Thursday, October 11, 2018

October, 2018

    We were extremely lucky this week as Hurricane Michael roared by us up the Gulf.  I don't know if there is some kind of karma involved here that ordains that when you get red tide of enormous proportions, then you don't get a killer hurricane too.  Anyway, I am sure that given a choice, the residents of the Panhandle would have picked the red tide as their punishment instead of what they got. 

    Thought provoking to all of us should be the possibility that both events were the results of one ominous situation -- climate change. The Gulf got really hot this summer.  I have an unscientific basis of proof that the air did also.  My electric bill went up about $50 each month in the summer.  Hotter water breeds bigger hurricanes and adds to the abundance of the organisms that create red tide.  Am I wrong?  Is this heating up just a normal cycle of earth's climate?  Did God create it?  Or did carbon and gases released into the atmosphere by human endeavors create it? Or some combination of the two?  No matter who's at fault, should we not be clamoring that the government put a halt to the most obvious of pollution makers?  It is almost election day.  I urge you to take your interest in the environment with you into the voting booth.  And I think that God would like to see you do that also.


    At the District VII Meeting, Deborah Thomas led the group as the District VII Director.  Joan Sackett was a lucky winner. 




Our September meeting at the Mall was well attended (95) and the food was great.  Attorney Donna Sobel spoke about Elder Law.  I picked up some interesting information such as to make sure that when writing an advanced directive, it is important to include the right of your surrogate to hire or fire your doctors.  For instance, if you do not have that language there, and your surrogate is aware that you wanted to cut off artificial aids for eating and breathing, then your doctors could insist on keeping those things going.  Those are not pleasant suggestions, but ones that some of us have already considered.  Here's another.  If you are in a nursing home and you have used up all your assets to pay for your care, the government may not take your home as an asset since it is part of the Homestead Act in Florida, and it is protected.  I thought this information was extremely valuable.











    The venue at the Mall is quite nice and very roomy.  It seems a little strange to me that here we are in Camelot Music eating lunch.  People passing by peek in and probably think it is strange too.

    At our October 18th meeting, Elaine Waldron's committee will hand out the MCREA Handbooks.  Please check your name and information.  If there are needed changes, let Phyllis Omilak, Elaine Waldron, Judy Bodmer, or me know.  If you didn't get your dues renewal in before the last week in September, alas, your name will not be there.  However, if you pay soon, we will put out an addendum that can be added to the book with your information on it.

    MCREA thanked David Brown who audited our books with a $50 gift card for his service.

    Susan Roe has volunteered to head the Fifth Grade Essay Contest Committee.  I have at least a hundred books that need to be donated to a couple of schools.  If you can take 50 for a school, please let me know.  I will bring them to the meeting in October.  The only thing we insist on is that the books must be given directly to the kids, not the library or a classroom library. Bruce Dietch took 50 books to Sugg last month.  They were middle school and high school level books that my daughter had collected when she taught reading at Bayshore H.S.

      If you do not hear from your caller this week, please call Mary Ann Jensen to make a reservation.  Her number is 756-7603.  We will celebrate Halloween with Halloween Bingo led by Sandra Stephenson.  Be sure to bring your 20 quarters to play. Costumes are fun but not required.  There will be prizes for the most original. 

Ellen