NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE for Northwest California: “Confidence is increasing that a major wet pattern will develop by late Thursday through the weekend. Strong southerly winds will be possible by Thursday as well, particularly on ridge tops and along the immediate coast.”
GOT UP TO 79 in Boonville last Saturday as January's eerily dry days and sunny tranquility came to an end. First January in recorded history that it hasn't rained in our part of NorCal. But it was perfect for the large crowd that turned out for the seed exchanges and grafting exhibitions at the Boonville Fairgrounds.
THE GROW AND EAT LOCAL movement continues to be the most encouraging County development in years, and is especially relevant in the larger context of our Ponzi national economy, which grows more precarious by the day. Backyard gardens, chickens, fruit trees, and maybe a cow make more and more sense, especially in rural Mendocino County where we all live at the very end of a very long and very irrational food supply chain.
CHECK OUT ANDY JONES' new jewelry and antiques shop in the rail cars next door to Boont Berry, downtown Boonville. Andy's been in the business for over 20 years and offers a full range of jewelry services: custom design, repair, upgrade, re-fit, stone cutting and setting, restoration and he'll replace those dead watch batteries. He also has an impressive catalog of new jewelry pieces -- all at reasonable prices. And he's got some Valentine's Day Specials that would be perfect for a “friend” who might need more tangible evidence of your devotion.
DAVID SEVERN reports on the Navarro: “Amidst the growing hysteria surrounding the measles and how an independent and fractured humanity chooses to deal with it (to vaccinate or not to vaccinate), we in Anderson Valley have a glorious diversion (if we choose to use it) in the Navarro River. Sacred are the waters that circle the Earth cleansing and feeding not only our bewildered souls but all of life that exists - even those pesky microbes. Our River as it springs pure from the hills and valleys around is an emissary of hope and optimism straight from West Africa, Ukraine and all points Mid-East. Some time ago I reported that the vineyard owners on the old Tumbling McD Resort, turned Beja Flor, now Wentzel Wines had moved their pump intake to a deeper spot on the drought challenged stream - an indication that they were still pumping away. On a recent visit I made two discoveries; one, the Wentzels had removed completely their pumping apparatus from the River, and two, nearby in the sand were several bear prints showing the beast emerging from the water and meandering along its edge. Being somewhat of a novice at identifying animal tracks it took my son-in-law Eli to help me realize I wasn't looking at those of a giant mountain lion. You know Paul Bunyan's pussycat would have humongous feet. Also this was not far from where Monika Fuchs had told me a month or so before that she had seen a full racked dead buck laying on the river's edge. At that time my search had produced no remnants of that deer but on the sloping bank above I found a quite large and dead raccoon. Hmmm! Monika's deer makes the fourth found dead along about a quarter mile of river since last summer. Some say it might be a disease called Blue Tongue. Currently the Navarro is steadily yet slowly dropping at just below 70 cu ft/sec. Last year at this time a drizzle had raised the rate from 8 to 10.8 cu ft/sec. so you could say its doing much better until you realize that the “median daily statistic” which I think is the average is something like 600 cu ft/sec. I expect it will rise a bit more especially if the heavy rains predicted for next week-end materialize. Let's all dance for rain. Got up to about 80 in Boonville today (Saturday) as January's eerily and unprecedentedly dry days and sunny tranquility come to an end. First January in recorded history that it hasn't rained in our part of NorCal. Saturday was, however, perfect for the large crowd that turned out for the seed exchanges and grafting exhibitions at the Boonville Fairgrounds.”
THANKS to the daily deluge of misinformation provided by the internet, otherwise intelligent people now doubt the efficacy of vaccination. Governor Christie, the New Jersey noise machine, says whether or not to vaccinate is a parental decision, as if parents have the right to risk their children's lives. The anti-vaccination “science” that claims vaccination can cause autism has been thoroughly debunked by reputable medical science, not that rational investigation and argument ever changes the minds of the credulous. The credulous believe what they need to believe, facts notwithstanding.
