Forgot to write down the celebrities handling the morning chores other than to say that Karmel highly recommends that Anthony accept a full time position as anthem starter but he didn't bite!. Guests this morning were Kari -our outbound and Yehel ,our new Swiss student.

Yehel was very touched by the warm welcome she received both at the airport and the BBQ. Didn't take long to jump into the life of an exchange student! She attended a Forge game and was surprised at the crazy fans! She also was surprised that they introduced the players and guests. The host Mom of the Finnish exchange student took her and Karmel's all grown up daughter Grace to the CNEl where she tried poutine for the first time but sticks to her belief that the best cheese is still Swiss cheese. Spent a little time working off the poutine on a bike that Nima graciously provided and is very happy to have wheels. While school hadn't started Yehel is very happy with the courses offered and is pleased with her choices.   Looking forward to lovely year with our new arrival!

El Presidente gave a quick update from the Board of Directors meeting. 

Please get the survey  to CB as soon as possible so that we can evaluate the responses.

The four Clubs were approached to lend our name to the Festival of Lights but as the other 3 clubs had no interest we decided to decline.

The Santa Claus parade is coming up  and we'll discuss if we want to participate. There is no float...it bit the dust a few years ago so we would be starting from scratch.

The Wellington Square Church is looking for help with their community dinners. more to follow.

October 4th is a 4 club meeting at the Holiday Inn featuring Wilf Wilkinson- Past RI President as the keynote speaker. Cost is 25.00 pp and starts at 5:30. More to come.

David thanked Jim Brindle for his role as the Breakfast program coordinator.  Not an easy job but well done as always with Jim.

Mike Molloy has stepped up to take over and will be looking for help at Tecumseh and Mohawk Gardens.

Karmel was subbing for Rod and nailed several folks for a variety of things including simply being a lawyer (Bob and Bruce) , being well turned out ( Randy Smallbone) being overly serious(Wayne) and Lawrence for  David's mistakes??? and shorts!

He picked up lot of dough on Happy dollars.  David for his daughter Olivia returning to the fold from Switzerland

Jamie for the help on the BBQ resulting in another fantastic night on the lake. l CB picked up four bottles of TAG left over from our golf tournament at 40.00 bucks off list. Happens to be Jim's favourite....gonna buy it anyway!

On to our guest speaker - our own Peter Thoem who yet again had an intriguing story about his adventures in Kenya in Feb of this year. 

In a nutshell Peter journeyed to Massai Mara to count animals with several other volunteers. I apologize Peter but I can't read my writing and I believe you were located in  a Conservance which is a political  district whose mandate is to  safeguard the wildlife and culture of the area while also considering the needs of large agriculture and small farmers. He was in an area that was developed by a farmer who had grown tired of farming and wanted to  give the land back to the animals. and help native Kenyans appreciate and respect animals and also support the needs of traditional cattle herders. They need to co-exist with  the realities of large scale agriculture .

There were several  different jobs to be done.

-Walking and driving transects.

-Camera trap maintenance

 -72 hour water hole watch

Transecting was approx. a 1-2 km walk while the driving was 4-5 kms. It builds a picture of the native wildlife population. Both consisted of 4 different routes 5 times a week.

Waterfall watch was 4 hour shifts recording species. time of watering and behavior. He saw 2 leopards which is very rare. Camera traps changed out the SD cards on the cameras and built a photo library.

Accommodation looked lovely and he never felt at risk as the Naivi Rangers kept them safe.

Peter is planning on going again and has invited  anyone interested to join him,

Peter's presentation included some great photos and for more go to Biosphere Expeditions.

Randy Smallbone thanked "Noah" Thoem and Albert closed the meeting with the 4 way test.

See y'all Thursday.

CB