Alan Weinel, Editor

JERRY BUILT

Summer is coming to a close, and soon we’ll be headed off to fall.

One change this month is that we are going to resume collecting for lunches ourselves at the front desk. Don Agostinelli has agreed to man

the cash box. He will collect your $25, give you your meal ticket and issue “No Meal Service”, “Vegetarian” and “Vegan” place markers. We hope this way we can reconcile our meal tickets with the cash and our records of who attends. He’ll work alongside Paul Sickert and Ron Bacher. This threesome should work well together.

The Annual Meeting of SIRS, Inc. was held in Sacramento on August 8th. It was similar to any meeting with 100 Big Sirs, none of whom had attended before and were confused about how the proposed changes to the By-Laws worked. Some proposals didn’t pass because they were poorly written. The biggest news was SIRS is getting serious about the RAMP program. (Recruitment, Activities, Membership, Publicity) It seems as if they are getting closer to adopting something that will work for a lot of the branches. I will be the Branch RAMP representative in 2018, and will try to distill what it is all about and to get us coordinated. It seems so far that we have most of the programs in place, just under different titles.

I was in a group at the last meeting, and three recently had hip and knee replacement surgery and the other two of us are heading that way. What was really funny was Fred saying when he gets up in the morning, every joint in his body aches EXCEPT his new knee. Something to look forward to for all of us.

See you in September.

Jerry Schroeder, Big Sir

The Pony Express Branch #69 September — 2017 Edition

TONY’S TALK

Greetings fellow SIRs members and welcome to September: For many, the month of September signals the end of summer, the beginning of autumn, and the start of a new school year.

September is the ninth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and the third month to have the length of 30 days. It is also the month with the longest name, with nine letters. September in the Northern Hemisphere is the seasonal equivalent of March in the Southern Hemisphere. September is often associated with fire because it was the month of the Roman god Vulcan. Labor Day is the first Monday of September. This federal holiday honors the nation's working people, typically with parades and picnics.

Our September speaker will be Jeff Hendy. Jeff will give us a description of globalization and a summary of its evolution as the world has changed. How the critical factors which enable globalization have evolved—including transportation by road, rail, sea and air, communication, print, telegraph, telephone, wireless and the internet; and how the global economy has developed - for example, the cotton industry, and Asia and the electronics industry. There is an impact on the US - jobs, income and our standing in the world. Some thoughts on the future will also be addressed.

Our October speaker will be Charlie Holliday. Charlie is a character actor and director. Most of us have seen him in various TV/movie roles over the years; we just don’t know his name. He will show us a DVD with a vignette of his movie roles. He has acted with, or is familiar with, many of Hollywood’s big names. He talks about roles he has played, celebrities he knows, details of doing commercials, and many other fascinating tidbits. He has recently wrapped production on Hereafter, Clint

Eastwood’s latest picture. Everyone will be fascinated with his presentation.

Tony Vigil, Little Sir

At the August Luncheon we had a total of 95 members in attendance, for an attendance of 61.7%.

YTD attendance is 68.0%

Paul Sickert, Attendance Chairman

AUGUST ATTENDANCE REPORT

SEPTEMBER 2017 LUNCHEON MENU Thursday September 14, 2017

Yummy Pork w/ Seasonal Veggies, Salad, Roll and Ice Cream.

A vegetarian or vegan lunch is available. Tell your caller.

9-9 Jim Porterfield 9-9 John Popadak

9-13 Karl Munz (81) 9-14 Don Neufeld 9-15 Patrick Fintel

9-16 Ron Glick (85)

9-18 Arnie Keller (84) 9-18 Steve Brandenburger 9-20 Larry McLeod 9-21 Ron Bacher

9-25 Rick Lee (81) 9-25 Bob Turner 9-25 Jim Smalling

9-29 Loren Jacobs (82) 9-30 Bill Rhoe

September Anniversaries

9-5 Dave and Judy Yorston (52)

9-10 Ritchie and Glenda Carlson (55) 9-12 Jim and Velma Buckley

9-14 Ric and Patricia Nannini (70)

9-21 Otis and Willa Benning (55) 9-27 Phil and Linda Olavarri

9-28 Marvin and Patricia Williams (54)

9-29 Tom and Donna Costello (55)

BOWLING NEWS

The Branch 69 bowlers have been

busy in the off season, what with many of the guys competing on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and/or Fridays at Country Club Lanes. In August, several of our Branch 69 bowlers traveled to Reno to bowl in the National Bowling Stadium. I’ll post results when they are available.

