Welcome to the Online Clann Tartan Newsletter for August 2006

Your staff thanks you.

Mia

A Note from the Chief of Staff, Rob Johnson

I thought I would add a little back ground to this.

The reason there is a 10 day cutoff is more than just an issue of having food for you. That is the time frame we have put in place to allow us to decide if we have enough members to fulfill our obligations to an event.

The cut off for it being an official Clann event is 6 people This minimum is not arbitrary but rather based on the needs of a typical day in camp. We need to be able to do demos, cook food, haul water, and keep a fire going. Anything less than 6 members trying to do that and life just becomes miserable. If we don't have 6 by ten days out then the event is not sponsored by Clann. This doesn't mean the Clann will not support members that are committed to going but it does mean that Clann will not pay for food or reimburse gas costs.

As you can see with only ten days we would be hard pressed to work out the logistics of this so lets avoid this and get those notices in to Julie.

I want to personally state that this is not to say that Staff doesn't understand that it is hard to commit to events when you don't know your work schedule. What we are asking is that when you know for sure what your will be let Julie know right away. If you don't know or their may be complications and the dead line is approaching let Julie know this. We can be a vary flexible group and do a lot with a small amount of people. We can do that much better if we know what it is we have to work with.

The online store can be found at www.cafepress.com/clanntartan.

Drill

Board Minutes

Minutes of Clann Tartan Board and Membership Meeting on May 6, 2006

In attendance:  (Board) Mary McKinley, Sean McCanna,
Glenn McDavid, Diana Steben, Bruce Yoder 

Staff: Julie Yoder, Marty Byers, Mia McDavid, Rob Johnson, David Vavreck

Mark Hansen, Sally Marciniak, Stu Marciniak, Laurie Ford, Larry Herbison
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The President said that two people present were in arrears on their dues
and needed to pay before they could participate in Clann events.

Minutes of the April Board Meeting were accepted as corrected.


REPORTS
=======
VICE-PRESIDENT - No report

TREASURER -- The fiscal year ended a little better than planned.  We had
a significant unexpected expense (a rental van while we could not tow
the trailer), but saved some money on food.

The April report includes our payment from Ramble (carried from last
year) and Charles City.

We are projecting a deficit in the upcoming year.

QUARTERMASTER -- The QM was absent, but reported that the trailer
repairs were good and that Staff was happy with the results. 

COMPANY REP, CAMP REP -- No reports.

MUSIC GUILD -- No report

DANCE GUILD -- Doing well.  Having fun, bringing in new members.

DANCE MUSIC GUILD -- No report.

FIBER GUILD -- New spinner (Sally)

HISTORIC SITE -- Build first house this summers.  Work dates have not
yet been set.

SWORD GUILD  -- Moving to Marty's House for the summer.  May need to
reschedule or cancel the May meeting.  The students are doing well.

UPCOMING EVENTS
===============

Muster (May 12-14)

Memorial Day at Fort Snelling, per Eric's e-mail.  We need more
information.

Twig (June 9-11)

Dun Gowan Tactical, Minnesota Scottish Fair & Highland Games (both on
the weekend of July 15)

Deer River (Aug. 4-6)

Wisconsin Highland Games -- Labor Day Weekend (?)

Des Moines Ren Faire (Sept. 8-10).  We are being paid well for this
event and a strong turnout is desirable.
MN Ren Faire (with MN Coalition of Scottish Clans) same weekend.

The usual October events.  We would like to have more people at Mankato
and Winona.  Historically attendance at those events has been low
compared to Big Island.

COMMUNICATIONS
==============
Making some progress on the Web Site.  A LiveJournal group has been set
up for MN Tartan Day.

MUSTER COMMITTEE
================
Considering updates to the 2nd and 3rd level quizzes.


PUB NIGHT
=========
Friday nights are working better than expected.  Only once have we found
our site too crowded.  This is just as well since 3rd Tuesdays are no
longer available.

There was some talk about having a specific topic to be discussed at
each meeting.

Lake Street Garage (in the back room) is working well as a site.  We
will stay there until further notice.

OTHER BUSINESS
==============
The set up for Charles City took only 4 hours.  Marty thanked everybody
for helping.

Mia is planning a waulking demonstration, with singing, for one of the
summer events.

Next Board Meeting:  Tuesday, June 20, at Bruce and Julie's.

A proposal to skip the August members meeting was moved, seconded, and
passed.

There was some discussion of appropriate clothing for the Memorial Day
event at Ft. Snelling (17th century, but nothing specifically Scottish).

Meeting adjourned.

Board & Staff

If you need to contact someone associated with Clann Tartan, here is where you find out how. If you are unsure who to contact, you can always email us at: info@clanntartan.org

Guilds

At the request of the Board of Directors, this column addresses members' questions about, well, anything related to what we in Gaffneyis Regiment do. What is event X like? Are thingamajigs period? How do you make a whatzahoozits? Where do you get a fribber-frabber? Members are requested to send questions about anything pertinent to Baethan (David Vavreck) who can be reached at 612-378-1973, baethan1630@yahoo.com, or 1036 24th Avenue SE, Mpls. MN 55414

Baethan apologises for not having had this in the last newsletter - he has been galavanting around far too often, and hasn't been home much of late...

