President’s Message

Vice-President’s Message

Section News

Shop and Building News

Saw Blade Bushings

Education

Field Trip to Zapata Area

New Southern Colorado Rock & Mineral Show

Cybersafety First

Bench Tips

19,000 Newly Discovered Undersea Volcanoes

Undersea Volcano Offshore California

Minutes of the April 4, 2023 Board Meeting

Minutes of the April 25, 2023 General Meeting

Upcoming Shows

About Us

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Calendar

Officers and Contact Information

It’s May, It’s May! That lovely month of May!!

I know it has been hard to wait, but we are so much closer to knowing when the rebuild of the Lapidary Shop will commence, try to be a little more patient. It looks like the contractors will be available on June 5. That means we will need
volunteers throughout May, especially the weekend of May 27 and June 3 & 4 to clear out the shop and make room for the building work to commence. The Safety and Policy Committee has plans for where to move and store equipment during the renovation. The Committee also has a diagram for the relocation of the grinders and saws when the contractors are finished. The HGMS Clubhouse will be closed to members during the time the contractors are there. We will know more about these dates after the May Board of Directors meeting on May 2. There are five active members of the committee, all working diligently to provide the most affordable remodel. We will provide more details in the weekly e-blasts in May and June. In the meantime, check your calendars and see when you may be available to help before and after the project is finished. For every hour you volunteer to empty and refill the Lapidary Shop you will receive a coupon for one free hour of shop time after the shop reopens.

Take a minute to thank the volunteers who make it all work for HGMS Members. I hope you had time to answer our two-question survey in last week’s eblast.

Our dear “Lacy The Dog” (as Tom referred to her on FaceBook) died in April. Memories of fifteen years of her unconditional love bolster our spirits when we
need it.

Come on people! If you don’t help me come up with great programs I will have to write another one myself!

Beading – Third 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.  

Fifteen Beading Section members met on Saturday, April 15th to make a leather-gemstone bracelet taught by Maggie Manley.  Focus was on learning to make wrapped loops and learning to make leather barrel knots.  In May Ginger Smith will be teaching how to make wire-wrapped beaded earrings with a drop on a wire loop.

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 7:30 pm. Subject to be announced.

Join our Zoom Meeting!
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86161221552?pwd=aGpUNnZFdHdoai9yR2ZsazF5Y25Edz09
Meeting ID: 861 6122 1552
Passcode: 225678

Lapidary and Silversmithing – Third Monday, 7:00 PM

• May 15, 2023 at 7:00 pm: Working With Fire Agate. Tony will demonstrate prepping and carving fire agate. Please bring any fire agate rough you have. Tony will have some available for purchase. Don’t forget to bring your finished stone of month from previous meetings if you want feedback on how you’re doing.

• June 19, 2023 at 7:00 pm:  Annealing, Work Hardening and How to Use the Rolling Mill.  If you want to learn how to turn scrap silver into workable metal again, please join us for this program. Tony will explain annealing and work hardening  — what it is, why it’s important, and how to make hard metal soft. He will also show proper use of the Club’s rolling mill to turn prepared silver scrap into silver sheet to use in a new project. Participants will practice annealing. There is no charge for this program.

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.

On May 3rd, we will be making a beaded bracelet. Ginger Smith and Nancy Searle will be teaching the session. They are donating thread, needles, and clasps; a friend gave Nancy many beads which we will use, so there is no charge for this session. You can see below the video which provides the directions for the bracelet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWj6V48pR_o

Please register in advance to make sure we have enough materials for everyone. A $5.00 fee is necessary for most classes to pay for materials. Register by sending an email to Nancy Searle at daylight@hgms.org.

Mineral – Third Wednesday, 7:30 PM

On May 17th Steve Blyskal will discuss the Southwest Gem & Mineral Society Trade Show May 13th and 14th.

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 May 16^th meeting, we are going to have a workshop on creating flint points. RSVP so we will be sure to have enough flint.

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

Mostly we will be working on cabochons.

News From Neal – 

Saturday Shop – yet again, there were NO customers. We were hip deep in Shop Foreman. Unless someone has another idea, I am going to stop coming on Saturday. That means that we are going to have Shop Foremen there only every other week when Steve and Sigrid come in. Advise if you think this is a bad idea. I still plan on doing Thursday shop.

