www.Facebook.com/DelAirRockhounds
Member of the California & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7618, Van Nuys, CA 91409
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
The Del Air Rockhounds Club Welcomes You!!
www.Facebook.com/DelAirRockhounds
Member of the California & American Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 7618, Van Nuys, CA 91409
Del-Air Rockhounds October 2024 Calendar of Events
Wednesday October 2: Rosh Hashanah Begins
Thursday October 3: General Meeting
Friday October 11: Yom Kippur Begins
Thursday October 17: Board Meeting
Thursday October 31: Halloween
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September 2024 Program: The Allure of Diamonds Presented by: Sandie & Tony Fender
They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend, so we would like to present to you a program on diamonds. We will talk about where to find diamonds, characteristics of diamonds and a comparison of natural and lab grown diamonds. Tony and Sandie Fender are retired teachers and are involved in both the CFMS and AFMS.
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Beading Class with Martina Rodriguez
Saturday October 26, 2024 - 10:30 am
FOR PAID MEMBERS ONLY
On October 26th, the Del-Air Club will be holding its final quarterly workshop. This is one of 4 classes held each year and a perk for being a club member. Our member, Martina Rodriguez will be teaching a beading class. You will learn the correct way to tie those knots between each bead and the special knots needed to end your necklace or bracelet. At this class, you will be making a beaded bracelet but, these are the same knots needed for a necklace as well. Yes, men make bracelets and necklaces too! The class will be held on October 26th from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm or when everyone completes their project. The class will be held at Bob & Maxine Dearborn’s house and we will have space for 10 members to participate. Claim your spot on the sign-up sheet at the October meeting. You don’t have a bracelet to restring? This is OK as Martina will have supplies to make and finish your own bracelet. There will be a $10.00 charge for supplies.
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New Members to the Del-Air Rockhounds Club
We are extremely proud to welcome new members Dean Tran, Alexander Tran & Olga Wolf to our club. They were all voted in unanimously at our September 2024 meeting. Welcome… Dean, Alexander, & Olga!
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November Field Trip Teaser: Saturday November 9th 2024
FOR PAID MEMBERS ONLY
Come join field trip chair and club President, Jeff Dengrove, on a field trip to North Edwards. North Edwards is a place in Kern County, California. Situated in the Mojave Desert, North Edwards is located about 7.2 miles north-east of Edwards Air Force Base, at an elevation of 2,293 feet. We will be collecting agates, petrified wood, bloodstone and jaspers. Watch your November bulletin for more details.
North Edwards - California
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Report on the Club Field Trip On September 8th , 2024
The Del-Air Club had a field trip to the Nevada Mineral & Book Co in the town of Orange, CA. This is a store/museum/gallery owned and run by Walt Lombardo, who gave us a program a few months ago on some of his treasures. Oh the fun of it! This is a building full of books, fossils, rocks and interesting stuff. There are big long drawers that are full of fossils and minerals. Many, many shelves of wonderful things from around the world to look at and think “Do I Want That?” There are big rocks, little rocks, expensive rocks and even rocks that say “Yes, I Can Buy That”. Each time you look back on a shelf, you see something new and different and think - How Did I Miss That? I had a fun day, and hope others on this trip also had a fun day looking at all this neat rockhound stuff. And yes, I did come home with a new book on the Oldest Fossils! It is a neat book on the history of different minerals, fossils, gems and more. The next time we go down to Orange, I am taking Bob to this really neat store.
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December Holiday Party Teaser
Happy Holidays Del-Airs. As that time of the year is rapidly approaching, we ask you to start thinking about our annual holiday party. As in past years, we will be enjoying a member potluck dinner, a special presentation (to be determined), games, our annual election of officers for 2025, fun and great camaraderie. More details to be provided in the November bulletin so start thinking about what dish you'll be bringing, main, side or dessert with enough to feed approximately 8 people. Our holiday party committee is currently hard at work planning out all the details. The party will be held on our regular December meeting date of Thursday December 5th in the Fellowship Hall building of the Northridge United Methodist Church. So, save the date as you will not want to miss this fun annual event.
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Glendora Gems Lapidary Club
Unfortunately, the Glendora Gems Lapidary Club is losing their workshop/meeting location and has to sell some of their equipment and rock. Glendora Gems will be closing the lapidary program and moving to a smaller location and reopening possibly in the Fall of 2025. We will be selling equipment like a 36" saw, 24" saws, sphere machines and misc tile saws & several tons of rocks & specimens.
