President’s Message – September 2019

Past Presidents Message

 

A Note from the President’s Desk . . .

We need a lot of volunteers. You can now sign-up online at our website under the tab Cascade Gem and Mineral Show. I suggest that you sign-up online before too much time passes so we know where we stand on covering all our bases. You can also text or call Mark and let him know when you can help out.

We had to take a larger venue in order to have our show on the 3rd weekend of September as the college made a mistake and the Student Union was not available. In having to cover costs for a much larger venue we went from 43 booths to 63 booths plus all our other activities. So we really need volunteers in order to run the show.

The success of our show directly benefits our club as the proceeds from the show goes towards getting a permanent indoor lapidary shop. We all know how great it would be to have a nice indoor lapidary shop again. So your volunteering to help at the show has a stated goal. So please volunteer to help. 10 or 12 members can not run a 2-day show by themselves.

We all enjoyed talking “rocks” at our annual picnic. They had predicted rain for the day but the weather was good until we were packed up and gone. I know I hit a huge downpour halfway home. It was good though seeing everyone and visiting with one another and picking up some great bargains at our auction.

We had a good turnout for our gold panning field trip. I know I had fun. I did find 2 very small gold flakes. The trip completed a bucket list item for me.

If anyone is going to the Puyallup Fair they have moved the Hobby Hall to the 2nd floor of the pavilion building just as you enter the Gold Gate. They have all new display cases with a completely different floor layout. They had eliminated several competition categories and demonstrators but found out they have more room than expected. Right now they plan on restoring some of the displays and demonstrators next year. The lapidary categories are still there this year. I saw some awesome entries, so if you go to the Fair be sure to check them out.

Kat Koch, President

Updated: December 17, 2019 — 4:52 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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