President’s Message

Vice-President’s Message

Section News

Being Rewarded for Doing Good

Shop and Building News

Field Identification in Texas

Education

Earthquake Lights

Tourmaline Wordsearch Puzzle

Working Obsidian and Other Fragile Stones

Jemez Obsidian

Minutes of the September 5th Board Meeting

Minutes of the September 26th General Meeting

Upcoming Shows

About Us

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Calendar

Officers and Contact Information

We need a volunteer to be Treasurer!!

This important Board position has been vacant for 8 months and we need someone to oversee a new, hired bookkeeper. The Treasurer also assists in preparing the Club’s annual budget and presents the monthly financial report at Board Meetings.

We Finished the Shop!

We had a lovely get-together on September 30th at the Postcard Labeling Party, which is exactly what it sounds like. We print out postcards with pretty mineral pictures and send them out to people who are on our mailing list as being interested in the show. Beverly and Eddie Mace print out the mailing labels, and we all sit down with a stack of cards and pages of labels, and attach the labels. This usually begins at 10:00, and is done by lunchtime. This year, Debbie Seid prepared a very nice lunch of pasta and salad and bread. It makes a really nice start to the SHOW SEASON!

The October 2023 General Meeting talk will begiven by Joann Socash, on “The Yellowstone Supervolcano We Monitor and the Geysers We Love.”

Joann has a Masters in Geology and an Advanced Studies degree in Hydrogeology. She has worked as a geologist in the field of environmental cleanup for 30 years and is currently President of the Southwest Gem & Mineral Society.

Beading – Second Saturday, 12:30 PM  

 Always bring beading mat, scissors, wire, wire cutter, round nose and needle nose pliers, thread, and beading needles if you have them.  

scissors,

NOTICE: Do you have a bracelet or necklace that needs restringing?  The Beading Section will carefully restring your piece at an hourly rate of $15.00 + materials.  Contact Beading @HGMS.org to make arrangements.  All funds will go to the Beading Section.

Gemstones and Faceting – Second Thursday, 6:30 PM

Zoom meeting begins at 6:30 pm.

We will be turning in competition stones at our October meeting so Don’t forget them!

Lapidary and Silversmithing – Third Monday, 7:00 PM

October 16th, 2023 Presenting Soldering 101 – Beginners welcome to this free program. Tony will present a program on soldering. Learn the differences between paste, wire and sheet solder and when to use each type. Participants will get hands on experience learning to solder a bezel. This is a technique program and will help participants develop skills to move on to making finished jewelry pieces in future meetings.

Refreshments will be served and we will choose programs for March and April. Email Lapidary@hgms.org if you have questions.

Day Light – First Wednesday, 1:00 PM

The Daylight Section meets the first Wednesday of the month from 1 to 3 PM.

At the October 4th session of the Daylight Section which will be held from 1 to 3, we will each be making 4 coasters out of polymer clay with a cork backing. These would be great to give as Christmas gifts or to keep. The cost will be $5.00/person which should cover most of the cost. We will each use 4 oz. of polymer clay.

I am with my sister in Maine, but while here, I went to Michael’s and bought some black and white clay to see how they would turn out and how much it would take. I bought black and white.Attached is a picture of the ones that I made. They are 3″ in diameter.

I will have enough supplies for a maximum of 15 people to participate, so please register ASAP to make sure you get into the class.

Please register in advance to make sure we have enough materials for everyone. A $5.00 fee is necessary for each class to pay for materials. Register by sending an email to Nancy Searle at daylight@hgms.org. All programs are $5.00 and the fee is paid at the meeting.

Mineral – Third Wednesday, 7:30 PM

On October 18th Steve Blyskal invites members to come to the Club to work on mineral kits for the show. The section will attempt their first hybrid meeting. Bring Show and Tell items!

The link for the Zoom meeting is:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4517997588?pwd=SnZjckZBTnRMbHRxZitScE9WU3RWUT09

Paleontology – Third Tuesday, 7:30 PM 

We’ve started hybrid Zoom meetings that include members attending remotely via Zoom; if you’re intrigued by dinosaurs, trilobites, field trips to collect Texas fossils and all other paleontology-related topics we’d love to have you attend a meeting in one way or another and see what we’ve got going on. If you’d like to join the Paleo Section email list, send an email to hgmspaleosection@gmail.com and ask to be added.

At the October 17^th meeting, we have more on Petrified Wood. Why is College Station Wood different than more recent age woods? Identified samples will be given away.

Youth, First and Third Saturdays, 10:00am – 12:00pm

Mostly we will be working on cabochons and getting ready for the Show.

Texaco:  We have been having problems with Texaco not cutting but today I figured out that the problem is a worn-out pulley.  I will write this up as a BBG article will full details on how you identify this.

Dop Pots: I have two NEW dop pots but I am not going to put them at the dopping station because a dopping station has to look like it is in use. I am against making everything perfect. I am going to try repairing the square and brown hot plate because I can not find a replacement and I do not find that being broken in half is a sufficient reason to discard it.   BTW, soy stripper works wonderfully on dop wax. These hot plates will look much better. I have done one pass and got 80% off. Also, I have removed the power strip from the dop station because no one can see the pilot light and the hot plates stay on all the time, ruining the wax. It will be just like before – one plug in the wall outlet.

Trim Saw setup: The trim saw at the sit-down table is incorrectly configured.

