Joe Castleberry & Paul Osborn
President Margie Burnett called the meeting to order at 7:30 am. Paul Osborn read a poem by Leigh Hunt for the invocation, followed by Joe Castleberry, who introduced numerous guests and visiting Rotarians Jan Martinka, Kirkland Downtown; Anthony Chan, Rotary 8 of Tacoma; and Frank Young, Bellevue Noon.
President Margie Burnett, Jim Carney, Joellen, Kelsey & John Monson, John Uppendahl
New Members Inducted: Monson & Uppendahl
There was a brief initiation ceremony for new BBRC members Joellen Monson, whose classification is Health & Human Services, and John Uppendahl, whose classification is Branding Strategies.
Joellen, Kelsey & John Monson
Joellen Monson, with daughter Kelsey and husband John in attendance, is a manager and licensed mental health counselor at Therapeutic Health Services in Bellevue. She loves working with families and children. Her hobbies include writing, watching movies and reviewing them, and she and her family live in Fall City.
John Uppendahl & Jim Carney
John Uppendahl is a PR and marketing specialist who is President of True North Network in Bellevue. He is active in community service projects and has served on the board of the Coal Creek/Lake Heights Family YMCA. John lives in Bellevue with his wife Alison and two children, Katie and Adam. His hobbies include photography, technology, writing, and traveling.
Both new members were sponsored by Jim Carney. Congratulations to Joellen and John!
Lorenzo Hines, Colleen Turner & Lee Smith
Lorenzo Hines, Lee Smith, and Colleen Turner all traded in their nasty old Red Badges for their shiny new Blue Badges. Congratulations on completing the requirements!
Bill Brooks & Jonathan Koshar
Bill Brooks and Jonathan Koshar were responsible for collecting donations for the raffle of two VIP Suite tickets to the Storms game on Saturday, August 22. The tickets were generously donated by Roger Allington and raised a total of $176. Paul Osborn was the lucky winner.
Rotarian of the Month Bob Moloney & President Margie Burnett
Rotarian of the Month: Bob Moloney
Bob Moloney was credited for convincing Ciscoe Morris to speak to our lively group. Given that having Ciscoe speak to our club was one of President Margie Burnett’s objectives this Rotary Year, she rewarded Bob for his efforts and pronounced him Rotarian of the Month.
Howard Johnson
Howard Johnson is looking for volunteers for the next three Saturdays to buy food from the Bellevue Farmers Market and deliver it to Meals on Wheels. Contact Howard if you can help out.
An announcement was also made about the 32nd Annual LeMay Car Show & Auction on Saturday, August 29.
Chuck Kimbrough
Chuck Kimbrough made an appeal for volunteers to help with the 2nd Annual Family Fest (Adoption Party) on Saturday morning, October 3. Contact Chuck for more information.
Proposed Member: Desiree Salgado
Desiree Salgado is a partner/business developer at Dr. PC Fix in Kirkland, which offers computer support, repair, networking, etc. Technology is her passion and talent. Desiree is fluent in Spanish, and her community involvement includes the South Park Community Center, Concord Elementary, and Consejo, just to name a few. She lives with her partner, Troy Anderson, in Bellevue and is sponsored by Steve Lingenbrink, with a proposed classification of “PC Doctor.”
Contact Membership Committee Chair Chris Rasmussen with any questions or concerns regarding this application.
"Oh La La Garden Tips," Ciscoe Morris
Ciscoe Morris
Ciscoe Morris is just as amusing in person as he is on television. He started his presentation by telling us how he came to use the expression “Ooh La La.” Some years ago when he was on a bicycling trip in Provence in the south of France, he came upon an outdoor freestanding public pay toilet. Since he had never seen one before, he was especially intrigued by it. Given that his wife Mary needed to take a bio break, she decided to use it. Mary marveled so much about how clean it was that Ciscoe couldn’t resist going inside himself. He grabbed the bathroom door before Mary closed it, thereby avoiding having to pay to re-open it, and thought he was pretty clever for saving himself two francs.
However, as soon as the door locked behind him the facility immediately went into its self-cleaning cycle and Ciscoe was sh__ out of luck. When he opened the door after the cleaning procedure was over he looked like a drowned rat. A French man wearing a beret who saw him shouted “Ooh La La” and Ciscoe has been uttering those words ever since.
Ciscoe did give us a few good gardening tips and hinted that he'd learned much of what he knows by experimenting. For example, he told us that we should give tall sedums a major haircut in June so that they don’t do the “floppy” thing. In fact, if you cut them way back in June they will produce a lot of flowers.
Cisco particularly likes heuchera because the colored foliage is striking and provides color even in the winter. Flowers come and go, but heuchera still looks bright in the winter. If the heuchera in your garden starts sprouting bare stems and looking unsightly after three years or so, cut it to 1/8th of an inch from the ground during the first week of March and it will come back.
Ciscoe Morris & Jenny Andrews discuss the droopy orchid.
Ciscoe enjoys Coral Bells because they attract hummingbirds, and he told us that a hydrangea branch will root and produce another hydrangea shrub next summer.
He relayed a funny story about an out-of-control forsythia bush near the University of Washington, swearing that the bush was so large and overgrown that a man was living within it, complete with tables, chairs and lots of paraphernalia that indicated he could be one who enjoyed a good party. (I don’t know whether I really believe this or not but it did make for a good story). Ciscoe chased the guy out, cut the forsythia to 1” from the ground, and it has been blooming beautifully ever since.
Ciscoe allowed that moles and slugs were the most hated garden pests. He told us that up to 6,000 slugs live in the typical Western Washington garden in May (yes, that was an Ooh La La moment). According to Ciscoe, the cure for slugs is two handfuls of mint leaves and pliable stems that you have to throw in a blender and do something with. He spoke too fast for me to get it all but you can find this delectable recipe in his book, "Ask Ciscoe."
He warned against using chemical bait to kill slugs as it could potentially kill pets and kids as well. He recommends chemical free baits such as Sluggo and Escar-Go.
Everyone listens to Ciscoe!
Ciscoe also highly recommends organic fertilizer, because it feeds the plants as they need it, rather than feeding them all at once. Alfalfa meal is particularly good for roses.
Jenny Andrews brought up a droopy-looking orchid from Lawrence the Florist and asked Ciscoe what she should do with it. There were a lot of laughs from the audience. However, the only thing I remember Ciscoe saying is that he couldn’t grow orchids in his house because his wife is Canadian and she keeps the house too cold. Orchids like it hot.
Jim Carney was the lucky winner of a copy of Ciscoe’s book, "Ask Ciscoe."
Courtesy of Phil Salvatori
Stewardesses is the longest word typed with only the left hand. And 'lollipop' is the longest word typed with your right hand.
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."
Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our noses and ears never stop growing.
The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
The words "racecar," "kayak," and "level" are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous": tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: abstemious and facetious.
"Typewriter" is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