Our bowling league season will have started on August 30, so pretty soon I’ll have the results from the first few weeks of competition. We will have 14 teams for this season, a first for our league. We are all looking forward to great competition and lots of fun this year.

If you have any questions, please see me at the September luncheon.

Tom Page, League Secretary 488-6465

RECRUITING & PUBLICITY

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We didn’t have any new members at the August luncheon, maybe the first month this year without adding to our membership. As always, we need to keep up on our individual recruiting efforts; as we have seen this year, it’s no easy task keeping up with member attrition. Bring your friends and golfing buddies from other groups to see if they might be interested in our branch. Let’s end 2017 on a strong recruiting note.

I’m looking forward to seeing all of you at the September luncheon.

Tom Page Recruiting & Publicity Director

September Birthdays

Did You Know … ???

Did you know that some of the guys here in Branch 69 have been members for a long time??

Sir Dan Calcagno has been doing a little data compiling … and here is a list of long time Branch 69 members—whether NEW to Sirs or just new to THIS BRANCH:

Jim Carlson 21 years

Bud Rogers 21 years

Dick Borah 22 years

Jerry Deuser 23 years

Arnie Keller 23 years

Warren Senegal 24 years

AND

Lennie Silva 25 years!!

THANK Y OU gentlemen for your

long service to the group!

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September Golf

09-07 Thurs 69/RC Bing 3rd Round Club Championship

09-11 Mon PGC Emerald Lakes 2 Man BB

09-18/19 Mon/Tue State Sirs Fresno Scramble & 4 Man 2 BB

09-21 Thurs 69/RC Empire Rnch Low Net / 10 Min Int.

09-25 Mon PGC Bing 3rd Round Club Championship

October Golf

10-02 Mon PGC WildHawk Play from W/G Combo

10-05 Thurs 69/RC Elkhorn G.C. Low Net

10-16 Mon PGC Cavanaugh Stroke Play White Tees

10-16/1 Mon/Tue State Sirs Fresno Ind. Low Net Laguna Seca

10-19 Thurs 69/RC Arcade Creek Low Net

Go See The SF Giants

Time is running out on the 2017 season. Only 14 home games remain in September & October. Want to go see a game at AT&T park this year? Here is ONE sug-gestion for a great experience at a reasonable price.

Use Stub Hub to get your tickets. Go on-line to www.Stubhub.com and enter the San Francisco Giants. You’ll receive a schedule of home games. Click on the date you’re interested in attending. A view of the stadi-um seating appears. You can select an area of seats and view what seats are available and at what cost. Prices DO vary according to the day of the week and opponent,

but during the week, you can generally find good tickets in the $40 range.

Keep in mind that the THIRD base side gets more sun than the FIRST base side. Here is a screen shot from Google Earth of the

park, and you can see the shade difference.

AVOID THE TRAFFIC, take the ferry. On week-

ends and day games, the ferry leaves from Vallejo ($21.20 for 65+ OR disabled / $28.40 under age 65 per

person, round trip). Weekday night games, the ferry

leaves from Oakland ($11.20 for 65+ / $15 under 65 per person, round trip). The ferry drops you off right at the

park. For details and advance reservations go to

www.sanfranciscobayferry.com. Parking is 2 blocks away from the departure dock and is validated with your

ferry ticket. Keep in mind the ferries home shove off 30

minutes AFTER THE LAST OUT. Don’t miss the boat! Take the leisurely ride and avoid the traffic and high parking costs in the city. If you have difficulties nav-igating the websites, give me a call @ 209/843-1804.

Alan Weinel, Newsletter Editor

NON-RESPONSIBILITY DECLARATION: All activities arranged for or by, or sponsored by, Sons In Retirement, Incorporated, and its Branches, are for the convenience and pleasure of the members and their guests who desire to participate. Sons In Retirement, Incorporated, and its Branches do not assume any responsibility for the well-being or safety of the participants or their property, in any matters pertaining to said activities (Rule 345). Checks, money orders or credit cards for Travel for one day or less (no overnight), where a bus/busses is/are used as the primary means of transportation, may be made payable to the Branch sponsoring the event. All other checks, money orders or credit cards for travel must be made payable to the travel agency. (Rule 420 & 421). Members are obligated to attend all regular luncheon meetings unless prevented by illness or absence from the Branch locale. (Rule 60). REQUIRED ATTENDANCE – A member who misses three (3) consecutive luncheon meetings without having been excused by contacting the designated Branch Attendance person prior to the meeting date, and giving a valid reason, or did not attend one half of the regular luncheon meetings within the previous twelve consecutive month period. may be notified, by letter, of the pending termination of his membership in SIR. (Rule 60, 100 & 107).