Water control valves: We are having a problem with people turning off too many valves when they shut down the shop. There are 4 valves at the wall the left of the sink. You only need turn off the white handled valve. It is on when it is in line with the pipe and off when across. I have put orange tape on the other valves to indicate that they should be left alone. More than once, I arrived at the shop with ALL the valves for the individual grinders turned off. Let’s review. The grinder valves control the general pressure for that machine. The aquarium valves handle the distribution of water to the individual wheels – only adjust them as needed. Shop foreman should just turn on the white handled valve and only adjust the others as needed. The orange taped valves should not be adjusted because they just control the hot and cold water to the sink.

Then I found the water control valves misadjusted AGAIN. The final valve from the water line controls the pressure in the machine and today I found them all turned to MAX flow. If you are having a problem with the valves, talk to me, PLEASE. We are putting a lot of water on the floor and that is the reason that the floor plate of the wall ROTTED out. Let’s not do this again.

Air Abrasive: Thursday shop – The air abrasive was left in a non working condition. The hose was completely plugged with abrasive. Further, the abrasive canister was screwed on so tightly that it took two of us to open it. That was necessary because the red rubber gasket from the lid had fallen on the floor! When that was put back, the abrasive canister could be closed air tight with two fingers. Someone needs to log in the problems so that they can be fixed promptly. You might also notice that there was something wrong with the abrasive canister when it would not seal without heroic efforts. Come on, help me help you.  Don’t break the machine and then sneak off. Let’s work together. I have never beaten a user yet.

I think there is a regulator that might allow me to reduce the pressure in the abrasive tank and thus the amount of abrasive that is pushed through the nozzle . That might reduce clogging. I will test it on Friday.

Grinders: I still have three grinders to fix. The 6″ wheel Genie needs its hoses installed. I got a new push-to-connect hose fitting and just need to test it. The super grinder leaks water and I have to figure out where. And the second to last grinder needs hold down bolts. I will see what I can do on Friday.
I got two of them done, the Genie and the Supergrinder.

Lap Plate: Please follow the instructions stapled to the wall and OIL the lap plate when you are done to keep it from rusting. There is a pump bottle of oil on the machine.

Those of you who are on Facebook know that there are many special interest groups that offer people of like interests a place to gather and share information.  There are several groups that focus on Texas rockhounds and collecting in Texas.  One of them Texas Rockhounds, has established Group Expert status and seen fit to award it to me.  As a group expert I seek to cut through the guesses, humor (?) and comparisons to food, etc. and provide the poster with solid information about their specimen.

One thing I am constantly trying to teach is the simple physical tests that can help new rockhounds identify their finds for themselves.  In Texas, the most common minerals rockhounds will see in the field are gypsum, calcite, celestine, pyrite, hematite, feldspar and quartz.  There are several easy ways to distinguish between these minerals.

Gypsum, hardness 2, can be scratched with a fingernail.

Calcite, hardness 3, cannot be scratched with a fingernail but can be scratched with a knife blade.  It also will react to a weak acid (like Vinegar) by fizzing.

Celestine, strontium sulfate, is hardeness 3.0–3.5 and can be scratched with a knife blade. It is normally gray or blue, feels heavy in the hand, and does not react to acid. The old, incorrect mineral is Celestite.

Pyrite, aka “fools gold”, is a brassy yellow to darker metallic looking mineral, iron sulfide, quite heavy in the hand, and leaves a black streak on a piece of unglazed porcelain. It is hardness 6 – 6.5.

Hematite, iron oxide, is normally dark reddish brown, and leaves a red streak on unglazed porcelain.  When finely disseminated it colors shale, sand and sandstone a distinct reddish color. It is harness 5.5–6.5.

Feldspar found in Texas is usually pink, and can be scratched by quartz; it can scratch most of the other listed minerals. It is hardness 6.0–6.5.

Quartz, hardness 7, cannot be scratched with a knife blade.  It occurs in crystals in the Llano Uplift rocks, in replacement of rudist mollusk reefs in sedimentary rocks of the Edwards Plateau, and in the volcanic rocks of the Davis Mountains in West Texas.  The cryptocrystalline varieties of quartz, chert, jasper, chalcedony, and agate, are all abundant in Texas.  They are also hardness 7 like crystals of quartz.  Chert and jasper are opaque, and chalcedony and agate are translucent.  All can be found in the Davis Mountains and related geologic features of West Texas and in the gravels of the Rio Grande River.  The Trinity River also carries gravels rich with cryptocrystalline quartz.  The Colorado River and the Brazos River are sources of these rocks also.

Earlier this summer, Inda and I received an award for doing what we enjoy most:  helping other people.

The American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) hosted their annual convention and exhibition in Houston. Each year they present awards to a stage full of people who have done something special in the geosciences and energy,  These are  for long and distinguished service, for technical and scientific accomplishments, for teaching and writing,  There’s even team-based award for students who are given a data set from a hypothetical basin and expected to evaluate and present the resource.

Down that list there was a fancy plaque waiting for us.  The citation points to our volunteer work in the various organizations where we spend a lot of effort:  AAPG,   Houston Geological Society, Houston Gem and Minerals Society, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science.

