President Robert Olmstead III is on vacation… again!  Past President Timothy Cahill I(the first and probably last), was asked to fill in while President Olmstead III takes time to refresh himself prior to the start of the relentlessly busy election season. PP Cahill I noted that Rob has been President for a month and has demonstrated extraordinary ability to delegate, as he has attended 50% of his meetings.  Tim finally rang the opening club bell at 12:04 even though he started the meeting at 12:02 and welcomed everyone to the Best Damn Rotary Club in the Arden Arcade.”  He asked Les Gudger to lead the pledge and PP Cahill I provided the invocation.  PP Cahill I included  in the invocation safe passage for Michael Caplan as he sails his way back to the mainland and ask God to “encourage Michael to share his sailing experience with us upon his return.”  This is akin to asking God to allow the sun to rise in the morning and set in the evening.

 

Past President Patrick O’Neil introduced his longtime friend, Tremaine.  PP Cahill I asked Tremaine how long he had been friends with Patrick. “ 21 + years” was his response.  PP Cahill I asked a follow-up question… “Why?”  He then quickly told Tremaine he didn’t have to answer that.

 

 

This Day in History – PP Cahill I reported that nothing special happened.

 

District Governor, Karen Cendro, will be visiting our guest speaker informing the club about this Rotary year’s events. 

 

Duane Oliveira interrupted PP Cahill I, to correct him on his assertion that nothing of great importance happened on This Day in History.  He pointed out that Tim’s inadvertent error in reporting the date of Karen Cendro’s visit as August 9^th, rather than the correct date of August 16^th was, in fact, notable.  This implies that mistakes made by PP Cahill I are extremely rare events… Really Duane?  Weren’t you here during Tim’s term as President?

 

Rotary Pin fines of $1 were imposed on a all members not wearing their pins.  This caught at least half of the club off guard and was a great reminder for everyone to wear their pins, not only on lunch days but always, taking them off only to go to bed.  However, wearing them on your pajamas will get you extra credit.  Pictures of you wearing your pin in your pajamas will be proudly displayed in our newsletters.  Secret word is “Pajamas.”

 

Now that we have your attention… Bill Hambrick is helping coordinate the Great American River Clean-up service-day event scheduled for September 17^th from 9:00 am to noon.  We will be meeting at 8:45 at the Northgate entrance off of the Garden Highway.  This is a tough section of the river and is an adult only event as the environment is not kid friendly.  Participants are encouraged to wear good boots, gloves and tedlar pants and shirts.  This is a great opportunity for our club members to get involved.  The more volunteers we have the better.   Plans are in the works for a lunch and beverage of your choice right afterwards.  A signup sheet will be passed around next week.

 

Our club has purchased a table at the event and would like to know who would like to attend.  Let PP Cahill I know.

 

Past President Patrick O’Neil will finally be demoted on, August 20^th.  This also happens to be held on his birthday.  Demotion is the gift you give when you can’t think of anything else to give to the person that has everything.  The demotion party will be held at PP Cahill I’s house.  A signup sheet and address will be provided next week.  Please come prepared to express your thanks and appreciation as is normally appropriate for Demotions.

 

Bruce Stimson rang the bell as an expression of his sincere thanks for the wonderful house selling experience that Bill Hambrick, John Beyers (and one other name that was not audible) provided.  They showed the home on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and had an offer on Saturday morning.  They signed the sale on Sunday afternoon. 

 

Bill Hambrick rang the bell, Bill Hambrick rang the bell, (A double Bell Ringer).

BR#1 Bill expressed his happiness for his recent vacation trip and for his marriage surviving spending 22 days in in a 200 sq. ft. trailer and for being able to come home to a considerably larger house. They went to five states and visited five national parks and saw their grandkids. 

