ARE YOUR HATCHES BATTENED? Storms beginning now will drench us so thoroughly for the next five or six days we're assuming 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 this morning said he expects 16, which would put us in the massively destructive year of 1964.
SPEAKING OF RAIN, last year the gym roof leaked so bad there were garbage cans catching the copious rain drops that otherwise would have fallen directly onto the very expensive gym floor. Has the roof been repaired? Or will we see next week's headline, “Boonville Basketball Rained Out"?
SAVE THE FAIRGROUNDS ideas wafting into your beloved community newspaper include a naming of the individual buildings on the Fairgrounds via which the person thus memorialized would donate a large annual sum of American currency. Another is a roster of individual subscribers who pay whatever amount on a monthly basis which, in a community as rich as this one, 500 subscribers, say, ought to be easy to obtain.
A CALLER Tuesday was alarmed at the sight of caged dogs behind the Redwood Drive-In. “They appear to well fed but that's all they are — well-fed. Their confined the rest of the time to very small spaces.” Up against our weekly deadline, the caller was assured we would take a look in plenty of time for next week's paper.
RENEE LEE tells us that Panther basketball showed some promise in last night's season opener in Calistoga. Varsity Girls easily defeated the Wildcats 59-38 but the Boys Varsity lost a heartbreaker in the final minutes despite a great effort by Scott Johnston, Justin Soto, Carlos Mendoza et al. Final score 57-55. All of the Panther squads this year are combinations of young, raw talent (several Freshmen on Varsity teams) with a sprinkle of a few seasoned players. It's safe to say that good things are in the mix for AV Basketball in the next few years. (Abrahm Sanchez, a freshman, knocked down 16 points.)
RENEE'S BRO, Bryan Wyant, coach of the girl's team, got his ladies off to a great start in the land of the mud baths with both the varsity and the jv's racking up impressive wins. The varsity girls defeated their hosts 59- 40 as Jauna Manriquez hit for 19 points, Alicia Carranza 9, Aileen Eligo 8, Mirla Gaxiola 7. Wyant characterized his team's effort as a “great performance with 10 of 12 players scoring, outstanding defense and rebounding.” Individual stats for the JV's were not available.
PATTY SHANAHAN'S landscapes on display at Lauren’s Restaurant through December are especially attractive to art traditionalists like me because they vividly recreate something recognizable, in this case Mendocino County vistas. Her “Autumn Poplars,” for instance, is a beautifully rendered oil painting of the autumn hills as we all see them every year from 128 through the denuded poplars at Al Green's Navarro Winery. I would buy this painting if I had the dough, and I'll bet lots of you would, too. Ms. Shanahan's show at Lauren's is called “30 Years of Mendocino County Landscapes.” Locals will especially appreciate “Eye of the Needle,” our famous landmark on 253 overlooking the Ukiah Valley, and maybe even the impressionistic “Blue Cowboy,” which is also muy cool. Twenty-five percent of sales from the Lauren's show go to the Grace Hudson Museum, always an institution worth supporting.
YES, THANK YOU, I enjoyed Thanksgiving. As Einstein famously observed, “When you're with your family time seems to slow down,” an observation you can take both ways.
SAFFRON FRASER reports she is “slowly and steadily” recovering from her nearly fatal accident on 128 near the Mathias Ranch three weeks ago. Saffron, on her way home to Philo from her job at Maple Creek, swerved to avoid hitting a deer and plunged off the west side of the road, an end over end pummeling plummet she was lucky to survive. Saffron says she's been continually moved at the many people who have expressed their affection and support during her convalescence.
WAY BACK, a local 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 $5000 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. 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”
JOHNNY SCHMITT wants to know, “for a community with so many enlightened, tree hugging activists and concerned residents I’m saddened & shocked by the recent increase of pavement, concrete, curbs & gutters being haphazardly added to our landscape in town. At a time when so many other options are being championed by communities worldwide using permeable, rustic & earth friendly solutions, we seem to be blindly buying CalTrans (and now CalFire) design techniques and are headed toward rivaling State Street in Ukiah with a hot, toxic, fluorescent striped superhighway dividing our once unique rural community. What makes our town & valley different and pleasing to so many of us IS the diversity of buildings, trees, setbacks & people that make up the sum of its parts. When upgrading parking lots, driveways and sidewalks please consider other solutions before paving, curbing & guttering our town into oblivion, or we will soon look just like every other sterile, hot, suburban mess that is littering our once bucolic landscape. If you need information on some of the options I am more than happy to help… Thanks, Johnny.”
CINDY WILDER REMINDS US that the annual community dinner on Sunday Dec 9 still needs helpers. So far she's got:
• Make mashed potatoes: (potatoes provided by Foodshed group): Judy Basehore, Jade, Karen Bailey (at least three more needed.)
• Make appetizers for the waiting line: Tom Brewer – chestnuts (at least one more needed.)
• Kids Activities: (5:00) Melissa Meader, Chris Chilcote
• Set up Crew: Kitchen (3:00-5:15): Kate Castagnola, Vicki Moss, Tim Ward. (Grange will provide assistant)
• Set up Crew: Dining (3:00-5:15) (Set up tables and chairs, decorate tables.): Sue Davies, Mary Pat Palmer, Nat Corey-Moran, Noor (at least one more needed.)
• Outside Greeter: (4:30) (direct people where to take potluck dishes) (at least one more needed.)
• Table Greeters: (4:30) (help people fill out dish ingredient cards): Barbara Lamb (at least one more needed.)
• Carvers: Carve turkeys, hams, leg of lamb (4:30-5:30) (bring your own knife): Dan Hamburg (at least three more needed.)
• Serve appetizers to the waiting line: (5:15): Margaret Pickens (at least one more needed.)
• Potluck Line Director: (5:15): (one needed.)
• Meat/potato Servers: (5:15) (seven needed.)
• Early Clean Up Crew (kitchen): (about 6:00 – 6:45): Mary Pat Palmer (at least three more needed.)
• Late Clean Up Crew (kitchen): (about 6:45 – 7:30) (four needed.)
• Clean Up Crew (dining room): (about 7:30) (four needed.)
Email Cindy at cwilder406@gmail.com to sign up.
FOR YEARS I've wondered how the Indians made acorns edible, but I was never able to find a complete step-by-step account of the process until I happened on an article by Kyle Keegan called “A Long Lasting Perennial Polyculture” in Permaculture Magazine, which was reprinted whole on the Lost Coast Outpost blog. Survivalists and the merely curious can still find it there.
THE BAYLO WINERY'S new bocce ball courts — two of them complete with lighting for night play — are already a big hit with locals, as last weekend's tournament established with a full roster of competitors enjoying the ancient sport.
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)
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