Hello New Members, Welcome to our club...To some older members, where are you?

Mid October is an unlikely time for a re-bloomer to re-bloom, but I discovered Total Recall not only in bloom, but with five buds on the stalk.  I'm amazed; perhaps it was the inches of compost mulch we placed on the bed in September that warmed it up.  Gary suggested I move it to the south side of the house to encourage an earlier re-bloom next year.  Swede, wasn't all that impressed.  He reminded me that it came from his garden and the falls standards lacked substance; it's true,  they were almost translucent.  But it was fun to cut and bring an iris into the house in mid-October and watch it unfold.

We're getting ready to send out an updated membership list to everyone and we have gained some new members this year.  I'm hoping the new members will stay active and attend our meetings, if only for the fun and socialization we enjoy.  New members, we would like to have your birth date for the newsletter and also your e-mail if we don't have it.

But where are some of our old members who have not been seen for awhile?   Not old in age, but old in membership in the club. There are quite a few members I miss seeing at the meetings.  Come on back.  We enjoy you.

It's hard to believe another year has passed and it's time for officer nominations again.  Don't be afraid to volunteer for an officer position or a committee position, because it has been very rewarding for Pete and I to stay involved in our club activities.  Even though we have accepted the nomination to stay on the Board of Directors as officers for another year, we want and need your participation.  I have been secretary now since January 1999.  So 2006 will be my 8th year as secretary.  Swede was treasurer when we joined the club about ten years ago, so he has probably been treasurer for quite a few years before that.  Pete will be serving as president for a second year.  Plus we started doing the newsletter in December 2003 and Pete also began hosting our MIS website after Jerry Bowers retired from the position of newsletter editor.  Jerry had done the newsletter for some 7 years or so before us and Ronn Dunn did a great job maintaining humor in the newsletter before that.

Other people who have volunteered a lot of time and given extra effort to our organization in the past ten years include Billie, Swede and Zona who have carried out the renovation of the Fort Gardens almost single handedly for the past three years; before that the workers and caretakers of our gardens were Bob and Alverta, Honk and Carryl.  We appreciate the people who have given a little "extra" to our organization and when they finally turn the responsibility over to someone else, often it is with reluctance, but they have earned a well deserved rest.  Thank you to everyone who works so hard.
There is an added bonus to becoming involved in our club…..It keeps us coming to the meetings and staying involved with good friends.  Often there were times when we really did not feel like going out, or we wanted to do something else more; but we made a commitment to the club and so minor excuses do not count.  We go to the meetings and we are always rewarded with good company and interesting conversations.  There is an added bonus to attending the meetings:  we have more chances to win a presidential rhizome in the drawing at each meeting.  It figures, when there are 11 presidential rhizome drawings each year, and we have attended all 11 meetings, our odds are greatly enhanced to win a wonderful, new iris rhizome for our garden next summer.

See you at the meeting.