August 11th 2022
Westwood Village Rotary Club

Coming up on August 18th



Chris Gaynor and Steve Scherer


The topic is Financial Security, presented by our own President Chris and by our PP Steve.
Westwood Virtual Rotary Club Meeting for August 11th 2022




Right on schedule, our President Chris Gaynor started our meeting at 12:30pm, welcoming all of us to our weekly Rotary Club meeting.


Past President Gordon Fell led us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Past President Steve Day brought us is Thoughts for the Day, worth repeating;

  • ·From Yogi Berra
“The game ain’t over till it’s over”
“When you get to the fork in the road – take it”
  • From Satchel Paige
“Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you”
“Work like you don’t need the money. Love like you’ve never been hurt. Dance like nobody’s
watching”
  • From Tommy Lasorda
“The difference between the impossible and possible lies in a man’s determination”
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how
bad you are, you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the
difference.”
  •  From Willie Mays
“I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw”
“It isn’t hard to be good time to time…what is tough, is being good every day”
  • From Vin Scully
“A man really determines himself by what he does”
“I would always say to kids, don’t be afraid to dream, because it can happen”
“It’s time for Dodger Baseball!”

PP Ed Gauld led us in a rendition of “Home on the Range” – a staple of tradition at the Westwood Village Rotary Club. (oy vey)


President Gaynor asked for visiting Rotarians and guests of Rotarians. Amber introduced herself, being brought to our meeting by Marsha Hunt. She is a former musician, now following a career in speech therapy and living in Santa Monica. She’s currently visiting several Rotary Clubs in the area to see which one fits the best. Amber is familiar with Rotary because she’s a former member of the Castro Rotary Club in San Francisco and DTLA Rotary Club. Of course, ours is the best fit because we’re a lot more fun than the others!


PP Steve Day proceeded to report on the Impact Club formation. They are developing a strategy to launch the Impact Club with community participants and past Rotarians, all interested in service to the community. It will be the first one on the West Coast.


PP and current President Gaynor gave us his weekly Joke of the Day.
  • “Old age comes at a bad time” – no author mentioned
  • Golda Meir - “Old age is like a plane flying through a storm; once you’re aboard there is nothing you can do about it”
  • Bill Dain- “I’m so old my blood type is discontinued”
  • Mark Twain - “The older I get the more I remember things that never happened”
  • Phyllis Diller – “I’m at that age when my back goes out more than I do”
  • Lee Travino – “The older I get the better I used to be”
  • George Carlin – “I was thinking about people reading the Bible more as they get older. Then it dawned on me; they’re cramming for their final exam”
  • Oscar Wilde – “To get back to my youth I would do anything in the world, except exercise, get up early or be respectable”


GUEST SPEAKER


Ben Fisher introduced our guest speaker. 


 Scott Klittich and his wife Cindy are the owners of Otto & Sons Nursery in Fillmore where they specialize in growing container roses and fruit trees for retail garden centers and landscapers throughout Southern California. They have 3 children and 3 grandchildren. 
Scott received his Bachelor’s Degree in Ornamental Horticulture from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. He is a graduate of the California Agricultural Leadership program, class 43. Scott has worked at the family nursery, Otto & Sons, for over 37 years and is currently general manager. 
In his spare time, Scott has been on the Ag Advisory Committee for the Fillmore High School farm for +30 years. He is Past Chairman of the California Association of Nurseries and Garden Centers. Scott is Past President for the Farm Bureau of Ventura County. The family is also active at their church, Peace Lutheran in Camarillo.
Scott’s presentation of “Growing Roses in California Gardens” will present ways to grow beautiful roses in your garden.
The nursery is primarily a wholesale company, located on 27 acres of nursery with fruit trees and roses and perennials, one acre of the demonstration garden, and 9 acres of oranges. 
On their website, you’ll find a very useful tool to pick out your choice from the many varieties of flowers and fruit trees.
Otto & Sons Nursery carries over 100 varieties of perennials, 250 varieties of fruit trees, and 700+ varieties of roses.  
There are classes, demonstrations and public tours. (both PE Ben Fisher and Pres Chris Gaynor raved about the beauty of the farm and recommended we all drive down to see it).
Scott went through several slide shows, including these;
The talk was very informative and helpful, with a lot of explanation from an informed professional that knew his field for sure. None of us expected such a broad range of topics to be addressed on the simple topic of roses, perennials and plantings.


Scott was gracious enough to open up the floor for questions. And there were a lot.


First, He was asked by PP Richard Thompson if he had a favorite flower. Scott mentioned “Perfect Moment Rose”, which he called a visual beauty with no fragrance, but adding “Anything of true beauty has a few thorns”.


Second, PE Ben Fisher asked which flower had the most fragrance? The “Yves Piaget”, answered Scott, adding that the morning time was the best to enjoy the fragrance.

Third, PP Steve Day asked for the best way to keep squirrels away. In a rather direct manner, Scott suggested collecting them in a humane trap and then euthanizing them in a barrel of water as the only way to be assured they won’t return. He also added that cats will reduce the squirrel population.
Fourth, Phil Gabriel (the man, the myth, the legend) asked if he provides roses to the Rose Parade. Scott told us that actually the roses arrive in cargo planes from South America, because ours have gone dormant in the northern hemisphere. 


Fifth, President Gaynor asked questions about “tree roses”, coming in two varieties. Scott mentioned climbing roses and talked about the best way to graft them in to a root trunk.


President Gaynor also asked about his “prolific pomegranate” tree, over 30’ tall and why it has grown so much. Scott suggested it probably was watered too much and answered more questions on pruning.
Sixth, Phil asked which variety of roses will attract the Monarch butterflies? Scott assured Phil that any flower will provide the nectar the Monarchs are looking for, but mentioned that the Milkwood flower in particular.


It turns out that Scott’s son is very active in the Fillmore Rotary Club, just completing a second term as President.


PE Ben Fisher closed out the guest speaker. 
Again, President Gaynor recommended a tour of the demonstration garden and extoled the beauty of the gardens; their color, their variety, and all else. Otto & Sons are open for tours Wednesday through Saturday, 8:00am to 4:00pm.


Next week we start early. Our program will be our very own PP Chris Gaynor and PP Steve Scherer, talking about Retirement Planning from a CPA and wealth advisory point of view. They will address questions we all have about retirement, such as how much money you need, what happens to your debt and the best way to plan for it.


PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY – BY 12:15



Respectfully submitted by PP Mark Rogo, an admirer of all of his fellow Rotarians
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WVRC 2020/2021 Leadership Team
President: Chris Gaynor
President Elect: PP Steve Day
Vice President: Benjamin Fisher
Treasurer: Terry M. White
Youth/Vocational Service: Diane Good
Director/Peace: PP Marsha Hunt
Foundation: PP Steve Day
Global Scholarships: PP Chris Bradford
Webmaster: PP Ron Lyster
District Governor: Olivia Patterson Ryans
Immediate Past President: Nancy McCready
Secretary: PP Nancy McCready
Community Service: Aaron Donahue
International Service: Nevin Senkan
Director: PP Tom Barron
Membership: PP Mark Rogo
Director/Social Media: PP Aly Shoji
Windmill Editor: Teya McCockran
Assistant District Governor: Michael Lushing