JEWELRY DESIGN (EVENING CLASS) Jeanean Slamen – Friday, October 6^th, 5:00 to 9:00 PM
This course will introduce you to the toolbox of ideas and workflow that allow you to transform your inspiration into jewelry that reflects your personal taste and style.  You’ll have more confidence in your designs and will be able to solve design issues before you start fabricating.
During the four-hour class we’ll learn about design principles, look at a lot of jewelry designs and practice the kind of activities you can use to create your own designs at home.  Students should bring a pair of scissors, a 12” ruler and a fine line black marker like an ultra-fine Sharpie. A class handout will be provided online after class but feel free to bring note-taking materials with you.
These principles are applicable to all areas of jewelry making: beading, wire wrapping, metalsmithing, lapidary and mixed media.
Cost: $35           Location:  Middle Classroom or General Meeting Room, depending on enrollment
Date:  Friday, October 6^th        Time:   5:00 to 9:00 pm          No minimum or maximum enrollment

FACETING 101: Monday, October 16^th and Tuesday, October 17th
This 2-part class will give a basic understanding of the Faceting process. We will take a rough stone to a finished state, learn how to use and care for Faceting equipment, and discuss how to read Faceting diagrams. All equipment and supplies for this class will be provided.

Date:  October 16 (Part 1) and October 17 (Part 2)
Time: 9am till noon each day. (First half of the class will be Monday, October 16th. Second half of class will be Tuesday, October 17th
Location: HGMS Clubhouse
Cost: $225.00 for HGMS members; $250 for non-HGMS members
Class size: Limited to two-students
Instructor: Heidi Shelley

If you are interested in future Faceting classes E-mail:  Classes@HGMS.org to be placed on a list and Heidi may arrange for more faceting classes in the future.

Mysterious lights in the night sky – harbingers of earthquakes? This claim is not as far-fetched as it might sound, because such lights have been reported for millennia. The ancient Greeks, living in a very earthquake-prone land, were familiar with the phenomenon. Most recently video was captured in Morocco before a 6.8 magnitude earthquake, which was centered in the High Atlas Mountains, and which resulted in damage to Marrakesh and many small towns and villages.

“Streams of light” were seen running along the ground north-west of San Francisco before the infamous 1906 earthquake, which destroyed 80% of the city. A bright pink-purple globe of light flew above Quebec’s St Lawrence River prior to the 1988 Saguenay earthquake. In Italy’s 2009 L’Aquila earthquake, a resident of the area led his family to safety after seeing flashes of light inside his home a few hours before the earthquake hit.

These bright colored lights that seem to dance about are easier to see in darkness but probably occur in daylight as well. Many videos have captured due to the modern use of security cameras and cellphones. Sometimes they look like ordinary lightning or bands like the aurora borealis, or glowing spheres. They can also look like flames coming out of the ground. These Earthquake Lights (EQL) seem to be correlated with earthquakes of greater than 5.0 magnitude. Past theories have included piezoelectric activity and gas releases.

John Derr, a former USGS geophysicist who has coauthored several scientific papers on EQL, and several colleagues studied some 65 American and European earthquakes with reports of earthquake lights. In their 2014 paper published in Seismological Research Letters, they note that although most earthquakes occur where tectonic plates meet, EQL appears to be more common within tectonic plates and rift.

One collaborator, Friedemann Freund, an adjunct professor at San Jose University and former researcher at NASA’s Ames Research Center, has a new theory. When rocks containing some types of crystals with particular impurities or crystal lattice defects are put under stress, they may break and generate electricity.

According to Freund, in his paper “Rocks that Crackle and Sparkle and Glow — Strange Pre-Earthquake Phenomena”, igneous and metamorphic rocks, which make up a major portion of the Earth’s crust, contain electric charge carriers, which have been overlooked in the past. These charge carriers are defect electrons in the valence band, i.e., “positive holes”. Normally, they are dormant, but under stress, the rocks begin to sparkle and glow.

His paper describes the physical and chemical nature of these positive holes, how they are introduced into minerals and rocks, and how they become activated. Evidence indicates that once the positive holes are generated, currents can propagate through the rocks leading to electromagnetic emission, to positive surface potentials, to corona discharges, to positive ion emission, and to mid-infrared radiation. These phenomena are expressions of the same fundamental process: the awakening of dormant positive hole charge carriers, that turn rocks momentarily into p-type semiconductors.

In another study, Robert Thériault of Quebec’s Ministry of Natural Resources and colleagues studied well-documented observations of the phenomena going back to the 1600s. The team found that 97% of earthquake lights were associated with subvertical faults, which only cause about 5% of the Earth’s total seismic activity. Subvertical faults exist where a region of a tectonic plate is stretched, pulling it apart and causing faults in the form of vertical cracks – or rifts – to form in the crust. These “intraplate” regions are unlike the subduction zones that are associated with most earthquakes, where one plate is slipping below the other.

The phenomenon of ball lightning, which was referred to as an unsolved problem in atmospheric physics by Stenhoff in a 1999 paper, may be related. Ball lightnings are free-floating volumes of ionized air that detach themselves from the ground. According to eyewitness reports, small ball lightnings have entered rooms through windows, often without leaving a trace or any cracks in the glass or through telephone jacks and electric sockets. The balls drift through the air with a faint hissing sound, and explode with a bang after a few seconds, leaving behind a smell of ozone (Grigor’ev et al. 1992).

Such balls of ionized air seem to appear before or during large thunderstorms and before or during seismic activity. In the case of earthquakes, these plasma balls may detach themselves from the ground when clouds of positive hole charge carriers arrive at the Earth’s surface, leading to high electric fields, like those of thunderstorms and lightning (Derr and Persinger 1986).

The Earth can be a strange place! Many phenomena are not well understood. It occurs to me that some UFOs may be similar ionic charge artifacts.

