President’s Message – March 2024

News

From the Top of the Rock Pile

Our Gem Show is on June 29th and 30th, with set-up on June 28th. Roger is looking for volunteers, so be prepared to help when he calls or emails you.

We need a volunteer to ensure all the signs we need inside the venue are made and printed. We also need a volunteer to order street signs for our new location, place them before the show, and take them down. Then I am looking for a volunteer to take charge of the club sales table and set up the sales table.

We need tumble rocks for the spinning wheel and free rocks for the kids attending our show. So, if you are tumbling, please remember to tumble for the show. We need stones that are at least 1″ in size.

We have received donations of cut and polished geodes for the kids door prizes, selenite, hematite and mineral sample cards for the club sales table. Thank you!

We continue to get new members every week. Welcome to our club! To our members who have yet to renew this year, please visit our website and renew your membership online. If you attend a meeting, you can pay your dues with a check, cash, or credit card.

If you are a new member, please come up and introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you.

Thank you to Roger Danneman for his excellent job leading our field trips every month. Our field trips are one of our most attended club events. Roger has posted his planned field trip itinerary for 2024 on our website. Be sure to check it out.

Our monthly meeting attendance continues to grow back to the pre-pandemic levels. Since our membership is growing, I hope more members will attend our monthly meetings. The larger our meeting attendance is each month, the easier it will be to book quality speakers.

I look forward to seeing everyone at our March meeting.

Kat Koch, President

Updated: September 8, 2024 — 4:35 pm

Presidents Message

  • From the Top of the Rock Pile Our annual club picnic went off great. The grass and Arboretum area was not wet or muddy, plus it didn’t rain while we were there. We had the usual club members attend, plus a few new faces. I forgot to count how many people attended, but I estimate around 40. Thank you, Angie and Brian, for shopping for the food and setting everything up. Thumbler’s Tumblers donated a tumbler for our picnic auction and another one for our holiday auction in December. The new double-barreled 15# tumbler sold for $120, approximately one-third the …

Meeting Announcements

  • We are going to show a video of the most unusual and amazing things found in Amber. It isn’t just insects. We are also going to have a recap of how our Gem Show did last month. Show ‘n Tell: An item that has something trapped inside or a picture rock, thunder egg, or geode that looks like it has an insect, animal, or face inside.

  • Maureen will speak on the geology and the movement of the Washington coastline over millions of years. Show ‘n Tell: Favorite rock or mineral from Washington

  • Glen Ripper is a leading authority on Obsidian. He is a walking encyclopedia which should make this an interesting and educational meeting. Show ‘n Tell: Obsidian – let’s see your colors.

  •   We start the day off with a potluck holiday meal. The club provides roasted turkey and ham. Members fill in with their favorite holiday potluck dish. We follow our meal with the election of officers for the coming year. Our final activity is our club auction. It is a great time to pick up great bargains on rough rocks, polished rocks, slabs, fossils, opal, etc. Our Young Tumblers can use their Rock Bucks to purchase auction items. This meeting is also our semi-annual food drive for the Kent Food Bank. Please remember to bring something. The Food Bank has informed us that they need feminine hygiene products and grape or strawberry jelly. People donate loads of peanut butter but never jelly. They also receive very few donations of feminine hygiene products.

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