Thursday, October 29, 2015

Nov 2015 Del Air Calendar of Events

Nov 2015 
01: Daylight Savings Time Ends: Set those clocks back 1 hour. 
05: General Meeting: 7:30 pm in our regular meeting room. 
11: Veterans Day: Honor those who have served our country! 
19: Board Meeting: 7:30 pm at the Backus’ home 
26: Thanksgiving: Time to give thanks for all we have.
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Del Air General Meeting: Thursday Nov 05, 2015 
The meeting begins at 7:30 pm in our regular meeting room at:
Northridge United Methodist Church - 9650 Reseda Blvd, Northridge, CA 91324 Guests Are Always Welcome At Our Meetings & Events. 
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Nov 2015 Program: “CATLINITE” - THE SACRED STONE  
Presented by: Bob & Maxine Dearborn 
Bob & Maxine Dearborn will take us to Minnesota where this stone has been mined and collected for 1000’s of years. In the early 1800’s, George Catlin, an adventurer and artist, visited these American Indian quarries. He created pictures of the quarry site and the material was named Catlinite. To the American Indian, both then and today, it is called Pipestone. There will be a video narration of the quarry site, samples of the material as well as pipestone pipes and carvings on display and more. 
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Support Our Hobby....Support A Local Show 
 
November 7 - 8: ANAHEIM, CA
American Opal Society
The Phoenix Club
1340 South Sanderson Avenue
Hours: Sat 10 - 6; Sun 10 - 5
Contact: Veronica Purpura, (714) 501-9959

November 7 - 8: OXNARD, CA
Oxnard Gem & Mineral Society
Oxnard Performing Arts Center
800 Hobson Way
Hours: Sat. 10 - 5; Sun. 10 - 4
Contact: Josephine Martinez, (805) 701-1826

November 7 - 8: RIDGECREST, CA
Indian Wells Gem & Mineral Society
Desert Empire Fairgrounds
520 South Richmond Road
Hours: 8 - 5 daily
Contact: John DeRosa, (760) 375-7905

November 7 - 8: SAN DIEGO, CA
San Diego Mineral & Gem Society
Al Bahr Shrine Center
5440 Kearny Mesa Road
Hours: Sat 9:30 - 5; Sun 10 - 4
Contact: Bob Hancock, (619) 889-6886

November 14 - 15: SACRAMENTO, CA
Sacramento Mineral Society
Scottish Rite Temple
6151 H Street
Hours: Sat 10 - 5 daily
Contact: Alyssa Mesiznger, (916) 662-5819

November 14 - 15: YUBA CITY, CA
Sutter Buttes Gem & Mineral Society
Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds - Franklin Hall
442 Franklin Avenue
Hours: Sat 10 - 5; Sun 10 - 4
Contact: Katie Slightam, (530) 673-9649

November 21 - 22: APPLE VALLEY, CA
Valley Gem Gem & Mineral Club
Victor Valley Museum
11873 Apple Valley Road (x Bear Valley Rd.)
Hours: Sat 9 - 5; Sun 9 - 3
Contact: Ed Skidmore, (760) 243-2330
Website: www.vvgmc.org

November 21 - 22: SANTA CRUZ, CA
Santa Cruz Mineral & Gem Society
Live Oak Grange Hall
1900 – 17th Avenue
Hours: 10 - 5 daily
Contact: Julia Cornblatt, (831) 687-0509
Website: www.scmgs.org


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 Nov 2015: Arkansas State Mineral of the Month: “Quartz”
Arkansas designated the quartz crystal as the official state mineral in 1967. Arkansas is one of a small number of places in the world with enough quartz crystals to justify commercial mining. Quartz is composed of silicon and oxygen and is common throughout the world, although most of it is not crystallized. Crystallization occurs when the silicon dioxide or silica is heated. The source of the heat can be extremely hot water from underground sources, which fills open fissures to create quartz filled veins.

In Arkansas, this reaction is estimated to have occurred during the last part of the formation of the Ouachita Mountains, about 280 to 245 million years ago. During the cooling, the silicon and the oxygen recombined as molecules formed by one silicon atom and four oxygen atoms. All of the crystals have six sides or faces because of their molecular structure.

