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H/5/1987-1-

May 5, 1987

The second meeting of our 184th year was held at Clifton,
home of Jim and Beth Bullard. It had been a splendid spring
day and the evening was graced with the elements of benign
weather. The house and outbuildings were a pleasure to
behold and both flora and fauna were at the threshold of
full spring exuberance.

Missing from the meeting were Lydia Haviland and Mary
Seiler. The guests were Henry and Esther Thornton, Jan
Westervelt, Wayne and Melba Paris, and Steve Keach.

The minutes from the last meeting were read and the
treasurer reported that the coffers veritably bulged with
the sum of $64.10. Despite the greatness of our wealth the
yearly dues of 50 cents per family were collected.

The reader for the evening was Buzz Hussman. Drawing his
inspiration from the Roger's bat house, the report dealt
with bats. It was a worthy defense of a widely maligned and
deeply misunderstood creature. The bat is a friend and ally
to the gardener. It eats perhaps 3,000 insects a night and
in some parts of the world it is the sole pollinator for
valuable cash crops.

Over the centuries bats' nocturnal habits and strange
appearance has caused them to be vilified and wrongly
treated as filthy, vicious, and often rabid vermin.
Contrary to their reputation they are not dirty flying mice
but mammals that closely resemble humans and possess
intelligence and highly sophisticated systems for
navigating, flying, and catching prey.

Among the many falsehoods long held as reasons to victimize
bats is the belief that they occasionally get entangled in
people's hair. A comment was made by Polly Conlon that in
the days of outrageously expansive hairdos centuries ago
even bats with their superb sonar were unable to avoid
coiffure collisions and the poor little beast has been bad-
mouthed ever since.

The article gave us all a greater appreciation for a truly
fascinating and beneficial animal ...vampire bats of South
America excluded.

The report from 100 years ago impressed us as usual with the
industry and productivity of our predecessors. The
temperature was reported as 100 degrees at noon and the
poultry report was below that of the year before.

The forethought presented us with another useful but
dizzying array of tasks to be undertaken. Evergreen candles
should be pinched back for fuller growth. Bulbs should be