Location: 1515 W. Mission Blvd, Pomona CA 91766 Directions - Drive through big gate at the building near the back of property Dates for the sale will be Oct 5th from 9-3 pm; Oct 12th from 9-3 pm Need more info please contact Robin P. at 951-906-9365.
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Wednesday, August 28, 2024
Del-Air Rockhounds September 2024 Calendar of Events
Monday September 2: Labor Day
Thursday September 5: General Meeting - 7:30 pm at Northridge United Methodist Church
Sunday September 8: Field Trip - Paid Members Only
Wednesday September 11: Patriot Day
Thursday September 19: Board Meeting - 7:30 pm at Bernadette Friedman's home
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Annual Silent Auction - Presented by your Board of Directors
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Vote on the Club's By-Laws
At this month's meeting, all adult members will be asked to vote on the approval or denial of the revisions to the club's by-laws. After many weeks and much review, the board has approved the revisions and they were emailed to all members approximately two weeks ago. We require a two thirds approval of the entire membership to pass these revisions. If you are unable to attend the September meeting, please submit your proxy vote of yes or no via email to delairrockhounds@gmail.com before Thursday September 5th, 2024.
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New Members to the Del-Air Rockhounds Club
We are extremely proud to welcome new members Adriana Hrenciuc and Sandy Lee to our club. They were both voted in unanimously at our August 2024 meeting. Welcome… Adriana & Sandy!
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WE HAVE MOVED!
The Del-Air Club had an outrageous increase in our storage unit and a plea was put out to our membership for possible better rates at a different location. We had responses from many members about the same size unit and a much better monthly rate. BUT THE BEST OFFER WAS FROM OUR MEMBERS, THE KALMA FAMILY, WHEN THEY SAID WE COULD USE PART OF THEIR GARAGE FOR OUR STORAGE! We took them up on this right away and just before our yearly rent was due again the last of July. Our member team of: Jeff Dengrove, Dan Farber, Michael Tschacher, Dan Durfee and Eitan Kalma filled a U-Haul truck, a pick up truck and a small car full of our storage stuff and got it into the garage in about 3 hours. And on a very hot day! WE WANT TO THANK THE KALMAS AND OUR MOVING TEAM FOR A JOB WELL DONE.
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Just a Friendly FYI…
Refugio State Beach in Santa Barbara has now reopened after the damage done by the February 2024 storms. Feel free to meander down the 101 freeway to our favorite whale bone hunting location. Welcome back, Refugio. We missed you!
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Bench Tips from Brad Smith
NEW MELTING DISH
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PROJECTS IN MOTION By Jennifer Haley, AFMS Historian - www.cfmsinc.org
I love my volunteer job as the American Federation of Mineralogical Societies historian. It is fun for me to think about you, and about what you might enjoy reading. You make my day, in this way! I have a bundle of creative projects I would love to do for you as special projects. These are going to take some time pulling together, but it will be well worth the time that goes into it. These projects, when they are completed, will be able to be given to the Federations for their clubs to use in their newsletters, and as club programs. One of the projects will be a collection of vintage cartoons going back to our early days when the generations of rockhounds before us were creating wonderful cartoons for their bulletins all the time. Another project will be a collection of all those wonderful poems, again from vintage bulletins. I’ve been going through some I currently have, and they are so creative and fun. They express the love and joy for our hobby, and are such gifts to bring out and enjoy again for today. Plus, they are such an inspiration for those of you inclined to create your own poems. One other project is for creating a special edition of articles dedicated to telling the true stories of how rockhounds with their talent in lapidary and geology, helped in the war effort during WWII. I have a couple of these stories already, and they are meant to be told. One of these involves a copy of an old Navy report I was able to hunt down that would also make a fantastic program for our clubs. So, wonderful things are in store for you. I am one of those people who enjoys creative chaos, so I can work on all these projects at once as I find more of what I am looking for. I could really use your help in making these projects become a reality. I know many of you have boxes of older club bulletins in which to find the early cartoons and poems. Please look for them and let me know what you’ve found. I wish to borrow them and will return them to you or you can scan them to forward them to me. Contact me, and we’ll work out the details. And of course, I will give credit to the author and your club. Sometimes these vintage poems and cartoons were in a bulletin or just typed out on a piece of paper without an author’s or club’s name on them. Some are very faded, almost hard to read or see. I can still use these and most likely be able to bring them back to life, and I will give you the credit for bringing them to my attention. We have so much to celebrate as rockhounds. Help me celebrate the delights and the honor of being AFMS rockhounds. Reprinted from September 2024 CFMS Newsletter
