KENTUCKY MEETING NOTES 2009
17 members in attendance.
Chad Guell calls meeting to order.
Old Business
*Voting Process – All Club voting will be done at the NYBS in Kentucky. Items to be voted on will be posted in the bulletin prior to the show. All who can not attend will be able to send in their votes. All notes written/called in will also be brought up by the secretary for members not able to attend.
*Following the NPA – It was voted not to follow the NPA. We will have write-ins on where to have the All-Age National.
***This year’s vote was to have the All-Age National in St. Louis, MO***
New Business
*Bird Auctions – We will auction off birds that have been donated (no cull birds) for the auction in Kentucky. We’d like to make it an annual thing. The birds will be up for silent auction the night before the show. Judging will be done between judging of the hens and cocks. All birds that bring $50 or less, 100% of the sale will go to the club. Over $50, the club and breeder will split the sale. If the breeder would like to donate their share of the auction, they can.
*Club Dues – The club members voted to increase club dues to $20.00 a year.
*Painting Up for Auction – Jawain Adams is donating a 1993 R.C. Wagner painting of the Bald Head Roller. It is the first painting out of five. This item will be auctioned off in Iowa to help with raising funds for the club. We will be setting up a spot on the website to start the bidding before the show. Then the final live auction will be done in Iowa between the judging of the hens and cocks. Bob Kuzminski is starting the bidding at $50.00 for the painting.
Well here it is October 1, 2009. I’m getting ready for the National down in Louisville. I had a great breeding season this past year. First I cut down on my breeding pairs from 30 pair to 22 pair. Fertility was a little over 70% on the first round. The second and third rounds were well over 95%. I raised over 120 young this year with my share of mismarked and bad eyes. One pair did raise four mismarks and perhaps one of my best youngsters ever. I have always risen for body and type. Then I would hope to get the markings I’d need. This year was exceptional in body and type. Now I just have to hope that they are fully molted by October 31st.
I do agree with the proposals in the previous bulletin. Now to just get the vote to make them law. One area I hope that we continue to do is how in the NPA. I do know that maybe that this can’t be the ABRC National however if the district director can make a district show it would benefit the entire club and the future of are fine baldheads.
Well I hope to see everyone down in Louisville. Good luck to all in the up coming show season and God Bless.
Bob Kuzminski.
LETTERS FROM THE OFFICERS
Hello everyone, Well another National show in Louisville is in the books. I was very happy to be the Baldhead judge again this year. Congratulations to Bob K. for winning and having a reserve this year. It is about time he made it because he has really worked hard and deserved this great display he put on. Going back to last year’s young and old bird nationals, it has to be said that Bob was a dominant figure in the show stats. Way to go Bob!
I wish the totals for the whole show had been better, but we must consider the times and hope next year will be better. As for our baldheads, we were down maybe about ten percent. The quality of the birds continues to improve each year. Two years ago I stated it was the best I had seen. Well this year it was better still. Bob’s young hen was as good as I have judged at a young bird show. The reserves were great quality also. Bill M. had first reserve with a grizzle hen. As always, Bill had a great display of birds. He had four of the top ten. Then there was another bird of Bob’s. The young blue bar cock was in excellent shape. I always feel going into a show, if I place top five I am fortunate. Bob having two in the top five shows how diligent he has been in his loft, and the showroom. Next was a young cock of Pete D’s. It was an outstanding bird and could easily have been the Champ. In the top five it is always close. Others could easily move them up or down. Good job Pete. He also had a young yellow hen that would have easily been a top five bird if all feathers had been in. You can not place a bird with missing feathers because you do not know if it is a healthy feather or colored. But this is a bird that will place in future shows easily. The last reserve was a red check of my son Chad's. I know he disagreed with me, but that was the top five the way I judged them that day. All were five great birds. Now for the first time in a few years we will have a new judge instead of Bill and me alternating years. I do say I enjoy judging. So I will try next year to be back in the winners circle. If I did not have that incentive, I would probably not try anywhere near as hard. For years I asked to judge and was always ignored. It is always exciting knowing a new champ will be crowned each year in Louisville.
One more note to the members. Please help carry birds. This helps keep the show moving, helps you to see what the competition feels like and also keeps us from overworking a few loyal carriers. I know my knees and back do not allow me to run like I used to.
I understand that people lost birds again after the show this year. I do not have a solution for that other than trying to spot sick birds and keep your own food and water sources. I feel it is always a good preventative to medicate, and give vitamins before and after a long show such as this. Chad and I both have suffered losses in the past, so I know there is no definite solution.