UPDATE: Saturday April 29^th there were people at the shop! One even said that she had been avoiding Saturday because it was too busy, until she read my complaint of being alone. Now she is coming to Saturday shop. Perfect.

Lights – The lights on the grinders looked a little dim to me and when I measured the voltage going to each light string, it was only 10.7 volts. The lights are rated for 12 volts. The fix turned out to be super simple – adjust the potentiometer on the power supply and now I have the voltage up to 11.4. Much brighter. I could probably double the light output again if I could get it to 12 volts, but the potentiometer cannot be turned higher.

Lathe Repair – I had it all wrong. Al found the missing parts for the 3-jaw lathe chuck and with those, the lathe performs perfectly for making parts for the faceters. Thanks to Cooper and Al for finding the right parts. This makes me wonder if the faceters are really cyborgs if they truly need metal parts.  Cooper cut a test piece and it is in the magnetic parts pan attached to the outside of the lathe on the left. Someone should tell Pat.

Lights – The lights on the grinders looked a little dim to me and when I measured the voltage going to each light string, it was only 10.7 volts. The lights are rated for 12 volts. The fix turned out to be super simple – adjust the potentiometer on the power supply and now I have the voltage up to 11.4. Much brighter. I could probably double the light output again if I could get it to 12 volts, but the potentiometer cannot be turned higher.Grinders – replaced the light bars on two of the grinders. One had corroded junctions and one had the cord cut by the pulleys powering the grinders. Better now.

Furnace – Debbie did a trial run on the furnace to see if the Chinese meter and thermocouple will work. No. The meter will not read anything over 600C.  On to the plan B – I have ordered possibly better tools. 

Calipers – I loaned someone the calipers from the lathe. Please return them!!

Junk – I was encouraged to clean up the spare parts and motors bookshelf. I decided to put on the shelves near the library some arbors that could be built into grinders. If you are thinking of a REALLY low-cost grinder, come and see me. I will sell you an arbor from my supply.

Titan Bearings – Since I cannot have the Titan machine put in a accessible spot during the shop rebuild, I am just going to inconvenience everyone and start fixing it next Thursday.

From Sharon Halton –

Due to illness, one of our Shop Supervisors will not be able to act as Shop Super for an extended period of time.

Daniel Rodriguez has stepped up and volunteered his time every other Sunday to cover her shifts. If you use the shop on Sundays (or any day), remember to thank the Supers there who are willing to give us their time. If Daniel had not been available, this message might be reporting that the shop would be closed every other Sunday.

All the days that the shop is open is due to the generosity of volunteers. I have taken on the role of coordinating this team and currently have only two ex-supervisors I can reach out to. I would like to request our more experienced members to think about being a part time shop supervisor. If you are willing to be a backup, I am putting together a list of people willing to cover the shop when someone is ill, injured or on vacation. I promise to call only when we are in a pinch.

We have been lucky to have a small, dedicated group of people to carry all the days that we have open. Many clubs can only open 2 days a week due to the lack of volunteers.

Please call me, Sharon Halton, at 504-352-0666,  if you’re willing to be added to my backup list.

I know, saw blades are expensive and a cheap imported blade from China may attract your eye, but there is a problem. Many Chinese-made blades have metric arbor holes and they will send you a steel washer-like bushing to make the blade fit your machine. You will not know whether the bushing is the right size until you unpack the blade and try to fit it in. The Houston Gem and Mineral Society used to be (before Covid) a major consumer of trim saw blades and we have found that many of the bushings do not fit. It is rare that the outside of the bushing tightly fits the blade. Oversizes can be reamed or ground away but making undersized bushings fit is more difficult.

The problem is to keep the bushing in the saw so that the blade will stay centered. It really does not work to use tape or glue because the flanges do not press on the bushing, allowing it to become disconnected from the saw. If the saw is not FIRMLY clamped between the two flanges, it will slip, and the user will think that the saw has gone out of round. If you detect this situation, put a “Do Not Use” sign on the saw and ask the shop foreman to seek repair. I suspect that the makers of the blades do not check that the bushings fit their blades, going by “the myth of the international inch”. I wonder if perhaps metric parts are better standardized.

This problem can be cured if the TIG welder is used to weld the bushing to the blade. See photograph below.