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_light

https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/14/world/earthquake-lights-phenomenon-scn/index.html

https://physicsworld.com/a/study-homes-in-on-the-cause-of-earthquake-lights/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2022/mar/16/earthquake-light-sky-japan-city-sendai-video

Friedemann Freund’s article:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160303202450/http://www.isfep.com/FF_EQ_SSE_2003.pdf

Photos:

Earthquake lights over Tagish Lake on the Yukon-Alaska border region. The photograph was probably taken in July 1972 or 1973 (exact date unknown). The estimated diameter of the balls is about 1 meter (Courtesy: Jim Conacher)

Streaks of light in Romania, one of five photographs taken around March 1977 near Brasov, Romania. This is about 100 km north-west from the epicenter of a 7.2 magnitude earthquake and its aftershocks. (Courtesy: Seismological Society of America)

Tourmaline is one of my favorite minerals. One website calls it the most candy of all of the candy-colored gemstones. All of these colors captivate all that is within me that loves color, lots of color. The colors include all of the colors in the rainbow, and to make it even sweeter, some tourmaline crystals are bi-colored and even tri-colored such as the trichromatic elbaite crystal from the Himalaya Mine near San Diego. During our years of rockhounding throughout the west, the tourmaline mines in the Pala Region, San Diego County in Southern California were some of our favorite haunts. To sweeten the gemstone color pot a bit, the mines also contained blue aquamarines and the violet kunzite, but it was the wide varieties of tourmaline colors that intrigued me. I think that I have at least a small specimen of each color except Siberite and Paraiba.

I have enjoyed making jewelry with some of my tourmaline. My most bizarre piece is so large that one of my friends, as he viewed it, exclaimed that I must have a very strong neck to wear it. The piece is a wire wrap of prehnite, watermelon tourmaline, schorl, the pearlized lining of an abalone shell, and an enameled hummingbird from an earring. I would include the photo of it but you might be laughing so hard that you would be unable to do the wordsearch puzzle.

Suffice it to say that I admire tourmaline and sometimes I have fun with it. Tourmaline is found in granite, granite pegmatites, schist, and marble. It is found throughout the world, and in the United States, in addition to Southern California, it is also found in several sites in the southern part of Maine.

The tourmaline group of minerals are crystalline silicate minerals, borosilicates, where boron is compounded with other elements such as aluminum, iron, sodium, lithium, potassium, or magnesium. Which element is combined with boron determines the color of the mineral. The borosilicate is assumed in all of the colors described below so, only those minerals that create the specific color are listed.

Dravite Tourmaline is a sodium, magnesium, aluminum borosilicate. It is named after Dravograd, Slovenia where it was first described. It is also called brown tourmaline and is usually rather drab but occasionally is highly lustrous and beautifully crystalized.

In this article we talk about working with brittle, glassy stones, Obsidian, Volcano Glass, Rhyolite, etc, and answer the question, why do so many people try tumbling Obsidian only once?

Because it is difficult to avoid getting an ugly rash on the curved portions of the stones. The big secret to polishing Obsidian and other fragile stones is that they are fragile, so Be Gentle!

Rash or Bruising Occurs on Curved Surfaces

Cutting Stones

With a Mohs hardness of 5 to 5.5, obsidian saws and grinds pretty easily. Sometimes it is better to break or cleave obsidian, rather than sawing it. Gentle tapping can chip off edges, and pressure knapping also works, if you avoid high impact knapping or smashing. You can also squeeze obsidian in a vise. A nibbler tool, pliers, and vise grips can be handy for breaking edges. You can also dress knife edges by directly tapping with a hammer.

Summary

• Be gentle.
• Cushion fragile stones with lots of small stones and/or media, or thickened liquid.
• Avoid tumbling harder stones with obsidian.

In the May 2020 Breccia newsletter of SCVGMS, Michele Smith wrote a great article about Apache Tears, marekanite, from the area just south of Superior, Arizona. Los Alamos, NM, where Noel and I grew up, is nestled in the Jemez mountains near the 13.7-mile diameter super-volcano Valles Caldera. Los Alamos is surrounded by the ancient homes of both cliff dwellers and Pueblo Indians. Native Americans in the Valles Caldera region near Los Alamos and Santa Fe, NM referred to the local obsidian pebbles as “tears” long before the Conquistadores arrived.

The super-volcano’s eruptions resulted in high quality obsidian in many forms that local Native Americans shaped into tools. It was easily knapped into arrow heads, knives, spearpoints, and scrapers with edges as thin as 3 nm, many times finer than the best metal surgical scalpels. There was an area we called “Obsidian Ridge” near the Valles Caldera where we collected a lot of nice, pure black, obsidian, and even found pieces that had obviously been knapped and tossed away as broken (phooey!). Obsidian was also a valuable trading material. The Conquistadores took polished obsidian hand mirrors back to Europe.

In the Jemez mountains there are several well-known exposed pumice cuts that are the main source for the local marekanite obsidian tears. These obsidian tears are similar to the marekanite tears found in Arizona, where they are usually called “Apache Tears”. We discovered that there was a very different source for obsidian tears. Since my mother made pottery, we and other “psycho ceramicists” (crack pots) went on clay hunting field trips, similar to rockhound field trips. In the mountains a short way to the north of Los Alamos, we were harvesting raw clay from a hillside vein, when we discovered many obsidian tears in the loose sediment layer overlaying the clay.

