A Busy Saturday

Yesterday was a busy day. I started it off by going to the York Rite Festival hosted by the Des Moines York Rite Bodies. There were 18 candidates in attendance. I was only able to stay for the Chapter degrees in the morning, but everything well very well.

It is always great to see some of our Past Grand Masters working in the Past Master degree. We enjoy having them and I think they enjoy doing it. At lunch time, I shared the table with Greg Anderson and a brother (Jeremiah) from Bedford. He is a younger Mason and really had some very interesting comments to listen to. He is serving as W.M. of his lodge this year. He was telling about the guys down there playing pool and "foozball" (spelling???) after their meetings. He said a couple ladies that lived close by stopped in one night to see why there were lights on late in the evening and lots of laughter and comaderie...said they hadn't heard that much noise from the Masonic Temple building in Bedford for years! That is great...guys having fun and fellowship with one another.

In the afternoon I came back to Newton and went to the 60th Annivesary celbration for Bro. Paul Myers and his wife Arlene. That is quite an accompishment...60 years together. Just think what all you see in those 60 years together.

Back to Des Moines in the evening for the annual meeting of Iowa Research Lodge #2. At the conlusion of the business meeting, I was "installed" as Worshipful Master (if that is what you call walking from the west to the east). It would be nice to have a real installation and have a full corps of officers, maybe some day.

Our presenter for the evening was Bro. Jack Buta from Phoenix. He gave an interesting presenation on Sir Robert Moray (which I have to admit I really didn't know much about). Moray was the founder of the Royal Society in England in the mid 1600s. Bro. Jack was a real live wire type of guy...fun with lots of energy.

IRL used to be really well respected around the country. At one time there membership was up over 1000. We have some work to do, but hopefully we can have some good programs and give our members some good Masonic education.

This is a busy week upcoming. I have to drive up to Sioux Falls on Tuesday to do an agents school and then on up to Millbank/Watertown for a presenation on Tuesday night. I will come back home on Thursday. I should have some time to stop in Sioux City, will check in with George and Jeff at the Sioux City Consistory.

Scottish Rite Leadership Conference

This past weekend I was privileged to attend the Scottish Rite Leadership Conference in Minneapolis. It was a great weekend of idea sharing and fellowship.

I would say the thing that most impressed me was how the Scottish Rite is "remodling" itself to reach out to the brothers of our Rite. Emphasis is being placed on listening to our new brothers, reaching out to our current membership and those who may have left the Rite, and education.

I have come to the conclusion that we Masons have not done a very good job of mentoring, rather it be our new brothers or those who have been members of our fraternity for a period of time. Mentoring is a process not just for the new guys, it is a process for "all the guys"...it never ends. Freemasonry is all about a brotherhood and being there for each other. That is what we are all about, we need to get back to that.

I am really impressed with the Master Craftsman program that the Scottish Rite has come out with. It is an education program that brothers can take to learn more about Freemasonry and the Scottish Rite. There is a course of readings and multiple choice quizes (5 or 6 in total). At the conclusion of the process you will definately be more knowledgeable about the fraternity, plus you get a nice certificate recognizing your efforts. A lot of discussion was held on using this as a part of training for our individual valley leaders.

It was a great weekend. I always come away from these meetings with a lot of enthusisam and ideas. We have to use the ideas that come from meetings such as this to continue to "chip" away at some of the shortcomings and get our fraternity back to what he is all about...brothers caring about brothers!

Hectic Life

Well it has been awhile since I have done any blogging. Life has kind of been busy for me the last couple of weeks. The week of March 30th my wife and I were in Orlando Florida. The first couple of days were vacation and the rest of the week I was occupied in meetings with the CPCU (Chartered Property Casualty Underwriters) Society. I am a national governor and so we had two days of board meetings and also a lot of meetings for our chapters. I spoke at two of the chapter meetings...How to Market Your Chapter Meetings.