Reference:

https://units.fandom.com/wiki/International_inch

I took a membership this year in the Southwest Gem & Mineral Society (San Antonio) to get news about field trips and to be able to participate in their Trade Shows. A couple weeks ago my wife Sigrid and I learned that SWG&MS were joining a field trip with GSSA (Geological Society of San Antonio) to an area south of Zapata, Texas, called Bob’s Knob. That is a bit of a trek from Houston, about 5 and a half hours of steady driving, and to be able to meet the group in the morning you must stay overnight. We had participated in a club trip put together by Matt Dillon over 10 years ago to the Zapata area, at a location called Cox’s Camp not too far away and wanted to see if the area had changed much.

Kenneth Wilkerson, an experienced field collector in South Texas, was our guide. Chris Cooley, field trip chairman for SWGMS, organized the trip with GSSA.  We have hunted agates on the Kokernot o6 ranch with both Chris and Kenneth.  We drove down Friday and stayed at one of the many small motels in town.  During the evening a squall line came through and dumped more than an inch of rain in Zapata and the hunting site.  Saturday morning was cool and breezy, unusual for south Texas in late April, when temperatures are regularly 95 in late afternoon. Over 30 people showed up at the gathering point on US Highway 83, a very large group, but there were plenty of rocks and it is a remote area, so it was good to have company.

After Kenneth showed the group some examples of the agates and petrified wood that could be found, we headed for the site, down a gravel road with many right-angle turns and lots of water hazards that got everyone’s vehicle wet and muddy!  At the end of the road we went into a quarry, not currently being worked, just above the slope down to the shoreline of the lake.

This quarry, many acres in extent, exploited the dense Rio Grande River terrace gravel common in this area.  Everyone had plenty of space to spread out and hunt the freshly rain-washed gravel.  There was an outcrop of a white tuffaceous rock full of pebbles and cobbles of many kinds, the source rock of the agate cobbles we were searching for.  A narrow road led down to a terrace of fossiliferous brown sandstone, an outcrop partially covered with gravel, just above the current shoreline.  The brush was not heavy, and the grass was just beginning to grow up after the recent rains.

By 3:00 most people left for the long drive back to San Antonio.  Since we were going to stay in the general area another night we lingered on the road out, stopping several places where the gravel seemed heavier and avoiding the muddy areas.  Another few agates were found doing this.  We spent the night in Hebbronville, an hour north of Falcon Lake.  Driving home we stopped in George West and spent an hour on the gravel roads west and north of the town where much petrified wood was found in the past.  What we found was most of the gravel roads have been covered with crushed limestone.  We hunted a few of these where the gravel was still exposed on the side of the road and found several small pieces of petrified wood.  The recent rains had caused some erosion and washed the dust off the rocks.  One road was still covered in the original gravel and had been recently graded.  We found small pieces of petrified wood and one small piece of shrinkwood, a type of petrified wood with white and brown coloring that can cut nice cabochons.

After driving home, we unloaded our finds and washed off the dirt and dust.  There are caliche (freshwater calcium carbonate) deposits on many of the cobbles.  We will use diluted muriatic pool acid to clean off the caliche.  It was a long, tiring trip but we made new friends and were glad to be around fellow rockhounds.  We enjoyed trading collecting stories with many of the people we met.

Interesting things do pop up on your Google feed. On the morning of April 25^than article from Fox21 News out of Colorado Springs read:

“Thousands attend first-ever Rock and Mineral Show.”

Well, naturally I was interested. The brand-new Southern Colorado Rock & Mineral show held April 22nd and 23rd in Florence, Colorado, had between 3,000 to 4,000 visitors, according to the event’s Executive Director, Amy Dawn Bourlon. Guests enjoyed multiple exhibits, live music, over 60 vendors and a beer garden. Beer Garden?? Wow!

Of course, there were the usual events of Gem & Mineral Shows everywhere, but also geode cracking and shucking oysters for pearls for kids, along with free junior explorer books and show bracelets. Also featured were a drum circle, Seven Falls Indian Dancers, “The Circus Man”, live forging demonstrations, gold mining tips and food trucks.

