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Bird’s Eye View (April 26, 2017)

“Evening Dining in the Valley Update” — Exciting news. Libby is back! The former owner of Libby’s Restaurant is taking on a new challenge. For one night a week (Mondays) she will be cooking at Lauren’s Restaurant, starting next Monday, May 1 from 4.30-9pm. Moving on. Lauren’s Restaurant popular “Natalie’s Sunday Supper” is this Sunday, April 30 from 4-8pm featuring comfort dining in a cozy atmosphere. Fish and chips, Beef and Onion Pie, Fried chicken and mashed potatoes — just some of the many homestyle meals Natalie offers. Lizbby’s, the new Mexican Restaurant in downtown Boonville, receiving many positive reviews, is open every day except Tuesdays, serving breakfast (on Saturday and Sunday) and lunch from 10am-3pm and dinner from 5-8pm. The Buckhorn has re-opened and, not surprisingly given the six month long bar-free world we have been enduring, it seems to be pretty busy most nights. Open every day at 11am (10am weekends), closed on Tuesdays. The Boonville Hotel continues their family-style, prix fixe menu with expanded hours: Thursday-Monday. Reservation required, (707)-895-2210. The Q and Aquarelle, formerly Aquarelle Cafe and Wine Bar, offers their new “Santa Maria BBQ” menu added to previous favorites. Open 4-8pm from Friday-Taco Tuesday. The Redwood Drive-In keeps on doing what they do, with reliable hours: 6am-8pm every day! Try the donuts! Stone and Embers spring hours are Noon to 8pm Friday-Sunday and Noon to 4pm on Monday and Tuesday; new summer hours soon. Finally, down in the Deep End, The Bewildered Pig is open Wednesday-Sunday, 5:30-9pm. Their “insane” offerings are on their well-maintained Facebook page.

Public Service Announcements. #544. The AV Brewing Company’s 21st Annual Beer Fest is this Saturday afternoon at the Fairgrounds in Boonville. Drink reasonably sensibly and within your limits, and don’t drive or annoy others — simple guidelines for a good time that have served “proper” beer drinkers like myself and others very well. #545. The Vets from the Mendocino Animal Hospital will be at the AV Farm Supply on Highway 128, north of Philo, on May 4 and will not be back until June. New customers and their pets always welcome; previous visitors can call 462-8833 and the vets will bring your pet’s charts with them! #546. The Mendocino Bookmobile returns next Tuesday, May 2. (463-4694 for confirmation.) They are usually here on alternate Tuesdays for 45 minutes at: Navarro Store 9am (for 30 minutes before heading to Comptche); the Floodgate 12.30pm; Philo 1.30pm; Boonville (Apple Hall) 2.30pm. #547. The AV Museum is open every Saturday and Sunday from 1pm-4pm in The Little Red Schoolhouse next to the Elementary School on AV Way, a perfect spend a few hours on a weekend afternoon. “The Best Little Museum in the West.” #548. The monthly Barn Sale at The Big Barn next to the St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church Refectory on AV Way, just north of Boonville is the first weekend so the next Sale is May 6/7, 9am to 3pm each day. #549. The Kevin Owens Classic sheepdog trial is this Saturday, April 29, in the beautiful Fig Tree Field, about a mile up Hulbert Road opposite the Yorkville Post. The always fascinating battle features Man and Dog versus the Ornery Sheep and begins at 10am.

Here is the menu for the Community lunches next week in the Senior Center at the Veterans Building in Boonville. The Center asks $6 from seniors and $7 for Non-seniors. Tomorrow, Thursday, April 27, the lunch, served by Marti Titus and her crew at Noon, will be “Breakfast for Lunch” with Cinnamon Roll Cake for dessert. Then, next Tuesday, May 2, the lunch features Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes with Boston Cream Cake for dessert. All meals include vegetables, salad bar, and fruit, plus milk, coffee, tea, and lemonade. What a deal. “Young at Heart Exercise” is on Tuesday and Thursday 9-9.45am with Linda Boudoures and Karen DeFalco. Tai Chi is every Tuesday at 11am. Thursdays 11am-Noon is Kathy’s Easy-stretch Yoga class and the Active Life Club runs 10am to 2pm featuring games, crafts, and music. The Senior Center/Community Bus goes to Ukiah on Mondays and Santa Rosa on the first Wednesday. Sign up early at 489-1175. Topics and Valley events from The Three-Dot Lounge — “Moans, Groans, Good Thoughts, and Rampant (yet surprisingly reliable) Rumors” from my favorite gathering place in the Valley.

…A regular at the Three-Dot informed me that German police are trying out a new weapon in the fight against crime. Turkey Vultures that can find hidden corpses just about anywhere. Three feathered detectives, Sherlock, Miss Marple and Columbo, are being trained in northern Germany to do this. Police are using three of my German cousins because we vultures prefer to roam big areas as a group and our keen eyesight and acute sense of smell makes us as skillful as our fictional namesakes. Furthermore, we are better than sniffer dogs at finding bodies when a large area has to be searched and the terrain is difficult. But the experiment has raised ethical concerns some of us might start pecking at a dead body when we find them. Err, yes, we might, but surely there has to be some perks, right?

…Thus week’s “Inquiring Minds Want to Know” question was, “Does a Book Club need to serve wine at its gatherings?” I personally believe to get to the heart of the book, its very essence, and its author’s intentions and message, then wine should most certainly be served. But I could be wrong, of course.

…Here’s a couple of my “objective” selections for various Valley honors that were shared with 3-Dot regulars over the past week. The Valley’s Worst “Hobby”: letting your dog run alongside your truck as you drive along the backroads. The Valley’s Best draft: Guinness at The Buckhorn. Most Pleasing Valley phrase. “If there is anything I can do to help, let me know.”

…The annual Tasting Room Count. We have lost a few over the last year and I believe we have 26 tasting rooms between Yorkville and Navarro, not counting several that are by-appointment only. As an occasional wine-sipper and friend of many folks in the industry at various levels, I sincerely wish each of them success. I have previously expressed concern that the density of tasting rooms will work against all of them surviving over time and, as mentioned above, some three or four have closed in the last year.

…From 3-Dot regular, The Old Buzzard: “Signs that the Apocalypse is Approaching.” Buzzard reports, “Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, apologized on television after making an ill-judged comparison between Syria’s Bashar al-Assad and Adolf Hitler. He had said in a press briefing that even Hitler “didn’t sink to using chemical weapons,” leaving journalists stunned; many of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis died in poison-gas chambers. Mr Spicer admitted the reference was “inappropriate” and “insensitive.” This idiotic clown must go.

I’m outtahere. Gotta see a man about a sheep. So please take me drunk, I’m home.” 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 — keep your windows cracked if you leave them in your vehicle; 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. A final request, “Let us prey.” 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. Contact me through the Letters Page or at turkeyvulture9@gmail.com. PS. Skylark. read any good books lately? Hi, Silver Swan. behaving yourself? Hopefully not! Everything cool with you, OJ? Of course it is.

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