IMCA Insights – December 2011 What better way to introduce the COMETS club, of which I am a member, than to use their own website: www.peaktopeak.com/comets Our History
...as briefly told by Fred Hall, a founding member... What do we do? Two things immediately
stand out, the focus of the club is Meteorites, and the members meet in
restaurants, in fact it is quite often a Mexican restaurant with very
good margaritas. And one thing the Club is not is stuffy, or even
organized. As stated above the COMETS club was created in 2000 but we
never got around to creating any rules, or regulations, there are no
officers, and no dues. We usually meet once a month, if there are enough
members in town and available, and then we just chat about our favorite
subject. We have organized a few meteorite-hunts, very few, in fact. The
one to Johnstown mentioned above did not result in any findings, but it
did get us out of town and we explored the small town of Johnstown, the
church, the cemetery right behind it where they were preparing for a
funeral when the meteorite fell on the 6th of July 1924. The main focus of the whole group is our Auction and Get-together. It used to be held on two consecutive evenings but was consolidated into one long evening a couple years ago and is traditionally held in the warehouse of “Mineral Boxes and Supplies”. Fred Olsen, the owner and our resident (retired) geologist, moves all his boxes a bit out of the way, we set up a buffet with barbecue beef, pork and all the trimmings, and of course a keg of beer and some wines. When everyone has had plenty of time to eat, drink, look at the pieces offered in the auction, and most of all chat, we open the Auction. Not a very big auction, nothing really high-priced, the goal is mostly to cover the expenses. Food goes first! All ready for the Auction Mike Jensen is usually our Auctioneer Another group effort has been the renovation of the meteorite display in the Geology Museum of the School of Mines in Golden, just west of Denver, with the approval of Dr. Geller, the very friendly curator of the Museum. We donated one display, and Dan Wray has been very busy renovating several others. And of course we all helped with labels and specimens. Now, we highly recommend the Museum to any meteorite enthusiast coming to Denver. Dr. Geller (left)
welcomes the COMETS members One of the 3 display
cases housing the Meteorite Collection In conclusion, and because it is the season, we also have our own small Christmas party. For the last few years, it has been held in Roger’s large and pretty house. Thank you Roger! This year only a dozen members were in town, but size of the group is not everything. It is “pot luck” and this year the buffet was really international, from lasagna to an oriental salad and French wine. Of course no Christmas Party is complete without Christmas gifts All
the COMETS members wish you all, This article has been edited by Norbert Classen •
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