Vice Chair Ed Goff started the meeting at 6:55 PM.

Members Present: Thomas Alexander, Kati & Udi Fuchs, Mark Gee, Ed & Milo Goff, Glenn Goldsmith, Will Harris, Daniel Ramirez, Tom Sims, Bill Steele, Diana Tomchick, Steve Webb, Tian Yu.

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Visitors: Tanya Backer, Jaime Deich, Matthew & Tiffany Heape, Joshua Smith.

Officer Reports: Vice Chair Ed Goff: always needs a program, he would like to see people who have not given programs in the past provide one. If you need help with putting photos into a computer presentation, Ed can help you.

Secretary Charles Goldsmith: he didn’t finish last month’s minutes, so it was decided to delay approval until next month.

Treasurer Diana Tomchick: the grotto currently has $935.15 in the bank.

Quartermaster/Librarian Bill Steele: listed items the grotto owns, including a Suunto Tandem, a Leica Laser Disto rangefinder, and two cable ladders. Bill mentioned the people who needed to return overdue books, and then described at length several grotto library books that he brought to the meeting for lending. Ed G. stated that he thought it was the best library report he’d ever heard.

Old Business: There was a discussion about grotto T-shirts, these would have the DFW Grotto design that shows a person rappelling into a pit. Ed has found an on-line vendor that would allow us to customize the shirts by color and style. The cost would be approximately $18 for men’s style shirts and $20 for women’s shirts. Glenn Goldsmith moved and Mark Gee seconded that $400 in grotto funds be set aside for purchasing T-shirts. The motion passed unanimously. It is expected that the grotto would recoup that money once the shirts have been sold.

New Business: Bill Steele stated that there could be an appeal in the near future to Texas NSS grottos to provide some money for the fall NSS Board of Governors (BOG) meeting that will take place in Houston the weekend of October 21-23. The Greater Houston Grotto has agreed to sponsor the meeting, and they will need roughly $300 for the costs associated, which include renting a meeting place, feeding the BOG directors breakfast and lunch on the day of the meeting, and beer for the parties that will be held before and after the meeting. The benefit to the grotto is that we will be providing support to the National Speleological Society—our grotto is a local chapter of the NSS. Bill moved that we authorize the grotto to provide $100 if asked for a donation. Mark Gee seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. Thomas Alexander showed the meeting attendees an example of a DFW grotto full-year calendar for 2012 that incorporates the same design as used on the T-shirt.

Announcements: Bill S. announced the aforementioned NSS BOG meeting in Houston, to occur on the weekend of Oct. 21-23, exact location yet to be determined. He plans to attend the meeting, and will provide more details in the future if others would like to carpool. This year the Texas Cavers’ Reunion (TCR) is Oct. 14-16 at Flat Creek Ranch, near Wimberley. This event includes the traditional big Saturday evening feast, during the weekend there will be various speleocompetitions (rope climbing, obstacle courses), various caving vendors, all the Texas caving “T” organizations will have representatives there, also the famous Pete Strickland hot tub and the famous caver band the Terminal Syphons will be performing Saturday evening. It is an event not to be missed.

Show and Tell: Diana T. brought her 14-LED Petzl Duo light that now has a customDUO module (http://customduo.co.uk) that replaced the ineffective halogen bulb. This module is manufactured in the UK, and while it takes around 3 weeks to get the module, Diana stated it was worth it. The module she bought is the one that has two Cree XPG LEDs, and is rated to provide 280 lumens (cost: 44 British pounds, approximately $80 when purchased in April 2011). She showed this side-by-side with her Scurion 700, which is considerably brighter (700 lumens on high), but the Duo insert is a lot less expensive than the Scurion. This makes it an attractive budget alternative for people who have (or can inexpensively purchase) a used Duo headlamp. The Duo is an extremely rugged light, and can be made waterproof with a coating of dielectric grease on the battery case gasket and the threads of the headlamp cover (which screws on and off). Installation of the insert only required a small screwdriver.

Trip Reports: Bill S. reported on the events at the 2011 NSS Convention that was held in Glenwood Springs, CO. He attended only the last few days of the meeting, but wished he’d had enough time to attend for the whole week. There were 1,400 cavers at the Convention this year. The weather was superb, it was in the 80’s during the day and in the 50’s at night, he needed to wear long underwear at night in his sleeping bag. He was really impressed with the exploration programs he saw at the meeting, including ones about expeditions to Puerto Rico and China. It appears as though there is potential for lots more discovery. The showstopper presentation was Mike Futtrell’s program on caving in China, where he showed a video of people flying kites in one enormous cave passage. He also toured the commercial Glenwood Springs Caverns. Joshua S. visited Kidd Spring Park in Oak Cliff to go urban spelunking, as there is some underground passage associated with this spring. Ed Goff is excited about the prospect of organizing a grotto trip to this location in the near future.

Trip Announcements: Bill announced that grotto Spring Creek Cave trips will resume in November; you will need a wetsuit to visit this cave. Diana mentioned the Colorado Bend project, which will resume in October. Bill said he wanted to organize a “carbide lamp only” caving trip to Powell’s Cave, to go down the Crevice passage to get to the Mudpuppy Passage, and asked if there people at the meeting interested in such a trip; a show of hands indicated sufficient interest, so he will look into organizing such a trip sometime this fall/winter.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:50 PM.

Program: Diana provided the DVD of “Hidden Depths of Mexico,” a film about a 1983 British caving expedition in the Chiapas region of Mexico. This classic speleological film was shot and edited by Sid Perou.