It is always fun interacting and meeting folks from your industry around the country. We came home on April 6th, left the hotel at 3:00 a.m. (what an hour to be getting ready to go to the airport to get on an airport). While we were waiting for the ticket agent to come on duty, Danene and I had a nice visit with a lady from Indiana. She was on her way to Haiti to work in a mission. She said it was around her 30th trip.

I also got to meet a brother Mason from Pennsylvania in one of the elevators at the hotel. I noticed his Past Masters' pin and commented on it (their pin is unique from that of the other states). It was nice to visit with him for a few minutes.

On the 11th and 12th we had the second week of the spring Scottish Rite Reunion. I thought it was a really great reunion. We ended up with a class of 17. The ritual work was very well done. On Saturday evening, the banquet honored the new members and M.W. Bro. Harold D. "Pete" Paschal PGM, 33rd. Danene and I sat at the table with Pete's daughters and they shared some good memories about their dad. It was an enjoyable evening as we shared our memories.

Last week I had my first agents school for 2008 down in Riverside at the Casino. Getting the first one started is always the hardest. You never know what "off the wall" questions they are going to ask. This week, I have been in Decorah and Rochester. Next week I have to go back to Minnesota to do a couple industry related speaking engagements. I will have been in Minnesota three times within a week...I'm almost a citizen!

Tonight we have our stated meeting at lodge. Bro. Jeremy Davis (W.M. of Arcadia is going to be our speaker). I am looking forward to it. I think he will have a good message. Hopefully we will have a decent crowd. Tomorrow it is off to Minneapolis to the Scottish Rite Leadership Conference. I am looking forward to that. I'm sure there will be some good presenations. Danene, Andrea, and Ashleigh are going along. Ashleigh is all excited about going to "Dora Land" at the Mega Mall. I'm sure she will have a great time.

Sandhill Cranes of Nebraska

On Thursday of this past week I had the pleasure of seeing a natural wonder that I had always wanted to see. I drove to Kearney Nebraska to give a presenation to the Mutual Insurance Association of Nebraska (which I gave yesterday). Between Grand Island and Kearney, I was able to witness the migration of the Sandhill Cranes through the Platte River valley.

On each side of the I-80, I was able to see cranes in the fields. I had always wanted to see this annual miracle of spring, but the timing had never been right to drive over to Nebraska to see it.

The cranes starting arriving in the Platte River valley in early March and generally stay for around a month. They are on their way back north. They winter in Texas (generally on the golf side). On their way back north, they fly as far north as Nebraska and then spend a few weeks there resting and replenishing themselves. This has been going on for thousands of years.

The cranes go as far north as Alaska, Siberia and the Artic Cirlce to nest and spend the summer months. I visited the Rowe Audubon Sanctuary (www.rowesanctuary.org) at Gibbon Nebraska. It was a really neat place. While there I visited with one of the rangers, he told me that that the migratory route of the birds from Texas to their summer nesting grounds range from 5000 to 6000 miles. During my visit, they were estimating there were up to 400,000 cranes in the Platte River valley.

Cranes are some of the oldest known birds in existence. Fossils dating back 9 million years have been found in Nebraska, putting them there long before the Platte River was born (a youthful 10,000 years ago).

There are 6 species of Sandhill Cranes (three of which are migratory). The cranes that I saw generally weigh around 5 to 8 lbs. During their stay in Nebraska, they will gain up to addtional 10% of their body weight. They feed on left over corn in the fields, but they also feed on earthworms and other grubs/insects they find in the fields. It has been estimated during the monthly long stay in Nebraska, they consume up to 1600 tons of left over corn in the fields.

During their stay, it is common to see pairs engaging in mating dancnes (which I observed). They will dance around and spread their wings, hopping up and down. Sometimes they will pick up a corn stalk and throw it high in the air. Generally, two eggs will be laid once they get up to their nesting grounds. Generally only one survives to adulthood.

These cranes have been known to live up to 25 years of age. Sexual maturity is generally between 3 to 5 years of age.

The red piece on their heads is not feathers, but is actually bare skin. I suppose since they are always pecking away in the fields, that over time they have simply developed to not have feathers there.

