The Beachcomber February 2015 Official Newsletter of The PROBUS Club of Wasaga Beach, P.O.B. 481, Wasaga Beach, Ontario, Canada, L9Z 1A5 International Web Site: www.probus.org Our next General Meeting will be on Thursday, February 12, 10:00 a.m. At the Wasaga Stars Arena Our Speaker and Topic: National Web Site: www.probus.org/canada.htm Connie Campbell Newsletter Website: http://www.probus.org/15wasaga.htm The Move Planners President John Flood 429-4935 Vice President TBA Secretary Vacant Past President Peter Willmott 422-1469 Arrive at 9:30 a.m. meet someone new and enjoy coffee with your friends Social Chair Russ Talbot 429-8714 Speakers Co-Chairs George Potopnyk 429-4948 Doug McCullough 429-7075 Membership Chair George Howie 429-9593 Treasurer Al Chambers 429-0265 Newsletter Editor Jim Desormeaux 289-314-3550 SOCIAL EVENTS Visitation Chair Lloyd Burton 352-8391 FEBRUARY To advise the Club of any illness or bereavement situation affecting a member, please contact Lloyd Burton at 705-352-8391 A man in love is not complete until he is married. Then he is finished. Zsa Zsa Gabor MARCH What: Where: When: Cost: TBA TBA TBA TBA What: Valentine’s Day Lunch Where: Goodie’s Café When: February 11th Cost: $15.00 per person Page 1 The President’s Corner Two Random Thoughts I have two short topics to talk about this month. The first is that February is the month of LOVE-Valentine’s Day, February 14. The older I get the more I realize how great it is to have a loving partner. Life is too short to navigate it alone. If you are interested in sailing and have read any of the reports on single handed sailing around the world, the interviews with the sailors are frightening. They have radio communication with their headquarters; as they battle the storms of the south Atlantic, the Antarctic and Pacific currents that wreak havoc around the Cape of Good Hope. Some of the sailors have disappeared, never to be heard of again, some wreckage has shown up months later. It is a journey that is the ultimate test of loneliness and selfreliance on one’s own ability. The second topic regards the relationship of the Stock Market and oil prices which rumours are predicting a big year! I’m not a savvy investor nor am I a wealthy one, but one bright lad tells me that the price of oil is going to drop (editor’s note: written in November) even more and that stock prices will also drop because investors are greedy and want a better return. I asked him ``does this mean that the public is going to stop buying oil? `` (actually I said gas), and he said “No, they are going to buy more and take longer trips and the airlines are going to have to drop the cost of flights and more people will be travelling by air and that means more oil will be needed to meet the demand”. Well, I asked, ``the oil companies will have to increase production to meet the demand which will mean higher sales of oil due to the volume. “That’s right`` I was told. ``Well why are investors unhappy at the lower price per barrel if they are going to sell more barrels? “Well that’s the problem with Global Warming``, he said, ``you just can’t deal with the markets in isolation, we’ll talk about that when I see you again, right now I have an appointment with my Broker”. Well, I said ``I have to go and fill up with gas, my tank is on empty``. LAST MONTH’S (January) MEETING AND OTHER BUSINESS Attendance End of November Bank Balance: $6580.35 Social Committee: $3045.29 Uncommitted Net Balance: $2839.39 Social Fund Reserve: $500 Current Membership:117 Life Members: 2 Attendance: 52 % of total membership:44 Members’ Guests: 0 (Refer also Page 3 for more current info) President John 3 members were badge less therefore they gleefully donated $3 to the Club’s treasury Winner of the 50:50 Draw was: Kurt Benzing Februarys Birthdays Rick Archdekin, Dave Hood, Donald Mallett, Karl Ogger, Roy Schoenberger, Gordon Thompson Many Happy Returns to all of you! Page 2 February GUEST SPEAKER: Connie Campbell Guest SPEAKERS Certified Relocation and Transition Specialists (CRTS) As Certified Relocation and Transition Specialists, Connie guides mature adults, going through middle and later life transitions, and their families through the physical and emotional upheaval of moving. Connie has experienced firsthand how traumatic it can be for anyone unsure of the process no matter what their age or situation. Furthermore, she understands the advanced difficulties that this poses for older clients in particular. Going through the selling, buying and moving routine is second nature to Connie as she works with it on a daily basis. However, she has discovered that the typical older adult client was