Can you believe our membership has already grown to over 72 with about half of us as family memberships. This is in just two months of existence which tells us the interest in water features is incredible. Now it is up to your acting officers (no bylaws yet, so we are just acting) to keep our organization and hobby interesting and fun. This is the easy part!! Water gardening is naturally interesting and it is important to keep it fun. We can get "bogged" down in the technical aspects of our hobby and lose sight of the fun parts. Our Association is determined to keep it enjoyable and for everybody to be involved, at least in some small way. Of course, just how you approach this in our organization is up to you, but please do so.
An idea that Janet and Gray Craven (our meeting site hosts from last month and this month) had to keep things fun was, LIZZY. So just what is Lizzy?? She (it is a female) is a ceramic like statue of a frog that is in a bikini and is very brightly colored. Something all of us would want to decorate our water gardens with. Okay -- maybe not all of us but at least a couple of us might. Okay -- maybe not even a couple of us. Anyway, Lizzy needs a ponderer to adopt her every so often so she can bask by the water. Just how do we find a suitable home for her? Well, since Lizzy's last name is Craven, their idea was to use Lizzy like an award for anything that one of our members does that is crazy, "dumb" or just plain fun. To this end, we are asking for nominations from our membership that will incriminate a fellow ponderer to receive Lizzy for at least a month's adoption (or until we find another suitable, adoptive ponderer). So, please bring your nominations to the meeting on March 12. This meeting will also be the unveiling of Lizzy for everybody to meet.
At last month's meeting we had an idea that many of us may have an interest in. We talked of the All-Iowa Water Garden Association membership. A ponderer could join all three water garden associations in the state for a very much reduced rate and receive the benefits of being a member of all three. This will allow you to attend the other group's programs whenever you want. It is possible that a bunch of us could car pool and travel to Waterloo or Cedar Rapids to see a program. A separate mailing from each of the other associations will not occur since you will already be able to read their news in our newsletter. We still need to get the final approval from the two groups yet but it looks promising. The proposal right now is to charge $10 in addition to our dues to become an All-Iowa member. This might be a good place to mention that, in October, the Northern Iowa group is sponsoring a person from Lily Pons to speak. This would be a great time to be thinking about a road trip.
I had hoped that we would have gone over a set of proposed bylaws at the last meeting. Well, we were having so much fun with Jackie and Chris that we didn't have time. So, at the upcoming meeting I will have a set of bylaws for us to discuss (briefly) and think about. We need to have something in place so we can become incorporated. This protects the officers and committee members from liability.
In an effort to attract more Des Moines area people to our Association, I have asked Doug Reich, one of our committee members from Des Moines, to assist me in setting up a separate meeting/program in Des Moines. We will spread the word among ponderers down there. Please help us in letting ponderers down there know about this opportunity. The meeting will take place on April 2 (Monday) at 7:00 PM at the ISU Polk County Extension Office which is on NE 14th St. (Hwy. 69) just 1/4 mile North of I35/I80. The Extension office address is 5201 NE 14th St. and is directly across the street from the Bavarian House. The program will be on Controlling Algae and Maintaining Clear Water and be given by me. I will be going over my six KEYS to clear water. This is a program I have put a lot of effort into and the information will be very helpful to ponderers. Oh yeah -- in addition to the Des Moines area ponderers, all of our members as well as All-Iowa Members (if we have any by then) are invited to attend.
THE BIG TOAD -- Jamie