News

Dino Soiree at Powell Gardens

dinosaur in beautiful flower garden with people looking

Photo from: http://www.examiner.com/article/jurassic-garden-may1-through-august-14-at-powell-gardens

When: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Friday, June 17 (21 and older)

Enjoy drinks and light bites while you view a fascinating collection of fossils and hear from renowned University of Kansas Paleontologist Dr. David Burnham about the unique and ferocious Dakotaraptor. Prepaid reservations of $30/person or $25/member required. You can make those reservations at https://www.powellgardens.org/dino-soiree or by calling 816-697-2600 x209.

Guests will get one drink ticket, which can be exchanged for wine, beer or a non-alcoholic beverage at the bar. Additional drinks will be available for purchase.

Come early if you would like to take a self-guided tour of Jurassic Garden: A Prehistoric Adventure! If you cannot make the paleontology lecture, there are some other events at the Jurassic Garden: Dining with the Dinos on June 24 (reservations for BBQ dinner with dinos) and Dino Night July 22 (reservations for Dino Night). The Jurassic Garden will be available until August 14, 2016.

Children’s Archaeology Dig

On Thurday, May 19, 2016, there will be a free children’s archaeology dig at the Atkins-Johnson Farm and Museum in Gladstone, MO at 6607 NE Antioch Rd. It will start at 6:30 pm. There will be hands-on activities to teach children how to “think like an archaeologist” led by Gail Lundeen. You can also see the new exhibit at the museum called Archaeology: What’s Under the Farm? which will feature actual things found on the property during an excavation in 2014-15. Don’t miss this event!

Now With HTTPS

Good news! Showmerockhounds.com now uses HTTPS by default, so it will be better and more secure. As the EFF points out as part of their Encrypt the Web initiative, strong encryption protects our users in various ways, including defending against surveillance of content and communications, cookie theft, account hijacking, and other web security flaws. HTTPS sites also rank higher in Google search results. The best part is that you don’t have to do a thing. Just keep visiting showmerockhounds.com .

For more information, see here: https://en.blog.wordpress.com/2016/04/08/https-everywhere-encryption-for-all-wordpress-com-sites/

Association Scholarship Auction

The Association always has an auction at the Gem Show which raises money for scholarships for college students studying earth science-related fields. Find out more about the scholarship and apply here: http://kcgemshow.org/2015_Scholatship%20App.html

Everyone is welcome at the auction, but it is especially popular with club members because there are snacks. It took place at 7 pm on Saturday, March 12. Here are some of the things you missed.

A landscape agate with coyotes and a moon added in copper

A sculpture by the late David Wright, award-winning silversmith and jeweler. Made with Pitcher jasper. Photo by Stephanie Reed

Crinoid fossil, about the size of a brick

A Pelagic crinoid from Morocco. Photo by David Reed

Estwing rock hammer next to polished opal

An Estwing rock hammer and a polished opal (sold separately, but they were close together on the table). Photo by David Reed

Vintage maps of Colorado from 1918. Photo by David Reed

Bonus: here are some more photos of club members at the show.

Club members Bob, Bruce, Martin, Molly, and Stephanie at the Association Booth. There were many more members present but this was as close as we could get to a group photo. Photo by David Reed

Bob, Bruce, and Martin at the booth looking at what there is for sale. Photo by David Reed

Molly and Bruce, members of IGAMS. Photo by David Reed

Spring 2016 Show Photos

I took way too many photos at the show and most of them were interesting, making it difficult to write this post. Without further ado, here are the highlights from the Spring 2016 Gem and Mineral Show.

The Association Booth was staffed by club members from Show-Me Rockhounds, IGAMS, and more. Photo by Stephanie Reed

A smiling young woman sitting behind a large wooden spinner with eight sections. She is wearing an ammonite necklace and a shirt proclaiming that the Kansas City Gem and Mineral Show "finally struck gold" and is 50 years old.

The popular prize wheel returned again. It’s only 50 cents to spin and receive one of 8 different prizes. Everyone’s a winner! Photo by David Reed

The Geode Gallery (Davenport, IA) cracked a lot of geodes. You can have a geode opened whether you buy it from them or bring your own. Photo by Stephanie Reed

Look behind you, it’s a dinosaur attack! No, it’s Mr. Bones! From Louisville, CO, Mr. Bones has returned for more dinosaur fun. Photo by Stephanie Reed

Scientist mounting specimen museum science city dino lab

A representative from the Dino Lab in Science City at Union Station. She is cleaning a specimen to be mounted. Photo by Stephanie Reed

Mark Sherwood is helping these people identify something. It’s a free service from the Friends of Mineralogy, The Association, and IGAMS. Photo by Stephanie Reed

geology archaeology volcano crystal science kits toys

Science kits for kids (of all ages). Photo by Stephanie Reed

Ever wanted to try flume mining? Get a Nugget Bucket from McDe’s River Gems (Topeka, KS). Photo by Stephanie Reed

Each club in the Association can submit cases to show off things they have done, created, collected, etc. This case is from the Sterling Guild, a club for crafting with silver. Photo by Stephanie Reed

A display of fluorite octahedrons of many different colors and sizes.

Bruce Stinemetz’s fluorite octahedron collection. Photo by Stephanie Reed

A stunning assortment of gem trees from Accessory Minerals (DeSoto, KS). Photo by Stephanie Reed

Jeanne’s Rock and Jewelry (Bellaire, TX) was selling stands and cases for your specimens. Displaying is an important part of collecting, which is often overlooked. Photo by Stephanie Reed

April Field Trip Polls

As you may know, we are having a field trip to Marquette, KS in April. We need to get some feedback to plan the trip. Please answer these 3 polls below.

We are considering staying overnight and also visiting Lake Kanopolis and Lake Wilson.

How shall we get there?

If you want to go on this field trip but you are not yet a member of the club, bring $5 for your membership fee and you can join during the trip.

Spring Forward to the Show

mineral clock with agates and apache tears

Photo by Stephanie Reed

We interrupt the Spring Gem and Mineral Show to remind you to set your clock forward one hour tonight for Daylight Savings Time.

This clock is from the collection of David Reed. It contains agates, Apache tears (obsidian), a craft store clock kit, and lots of resin. It looks pretty good with his other rock clock.

55th Annual Gem & Mineral Show

Mark your calendar for the Spring 2016 Gem and Mineral Show, sponsored by the Association. Here is a flyer in PDF format you can print or send to all your friends.
2016-gem-show-flyer-sp

Christmas Parties 2015

Photos from the Show-Me Rockhounds and IGAMS Christmas parties.

The Show-Me Rockhounds Christmas Party. There was also a White Elephant gift exchange in which everyone chose gifts (sight unseen) that were perfectly suited for them.

The Show-Me Rockhounds Christmas Party. Here’s another photo because I couldn’t decide which one was better.

Valerie is so excited about her gift!

The presents at the IGAMS White Elephant exchange. There were things like necklaces, books, calendars, candy, and of course mineral specimens.

The IGAMS December meeting. It was fairly short. There was also dinner.

Preparing for the gift exchange at IGAMS.

Build a Geologist

paperdolls-r The MO DNR website has these cute little geologist paper dolls (PDF) to download, print, and assemble. Here’s mine. If you make one, send it to me and I’ll post a picture of it.

Show-Me Rockhounds Kansas City

A club for people in Kansas City, MO who enjoy collecting rocks, minerals, fossils, gems, and crystals