May 8, 2013 Newsletter

By John Hammer

Charlotte Shelburne Rotary

Wednesday, May 8, 2013, 7:15 a.m.

Trinity Episcopal Church Community Room

Welcome

President Adam Bartsch opened the meeting with the Pledge. Kris Engstrom gave the devotional.

Guests: Bob Murphy – Speaker from Vermont Energy Investment, Corp.

 

Quote for the Week: “Come on down here you moron, and we’ll see how that goes.”

See John Dupee’s Happy Fine.

 

Word for the Day: Look for the * and definition at end.

 

Upcoming:

May 14 – Special Social meeting at the Fiddlehead Brewery to taste new SAS (Service Above Self) Brew

May 15 – Club Assembly

May 22 – Laurie Stavrand - Refugee Resettlement as well as presentation of this year’s Club Scholarship Winners.

May 29 – Colleen Haag will speak about Lyme Disease

June 5 – There will be no meeting

June 6:  District Governor Change of Guard at Shelburne Farms Coach Barn.

June 21 - Bowlathon

Announcements

New Member Meet & Greet at Fiddlehead Brewery Night, May 14th

The Fiddlehead Brewery will be brewing a special batch for the Changing of the Guard party on June 6. To this end, there will be a tasting party on Tuesday evening, May 14th at 6-8PM. The special brew will be named SAS (Service Above Self). At least 6-8 members minimum should be there as hosts. RSVP by Email to President Adam (ABartsch@NEET.com) with names and numbers. This will be an ideal opportunity for us to invite prospective members and have a little fun.

Changing of the Guard Party        

This year, the Changing of the Guard party will celebrate the installation of the new District Governor, our own Steve Dates, as well as the change from President Adam to President Dave Jonah. The timing will be from 6-9PM and will be catered by member William Wisell. The menu will be a Baron of Beef or vegetarian entre, salad, O’ Bread, Shelburne Farms Cheese, and dessert among other things. Price will be $40 per person. A cellist will provide a musical backdrop to the festivities. Remember there will also be Fiddlehead SAS beer available. Members are asked to bring some sort of dessert such as pies or cakes as in past years.  Just to keep things on the straight and narrow, members wishing to attend are asked to click on the District 7850 Website (http://bit.ly/11Ij4Sg) and register their intentions by May 25th. The event will be briefed at the next meeting.

Club Bowlathon

Rick Flood, Encouraged members to turn in lists for solicitation letters.  The present listed letters will be dated for May 17 and Ric will bring those that are ready to the next meeting.  There is still time to get the lists in. These lists can be submitted on the handout lists, Emails, or Excel spread sheets.

Club Set-up List

Dave Rice is soliciting names of members who would be willing to help set-up and takedown the Club banners about once or twice a year.

Club Community Service Award

This year the Club has instituted a Community Service Award to replace the awarding of a Paul Harris Fellowship to non-members of Rotary.  Kris Engstrom is collecting nominees’ names and has only a few days more to do so.  Voting will take place at the next meeting, though an online voting procedure will also be instituted (No duplicate voting please).  Awardees will be publicized and be given $500 to be passed on directly to the charity of their choice.

Shelburne Farms Dairy Day

Bill Root reported a successful parking exercise at Shelburne Farms’ Dairy Day last Saturday.  It was a new parking layout involving roadside parking and there was only one mishap when a driver parked in a ditch, requiring a tow from a farm truck.  Well done and thanks to Bill, Pat, and Kris.

Jim Spad’s Humor A married businessman on the road felt in the need of some companionship and verbally contracted with a beautiful girl who offered to spend the night with him for $500.

After all was said and done, the businessman found that he had no cash so arranged with the girl to have it paid by check written by his secretary with a notation that it was for “Rent of Apartment.”

On the way home he had an attack of remorse and came to the conclusion that he would only pay $250.  He asked his secretary to justify the amount by stating that:

“His expectations had been that the apartment:

1.     Had never been occupied

2.     There was plenty of heat

3.     And that it was small enough to make me feel comfy and at home.

As it was, I found that it had been previously occupied, there wasn’t any heat, and it was entirely too large.”

