Meeting Notes - February 18, 2019

Our 50th Wedding Anniversary Honorees

50th Wedding Anniversary:

We enjoyed a wonderful celebration yesterday for six couples:  Marion and Rich Brooks, Viola and Abe Fehr, Glenda and Dennis Grussing, Bonnie and Larry Houger, Donna and Ken Longworth, and Corky and Roger Wochnick. Congratulations to all of you. Thanks to all the volunteers who made this happen.

An Apology: 

First of all, I owe a number of people an apology. Many of you drove over to Riverside for the scheduled cruise but then missed the boat due to a mis-understanding about the time. I’m not sure how it got so mixed up. I would have called everyone on the list to apologize personally except I sent the list to Riverside to check that everyone had arrived and boarded so I didn’t know who to call. I also don’t know that everyone who missed the cruise is at this meeting. Suffice it to say I am sorry it happened and I promise to do better on future trips. I am in the process of scheduling this trip again and I hope you will try again.

TRIPS:

Vipers Game: On March 6th we have another Vipers Game bus trip. We really enjoyed the last trip and know it will be even better this time because you won’t have to leave as early. They had us leaving early because they weren’t sure how the kitchen would do getting the food out to all of us but it went really well so you won’t have to leave as early as we did although she has not given me the time yet. For those of you going on the Vipers trip, if you could drop off a check in the Activities Office made out to Vipers Basketball, LLC. by Wednesday of next week, that would be helpful. For these kind of trips, it is a lot easier for us if you pay with a check.

Port of Brownsville: Then on March 13th there is an Osprey Port of Brownsville Trip. We will be collecting the money for that one next week. 

There are signup sheets and information at the back of the Hall for both trips and I promise that the information is accurate!

Directory Photos:

All this week Directory photos will be taken in the Outback from 9 AM until 4 PM. All of the times for this week are full unless we get a cancellation. Final Directory Photos will be taken on Monday the 25th. If you have not yet signed up to get your picture taken, please stop in the Activities Office as soon as you can. Monday the 25th is filling up and we really would love it if all of you could be in the Directory.

Speaking of pictures, Lee and I went out on Saturday to get some materials and he made a nice back drop for taking pictures. We used it on Sunday for taking pictures of those people who were celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary.

We’ve had a couple of requests from activity groups to have their group picture in the new Directory. Our new backdrop will be great for some group pictures - maybe not Bocce or Shuffleboard but a lot of smaller groups. So, if you are a leader of an activity and want a group picture taken, please contact me and we’ll set something up. We can do Bocce and Shuffleboard outside – just let me know when you want to do it. 

Encore Games:

Big Time Congratulations are in order for Linda Beaupain and Bernice Kellet who won the Gold Medals in the Encore Bridge Tournament on February 11th while we were in our last Monday Morning Meeting. Linda and Bernice, if you are here today, please stand up and let’s give them a big hand.

Then on February 15th, both our Mens’ and Womens’ Dart Teams won the Gold in the Encore Dart Tournament Finals!  Randy Lewis, Tony Kehler, Liz Handy and Luella McPherson, if you are here this morning, please stand up. Let’s give them a big round of applause. 

If I’ve missed any of you that have received a medal and I didn’t announce you at a meeting, please see me in the office so I can remedy the situation next week.

The last of the finals will be Bocce on Thursday, and we wish our participants the best.

While we are talking about the Encore Games, I would like to have everyone who participated in the Encore Games attend the meeting next Monday with their Encore Games t-shirts on. Even if we didn’t get into the top ranks this season, we certainly did our best to compete and we should all be proud of our participation. Plus, there is always next year!! 

Also, being the picture fanatic that I am, the group picture will be a great addition to our new directory. Please pass the word so everyone will show up.

Thank Yous:  

We had a lot of fun with the Beards ‘n Bras Show. I’d like to thank Danny Haller, Harold Zimmerman, Josh Bottomly, Tom Venderly and last, but not least, my husband, Lee. These guys were gutsy enough to take on the beauty queen roles and they really hammed it up well. Don’t you think? I’d also like to thank Bob Lukkes for operating our sound system and Tom’s Karaoke equipment. 

A big thank you also goes to Deb Girard and her kitchen crew for all their help with the wonderful dinner. And, last but certainly not least, Jeanette and Marlene were both very helpful in all kinds of ways.

Next, I want to thank the Residents’ Board for the $79 that was donated to the Activity Department from their 50/50 at the Valentine’s celebration. It will certainly help with the purchase of some nice Hall decorations. I’m sure, Connie Carlson, our Hall Decorator, will be more than happy to take the money off my hands and purchase something nice with your donation. 

