Author: Alan Molineux

The
bulletin
Newsletter of the
victor valley
Gem and
mineral club
Ph. (760) 243-2330
september 2009

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Your officers for 2009
2009 Executive Committee
President……………………...Gil Gilbert……………………..868-6900
1st V.P (Membership)..Gayland Graves……………..902-3249
2nd V.P (Education)…….Val Costello…………………..963-3974
3rd V.P (Gem & Mineral Show chairman)
Virgil Melton……………………………………………948-2849
Recording Secretary….Alan Molineux……………….951-7064
Treasurer…………………….Carole Mc Michael .……..961-7659
Board Members
Don Pomerenke………………868-5264
Lloyd Guilliam..……………….962-6844
John Printz………….………….957-7414
Charles Toles………………….951-0372
Past President……………..Tom Laszlo…………………..…247-5369
CFMS Representative...Pat Estes ……………..……….948-7324
Standing Committee Chairmen
Wagon Master…………..Blaine Witte…………………….244-8211
Historian…………………….Joe Kosik…………………………..241-0894
Maintenance……………...Charles Toles.…………………..951-0372
Librarian………………….…Dwayna Barron………………...963-3974
Newsletter…………...…..Alan Molineux…….…………....951-7064
Sunshine Lady…………..Marie Gramata…………………245-3775
Displays………….………….Andrew Turner………………...962-0095
Raffles……………………...Charles Toles…...……………....951-0372
Scholarships……………..Andrew Turner….…………....962-0095
Photography………….....Alan Molineux…………………...951-7064
Hospitality……………..…John Printz…………………………..957-7414
Tailgate……….…………….Brett Ward…………………………948-1232
Virgil Melton………………………948-2849
Training Coordinator..Lloyd Guilliam……………………962-6844
Instructors
Ed Deren, Jim Fosse, Gil Gilbert, Tom Laszlo, Virgil Melton,
Joe Kosik, Pat Estes, Gayland Graves, Don Pomerenke and
Lloyd Guilliam
Club Website—www.vvgmc.org

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The victor valley gem and mineral Club
was organized in 1947 and has been the focal point of High Desert rock hounds for the past 61 years. The club takes active roles in various civic activities. Membership is open to all persons interested in the gem and mineral hobby and lapidary arts. Meetings are held at the clubhouse located at 15056-B, 7th Street (behind Kaman Bearing) in the center of Victorville. Visitors are always welcome.
For further information,
call (760) 243-2330.
Meeting dates
Our September meeting was held on Tuesday, 22nd at 6:30p.m. and the October general meeting will be held on Tuesday the 27th.
Sign up sheets
We now have an upcoming event and/or class board. The sign up sheets for the Picnic and Gem Show are on this board. We need your support. You can sign up for more than one shift and for more than one day. You can also sign up to bring more than one food for the pot lucks……..John Printz.
Rags
If you have any old rags or material (cotton or knit) such as: towels, washcloths, t-shirts etc, we can use them at the club for rags.
Thanks…..John Printz.

Shop workday
august 2009.
We had a great work day.. We had two—three times as many people show up as usual.. We would like to thank everyone who came out and supported their club. We got a lot of work accomplished as follows:
saws cleaned– Blane Witte
(2) saws repaired—Tom Laszlo & John Printz.
Silver Room cleaned—Gil Gilbert. Display cases cleaned—Ellen Gilbert. Grinding Room cleaned—Chris Koch. Rock storage area (outside) cleaned—Carole Mc Michael & Cliff Nelson.
Outside (back and upper level) cleaned—Ed Deren, Don Pomerenke, Francis Gramata (also removed a tree.)
Parking lot clean up—Francis Gramata & Cliff Nelson.
Butt Cans created by Ty Mc Michael.
Sewing Grab Bags for the Gem Show (about 200 bags) - Marie Gramata, Pat Estes, Chieko Printz, Taeko Deren and Ellen Gilbert.
Material donated by Sara Arnold.
Took bags home to work on—Dorothy Oberg, Bobbie Kaufman, Chieko Printz, Rose Kosik & Adelina Elizalde.
If I missed anyone, I’m sorry—I am getting old and forgetful.
We had BBQ hamburger and hot dogs and deep fried corn dogs.
We got a lot done and had a great time. (Continued on page 11.)

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Our upcoming club picnic & barbeque

The club picnic/barbeque will be held on October 17th, 2009 from 9a.m. to 4p.m. at Pebble Beach (Doris Davies) Park in Victorville. We will also be having a silent auction (we need an auctioneer). Please bring at least three rocks to donate to the auction.
Directions: From I-15, exit Roy Rodgers Drive East, through 7th Street, straight on La Paz Drive, to Pebble Beach Drive. Turn left, park on left.

