President’s Message

The theme for the April 21 SCMM meeting will be:  Mines and Minerals of the Barstow area.  Areas of interest include (but are not limited to) Mount General, Lead Mountain/Calico, Ord Mountain, Sidewinder Mountain.  Bring minerals from these locales for shared viewing, or other material you have been working on, or material collected from the last SCFM Mineral Workshop field trip (Lakeview Mountains).

We should also be thinking about topics for the next Pacific Micromount Conference.  Please come up with some ideas and we will have a brief discussion at the meeting.

                                                            Paul

For this meeting bring your lunch and scopes, any of the above mentioned minerals, or even new acquisitions from interesting sites you have visited.    Doors open at 11:00 AM.   Just a reminder - the building in which we meet is not heated.  Remember the rhyme, ”March winds and April showers make way for sweet May flowers…”, so be prepared.
Directions:  From the 60 Freeway (east), exit on Pyrite Avenue, go north under the freeway to the first signal, turn right, and continue east on Granite Hill to the Center.

 2001 Roster

  Included in this issue of MicroBits is a copy of our new Membership Roster, compiled by Bob White, Treasurer.  Please hang onto it, as we won’t be publishing it again till next year, but will include new member names and/or address corrections as received.  Please let us know if you have any corrections to make.

  If you haven’t yet paid your dues, a red dot will appear on your label.  Please send dues to Bob White, Treasurer.  We will be narrowing down our mailing list to members only for the next issues, till Conference time.

  
As an Editor, I hate to repeat myself, but……
Member e-mail list

Although I haven’t had any messages from my readers giving me their e-mail addresses for our list, I notice that the new membership roster does include many e-mail addresses.  If you do not find your e-mail address opposite your name, please send it to me, bcmoreau@4dnet.com.

And, a reminder about the New Web Site for SCMM:

Sunshine Corner

  Juanita Curtis is still in need of our prayers and words of cheer.  She did appreciate the cards she received—they really brightened her up when she needed it most.  However, she had cataract surgery on April 5 (which worked out well for her), and now will have a major polyp removed on April 12.  Drop her a card or note….it does wonders for the spirit to know that we care.  (See the membership list in this issue for her address.)

  Kay Hansen has been down with a serious condition affecting her neck and throat area.  She was operated on a few weeks ago, and the doctors found six different abscesses in that location.  She has been on heavy medication since then, and is far from recovered.  Please remember her, as well, with your cards and notes.

  Let your Editor know if there are others who need a bit of Sunshine headed their way.

JJJ

Revision of Collection Labels
and Catalogs

By Julia Curtis-Steele

   A couple of years ago, give or take, I wrote an article about the disposition of your collections.  I thought I would take this opportunity to do an update and give you more “food for thought.”

   Once again, Mom and I have been working on another collection that has graciously been donated to the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum.  It’s been a fun project, learning more about a well-known location in Germany.  I’ve been putting cata-log numbers on specimens, putting catalog numbers on the original labels, and putting them in acid free paper for archiving, then placing specimens in individual boxes to be put into the collection.  Mom identifies and mounts those specimens that are micromount size.  It’s the little jobs like these that keep us busy.

   In working with the labels, it brought up another problem area for those who are left with collections.  We all have a tendency to go ahead and do labels in our own handwriting.  This will cause a problem later   on after you are gone and can’t be consulted about what it says.  Please, print your labels.

None of us has perfect handwriting—not me, not you.  Fortunately, this donor is still among us and I have become familiar with her handwriting over the years.  Another local collector I won’t identify, as she is too close and still could probably beat me up!  Her handwriting and printing is not the easiest to identify.  It will become a problem someday. and I hope that I will be around to help out, as I am familiar with her labeling.

   In these times, computers have come way down in price and major companies are even selling reconditioned computers even lower. Trust me, they are not hard to learn and very easy to do labels on.  The price of acid-free paper has also come way down. If you want to have assistance on designing labels, there are easy to use programs for this, or it’s just as easy to design your own.

   If you buy a computer, it will open up new vistas, especially if you treat yourself to the Internet.  A friend was over last week and wanted to know how far out you could send e-mail.  I set up a short message, saying “Hi” to a collector friend in New Zealand, and mailed it.  I told my friend it is now arriving in New Zealand.  Wow, what a surprise!  Also took her to Australia via a mineral dealer, another surprise to her.  Just think, all for the cost of a local phone call!

