Orlando Florida GPAA - 2004 Meetings

Newsletters 2004

January '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Our First meeting for the New Year, despite the cold weather, had a great turnout and was especially productive. The Meeting was opened at 9:45 by our illustrious President, Richard Allen.

Our first outing for the year was decided on and will be in Buchanan, Ga. at the Farm on Beech Creek over the Memorial Day weekend. Dates are May 29th and 30th. Randy will be bringing his 5" dredge, and there will be other equipment brought also. Our second outing will be in North Carolina, date and exact place will follow, so stay tuned for further information on that. These outings are always alot of fun and gives all of us a chance to jump into summer, play and get to know each other better.

Some really nice nuggets and prospector coins were purchased at the Convention Center Show for our raffles and Christmas Party. You will surely not want to miss out on any of these. Ron Baker was the lucky winner of this month's Australian Gold Nugget, "Way To Go Ron."

Raffle nuggets for the upcoming year.

This months prize.

Congradulations Ron!

We are going to possibly incorporate a new raffle system at our meetings called "Prospector Bingo", more will be learned on that at our February meeting.

I, personally, would like to make up a Photo Album for our club. This would be a covered album with some sort of prospecting decoration and chapter on the front. I haven't decided exactly what at this time, but it would be nice if anyone who has pictures of any of our outings or just some of your own personal prospecting experiences, would share them with me. You can either bring them to a meeting or email them to me. Your photos will not be altered or damaged in any way and will be returned to you as soon as I make the copies. Also, we need some more recent photos for our web page.

Now for the best part, our February Meeting will be a Pancake Breakfast. We are talkin' some good stuff. Pancakes w/butter & syrup, Sausage, Bacon, Scrambled Eggs w/cheese, Orange juice, Coffee, Cocoa and who knows what else might make its way to the table. We need extra cookstoves and frying pans for this event, so please bring yours. We'd like to thank Randy who has contributed $20.00 to the breakfast, THANKS, RANDY.

February Meeting is Valentines Day, Sat. Feb. 14th at Warren Park, 9:00 a.m. Don't miss out on this meeting and all the fine eats.

Hope everyone has had a great start of '2004, see ya at the breakfast.

Paulette

Feburary '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Our February Meeting was a Pancake Breakfast meeting and boy was it ever great. There were Pancakes with lots of butter and syrup (prepared by Frank.), Sausage, Bacon, Scrambled Eggs, Fruit, Donuts and Orange Juice.

Everyone got their fill. We had a wonderful turnout for the Breakfast meeting, and would like to say "Welcome" to our guests, Liz Mullen (Judy Baker's mom) who is visiting from up north and Brandon and Eve Bent (friends of Happy and Terry Vaughan).

The meeting this month was mainly dedicated to eating and socializing, but we did get some things done. We are still planning our Outing over the Memorial Day Weekend, but there is a small possibility that the place may be changed.

Seems there is a large club of Prospectors expected at the Farm in Buchanan which could cause some crowding of camping and prospecting. We will keep you posted as we find out more info.

Richard has a list of Metal Detecting Clubs in Florida, so anyone who would like to learn more on that should contact him(rallen4595@aol.com).

Our 2.6 gram Nugget was won by Terry Vaughan this month, what a great Valentines Day present.

Terry won this nugget playing Prospector Bingo, which is a another and different way to raffle. Everyone had a lot of fun playing.

Actually there were 2 people with Bingo at the same time, the tie was broken by each person receiving a Bingo Ball from the machine, Highest number won and Terry had it. Congratulations Terry!!!!!

Well that's about all for this month. I'd like to thank everyone who contributed to the Breakfast, couldn't have done it without you.

DON'T FORGET..MARCH MEETING SAT. THE 13TH, 9:00 A.M. AT WARREN PARK.

Paulette

March '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Our March meeting was a good one. Lots of information on upcoming events. Richard spoke with the President of the Georgia GPAA and there are no clubs scheduled for an outing at the farm in Buchanan over the Memorial Day at this time, so all systems are a go for us.

Looking for some fun? If you're able to get away for a couple of days, check out the North Carolina GOLD Festival in Western North Carolina (Marion & Old Fort) on April 23rd and 24th. There will be Gold Shows, Exhibits, Equipment, Prizes, Panning, Prospecting and Treasure Hunts. Also a Pioneer Days with demonstrations of living in the Gold Rush Days, Arts Show and Sale, and of course Food. Entertainment featured will be the Hall of Fame Bluegrass Bands, J.D. Crowe & The New South, the Dean Osborne Band and the Moron Brothers. Sounds like a lot of fun. You can get more info by visiting the Web site at http://www.negold.org. This information comes from the Gold Prospectors Magazine March/April 2004 Issue, page 91.