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These leaflets can be picked
up at the club. As I mentioned earlier in this issue, there is a sign up board at the club for duties for the upcoming Gem and Mineral Show.
This is an opportunity to show case the club and so we need everyone’s help. We want this event to be a success—by that I mean we want to show the public what we do. I’ll be there and I look forward to seeing you….Ed

Come Screen for Benitoite Gems
Hello fellow Rockhounds,
The Benitoite Gem Mine has re-opened for screening at a location with easy access. www.calstategemmine.com
Here's your chance to come and find the California State Gemstone "Benitoite" one of the rarest and most valuable gemstones in the world!
Pricing: $70 per person, kids 12 and under $20, seniors 70 and over with proof of current rock hound membership, $35.
Reservations: See www.calstategemmine.com
Large Groups: Give us a call and let us know what days you are coming.
Open: We are open Saturdays and Sundays.
Sign-in and Demonstration Time: 9:00a.m. to 10:00a.m.
Collecting Time: 10:00a.m. to 3:00p.m.
Destination: The historic old Road Camp. Los Gatos Rd. Coalinga, CA 93210
Directions: Follow Los Gatos Canyon Rd., 18 miles west of Coalinga, CA. On right side, look for white buffalo.
We Supply: Screens, screening tables, buckets, water, and a quart sized zip lock bag. We have a UV dark room to look through your washed material. Employees will be there to assist, demonstrate, and identify your finds. A port-a-potty is available.
You Need to Supply: Tweezers for picking up gemstones and a plastic apron or something to keep you dry. Bring your lunches, drinks, and lawn chair, A pop-up shade if you need it, rubber gloves if you need them. It's a muddy job screening for Benitoite, so bring your rain gear.
Rules of the Hunt: 1. Stay in the immediate area between the screening pile and parking lot. 2. Do not go into buildings unless permission is granted. 3. You are allowed to take home your zip lock bag full of finds. 4. If you find something too large for your zip lock bag and would like to purchase, we will negotiate a price. 5. Kids are allowed to play freely, please keep them close. 6. Pets are free. Keep them on a leash please.
Sign-in Procedure: Park in the parking lot next to the white buffalo. Line up at the walk-in gate in front of the small cabin. If you concerned about not getting a screen, pay in advance, via Pay Pal.
See www.calstategemmine.com
Contact Us: Owner: dave@calstategemmine.com
Co-owner: jl@calstategemmine.com
Cell: (559)-284-4126 Home: (559)-935-5909
Thank you,
Dave & John-Luke

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October 2009

Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
International / Dinosaur / Month	Diversity / Awareness / Month	National / Book Month	National / Dental / Hygiene Month	1 / Disney World / opens in 1971	2	East and / West / Germany reunite / in 1990.
4 / Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	5 Instructor’s / Meeting 6p.m. / Board Meeting / 7p.m.	6 / Mad hatter / Day	7 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	8 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	9 / John Lennon’s / Birthday	10
11 / Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	12 / Columbus Day	13	14 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	15 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	16 / Dictionary Day	17 / U.S population / reaches 300 million / in 2006.
18 / Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	19	20 / Education Night / 7p.m.	21 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	22 / Workshop / 1—9p.m.	23 Chemists / celebrate mole day / 2009.	24
25 / Workshop / 12 noon—5p.m.	26	Pot Luck / Dinner 6:30p.m. / General / Meeting 7:30p.m.	28 / Statue of Liberty / Dedicated in / 1886.	29 / First Internet / Transmission / In 1969.	30 / John Adams’ / Birthday in 1735.	31 / Halloween

Deadline for the October issue of the Bulletin is Monday, October, 19th.Ph.(760) 951-7064 or email amolineux@gmail.com

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Wanted—Rocks, Lapidary,
Materials & Equipment.
Call Charles Toles.
Home (760) 951-0372 Cell (760) 220-6748.

White Buffalo & other turquoise—from various states. Priced per piece
Contact Virgil Melton (760) 900-0507

Rocks, Rocks, Rocks,
Buy slabs, cabs & rough from Joe!
Brazilian, Moss Agate, Wood, Jasper,
and Obsidian.
There is a sale on Bolo cords.
Club members (any club) 20% off at my house or 10% off at gem shows. I sell crushed Agate, Wood & Jasper for tumbling at $1.00
per pound. Call Joe Kosik (760) 241-0894.

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August general Meeting minutes
Val Costello said she would hold off on the vote count until everyone has had a chance to vote for the cab of their choice.
Virgil Melton said the Gem Show is Nov. 14th & 15th. Sign up for show related duties now.
Blain Witte said we will be having a field trip to the Cadde Mountains on Sept. 19th.
Ed Deren said we’ll have a clubhouse clean up on Saturday, 08/26. See the calendar for the next one. Cyndy Mandell will do another glass fusion class in the fall—with a limit of about (6) members.
Charles Toles will do the club display for September.
We need written job descriptions for newly created jobs.
Our annual club barbeque and picnic will be held on Saturday, October 17th at Doris Davies Park in Victorville—formerly Pebble Beach Park.
Club elections are coming up and an election committee has been selected.
We need a volunteer to co-ordinate the club Christmas Party.
Addendum
Don Pomerenke and his wife, Marilyn spoke at the club Education Night in August—not September.

