Thursday April 3: General Meeting
7:30 pm in our regular meeting room at Northridge United Methodist Church.
Saturday April 12: Passover Begins at Sunset
Thursday April 17: Board Meeting
Sunday April 20: Easter
Tuesday April 22: Earth Day
Saturday & Sunday April 26 & 27: Lavic Siding Field Trip - Paid Members Only
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April 2025 Program:
Here and There in the Solar System: Driving and Flying on Mars
Presented by Neil A. MottingerNeil grew up in the 50’s on a small family farm southwest of Chicago, near Joliet, Illinois. During his junior year of high school his mother arranged for him to look through a neighboring farm lad’s home-built telescope. Unknowingly, that set the course for an interest in space that ultimately found him at JPL in deep space navigation in 1967. He worked in a group dedicated to improving the accuracy of deep space navigation. He supported many of the missions to Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune as well as Lunar unmanned and manned missions, starting with NASA’s Apollo 8. He’s also supported international navigation teams in Europe, Japan, and India, including the 2023 Indian south pole lunar lander. Also supported at JPL were the first US Mars Orbiter, Mariner IX November 1971, and the first successful landings on Mars by the Viking the more recently Mars Rovers Curiosity (2012), Perseverance (2021) and InSIght lander (2018) navigation teams. Neil and his wife, Debbie, live in La Crescenta. He is active in the La Canada Presbyterian Church as a 42-year (charter) member of the hand bell choir and a practicing Stephen Minister for 28 years. He was an astronomy major with a math and physics minor at the University of Illinois, Urbana, 1966, with a master’s degree in systems Analysis from West Coast University, 1971.
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April's Rock of the Month is Jasper
Courtesy Geologyln.com Jasper is a form of micro-granular quartz (Silicon Dioxide - SiO2) and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases. It's typically opaque and comes in various colors like red, yellow, brown, or green, with red color often due to iron inclusions.
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Welcome to our Newest Member
The Del-Air Rockhounds wish to welcome our newest member, Phylis Wheeler, who was voted in unanimously at our March 2025 general meeting. Welcome Phylis to the Del-Air Family!
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April Field Trip - Lavic Siding - Paid Members Only
Saturday & Sunday April 26 & 27, 2025 Sign up Sheet at the April Meeting
Courtesy Google ImagesLavic Siding is an old railroad siding and associated hamlet in San Bernardino County, California, known for its alluvial deposits of volcanic rocks, including jasper and agate, that are sought after by rockhounds. If you ask any rockhound where the Mojave's most colorful jasper can be found, Lavic Siding will be on the short list. For decades, rockhounds have driven across the tracks and down the Lavic Lake road to access this remarkable location. Red, yellow and orange jasper with blue and white quartz stringers is still found in profusion as float in this spot. Have your rock hammers and spray bottles at the ready. More details as well as a sign up sheet at the April general meeting.
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May 2025 Field Trip Teaser -CFMS Show & Convention
Friday, May 9 – Exhibit Set-up & Judging (not open to the general public) Saturday, May 10 - Show Open: 10:00 AM–5:00 PM Sunday, May 11 - Show Open: 10:00 AM–4:00 PM
Antelope Valley Fairgrounds - 2551 W Avenue H, Lancaster, CA 93536
Join us for the 2025 CFMS Convention, held at the Antelope Valley Fairgrounds from May 9-11, 2025. We are holding this alongside the Antelope Valley Gem & Mineral Club’s annual show. The CFMS portion of this event features exhibits, Cracker Barrel with a Silent Auction and a banquet for CFMS member attendees. The Antelope Valley Gem & Mineral Club's portion of this event will include vendors, exhibits, kids activities, demonstrations and more. Don’t miss this chance to connect with fellow rockhounds and mineral enthusiasts!
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EMERY BOARDS
I feel the key to getting a lustrous polish on your jewelry work is having a good selection of sandpaper handy for pre-polishing before going to the buffer. I generally start around 400 grit and then go to 800 and 1200. While some projects do require sheets of sandpaper, my favorite way of sanding small jewelry items is to use emery boards, the ones you use for doing your nails. I like the ones with a thin foam
core. They have enough resistance to sand the high points off a flat surface and yet give a little when you're trying to smooth off a curved surface. These nail boards are inexpensive and come in a variety of grits. Some grits are so fine they give an almost finished surface. Pick up a few at a beauty supply company, at your local drug store, or from Amazon.