Mary asks - "So, Baethan, you've been around for a while. What tricks have you learned to stay cool at a hot event?"

Drink plenty of water and gatorade-like beverages. Avoid alcohol (you should during show hours, anyway) and caffeine as both of these substances dry you out. Sugar and carbonated beverages aren't so good for you in the heat, either.

Wear wool. Because it is such a great insulator, wool keeps you cooler than many fabrics on a real hot day. That's why Bedouins and other desert nomads wear wool.

Stay in the shade if practical to do so. We don't want to have our dear public see us only laying around in the shade panting, but it is okay to take a shade break every now and again.

Avoid synthetic and knitted fabrics (which you should for authenticity's sake, anyway). Neither allow your skin to breath much.

The looser your clothing, the cooler you'll stay. Avoid tailored clothing (which only mucky-mucks could afford anyway).

Wear a head covering to keep the sun off your brain. Even better, get said covering wet. A dripping wool bonnet, for example, is an air conditioner for your head.

Put a little ice in your cap or down your bodice, if you can stand to do so.

I usually wear my kilt down in back. On a hot day, I get the inside of the tail wet, which cools my calves with every step.

Eat some spicy food. The reason spicy food is so popular in tropical areas is that it lowers your body temperature - really.

Breath through your nose, not your mouth. This naturally lowers heart rate and body temp, as well as not drying you out as fast as breathing through your mouth.

Don't obsess about the weather. It will only make you more uncomfortable.

Stay calm. An over-abundance of joy, irritability or whatever raises heart rate and body temp. Stay calm. Think calm. Be calm. Serenity good.

You can will yourself to be calm, lower your heart rate, and lower your body temp. Simply think it, and make it happen. Mind over matter works. If you think this sounds crazy, just ask a health care person.

Always bring something you can swim in for after hours. This is Minnesota, by gar; there is usually a swimming hole near enough.

I hope this helps.

p.s. Don't forget your sunscreen!

Calendar of Events

Event Schedule for the 2006 Season:

The following is a list of the dates of the events that are currently on the schedule for this year. The staff has met and decided to keep this running list of events in the newsletter to give you a chance to get an idea of what is going on this season as well as keep you updated to changes in the schedule.

The column titled status will include the following information.

Tentative- this means that an event organizer or clann has expressed a strong enough interest in doing this event that it warrants reserving space on the calendar for the event.

Pending- this is the next stage of an event. This means that Maeve has entered serious discussion about Clann doing an event but we are still not committed to the event. You should however if possible think about wether or not you may be able to attend this event.

Scheduled- this level means that the board and staff have approve the event and we are committed to providing manpower to making the event happen. When an event is assigned this level please let Julie know as soon as possible if you can or can not attend this event.

Canceled- This means that for various reasons an scheduled event has been removed from the current season. We will try and give as much notice as we can prior to canceling an event.

If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact me regarding this matter

Thanks,
Rob Johnson.

Maps

 

Map to Board Meetings Bruce and Julie Yoder's Home	Map to St. Paul location St. Christopher's- Dance
Map to Board/Quarterly/Annual Meetings Corcoran Neighborhood Center, 3334 20th Av South, Minneapolis, MN	Map to Lake Hiawatha Community Center 2701 E 44th St in Minneapolis 1st & 3rd Wednesdays dance location Helleand Building
Map to Marty & Judy Byers home Location for for Sword Drill 2821 Churchill, Roseville MN

Deer River Rendezvous Deer River, MN Aug July 28th-August 6th 2006

www.whiteoak.org

Directions:

Take I-35 north to exit 237--MN 33 N toward Cloquet/Iron Range, and follow that for 11 miles. Take the US 2 ramp towards Grand Rapids/Duluth and make a left onto US 2 West. Follow US 2 for 60 miles approx. and turn left onto US 169/NE 4th St/US 2, and follow US 2 for another 15 miles. Turn right onto MN 6/Division St and follow MN 6 for a mile and a half to 33155 Hwy 6.

Des Moines Renaissance Festival Saturday and Sunday, September 9-10 2006

Directions:

From: Saint Paul, MN US
To: 4051 Dean Ave Des Moines, IA 50317-1662 US

1. Start out going NORTHWEST on WABASHA ST N toward 4TH ST E. (0.59 miles)
2. Merge onto I-35E S via the ramp on the LEFT. (18.75 miles)
3. Merge onto I-35 S (Crossing into IOWA). (220.44 miles)
4. Keep LEFT to take I-235 W toward DES MOINES. (3.44 miles)
5. Take the EASTON BLVD exit toward IA-163 E/E UNIVERSITY AVE EASTBOUND/US-65 N. (0.13 miles)
6. Stay STRAIGHT to go onto EASTON BLVD. (0.07 miles)
7. Turn LEFT onto E 21ST ST. (0.23 miles)
8. Turn LEFT onto IA-163 E/E UNIVERSITY AVE. (1.15 miles)
9. Turn RIGHT onto E 30TH ST/IA-46. (0.62 miles)
10. Turn LEFT onto DEAN AVE. (1.20 miles)
11. End at 4051 Dean Ave Des Moines, IA 50317-1662 US
Total Estimated Time: 3 hours, 54 minutes
Total Distance: 246.62 miles

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