True to form as September 17th rolled around so did the Austin Pond Society monthly meeting held at the usual place, Zilker Botanical Gardens Clubhouse. There were about 34 people in attendance plus several of the Sponsors as this meeting was dedicated to them to give everyone a chance to meet them in person.
John from Jet’s Pizza with Steven Monfrini
The evening started with a light meal in the form of Pizza with all of the fixins delivered by the owner John. Member’s brought deserts as they usually do which I for one am very grateful. About the only time I eat deserts is once every month at the Austin Pond Society Meetings.
Following the meal, the Business section of the meeting started with the President Jeannie, going around the room and taking comments and questions. The high spot of the evening apart from the opportunity of meeting the Sponsors, was the announcement and presentation of a list of names compiled by the Nomination Committee ably led by Nancy Reinert for the 2019 Board of Directors. Much to everyone’s surprise, this Committee had managed to find willing people to serve in all of the vacant positions which included, President, Treasurer and Pond Tour Chairman, the three most difficult positions to fill. There was some shuffling around as people switched positions but in the end, all of the Officers and Directors positions had nominees. These need to be ratified which will happen by the Membership at the next meeting in November. None of these nominees are cast in stone and if there are any other candidates willing to run at that meeting, then the positions will be decided by a vote of the membership. There are still two other outstanding positions that are classified as Volunteers meaning that they do not have to attend Board Meetings and neither do they get a vote if they do choose to attend. Those positions are Hospitality and Librarian. The Hospitality position is the most popular person in the Club as that person is the one that feeds us every month. The other vacant position is the Librarian who brings the books and maintains the records of those that are loaned out. If any of you are interested in either of these positions, contact Nancy Reinert at parliamentarian@austinpondsociety.org
Time was given to mix with the Sponsors to see what they had to offer and ask questions about their products. My favorite was Barb Lenhardt who is a Realtor as she had the best chocolates. Actually, the Sponsors who were in attendance or had representation at a table were as follows, the aforementioned Barb Lenhardt, Realtor, Water Garden Gems from Marion who brought several goodies that they offered for sale, Taylormade who builds ponds and Kirk Perry with Perry Aerial Photography. Both Jet’s Pizza and Bamboo Bistro had tables but were not in attendance due to the calls of business.
The meeting finally came to a close with the business out of the way as it was time to turn attention to the other important part of the evening namely the judging of the pictures that will go into the Calendar. As Calendar sales have been dropping off with the advent of the internet and cell phones, this item will eventually go the way of the DoDo even though the Photo Contest will remain as an integral part of the organization with the pictures getting posted on the website, the modern way of showing off prints. There were a lot of pictures on display split into four different categories, fish, ponds and pond features, wildlife and pond plants. The participants were each given four stickies with a number that they affixed to each of their pictures. The voters wrote down their selection by number and the votes were tallied up and the winners announced. These winning pictures will all go into the Calendar and will be posted on the website usually as the heading picture for the month. This is always a very popular occurrence every year and regardless of the Calendar survival, will continue as an integral part of the Austin Pond Society.
Jeannie thanked everyone for attending including the Sponsors and for making the evening a huge success and called the meeting to a close. The next meeting is October 15 at the same place and the Speaker will be Alex Rabadan, Owner of Oasis Water Features & Landscaping (512-630-6786). Alex offers services such as Pond Installations & Monthly or Yearly pond & water garden maintenance.
This will be the last real meeting of the year as the November Meeting is dedicated to having fun and partying.
With the rewriting of the ByLaws this year,the makeup of the Board has changed a little as positions have been moved around or removed. Under the Revised ByLaws, the Board is made up of three Officers, President, Secretary and Treasurer. The Parliamentarian position has been eliminated and the President can appoint one as needed.. The revised ByLaws allow for up to six Directors with the Board having the ability to decide on an annual basis, which Directors to appoint for the upcoming year. The positions selected for 2019 are as follows: Membership, Programs and Special Events, Public Relations, Pond Tour Director, Historian/Photographer/AKCA Rep and a new position named Sponsors. There are currently three Volunteer positions, Hospitality, Webmaster and Librarian. These are appointed positions and are non voting. Neither are they required to attend the Board Meetings. Note: Board Meetings are held the second Monday of the Month at Zilker Gardens Meeting Room. Any registered Member or non member can attend.
OFFICERS
Proposed Board for 2019
The Committee led by Nancy Reinert did a wonderful job of finding new and returning members for the Board for this upcoming year,2019.They are all listed below after having been ratified at the last meeting on October 15.
Secretary – Julienne Smith
Julienne Smith is the current Secretary and has been for the past eight years. .
President – Barb Lenhardt
Barbara Lenhardt is our President .
Treasurer – Mike Peppers.
Mike Peppers. Is our Treasurer
DIRECTORS
Programs/Special Events – BJ Jenkins
BJ Jenkins is returning as Programs/Special Events person after a couple of year hiatus.