Jim and his grandaughter Stephanie are going on a little prospecting trip during the Spring Break. We will be anxious to see what treasures he brings back. Richard is going to Dahlonega the end of March for some R & R, and he will be bringing back some bags of concentrates for our raffles.

Our April meeting will be a Pot Luck. The club will be providing the Barbecue. There will be Potato Salad, Corn on the Cob, Baked Beans, a surprise Dessert and some rolls. We are still in need of some Cole Slaw, maybe some kind of Fruit or Fruit Salad and whatever else your taste buds come up with. It will be up to us members to supply our own Beverages. Meeting will be held at Warren Park, Saturday April 10th at 9:00 am. Pot Lucks are always a lot of fun so plan to attend.

The raffle this month was really nice. Patrick won a bag of concentrate and a 1 oz. Silver Coin. Jim was the recipient of the .7gr Nugget and Frank and myself were also winners.

Check out our web site, Duane has set up some Picture Pages with the name of the person who brought us the pix. Some really fun pix.

Well, that's all for this month, see you at the Pot Luck in April.

Paulette

April '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

This month's meeting was a POT LUCK, and was it ever good. There was Bar-B-Que Beef,Corn on the Cob, Deviled Eggs, Teryiaki Meatballs, Chicken Wings, Potato Salad, Macaroni/Shrimp Salad, Baked Beans, Spinach Balls, Rolls, Cupcakes and Fruit Pizza. Everyone who attended got their fill.

The attendance at this meeting was a little scarce. I guess a lot of people had made plans to be away for the Easter Holiday, and we never even thought of that when we decided to do a Pot Luck. That's ok, we hope all who couldn't be with us had a great and safe holiday and we look forward to seeing you at the May Meeting.

We would like to welcome a new Member, Ross Houchins, very nice to see you and we hope to see you again. Richard went to Dahlonega in March for some R & R. He took a tour, saw a show and did some prospecting and panning at the Chestatee River. He also brought back some concentrate purchased from the Crisson Mine for our raffles.

For those of you who can get away for a couple of days, check out the 2004 Outing Schedule in the Gold Prospectors Magazine, March/April 2004-page 63. There will be an outing on May 5,6,(7,8,9) at Loud Mine, Ga. and May 12,13,(14,15,16) at Vein Mountain, N.C. These are 2 and 3 day outings, LDMA members are 1/2 price. The Memorial Day Outing at Buchanan, Ga. for this club is still on, so be sure to attend our May Meeting to get the finals on that. If you can't make the meeting, please be sure to contact one of the Officers for information.

Randy brought in a very interesting Sluice to share with us at this meeting, it was a German Sluice Box called the GoldBlitz. Looked just like a regular sluice box to me, but I'm not good with the technicalities of things like that.

Well, that's about all for this month, I'm getting very excited about the Memorial Day Outing as this will be the first one I have been able to attend. Hope everyone has a great April, see you at our May Meeting, Saturday-May 8th--9:00am at Warren Park.

Paulette

May '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Well, this months meeting was a lot of socializing and final planning for the COMMON DIG in Buchanan, Ga. over the MEMORIAL DAY weekend.

We would like to say welcome to a guest today, Rob Wilkins. Rob is new to the idea of prospecting, so he stopped in to get some input from some of us seasoned prospectors. Hopefully he got enough info to get him started, and we hope to see him again soon.

As far as the COMMON DIG goes, it will be over the MEMORIAL DAY weekend, MAY 29TH and 30TH. Most of our members will be there except for a couple who are headed a whole lot farther NORTH to ALASKA. We want to wish them a safe and prosperous venture.

Plans are to camp at the HOLCOMB CREEK campsite over by the High School and work the creeks there. Some of us will begin to arrive as early as Wednesday, but the COMMON DIG will start on Saturday morning and finish up on Sunday. The Gold split will be after the cleanup on Sunday afternoon, and there will be a Group Dinner on Sunday paid for by the club. Here's hoping everyone can be at this Outing and join in on all the fun.