AS A GUY who remembers the kid down the street in an iron lung just before Dr. Salk's vaccine wiped out polio in the United States, I think parents who refuse, as a matter of uninformed principle, to immunize their children should not only not be tolerated, they should lose custody of their children. Immunization had, we all assumed, pretty much eliminated communicable disease in this country, but here come measles and who knows what else again.
AWARE that Mendocino County is teeming with radically dumbed down young people unable to effectively decode scientific fact from pure quackery, I was still surprised to learn from Michelle Hutchins, superintendent-principal of the Anderson Valley Unified School District, that there are about a dozen unvaccinated children presently enrolled at AV Elementary.
THE ED CODE, Ms. Hutchins explained, “requires that parents see a doctor who explains the risks.” Then the doctor and the irresponsible parents affix their signatures to a form that attests that the parents and the doctor have together reviewed those risks, and the child is allowed to enroll. Children must either present proof of vaccination or proof that they are willing to play disease roulette with their child, and that's the entry requirement from kindergarten to the 7th grade.
A LOT OF THINGS have gone terribly wrong in this country, but public health, until now, hasn't been one of them. It also means that people at the state level, probably to keep daily attendance revenues rolling in, have decided against the public welfare.
PEACHLAND'S MIDNIGHT MARAUDERS. Debra Keipp's encounter with them: “I was driving to Philo after dark about five nights ago now, when it was a bit tule foggy out. As I approached Peachland Road where the intersection is, the fog lifted to reveal something broad, a little bigger than bumper height, that was a dull black color. I thought for a moment that someone had lost a small old CRT television in the roadway, it was oval like in shape and kind of charcoal gray. I only had a second before I hit it square on with my right tires - both of them. I thought after hitting it, that it might have been a box with a chain on it, because I thought I heard a chain and such scraping against the undercarriage. I thought I would probably have blown a tire, it hit with such a noisy, hard wallop. I must have been going about 60. But no, my car was fine. I went down to Tinman Nursery (don't remember new name), and turned around to drive back. Another car had pulled over and was just driving off, but all I saw was the blood splatter on the highway. I didn't see any body around. I went home, wondering what I'd hit, hoping it wasn't some awful high school prank. The next day and a few days after that, I drove out again, to look and see if I could see in daylight what I'd hit. Finally I noticed a few buzzards and crows were hanging around something black on the side of the road. It was a big wild pig - I'd say an adult. Mostly it had been eaten, but the jaw was largish. Folks had been seeing it around on A V Way, I was told, rooting up along fencing. Deader than a mackerel (whatever that means)".
SANDRA MENDELSOHN RUBIN our Guggenheim-certified, Boonville-based landscape painter will be featured, 18 February – 28 March, at L.A.'s Louver Gallery (Venice). “Painting from life, particularly landscape painting, has been central to Rubin’s practice since the 1980s. In this new series of paintings created over the past three years.... Following the River”(2013-14) portrays the Navarro River from above – its sinuous path carefully follows each bend of the landscape, while a nearby road cuts through without discretion. Also seen from above, “Irrigation Pond” (2013) features segmented sections of farmland with two ponds glistening like inlaid jewels amongst the fields. A slender panorama brings the viewer down to ground level in “Aqueduct at Quail Lake” (2015). In this scene, a small figure is silhouetted against a vast accumulation of water amidst dry, arid terrain.” And so on, but you can see for yourself how good she is by simply googling her name.
EVER WONDER at the low bail set for apparently very bad crimes? A former cop named Matt Sheldon explains: “The arresting officer can request a bail increase by calling a judge from the jail. There is an on-call list of judges who can be contacted at any time by law enforcement. The Officer has to be able to articulate to the judge why the bail should be increased and there is a simple form to fill out that can be faxed to the judge. Most Officers don't do this. I did it quite often.”
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