According to a geologist from the Los Alamos Scientific Labs (now LANL), some obsidian tears were formed from molten siliceous lava that was explosively ejected about 20,000 feet up in the atmosphere. As they fell back down, these molten blobs of obsidian cooled into roughly spheroidal pebbles about 1/2 to 3/4 inch in diameter. Unlike the marekanite tears from perlite, pumice, or tuff deposits, the ejecta tears do not have white material in their surface holes or grooves. These were locally referred to as “Ejecta Tears”, “Sky Tears”, “Indian Tears”, and “Hopi Tears”. (The Hopis, whose name means “Peaceful People” did not consider tears a sign of weakness, since they felt that crying tears demonstrated being strong enough to allow one’s feelings to show).

Despite the popular misconception, rain drops and ejecta obsidian drops are not actually tear shaped Although a liquid droplet forming under a faucet or spout will start as a tapered tear drop, it will reshape into a spheroid after breaking off and falling free. In modern times, the mostly solid black obsidian from the Jemez super-volcano is still made into fine jewelry and decorative art works. However, the teardrop-shaped obsidian used in some jewelry has been ground to shape, and is not naturally formed teardrops

Meeting Statistics:

The Zoom Meeting was called to order by President Nancy English at 7:36 p.m. There were two non-voting members present (Sharon Halton and Daniel Rodriquez), and after the meeting started a quorum was present.

Treasurer’s Report:

August Financial Report Discussion- The report was emailed to the board members by Michele Marsel on August 31, 2023. The Board had no comments or concerns to discuss on this report.

Approval of Minutes:

On August 30, 2023, Secretary Heidi Shelley moved via email to approve the minutes of the August 1, 2023, Board of Directors’ Meeting. Board Member Fred Brueckner seconded it. There were six approvals and three no responses. The motion passed with email majority approval on Thursday, August 31, 2023.

Committee Reports

• BBG Notice – Beverly Mace notified members on September 2, 2023, via email that the online version of the September BBG is available on the HGMS Website.
• Donations, Sales, Auction Committee (DSAC): There is still no chairman for this committee. However, President Nancy English thanked Richard Good, Neal Immega, and Foster Kneeland for picking up the latest donation of about 1000 lbs. of agates. Sharon Halton reported that according to Richard Good, those rocks were “Free-range” rocks and members could take what they wanted.
• Education Committee (Maggie Manley): Multiple classes have been posted on the website. They are as follows:
  • Classes posted: A WIRE WRAPPING – TREE OF LIFE PENDANT class taught by Maggie Manley.
  • Two CABS 101 classes taught by Sharon Halton, a Shop Manager.
  • Two TEXTURED RING classes taught by Carmen Fraticelli.
  • A new BEADED BEZEL CABOCHON class taught by Maggie Manley.
  • Two JEWELRY DESIGN classes taught by Jeanean Slamen introduce attendees to the toolbox of ideas and workflow that allow them to transform inspiration into jewelry that reflects a person’s style.
  • Faceting 101 class on September 9^th by Richard Shelley and on October 16-17 by Heidi Shelley. FYI Note: a Faceting 101 class by Randy Carlson was scheduled for Friday, September 9^th.
• Safety/Policy Committee (Nancy English):
  • Retractable electrical outlets: The electrical contractor installed 10 amp retractable outlets on the ceilings down the middle of the lapidary room and two units in the middle classroom instead of the 15 amp units required in the contract. This caused the safety button on the cord units to trip (meaning shut off power to the pull-down plug unit until the button was reset). Secretary Heidi Shelley told the General Contractor about it. He said they were replacing all 10 amp units at HGMS with 15 amp units as soon as the new shipment arrived.
  • The Electrical Map layout of all the new electrical outlets installed by the electrician was emailed to Secretary Heidi Shelley on September 2, 2023. Secretary Shelley will print the layout, laminate it, and place it in the electrical closet in the lapidary shop.
  • Two of the three extra braces on the pipes promised by the plumber have been installed. The Safety/Policy Committee will discuss in their meeting next week whether or not the third promised brace is needed.
  • Load Limit of Loft: During the August Board meeting, a motion was made to get bids to see what it would cost to have an official Load Limit Rating for the loft/mezzanine at the clubhouse. Randy Carlson offered to be in charge of getting these bids. Due to computer problems, he has not been able to research companies to give this evaluation.

• Membership Committee (Beverly Mace): There were seven new single adult memberships and one family membership added during August. There were four late single adult membership renewals as well as one late couple membership renewal completed during August as well.
• AFMS Contest- President English informed the Board that in the latest publication from AFMS, there is a contest posted giving awards to the rock clubs with the newest members during the year. President English suggested that HGMS submit their numbers to AFMS to participate in this contest.
• Scholarship Committee (Mike Sommers): There was nothing to report.
• Show Committee (Sarah Metsa): Committee members are working on coordinating the PayPal payment systems for credit card payments. Members of the committee are also starting their monthly meetings to prepare for the HGMS annual rock show in November. Their next two meetings will be on September 12 and October 10, 2023.

Section News/Problems to Report:

None of the sections had new business, questions, or concerns to report.

Old Business

New Treasurer/Bookkeeper needed – President Nancy English has reviewed the resume of Noor Lakhani. Nancy sent the resume and references to the Board on September 5, 2023, as a potential bookkeeper. Nancy will contact the Board for a motion to hire and motions to change signatures on the accounts as soon as she and Noor agree on a wage.

• Hire Noor Lakhani as Bookkeeper: On September 14, 2023, 4:34 a.m. President English emailed the following motion to all HGMS Board members requesting HGMS to hire Noor Lakhani including a discussion to add to the September 7, Board meeting minutes.

“I spoke to Noor Lakhani on Tuesday afternoon at the club. She is willing to take the position for $30.00 per hour for the first month. That is a drastically reduced price. Once she has a feel for the work, she will give us a part-time flat fee. She is highly recommended by our member, Foster Kneeland. They worked together at his homeowner’s association. Noor is not bonded. I am comfortable with that.

