above the noble carcass of a freshly deceased pig - Libby’s carnitas plate anyone?’… Having been in the bar/restaurant business for many, many years myself, both in San Francisco and the Valley, I am very aware that it is not ‘all glamor,’ as some folks may believe. Trying to stay on an even keel is hard enough without circumstances beyond one’s control playing such a large part, as they often do around here. I wish all those concerned every success and hope their dreams for the restaurant life will be realized in one way or another… I shall probably have more to share next week as I continue with my respectful attempt to reveal the truth and keep it real. Meanwhile I suggest we all try to remember the wise words of English philosopher and social observer Samuel Johnson, who opined, “There is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.” I believe that is as true in today’s rapidly changing world as at anytime in the past… Happy imbibing, satisfying dining, and cheers.”

    Public Service Announcements (P.S.A.’s)… Calendars and pens at the ready… #542 - The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital will return to the Valley twice this month - firstly tomorrow, Thursday, October 6 and then again on October 20. They will be at the Anderson Valley Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo from 2-3.30pm on each occasion. To avoid a line perhaps turn up at around 3pm - you will definitely be seen. New customers and their pets are always welcome and previous visitors should be aware that they can call 462-8833 and the vets will bring your pet’s charts with them - making this an even better service than it already is!… #543 - The Boonville Farmers’ Market continues every Saturday from 9.30am - noon in the Boonville Hotel parking lot generously donated each week by local humanitarian J Schmitt. For more information, call Cindy at 895-2949… #544 - The A.V. Lending Library run by The Unity Club is open on Tuesdays and Saturdays at The Fairgrounds - Tuesday 1.30-4.30pm and Saturday 2-4pm… #545 - The County Dump is open from 9am-4pm Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Remember, no dead animals!…

    As a bonus P.S.A. here is the menu for the Community lunches and dinners over the next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans’ Building in Boonville. The Center asks for a $6 donation from seniors for both lunches and dinners and charges $7 for Non-seniors for lunches and $8 for the dinners… Tomorrow, Thursday, October 6, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be Chicken Alfredo and Birthday Cupcakes for dessert… Then, next Tuesday, October 11, the evening meal served at 6pm, will feature Pineapple-Pepper with Chicken Coconut Cream dessert. As this is the 2nd Tuesday of the month, the dinner will be followed by Bingo at 7pm… All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal - it maybe the best value for money you’ll get all week! Tai Chi is now available every Tuesday at 11am, while on Thursdays at 11am it is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class. Also on Thursdays, the Active Life Club runs from 10am to 2pm and features games, crafts, and music. The Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Monday's and also Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday of the month. These trips fill up fast so don't forget to sign up early at 489-1175… Hopefully you will be able to attend some of these events and certainly the lunches and dinners, and remember – ALL ages are welcome! Hope to see you there…

    Moving quickly on to a few of the topics and Valley events under discussion this week at The Three-Dot Lounge – yes it’s “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant (yet surprisingly reliable) Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley, a somewhat secret location that sees people get together and share their thoughts about life in Anderson Valley and often far beyond…
… A record audience tuned in to the first presidential debate of the election campaign including several regulars at the 3-Dot Lounge. Polling suggested that most voters thought Hillary Clinton put in a better performance than Donald Trump. He blamed the moderator and a defective microphone, and said he had held back because he “didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings”. He is such a sensitive soul…
… Talking of a large audience, two hundred people showed up for the memorial for Frank Wyant held at The Apple Hall in Boonville last Saturday afternoon… It was one of the best attended such occasions I have witnessed in some time and, given Frank and his family’s involvement in so many aspects of Valley life, it was not surprising… He always told it as it was and never failed to regale me when I saw him at a Valley event with some remark about the food and my failure to get as much as him. “Hey, you’re late - I am already on my second plate” was his favorite taunt… Following his own blunt style, and hopefully with his agreement, I would suggest that he was a proud curmudgeon, a wise-ass, a caring, loving, smart, and very honest man, with a keen sense of what is right and wrong, and a set of values that today’s society could learn from… I shall miss you, Frank…
… It’s raining…
… It’s still raining…
… From our 3-Dot regular, The Old Buzzard, comes another in his insightful series – ‘The Approach of the Apocalypse’… Buzzard reports, “I have nothing of any interest to anyone to say at this point - so I’ll stay quiet”… Thank you, Buzzard. Why can’t more folks be like that?...

    I’m outta here - I’ve got see a man about a sheep… Besides, that’s enough for now, so “please take me drunk, I’m home,” and until we talk again – Be careful out there; if you break a leg don’t come running to me; stay out of the ditches; be wary of strangers with more dogs than teeth; show love to your pets, they will be faithful and true to you to the last beat of their hearts, and please remember to keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle for any amount of time; think good thoughts; ‘Keep the Faith’; try to not let life get in the way of living; may your god go with you, and may your dog go with you too… Oh, and of course, one final request, “Let us prey”…             Sometimes poking, often stroking, but almost always humbly yours, Turkey Vulture - still wallowing in the honor of having the 2nd tallest tree (343.6 feet) in Hendy Woods named after me and my ilk…
p.s. You can contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at
p.p.s. Keep on humming, Hummingbird… Missing the Venerable Pheasant… On the sheep, Grace…