This was a really neat site to see. As I said it was something that I had always wanted to see and finally the timing was right. Go out and look at the website for Rowe Sanctuary. They have a webcam and you can actually see birds out there.

Masonic Impressions

Last Thursday evening we had our March stated meeting in my lodge. One thing that I have been doing this year to stimulate attendance and bring back some of the guys that have not been there for awhile is to send them cards on the anniversary of their raising. I invite them up to the stated meeting in the month when they will be celebrating their Masonic anniversary. I think it has been working. Each month we get two or three to come who have not been there for awhile. I usually also get at least one email or note in the mail to read from a brother who lives away from here.

This month we had a father and son come up who are both observing their Masonic anniversary in March. Dad is 60 years and son 20. The dad is a retired funeral director and son is currently an active funeral director so it has been hard for them to come over the years due to the nature of their jobs.

We had one brother come up who was observing his 3rd anniversary. He is a busy young man, drives over 50 miles to his job each day as a electrician. He has a couple children who are busy with various activities. Jared is a nice young man and I always enjoy seeing him.

My issue was with our Worshipful Master and how he responded to him. I know nothing was meant by his comments, but on two or three occassions I heard him say to this young Mason, "well it's been awhile since you've been here. We weren't sure you were still alive". As I said I know nothing was meant by the comments, but stop and think before you say things! Our young Masons are busy people. Although we wished they would come and be with us more often, sometimes it is just not possible. Welcome them when they do come and make them feel that you are glad that they are here.

This young man did inquire about our street clean up project and when we were going to do it this spring. He remembered helping with this a couple of years ago. Despite his busy schedule, he was showing interest in the lodge and it's projects and was offering to help.

That is what is important, keeping people connected to the lodge. Maybe a brother can only come to one meeting a year or help with only one project a year, but everybody needs to feel a part of the brotherhood and be allowed to participate as their schedule permits.

Stop and think my brothers before you make comments to your brothers. Our best intentions sometimes don't come across to others as we want them to, despite our best intentions.

Easter Observance

This morning I drove up to Marshalltown to attend the Easter Observance of St. Aldemar's Commandery #30 Knights Templar. This was my second year of attending this observance and I must say it is always enjoy. I have dual membership with the Marshalltown York Rite Bodies, so I must say I always feel right at home.

It was so nice to see a full contingent of officers in their uniforms and chapeaus. We had a nice crowd of sideliners, around 30. Sir Knight David Dryer was the Prelate and read a very nice Easter message. Collene Benge was at the organ and played "Onward Christian Soldiers" as we entered the asylum.

After the formal observance in the asylum, we adjourned to the dining room and enjoyed a delicous breakfast of pancakes, sausage, and eggs. All the donations went to the Knights Templar Eye Foundation. This was a nice way to start the day and the Easter weekend.

Easter is a beautiful time of the year as we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and also the return of spring.

Pinewood Derby

Newton Lodge #59 hosted a really fun event yesterday! We hosted Cub Scout Pack #354 in our lodge room for their annual Pinewood Derby. There were 28 Cub Scout "racers" and I know we had probably close to 100 adults in attendance.

I was one of the judges, along with John Billingsley and John Pohlman. It was a blast. It brought back a lot of memories for me from my Cub Scout days.

We had the track set up in our lodge room. What a track, lots more sophisticated than those old wood ones. This one was a alumnium and even had a laser at the end of the track to show which car was the winner. The den leader told me the track cost them $1200.

The kids really had a good time. It was organized confusion most of the time, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves. After we finished with the races, we fed them hots dogs, chips, and ice cream in the dining room. We even had Al Jensen up there dipping up the ice cream. We told Al that he couldn't be smokin' and dipping at the same time!

All of the parents were so complimentary and seemed to really appreciate us inviting them up. I think we really did ourselves proud.

The bottom line is this is what Masonic Lodges are meant for...invite the public in and have activities. What better sales tools do we have. The Masons have for too long rode on their reputation...we need to be out in our communities doing things. By our obligations, this is what we should be doing in the first place. Participating in community activities will help us also. Let people find out who the Masons are and what they do.