As this Newsletter comes to a close, I have one more little tidbit of info. We will be having a MEXICAN THEME POT LUCK at our June Meeting (Sat. June 12) at Warren Park, 9:00 am. The club will be providing the Seasoned Meat for Tacos, so we will be needing Taco Shells, Lettuce, Tomatos, Grated Cheese and Salsa. Any other MEXICAN side dish will be up to us. Things like, Spanish Rice, Refried Beans, Burritos, Enchiladas, Chili, etc. would be great, also some kind of Dessert. Please email me, and let me know what you would like to bring so we don't have to many duplicates.

Have a Safe and Happy Month and hope to see you in Buchanan.

Paulette

June '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Well, if you missed the June meeting you missed a lot of fun. This meeting was a Pot Luck and it was great. There were Taco's, Mexican Salad, Spanish Rice, Assorted Fruits, Nachos and Dessert.

The meeting was opened by our President, Richard Allen, and Old Business and New was attended to.

Old Business was all about the Club's first Outing of 2004 at Buchanan. Everyone stayed over at the main campground by the school, so there was a lot of socializing. The weather was never a problem even though it did rain a couple of times, mostly at night. Those attending were Richard, Mike, Jim and Cookie, Ed, Paulette and Duane and Frank and Marianne got there in time to join us.

We had two 4 inch dredges (Franks new Dahlke, not sure of the spelling on that) and Jim's, Duane and Tommy?s 2 inch, and Richards 2-1/2 inch combo. Seemed like everyone was pleased with the amount of Gold that was found. Dinner on Sunday Night after the cleanup and split was at the Pizza Farm. I hear the Ribeye Steaks were superb. Everyone had a great time bringing our first outing of the year to a pleasant close.

July is Election of Officers for our club, so please be sure to attend. Also discussions will be open for the planning of our next outing. Rumor has it that it may take place in late September or October and maybe in North Carolina.

The Raffle this month was an Australian Gold Nugget, and a couple of bags of concentrate. Pat was the lucky winner of the Nugget and a bag of concentrate, Happy Vaughan walked away with the other bag of concentrate. Good Luck to both of them.

Well, that's about all for this month, DON'T FORGET, JULY IS ELECTION MONTH, please be there. Hope everyone has a great month and a Happy Fourth of July. See ya on the 10th of July at Warren Park, 9:00am.

Paulette

July '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Our July Meeting was a little light in attendance. This meeting was the election of the Officers for the new year. Patrick Kennedy has been re-elected as our Vice President, Frank Mercier re-elected for Treasurer and Paulette Chancey for Secretary.

There were two nominations for President. They were Encombent Richard Allen and Jim Green. The election yielded a tie for President, so we will be having a Run-Off at our August Meeting for that Office. If you will not be able to attend our August Meeting, PLEASE EMAIL YOUR VOTE TO ME BEFORE THEN, (pchancey46@hotmail.com). This is very important, so don't put it on the back burner.

The next Outing was discussed at this month's meeting. Carolina Emerald Mine, Lucky Strike or maybe a new place called Golden Valley Campground which is about 20 miles from Thermal City will be decided on at the August Meeting. Richard received contact from the Owner of the Golden Valley Campground and he will be sending brochures for us to look at in August. The Outing is planned for sometime in September.

YUM!!YUM!!..We will be having a POTLUCK at the September Meeting. Club will furnish the Chicken, the rest of us cooks will fill in the gaps. Date for the September Meeting is the 11th. Don't miss it.

This month's raffle was a $25.00 bag of Alaskan Dirt and a GPAA Pin, both were won by Ron.

My son and I, and Jim Green and his nephew Justin are headed back to Buchanan on the 12th of July. Here's hoping we do as well as we did at the Outing on Memorial Day Weekend.

That's about all for now, hope everyone has a great month and anyone traveling has a safe trip. See you at our August Meeting, Saturday the 14th.

Paulette

August '04

August Meeting was washout cause of the hurricanes!

September '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Well, here's hoping that everyone has managed to hang in there during the recent unexpected weather we've had.

Sure hope it's over for this season!

As you all know we did not have a meeting in August due to Hurricane Charley, so there is no news to report for that month. Our September meeting was held as scheduled at Warren Park. The Park suffered some heavy tree damage so we had to meet outside the gate, kinda like a tailgate meeting.

The run-off for President was held and Richard Allen was re-elected for another year. All other offices remained the same. We are not planning another Club Outing for this year. Weather is just not going to be real cooperative this late in the year. It is already beginning to cool down up in Georgia dropping into the low 50's at night.

