Las Palmas-Ponderosa Lodge OfficersThe purpose of this website is to communicate with all brothers and families associated with the Las Palmas - Ponderosa Masonic Lodge No. 366 in Fresno, California, and allow perspective members to better understand our organization.

Our web site has been growing; we are adding more information about Masonry for those interested in joining, and expanding our educational area and resources for our new members.  Plus we are getting ready to enhance our historical pages for folks who are interested in Fresno history, and persons looking for genealogical information.

To accommodate this growth, we have added a sub-navigation bar to help visitors quickly access information.  The top navigation bar will guide you to general areas of the web site.  The black middle navigation bar (just below the splash) will give you choices in a specific section.

If you have any questions or comments, please e-mail us or call the Lodge Secretary at (559) 268-2303.

If you have ever had the pleasure of browsing the Scottish Rite Library in the Masonic Scottish Rite Temple in Downtown Fresno, you immediately notice the antiquity of the Masonic books on the shelves.  A good number of titles in the collection were written and published during the 1800's.  But most titles were published between 1900 and 1950.

Many of the antique books about Masonry and Masonic philosophy are very interesting, but are too fragile to be handled, much less leave the library.  But now you can view many of these books without leaving the comfort of your own home.

Google, most famous for their internet search engine, has been digitizing  "out of copyright" books, and making them available on the internet.  Thus many of these old Masonic rarities can be read on your computer screen exactly as they were printed in the year they were published, page by page.

To find a specific book, you want to first navigate to Google Books.  Then type all or part of the title you want to read into the search inquiry box and press search. 

A list of books will appear which are similar to the title or words you typed into the search engine.  Some of the books listed may contain only references to the word you typed in the search engine.  For example, type the word "Masonic" in the search engine.  You will be amazed.

If the book you request is "out of copyright", you should be able to read or download the entire book.  If the book is simply "out of print", you may see options for purchasing the book from rare book resellers.  All other books "in copyright and in print", will display a list of on-line book stores where the book is available.

When you've got the time, check out this valuable resource.  It's fascinating!

By popular demand, we still have the pictures available.  Click here to visit the Wildflower photo gallery. 

Helping Our Environment

Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL's) are a great idea for conserving electricity and saving on your monthly power bill.  But did you know that you can not throw "burned-out" bulbs into the trash?  You can not even put CFL's in the blue recycle bin.

The base of a CFL contains small electronic components, which are comprised of some heavy metals and are harmful to the environment.  But more important is the small amount of mercury (a neurotoxin) encased in the curly glass bulb.

The amount of mercury in a single CFL is not enough to be overly concerned with should you accidently break a CFL in your home.  But if thousands of these bulbs go into the trash and break, this is a significant toxic exposure problem for sanitation workers and the environment.

So when a CFL burns out in your home or office, store the old bulb safely until they can be recycled at a Fresno Hazardous Waste Collection event.

For more information, go to the Fresno County Hazardous Waste Site.

Food Fight Against Hunger

This current economic recession and water crisis is hurting our valley economy.  The need for relief is great, especially among our poorer communities.

You can help in a small way by attending a great afternoon of epicurean delights at the Food Fight Against Hunger in Visalia on Sunday, July 19.  For more information, you can view the flyer by clicking here.

Lodge Remodeling

At the last meeting of the Las Palmas Masonic Building Association in June, the board voted to appropriate approximately $27,000 to refurbish the existing restroom facilities, and convert an auxiliary restroom into an ADA approved facility.

The refurbished facilities will have new automated flushing units, and motion sensor hand washing stations to conserve water. All fixtures and stalls will be replaced as the existing fixtures are nearly 50 years old.  New vanities will also be installed as well.

Work on the project is planned to begin in late July, and expected to take 10 days to complete.

Summer Vacation Pix Wanted

Are you going somewhere exotic this summer?  Or just running off to the beach to relax?  We want to see some pictures!  Snap a few shots of your favorite place this summer and send them to us. 

You can send pictures to the LPP366 website editors via e-mail, and provide some bragging rights about the great places you've been.  We'll post them to our website in September to share with all members of the lodge.  Send your pictures by clicking here.

Life Outside Fresno

Is there such a thing?  There are many brothers in Las Palmas-Ponderosa Lodge who no longer live in Fresno or the surrounding communities.  We would love to see some of the great sights from the community you now reside in.

Send us some pictures from your community and tell us a little about what makes it great.  We'll post the pictures on our front page as we get them.  You can e-mail your pictures and explanation by clicking here.

Dinner Reservations Made Easy

One of the great advantages to having a Lodge Website is the ability to get Lodge information, and interact with the Lodge administrative staff.

That includes making reservations for dinner at the Monthly Stated Meetings.  You no longer have to come into the Lodge and put your name down on the reservation list, or contact the Lodge Secretary by telephone.

All you have to do is click here to make dinner reservations, and in the e-mail window, indicate how many people will be attending.  Once you send e-mail, the Lodge Secretary should receive it and confirm the reservations back to you via e-mail.  It's just that easy!

Scottish Rite Auction Dinner

The Fresno Scottish Rite Language Disorders Center Dinner Auction is drawing near.  Tickets are now on sale for this event to help keep this essential valley service operating.

The Scottish Rite Children's Language Disorders Center receives no public assistance; it is entirely funded by private donations.  Yet, LDC offers its services for free to all families with children in need.

The Auction Dinner will be held on August 15 at Pardini's Restaurant in Fresno. You can get your tickets by calling the Scottish Rite Temple at (559)268-9631.  Click here for more information.

Sanger Fireworks Fundraiser

Sanger Lodge #316 will be selling fireworks as a lodge fundraiser from June 28 to July 4.  The booth is located at Jensen and Academy in Sanger, California.  If you are planning on celebrating the 4th with fireworks, help out Sanger Lodge by buying your fireworks from them.

Looking for the July Trestleboard?

There's been a change.  To reduce costs to the lodge, the July and August Trestleboard will be combined to produce a Summertime issue.  The Summertime Edition will be available by mid-August.

In the meantime, continue to check the LPP366 website for the latest information about the Las Palmas - Ponderosa lodge.  This electronic media is in a sense becoming the Lodge Trestleboard, as it should be in the age of electronic communicaions.  Go head, save a tree; we dare you.

Second Degree - A special summer time 2nd Degree will be performed after our July Stated Meeting on July 16.

Summer Time Schedule - Please note that the Lodge will be Dark during the months of July and August.  Stated Meetings during those months will be at 6:30pm.  There will be no Stated Meeting Dinners.  Have a great summer and be safe!

Terms of Website Use Updated - The LPP366.org Terms of Use Agreement, Privacy Policy, and Editorial Policy has been updated.  You can read our legalese here.

 

To find out what events are taking place at the Lodge, click the item below, or click on Events in the navigation menu at the top of the page.

Lodge Events

 
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Las Palmas-Ponderosa Masonic Lodge 366 © 2009  Privacy Policy   Terms Of Use   Last Updated: July 3, 2009