Prez Message
By Lois Allmen, CFMS President
One Person's Opinion. Let's talk competition.
We all know that we like to participate in those things in which we are successful. If that feeling of success is beaten down we don't participate. Many years ago when I first started to teach I was told. "Never give a student high marks the first semester so there is room to improve." The idea being that if the score was low the student would try harder the next time. Over the years, personal experience has taught me that is a fallacy. Unfortunately, I think the theory is still practiced. The person who gives it his best shot and gets a low mark says, "I've done the best I could", and seldom enters again, or goes to another field or subject. Is this part of the problem in our competition?
This last week the Ventura County Fair started. In the Gem and Mineral Department there was 100% competition. 90% of those are members in one or more of the three CFMS Gem & Mineral Clubs in the county. Mariposa had five cases in CFMS competition. What makes the difference?
One example:
When the present Superintendent (Bob Stultz) first took over for Gems and Minerals at the Fair, entering in competition was low on the totem pole. Instead of seeing how many points could be taken off on an item, the judges were instructed to take off the minimum, the minimum being one or two points. Be sure and have the clerk write down what is good as well as what needs improving. Anymore, there are rarely complaints about entering competition, instead they proudly state, "I got a 96% or 92% ", and come back year after year even if those scores may not have placed 1st, 2nd or 3rd. This has taken a few years to accomplish, but it has paid off.
Is there a lesson here for us? I think so.
November 13, Fresno: Directors Meeting
By Lois Allmen, CFMS President
The annual Fall Business meeting and election of officers for 2005 will be held at the Quality Inn at 4278 West Ashlan Avenue, Fresno, CA on Saturday, November 13, 2004.
The Cracker Barrel social will be held Friday night November 12, 2004 at 7:30 PM in the Banquet room behind the hotel. Coffee will be served. Directors, please bring cookies, fruit, or other healthy munchies.
Societies A through M bring snacks to the Cracker Barrel on Friday evening and N through Z bring snacks to the Saturday Directors meeting.
The Business meeting will be held on Saturday, November 13 at 9:00 AM. Directors be sure to bring your copy of the Agenda you receive in the mail. Any CFMS members may attend the meeting and are encouraged to do so, but only delegates may vote.
Room reservations must be made directly with the Quality Inns at 4278 West Ashlan Avenue, Fresno. Phone 1-559-275-2727.
Be sure to tell them you are with CFMS in order to get special rates. Make reservations by Nov. 1, 2004. Our special rate is $62.00, plus tax per night for 2 persons, with additional charges for 3 or more. Take the Ashlan Avenue exit from Hwy 99 in Fresno. The Quality Inn is located on the west side of the freeway. QUALITY INNS ACCEPTS NO PETS.
BANQUET AND INSTALLATION OF 2005 OFFICERS
Our Saturday Evening Banquet will begin at 6:00 PM with a no-host bar and Get-together. Dinner will be served at 7:00 PM.
MENU
Brooks Ranch green Salad
Prime Rib or Chicken Marsala
Vegetable medley, garlic potatoes, bread and butter
Cheese cake
Coffee and Iced Tea
Cost is $22.50 per person (includes tax and tip), make banquet reservations by Nov. 1, 2004. Mail your check with dinner choice reservation to:
CFMS
P.O. BOX 1657
Rialto, CA 92377-1657
COMMITTEE MEETING RESERVATIONS
Committee Chairmen, please reserve time now for your committee meetings on Friday, Nov. 12 at the Quality Inn. Call or write Lois Allmen for reservations at: 407 Magnolia Ave., Oxnard, CA 93030-5309, (805) 483-6871, email allmenL@vcss.kl 2.ca.us.
Tentative Schedule - Friday
2:00- 4:00 PM Executive Committee
9:00-10:00 PM Scholarship Committee (following Cracker Barrel)
Jury of Awards Committee
By Colleen McGann, Chairperson
The Jury of Awards Committee needs your selection for honoree, with a summary of why you selected this person, by the end of October so selection can be made at the Fall Meeting.
This is a request to all the CFMS clubs to send candidate nominations to Lois Allmen, Marion Roberts, or Colleen McGann, addresses in CFMS newsletter. The candidates should be active members who have worked to further the earth sciences in our communities. Isabella Burns is the CFMS honoree for 2004.
Every year all six regions honors one of their own as their honoree for the AFMS Scholarship Fund distribution. The honorees then choose a college to receive the scholarships and the colleges choose the student(s). The AFMS scholarships are awarded to graduate students $2,000 for two years and CFMS Scholarship Fund distributions are awarded to undergraduate students.