Michele Marsel exits the Bookkeeping position at the end of September. Noor and Michele need to have time to transition the documents and provide some interaction towards assuming the responsibility.”

MOTION: I, Nancy English, move to hire Noor Lakhani to be our bookkeeper starting immediately. Heidi Shelley seconded the motion via email. By September 14, 8:15 p.m., nine (9) Board members had approved the motion via email, and it passed.

• Change Signatures on HGMS bank accounts: Via email on September 14, 2023, President Nancy English asked the Board members for three (3) motions to change the signers on the HGMS bank accounts. Michele Marsel is resigning as HGMS Bookkeeper effective September 30, 2023.

1. MOTION: Richard Good moved to update the signatures on the Prosperity Bank

• Currently, Michele Marsel, Sarah Metsa, and Nancy English sign on the checking account ending 8888. Secretary Heidi Shelley is the Administrator of Accounts.
• Remove Michele Marsel as the HGMS Treasurer and establish Noor Lakhani as the HGMS Bookkeeper.
• The signers will be Noor Lakhani, Nancy English, and Sarah Metsa.

The Motion was seconded by Ray Kizer, and it passed via email on September 15, 2023.

Noor Lakhani and Nancy English will meet at Prosperity Bank in September to change signatures on the HGMS Capital Repairs and Improvements account.

2. MOTION: Richard Good moved to update the signatures on the Chase Bank

• Currently, Michele Marsel, Sarah Metsa, and Nancy English sign on the accounts. Secretary Heidi Shelley is the Administrator of Accounts.
• Remove Michele Marsel as Treasurer/Bookkeeper and establish Noor Lakhani as Bookkeeper and signer on both accounts.
• For the account CLUB BILL PAY CHECKING ending in …7598, the signers will be President Nancy English, 1^st Vice President Sarah Metsa, and Bookkeeper Noor Lakhani.
• For the account “PAYPAL” HIGH YIELD SAVINGS ending in …5510 signers will be President Nancy English, 1^st Vice President Sarah Metsa, and Bookkeeper Noor Lakhani.
• President Nancy English and Bookkeeper Noor Lakhani will have debit cards for access to the checking account ending in …7598.

The Motion was seconded by Ray Kizer, and it passed via email on September 15, 2023.

Noor Lakhani and Nancy English will meet at Chase Bank in September to change signatures on the HGMS accounts listed above.

3. MOTION: Richard Good moved to change the signatures on the Live Oak Bank

• Currently, Michele Marsel, Sarah Metsa, and Nancy English are authorized to conduct transactions electronically for the account ending in …5947.
• Michele Marsel will be removed as Treasurer. Noor Lakhani will be added as the Bookkeeper.

The Motion was seconded by Ray Kizer, and it passed via email on September 15, 2023.

Nancy English will initiate the online authorization to withdraw consent for Michele Marsel to conduct transactions electronically and allow Noor Lakhani to conduct transactions electronically.

• 2021 and 2022 Taxes: Nancy English spoke to Monica Gonzalez at Liberty Tax Service. Monica will get back to Nancy about assuming the tax preparation after she sees the 2020 Tax Return.

• Equipment Schedule for insurance – During the August Board meeting, Richard Good offered to engrave an equipment number on the grinders and make a list for the Insurance Schedule. This item is still in process.
• Facebook/Instagram E-Blast Class Advertising: During the August Board meeting, Sarah Metsa offered to talk to Daniel Rodriguez and Libby to see if either of them would be willing to help with publicity on social media. Thus far no individual has volunteered to update Instagram for HGMS.
• Annual Party – Scheduled for December 9, 2023, at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall.
• Changes in Board for 2024 – Still looking for a chairman of the committee to nominate candidates to fill the upcoming vacant positions on the board for 2024.

New Business

• Sharon Halton and Daniel Rodriquez came to the meeting representing the Supervisors of the shops for the club. Their goal is to increase the number of trained Shop Supervisor volunteers.
  • No Work Unless Two People Present Rule: Currently, no maintenance on machines or work using shop equipment at HGMS can be done unless two people are present in the HGMS clubhouse. Sharon Halton and Daniel Rodriquez believe that Shop Supervisors who have demonstrated proficiency with the use of the shop equipment should be allowed to use, at minimum, the grinding wheels, and the small trim saws. If there is a safety concern, then restrictions could apply to the use of large slabbing saws and other equipment. They asked if the Board would consider lifting this no-work unless 2 present rules.
  • Sharon and Daniel also believe that couples who act as co-supervisors should both be given the “free” status to use the club. This may help us with families that can’t afford to all come to the club at once. A family of 3 would be $9/hour but if the parents are supervising the shop, then the cost would only apply to the one child that was attending.

Sharon and Daniel believe that both of these things assist our club to be open for more days/hours and potentially bring in extra funds.

The Board agreed that couples working as shop supervisors should both be allowed to work for free, though no motion was made to this effect. For the ability to work solo in the HGMS building, President English invited Sharon to join Jeanean Slamen’s committee drafting potential Shop Policies and Procedures/Rules. Tony Lucci, Neal Immega and Richard Good have also been asked by Jeanean to give their input. Sharon Halton expressed interest and asked to be involved with this first draft project.

