President’s Message – May 2020 (Click Here for More Info)

From the Top of the Rock Pile . . . . . . .

Mike and I had a great road trip to the Tucson Gem Show, San Antonio – Texas, Buckhorn – New Mexico and an unexpected stop in Quartzsite. There were still many vendors there until the end of April.

During our trip I found out my sister had a stroke so Mike dropped me off near Palm Springs to be with my sister and he then headed home.

Shortly after Mike returned home my car was stolen and our house broken into. All our treasures from our road trip were still inside my car. Luckily they didn’t steal much from inside our house. Mike was home and once they entered our kitchen and dining area they must heard someone was inside the house and awake. They must have been spooked and immediately left with my car.

I have been home since April 11th. Ever since returning home I have been dealing with my car and home owners claims with my insurance company.

I am sad to say there will be no Thursday general club meeting or Board meeting in May. I am very hopeful that we will see everyone in June.

The Board has been discussing what to do regarding our gem show. If we do proceed forward with it what changes do we need to make? Do we need to provide hand sanitizer and masks for all visitors? Are people going to want to come out to a show where there are a large group of people? Should we have fewer booth space and/or lower the price of booth space? This would substantially affect our bottom line. Are we going to have enough volunteers to run the show? If we proceed with our show, we must do everything to make sure our vendors make money. Are people going to have discretionary money to spend on rocks and minerals? If we do cancel it we will have to absorb the expenses already incurred. Such a big decision.

Looking forward to seeing everyone in June. We all need some “rock talk” with our club friends!

Kat Koch

Updated: August 19, 2020 — 7:50 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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