Our meeting for October will be on Saturday the 9th and instead of a Potluck, we are going to just have some snack foods anything that does not require cooking or a lot of cleanup. Finger foods will be fine, Chips, Dips, Crackers, Cookies, etc. Speaking of Potlucks, our annual Christmas Party will be held at the Park on our regular meeting day in December, so get out your recipes and aprons and get cookin'.

Richard and Frank went over to the office and secured the Pavilion for this event. We will also be having the Secret Santa Gift exchange. More details for this occasion will be discussed at the next couple of meetings.

We would like to Welcome a new member to our Club. Craig Grindle from Merritt Island, Fl. Craig was up in Buchanan in July when Jim Green, Duane and myself were there. We encouraged him and his wife to attend our meetings.

Our raffle this month was really great if I say so myself, I was the lucky winner of the beautiful gold nugget and Duane won the bag of concentrate.

Well, I guess that's about all for this month. I want to apologize for this letter being so late coming out, but, my computer is not wanting to cooperate here lately. Don't know if it has something to do the weather we've had or what.

Take care and will see you all Saturday Oct. 9th at Warren Park.

Paulette

October '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

This month's meeting was a really good one. We had a tailgate finger snacks meeting with some great snacks.

There was Summer Sausage, Cheese, Olives, Pickles, Shrimp Dip, Crackers, Chips, Donuts, Cookies and Soda.

The club is considering purchasing some shirts and having the Florida GPAA logo on them along with the member's name. Our newest member, Craig, might be able to get the embroidering done for us. More on this will be discussed at our November Meeting.

Our Annual Christmas Party was discussed and as planned will be held at Warren Park under the Pavilion. Due to some damage to the park and some debris still laying around we were unable to get into the Park this month, but all should be fine in November.

Back to the Christmas Party, it will be the same set-up as last year. The Club is furnishing a Whole Spiral Ham and the rest of us will fill in the gaps. The Party is open to Members and their families only, and I will need to know from everyone by Thanksgiving who will be attending. This is so Frank can arrange to have the gift for each family, and we will all know how many people to prepare food for.

To avoid having too much of the same foods, we would like each person to contact me with what they would like to bring, this can be done anytime now. Remembering the Meat is going to be Ham, leaves a lot of possibilities. So far, we have Potato Salad, Cole Slaw, Pasta Salad, Ambrosia, Rice & Turkey Gumbo, Brown Bread, Green Bean Casserole and Macaroni Salad. Other items could be Deviled Eggs, Baked Beans, Relish Trays, Cakes, Cookies, Pies, you name it. Just be sure to let me know.

Our Raffle this month yielded a 2.9 gr. Australian Gold Nugget won by Happy Vaughn and a 1 gr. Australian Gold Nugget won by Marianne Mercier.

We would also like to acknowledge two of our members who were able to come to this month's meeting, Art and Faith Wolf. It's a long drive from Jacksonville (Green Cove Springs), we understand that, but it sure would be nice to see them more often. Ron and Judy Baker were on vacation this meeting, hope they had a great time, will look forward to seeing them at the next meeting. Speaking of the November Meeting, this is going to be a Breakfast meeting. There will be Scrambled Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, maybe some Donuts and of course, coffee. I don't have a Coffee Pot, so I will leave that up to the rest of you. Let me know what you would like to bring. Hope everyone has a great month and BEWARE of the GHOSTS and GOBLINS on the 31st. See ya in November. Paulette (407)671-2918 pchancey46@hotmail.com

Paulette

November '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

Well, we had a great meeting this month. Our Breakfast was super. We had Scrambled Eggs with Cheese, Sausage Balls, Danish, Juice, and Coffee. The weather was nice and the Park is now open. There are still some spots in the Park that aren't accessible, but the Pavillion is fine.

The topic of discussion at this meeting was mainly about our upcoming Annual Christmas Party. Will talk more about that after some other great news.

Short Sleeve Shirts with the GPAA Logo and Member's name are now available for ordering. This is a Lt. Blue Cotton Short Sleeve shirt that buttons down the front. These shirts are available for only $12.00 including the embroidering. Craig Grindle who is a new member of our club has volunteered to do the embroidering. We thank Craig for his generosity and time in this undertaking.

Now for the Christmas Party plans. The Party will be held at Warren Park on Saturday, December 11 at 11:00 am. The Pavillion will be decorated and ready to take on some holiday spirit. The Club is furnishing Spiral Ham as the Main Entree. The rest of the dinner is a wonderful assortment of goodies. So Far, we have Potato Salad, Macaroni Salad, Deviled Eggs, Cole Slaw, Relish Tray, Green Bean Casserole, Rice/Turkey Gumbo, Baked Beans, Cornbread, Pasta Salad, Ambrosia, Brown Bread and Sodas.

