Fast Forward!

Well, it seems like a blur since I last posted on September 3rd. Another month and a half of Rotary Club visits, and Rotary Seminars and Rotary leadership meetings and functions. All of this and a few bumps in the road to punctuate the wonderful (and I really mean it) life of a District Governor.

On Monday we will visit our 40th club! It is the Rotary Club of Reno, the largest and oldest club in our District (no pressure!). Then that evening we will attend the first of about 10 Area Foundation Dinners that will celebrate The Rotary Foundation. The dinner is in Quincy, and should be very enjoyable.

So, thought a few highlights of the last month and a half would be good (Rotary and not).

My "project that never ends"...painting the barn continued during spare moments and days this summer. I got the eves on the east side prepped and primed in early August, while Maggie worked on preparing a portion of the fence for painting. All sorts of things held up this project. I had an old airless sprayer that I had gotten but never used. In going through it to get it ready to use (I was way over confident) I found several parts deteriorated and rotted away inside the mechanism. I made orders over the internet, and after several delays due to shipping errors, I spent an entire day overhauling the unit. Then, the moment of truth....it didn't work!

My painting uniform

I used my neighbor's lift on the west side eves. So much
better than the ladder method I used on the east side!

Plan B: went to Home Depot and bought a new sprayer! Then after a week or two of conflicts, went to put it together and go to work. Oops! A couple of key parts were missing! So, it was another week or two before I had exchanged the unit, and got the chance to fire it up. It worked great and I finished painting Maggie's fence and the eastern barn eves! Another several days (weeks) of Rotary conflicts, and I managed to prep, prime and paint the eves on the west side of the barn. Finally, we had our first frost and painting season is over. I will get the red painted next year!

Putting the finishing touches on the fascia board. The horse
was good company. He kept nibbling on my legs and
sniffing my feet!

Beau and Emily Barkley had a baby shower for their expected baby boy. It was very fun, lots of young families there. It brought back many great memories. I won a prize for a sculpture of the coming baby. It was  an infants figure, laying on its stomach, naked, and anatomically correct (for a boy that is!). It got lots of laughs. Beau and Emily are being pretty close to the vest on names. Sooooo, I think that if they name the boy Fenn (it would be the fourth generation with that name: Great Grandpa, Grandpa, and Daddy) they ought to call him "Biff"! Don't you think it goes well? Buck, Beau, and Biff Barkley!! I "yike" it!!

The anatomically correct sculpture of little "Biff"!
As you can see a real boy!!

Sweet Mother Em opening her presents.

Cousin Christie made this very cute fruit salad!

Emily and Christie. Doesn't Em look cute with a baby bulge?!

 We hit our highest Rotary mileage couple of weeks yet in late September. Up to Alturas were we visited three clubs and stayed in a beautifully restored hotel. Then home and then next week down to Tonopah where we stayed in another beautifully restored hotel. Had a blow out on the way there, and had to ride the last hour and 45 minutes on the spare. Bought a new tire the next morning in Tonopah, and had an excellent club meeting.

We stayed in the "Western Room" at the Niles Hotel in
Alturas. It was beautifully done.

Western bathroom and shower at the Niles Hotel. It is
being restored by an Alturas Rotarian.

Changing the tire in Hawthorne Nevada. Needless to say
we were late for the meeting in Tonopah!

The sitting area in the lobby of the beautifully restored
Mizpah Hotel in  Tonopah!

Our hotel on Mainstreet Tonopah.

Then it was over the hill to Bishop and Mammoth Lakes. Finally, we made it home late Sunday afternoon. Total mileage for the two weeks was over 1,000! It was lots of fun though. We camped out in Bishop that weekend at a Rotary weekend event. I won the pistol shooting contest, and Kim took a trek to Manzanar, the WWII era relocation camp for Japanese Americans that is near by. It was a fun weekend.

Our range master has just set up the diabolical "Texas Star"
target for us. Five targets at the tips of the arms come off when
hit. This puts the wheel into motion through imbalance after
the first hit. On my last try, I hit 5 for 5 with my 45 ACP! 

Monument to the Japanese Americans so unjustly treated
 at the internment camp Manzanar.

Me and PDG Larry from Lancaster at a dinner
during the Sierra Safari

The long hours in the car and truck took their toll however, and my back started to go into major lockup and spasm on Monday night before leaving to Auburn to visit the three Rotary clubs there. It got so bad that in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in desperation I took 15 mg of prednisone to calm it down. It worked! The meeting at lunch that day was fine, but afterwards, my back started going again, and by one hour before my next meeting I was unable to stand or walk normally and in great pain. I was heading out from the motel room to the meeting (a board meeting luckily) and grabbed another two 5 mg prednisone pills. Kim saw me, and checked the bottle. She told me I had taken two 10 mg pills! I examined the label, and realized that I had just mistakenly taken 20 mg of powerful sleeping pills. Well, to make a long story short, we got to the board meeting, and the Club President escorted us in. I was walking like Igor by now my back was so far gone. I took a seat at the table, and.......went to sleep! Kim tried to rouse me, but I could not maintain consciousness! The Club President decided that it would be best if the rest of the board din't see me in my catatonic state. So, he and Kim somehow loaded me into the car. The next thing I knew, I was waking up in my motel room. I had slept for about 13 hours!! The rest of the week was uneventful, with two more great visits to very strong and active Rotary clubs!!

This last week was a little bit of a respite. Just two clubs, with only two clubs next week! YES!!

Well, that's about all I have for now. Hopefully I will be able to post again soon (but I doubt it). Maybe over Thanksgiving, I get a whole week off then!!

That's All!