Fremont County, where Florence is located, is a beautiful part of Colorado, best known for the Royal Gorge and its famous high suspension bridge. I once took a helicopter ride into the Gorge, waving at the people on the bridge as the helicopter dived down. Other adventurous folks can ride ziplines (!) across the Gorge, ride the Royal Gorge Route Railroad, go for rafting adventures on the Arkansas River or for 4-wheeel drives in the area.  Steve and I have rockhounded in the area and enjoyed dinner at the local Quincy’s Steak and Spirits.

The Southern Colorado Rock & Mineral Show is a Millennium Grown production by Amy Dawn Bourlon, 719-280-7091. The first year annual show was Earth Day Weekend – April 22nd & 23rd, 2023, at Pathfinder Regional Park in Florence, Fremont County, Colorado.

References:
https://socorockandmineralshow.com/

www.RoyalGorgeRegion.com

In the future if HGMS starts a fundraising campaign it will be well publicized on our weekly e-blasts and on the website, hgms.org. Money will not be directed to any person or outside organization.

High-resolution radar satellites have discovered over 19,000 previously unknown  undersea volcanoes, according to a publication April 6^th, 2023 in the journal Earth and Space Science. This new information will add to our knowledge of the mantle and tectonic plates, and the ecology of the ocean and circulation of ocean currents. The previous global catalog of known seamounts contained 24,643 seamounts, defined as isolated elevations in the seafloor with circular or elliptical bases, relatively steep sides, and narrow summits. The addition of 19,325 new seamounts is stunning!

Seamounts are volcanoes composed of basalt that can be either active or dormant. They form in three different known environments: near mid-ocean ridges where the crust of the earth spreads, in island arcs or near hot spots located in the middle of tectonic plates. Mapping of seamounts is accomplished by either topographic mapping by echo sounding or multibeam sonar on ships (which provides greater detail), or gravity field mapping by satellite altimetry.

References:

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2022EA002331

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/mind-boggling-array-of-19000-undersea-volcanoes-discovered-with-high-resolution-radar-satellites

Drones are now in everyday use, for mapping and photography and even pizza delivery. You have probably seen one cruising above your house and wondered, who’s the snoop? But did you know that there are drones that cruise the ocean and map undiscovered undersea kingdoms? Saildrone is one such company and they have made a startling new discovery in waters offshore of California.

Saildrone’s autonomous vehicles collect data at sea that provides information for climate variability, mapping, and maritime surveillance and reconnaissance. They operate from the Arctic to the Great Southern Ocean and provide a portal for transmission of data from various sensors.  While detection of security threats and illegal activities is undoubtedly important, it is the mapping of little-known areas that is most interesting to earth scientists.

Some of the capabilities deployed in Saildrone Explorer and Surveyor vehicles are:

• Reconnaissance Single-beam for contour line mapping, in waters up to 100 meters deep
• Multibeam echo sounder and sound velocity profiler, for up to 400 meters deep
• Deep Single-beam surveys for areas upt to 500 meters deep
• Full Ocean Multibeam for large-scale bathymetric surveys up to 7000 meters

The wind and solar-powered drone is able to collect better data by virtue of the absence of engine noise and of course the fact that it is unmanned means lower cost.

Meeting Statistics:
The Zoom Meeting was called to order by President Nancy English at 7:38 PM. A quorum was present and there were no non-voting members in attendance.

Treasurer’s Report:
Last month, Michele Marsel emailed the February and March financial reports to the Board just before the Board Meeting. President English reviewed aspects of that budget with the Board including the fact that the one HGMS bank account is now receiving an interest rate of 4 percent.

Approval of March Minutes:
On March 24, 2023 Board Member Fred Brueckner moved via email to approve the minutes of the March 7, 2023 Board of Directors’ Meeting. On March 26, 2023 Sarah Metsa seconded the motion. It was voted on and passed via email on March 28, 2023 with a majority vote.

Committee Reports
 BBG Notice – Beverly Mace notified members on April 3, 2023 that the online version of the March BBG is available on the HGMS Website.
 Donations, Sales, Auction Committee (DSAC):
o Still looking for a chairman for this committee. So far in 2023, the Donations Committee has posted $1300 to the HGMS budget.