There will be a couple of Cakes as I write this letter, but we still could use some more sweets,(Pies/Cookies etc.)Also,what ever else suits your fancy.

The club will furnish a gift as usual, 1 gift to each family. There will also be our Secret Santa gift exchange, this is a really fun event. Almost anything goes for a gift. These gifts should be $10.00 or less. Please take a moment or two to wrap or disguise your gift in some way.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!!! I MUST HAVE A RSVP FROM EVERYONE WHO WILL BE THERE. THIS IS TO INSURE THAT EACH FAMILY RECEIVES A GIFT FROM THE CLUB. NO RSVP. NO GIFT. PLEASE RSVP BY DEC. 4TH.

This is one of the most fun meetings of our year so please make plans to be there.

Faith Wolf won a 1.2gr. Alaskan Nugget on our raffle this month. Congratulations Faith. Well, that's all for this month. Hope everyone has a great and safe Thanksgiving. REMEMBER TO RSVP BY DEC. 4TH.

You can email me or Call me. My work hours have increased, so if there is no answer, please leave a message (407)671-2918..

Paulette

December '04

Hi Fellow Prospectors,

I want to open this letter by saying I hope everyone had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS, even though it was a cold and wet one, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!! I'm really late getting this newsletter out and I would like to apologize for that. This last month has been really hectic for me at work. Scheduled days off for the last 3 weeks have been on again and off again. Maybe now that the holidays are coming to a close we can get back to some normality. Got my fingers crossed.

Our Annual Christmas Party was the best. Tons of food, gifts and a lot of comaraderie. We decorated the Pavillion and tables, and Richard brought his boom box and some Christmas CD's.

Food was overwhelming, Honey Baked Ham, Sausage Casserole, Ribs, Lasagna, Fried Chicken Wings, Rice and Turkey Gumbo, Baked Beans, Green Bean Casserole (made by our illustrious President), I'm not much on Green Bean Casserole but this was excellent, not made with the conventional French Style Beans, but with what looked like Pole Beans, not mushy like the regular casserole. There was also Cornbread, Pasta Salad, Tossed Salad, Macaroni Salad, Potato Salad, Deviled Eggs, Ambrosia, Cookies, Citrus Pound Cake and Art's to die for Angel Food Cake.

Art emailed me the recipe for his cake, but I think I lost it on my computer. Will check and see, if I can't find it I will ask Art to send it to me again.

The Secret Santa Gift exchange was really cool. Garden Tool Set, Gift sets of Cocoa, Coffee, Champaign and Wines, Whoop A--s Chili Mix, Afghan etc. The Club Gifts included Vials of Gold, Copper Pan with some nice size gold pieces, Belt Buckle, Silver Prospector Medallions, Bags of High Grade, and of course, a beautiful large nugget was at the top of the list.

We would like to welcome a New Member and his wife, Dave and Judy Heyart to our club. Dave has a relative in North Carolina who has some acreage with about 2500 feet on a creek, he is making a trip up there so he won't be with us in January, but will bring us back some info on that at our February meeting. We would also like to welcome back Alicia Hamilton, who I might say was the winner of that beautiful Nugget at the Party.

Alicia and her husband (Ham) moved away about a year ago up to the Villages right outside of Leesburg. Since then Ham was quite ill and passed away. Alicia, however, is doing well and we hope to see her again real soon. Dave and Judy also live at the Villages.

Our January Meeting is going to be a Coffee, Cocoa, Donuts, Danish etc. meeting. I do not own a Coffee Pot that is brewed over flame, so I will be bringing a huge pot and my camp stove to heat water for the dreaded Instant Coffee and Cocoa. We have plenty of Sugar (regular and diet) and Creamer.

If anyone has a coffee pot they would like to bring, please do. I will furnish Regular and Decaffeinated Instant Coffee and the Cocoa, the rest is up to the rest of you. Please email me and let me know what you can bring, so we can make sure all bases are covered.

The January Meeting will be held as usual at Warren Park, 9:00 am on Saturday the 8th. We will begin to discuss the Club Outings for the coming year.

Well, that's all for now, again, I hope everyone had a great Christmas and has a Happy New Year. Remember: DON'T DRINK AND DRIVE!!!!! We don't want to lose any of you.

Paulette