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From the Desk of the President, JC Moore, AFMS President - www.amfed.org
As I begin this message, an update has been received from Roger Burford concerning Liz. After being in the hospital for the last 3 weeks with major back pain, tests indicate that the cancer has spread to her spine with infections in the bones and, as a result, Liz has decided to go into Home Hospice. Please keep Liz and Roger in your prayers and thoughts at this extremely difficult time. Since my last message, the AFMS Convention in Ventura has concluded and was a great success. There were 55 competitive exhibits that took all day to judge, with several excellent junior entries. I added a learning experience concerning a Japanese art form that has different parameters than what we normally see in exhibits. Of course, there were more vendors with material we do not see in the Midwest, and I could not keep my wife, Donna, away from the silent auction. During the meeting, vacancies were filled for Publications (Ron Carmen), Show Consultant (Jean Charsky), By-Laws (Matt Charsky) and Uniform Rules Eligibility Files (Larry Hulstrom). Again, I would like to thank Ron, Jean, Matt, and Larry for stepping up to fill these positions. We are still looking for someone to be the Chair for Judges Training and Media Director. Again, thank you to the Ventura Club for hosting a wonderful convention. Following our return from California, we spent a quiet few days before heading to New Jersey on June 7th for the Eastern Federation meeting at the Sterling Hill Mine. Since retiring in 2004, this visit has been on our bucket list, and now we can scratch off one item from our list. The meeting was an enjoyable re-connection with people we knew and making new friendships with fellow rockhounds. The mine tour was great, and the collecting even better. If you ever get a chance, this is one site you really want to visit. Now we are preparing for the MWF Convention in East Peoria, Illinois and wish to invite everyone to come and attend August 24-25. Again, please keep Roger and Liz in your prayers as these are difficult times for them. Reprinted from the August 2024 AFMS Newsletter
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Friday, July 26, 2024
Del-Air Rockhounds August 2024 Calendar of Events
Thursday August 1: General Meeting 7:30 pm in our regular meeting room at Northridge United Methodist Church
Saturday August 10: 3rd Quarter Shop Day
Thursday August 15th: Board Meeting
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| 1916 to 2024 |
Sunday August 25: 108th Anniversary of the Nat'l Park Service
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August 2024 Program:
'Ice Cream, Bingo & Summer Finds Social'
It's that time of the year where we once again return after a hot, hot, hot July and enjoy an evening of delicious ice cream and play exciting Bingo games for fabulous prizes.
Plus… bring in and share with the group all your fabulous finds whether self collected or bought at a show or while on vacation. This is the time to show off the newest additions to your collections.
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Education Corner:
This month's Education Corner will be brought to you by our very own Bob Dearborn. He's going to demonstrate how to oxidize sterling silver to give it that unique antique look without having to use any caustic chemicals
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September Field Trip Teaser: Field Trip is for Paid Members Only! Sunday September 8, 2024 - 11:00 am
Club friend & owner of Nevada Mineral & Book Company, Walt Lombardo, has invited the Del-Air Rockhounds on a field trip to his bookstore & natural history gallery located at 342 S. Tustin St., Orange, CA 92866. Not normally open on Sundays, Walt has agreed to exclusively take the Del-Airs on a personal tour of his shop and museum & will be on hand to answer your questions and inquiries. Carpooling is recommended so if you are interested in riding with others or having others ride with you, please let President Jeff Dengrove know as soon as possible so he can possibly help facilitate this.
Nevada Mineral & Book Company (NMBC) was established in 1985, when they started selling mineral specimens and out-of-print publications at gem & mineral shows and through mail order. In 1989 they acquired the inventory of the Mineralogical Record Book Dept., and incorporated in-print books and journals into their offerings. Over the past 30 years, they have evolved to offer the researcher, educator and collector a wide variety of publications and specimens in a "one-stop" shopping environment. In 2001 they opened their first retail location in Henderson, Nevada. In August, 2009 they relocated and opened their new store and gallery in Orange, California. They offer a wide variety of new, used and out-of-print publications, as well as mineral & fossil specimens, lapidary & decorator items, mining stock certificates & other ephemera. They have one of the largest inventories of earth science-related publications in North America, so plan on attending this extraordinary field trip. You will not be disappointed.
