The Sergeant-at-Arms once again discovered that a Rotary meeting is about much more than Rotary business. This week’s reports covered everything from battling rats and growing corn to family adventures, weddings, wildfires, sea shanties, stolen groceries and, naturally, the occasional encounter with a freezer.
Debbie S.
Debbie has declared war on the moles in her Tsawwassen garden—although she is taking the humane approach. After Googling how to get rid of them without harming them, she discovered the magical combination of vinegar and water. Every evening she sprays the mounds, only to wake up the next morning and discover another hole. After reaching “four, five, six…” she finally appears to have won the battle. Debbie is hoping the moles have simply moved next door.
She also recommended the documentary The Biggest Little Farm, about creating a thriving urban farm. Clearly, Debbie’s gardening ambitions have moved well beyond simply keeping the moles under control.
Sandra
Sandra’s vegetable garden is producing some impressive cucumbers—but unfortunately, the rats have discovered them too. John apparently advised her that the rats were entitled to the first crop, so Sandra tried growing the cucumbers in a different spot. The rats, however, were not fooled.
Sandra also reflected on having been a Rotarian for 18 years, remembering her first vote and wondering, “What am I doing here?” Eighteen years later, she’s still here, so apparently whatever it was, it worked.
Amanda
Amanda’s quiet weekend turned into something resembling a full-service family resort. Her father arrived unexpectedly for a surprise visit, her niece showed up with two very energetic 18- and 19-year-old friends from Fairmont, and her ex-sister-in-law arrived with a friend.
With more people in the house than she can remember having before, Amanda reported that things became just a little “agitated.” At least breakfast was appreciated!
Melinda
Melinda is excited about playing tourist in Vancouver with some old high-school friends who are arriving for the weekend. Plans include Stanley Park, FlyOver Canada and lunch at Cactus Club. She may also be calling Chris M. for professional advice on how to organize the perfect Vancouver itinerary.
She also enjoyed some quality time with her granddaughter, who was delighted when an A&W employee gave her a balloon. Sometimes the simplest things create the biggest smiles.
On a sadder note, Melinda’s long-time friend, who had been living with Parkinson’s for many years, passed away. Her reaction summed up the difficulty of losing someone you care about: “It sucks.”
Eleanor
Eleanor is back from a family fishing trip—but, suspiciously, did not reveal the size of the fish that got away.
Her return home included an unexpected puddle of water in front of the freezer, which required some attention. Despite all that excitement, she still managed to attend the Rotary meeting via Zoom. Now that’s dedication.
Larry
Larry reported that he is still dealing with his health situation and has another surgery scheduled for September.
On the brighter side, he and Steve are heading to Salt Lake City next week for a family wedding. Since it is a Mormon wedding, Larry noted that there will be no coffee, drinks or alcohol.
Fortunately, he and Steve have apparently developed a backup plan: the parking lot.
Garth
Garth had nothing but praise for Larry’s plastic surgeon, saying Larry is looking remarkably healed. Garth also enjoyed a trip to the Bard last week to see the Merry Wives of Windsor. The only drawback? The play is more than two hours. Apparently, good times come with a substantial time commitment.
John
John and his family spent a week in the Okanagan, where he taught five of the kids to ski for the first time. Unfortunately, the Summerland fire started during their visit, turning the idyllic holiday into a smoky adventure.
John described seeing people stocking up at stores, trailers everywhere and warnings about vehicle break-ins. Not exactly the relaxing family vacation brochure.
John also took the opportunity to thank Sam for writing the bulletin the previous week—and complimented Melinda and Sandra on breakfast.
Chris M.
Chris has officially become the Rotary Club’s resident expert on defending vegetables from rats.
After several years of gardening disasters, she finally managed to grow edible corn. Last year she planted 36 corn plants, only to have the rats discover them just as the corn was becoming edible. Plastic bottles failed as a defence, so Chris eventually resorted to rat wire.
This year’s crop is smaller than expected—but edible! Her two-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter is also learning the family farming trade and is thoroughly enjoying the harvest.
Chris admitted that cauliflower remains beyond her gardening abilities, so she has resorted to buying huge heads from Richmond Country Farms, roasting them and freezing them for the winter.
Unfortunately, her gardening career may now be on hold because the kids came over and did her nails with stick-on nails. Apparently, beautiful nails and serious gardening are incompatible.
Mary Lou
Mary Lou spent a very busy week entertaining a cousin from Australia and his wife, who had never been to Canada before. Their whirlwind tour included an Alaska cruise, Whistler, Victoria, Stanley Park and the Capilano Suspension Bridge.
There was also some very good news regarding the family cabin: it is no longer under an evacuation order, although it remains on evacuation alert.
The real hero of the story was another cabin owner who managed to reach the area through hunting roads. He discovered that the power had been shut off—but, crucially, he reset the breaker and opened Mary Lou’s refrigerator.
That meant the fridge did not have to be thrown out. Mary Lou was so relieved when she received the message that she was literally on the bus crying.
Sometimes Rotary reports are about refrigerators. This was one of those times.
Blair
Blair admitted that work has kept him from taking much vacation this year. That changes next week when he heads to Alberta for the weekend, combining work with a visit to his grandchildren.
