Another setback

Well just when I thought the vehicle situation couldn’t get worse, it did.now I have three down for repairs. The problem is that my main car, they can’t find the problem though I’ve taken it multiple places. I’m taking two cars in come Monday to try to get them fixed, hopefully fairly quickly. Getting another car right now isn’t a financially good option.

Miami Valley York Rite College

This was our yearly new petition night and ritual practice. It was also my first meeting to preside in this group. I thought the meeting went well and so did the practice afterwards. Next month will be out yearly initiation and next April will be our election and installation of new officers. Things move fast when you only gather for three meetings a year.

Khana Shahar Grotto

Tonight I visited the Grotto in Springfield. In addition to just going for a social visit, I was able to get a lot of Masonic business accomplished at the meeting. It is good when I can gets more than one thing accomplished with a single visit. The meeting was actually a fun time on top of everything.

Caliph Grotto Meeting

Tonight I went up past Cleveland to Willoughby for the stated Grotto meeting of out Grand Chapter Grand Secretary. They brought in a new member and had a few visitors. In addition, after the meeting I discussed some Grand Chapter business before heading back home.

Scottish Rite White Hat Presentation

Five members of the Valley of Dayton received their White Hats in a public presentation attended by several hundred persons. Scott Sowders, Steve Taylor, Keith Newton, Scott Lipps and Tom Routsong were all honored today. It was a nice event with refreshments afterwards and fellowship to congratulate the recipients.

Irish Council Meeting

Today was our annual meeting where we brought in several new members and installed new officers. I had small parts in two of the three degrees. The Knight Masons USA is an invitational only organization.it was proceeded by a very good dinner.

HRAKTP meeting

Today I was at the meeting which they held at the Ohio Masonic Home today. This group is only open to select Past Commanders as there are only about 100 slots in all Ohio. They did bring on one new member today and elected new officers. Many of the PHA members from their Tabernacle also attended today.

Prosser Chapter #367 OES

Well tonight Pam and I received our 25 year pins at Prosser Chapter. We originally joined at WA Reiter in Miamisburg.and when they merged with Prosser in 1999, became members there. I originally joined to drive my grandmother to meetings as she was getting too old to drive. She is still alive and a member of OES at 98 years old but for about the past 15 years has been in a nursing home. The funniest part is we never drove her to a meeting as she insisted on driving so we just attended with her and walked her to her car and followed her home until WAReiter merges with Middletown when she decided it was too far for her to go.

Grand Chapter Kentucky

Well my day started at 5 am getting up and heading to Lexington Kentucky for their Grand Chapter session.We were well represented by Our Grand Marshall, Grand Rep to Kentucky, Don Losasso and our GHP Ross Black. They kept things moving along and their session was over by noon so I could head back up for another meeting tonight in Ohio.

.

Ormus Grotto Stated Meeting

Tonight was the Stated Meeting for my Grotto. We had a small turnout but got lots accomplished. For a 30 member Grotto, at this point we have 16-18 attending a social outing we have planned for October 4th. It was also nice that after a long day, the meeting was over fairly quickly tonight.

Teheran Grotto Meeting

I went to Newark to visit Teheran Grotto this evening. They had around 15 in attendance. The nice part was many were not Past Monarchs. They have food and drinks at every meeting, They also have an attendance giveaway at the meeting. The meeting covered all the essentials and I was able to get back on the road to head home by 9 PM. That is good since I'm heading to the Grand Chapter of Kentucky in the morning.

Hi-12 Meeting

At lunch, I went to my Hi-12 club in Dayton and we had a very good turnout for a very interesting program. The program was part 2 on those from the Dayton area who were former sports hero's and have since passed away.  We also heard about the first NFL team and who was known as the first Commissioner who was from Dayton.

Cabiri Dinner Meeting

Tonight I went to the Past Potentates dinner meeting before leaving for a Community Foundation Meeting where I am a Trustee. We had a fairly good turnout of those who were able to come. We got some updates about some with health problems and also took care of a couple pieces of business.

Greeters Picnic

Today was the Shrine Greeters Picnic. It was good to see a couple of the old timers there along with two new members. It was a nice laid back afternoon after a hectic week with another planned for this week.

