THE AV VILLAGE is supporting Emergency Response Planning in neighborhoods in Anderson Valley. Come hear Fire Chief Andres Avila, Sheriff Tom Allman and other speakers talk about how to organize your neighborhood to be ready for an emergency. Sunday, March 10, Lauren’s Restaurant in downtown Boonville, 4-5:30pm. “Planning Tomorrow, Enjoying Today!”
THE AVA'S EMAIL stopped coming in sometime Friday night. The inbox remained silent until Saturday afternoon, when a slow trickle began coming in. It is unknown how much, if any, was lost, so we'd like to apologize, in advance, for any loss that may have resulted.
WE ALSO MOVED our website to a new webhost last week, and experienced some ups and downs with that process. We still need to upgrade to a more robust server with the new host, which we planned on doing Monday afternoon. Please bear with us as we iron these cyber wrinkles out.
SHAMROCKS & SALSA. Mark your calendars for St. Patrick’s Day, Sunday, March 17 at 3:00 at Lauren’s if you want to join a celebration of the publication of Jerry Cox’s book “Shamrocks and Salsa.” There will be brief readings from the book by Jerry’s family and time to share stories about Jerry. Light refreshments will be served and the bar will be open. The book will be available for purchase for $15. If you are celebrating St Patrick’s Day in a different way and can’t come to Lauren’s, you can order the book at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble on line, the Apple Store or Xulonpress.com The e-version is $9 and the paperback is $21 if you order it on line.
POP-UP CHORUS AT LAUREN’S: Tonight (Wednesday, Feb. 27. 7:30pm. Singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah, again. ($5 donation).
THAT SMALL NAVARRO PARCEL featuring redwoods and an ancient structure not far from the Navarro Store has been sold to Katherine Mortimer and Robert Bruen, believed to be from Ukiah. The acre-plus has been for sale for some time.
INTIMATION OF SPRING. Three days of frigid mornings, cool sun-struck days, daffodils, the faint scent of acacia, and a full moon rising in clear skies. Four days later, winter resumes with big rains, road closures, downed trees, and power outages. April may be the cruelest month, “breeding lilacs out of the dead land” but no sign of lilacs at my house as winter roars on.
JUST as The Valley's green is greenest, some of our soul-free industrial winemakers ribbon their vineyards with death, row after row of chemical poisons. Weed control, they say. And the stuff runs off into the streams and the rivers and we wonder where the fish went, the frogs having croaked their last years ago. Then, when the days heat up, here comes another mass dosage of pesticides and we wonder where the honey bees have gone.
DESPITE GALES of blustery vows from one of the owners, Willits mayor Burton, never ever to have anything to do with the marijuana industry, a cannabis cultivation permit for the old Remco site in central Willits has been filed.
THE JANUARY REPORT from Petit Teton, a small farm in the Anderson Valley:
We are happily enjoying weather - rain, sleet, snow, thunder, lightning - and water running everywhere. What a relief.
Nature is breathing deeply and turning from brown to white (snow) to green. The other day I noticed an orange bellied salamander (a California newt, I believe) with the tip of a big worm in its mouth ready to suck it out of the ground. It saw me peering down and moved away. My feelings were mixed since I saved a worm but prevented a meal.
In other animal news, ChiChi, our 10-year-old German/Australian Shepard mix, suddenly expressed pain when touched, first on her jaw which led us to think a tooth issue, but no sign of any when we took her to the vet. Then on her head and neck; the vet was puzzled because she never even whimpered when in the office. Then all over. I looked online and guessed that she had tick borne Lyme disease and when I suggested this diagnosis to the vet, he concurred, saying good call and telling me that our area is the worst in the country for disease carrying ticks. After one day on antibiotics she was nearly her old self. The full course is several weeks.
Just a few days ago, one of our two 4-month-old gilt pigs stopped eating and refused to get up. She's a bit young to be in heat so we checked her eyes for yellowing, ears for heat and nose for wetness. We ruled out pneumonia since all were normal, so we forced her to stand up and the problem became obvious - one hind leg was sprained. Not surprising since the two of them chase around their large mucky pen all day and falling is always a risk. Luckily it's another two months until they go to market, enough time to heal we hope, because the USDA processor will not accept lame animals. We, on the other hand, are in the bloom of health (well, sort of - not bad for older folks with the usual aches and pains), and we still get our chores done daily. We hope that you, too, are doing well and getting it all done. Take care in these rather frightening times.
Nikki Auschnitt and Steve Kreig
Regarding changes along the creeks and rivers, in the late 1950s and early 1960s sand bars and banks along the Navarro River and tributaries were crowded with tiny young toads in the spring. In recent years, they have gone missing completely. Pesticides? Global warming? Clearly something happened.