The following Saturday, his siblings will gather at his brother’s house to discuss the final affairs of their late brother. It will be a serious occasion, but Blair was also looking forward to everyone being together again after several years.
Marg
Marg attended a memorial for a close friend who had battled cancer. Her friend’s husband had played rugby for Canada and she had been a major supporter of rugby, so the funeral brought together many old Canadian rugby players.
The reception at the rugby club provided an opportunity to see plenty of familiar faces—and plenty of Canada jackets.
Marg also had a sporting adventure involving the Canadiens and a baseball game, although the tickets apparently turned out to be for the wrong day. Somewhere along the way she also managed to process 40 pounds of plums into jam. She thought she was done making jam but now has 20 pounds of grapes to turn into jelly. Clearly, Marg does not believe in idle weekends.
Kal
Kal enjoyed a birthday dinner with Larry and gave Peggy a well-deserved shout-out for doing a great job with her first official Rotary event.
Kal is also preparing to drive a 90-year-old passenger to Port Alberni. If everything goes smoothly on the ferry, he’ll make it back in time for Rotary next Thursday. If not… well, we’ll know where he is.
Sam
Sam reported that the family is heading to Germany because their former exchange student—the one who stayed with them when Sam was in high school—is getting married.
The exchange student attended Justin’s wedding, and now it’s the family’s turn to return the favour. After Germany, they’re heading to Barcelona because, as Sam explained, “we’re already in Europe.”
A perfectly reasonable Rotary travel philosophy.
Sam promised to say hello to the club from Europe.
Bill said something in here somewhere - make it up yourself.
Bailey
Bailey has discovered a new passion: sea shanties.
About three weeks ago, Bailey was invited to a sea-shanty pub and became so fascinated by the community that the interest has now expanded into workshops and learning about sailing ships.
The best part came when Bailey was talking with a friend and mentioned the newfound interest—only to discover that Bailey had apparently never actually been on a boat.
Research first. Sailing later.
Peggy
Peggy explained that one of the reasons she joined Rotary was to discover interesting things and places she might otherwise never encounter.
As for gardening, Peggy has decided that grass is the ultimate low-maintenance garden. She does have a compost pile, however, and something mysterious has started growing in it. Turned out to be endless gourds when you let nature make the decision.
She also mentioned a friend’s 50th wedding anniversary and was looking forward to celebrating.
Elena
Elena is heading to Gibsons and has taken the necessary precaution of protecting her tomato plants from the rats.
At this point, it appears that the Rotary Club has two types of gardeners: those growing vegetables and those growing vegetables specifically for rats.
Jeanette
Jeanette is organizing a large Filipino event on Saturday and expects plenty of guests, food and entertainment. Anyone interested was invited to drop by the event on Victoria Drive. (I don't know where this came from but thanks for the invite. my recollection is that it had a lot to do with drinking wine all afternoon and not eating. I think Jeanette was still feeling the effects.)
She also shared an important reminder from a recent shopping trip: pay attention when your groceries are being bagged. Jeanette and her husband discovered that items they had already paid for had apparently disappeared into someone else’s bag.
Her message was simple: stay alert. Apparently, even grocery shopping now requires a little detective work.
Susan
Susan reflected on the presentation and noted that farming statistics can include people of all ages. She mentioned her 92-year-old father-in-law, who is still farming on the Island—proof that farming is apparently a lifetime commitment.
Susan described this week as a “staycation,” although it involved appointments and insurance matters for both her mother and herself, which sounds considerably less relaxing than the word suggests.
She is looking forward to celebrating Ryan’s birthday and getting together with family and friends over the weekend.
cHEW, lAWRENCE.
Lawrence had a great weekend visiting family on Vancouver Island. The trip included a drive to Port Renfrew and Botanical Beach, where the tide pools were full of marine life.
The family stayed in an Airbnb and the children had walkie-talkies, which apparently transformed the trip into an adventure worthy of a much larger expedition.
Lawrence also reported that his wife is the real gardener in the family. Her tomatoes are apparently enormous—although Lawrence joked that some of them taste suspiciously like cucumbers.
Michael
Michael shared both a sad and a very happy family update.
His temple in Burnaby was founded in 1982 with 36 original members, one of whom was his family. Sadly, two of those founding members passed away this week, leaving only four of the original group. Fortunately, Michael’s mother is one of those remaining founders.
On a much happier note, Michael’s son Armand has become engaged. During a trip to Spain, he proposed to his girlfriend on a mountain in Mallorca. The family recently saw the photographs, and Michael was understandably very proud.
Meanwhile, the younger children are enjoying summer camp.
Michael also reminded everyone that there will be no regular breakfast meeting next week. Instead, the club will meet at Country Vines at 6:00 p.m., with the bell at 6:30 p.m.
And, in keeping with Rotary tradition, he finished by reminding everyone that he had brought some pears.
Apparently, no Sergeant-at-Arms report is complete without fruit.
And Finally…
Once again, the Sergeant-at-Arms proved that Rotarians can turn almost anything into a report: moles, rats, corn, cauliflower, sea shanties, weddings, wildfires, refrigerators, stolen groceries and 40 pounds of plums.
It may not always be clear how these stories relate to Rotary—but somehow, by the end of the meeting, they all seem to belong.
Last updated on August 20, 2026