CFMS Scholarship Report
By Isabella Burns, 2004 Chair
It was the pleasure of this year's committee to present scholarship to 5 outstanding students of Earth Sciences of Lapidary Arts.
Each year a Diedrick Scholarship is given to a student of Geology at the University of California Berkeley or Earth Sciences at Stanford University who will be attending their junior or senior year. A grant of $2,000.00 is given from the special Diedrick Fund. This year this went to Elizabeth Bartelt.
These students have received financial help $2,000.00 this year.
Afton Van Zandt of the San Diego State University chosen by Honoree Greg Andersen. Byia Lyles of Cal State Univ. Northridge chosen by Honoree Keri Dearborn.
Jenni Carstensen of Cal State Univ. Northridge chosen by Honoree Dick Flaharty. Molly Wingland of Humboldt State Univ. chosen by Honoree Jack Williams.
Each year CFMS clubs and or societies are asked to nominate candidates for Scholarship
Honorees. Candidates for this honor need not be a member of CFMS. They can be authors of books or magazines relating to geology, college or university instructors, museum curators, or
other people who are contributing to the further study of the earth sciences. At the Scholarship Committee meeting, these nominations are reviewed by the committee and the next year's
honorees are chosen. The committee needs to know the contribution of the nominee to choose who receives this honor.
The names of these recommendations should be sent to the Scholarship Committee before the November meeting.
Field Trip to Oceanview Tourmaline Mine on Sunday July 18th
By Bob Fitzpatrick, CFMS Field Trip Leader South
We had a total of 13 rockhounds that showed up for this field trip at the Oceanview Tourmaline Mine. Lisa, one of the owners of the mine let us start digging in the tailings at 10:45 a.m. and right away a real nice 8 inch long Quartz Crystal was found. Some of the gems found were bi-colored, pink, green, black Tourmaline, Quartz Crystal points, peach color Morganite Beryl, Clevelandite, purple Lepidolite Mica and so much more.
Everyone got to take a tour of the mine and that alone was worth the money we had paid to dig in the tailings. It was warm during mid-day but when you are finding a lot of nice gems, you don't really care. The mine had some good size assorted Crystals for sale that had been found in the mine and some of us bought a few of them at good prices. Being a small group of 13, we had the large tailing pile all to ourselves. Most of their Sunday field trips have large groups of 30 to 40 people, so we were able to go through the gems that were meant for a large
group, and when we left at 5:30 p.m. it was almost gone, in other words, we picked it clean. For every one that did not go on Sunday, you missed a good one.
Earth Science Committee Report
By Cal Clason
Again it's time to commit to paper some of the things happening in Earth Sciences. Camp Paradise is fast approaching and at present the first week is full, but we will still accept applications for the second week. Disregard the original August 1 deadline!! Applications will be still processed if received by September 5, 2004.
Another alternative is for short term (day to day) attendance. No pre-registration will be required, and all fees payable at the function. The cost on a per day basis:
- Room, meals & classes -- $37.50
- Lunch, dinner & classes -- $27.50
- Lunch & classes -- $22.50
If you wish more information regarding the above, call me, Cal, at (661) 589-4169.
Dates for Camp Paradise 2004 are September 12 - 18, and 19 - 25.
Other changes are also being made in the application process. In the future all applications will be made available much earlier and for extended periods of time. I anticipate releasing them the month following each seminar and will have other changes — all, we hope, to improve the processing and viability of the classes offered. This will apply to both Camp Paradise and Zzyzx.
Our next event will be our 20" Anniversary at Zzyzx and plans are being made to make it a memorable one. More information on the special functions will be available as they are confirmed. The dates for the seminar are April 3 — 10, 2005. We will offer the usual classes in silver work, lapidary, wire artistry, soft stone carving, beading and of course fantastic field trips. Applications will be available in the next CFMS newsletter, and on the web page about the same time and as is my custom, I urge you to file early. It historically fills up very quickly and we are limited to the number of people we can accommodate.
The ESS committee reviewed the Big Pine event that had to be cancelled, and with a somewhat different approach will investigate trying it again at sometime next summer. We are in agreement that it would be a service to the younger generations and the Eastern Sierra region. More on this at a later time.
Junior Activities:
E-Z Rock & Mineral Guides for Kids
By Jim Brace-Thompson, Junior Activities Chair
There are a great many beautifully illustrated guidebooks out there for learning about and identifying rocks and minerals, with glossy, full-colored photos and lots of helpful information about mineral characteristics. However, a lot of these can go into quite a bit of technical detail and they can be a bit pricey for a child's budget. Fortunately, there are some nice alternatives in the form of what I call "E-Z Rock and Mineral Guides".