often overwhelmed with everything that needed to be done. Services offered are:  In Home Consultation for Full Move Management Services  Space Planning to Ensure New Housing Needs are Met  Furniture Placement in New Home as well as Staging to Sell  House Clearing, Purging and De-Cluttering  Disposal of Unwanted Items  Sorting and Packing for Disbursement of Items  Packing for the Move to your New Residence  Handling all Aspects of Moving Day  Unpacking and New Home Setup  Preparing Your House to Sell HELP NEEDED We still are in need of members for the management team. We continue to need a secretary and as of last month we also need a Vice President to replace Russ White who has resigned because of the time he is out of the country. If you can help out please contact John Flood at 705 429 4935 or Peter Willmott 705 422 1469. March Mark Gobuty from Medical Mary Jane Medical Use of Marijuana April Laurie Thatcher-Craig from Clear Valley Hops May Al Sposato – The Drone Guy TREASURER’S REPORT At the December Management Meeting Treasurer Al Chambers reported the bank balance as of December 31 to be $4065.28 of which $1209.36 was committed to Social Committee activities, $500.00 is set aside as an emergency Social fund reserve, with an uncommitted net balance of $2159.92 This report is subject to approval by club members at the February 12, 2015, general meeting. - THE SOCIAL JUNCTION Arrangements have been made to hold the Valentine’s Day Lunch on Wednesday February 11th at Goodie’s Café. Tickets are $15 per person. Bring the spouse of course or come alone and remember only 30 tickets available for this outing. All tickets will be available at the next meeting MEMBER`S FOURM David Luxmore, President of the local Woodworkers’ Club provided an interesting review of the club’s history and activities. He started his presentation by giving a brief personal introduction. He was born in Timmins and is a graduate of the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering. During his career he has Page 3 worked with a number of organizations and spent his last 5 working years as an engineering consultant. The Woodworkers’ Club was formed in 1995 and held its first meetings at what is now the Castle Building Supplies building. It now has a small 500 square foot shop at cabin six at the Arena courtesy of the Town. The shop is available to members at any time subject to a buddy system as a safety and security measure. The club has been involved in a number of projects over the years including making picnic tables, building over 2000 birdfeeders with local kids, constructing the raised beds and signage for the community garden, building the library boxes for several locations in town and constructing the carriage for the Nancy Island cannon just to name a few. It also holds monthly meetings for its members and has an active social program for members and families. Social events include outings to points of interest, an annual Christmas Dinner, an AGM lunch and annual B.B.Q. Club dues are $60. Five of our members are currently members of the Woodworkers’ Club. OUT & ABOUT Jeremy Rhodes from Elephant Thoughts and our President John Flood prior to last month’s meeting. The side-splitting corner.………. No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple. 'Dreamt' is the only English word that ends in the letters 'mt'. (Are you doubting this?) Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing. The sentence: 'The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog' uses every letter of the alphabet. (Now, you KNOW you're going to try this out for accuracy, right?) The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes). (Yep, I knew you were going to 'do' this one.) There are only four words in the English language which end in 'dous': tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous. (You're not possibly still doubting any of this, are you ?) There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: 'abstemious' and 'facetious.' A 'jiffy' is an actual unit of time, 1/100th of a second. A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes. A snail can sleep for three years. (I know some people that could do this too!) Almonds are a member of the peach family. An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain. (I know some people like that also . Actually I know A LOT of people like this!) Babies are born without kneecaps They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age. Club event pictures are available on our website at www.probus.org/14wasaga.htm click on “Click here for Club photos” Please send articles of interest to newsletter editor at [email protected] Page 4