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2017 Officers BIG SIR: JERRY SCHROEDER 801-2530

LITTLE SIR: TONY VIGIL 217-7816 SEC: PBS RON HUTCHESON 897-2807

ASST SEC: GEORGE LANGFORD 823-5493 TREAS: JERRY BUHLERT 704-0159

Directors

PBS DAN CALCAGNO 481-8368

STEVE EASON 955-1813 JIM HUFFMAN 468-8197

BILL NICHOLS 844-9382 JIMMY BUCKLEY 284-2364 GREG SCHWEITZER 687-8629

State Officers STATE PRES: JERRY STRAIN REG. 3 DIRECTOR: ED BENSON AREA 3 GOV: BOB PEREZ

Committee Chairs Programs Tony Vigil 217-7816 Mail Pouch Alan Weinel (209) 843-1804 Chaplain Karl Munz 922-2482 Roster Pat Quinn 784-3729 Golf PBS Lennie Silva 487-9812 Golf (PGC) Greg Schweitzer 687-8629 Bowling PBS Tom Page 488-6465 Audit Don Neufeld 863-5228 Audit Jim Buckley 284-2364 Nominating PBS Jim Porterfield 743-7520 Attendance Paul Sickert 396-6230 Orientation Dick Borah 419-2214 Branch Apparel Mike Ratzlaff 768-6348 Day In The Park PBS Jim Porterfield 383-8156 Sunshine PBS Jim Carlson 635-8516 Bios PBS Tom Page 488-6465 Web Site Ross Martin 427-0559 Book Club Steve Goodman 521-6546 RV Bob Houghton 487-1190

Honored Members

HONORARY LIFE MEMBERS

PBS LENNIE SILVA (SHLM) PRD WARREN SENEGAL

PBS TOM PAGE PBS JIM PORTERFIELD PBS RON HUTCHESON

SENIOR CERTIFICATES

SIR SAM LeROUGE

SIR EDWARD GONSALVES SIR RIC NANNINI

SIR WINFIELD (WINDY) CURTIS SUNSHINE

OTIS BENNING Otis has completed the scheduled

chemo and radiation for his nasopharyngeal cancer. His oncologist says everything looks good and she expects him to be playing golf by the end of the year. He is working on getting back on solid foods and getting his tastes buds back again.

ARNOLD KELLER On the 14th 0f August Arnold

had a catheter ablation procedure done on his heart to correct an abnormal heartbeat. His heart rhythm is normal now and Arnie feels much better.

BILL HOLDEN Perhaps some of you remember Bill

whom we lost track of a few months ago. His obituary was in the Sacramento Bee last week. He passed on April 19th while living in Saratoga Ca. Bill spoke to our group on Veterans Day a couple years ago. He was the only WW2 veteran present for lunch that day.

If you know of any of our members with health problems give me a call @ 916 635 8516

Jim Carlson, Sunshine Chairman-635-8516

HOW ARE WE DOING? 8/27/2017

INCOME ACTUAL BUDG DIFF

Contributions $3,435 $3,700 $ 265

Other $ 10 $ 0 $ 10

Total INCOME $3,445 $3,700 $ 255

EXPENSES

Printing & Postage $ 114 $ 700 $ 586

Officers’ Expenses $ 335 $ 350 $ 15

Guest Expenses $ 0 $ 100 $ 100

State Pro Rata $ 665 $ 800 $ 135

Other, Golf Expo $ 147 $ 300 $ 153

Other, Misc $ 817 $1,700 $ 883

TOTAL EXP. $ 2,078 $3,950 $ 1.872

PROJECTED CASH BALANCE AT END OF YEAR $3,814

PROJECTED CASH BALANCE PER MEMBER $ 24

NOTE:

We ended 2016 with $436 more than we had in 2015

Jerry Buhlert, Treasurer

Recruitment, Activities, Member Relations & Publicity (RAMP) RECRUITING/PUBLIVITY PBS TOM PAGE 488-6465 ACTIVITIES PBS JIM PORTERFIELD 383-8156 MEMBERSHIP JOHN POPADAK 662-0695

TREASURER’S REPORT – AUGUST 2017

Cash Balance 1/1/2017 = $4,064

AUGUST YTD

Beginning Cash Balance $5,345 N/A

Contributions $0 $3,435

Expenses $50 $2,077

Ending Cash Balance $5,335 N/A

Membership: Gain/Loss +0/-2 152

Jerry Buhlert, Treasurer