THE LAMORINDAN 10-2-09

THE SERMON WAS NOT LONG

Even when he's brief, Ray Welles is profound. His pithy food for thought at this breakfast was the Meaning of Life: "Plant a tree in whose shade you don't expect to sit."

BUT THE BIRTHDAYS AND ANNIVERSARY LIST WAS.

Until this morning, most of the B&A reports were Confessions rather than official Gotchas. Maybe the B&A powers-that-be decided to tighten things up. In any case, there were all manner of happy people.

It seems the birthday of Gillett Johnson's infinitely better half Tamra was spent outdoors with friends.

Ron and Sara Brown's anniversary was spent at two fancy cafes and a show. But more interestingly, not to say frighteningly, it seems a valuable binder of Ron's managed to fall off the top of his car, apparently having lousy balance. Maybe this was a blessing in disguise, for it unearthed the secret stalker David Waal, who was following Ron, rescued the missing item, and turned it over to King John, who carefully planned the most embarrassing moment to present it to Ron. Talk about Gotchas!

Maybe there's a full moon at a certain time of year, but somehow Uncle Paul Bettelheim and Nephew Dan Garfin were born on the same date (not day). Digging himself deeper, Paul allowed as how Bryn's birthday was 9/17 (she caught a fish, almost as big as his), their first anniversary was 8/10, and that he'd kick in $100 for the Club and $100 for the Endowment. As always, generous ... and a tough act to follow.

Buddy waxed poetic about how he and Holly also had an anniversary and checked out Crater Lake. That's in Oregon, we're told.

Kathy Edwards had a birthday. Mike didn't start out in stellar fashion, saying she could have any hot dog she wanted, and no limit on condiments. But they then took a streetcar to see the musical "Wicked," and did some wining and dining (wine doubtless inferior to what Mike ferments at home.)

Cal Lee did a little higher mathematics in computing his and A-Sue's 42nd. But they are mere tyros compared to .....

John and Mary Lou Fazel, who celebrated #47. Dinner was right over there in the next room (meaning Postino), and they then roused the streets of Orinda with a coterie of club members. The man took forever to consent to being president (22 years, to be exact), but he surely has the bug now. Somehow he worked in the question that if a man is in a room by himself, is he still wrong? Metaphysical musings from a native of IOWA?

And maybe upstaging even the Fazels, this wasn't an anniversary yet, but the anticipation of many. Chuck Kenney shyly announced his engagement to one Penny Arnold of Atlanta, where he's been hanging out more than a little lately. Ms. Arnold, according to Chuck, holds a doctorate in psychology; Lord knows she'll need it. They met in Guatemala a year ago when her daughter [name?] led our group.

OTHER GOINGS-ON

The Prez happily announced that there was an InterAct meeting working out recruitment. He and Mark Roberts and Don Reichert were there, But more importantly, a recruiting technique of posting signs all over campus promising free food was used, and over 50 Acalanes students showed up for the initial meeting. So it looks like the McCowan Tradition carries on. Hooray!

John also advertised the need for traffic controllers (now that some have had the practice) at the big Walk at the Rush Ranch on Saturday, October 10 from 9:30 am to 3:30 pm .

Alex Arnold can herd these cats. He needed seven bodies right now for the annual Westival, October 10, 3:00 to 7:00, at Lafayette Elementary. He got 'em.

Per tradition, Brad Davis will wield the pumpkin-carving knife at the Garden Park Apartments on October 29 at 5:30 (that's p.m.). There'll be a couple of dozen basketball-sized pumpkins, and they're growing pumpkins at Garden Park. Needed: five or six of us plus our kids (important!).

Thanks to Steve Ware for the latest, and glorious, TGITLFOTM. It was a scene of Paul Fillinger peddling Lafayette Reservoir calendars, and he was still doing so this morning. No shame. You get to pad the coffers of the Lafayette Chamber and have priceless P.F. photos all at once. They're all copyrighted, so don't get any ideas.