Historian/Photos,AKCA Rep – Glen Hubenthal
Glen Hubenthal is continuing on in his role as the Official Photographer and Historian for the Association .
Director at Large – Cat Bilberry
Cat Bilberry. This is a new position and its prime purpose is to locate new Sponsors
Publicity – Nancy Hall
Nancy Hall has graciously chosen to run again as our Publicity person. She post articles on Facebook and other publications around town of important events.
Membership – Margaret Boeneke
Margaret Boeneke has switched from Librarian to Membership and is attempting to bring our Membership system into the 21st Century with the introduction of a new software system.
Pond Tour Chairman – Ted Paone
Ted Paone, veteran of the 2015 and 2016 Tours returns for another go.
VOLUNTEERS. These are appointed positions
Hospitality – Vacant
This person is the most popular person in the club as they provide us with the delicious food every month.
Webmaster – Francis Allcorn
Frank has consented to carry on at least for one more year…
Librarian – Holly Hargraves
Welcome to Holly Hargraves who will be in charge of the Library at the meetings
Looking for a new home or want to sell your old one. Contact Barb Lenhardt and she will help you find the home of your dreams.You can reach her by phone at (512) 820-8210 or by email at barblenhardt@gmail.com.
You can reach her website here or click on the Business Card above..
8405 Siskin Cove – Click on the picture for a link to the slide-show
186 Trail Rider Way – This beautiful house is for lease. Click on the picture for a link to the slide show.
THESE HOUSES WERE RECENTLY SOLD.
Deborah Drive – Just Sold
503 Swanee – Just Sold
The map above represents all of the properties that Barb Lenhardt has recently sold. If you are looking to sell your property or are in the market for a new house, please contact her at (512) 820-8210 or barblenhardt@gmail.com
TESTIMONIALS
KRISTINA & HUEY
She did a great job !
• On a 1-10 scale ~ ” She was awesome! I would give her a 20 if I could. She 100% was above and beyond, patient, professional. She always made me feel like everything was under control. It was great working with her ! “
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
KRISTINA & HUEY
She was awesome !
TIMOTHY
5 STARS!
Local knowledge: 5 stars; a great resource
Process expertise: 5 stars; helped us along every step of the way.
Responsiveness: 5 stars; always available.
Negotiation skills: 5 stars
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
TIMOTHY S.
5 Stars!
CHASITY & GAINES
“Barb was on top of everything quickly. Our house sold in 4 days”
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
CHASITY & GAINES
Sold in 4 days!
EILEEN & JERRY
I would give her a 13
“I would give her a 13! She is the best realtor I have probably ever worked with. I even went on Facebook to tell the whole world how wonderful she is. She went above and beyond and way always positive. She met with us day and night. She just did everything she could to make it a positive experience. ” E & J
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
EILEEN & JERRY
I would give her a 13.
Lou Cuneo
Barbara has been a close family friend for about 10 year now and has gone above and beyond the call of duty to patiently help my family with Real Estate needs. I have been considering selling or leasing my condo to buy a bigger home for my growing family. This has been a long process and Barbara has never rushed me or tried to move the process along faster. As a salesperson myself, there is nothing I dislike more than a pushy salesperson with their own agenda as priority. Barbara has been very patient and understanding throughout this long decision process. I would highly recommend Barbara to anyone looking for a knowledgeable, patient, and caring professional.
We had tried to sell our home before and she sold it in four days. She also helped with the purchase of our home and we basically only had 15 days to find a new place. We looked at the home the day it went on the market and we able to get it although there were others interested. She did a great job.” L & K
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
LYNDSEY & KEVIN
She did a great job!
After being away from our home location for the past two meetings, the Austin Pond Society was very happy to return to what we consider to be our home base, Zilker Botanical Gardens in Austin, Texas. The first things I noticed upon our return was the Photographic Art that adorned the walls, showings from one our local Photographic Artists,
This was our monthly meeting for August. We had originally lined up a Speaker but he had to cancel at not quite the last minute as we had time to line up a different event. This time, we held our Swap, Buy and Sell meeting where the owners brought in their used equipment in the hope of moving it along to others who may have the need. There were also many plants both for sale and free and one Member brought in a bunch of baby Koi that he was giving away.
For the first time, there was quite a bit of duplicate pond equipment such as skimmer boxes, filter boxes and such with no less than three owners having similar items on their tables. Some of the equipment was brand new and still in the box as in the case of Member Mike Peppar who purchased the items with a view of DIY pond and then ended up contracting it out to one of the many reputable pond builders in the area.
I counted thirty four members at the meeting all who appeared to enjoy themselves. The meal was the good old American standby, namely hot dogs with all of the fixins and there was plenty to go round including deserts brought in by the members.
