President’s Message – March 2021

Past Presidents Message
From the Top of the Rock Pile . . . .
Our first Zoom general meeting was held on February 11th and it went very well for a first attempt. We had 12 sign-ons with 19 people in attendance. 2 of our them signed on incognito and watched and listened to the entire meeting. It was nice to see that several new members attended.
March’s general meeting will be held Thursday, March 11th at 7 pm. You will get an email the first week of March giving you the link for joining the meeting.
If some of you feel shy attending a Zoom meeting because you are camera shy, you can always attend a meeting without video but with audio on, or both video and audio off (incognito).
In order to attend a Zoom meeting you need to download the app no matter what type of device you are on. Then setup an account for yourself.
Now here is where the good part comes in where you can make yourself look awesome!
There are filters that make you look better on camera. Here is how you access them:

  1. Sign into your Zoom account.

  2. Click on your profile picture.

  3. Click the Background & Filters tab.

  4. Click the Video Filters tab.

  5. Select the desired beauty filter. The filters can smooth out your complexion, adjust your lighting, give you a background of your choosing, etc. You can try several of them and keep the one you like best. Zoom will now keep this setting for all Zoom sessions. You can always go back into the settings at any time and change the filter. 

  6. Now let’s all jump in with both feet and attend our March general meeting!

The Board meeting will be held Monday before the 2nd Thursday of each month. March’s Zoom Board meeting will be on Monday, March 8th at 7 pm. We will continue with all meetings being held on Zoom until we can once again meet in-person.
I encourage everyone to join us in a Board meeting as you will learn everything that goes on behind the scenes in running our club. You will also have to opportunity to ask questions of the Board members. If you would like to join a Board meeting please send me an email message to president@cascademineralogicslsociety.org and I will send you the the meeting link.
We continue to get new members via our website. I want to welcome each of you to our great rock club. I hope we get to meet each other in a Zoom meetings.
Anyone that joined our club from September 11, 2020 thru December 31, 2020 (last year) your membership is good for all of 2021.
Stay home, always wear a mask if you have to go out, and be sure to sanitize your hands constantly. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy as we all want to see each other this year.
Kat Koch, President
Updated: January 9, 2022 — 3:37 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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