President’s Message – January 2020

News

From the Top of the Rock Pile . . .

I want to thank everyone that attended our Holiday Dinner. We had the best turnout since the club struck out on it’s own. 40 members, family and friends attended. We had a great selection of food. Best ever. Thank you to each one of you for making the dinner such a great success.

I found out at our Holiday Dinner that some of our members are artistically talented beyond collecting rocks. If you have another talent besides collecting rocks please let me know. I found out John Cornell does beaded wall hanging and art pieces (he currently has a showing at an art gallery in Greenwood), Terri Gerard does watercolor and oil painting (she currently has a showing at an art gallery in Greenwood too), I do stipple art (pen & ink using small dots) and ceramics besides my wire wrapping. Your other talent can also include lapidary arts, faceting, wire work, cabochons, opals, metal working, knapping, intarsia, etc. What do you do? Let me know by mailing me at president@cascademineralogicalsociety.org

We are fast coming up on a decision for our 2020 Rock & Gem Show. I have not been able to confirm we have the venue or the dates with the college. So I won’t be asking for volunteer sign up at our January club meeting. Just be aware that we will need sufficient volunteers to commit to covering the open slots before proceeding with the show.

If I am going to be Show Chair I can’t carry a heavy physical load. I have to back off the long show hours as my legs and feet can no longer handle 10 to 13 hour days. I will need everyone’s help to accomplish the 2020 show. Every little bit someone can do will be a help. So be prepared to sign up for something (hopefully) at the February meeting.

Side note: I am already getting requests to book our 2020 show. Mark has given our club a running start on doing a very successful show.

With 2019 now behind us, I want to thank each and every one of you that have volunteered all year long to help our club grow and run successfully. A special thanks to Jennifer Russell, Rich’s wife, for baking goodies for our monthly meetings. She doesn’t even attend our meetings!

Our club went into 2020 with 87 family memberships on our roster. Thank you to everyone for helping to make 2019 a very good year for our club!

Kat Koch, President

 

Updated: November 1, 2022 — 12:49 pm

Presidents Message

  • Digging It!  I hope you’ve all had a chance to get out and look for rocks during the lovely weather we enjoyed in July – it’s been mostly perfect rockhounding weather. And for those of you who were able to come on the field trips led by our fearless wagon master Roger Danneman, I hope you found some good material. Big thanks to Roger for getting us all out there and helping us find beautiful rocks! August is a bit of a break from the usual club meeting cadence – instead of having our club meeting on the second Thursday …

Meeting Announcements

  • Our August meeting will not be happening at the American Legion – instead, this month’s meeting is our annual club potluck and picnic on Saturday, August 15. Join us from 12-4 at Gene Coulon Park, South Shelter 2 – setup begins at 10:30am. Bring something you want to share and/or donate to the club auction, also happening during the picnic. 

  • September’s program is coming soon. We will update this page as soon as we know more.

  • Noelle Barnes will present Using Gaia for Rockhounding, an overview of the features and tricks associated with the app Gaia and how you can use it for GPS, saving waypoints, navigation, photo tagging, trail recording and more. Show and Tell: Bring the rock(s) that have the best “story” – and tell everyone how you found them and where!

  • Club board member Paul Ahnberg will talk to us about the impact of wildfires on our lives – from protecting your home to staying safe while out rockhounding – and what we can do today to help mitigate our risk. Paul will combine his knowledge gained from learning at both the WSU Green School (Master Gardener) and WSU Climate Steward programs. Show and Tell: Bring something you found, from a place that you know has since been impacted by floods or wildfires – or was impacted shortly before you arrived. Tell your story!

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