ARE YOUR HATCHES BATTENED? Storms beginning now will drench us so thoroughly for the next five or six days we're assuming Highway 128 will be closed at Navarro by week's end. Even the cops are warning to expect flooding in a press release Tuesday morning.
WE'RE DOING a rainfall over and under at nine inches. No way we'll get nine, but one guy who called Tuesday morning said he expects 16, which would put us in the massively destructive year of 1964.
NOTHING BUT RAVES for Christina Jones's downtown Boonville Aquarelle Cafe and WineBar. As one local summed up the consensus opinion, “Perhaps you have visited the new establishment already, but walking through the door was like walking into a dream. Lovely, elegant, simple decor, white tablecloths. Beautiful young people who were friendly and smiling, and an astonishingly excellent meal at a very amazing price for the quality they're presenting. I was actually shocked at how good it was.” (Fridays through Mondays, 5-9pm)
WAY BACK, a Boonville guy advised me not to swerve for deer. “Drive right through 'em,” he counseled. “It's less dangerous than swerving.” The prob is that your instinct is to swerve, but the two times I've had large creatures suddenly loom up in front of my hurtling Honda I've done the No Swerve, both times on the westbound downhill on the Boonville end of 253. I drove right on through a deer one night. I must have hit it just right because it flew up onto my hood, pounded my windshield then disappeared up over my roof, seemingly all in one motion. By the time I stopped I could see it clattering up the hill. I'm assuming she survived. Another time on that same stretch a buzzard flew up in front of me. I hit it square and up it went onto my windshield. But it, too, staggered to its feet and flew off, apparently none the worse for the collision.
THE SUCCESSFUL CHARITY that Keevan Labowitz kicked off during his stay in Kenya is looking for, well, let Keevan explain:
“We just got accepted to an online donation website called Global Giving. It is a website that will help us raise money and it puts the funds directly into my 501(c)(3) charity (Equip Manyatta) account in the states. It is kinda crazy because in order to become a permanent group on their site we have to do an insane fundraiser. We have thirty days, starting today, to raise a total of $5,000 from the combined efforts of at least 40 different donors. If we reach that mark then we will stay on their site permanently and be able to get donations at anytime. If we don’t reach that mark we just get what we raised during the 30 days. It would be huge to be on their site as it would provide an easy way for people to donate in the future. I am writing to see if you guys might be able to help out a little. I am hoping that you guys might be able to help me spread the word. If you can share this link with anybody that you think can help I would really appreciate it. http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/drama-dance-music-and-sport-for-kisumu-youth/. This is basically an experiment with social networking. The minimum donation is $10 and I think people can donate up to $600 at a time. I know there are so many people out there who might be willing to assist us and with your help I can reach more of them. I know so many of you have already given both time and money to helping see our project succeed and I really appreciate everything. Otherwise, I miss all of you and I will be back in the states January 15. Let’s chill. Much love and thank you for everything, Keev.”
MENDOCINO COUNTY'S FIRST-ever “Real Thanks, Real Giving” festival brings together Native and non-Native inhabitants of this region to build friendship and solidarity. Harvest feast, speakers, ceremony, and musicians -- including Tchiya Amet, Motherland Family Band, and Pale Robin. Food includes venison stew, vegan options. All proceeds are for a lawsuit supporting American Indians who have recently been disenrolled from their tribes in California. The event is taking place in solidarity with Clayton Duncan, traditional Pomo leader who was recently banished from Robinson Rancheria, despite his family's instrumental role in establishing the rancheria. For more information, see the Anderson Valley Advertiser's August 27th story “The Disenrollment of Clayton Duncan,” by Will Parrish
THE TRUE STATE OF THE NATION as summarized by Jim Dodge: “I think that we're screwed. Just pick your poison: Rampant obesity and the rapidly declining health of Americans; Peak oil ; Peak phosphate/rare earths/etc. Medicare collapse (when every obese Boomer hits 65); Social Security collapse ; Weather-related disasters ; Fed printing money like no tomorrow; Global food shortage (starting in a few months); Impending Mideast wars (already started); 50% high school dropout rates in cities (social time bomb) ; Students going deep in debt for worthless degrees ; Eurozone collapse; Corrupt and stupid federal government; Little Debbie taking over Hostess. I mean, we are really screwed.”