 Education Committee:
o Classes posted: Cabochon 101 scheduled for April 5 and April 19, 2023 and taught by Sharon Halton. HGMS is still looking for volunteers to teach classes.
o If you know of anyone who can teach a class on the HGMS website wish list (https://hgms.org/education/hgms-classes/), please contact Maggie Manley at classes@hgms.org.

April 2023 Board of Directors Meeting Page | 2Last Updated 5-1-2023
 Safety/Policy Committee:
Secretary Heidi Shelley gave the Board an update on the North Wall Rebuild. The main point of note is that the bid approved by the Board during the March Board meeting did not include electrical and plumbing reinstallation. The Safety/Policy Committee met to review requirements for these two items. It was also discussed the desire of some shop foreman to group all trim saws together in the room after the North Wall Rebuild was complete. This request sparked a new discussion by the committee. They evaluated moving the sink to the north wall with most of the grinders as well as move the settling tanks and sump pump from the closet with the electrical panel to under the grinders. During the March General Meeting, members expressed concern about not being included in the afore-mentioned discussion of shop supervisors and a new meeting was called. President English and Secretary Shelley met with current shop
supervisors via Zoom to discuss these plans and agree upon a general layout of equipment in that room once the shop rebuild was completed. The Committee met with a licensed plumber for consultation to review options for plumbing drainage and to give an idea of what is possible as far as plumbing goes. Secretary Shelley updated the Board on options presented by the plumber including running the drain pipe out of the building to the sewer line. Once completed, a new scope will be created by the Safety/Policy committee and given to the contractor to bid this added scope. Final numbers will be presented to the board when available.
 Membership Committee:
o Member Statistics Report for March: There were 14 Adult Single memberships, 4 Couples memberships, and 2 Family memberships added during the month of March.
There were a total of 21 Single memberships, 1 Couple membership and 1 Youth membership renewed during March 2023.

 Scholarship Committee: A flyer for scholarships was created by Daniel Rodrigues and will soon go out. Ray Kizer asked for a copy of the flier to be added to the HGMS files in the office for future reference. President English will email the Board a copy of that scholarship flier when it is available.
 Show Committee: The Show Committee and Website Committee have been working on the new PayPal Readers. They will finalize what equipment HGMS will use for Point-of- Sale transactions.

Section News/Problems to Report:
There were no news items nor problems reported by section members.

Old Business
February 2023 Meeting Items for Discussion Follow-up –
 Equipment Schedule for insurance – There have been no updates on this item.

April 2023 Board of Directors Meeting Page | 3Last Updated 5-1-2023
 Proposed Increase of Annual Dues was announced at the General Meeting on March 28, 2023. Attendees were informed the By-Laws would have to be changed and pricing would be effective Jan 1, 2024 should the vote to change the by-laws will pass:
Current Annual Dues:                        Proposed Annual Dues:
Single Adult: $40                               Single Adult: $50
Couple: $60                                       Couple: $70
Youth: $25                                         Youth: $30
Family: $75                                        Family: $85
Individual Adult Lifetime: $500        Individual Adult Lifetime: $750

 Facebook/Instagram E-Blast Class Advertising: Sarah Metsa has been posting new classes via Facebook. HGMS is still looking for someone to help post news to the HGMS account on Instagram.
 Volunteer Incentive for helping to move equipment for the Lapidary Room facelift. The Board discussed possible options.
Motion
1st Vice President Sarah Metsa moved that HGMS offer volunteers that help to move the shop equipment around during the reconstruction a coupon for an hour of free shop time per hour they work. If volunteers work a portion hour, time will be rounded to the next hour for coupon receipt. Ray Kizer seconded the motion. A vote taken and the motion passed unanimously.
 Dean Wix solicited bids for our HVAC maintenance – President English gave an update on this item. The current maintenance company updated their computer system and HGMS was lost in the transition, thus the scheduled maintenance was missed. President English spoke with the company and expressed concerns about the poor maintenance HGMS has received thus far. The company wants to make it right. HGMS has one more maintenance visit based on their current contract with HGMS. The board will review their service during the last two visits on contract and then decide if their performance is worth renewing a maintenance contract with that company. The final inspection is scheduled during the summer of 2023.

