What a week! Some probably noticed this site was completely down during the last week. This occurred because the hosting service attempted a major upgrade to their servers, which took an inordinate amount of time. Normally it's a process which takes a few hours with little downtime. This incompetent service dropped the ball in a big way, so it ended up taking all week just to find out they lost 100% of my data during the transition. Luckily, I had backed up mostly everything to my hard drive about a month ago. Only a few of the last posts have been lost permanently, and some pictures didn't make it but I can upload those again later.

This affected my personal site as well, and more frustrating is that my personal email is still in limbo as of this writing.

This weekend I`ve spent many hours researching new hosts and finally relocating the site to a new service. It's another free one, so I`m crossing my fingers that we don't experience yet another "get what you pay for" moment.

Select pictures of the 2010 Installation night have been added for your viewing pleasure :) Special thanks to Larry Powell for his photography work.

http://grovecity689.com/photos/album/103

Congratulations to E. Mikel Goldhardt for being installed as Worshipful Master on November 9, 2009. We have great expectations for Brother Goldhardt and look forward to the coming year under his leadership. Congratulations also to all other elected and appointed positions.

Just as importantly, thanks to all our visitors who chose to spend this special evening with us. Although Masons rightly have a known veil of secrecy surrounding our meetings (better regarded as privacy), we are still the first ones to welcome the company of our family and friends into our lodge whenever possible. We hope it was enjoyed by all.

I will get some pictures posted here soon.

For those who may have used the "webmaster@grovecity689.com" email address, I regret to say it has been deactivated. Website related communication should now be directed to

and you are encouraged to save this address for future use. Omitting the boring details, I felt the change to an independent email host (Gmail) would be best to avoid possible conflicts in the future. Better now than later, when even more people could have the old address saved. Hopefully this did not effect many people at this stage, and I apologize for any inconvenience.

November 2009 will bring many activities to keep us busy. We have our Nov. 2nd stated meeting and officer election; another wonderful breakfast is planned for the 7th; Officer Installation on the 9th; our annual sub sales and of course making them; the "Big Game"; and bell ringing for the Salvation Army. We'll all be ready for Thanksgiving, and we'll be thankful for a much deserved rest!

Please volunteer for bell ringing!

Did you know?: Especially concerning our newer members and visitors, we do have a supply of Masonic jewelry, stickers and emblems on hand. You are welcome to browse before or after any meeting.