The Business section of the meeting comprised of two major items. Ellen Filtness has come up with the idea that has been named Pondsitters. Basically what it is is a service provided by the current members to help one another out on a volunteer basis either in Emergencies or when the owner want or needs to go away for a few days and the volunteer would act as the Pond sitter in the time the owner is gone. She explained the idea to everyone and it is currently posted in a lot more detail on the APS Website. Great idea for those of us that do not have anyone to look after our ponds and need to take that trip. If you are interested either as a volunteer to Pondsitters or have the need for such a service down the road use this link for more information.
The second item was the presentation of the revised bylaws after a couple of months of hard work by Margaret, Jeannie, Julie and Frank working on the Revisions with Nancy Reinhardt as Chair of this project. Nancy presented it to the floor for it to be voted on as the new APS Bylaws. There was some discussion over one item to do with the number of Directors but Julie suggested a simple change of verbiage which was accepted by the Members who then proceeded to pass both measures. We should be good for at least 4-5 years without having to make further revisions. That was the last of the major business and the Swap and Sell opened to the floor. I would like to say it was a roaring success but I don’t believe it was. I sold some small items and made the grand total of $27 but there did not seem to be anyone with a pond building project in their futures so none of the major equipment that was offered by three of us, sold.
The plants and fish went well and their seemed to be a steady stream of buyers for the plants which were located outside because many of them are water plants and we did not want to mess up the floors.
The evening finally wound down and by 8:00 pm. nearly everybody had left. The next meeting is on September 17th and will be our Sponsors Night when we dedicate the entire evening to our wonderful Sponsors. Hope to see you there.
Keeping a Pond in your backyard regardless of the size, requires a certain amount of skill and knowledge both in the construction, maintenance and care of the fish and plants that call the place home. After a couple of years, we all begin to feel comfortable in handling the day to day problems that sometimes arise. (more…)
In keeping with the last two meetings that were held outdoors, the first at Zilker Botanical Gardens and the second at the AquaDome, the Austin Pond Society held the July Meeting at Mayfield Park, here in Austin. (more…)
The third Monday of the month rolled around just as it is supposed to and with it, the Austin Pond Society held their monthly meeting at the usual place, Zilker Botanical Gardens. This meeting was just a little different as instead of a Speaker, we opted to take a Tour of the beautiful facilities that we call home.
We met as we usually do in the Zilker Meeting Room and were treated to Fried Chicken with all of the fixin’s accompanied with sides and deserts supplied by the members which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Following the meal, Barb Reinhardt, who was filling in for Jeannie Ferrier, the President who was away on personal business, introduced four new members and then held a brief Q and A prior to everyone joining the three Docents who had so very kindly volunteered to show us around. (more…)
The Austin Pond Society tried something different with this May Meeting and held it at one of our Sponsors Store, namely Aqua-Dome located just off Ben White in Austin, Texas. (more…)
The Austin Pond Society held it’s April Meeting at the same place and same time this past Monday, April 16, 6:30 pm at Zilker Botanical Gardens Clubhouse. It was attended by a little over forty members which was not surprising as this meeting was the Annual Plant Swap. This always nurtures a lot of interest as the members bring in their unwanted plants to exchange for others of a different variety. In theory, you had to bring in plants in order to be eligible to swap for other plants but in reality, there are always so many plants left over at the end of the meeting that it didn’t matter if you had plants of your own or not. The donating members didn’t care as they would have to take them back home if they didn’t exchange hands.
The food for the evening was the good old American staple, namely hot dogs with all of the fixin’s and deserts provided by the members. Yours truly made do with a bag of chips and several cookies as I don’t eat hot dogs. Following the meal, Jeannie, our President got right into announcements and the small bit of business that needed to be done. She was followed by Barb as the Special Events Organizer who explained to the group the rules of the Plant Swap. As usual, the volunteers who had arrived early and had helped with the set up all went early as they had have first dibs. They were given about five minutes to grab whatever they fancied before the rest of the ticket holders rushed out to fight over whatever remained. They were followed by those without tickets to hopefully grab all that was left to save the donators having to take them back home. Incidentally, the tickets signified that you actually had contributed something in the way of plants or fish. I opted to not donate anything this year as the few remaining plants that I have at home will be used in my own ponds. This did give me more time on taking the pictures and videos so it had some positives.
The swap went very quickly and the meeting was over by 7:30 pm with even the cleanup completed. This has to be one of the fastest meetings on record.
The next meeting will be held on May 21 at the Austin Aquadome. More details to follow. The three videos that I made are below.
The first is entitled 2018 April Business.
and the second is the Annual Plant Swap live.
The last is a slideshow to music of all of the pictures that I took
John from Jet’s Pizza with Steven Monfrini
The Austin Pond Society tried something different with this May Meeting and held it at one of our Sponsors Store, namely Aqua-Dome located just off Ben White in Austin, Texas. 
