Post Card from Glen Ellen

B.J. Blanchard

Weather’s here – Wish you were fine!

Haiti, Chile, Turkey. Are we next? Here’s the scoop from home grown earthquake predictor Jim Berkland: It’s actually not that unusual to have this cluster of huge earthquakes, except for the 8.8 magnitude in Chile which is one of the 4 major strongest quakes recorded. But he doesn’t think we’re at any more acute risk than we have been all along.

Jim theorizes that it’s the perigean spring tide – when the moon is closest to the Earth during the spring – coupled with the new or full moon, that precedes big fault activity, but ALRIGHT, I admit I don’t get it and probably have it all wrong, so YOU ask Jim about how it works. But what are we in for around here? Jim’s next window of quake possibility is March 28 through April 5, when a major shaker will occur around the Pacific Ring of Fire. Look for early changes in the volume of water geysers, changes in whale behavior, mice out in broad daylight, and confused homing pigeons.

Sonoma’s Dyann Espinosa alerts us to Glen Ellen Hidden Treasure, the fun and congenial Ginny Westcott. Ginny runs Westcott Design and was recently featured in an article in Wine and Jazz, and is currently on the magazine’s website, www.wineandjazz.com. Ginny, mother of happy Hayley Westcott at Summerfield Waldorf in Sebastopol, and the handsome Trey Westcott at Montgomery High School, is a lively local artist whose graphic design company creates wine labels like Howlin’ Good Red, Naughty Girl Red, Risqué Riesling, Fault Line Red (where do people get these names?) She also produces packaging for toy companies like the Gum Kit, Disgusting Science Kits, Fizzy-Foamy Science, and Sci-Fi Slime Kits, and she even used the local Martin Street kids for models. Creativity abounds. You can see it for yourself at www.westcottdesign.com.

The Village Fair lives! Mary Ann Carr has gotten the ball rolling, so we are underway for our traditional October Fair, 2010. A quilt has been started and plans are afoot, so gird your loins. All comers welcome. MA can be reached at 996-4614 to volunteer your boundless energy.

Scott, the Glen Ellen Village Market morning manager, let slip that there will be new lighting down the can aisles soon so you can actually read the labels. Now, how about a break room for the poor hard-working employees forced to eat their lunch outside with the public from whom they need a break in the first place...

Getting to know the locals

Your pooch knows these people well! Local vet Bob Wagner, and his effervescent wife Pam Wagner own and operate the local Glen Ellen Veterinary Hospital, a long-time Glen Ellen establishment. This pet infirmary is based in the wonderful old Meglan house on Arnold at the curve past the bridge. Dr. Bob and Pam have supported families and their small animal kin for years.

Bob is a San Francisco boy originally, and after Riordan High School…and some noisy concerts at the Fillmore and Avalon Ballrooms rendering him partially deaf...he went off to study Bacteriology at Sonoma State. He followed that with a graduate degree in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Saskatchewan, and later an internship in Kelowna, B.C., where he met the warm and vibrant Pam. Around 1983, Bob-and-Pam moved to Glen Ellen where Bob’s parents had lived, and now occupy the house his parents lived in by the creek on O’Donnell Lane, just two blocks from their curing-small-animals business.

When not vaccinating and rehabilitating our Fido and Kitty-poo, they perform various and sundry surgeries, like removing rocks, diamond earrings, or underwear from doggie innards. From one tiny Chihuahua that you could hold in your two cupped hands, they removed 32 cents in corroded coins. Ouch.

These are not idle people. Bob is a first-class golfer with a single-digit handicap, spending most weekends with golf buddies at the Oakmont links. And…get this…he’s a drag racer. He owns a bright blue 65 Nova and a Datsun 240Z that he races at Infineon Raceway. Multiple trophies attest to his speed and acceleration abilities.



Dr. Bob and Pam Wagner

Pam’s interests run to horses, horses, horses. She is the proud owner of San Diego, a German Hannovarian, boarded in Petaluma, that she shows Prix St. George and constantly tries to improve her skills in the art of dressage.

Inseparable, they come as a pair, and PamandBobtheVet are stalwart Glen Ellenites. We thank them. Our poochies thank them.

Your Faithful Correspondent

Items, corrections, and comments are encouraged to bj@mabco.com.