Speaking of Connie, I’d also like to thank her for all her work painting and decorating in the Women’s Bath Room and also for decorating the hall for Valentine’s Day. Ladies, if you haven’t seen the Ladie’s bathroom recently, take a look. It looks soooo much better and the new flooring helps too. Let’s give her a hand folks!

OTHER INFORMATION:  

As many of you know, there is a bake sale table at our Craft sale each month for the Aurora House.  Last week the total donated from that table full of goodies was $582. That is wonderful news that was shared with us on Facebook.

If some of you are like me and really did not know exactly what the Aurora House does, I’d like to fill you in. The Aurora House is a licensed Special Care Facility that provides a resident with compassionate end of life care at no cost to the patient. Quality care is provided in a home-like atmosphere, with clean and comfortable, private rooms. Aurora House is available to residents who have been diagnosed as terminal and have a life expectancy of less than three months. It is definitely a charity worth supporting so keep making or buying desserts for them! If you want more information on the Aurora House, here is a link to their website: https://aurorahouse.org/about-us/

On February 26th, the All Park Chili Cookoff will be held here from 3 to 5 PM. Marlene will be selling tickets at the back of the Hall after the meeting. The tickets are $2 each. These are tickets that were returned from another park. We have sold all of our tickets. If you can’t get some today, another park will be sending me the ones they did not use shortly so we will have more.

I received a message from Sharon Newcomer on Friday. She is sponsoring a Red Hat Cruise to Honduras, Puerto Costa Mayo and Cozumel with Go With Jo. If you are interested, you can check out the pages that she gave me which are posted on the Activity Board by the Coffee Pots.

THIS WEEK AT SOUTHERN COMFORT:

Today from 3:30 to 5:30 PM there is a South Dakota North Dakota Potluck at Lot 303. 

On February 19th at 10 AM, the Border Patrol will be here in the Hall to do a presentation. The presentation will be followed by 1/2 hour of questions and answers. This is your opportunity to find out what is happening from people who are on the front lines so take advantage of that. In fact, the reason I could not reach them before was that during the shutdown, they were reassigned to help out at the border so they may have some interesting tales for us.

February 20th, Wednesday, the Ladies Luncheon and Style Show is being held at Villa De Cortez and I’m sure someone will be talking more about this during the Announcements portion of this meeting.

Also on February 20th, Wednesday, there is a Dance with the Roger Kenaston Band at 7 PM. Tickets are $6 at the door. This is another excellent country band and I’ll be interested to see what you think of them. We hope to see you all there.

I am going to announce the next two items with the caveat that sometimes your Activity Department is not in total control of all the activities happening in the park and sometimes when we can’t put in our two cents worth, things happen that make life a bit more difficult. This is probably one of those times. 

On February 21st, Thursday - The annual Women’s Bridge Tournament will be held here in the Hall so it will basically be closed to anything else from 7AM to 5 PM. This tournament has ladies coming in from a lot of other parks and they do need quiet so they can concentrate on the game. This was booked last year and could not be changed at the last moment. So, please use the side door to get your mail. We will put up some signs to that effect. 

Also, on February 21st the Encore Games Finals for Bocce will be held which means that the Hall and the rest rooms in the Hall are off limits to the players and the audience for the games. Please remember to stay out of the Hall and use the shower rest rooms during this time as it would not be fair to cause interruptions during the Women’s Bridge Tournament.

February 22nd, Friday – There is a Friendly Shuffle

February 23rd, Saturday - Blood Drive in the Outback from 9 to Noon.

February 24th, Sunday - Wisconsin Potluck in the Outback starting at Noon.

Also on February 24th at 7 PM, Shake, Rattle & Roll will be here to entertain you. Tickets are $7 at the door. Please try to bring exact change. It would help us out tremendously. We are always needing $1 bills.

COMING UP SOON!

February 26th our Wellness Results will be available in the Outback at 1 PM.

Also, on the 26th, The All Park Chili Cookoff with MC Express will be held. Tickets are $2 and are available after the meeting today with Marlene and after that in the Activity Office.

February 28th, The Encore Tribute to Jimmy Buffet will be at Country Sunshine. Check with their Activity Office for ticket availability.

March 1st, We will be hosting the RGV Activity Directors’ Association Meeting here in our Hall from 11:30 to 1:30 PM so the Hall will be closed to other activities. Please use the side door to get your mail.

March 2nd, There will be a Bocce Ball Tournament and Dance with Stepehen May that I am sure you will get more information on from Ugo.

March 3rd, Entertainment with Greg Jones at 7 PM. Tickets are $7 at the door. Greg will be our last Entertainment for the season. 

It is hard to believe that the season is flying by. We didn’t accomplish everything we had hoped to this season but, with God’s grace, we’ll all be here to share the next one. And, I hope we have some wonderful weather for the rest of the season so all of our Winter Texans only remember the good weather and come running back at the first sign of frost!