Valley People 4/20/2025

JUDY VALADAO:

Out of boredom this morning and after all the talk of cutting Social Security/Medicare I decided to do a little math (which I hate). The results are:

After the COLA raise in Social Security and after the raise in cost of Medicare I ended up with enough extra for:

1 Dozen eggs per month

1/4 tank of gas for my car

So, if I cut the eggs down to half a dozen and skip the fuel for the car there is enough in that COLA raise to put $10.00 towards the raise in property taxes, $10.00 towards the raise in car insurance and $10.00 towards the raise in Homeowners insurance.

No wonder I hate math.

BOB ABELES (Boonville)

In hyper-local news, after an all day power outage, PG&E completed relocating the power lines serving the Lambert Ln. neighborhood early yesterday evening. This was step one toward replacing the bridge that failed several years ago. Hopefully AT&T will take a cue from PG&E and complete their line relocation without leaving the neighborhood bereft of phone or internet service for more than a day. I have my doubts.

JUDY VALADAO

The 2025 Pink Moon was Saturday night at 8:22 p.m. It appeared more orange to me than pink.

April’s full Pink Moon, the first of the official spring season, is used to determine the date of Easter. It is also a "micromoon" according to the Old Farmer’s Almanac.

Many stargazers know what a supermoon is. A micromoon, as you may or may not have guessed, is the exact opposite of a supermoon. April’s full moon will occur just before reaching apogee, the point when the moon is farthest from Earth, on April 13 at 6:49 p.m.

BEST BOOZE EVER to come outta Mendo was the work of Hubert Germain-Robin, creator of Mendocino County’s finest hooch, Germain-Robin brandy, which was gifted to me by Hube himself.

SO ANXIOUS was he at the time to get the news out of his marvelous concoction he’d sent lowly me a sample bottle, which I promptly taste-tested with the late David Colfax, the liveliest drinking companion I’ve ever had. We pronounced it “the best,” and I announced the news of our findings to the waiting world in the very next issue of the mighty AVA.

IT was the mid-1980s when Hube was just starting out in Ukiah. I was not exaggerating when I said it was the best hooch ever to make its way down my indiscriminate gullet. Hube, a genuine Frenchman from the fatherland of brandy, Cognac, France, was so pleased with my review that for a few succeeding Christmases he sent me free bottles, which then retailed for upwards of $40 per, and way outta my price range. Now? $80? $150?

GERMAIN-ROBIN soon caught on and, sob, the Boonville newspaper no longer got a Christmas gift bottle. The booze world had rushed in and the high-end mags and large-circulation newspapers were now touting the stuff, and presidents were serving it at state dinners.

OL’ HUBE sold his still to whatever conglomerate owns it now, but last I heard he still lives in Redwood Valley, venturing out only as a consultant, and good on him for all the success he has had. Not many people can say they started something as excellent as Hube’s brandy, brewed in his little copper still in the west hills above a dying town in Mendocino County.