Brownsdale Study Club

The Brownsdale Study Club met on Oct. 21, at the home of Mildred Johnson. The meeting opened with the reading of the Collect led by Fern Paschke. Minutes of the September meeting were read and approved. The Treasurer’s report was given.

Roll call was answered with “Child’s Cute Saying.” Eleven members were present.

Old business was a thank-you card sent to Eileen O’Connor for her help in preparing our yearly calendars. Sarah Hatten offered to prepare a gift basket with items given by the members to Eileen in November.

Fern Paschke read updated by laws of our club. Changes are $1 monthly dues and a $15 memorial from the treasury at the time of death of a member or her spouse. Changes were approved.

New business was discussion about our yearly club donation. LaVonne Skov made a motion to donate $50 to the Austin Salvation Army. The motion was seconded and carried.

The meeting was adjourned by Beryl Sprung and seconded by Sarah Hatten.

“Happy Birthday” was sung to Beryl and Rena. Hazel Schlichting gave the outside reading.

“When the Rains Won’t Come”

Droughts are long periods of very dry weather when crops suffer and the water supply becomes critical. They creep in going from severe drought to excessive rainfall and then widespread flooding.

Over the past 85 years, there have been five significant periods of abnormal dry conditions.

•The Dust Bowl Era: The Dirty Thirties: It began in 1930; then again in 1934, 1936 and 1939. The top soil became very dry and dusty and the wind lifted the dust several miles into the air. It got so dark that people couldn’t even see where they were going if they went outdoors. The dust clouds blew all the way from Oklahoma to Chicago to Washington DC and Boston. 50 million acres of land was affected.

•Drought returns in the 1950s: Once again from 1947 to 1959, drought plagued Texas, the central plains and Western states. It became severe in California drying up natural lakes. Moving eastward, crop yields dropped to 50 percent.

•1960s. Northeastern drought: Abnormal dry conditions persisted and October 1963 went down on record books as the warmest and driest October on record for many locations. Washington D.C.’s Potomac River fell to its lowest level in 1966. Reservoir capacity for New York City feel to 59 percent. Restaurants stopped serving water and city fountains were turned off.

•The North American drought: This drought was costly at its peak in 1988-89. It covered 39 percent of the United States. There were countless forest fires including 793 to 880 acres of Yellowstone National Park that burned out of control. That prompted the first closure of the park in its history. Milwaukee also went 55 days without rain. During that period 20,000 people perished because of the heat and dry weather. Finally, rains came and brought relief in the 1990s.

•The current drought: In 2010, the drought spread over the southern states and then to the north and west. On July 17, 2012, 81 percent of the United States had very dry conditions. During the spring of 2013, some areas had heavy rainfalls which brought relief. However, as of March 2015 60 percent of the country still has drought. Forest fires have been intense in the west. Hopes are high for the future that El Nino might bring needed rain. Only Mother Nature knows when the rains will come.

Fern Paschke presented the main topic on Alcatraz, San Francisco’s No. 1 attraction. Rising form the middle of San Fransico Bay lies Alcatraz Island. It is a rocky, barren island often shrouded by fog. Discovered in 1775 by a Spanish explorer, it was a perfect site for a fort. A citadel was constructed in 1857 but never saw combat. It was a prison almost form the beginning and the Great Depression in the 1930s made it what it is known for today. In August, 1934 it received its first group of inmates. Among them was Al Capone and his son Doc Barker. The inmates were entitled to food, clothing, shelter and medical attention. Anything else they got was a privilege. Over the 29 years, about1,545 men did time at Alcatraz. If you broke the laws of society, you were sent to prison but if you broke the laws of prison, you were sent to Alcatraz. It was the “Worst of the worst.”Alcatraz closed as a federal penitentiary in 1963. The National Park Service became the island’s caretaker in 1972. Today, anyone older than 18 may tour Alcatraz by taking a private ferry.

Fern also read an article about “Shivarees” — A mock serenade especially to newlyweds. The Shivaree was popular in the hollows of the Ozarks in the 1990s. The fun started after sunset when a group of neighbors and friends met at a secret place and then drove to a newlyweds home to give them a big WElcome. They would surround their house with cars and trucks. Then the noise began. Trying to get the newlyweds up and down out of the house, they would bang pots and pans below sirens, whistles and horns all at the same time.

Finally, the guy victim would come to the wind or door and they would tell him goofy make-up stories and tease him. Then they new wife comes out all dressed up to go to a pre-planned party. He was confused. Soon everyone left together to go to a place where there was food and fun and a time of neighborhood gathering.

Mildred served us a delicious angel-food dessert.

 

NARFE

National Active and Retired Federal Employees (NARFE) Chapter 469 met October 13, 2015, at the Pizza Ranch in Austin. Ken Dobs, a retiree of the Social Security Administration, spoke on the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP) and Government Pension Offset (GPO). A Legislative report was given and a current list of Chapter 469 members were distributed. Chapter 469 will not meet in December. Our next meeting is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 9, 2016 at the Pizza Ranch in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

 

Duplicate Bridge

Tournament results for Oct. 28, 2015, five tables played: First place, Dave Ring and Stan Schultz; second place (tie): Rick Stroup and Gene Domino and Eunice Michaelis and Warren Behrends; fourth place, Jim Fisher and Larry Crowe.

Duplicate Bridge is played each Wednesday at noon at the Mower County Senior Center in Austin. All Bridge players are welcome. Call Dave Ring at 507-434-4189.