Report Back on Items from the March Meeting – for your Information
 President English reported back on the Clear Lake Gem and Mineral Society Show on held on March 18-19. President English listed all those club members that volunteered for this event.
 Nancy English emailed Steve Blyskal to ask him to reserve the December 9, 2023 at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall. There is no new information on this item.
 New Kiln with Lock: There is no new information on this item.
 Jewelry Room Rules Documentation: Janean Slamen found rules from a California club and will put those together as an example of what HGMS might be able to use for the shop in the future.

New Business

April 2023 Board of Directors Meeting Page | 4Last Updated 5-1-2023
 Nancy asked Steve Blyskal to clear out the hallway between the garage and the double-doors to the lapidary room. President English wanted to thank Steve Blyskal, Ray Kizer and the others that worked to clear that entry way for the contractors.
 Questions were asked by Board members about logistics of moving equipment within the shop as well as what is stored in the attic mezzanine.

Adjourn
Ray Kizer moved to adjourn the Board of Directors Meeting. Sarah Metsa seconded the motion and it passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:37 pm.

Respectfully submitted,

Heidi Shelley

HGMS Secretary 2023

Meeting Statistics:

The meeting was called to order by President Nancy English at 7:30 pm. There were 20 people attending in person and 6 attending online. The following three new members of HGMS were in attendance and introduced during the meeting: David and Susan Fitzhugh, Richard Porter.

President’s Comments:

President English and Secretary Shelley explained that Closed Captioning is now available for those attending the meeting via Zoom. It is an option that can be selected from the Zoom menu labeled “CC” and can be turned on per user.

The North Wall Rebuild Committee met with the contractor today and worked out the plans for the remodel of the lapidary shop. The Committee will meet with the Plumber and Electrician this Thursday. President English gave a short summary of progress made on this project and also expressed her gratitude for all the work this committee has done to get to this point. President English also announced that the contractor should be able to start work in the beginning of June, but more information will be coming soon as to actual dates.

Approval of Minutes:

Club member Ray Kizer moved to approve the minutes of the March 28, 2023 General Meeting as published in the April 23, 2023 Sunday e-blast. Sarah Metsa seconded the motion and it passed.

Committee Reports/Section Reports

• Clubhouse Committee: Dunn SW emailed President Nancy English to point out that the panel on the front of the building that was painted a different color than the rest of the building. When the roofers fixed the gaps in the concrete tilt walls, they covered the caulk with the wrong color of paint. Our neighbor in the building behind HGMS had some of the “Elephant Ear” paint left over. They shared it with us and the roofers returned to repaint the panel for free.
• Water Heater Replacement: The water heater for the clubhouse is more than 20 years old. When the contractor is at the club to discuss the North Wall Rebuild Project, President English will ask the plumber to take a look at the water heater to give a bid to replace it
• Donations, Sales, Auction Committee (DSAC): Still looking for a chairman for this committee.  So far in 2023, the Donations Committee has post $1300 to the HGMS budget.
• Education Committee: HGMS is still looking for volunteers to teach classes. If you know of anyone who can teach a class on the HGMS website wish list (https://hgms.org/education/hgms-classes/), please contact Maggie Manley at classes@hgms.org.
• Safety/Policy Committee: President English revisited the North Wall Rebuild. She said that HGMS will be asking for volunteers to help move equipment out of the lapidary room to make space for the contractors to do their work. As an incentive for helping, the Board of Directors will be giving coupons to volunteers. For each hour of work given, each volunteer will be given a “Free Shop Use” coupon good for 1 hour’s fee for using the shop. President English reminded those attending the General Meeting that once the construction has been completed for the North Wall in the lapidary room, the hourly fee for using equipment at HGMS will be increased from $2 an hour to $3 an hour. This includes the lapidary shop, the jewelry shop, the middle classroom and the Paleo shop equipment, etc.
• Membership Committee: There were 14 adult single memberships, 4 Couples memberships, and 2 family memberships added during the month of March.  There were a total of 21 single memberships, 1 couple membership and 1 youth membership renewed during March 2023.
• Scholarship Committee: A flyer for scholarships was created by Daniel Rodrigues and given to various colleges around Houston. If you know of any students in the Earth Sciences field that wants to apply, they may visit the HGMS Website Scholarships page to fill out the application (https://hgms.org/education/earth-science-scholarships/). Entries for the three scholarships offered by HGMS are due May 5, 2023.
• Show Committee: The Show Committee and Website Committee have been working on the new PayPal Readers. They will soon finalize what equipment HGMS will use for Point-of- Sale transactions.

