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Bird’s Eye View

Greetings one and all. If you are sitting comforta­bly then I shall begin. Just as we did last week for Rod Basehore, I once again I entreat you to join in with a collective Valley invocation to the ultimate powers-that-be for the full recovery of one of the Valley’s bet­ter guys. This time it’s for Tom Smith, the ever-pre­sent (1992-2010) Variety Show behind-the-scenes guy not to mention long-time high school soccer coach, who was the innocent party in a head-on collision last week on Hwy 128 near to the Standish Winery. Cur­rently in the Intensive Care Unit at Santa Rosa Memorial, he will be leaving the hospital in a week or so to return home and continue his recovery from some quite severe injuries to his hip, ribs, ankle, wrist, thumb, and face. According to his wife Val, there are no head injuries, his internal organs are fine (Tom has had three livers and two kidneys), and the prognosis is very positive... Anyway, even though I am well aware that Tom is as irreligious as they come, and has a very fatalistic view on life, he of all people must have real­ized by now, following his nine near-death experi­ences (including surviving the Tsunami in Thailand a few years ago), that somebody, somewhere is on his side! Let’s do the invocation anyway... All together now: ___! Well done, everyone; and on behalf of Tom, many thanks.

With this in mind, for the Quote of the Week let’s go with the brief, simple, yet precise and all-encompassing words of Juvenal, the Roman poet and satirist, who said, “We should pray for a sane mind in a sound body.” Knowing Tom as I do, he’s always had the first part of this covered, and now, having spent much of his life struggling with the second part, I have no doubt he can pull through to a full recovery better than most. Welcome to your tenth life, Tom...

Public Service Announcements.... #100 — Vote! Vote! Vote! Election Day is in less than two weeks — Tuesday, June 8th... #101 — On the Friday and Satur­day of both weekends - May 28th/29th and June 4th/5th - the A.V. Grange Theatre Guild will present its annual production, ‘Dearly Departed’, a comedy about a dysfunctional family gathering for a funeral and featuring many local ‘stars’ of the stage... #102 — The Lions Club will be doing its Tri-Tip BBQ thing to benefit the A.V. ElderHome on Sunday May 30th at the Fairgrounds in Boonville. The fun begins at about 4.30pm and you know it makes sense to be there... #103 — Over the same weekend, May 28th — 31st, we have the annual A.V. Senior Center Flea Market in the parking lot at the Veterans’ Hall in Boonville... #104 — And yet another event this com­ing weekend is the Valley’s Open Studio Tour, May 29th — 31st. See posters/leaflets for details...

Moving quickly on to a few 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 at a location known only to ‘those in the know’...

…Along with other Three-Dot regulars last Friday afternoon, I was at the opening of Laughing Dog Books, the new and used book store in the heart of Boonville. Owner Loretta Houck is going to be open Friday thru’ Monday for now so try not to forget about this option when getting your next book and rather than go on-line or elsewhere give Loretta a call or stop by. Supporting our local businesses will make you, and them, feel so much better...

…Talking of which, two regulars had nothing but praise for the lovely ‘do’s’ they received at the hands of Amanda Hiatt, owner/stylist at the local salon, Sheer Elegance, in Boonville opposite the Fair­grounds’ Office. This is the only salon in town at this point and Amanda specializes in hair, nails, and tan­ning. She can be reached for appointments at 707-489-0703.

…Some regulars pointed out to me the large dispar­ity in the number of C.H.P. officers in town between the recent Beer Festival and Pinot Festival. One regular said he had counted seven CHP cars at the Beer Fest and just one in town for the Pinot Fes­tival. Although attendance was far greater for the Beer Fest they were basically in one place whereas Pinot-Sippers were all over the Valley, particularly on the Sunday. There were eleven arrests at the Beer Fest (not at all bad in a crowd of 7,000) and I imagine that a similar number of people could have been ‘taken over the hill’ after attending the Pinot gatherings but weren’t. Thankfully there were no serious accidents at either event. However, I imagine that a decision was made by someone, somewhere, to not unduly bother the wine sippers — a sort of profiling of different drunks. Hmmm, interesting?...

…The Bar formerly known as ‘The Boonville Lodge’ will re-open around the end of June/ early July under a name to be decided upon, although ‘Boonville Lodge’ might still be an option... At this point I have no news on the restaurant at that location other than it will not be run by the bar owners, and it may not be connected at all. That’s too bad; I do like a juicy bur­ger before settling down with friends to a bottle of Jameson’s Irish whisky...

…On a related note, the alterations, renovations, and repairs at The Buckhorn Building down the street continue, as the search goes on for a new tenant by building owners Gary and Ginny Island. They clearly would like this to be run by ‘professionals’ in the pub/restaurant world and that is to be commended, not to mention being a wise move in such a tough business. I wish them well and hopefully those ‘pro­fessionals’ will be found sooner rather than later. After all, like many other Valley folk, I am missing some spicy wings with my pint of Guinness...

…Finally, a very sociable Three-Dot regular relia­bly informed the rest of us that the new owners of the A.V. Brewery threw a staff party a few weeks ago to celebrate their takeover. It was a splendid affair and, perhaps more significantly, as far as anyone could remember it was the first time a party thrown by the Brewery ownership was fully catered and not a pot­luck at which employees were expected to contribute. I couldn’t possibly comment...

I’m outta here; I have to see a man about a sheep... With the hot weather almost with us, please remem­ber to keep your windows cracked if you have pets in your vehicle... Otherwise, 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...Keep the Faith. PS. Contact me with words of support/abuse either through the Letters Page or by e-mail at turkeyvulture1@earthlink.net.

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