Lodge Fund Raiser

i helped out today with a fund raiser where we were parking cars for our Lodge at the Waynesville Ohio Renaissance Festival. I was able to sit a lot while doing the job which made it bearable. I was assigned in the handicapped parking area. I only had one real problem which was a lady with not handicapped stick or plate but insisted she should be able to park there as she “identified” as being handicapped. I luckily didn’t say what I wanted to say after that comment but just reminded her the area was meant for people  with proper ID and we needed every spot for those persons.

Event at Oberlin

Tonight I went to Oberlin Ohio (close to Lake Erie) for what I thought was just going to be El Rey Grotto meeting. It turned out to have some twists. First the Lodge had a meeting where a candidate gave back the new essay question Fellowcraft degree work. Next at the Grotto meeting they brought in a new member who just got his Mark Master Degree in Chapter on Monday night. Then on the way home I had  to drive through a bad rainstorm. So much for an evening without drama.

Grand Chapter Planning

Tonight I met with our Grand Scribe, Dan Smith, to discuss several things coming up for Grand Chapter in the upcoming year. We also discuss some things he wants to do in his year and what I can do to lay the ground work to make them happen during his year. We also discussed regular meetings between us every 2-3 weeks from this point forward (when we would be in the same location) for short half hour to45 mi Ute discussions. 

Unity Chapter

Today was the last Wednesday Stated Meeting for us at Unity Chapter as we voted to change the day to Tuesday and the month for one meeting. Our Grand High Priest, Ross Black, was also present and helped with the opening and closing. I’m proud of what my second Chapter has been able to accomplish since prior to changing our meetings to 4 times a year and during the day, all talk was on closing. We had about a dozen in attendance with a few “regular” attendees not able to make it today.

Sandusky York Rite

Tonight was the Chapter, Council and Commandery Stated meetings for Sandusky. Each opened and closed their own meeting just as required, they just meet on the same night to help those traveling some distance to get to the meetings to reduce their travel. They had enough to legally meet and were practicing their new parts as this was their first meeting after installation of new officers. I’m just glad it was a nice day for a drive and that I got there early enough to go look at the lake.

 

Greeters Meeting

Today was the Seniors Breakfast and the Greeters meeting at Antioch Shrine. As a member of the Greeters I was glad I was able to make the meeting. We covered several topics and the overall running of the meeting was done in a good manner. We were able to accomplish several things today. 

Checking Out Wineries NE Ohio

Today we finished off determining the final winery to visit next year. We visited 4 today (after a trip visiting 3 others earlier this year) We had a great time and finished up the day stopping by Schmidts in Columbus for dinner before returning home.

Good Night

Tonight Pam and I along with the Clatterbuck’s visited the winery we will probably be setting up for our 2020 Southwest Ohio wine outing. It seemed to fit the bill for where we will try told hold the event. Afterwards, we headed to the Grand Finale Restaurant in Sharonville and had dinner. It was another good stop. Tomorrow we head to Akron to try out some places to finalize the Northeast outing location. Who says planning can’t be fun!

 

PM Club Meeting

Tonight was our Shrine Past Masters Club meeting. We were small in number but got accomplished what we needed to do for the evening and I was able to return home at a fairly early time. I was also able to get some other Masonic questions answered from those in attendance this evening.

Jim Church Viewing

Tonight was the viewing for one of the best ritualists I’ve ever met. Not just small parts but very large parts. Even this year at 86 he did a 20 minute memorized part with no prompts and no words missed. In addition, he was a Red Hat recipient from Dayton Scottish Rite for all the parts and ritual work he had done over the years. He was also a KYCH, having served all the York Rite in Miamisburg as their presiding officer. But most of all, Jim was loved by all he met as he was always in a good mood.

Official Picture

Well this morning I had my official picture for next year taken. I'm not sure why but I was nervous about this as all I had to do was show up to have the picture taken. Everything seemed to turn out well and it is now being touched up and will be out for print soon. Maybe I'll turn out like the airbrushed models but it would take lots of touch-ups to make this guy look too good!