Newsletter September 2009

September 2009

I was unable to attend the August meeting due to a couple of meat hornets; I don’t know if they both bit or stung me, but I get sick from the venom, so at least one of the buggers stung me. Felt pretty sorry for myself too! Thanks to everyone who stood in for me, and helped Buck too. And a big thanks to Frank Madsen for the minutes from the meeting.

Ben talked about dredge permits and the changes in California. There were many opinions from members on the subject. I guess the loss of our dredging rights was the main, and HOT, topic of the night. A little FYI here: You can still dredge in Oregon, and the number for permit information is 1 800 452 4011. I mention this so that your dredge won’t be a complete waste of money this year. Anyone want to put together an outing to Oregon?

We were reminded us about the Gem and Mineral Show coming up in October. We need firm commitments from volunteers to set-up, run the booth, and break it down. We need ideas on the style and content of our booth. We are given ‘booth’ space for free when other exhibitors have to pay, so we need to come up with ideas and objectives to really earn it. Don’t think your idea is silly or not good enough; it may be the spark that ignites the best idea yet. The show is held at the Vet’s Building on October 17th & 18th. Hours are 10am ’til 6pm on Saturday, and 10am ’til 5pm on Sunday. We set up on Friday evening (OCT 16th), and the Gem Show people provide a great dinner for us. Please don’t say you’ll do it if you can’t make that a firm commitment, but if you want to have fun and see a lot of really interesting “stuff”, volunteer, and we will get you the info you need.

Probably the main topic we’ll be discussing at the meeting on Wednesday, September 16th, will be the Bear River outing; the dates are Sept 18th thru 21st. He asked me to remind everyone that he will be the outing ‘host’, and there are some things to remember about the campsite. The first thing is the check-in time. We don’t have the site until 2pm on the 18th of September. You can go up to Bear early, but you will not be able to go into the camp area until 2:00pm. NO EARLY ARRIVALS. The insurance will not cover us until 2pm. We have possession of the camp site until Tuesday, September 22nd, but we MUST be cleaned, packed and OUT by 11:00am. We must abide by all the Placer County rules or face the possibility of not being allowed to return next year. He has all the rules and info if you are unsure about what your role should be, but most the time commonsense should rule the day. Something else I found out about the site: If we have 50(or less ) campers, we can rent half the campground, but any more than 50, we HAVE to rent the whole thing. So if membership picks up or we have a firm commitment of more than 50 campers, we will have to let that rule decide whether we rent the site for one or two outing at the Club expense. (Just something to think about for next year.) AND, I didn’t know this, but the whole campsite only allows 100 people and 35 vehicles. Would that be a crazy outing, or what: 100 campers at once! We’d really have to burn the Port-o-Potties! We’ll go over directions to Bear River and have maps at the meeting this Wednesday. If you can’t attend, email me or call ( katheclose@att.net 707 575 8915) and I will figure out how to get you a copy of the map and directions.

Show and Tell: Richard Giddens went to Chico with Rose and Claude Fisher, but found no gold. They moved on up to Bear River and found very little gold in 5 hours of searching. Gene Strain talked about gold from Scott River. Mike Clark got about ¼ ounce from the American River. Lance Thompson talked about Metal Detecting on the Scott River and Elk River.

An auction was held for the original painting of a prospector panning for gold painted by Charles Gresalfi. It sold for $160.00 to Frank Madsen. Way to go Frank.

If you wish to post anything to the For Sale or Wanted lists, please contact me at 707 575 8915 or my new e-mail address: katheclose@att.net. I’ll mention again that if you have anything you want put in the letter, contact me at the afore mentioned phone number, or e-mail address, or send it to 903 Santa Barbara Dr, Santa Rosa, Calif 95404-6146.

See you Wednesday, September 16, 2009 at the Lodge Room, Veteran’s Memorial Building, Santa Rosa, California.

Kathe