We had a very productive meeting and bird auction. So I think we are moving in the right direction. Thank you to Chad and Jacky for your hard work and to all our great members that make this a wonderful club. Also welcome Pat H. and Steve O. for getting back into the hobby. You are quality people and pigeon people. When your names are on the show list it adds to the quality of our members and the birds in the show room. So keep up the good work. No humor this time. Pray for our country and our leaders. We all need help! Butch
Well, Louisville has come and gone once again. Congratulations to Bob Kuzminski for winning champion with a beautiful Blue Check young hen. Bob is really becoming a force to be reckoned with, as he has now won two Nationals in a row and placed in several more before this! It is also unofficial at this point, but we also believe that Bob is now a Master Breeder with his win at Louisville. The 1st reserve was a very stylish Tort hen from Bill Murkley, 2nd reserve was a Blue Bar cock once again from Bob Kuzminski, 3rd reserve was a very attractive Rare cock from Pete Dempsey, 4th reserve was a Red Check cock bred by me, and Champion Junior was a Silver Hen bred by Emma Schnerre. Congratulations to all of the winners, and a special Congratulations to Emma as I understand she also Won Champion in the Fantails! Way to go Emma! I should also thank my dad for doing a great job judging and my wife for all of her efforts.
The auction went very well this year. We had some very nice birds donated and a good turn out for bidders as well. The sour note to Louisville this year was the lack of help carrying birds. For the most part, one or two guys did 90% of the work. Pete Dempsey deserves an award for all of the effort he put into carrying birds and he judged another breed all in the same day. THANK YOU PETE! I understand that the day of the show is the best time to socialize, but if everyone took turns carrying birds we would all have time to socialize.
We just had our local FDL show this past weekend. The turn out wasn't great but the competition sure was. Barry Wagner was the judge and did an excellent job. Pete Dempsey won Champion here for the 2nd year in a row! Congratulations Pete, but I'm gunnin for you next year! The Reserves were won by Bill Murkley, Butch Guell, and my self. The show reports for both shows should be included in this bulletin.
At the meeting in Louisville, we finished voting on the issues that were in the last bulletin. We voted in favor of raising dues to $20 a year. The auction proceeds are going to go 100% to the club for the 1st $50, after $50 the proceeds will be split between the club and the breeder that donated the bird. We also voted in favor of voting via the bulletin prior to Louisville and then finalizing the vote at our annual meeting. We voted not to continue to follow the NPA, but agreed we should support it if it is in our area of the country. The last thing we voted on was where to have our All Age National, and the winner is...... St. Louis. We should hopefully have an entry blank in this bulletin for St. Louis. The location of our National was the closest vote we had, so I think we should all do our best to support both show locations. Thank you to the two clubs for bidding for our National. Steve Olsen is going to be the Judge in St Louis.
Best of luck to all of you at the upcoming shows, I look forward to seeing you there.
Chad Guell
Well, I sure have my work cut out for me. Taking care of three… I mean two kids, the club and the house; I also have a few more to add to the list. I’ve been working more, which I enjoy; I’m also working on a Christian novel. I’m supposed to contact the publishing company after the holidays. So I’m VERY excited to see where that goes. I’m looking forward to Christmas and watching my son’s face with the gifts he’s going to receive. There’s one in particular, that I’m sure is going to be a hoot to watch him open.
I must say as I get older, the joy of Christmas isn’t what it used to be. I LOVE Christmas. I wonder if it has anything to do with some trying to get “Christmas” taken out of society. Trying to have it replaced with the less spirited word - “Holiday.” This year I’m a little sad. It’s starting out not being what it used to be like. I think the excitement has faded and no one is happy. Getting together, being able to give people their gifts! Oh and there’s the food and sweets! I honestly love giving people gifts! I’ve been known to do scavenger hunts or other crazy things to my husband for big gifts. I do also like, just a little, getting gifts myself. I’d be lying if I told you different. J I use to bake LOTS of different treats and put baskets/tins together for random people. The whole kitchen would be a mess for weeks! Now that I’ve been busier and have young ones to care for, I admit I don’t make what I use to. So I would like to encourage all of you to make this a GREAT CHRISTMAS! What ever may be plaguing you not to enjoy the Christmas season, I ask you to put it aside and just enjoy Christmas without thinking about it for one day (or two or three depending on where your travels take you.
Now I suppose getting back to something more pigeon related. I very much enjoyed taking our daughter to her very first pigeon show down in Louisville! HarleyJohn’s was Sheboygan with St. Louis being his first out-of-state. It was so good to see the participation with the meeting this year! Although, I even noticed the lack of help that was around when the judging was going on.
My son loved carrying the birds around and putting them in their cages. Although one did escape from him, he didn’t do too bad a job. The bird was recovered. This year was a little better year for escaped birds. I only saw two of our bald heads that had received freedom for a brief time. One joined a group of us up by the judging cages after its escape and was quickly retrieved by Walter Poe. I believe that was Pete’s bird, so thanks for being so quick!
I know my boys are having some trouble with a weasel getting to the birds this past week. Pray that by the time you receive this bulletin, the issue is resolved and we’ve still got our good birds! Otherwise the upcoming shows will for sure be a cake walk for the rest of you!
I pray all of you have a Wonderful Thanksgiving, a Very Very Merry Christmas and a FABULOUS New Year!
Until the next show/bulletin~ MY EMAIL ADDRESS HAS CHANGED!
Jaclyn jaclyn_guell@yahoo.com
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