• Rent HGMS Clubhouse to other groups? Sigrid Stewart and Steve Blyskal approached President English and Secretary Shelley asking the Board to consider allowing them to use the HGMS clubhouse for their strumming night (a group of guitar players that get together to play). The board discussed this option of allowing groups outside of HGMS to rent the clubhouse space for at a suggested donation rate.

Motion

Maggie Manley moved to allow pre-scheduled non-club-related and ancillary Gem and Mineral-related meetings to be held in the HGMS Meeting Hall by groups supervised by a person approved by the Board for a suggested donation of $25.00 per hour. Sarah Metsa seconded the motion and it passed.

• School Class Collaboration: First Vice President Sarah Metsa presented an idea via email to Board members about working with a local school to hold classes at the HGMS facility to help bring more interest of and exposure to HGMS. The board discussed this, and agreed it could be an option. First Vice President Metsa will start with an invitation to key employees from the school to visit HGMS for a tour.
• Change By-Laws – President Nancy English reminded the Board that in order to change the annual dues for membership in HGMS, the by-laws script must also be updated and made available for all HGMS members to review. Secretary Heidi Shelley offered to take charge of this item. A vote of approval from HGMS Members is currently slated to take place in the November General Meeting.

Dates of Note

Adjourn

Vice President Sarah Metsa moved to adjourn the Board of Directors Meeting. Mike Dawkins seconded the motion and it passed. The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

General Meeting Agenda September 26, 2023

Meeting Statistics:

The meeting was called to order by President Nancy English at 7:36 p.m. There were 7 online participants and 17 in person participants. There were no guests in attendance.

President’s Comments:

Thank you to everyone who helps the club in any way, shape, or form.

Approval of Minutes:

Due to technical difficulties, the vote for approval of the June General Meeting minutes was postponed until the September General Meeting. Minutes for the June and August General Meeting are posted on the Back Bender’s Gazette section of the website in the August and September issues respectively. The July General Meeting was cancelled due to the reconstruction of the Lapidary Shop.

Motion   Ray Kizer moved to approve the minutes for both the June and August General Meeting as posted on the HGMS Website in the Back Bender’s Gazette. Steve Blyskal Seconded the motion.  A vote was taken and the motion passed.

Committee Reports/Section Reports

• Donations, Sales, Auction Committee (DSAC): During the meeting, Ray Kizer volunteered to be Chairman of the DSAC. Richard Good, Neal Immega, and Foster Kneeland have picked up the latest donation of about 10,000 lbs. of agates. They are currently stored in the garage. The “good stuff” has been locked up. After the buckets have been assessed the free rocks will be put on the table and porch. They will be making multiple trips to the location.
• Education Committee: There are five upcoming classes posted on the HGMS Website. They include the following topics:
  • Beaded Bezel Cabochon –September 27th 
  • JEWELRY DESIGN – September 29^th, 
  • Textured Ring Class – September 30th
  • Jewelry Design – October 6th
  • Faceting 101 – October 16-17th (a 2-Day class)
• Safety/Policy Committee:*The North Wall Rebuild Project is officially finished.
  • The retractable cords in the ceiling have been replaced by the electrician with new pull down plug units. They are now rated for 15 amps each.
  • President English informed those present that HGMS has paid the contractor, Alex from Wood and Stone Remodeling the rest of the money owed on Monday, September 25, 2023. He said if HGMS experiences any problems related to the remodeling to contact him.
  • The committee is still working on a solution for the wet, oily floor.
  • The electrical layout map changed by the construction has been received by HGMS and will be placed in the Electrical Closet shortly.
• Membership Committee: There were seven new single adult memberships and one family membership added during the month of August. There were four late single adult membership renewals as well as one late couple membership renewal completed during August as well. President English reminded those present that starting July 1 of the year, annual memberships are half-price for new members. If current members are late paying membership renewals and pay after July 1^st, they will still need to pay for the full year – aka full membership price. President English also noted that during the annual rock show, HGMS will be selling memberships, at 2024 new prices. These memberships for new members will be good from November 2023 through the end of December 2024

• Scholarship Committee: no report

• Show Committee:
  • The Postcard Label Party is Saturday. Debbie Seid is providing food. Project for labeling 6,000 + postcards starts at 10 am and lunch will be provided when the project is done.
  • Show Volunteers needed. Some members and outside students have volunteered already, but more will be needed.
  • HGMS Annual show ticket prices will be $10 a piece for the public. HGMS members who purchase show tickets online using the discount code will receive $2 off for a total of $8 per ticket.

Old Business:

• Volunteers still needed for critical positions:
  • Post classes and events on Instagram
  • Secretary for 2024
  • 1^ST Vice President 2024
  • Treasurer now
  • Note: Sarah Metsa will become the 2^nd Vice President and take over membership for Beverly Mace. So HGMS will need a new First Vice President for 2024 to help with programs for the General Meetings.
• Bookkeeper replacement 
  • HGMS hired Noor Lakhani, who was recommended to the board by Foster Kneeland. President English introduced Noor to those present and informed members that Noor has already been working with Michele Marsel to take over the Bookkeeping duties.
  • President English announced that all requests for reimbursements will now need to go through Noor.
• The Holiday Party for HGMS is scheduled for December 9, at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall.

New Business

• Bylaws change: President English reminded those present that membership prices for annual dues will increase in 2024. Only the Lifetime Membership is stipulated in the by-laws and will need to be updated. HGMS will send an eblast notification to all HGMS members explaining the change at least 30 days prior to the November General Meeting. A vote to approve the By-Laws change will take place during the General Meeting in November. The new bylaws will record the changes in the annual dues for 2024 changing Lifetime Memberships from $500 to $750. The sentences underlined will explain which paragraph of Section 2 of the by-laws that will be changed. Then, that same paragraph will be repeated with what is changing crossed out, then repeated with the new amount.

