It was another beautiful day at Broadway Park where 13 Rotarians gathered, joined by Erika Lahti. After Wally Cole’s shirt with the U.S. flag imprinted upon it served as our focal point for the Pledge of Allegiance, Wally offered our invocation. We then heard a report from Duck Master Brian Tjaden on this year’s duck count. He graciously did not report the Club to the Humane Society for 16 ducks that made the ultimate sacrifice and were sent over the wall, nor the 49 critters that were made to race despite being hindered by the extra weight of being clothed as attorneys, store owners, policeman, fireman, etc. Discussion of a separate race for these imposters was put forth. Race sponsors also escaped censor for allowing many of the creatures to float beak-up. Video of the race, no doubt replayed in slow motion countless times by racing officials, also revealed that multiple ducks had lost their – well I’ll say it – ass plug, making them float _ _ _ backwards. Unbeknownst to some of us, professional racing ducks (to say nothing of being courteous) must race with their plugs. Accordingly, these ducks will be retired and will be used for promotional purposes only (it wasn’t indicated whether with or without diapers). All told, to avoid ruffling animal lovers’ feathers (thank you Keith), we probably need to replace 81 of this and past years’ contestants with new fowl and, to be on the safe side, we will order 200, making it easier for them to migrate as a group to our destination.
We then had a discussion of possible questions to put to club members for response, the idea being to include the questions/answers for a member in the Rounds and then have members guess what Rotarian provided the published answers. If you have an idea for a question to ask every club member, get them to Bob Russell.
In our brag and fine segment, Dan Johnson was in attendance and appreciated being recognized the prior week for 100% attendance; Keith Olson reported his rib was healing up and he has two grandchildren on the way, which will bring the total count to seven. Wally Cole reported Zach was on a hiking trip along the North Shore, so he and Marci had the honor of hosting their daughter and two granddaughters overnight, as well as their dog Cooper (the latter not enjoyed by their cat). Wally also reported his wife retired as of the prior Monday.
Erika Lahti told us a little bit about her family’s trip to Utah and Wyoming for 11 days, which included a visit to Devils Tower, going paddle boarding, digging for fossils and visiting the Great Salt Lake and Salt Lake City. They ate either at drive throughs or prepared their food while camping.
We then broke into committee meetings to discuss plans for this Rotary year.