Old Business

• New Annual Dues Fee Schedule: During the March 7^, 2023 Board of Directors meeting, a motion was passed to increase the membership dues for HGMS membership. This will need to be voted upon by club members. If the motion passes, the new pricing will become effective as of January 1, 2024 and the club by-laws will be updated to reflect the new change. Below is a chart containing the current annual dues as well as the Board-approved membership dues. President English announced that she wanted to put off voting on this item because she wanted to present and idea to the Board of Directors first.  For your information, the proposed changes are as follows:

• Social Media for HGMS: As you may be aware, HGMS has both a Facebook and an Instagram account. Sarah Metsa has been working to post more Information about activities, classes, and up-coming events on Facebook, but does not use Instagram. A volunteer is needed to post classes and events on Instagram. Please let Sarah Metsa or Nancy English know if you are interested in helping in this way. If you would like to join HGMS on either or both of these platforms, you may follow us @hgms.org on Facebook or @hgms.org_tx on Instagram. Links to each are also found in the top right corner of the Home page on the HGMS.org website.
• Game Table Contest Winners: Secretary Heidi Shelley announced the winner for the Game Table block tower building contest. Neal Immega won and was presented a prize. Below is the picture of his entry.  He labeled it “Gastropod Stonehenge at Dawn”. The tower was only 9 inches cubed and was the only entry for the contest.

New Business

• President English informed attendees that the President@HGMS.org email has been hacked. President English recently received a number of phone calls from people asking her if she really wanted them to buy American Express cards and send them to this address. It was a scam. Cyber Safety Tip from President English: No officers, leaders or any members of HGMS will be asking for money, debit cards, or help via the HGMS.org email addresses. Please delete any emailed request like that. If HGMS is going to ask for donations, it will be included in the official weekly eblast newsletter emailed to members each weekend.
• President Nancy English asked Steve Blyskal to clear out the hallway between the garage and the double-doors to the lapidary room. President English wanted to thank Steve Blyskal, Ray Kizer, Mike Sommers, Neal Immega and the others that worked to clear that entry way for the contractors.
• The Board of Directors approved and incentive of “shop coupons” to be given to volunteers who help to move equipment in and out for the Lapidary Shop Rebuild project. For each hour volunteered, helpers will receive a coupon equal to one hour of free shop use after the rebuild (partial volunteer hours are rounded up to a full hour for coupon receipt).

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 (__):
• Lapidary/Silversmithing (Richard Good):
• Mineral (Ray Kizer):
• Paleo (Mike Dawkins):
• Youth (Beverly Mace):

Upcoming Dates

The next Board of Directors meeting is on Tuesday, May 2, 2023 at 7:30pm via zoom. If you would like to attend please send an email to President@HGMS.org.

The next General Hybrid Meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 23^rd at 7:30 pm. Program TBD.

Show and Tell

• David Fitzhugh brought a number of specimens they have gathered on their travels through Africa and other places. He offered to sell specimens to attendees either after the meeting or on the following Thursday from 10 – 3pm at a house in the Spring Branch subdivision.
• Steve Blyskal reported on his trip with Sigrid Stewart to Beeville, south of Victoria. They went a guided rock hunt with Matt Dillon from Dillon’s Agates. They found petrified wood and Rio Grande agate. Last Friday Steve went to the Conroe show and brought some samples he purchased from that show, one of which was white agate with amethyst. He also showed a mineral specimen of Elbaite that is originally from Russia.
• Three members shared their samples of Amber to go along with the Program content on Amber. Nancy Fisher showed her bag of amber and amber jewelry she purchased at the last HGMS rock show. Heidi Shelley showed her amber necklace, earrings and ring she purchased in the Caribbean. Steve Clark shared amber he acquired in Lithuania.

Door Prize

Club Member James Eleckel won the Sodalite.

Final Comments

President English once again thanked Foster Kneeland for the refreshments.  She thanked the volunteers who made the General Meeting possible and as well as all volunteers that make HGMS possible.

Adjourn

            Sarah Metsa moved to end the General Meeting. Steve Blyskal seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed. The General Meeting adjourned at 8:05 pm.