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We had a huge turnout for Deb Spencer's presentation last month. There were over 125 people that attended the event at Reiman Gardens. The room holds 150 so we could have squeezed a few more in. There were wall-to-wall water gardeners there -- all were excited about Deb's very informative and well-illustrated presentation. We have had great reviews of her talk. Deb has set the standard for future guest speakers.
I was able to spend the afternoon and a couple of hours after her talk, with Deb. She is really a delightful person and a wealth of knowledge that she is anxious for everybody to know. We were able to present to her, a well-organized and friendly CIWGA. Most of the Directors were able to have dinner with Deb before her presentation. We ate at Hickory Park and all had a good time. I do not think I could have been more proud of our organization that evening.
Now, to plan for another well-known pond expert as a guest speaker for next year. We are open for suggestions so if you know of someone that you want to learn from, let your Director's know. I do have some ideas but we need to hear from our membership for yours.
Deb was very reasonable in her request of us as far as monetary compensation. She basically only asked for her expenses, which we would have paid for anyway. The Director's decided to make sure she had really nice accommodations for the evening and we wanted to make sure that we laid out the red carpet for her. We decided to rent the Hughes auditorium at Reiman for the best possible facility to hold her presentation. The facility was excellent except for how cold the auditorium was. When the room filled up some of the chill was gone but it was still cool. I might mention that we had an anonymous donation of $55 to help CIWGA in the expenses for the evening. This was very much appreciated.
We have set a precedent -- do you think we can do better next year?
On to the next subject -- I was talking with Gus Archeska, who lives at Bethany Manor, and he really likes the water garden that we installed. I found out that he is a member of our Association. Gus is a friend of my Mom's and when we were visiting him, he told me that he reads our newsletter from cover to cover. It is something that he looks forward to. Knowing this -- it really puts pressure on us to keep up the job of putting together a good newsletter -- right Gus!!
Gus mentioned that he wanted to donate a net for the Bethany Manor pond so that we can keep the leaves out. He said that it is amazing how many leaves get into their pond even though it is in a courtyard with no significant trees in it. Gus is concerned about the quality of the water and feels that a net would help. Thanks Gus!
To introduce the program presenter for our March meeting, I will do this with one of his worm limericks:
There once were some worms in a tank
That suddenly got very rank
Overfed with fish food
They became very rude
Refusing to swim, they just sank.
This is a Dr. Charlie Drewes limerick and it is just an introduction to the subject that he is going to be presenting to us on Monday, March 10. Charlie presented to us last year and was very well received -- very witty guy and is crazy about aquatic invertebrates. Charlie is going to be presenting a program on Maintaining a Healthy Environment in Our Ponds For Our Critters. He also will be talking about techniques of sampling small invertebrates in ponds. He has a very interesting gadget called a Portascope that he invented so that, with a small investment, you can actually see the critters that make up our Patina that I am always talking about. Charlie says "his Portascope is to a microscope what a portapotty is to a restroom". :-) This is classic Charlie!!
I asked Charlie to bring a few of the Portascopes so that we will have some on hand to those that want one. He will need $35 to cover the materials and labor that he has in making these really ingenious devices. You can check one out on his web site. That is www.zool.iastate.edu/~c_drewes/portascope.htm. I bought one and am very impressed with the design, as well as the simplicity of it.
The meeting will be at the Alliant facility and start promptly at 7:00 PM with Dr. Drewes presentation. Our business meeting will follow. I would like the Director's to meet at 6:00 immediately before our 7:00 meeting start.
See everybody there.
The Big Toad, Jamie