March 2019 Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Meeting of Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society
Meeting date: March 11th, 2019
Intro:
President President Mike Pabst opened the meeting at 7:30. There were 31 members and 5 guests present.
Old Business:
1. The December ’18 and January meetings were canceled due to weather conditions. The February dinner meeting was held at Wood Grill in Harrisonburg with 25 members and guests present. A gift exchange was enjoyed by all.
2. Arrangements were made by the executive committee to have the monthly meetings at the Waynesboro Public Library on the second Monday of each month at 7:30 pm, with Show & Tell beginning at 7:00 pm. Members were notified of the change by email, and Jack Glenn changed the information on our website and Face Book pages. Mike explained that the change was due to an increase in fees at the church where we met previously.
3. Charlie Rhoads reported that the lapidary shop has been open as usual, and will continue to be open until a change occurs. The shop is open on the Saturday following the Monday meeting and on the second Saturday after that session from 9 am to noon.
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New Business:
1. Tonight’s meeting was held in a room in the Waynesboro Public library. Several members set up the tables & chairs, and Mike brought a laptop and the club’s projector. The room did not have enough chairs for everyone to sit, so Debbie Grimm will check on switching to the larger room at the facility.
2. Scott Steele is working on a couple of field trips and Debbie will send out information by email.
Program Report:
Club member Marcia Morris went on a week long expedition to Morocco and gave an interesting talk about her adventures there.
Morocco contains the Atlas Mountains, an arid region occupied mostly by the Berbers.
Part of the area has evidence of the ancient trade routes to Algeria.
The area has pre-Cambrian to Cenozoic fossils and rock formations, with eroded mountain ridges, basaltic flows, and river beds.
The scenery was breath-taking and included multi-shaded grays, browns, yellows, pinks & reds on the desert floor and dunes, as well as on the mountain slopes.
Her geode samples were red & teal colored – beautiful!
Trilobites were everywhere and Marcia collected many samples just by walking around and picking them up!
She saw many fossils that were too large to collect, but had a large Septarian nodule and several stromatolites and ammonites.
Ichnofossils (calcified ant burrows) and lopoliths (bulbous crinoids) were prevalent there.
She visited a fossil museum as well, and saw a factory where the native people make everything from small decorative items to counter tops from orthoceras (squid-like) fossils.
Marcia was impressed with the guides who led them on “roads” that were no more than invisible (to her) paths through the desert, and opted out of riding the domestic camels. (There are no wild ones found there any more.)
Thank you, Marcia, for sharing your collection & photos! See her geode and scenery pics below.
Field Trip Info:
Please refer to “SVGMS Field Trips News” documents you receive from the club secretary for a description of the current status of field trips and details about upcoming trips.
If you are a club member with paid-up dues and you do not receive the “Field Trip News” document when they are emailed, please contact the secretary at loverocksandminerals@gmail.com or at a monthly meeting to correct this issue.
This will be the principle way information about field trips are distributed to members, so we want to insure everyone is correctly addressed.
Next meeting:
TBD
Looking ahead:
TBD
Remember that the lapidary shop is open the Saturday following a regular meeting and on the second Saturday after that. Leo, Charlie & Jack can assist you. Open from 9 am to noon.
There are several slab saws and trim saws. Keep in mind that safety is a priority, and wear closed toe shoes, safety glasses, with no loose hair or long sleeves. Children must be supervised and closely monitored to insure they are safely using the equipment. Check this page to see what you can learn to do!
If you’d like to present a program, please talk to an officer at a meeting.
Be sure to keep up with our website www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org and our Facebook page Shenandoah Valley Gem and Mineral Society for updates and information.
Deborah Grimm, Secretary
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Club Officers and Staff 2016-2019
President – Michael Pabst
Vice President – Leo Cloutier
Show Co-Chairs – Dean Hostetter/Scott Gregory
Educational Outreach -- Deborah Grimm
Secretary/Newsletter -- Deborah Grimm
Field Trip Coordinators - Wayne Petersen/Scott Duresky
Treasurer – Scott Gregory
Web Site Coordinator – Jack Glenn
Club web site: www.shenandoahvalleyrockclub.org
Club Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ShenandoahValleyGemMineralSociety
Club email: svgem-min-club@live.com