Though the amount of unmined quartz in the state is not yet known, Arkansas does have, in terms of both size and quality, some world-class deposits of quartz. These crystals have been used to make oscillators for radios, computer chips, and clocks. Quartz crystals are also valued for their beauty as mineral specimens and gemstones.

A “quartz belt” that is between thirty and forty miles wide runs through the core of the Ouachita Mountains into Oklahoma. Quartz has been mined in the region since the early 1800s. In Mount Ida, Ocus Stanley began the modern mining of quartz in 1930. Stanley believed that in the history of quartz mining in the state, only about four percent of the crystals in the Ouachita Mountains had been removed. He had the longest mining lease in the Ouachita National Forest, opened Mount Ida’s first rock shop, and has been credited with helping launch other quartz dealerships. He has been dubbed the “Undisputed grand old man of quartz in Arkansas.”
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THE EASIEST ROCK COLLECTING YET!!
 Bob & Maxine Dearborn have been on one of their extended trips again this summer and rockhounding was really not in the plan. But, in one location, it was so easy that we just had to pick up a couple rocks. ! We were driving north above Amarillo, TX. This is what they call the Texas panhandle and we were going along the west side of a huge lake. It was raining on and off and this was normal for our trip. Looking at the road map we noticed on the other side of this lake there was a Alibates Flint National Monument. Never been there and the map showed farm roads going around the lake with towns listed here and there, but no mileage on these roads. Our RV was at a 1/4 of a tank, but there were towns and we would get gas somewhere. Driving these farm roads was OK, but the towns listed here and there had maybe 2 - 5 houses, no gas station, no stores, pretty much no people! The miles stretched on and now we are below 1/8 of a tank and the RV is pretty heavy to push even with a jeep attached on the back! Maxine actually stood in the middle of the farm road to stop the only car coming in the opposite direction and we did find out that the town of Fritch, TX had gas and we were only 8 miles away. You better believe we stopped at this gas station!! ! The Alibates Flint Nat’l Mon. was only 25-30 miles from here and we knew we could make it now. The flint here is really different than the flint we collected in southern Texas last year. This has a lot of colors in it and is found under a thick layer of Quartzite. After learning about this material and the quarries in the park, we looked in our Texas Rock Collecting Book and found out we might be able to look for this flint in a area on the other side of this huge lake. This is where we started!! We have plenty of gas now and really know the farm roads and there is a campground there. So a rockhounding we go. We got to the campground about 2pm and we saw 5 roadrunners and many quail but no sign of people and from the looks of the tracks on the dirt road probably no one has been in here since last spring? We made camp under a big cottonwood tree, the rain has stopped and now it is hot! Looking at our rock book we figured what dirt road they were talking about and took off to look for flint. Well, this is where the easy collecting comes in. They had a huge flood in this area early spring and it must have messed up this road a lot. They cleaned out the road with a grader, pushing the run off stuff to the sides of the road and even cut the banks wider for cars to pass. Well, like I said, we were probably the first car on this road for months. We drove slow and Maxine would say STOP!! She would get out and pick up pieces of flint and walk along to find more. While I drove real close to the cut bank and took pieces out, reaching through the open window. I never really got out of the car. After driving a couple miles like this we had 2 very large bags of flint. Back to the RV and high graded the material before it got dark and the bugs came out. We left the next morning going towards New Mexico as planned and had our
collection of Alibates Flint, the only rock we brought home.

By: Bob & Maxine Dearborn
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IT WAS OCTOBER 10TH AND A VERY HOT DAY!

A few members of the Del Air Rockhounds club met at the Granada Hills Street Fair at 8am to set up our club booth. A few more members arrived to help figure out how we could best use the 10 foot square space at its best advantage. The first thing up was a canopy, so we could set up the rest in some shade. We were ready for the crowd at the opening of 10am and right away we had people trying the spin-a-wheel and buying grab bags. We also had parents and children looking and feeling our touch and feel rocks and saying “What is This?” This went on all day, during the heat and us trying to find shade under the canopy. We went through a lot of water and with all the help we had a good day. More help from members would have been nice, so some of us would not have had to stay there all day.  Members setting up, taking down the booth and running it all day were: Jim & Shellie VanWinkle, Bob Knox, Chris Ward, Julie Marin and her 2 granddaughters, Mina and Zoe, Hiro Matsuo and Bob & Maxine Dearborn.
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