The girl, upon receipt, was enraged and returned the check with a letter stating that:

1.     “First of all I cannot understand how you can expect a beautiful apartment to remain unoccupied indefinitely.

2.     “As for the heat, there’s plenty of it, all you had to do was turn it on.

3.     “Regarding the size, the apartment is the regular size but it’s too bad you don’t have enough furniture to fill it.

“So enclosed please find your check for $250. We would appreciate receiving your payment for the full amount of $500 or we will be forced to contact your present landlady.”

Sergeant at Arms

Celebrated the fact that today, 68 years ago, we celebrated the end of WWII in Europe with VE Day.  Anyone who was around then will have to pay a fine.  Many fines were paid at this meeting.

 

Happy Fines

John Dupee – for Mr. Ramsey of Cleveland. During the reporting of the hostage situation, he called the police and told them that “I have this lady here and she has been missing for ten years.” To which the police replied, “Get off this line, don’t bother us again or we’ll come down and arrest you for filing a false claim.” Ramsey replied, “Come on down here you moron, and we’ll see how that goes.”

Bill Root – Suggested that now was the time to switch out of corduroy trousers for the season.

Rick Fox – Both his grandfathers served in WWII in Europe and survived.

Denny Bowen – Is off to Norway for three weeks.

George Schiavonne – Celebrating the fact that he and Linda have just returned from a trip to England and France for the past two weeks.

Michael Clapp – Reported that his neighbors were getting antsy about the delivery of other neighbors’ chickens.

Trafton Crandall – His chicks will be delivered Friday

Linda Gilbert – For the fantastic spring weather in the last week.

Kris Engstrom – Her dad was in Europe during WWII.

George Schiavonne - King of Hearts.  Rollover the very small pot.

Speaker – Bob Murphy, Certified Energy Manager for Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and Efficiency Vermont.

 

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Efficiency Vermont is run by Vermont Energy Investment Corporation and is funded by ratepayers. Its mission is to “help all Vermonters reduce energy costs, strengthen the economy, and protect Vermont’s Environment.” Its budget is $35 Million per year.

Bob explained that everyone can utilize the services of Efficiency Vermont. 

Businesses can use the Prescriptive Rebate Form to sign up for and contract an energy audit and remediation. It applies to lighting, heating, refrigeration/air conditioning.  The program would result in a customized project that would lead to a rebate.

He concentrated on the residential programs which provide technical assistance, practical advice, discounts, and rebates for energy efficient products.

The main areas of concentration are in lighting, appliances, seasonal items (Air Conditioners, humidifiers), furnace and central air conditioning, new homes (with the Energy Star Program), and existing homes (home audits).

The trend is going from Incandescent lighting to CFL* to LED.  Efficiency Vermont pays retailers the rebates for efficient products so they can lower the cost to the consumers. Standards are switching from Watts to Lumens and color temperature to determine whether there is enough light and the color of the light is correct. (60 W = 8-900 Lumens). There are now lots of choices and the prices are coming down.  He noted in answer to a question that CFLs are not lasting as long as was originally stated and this was due to inadequate quality control in China, fluctuating voltages, and interference from rheostats. Most last about 2 years and contain mercury. 

They are pushing for Energy Star rated appliances. There is a program to give a $50 rebate for under-utilized refrigerators including free pickup. 

The biggest user of electricity after refrigerator/freezers and hot water heaters is the cable/satellite box which uses a constant 60 Watts of power. Efficiency Vermont will loan out a “Watts Up” meter which will tell you what any individual appliance is using.

Efficiency Vermont will offer up to $2000 incentive to do a whole house energy audit by an authorized Energy Star Contractor who will give a work scope document which outlines what you need to do for an efficient house.  When you get the work done, they give you the incentive.

Bob pointed out that the rate of return on investing in energy efficiency is generally better than a CD.

* Definition – CFL – Compact Fluorescent Lamp