Tuesday, June 29, 1999

Whew!!! Most of us feel like we forgot to eat our Wheaties and swallow extra
vitamins. Up early again for the Hospitality room, silent auctions, which I
haven't mentioned much but they were fabulous and thank goodness we have a
semi free morning. Many of us went on a tour to the Falls of the Ohio. An
extremely interesting area of Kentucky. Over 350 million years ago this was a
warm water sea and located close to the equator. The sea bed was home to many
wonderful creatures. Through the intervening years and 4 ice ages the land
was covered and moved to where it is now. Then with the last ice age, the
waters from the melting glaciers scoured out the land and left the seabed
exposed. This left what is known as the Falls of the Ohio. We could see many
sea creatures, buried for over 350 million years and now come to the surface.
The museum was interesting and we all had a good time. One of the school
buses broke down, but someone else will have to tell that story. We all made
it back in time for the oral auction.
 It was a fantastic auction with an interesting array of shells and
artifacts. Here is Karlynn to tell you about the auction>
        Although I didn't bid on any of the auction items, and spent most of
my time sorting out the silent auction winners, I was able to see quite a bit
of the bid auction.  Things started out with a roar under the capable
direction of auctioneer Jim Brunner, who can bring out some great competition
from the bidding audience.  He cajoled and wheedled, prodded and pled,
getting the best bid possible for each and every item.  Howard Roux and
alternate auctioneer Dave Green worked the audience, too.  COA President,
Linda Brunner, was in attendance throughout.  Bobbie Houchin and Doris
Underwood kept official records of each item's final bid, as did several
other "unofficial" observers!  Part-way through the process, Dave Green took
over the helm from Jim, bringing along his own special style of coaxing the
bids up!  And the bidding was fast and it was furious with COA members
bidding in hot competition on several occasions.  This was not a place for
the weak of spirit or faint of heart to be!!!
  One very special moment was the auction on the harp which member Ross
Gunderson had crafted by hand and donated to the club.  It was a beautiful
harp with an inlaid wood shell pattern at the base of the instrument.
Immediately prior to its auction, Ross demonstrated the quality of the
instrument by performing a musical selection.  The auction of the harp
contributed $500 to the COA coffers!  The audience in attendance burst into
grateful applause!  Thanks, Ross--it was a most appreciated gesture.
  The auction began with a large Pleuroploca gigantea, The Florida Horse
Conch, and ended with a last-minute addition of a Cypraea--sorry, I don't
know which Cyp it was (but it must have been a nice one for it brought the
fabulous price of $1,000 !)  Treasurer Bobbie Houchin told me the auction
totaled slightly in excess of $14,500.00!!  COA will certainly benefit from
this event--thanks to all who contributed and bid.

  The evening session, yes there was even more to do, was a program by Kevan
Sunderland, "Collecting Habitats in Florida Waters" where Kevan explained how
he found shells in different ways and he showed us some ways to build
homemade traps to take along.
  Gary Coovert was absolutely hilarious in his program "Taxonomy: How and why
we do what we do." It is most difficult to describe this program, but Gary
took a subject which could have been a bore and turned it into a humorous but
true program.
  Well, was that it for the day? Not a chance!!
 The CONCH-L party was still to come.
 It was extremely nice to see so many of the faces that we have associated
with only e-mail addresses. Although we have met one another throughout this
convention it was good to get together. Karlynn Morgan, mostly out of her own
pocket and with help of some friends, Linda, Lynn and others, hosted this
party and did a lovely job of providing refreshments. We all had a good time
and hopefully someone else can fill you in on some of their impressions.