   When you start working on the proposed disposition of your collection, please give some thought to those who will receive it.  Make your labels readable, and catalog it, please. Put perti-nent information on the back of your labels if they are loose, and put the same information in the catalog.  Every bit of information, no matter how trivial it might seem, makes a specimen more valu-able.  The labels I’m working with right now are from a location that is not available anymore.  We have the mine level now so that it can be looked up on mine maps.  It might aid in identifying some of the unknown minerals in the future.

   Cataloging need not be difficult nor complicated.  Numbering from one to ten worked when we were young and still works today.  Any combination of letters and numbers will work, just so long as you are consistent.  Start a notebook, keep it up, and you will make someone very happy in the future.  None of us can read minds; it just isn’t in the genes.  It will also help you now, as it will make it easier to find certain specimens when you want to locate them.  Make sure you put all pertinent information in the catalog.  Mineral name, location, mine name, county, country, and if you want, the price you paid or who you got it from.  List self collected, if that is how you acquired it.  All of these bits of information are just as valuable as the specimen itself.

   Labels need the mineral name, associated minerals found on the specimen, location, and catalog number.  There are wonderful, fine point pens available now, or use a number 2 pencil.  The pencil will last longer than the pen and can be erased if you make a mistake.  If you do not want to put a label on the top of a micro box, at least put the catalog number on it.  That way, you can find the specimen you are looking for.  If you have a computer it will probably have a “spread sheet” program already in it.  It can be used to set up labels.  Some of the graphic programs, the ones you can use to make greeting cards for example, usually have a “drawing pen” tool that you can use for setting up squares to put text in.  It may be a little awkward at first, but you will get the hang of it soon.  There are also label programs that you can find on the Internet that are very good and very inexpensive. Check “Bob’s Rock Shop” for labeling programs.

   Last year, we worked on another collection that really taxed our brains.  Luckily, most of it was labeled, but a large portion was unlabeled, rendering it nearly useless.  It’s very disheartening to go through flat after flat of dusty, dirty specimens without labels, realizing that there is no chance of knowing what it is and where it’s from.  Be kind to those who inherit, and give our collections their due respect.  A little work now is all it takes.  The bottom line is, we won’t live forever and we will be leaving our collections behind.  Let’s give those who follow a fighting chance to enjoy our collections.

PACKING FRAGILE SPECIMENS FOR MAILING

By George Campbell; osomin@compuserve.com
OsoSoft Mineral Coinnection [ www.osomin.com]

I’ve developed another method for packing very fragile specimens, and it works quite well.  Instead of soap powder, I use the tiny (4-6mm) Styrofoam balls formerly used to fill beanbag chairs.  These are no longer available directly, due to safety reasons (small children inhaled them), but beanbag chairs are a common find at garage and tag sales, and at thrift stores.  The contents of one beanbag chair are adequate to package dozens of specimens.

To use these, first wrap the specimen lightly in tissue paper or thin plastic, to keep the beads out of crevices.  For very fragile specimens, do this wrapping with extreme care.  Next, choose a box for the specimen with (Continued next page) at least one inch of free space on all sides.  Fill the box about half full with the beads, and then bed the wrapped specimen in them.  Fill the remaining space with the beads, completely, but with very little overfill.  Close and seal the box completely to prevent the beads from escaping.

Be sure to label the box as “Fragile - Tiny Styrofoam Beads Inside” to prevent unfortunate surprises on the other end…they scatter easily.  Finally, pack this box in a larger box, using packaging peanuts as additional cushioning. 

How well does this work?  Well, I’ve shipped fairly large specimens of jackstraw CERUSSITE this way, with no breakage whatsoever.  As a test, I packed an egg using this technique, and then dropped it off a four-story building.  No breakage.  {Editor’s Note:  I notice that you didn’t test it with the cerussite!-SES)

(The above item was sent by George to the Rockhounds Internet list on March 1, 2001}

The Mineral Mite – March 2001

BEAR REPORT

In light of human - grizzly bear encounters, the Department of Fish & Game is advising outdoor adventurers to take extra precautions, such as wearing noisy little bells on their clothing to warn bears they are coming, and carrying pepper spray in case of an encounter with a bear.

It is also a good idea to watch for fresh signs of bear activity.  Outdoorsmen should know the difference between black bear and grizzly bear dung.  Black bear scat is smaller and contains lots of berries and squirrel fur.  Grizzly bear dung has little bells in it and smells like pepper.

CFMS Newsletter March 2001 via Mineral Memos February 2000 and Tumbler 1/01

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