SYMPHONY OF THE REDWOODS Holiday POPS Concert. Symphony of the Redwoods presents A Holiday Pops Musicale! Saturday, December 15, at Cotton Auditorium, Fort Bragg. Celebrate the holidays with a something for the whole family. The Pops Orchestra, under the direction of Les Pfutzenreuter, will play your favorite holiday music with special guests In the Mix, The Acafellas, Sine Nomine, Dan Fowler, and the Fort Bragg High School Choir. There will be a Mexican Posada, snacks and treats, pictures with Santa, and during the day a Craft Fair, 10am-9pm. Festivities begin at 6pm and the concert at 7 pm. Tickets are available at the door, Harvest Market, Tangents, and Out of This World, and online at www.symphonyoftheredwoods.org. For information call (707) 964-0898. Photo: A recent Pops Concert featuring the horn section. Dave Matthews, photo. For the calendar: Symphony of the Redwoods presents A Holiday Pops Musicale! Saturday, December 15, at Cotton Auditorium, Fort Bragg. Festivities begin at 6pm and the concert at 7 pm. All day Craft Fair, 10am-9pm. Tickets available at the door and online atwww.symphonyoftheredwoods.org. Call (707) 964-0898. Kris Stuart Manager, Symphony of the Redwoods 707-964-0898 symphony@mcn.org
COWBOYS FOREVER, At Least In Covelo. By Bill Hatch
While visiting Willits for Thanksgiving, on Black Friday I dropped into its elegant feed store/pet store/tack shop/ranchwear and coffee shop, J.D. Redhouse & Co., in the middle of town on the highway. I was looking for something in catnip for a friend and eyeing a Woolrich Alaska Shirt at a 40% discount for myself. But I settled for a cup of their excellent coffee. I noticed a fine Border collie sitting calmly under a coffee table, praised her to her master and we started telling dog stories. These stories eventually led to the subject of Covelo, which usually brings a frisson to the hearts of those in Mendocino clustered about its principle highways. But the collie owner announced that his son had a little ranch over there and was partners in a herd of several hundred cows. The father was proud and relieved that his son, around 30 and married to a Covelo girl whose mother I once knew, had found the cowboy way.
There are a number of serious cowboys and cowgirls in Covelo and Round Valley is a good place for stock. One of the first things you notice about the place is that horses seem happier there and the cowboys and Indians drink together at the Buckhorn. Twenty years ago during a period of some federal obstruction of the natural order of stock raising, one night at the Buckhorn a native cowboy raised his voice to the throng and announced that there ought to be a reservation for both Indians and cowboys. No one objected, not even the Indian owner of the bar.
The proud father gave examples of some cowboy skills his son had learned. They were riding one morning up to a roundup in the hills when they saw bear tracks. The son remarked they looked about a “half hour old.” His father, an LA surfer in his youth, was skeptical. “How did you figure that out?” he asked.
“Well, you see the bear’s track is on top of the hoof mark of one of the two horses that I know started out 45 minutes before we did.”
This seemed to surprise the father. It was as if he had not recognized that his son was capable of such a feat of common sense. On top of that, they were evidently learned in Covelo.
Next he told a story about cowboy mechanics, involving the broken or severely wounded axle of a vehicle that was patched up adequately for it to be driven back to civilization or at least Covelo. He said that what had amazed him was the not one of the cowboys in the four pickups traveling together had a tool set but that by mixing bits of equipment and tools from all four truck beds they managed to splint the axle sufficiently to get the vehicle back to town. For a man who had spent years in the construction business, where people have toolboxes, wrench sets, screwdriver sets, power tools and generators and such in their pickups, it was an incredible event.
I remarked how I had once sought and found help from a Covelo cowboy in a matter involving defending myself in what seemed likely to be a fight at some point in the near future. My friend, a retired bullrider and local cowboy, told me that he “always tried to git ‘em down, git behind ‘em, git your teeth in their ear and your finger in their eye.”
“Works for me,” he added.
Fortunately, I never had to see if it would work for me.
Later, walking around the streets of Willits observing middle-aged tourists shopping in stores offering hippie attire and artifacts, it occurred to me that cowboys were here before either hippies or yuppies and will likely outlast both. At least compared with most contemporary life styles the working cowboy way seems plain and durable, built for survival. It has a capacity to transcend generations. It remains to be seen if organic gardening will take root in the next generation. Even dope growing is a plaything of politics. In Covelo at least, cowboys will outlast everyone but Indians. In Covelo, June Marie’s clothing store doesn’t offer many shirts with buttons. It’s mostly snaps — horse-blanket warm flannel for winter, poly for summer. Year in, year out.
Cowboys are forever, at least in Covelo. ¥¥
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