PARTY ANIMAL, OR ANIMAL PARTY?

Dave Stegman, one of the pillars of Danville, has a veritable passel of community affiliations and honors, both human and animal. You name it, he's done it. (Well, he's with Kiwanis rather than Rotary, but nobody's perfect.)

In fact, his profile is such that Tony LaRussa gave him a call about being the executive director of ARF, which may be more important to Tony than the Cardinals. (For those who don't follow baseball, that's the St. Louis Cardinals.) Dave was selected not because of his animal acumen, but because he had the business savvy and contacts. So ARF sort of grew from a modest animal house to a 37,700 sf palace at Ygnacio Valley and Oak Grove in Walnut Creek. Dave delineated ARF's program as follows:

1.   The animal welfare business, in tandem with County Animal Control. Every county is required to have a shelter and to provide law enforcement and housing animals. Fifteen or so years ago, 60,000 animals were euthanized (i.e., "put down"). With more enlightened approaches, that figure declined to 5,000 last year. The objectives are increased adoptions, reduced euthanasia, and prevention of over-breeding scientifically (which UC Davis is working on).

2.   The human-animal bond. For this, ARF is teaming with our friends at the Food Bank, which has 18 sites and once-a-month delivery. ARF will do a Pet Food Line. There's also pet therapy in Pleasanton, where kids read stories to dogs (no joke). Turns out this is a really important teaching tool for the kids. Generally, there's a big demographic shift whereby seniors are kept in homes longer. The important things here are food and visitation, but companion animals are also helpful to lots of people. And there are autism programs where teenagers have animals tethered to their wheelchair or bed. Doing so has a calming effect.

3.   Hospice. They go to homes for about the last 4 weeks of life and tell patients who are close to their pets that the animal will get lifetime care - and that promise is then fulfilled, although sometimes Dave has had to get creative in doing so.

In this bummer economy, people are letting animals go. As a State budget measure, the Hayden Bill, which required animals to be sheltered for six days rather than three to try to find a home, was suspended for two years. So for the time being at least, we're back to three days (72 hours, which sounds longer) before euthanasia.

Miscellaneous observations from Dave:

A system is being widely adopted to enable a lost animal's owner to be found right away. Tracking micro-chips have been implanted in animals for some time, but, alas, not all wands matched the chips. Now, they've come up with a universal wand, which works with all chips.

In doing a bad thing, pro football QB Michael Vick did a good thing. He did? Yes, by raising our level of consciousness - and caring -- about animals.

Americans spend more on animals than on kids (children, not goats).

The program was excellent and useful, but sort of dissolved at the end. Paul Bettelheim and his over-the-top veterinary fees were an easy target. Then John tried to explain to Dave about the LN-4 hand, and someone muttered, "bend over." Hey, we're not that kind of club, are we? Don't answer.

VISITING ROTARIANS

David Dickson, Half Moon Bay and erstwhile LSRer
Waite Stephenson, Moraga

GUESTS

Robbie Kunkel
Caroline Kunkel (raffle winner)
Marla Dickson
Dave Stegman, guest speaker
Mary Lou Fazel
Katie Rose Ware

CALENDAR

Friday, October 9 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Gus Kramer, County Assessor

Saturday, October 10 - Walk with Rock...Rush Ranch, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Saturday, October 10 - Westival at Lafayette Elementary, 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 13 - Board Meeting 7:00 a.m.

Friday, October 16 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Sheriff Warren Rupf. No illegal activities today please.

Friday, October 23 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Fraud in Medicare?? - No Way. Steve Lack, U.S. Dept Health & Human Services with startling cases exposed.

Friday, November 6 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Global Heating program.

Friday, November 13 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. Mr. EBMUD, John Coleman

Friday, November 20 - Weekly meeting at Postino 7:00 a.m. John Chiang, State Controller

Thanksgiving weekend, November 28, DARK! Happy Holiday