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REPORT ON OUR QUARTERLY CLUB CLASS - AMBER:
June had us at Jeff Dengrove’s house for a club workshop on WORKING AND POLISHING AMBER, hosted by member Jon Meredith. We had a full class & Jon had a piece of rough amber for each one of us, plus a kit of many different grits of wet/dry sand paper to finish the project. There was also a container to hold water while working the amber & this stored your kit to take home with you.
John gave simple instructions and said how easy it was to work this fossil tree resin. He also gave ideas on how we could speed up the process with chemicals, but suggested that we just use the sandpaper, as instructed, for a nice finished specimen. So, we got busy dipping our amber and sandpaper in water and sanding. The class ended 2 1/2 hours later and everyone took home a finished & polished piece of amber. And those who chose to, glued a pendant backing on their piece and took a really nice pendant home.
Those who didn’t sign up for this special class really missed out on working with a new hobby material. Some even had bugs in the amber! These quarterly workshop classes are special events, just for our membership and you are really missing out on a learning experience by not joining in for the fun. Members attending this workshop were: Dan Farber, Martina & Rudy Rodriguez, Dr Oh, Anita Lichtman, Bob & Maxine Dearborn, and Kyle Morris. Again, many thanks to club member Jon for teaching us this fun new skill!
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Thursday, June 27, 2024
Del Air Rockhounds July 2024 Calendar of Events
Thursday July 4th: Independence Day
NO GENERAL MEETING IN JULY – WE ARE DARK
Thursday July 18th: Board Meeting - 7:30 pm at the Dearborn's home
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July's Teaser for Our August Program: 'Ice Cream & Bingo Social'
It's that time of the year where we once again return after a hot hot hot July and enjoy an evening of delicious ice cream and play exciting Bingo games for fabulous prizes. Watch your August bulletin for more details.
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Revised Club By-Laws:
All adult club members 18 years of age and older are kindly asked to read the newly revised club By-Laws that will appear in the August 2024 edition of our monthly bulletin. This is very important as the membership will be asked to vote on acceptance of these new By-Laws at our September general meeting and will require a two-thirds majority to pass. All members are encouraged to attend the September meeting so everyone's vote can be counted regarding this important matter.
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RIP Bob Jones:
For those of you who have been long time rockhounds, Bob Jones, a very long time friend of the mineral collecting community, passed away on May 31st. He was in his 90's. Bob's enthusiasm and unstoppable optimism along with his appreciation for mineral collecting and his passion for introducing people to the joy of mineral collecting could not be ignored. He was editor of Rock & Gem Magazine for decades and his many articles where he wrote about collecting localities will never be replicated. Bob was a generous and enthusiastic man who knew no strangers and he will be sorely missed by many.
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Photos From Our Amber Workshop on Saturday June 22
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WE DID IT:
The Del Air Education Outreach Program ended its half way mark for 2024 with a BANG!!! Just before the school break we had two events going at the same time. One a school we have not been to before and the huge CFMS/AMFS Show! On a Thursday evening, we had a booth at a school STEAM NIGHT. Members, Shellie Van Winkle, Pam Abbott, Diana Durfee, Bob & Maxine Dearborn, Jon Meredith, Steven & Coriolis Koch were setting up, running and taking down the booth for a few hours. Our first time at this school and they were happy to talk to us about rocks. On this same Thursday, Jeff Dengrove and Bob Knox were at the Ventura Fairgrounds, setting up our club display case and educational booth. They did this for hours too! Now the CFMS/AFMS Show was a BIG weekend for our club. Besides the setting up and taking down our display case and educational booth, we had many members attend the show to run our booth. Members Jeff Dengrove, Bob Knox, Pam Abbott, Maxine & Bob Dearborn, Diana Durfee, Jon Meredith, Michael Lawshe, Keri Dearborn, Dan Farber were all there on and off for the Fri., Sat., Sun show and spent many hours at our booth talking to lots of people interested in our booth and rocks and minerals. Also two of our members were special speakers for the show. Keri Dearborn - Geology of the Coastal Islands and Maxine Dearborn - Amber. Both of their talks had a well attended audience. We also had a member, Emmy Silverman, who had a dealer booth at this show. You can see our club was very busy at the end of this booth/talk season and many members were involved with these events. We hope you all can take a break now - take a vacation somewhere - and rest up for the second part of the year coming up!
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