BCFNS NEWSLETTER

June 2021

Stat Report

Contact Email Address

There are several ways to contact us but the one we use here is: newsletter@BlancoCountyNightSky.org

Next Board Meeting

Wednesday, July 21st @ 9 am, at El Charro's in Johnson City. You are welcome to attend. Our meetings are half business and half brainstorming.

Blanco Market Day Info Booth and Light Bulb Swap – July 17th

We will have a booth at the July 17th Market Day in the Blanco City Square. Please stop by to say “Hello” and swap your old outdoor light bulbs for “night sky friendly” bulbs!

Summer vacations have left us short of folks to help in the booth. If you are available for an hour or two, please let us know. Don’t worry that you “don’t know what to do” we can teach you quickly and we have some wonderful information to pass out to visitors. Contact us at for more information.

BCFNS Community Involvement

The Rotary Club of Blanco County held the Joe Garcia Memorial Golf Tournament at Vaaler Creek Golf Course in Blanco on June 7th. Joe Garcia, who passed away December 26, 2020, was the founder of The Rotary Club of Blanco County and made many contributions to the Blanco community. In support of The Rotary Club BCFNS sponsored a hole. 65 golfers participated in the tournament and a silent auction was also held. Funds raised are used for scholarships, Project Graduation, Human Trafficking Awareness, Blanco Education Foundation, computers, books, and other equipment for schools. The tournament was a great success!

June 24th, BCFNS had a booth at the first Johnson City Chamber of Commerce Mixer of 2021 at Vinovium Winery. It was a lovely setting and well attended. Barbara Hudson, our Secretary, signed up a new business membership - Alex Anthony Vineyards in JC and handed out night sky friendly light bulbs along with BCFNS members, Larry and Terri Seiler. Potential members in attendance expressed a lot of interest in BCFNS.

Advertising

Gosh…we haven’t heard from anyone!!! We’d like to know if our advertising is working. Did you happen to see our ads in the Experience Johnson City magazine and/or Explore Blanco County magazines? We are trying to reach more people and help make them aware that our night sky needs protecting. Please let us know if you saw one of the ads by sending an email to newsletter@BlancoCountyNightSky.org

Best Western Lighting Retrofit

No new information but we know progress is being made.

Membership Sign Promotion

We still have membership signs available, get yours today!!! Free membership ($20) with the purchase of a sign ($32 tax included). Here’s the link: BCFNS Membership Signs

Volunteer Opportunities

Blanco County Friends of the Night Sky has several volunteer opportunities. You can check them out at Volunteer Opertunities.

Volunteer Electrical Genius Needed

Are you handy with wires and switches and that kind of stuff? We need a volunteer who can make our Porch Light Demonstration Board easier to use. Right now, we have to plug the lights into an outlet individually as needed which is awkward when you are in front of an audience. We want to be able to just flip a switch to turn on and off each light. Can you do that? If so, please call Wayne Gosnell at (210) 557-6127. Thanks!

Volunteer Needed for this Newsletter

Do you like getting the “news” out to folks? We could use some help putting this newsletter together each month. Members of the group and the Board will “feed” information to you so your job would be to act as “Editor” and perhaps add a creative flare where needed. It is usually a very short 2-3 page newsletter so it won’t take much time. Please send an email to newsletter@BlancoCountyNightSky.org if you are interested.

Volunteers Needed track information

We are forming a 3-person team of volunteer "Data Base Administrators" to manage our growing database plus our other data in Excel and Word. Currently, BCFNS has only one person that knows how to use and manipulate our cloud-based system which is Little Green Light (LGL). LGL is powerful but not the most user-friendly system and it does require a fundamental knowledge of how data bases work plus how to manipulate data with Excel. Although we use the terms “Data Base Administrator” and “DBA”, the positions are really power users.

These two additional DBA positions do not require living locally in Blanco County, Texas. You can be anywhere in the world as long as you have access to a Windows PC, Microsoft Word and Excel, the internet, email and Zoom. Good written and verbal English communication skills are required. You would spend 4-6 hours per month helping out. You will:

1. Be a backup to the current DBA just in case he is hit by a Mack truck
2. Help add to and insure the quality of the data in LGL
3. Help extract lists for reports from LGL and format reports for end users
4. Recommend, design, create and maintain analysis charts in Excel
5. Brainstorm and suggest better ways of improving and using the LGL database and Excel spreadsheets
6. Brainstorm and suggest ways of tracking other information through LGL and Excel like inventories, photos, measurements, events, etc.
7. Help find other supporting software

If you are interested in applying for one of these volunteer DBA positions, please contact BCFNS at DBA@BlancoCountyNightSky.org Because of the confidentiality of the data, both a resume and references will be required.