Of course, the old stand-by has long been Zia' and Shaffer's Rocks and Minerals: A Guide to Familiar Minerals, Gems, Ores and Rocks, put out by the Golden Guide Series. In fact, my copy even states "Easy-to-Use" right on the cover. It's inexpensive, thorough, and at alevel many kids can follow, although even this handy little pocket books goes into quite a hit of text at times.
A nice alternative I've found are "quick-guides" sheets. These consist of convenient fold-out sheets of heavy cardstock that has been laminated. They have an abundance of colorful photos of the most common rocks and minerals and take an approach that is less text-heavy than a book. Instead, the emphasis is on visual learning, with useful diagrams, photos, and artwork supported by a minimum of text that convey "just the facts, ma'am".
Over the years, I've collected four of these:
- "Minerals' Quick-Guide to Mineral Identification'. Published in 1998 by Bob Brumbaugh as part of Bob's Geology Guide Series and distributed by Local Birds, Inc., P.O. Box 620491, Woodside, CA 94062, phone 650-367-1986;
- "Earth Science". Quick Study Academic guide series, published in 2000 by BarCharts, Inc, Boca Raton, FL., website www.quickstudycharts.com.;
- "Rocks & Minerals" another in the Quick Study Academic guide series; and
- "Geology, An Introduction to Familiar Rocks, Minerals, Gemstones and Fossils". Part of the Naturalist series of Waterford Press, phone number 800-434-2555, website www.waterfordpress.com.
Convenient, visual basics-level "E-Z Rock and Mineral Guides" like these are a great and inexpensive resource for the juniors in your club to learn while - as always - having fun!
Notes From The Amador Gem & Mineral Club
By Betty Egger
Members of the Amador Gem & Mineral Club compete each year at the Amador County Fair. This year one of our Junior members made us very proud. 13 year old Amanda Christiansen entered 10 pieces of hand made jewelry and cabochons she has made this fair year. She soldered and used a jeweler's saw for the first time. She received 8 hlue ribbons, 1 red ribbon, 1 white ribbon, and 1 Best of Division ribbon.
She has been working on stones and competing since she was 8 years old. Her grandparents are very interested in jewelry and lapidary.
The judge said "her polishing and completion was better than most of the adults".
Judge Chris Reese, owner and operator of the Rare Exceptions Jewelry Store in Jackson, also gave Amanda a $100. Scholarship stating she deserved it for her good work".
Child Safety - Keep Your Child Safe
By Chuck McKie Safety Chairman CFMS 2004
Always supervise young children in the kitchen. Keep sharp objects out of children's reach. Always turn the handles of pots and pans on the stove inward so that children can't reach them. Be careful not to leave cups or other containers of hot fluids where children can reach them. Keep the temperature of hot water below 120°F (49°C) by turning down the temperature of your hot water heater.
A Good Baby Sitter
What makes a "good" babysitter who is asked back again and again? There is no one characteristic that makes someone a good babysitter. Instead, a good babysitter successfully combines the knowledge and skills associated with leadership, safety and safe play, basic care, first aid, and professionalism. Here are some tips to get you started on the road to safety while babysitting. Always be aware that an infant or child can be burned by anything that is hot, including food, bath water, heaters, and stoves or ovens. Make sure that homes where you babysit are equipped with operating smoke alarms. Keep matches, lighters, and candles away from children at all times. Talk to parents or guardians about a Family Fire Escape Plan. Know how to use the fire extinguisher and where it is located. Teach children to Stop, Drop, and Roll if their clothing catches on fire. If fire occurs, get yourself and the children out and don't return to a burning building. Your job is to protect the children, not their belongings. To learn more about safety, prevention, and babysitting, take the American Red Cross Babysitter's Training course. For information on signing up for a course, contact your local Red Cross.
Child Safety
With a baby or young child in your family, you know there is nothing more important than safety. Whether you're a parent or a child caregiver, there are steps you can take to keep babies and children safe. Follow these general safety rules. Use sate playgrounds. Use gates on stairs. Always supervise children in or near water. Buckle up. Never keep guns in any child care setting. Call the poison control center if you think a child has been poisoned. Post emergency numbers next to your telephone. Take an American Red Cross course in first aid and infant/child CPR. Make sure that others caring for your children are certified as well. Contact your local Red Cross chapter for more information.
Other Resources: The ABCs of Safe and Healthy Child Care from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Academy of Pediatrics, American Red Cross Babysitter's Training, American Red Cross First Aid and CPR, Consumer Product Safety Commission, National Child Care Association, National Child Care Information Center, National Resource Center for Health and Safety in Child Care.
Information found Via the Red Cross on the internet.