By-Laws Section Changes:

Section: – Original script

Section 2 – Membership Designations The designations of membership in this Society and their requirements are as follows:

SENIOR MEMBERSHIP: for persons 18 years of age or more. Senior membership has all privileges and the right to vote and hold office, subject to the provisions of Article II, Section 1.

JUNIOR MEMBERSHIP: for persons under 18 years of age. Junior membership has all privileges except the right to vote and hold office.

HONORARY LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: this membership may be awarded by the vote of the Board of Directors for outstanding service or meritorious achievement. Recipients will have all rights and privileges of Senior membership including the right to make motions, vote, and hold office. Honorary Lifetime Members pay no dues.

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: this membership can be purchased for $500.00 and has all rights and privileges of Senior membership including the right to make motions, vote, and hold office. Lifetime Members pay no further membership dues after the initial $500.00 payment.  

Changes: – below 

LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP: this membership can be purchased for $500.00 $750.00 and has all rights and privileges of Senior membership including the right to make motions, vote, and hold office. Lifetime Members pay no further membership dues after the initial $500.00 $750.00 payment.

Section Announcements

Please look for reports of future Section meetings and programs in the BBG calendar, on the Website https://hgms.org/events, or by reading the weekly Sunday, e-blast from Houston Gem and Mineral Society.

Any additional announcements?

• Beading Section (Maggie Manley):
• Day Light Section (Fred Brueckner):
• Gemstones/Faceting: (Randy Carlson)
• Lapidary/Silversmithing (Richard Good):
• Mineral (Ray Kizer):
• Paleo (Mike Dawkins):
• Youth (Beverly Mace):

The next Board of Directors meeting is on Tuesday, October 3, at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom. If you would like to attend, please send an email to President@HGMS.org. The Board always meets via Zoom.

The next General Hybrid In-Person/Zoom Meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 24, at 7:30 pm.

The program will be Tuesday, October 24, starting at 7:30 PM for the Business meeting and the presentation to follow after adjournment.

The presentation will be given by Joann Socash, on “The Yellowstone Supervolcano We Monitor and the Geysers We Love”

Show and Tell

Neal Immega shared information about a recent donation. They will accept any packing material like padded envelops boxes, and more to help with this donation. There are dinosaur bones, agate, and more coming in with this donation.

Steve Blyskal shared rocks that he just collected from a recent trip to Colorado. He attended a Gem Show while he was there. Steve picked up rocks to be used in the school kits. They found milky quartz. He showed horn-blend schist from South Dakota. Steve showed a variety of other rocks that he and Sigrid Stewart picked up along their trip.

Door Prize

Sarah Metsa won the polished Brazilian agate door prize.

Final Comments

President English gave a special thank you to Michele Marsel.  She has served in many different positions over the years and helped many different people. Over the years she has served as Donations Chair, Treasurer/Bookkeeper, Website committee member, Show Committee member, access code security team member, Shop Supervisor and support in the background for numerous leaders. When you have the opportunity, thank her for her years of service. President English is very grateful for what she has done for HGMS.

President English once again thanked the volunteers who made the renovation possible and all volunteers that make HGMS possible. She also thanked Debbie Seid for providing food the General meeting and reminded members to pay the kitty (AKA to contribute to HGMS to cover the cost of refreshments).

Program: After snacks, Sarah Metsa will introduce the evening’s program: Michigan’s Copper Country -by Paul Brandes

Adjourn:

Steve Blyskal moved to end the General Meeting. David Janos seconded the motion. A vote was taken, and the motion passed. The General Meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Remember to check details before traveling!

www.rockandmineralshows.com

Rock & Gem Magazine Shows

Gem & Mineral Society of Louisiana

———And————

SCFMS Convention

10/13/2023 – 10/15/2023

Fri, Sat, Sun 10-6

Alario Event Center

Westwego, LA

www.gmsofla.org/2023-show

Tri-City Gem & Mineral Society Show

10/14/2023 – 10/15/2023
Sat 9:00-6:00 Sun 10:00-5:00
3303 N Third Street
Frank W Mayborn Civic & Convention Center
Temple, TX

Artisans by the Trinity Gem, Mineral and Glass Show

10/14/2023 – 10/15/2023
Sat 10:00-5:00 Sun 10:00-4:00
3300 Bryant Irvin Rd
CERA Recreation Complex
Fort Worth, TX 76109
http://www.facebook.com/groups/CowtownGMG

Gem Capers 2023 – Minerals of India

10/20/2023 – 10/22/2023
Fri/Sat 9:00-6:00 Sun 10:00-5:00
900 Barton Springs Rd
Palmer Events Center
Austin, TX 78704
https://www.agms-tx.org/

Fossilmania

Start Date: 10/27/2023 – 10/29/2023
Fri 8:00-6:00 Sat 9:00-6:00 Sun 9:00-4:00
202 Bo Gibbs Blvd
Somervell County Expo Center
Glen Rose, TX 76043
https://www.dallaspaleo.org/

Houston Gem & Mineral Show!!

11/10/2023 – 11/12/2023

Humble Civic Center

Hgms.org

Dallas Gem & Mineral Show

11/18/2023 – 11/19/2023
Sat 10:00-6:00 Sun 10:00-5:00
1700 Rodeo Drive
Mesquite Convention Center
Mesquite, TX 75149
http://www.dallasgemandmineral.org/