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September Board
minutes
Carole Mc Michael took the meeting’s minutes.
Gayland Graves suspected some members were using club equipment to “manufacture” large numbers of cabs wearing down the club equipment. He is taking measures to stop that practice.
Val Costello says her cab making competitions help members improve the quality of their work.
Virgil Melton has had a good sign up response from members for Gem Show duties.
Pat Estes says she is still raffling off tickets at $5.00 each for a place at Camp Paradise.
Cyndy Mandell reported for the Financial committee and said that the books that were checked appeared to be in good order and everything was alright.
The board talked more about resurfacing the parking lot.
The Finance Advisory Committee thought the club could benefit from a “Purchasing Agent.”
An interior club security camera system will be purchased by Virgil Melton.
Mr. Steve Kaufman will refurbish the library shelves.
The equipment sitting in the storage shed—not being used will be inventoried soon.
Fees have been paid for the use of Doris Davies Park for the upcoming club picnic.

(Useful Internet sites cont.)
Some of the questions get more than one answer and may carry on for a period of time until everything that can be explained is explained. These are very interesting even if I have no idea what they are talking about. Lots of people include pictures of their finds or rocks they want help with identifying which is very helpful. Occasionally, someone will offer something for sale either rocks or tools and since it will be usually somewhere in a 100 mile radius it might be worth a drive to check it out.
I also belong to several other sites such as Beadaholics chain maille, glass fusion, jewelry making, lapidary list, metal clay, mineralsforsale, rockhounds list, roughforsale and silversmithing. Even though I don’t often respond to questions or upload pictures of my work as some do I love going into these sites and checking out other artists work and looking at the questions and answers.
In addition I have another site that I would recommend to everyone for identifying rocks and that is: http://www.mindata.com/. This is a wonderful site when you are looking to identify a particular mineral or find out its composition. It has beautiful color pictures and provides a lot of information about the mineral.

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Useful Internet Sites
By Cyndy Mandell
Email: cynmandell@yahoo.com
I have found and use a number of interesting and dedicated rock and mineral sites on the Internet that I find useful and thought I would share with others.
The first site is at Yahoo.com under the heading of groups on the left side bar. These groups contain a wide variety of interests from entertainment, games, crafts, hiking, you name it there is probably a group that will interest you. I have joined LA Rocks a group dedicated to news and answers to questions pertaining to rocks and minerals in the greater Southern California area. Joining is free you just have to apply to the person who modulates the group. You can choose to have all new messages forwarded to your email or to manually access the site whenever you desire. I choose to get emails on every new additional entry to the site. Some examples include: listings of field trips by clubs, gem and mineral shows in the area (including our own), questions, questions, and more questions about everything under the sun having to do with rocks and minerals.

(Useful Internet sites cont.)
It is fun just to browse this site and drool over the wonderful specimens.
Another good site to explore is called www.esty.com. This site offers the artist the opportunity to put photographs of their work on their web site and sell their product. It is an interesting way to see what others are creating in our field or to sell something you have made.
I’m sure there are more interesting sites out there that our club members are using and I would be interested in hearing about them so that I can share them with others. Maybe some of you will email them to me or write them down and hand them to me at a meeting.
Rock of the month
A desert rose is a mineral formation of barite, selenite, or gypsum. These minerals become impregnated with sand as they are forming and crystallizing and a rosette pattern forms. Some of these formations do highly resemble roses, however, their texture is grainy and rough and not at all smooth. Desert roses are used as specimen stones in display cases for rock hounds and collectors, as party favors, and large specimens can even be used as center pieces. The most common use of these beautiful stones however is by placing them in potted plants or in the garden especially around roses to increase production and health of the plants.
The selenite rose can be found in places like California, Libya, Mexico, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, just to name a few. They are distinguished from the barite rose with their characteristics - the edges of selenite roses are sharper and the crystalline structure is less hard (on the Mohr scale of hardness) than the barite structure.
I have found a few over the years and have perhaps 8-10 in my possession at this time.
(Shop Workday—August 2009 continued)
Only two people brought rocks for the exchange but didn’t exchange them. We need more people bringing rocks. This is a good way for new members to get some rocks to work on. September work day will be on the 26th. See You there. John Printz & Ed Deren.

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Snail
Mail
Stamp

Another
bulletin
Expressly for

Victor Valley Gem & Mineral Club
15056-B Seventh Street
Victorville, CA 92395-3811.
bulletin is the official monthly newsletter published by victor valley gem & mineral club and is distributed free of charge to both members and non members.
Views expressed by authors in the articles which appear in the bulletin do not necessarily reflect those of victor valley gem & mineral club. Responsibility is taken by the editor alone.
Articles from this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part in other lapidary news-letters if proper credit is given to the author and the bulletin.

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