 

BR#2 Bill shared a side adventure he had while on this same trip.  He had a chance to visit a site he had heard about in his childhood, Sand Mountain.  It was a side trip off of Highway 50 that lead to, presumably, based upon the name, a mountain of sand.  To Bill’s surprise, once he got close to his destination the road became very sandy and the driving of the vehicle started to become squirrely.  Bill, being a wise and savvy driver, realized that he was no longer on a paved road and should most likely turn around before something bad happened.  Unfortunately, that very good thought was about 100 feet too short in coming, and his vehicle, with the 200 sq. ft. trailer attached, became mired in Sand Mountain.  As this was a no-camping site location, Bill knew he had to extricate his truck and trailer from Sand Mountain.  Fortunately, for Bill, a local native was passing by in a big truck.  Bill sent Lee with instructions to throw her body out in front of the passing truck if necessary, to keep it from leaving them alone in the desert, miles from civilization on a side road… to become the subject of a missing person’s report on the 11 o’clock news.  Not only was Lee able to keep the truck from passing them by but she was able to convince the driver, Travis, to pull them out of the sand.  Bill thanked Travis and attempted to provide him with a monetary form of appreciation but Travis declined the offer and chalked it up to it being his good deed for the day.  It was at this point Bill knew that Travis had been a Boy Scout sent by God on a mission of mercy and deliverance.  Bill then proceeded to tell Travis about Rotary and encouraged him to find the nearest Rotary Club and become a member. 

 

If that wasn’t fortunate enough, Bill experienced another vacation surprise as one of the caps on his teeth became dislodged causing Bill great consternation.  Fortunately, he was able to find a solution to the problem with a couple of phone calls and help from some very kind dentists.  Then on his way home a couple of weeks later, with California almost in sight, his trailer brakes start demonstrating a disturbing lack of function.  Bill, being a wise and savvy and driver, knew that this could be problematic and took the trailer to the only mechanic in town at Rick Perry’s Automotive and Barber Shop.  The mechanic was able to help band-aid the brake system together with bailing wire and duct tape, allowing Bill to make it all the way back home. 

 

Bill is very thankful for all of the kind, helpful members of humanity that went out of their way to ensure that he was able to make it home.  Also, Bill now has his 200 sq. ft. trailer up for sale.  Contact Bill for more information.  Bill rang the bell twice and was rewarded one ticket for each whack of the bell.

 

PP Tim Cahill I rang the bell because it is his birthday. He spun the wheel and the wheel didn’t care that it was his birthday and gave him no tickets.

 

Greg Cotta offer up $10 as he was very happy that he was able to hire a manager for his shop.  Even better news is she could start earlier than originally planned.

Off-site Lunch, August 30^th.  Greg spun the wheel and received 2 tickets.  He also reminded everyone about the off-site lunch meeting at his shop on August 30^th and passed around a sheet with lunch options.

 

PP Cahill I asked if anyone had a joke.  Linda Biggler offered to tell a joke. She ended up telling two jokes but the first one didn’t count because no one got the punch line.  Joke #2 This food truck drives up to a CalTrans work site and honks it horn.  Two CalTrans workers start to approach the truck when one of them sees a snail and hauls of and kicks the snail, sending it across the road only to be run over by a car.  The other CalTrans worker asked the snail-kicker what his problem was.  The snail-kicker replied “that snail has been following me around all day.”

 

Bruce Stimson was not sure the secret word was a real word but knew it to be Roastery (as in the place where coffee beans are roasted.)  For this he was given a ticket.

 

Christine Jensen noted that John Gabriel wanted to emphasize golf tournament signups and sponsorships.  You are encouraged to buy your foursome tickets very soon as this tournament will sell out.  The Rotary Charities Open website is https://birdease.com/RotaryCharitiesOpen  You can use this web address, to sign up to golf and/or be a sponsor.  The event will be held at Sierra View Country Club on September 19^th.     

 

Christine also noted that she is now on the Foundation Board and is the point person for the American River College Scholarships that we are funding.  She received thank you letters from each of the grant recipients this year and she passed them around.   The scholarship fund is now $7,000.  Please contact Christine if you have any questions on these scholarships.     

 

PP Cahill introduced Tracy Baker an environmental lawyer with Miller, Axline and Sawyer.  According to Tim she works for a very respected law firm.  Tracy is addressing the meeting via Zoom and the connection for some reason was not optimum.  This created a variety of challenges, most of which were overcome. 

Once the major technical challenge of not hearing her was overcome, Tracy started her presentation on ground water safety.  An issue that potentially effects every person in the room.  Here are a few of the major points made during her presentation:

 

PP Cahill I thanked Tracy Baker for a very informative presentation.

 

PP Cahill I read off the ticket number and Bill Hambrick was the lucky ticket holder.  Bill drew the 4 of clubs.  At least came away with a Rotary hat for his efforts.

 

PP Cahill I rang the club bell closing the meeting at 1:03 p.m.

 

Respectfully (more or less) submitted by,

 

Mike Grace