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Handling Tips for Valentine’s Day Roses 

By
Guest Columnist
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0
Photo credit: Jon Collier

If you are fortunate enough to receive roses from a loved one this Valentine’s Day, follow these guidelines to help extend the life of your flowers.

For floral arrangements:

1) Keep the vase filled or floral foam soaked with warm water. Add fresh, warm water daily. If the water turns cloudy, replace it immediately. If possible, recut stems by removing one to two inches with a sharp knife. Do this under water. This allows the stems to draw in water instead of air.

2) Keep flowers in a cool spot (65 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit), away from direct sunlight, heating or cooling vents, directly under ceiling fans, or near radiators.

3) If a rose starts to wilt, remove it from the arrangement, and recut the stem under water. Submerge the entire rose in warm water. The rose should revive in one to two hours.

For loose stems:

1) If you can’t get your flowers in a flower food solution right away, keep them in a cool place.

2) Fill a clean, deep vase with water and add the flower food obtained from your florist. Be sure to follow the directions on the package.

3) Remove leaves that will be below the waterline. Leaves in water will promote bacterial growth.

4) Recut stems under water with a sharp knife and place the flowers in the vase solution you’ve prepared. (

Ward Upham, Extension Agent

Buyer Beware

By
Lee Pitts
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0
lee pitts

Recently I called a plumber friend to order a toilet thinking I’d get it cheaper than buying it from a big box store or the local hardware store. The toilet was delivered to my house and in preparing to install it I noticed something was missing: THE SEAT! Now, I think we can all agree that the seat is a fairly important part of the apparatus, just ask any woman who constantly tells her husband to put the seat down after use, otherwise she might sit down and get stuck, and calling the fire department to get removed from your toilet is not something you’d want talked about around town.

When I went to the local hardware store to buy a toilet seat I noticed a banner saying that a popular brand of a battery powered drill was only $79. But then I read the small print and discovered that did not include the battery or the charger. That was $159 extra! I felt like I was ten years old again on Christmas morning when you got a toy you couldn’t play with because ‘batteries were not included!’

We’ve become a nation of salesmen, promoters and hucksters. We sell stuff better than we make it. For example, my wife and I were picking out wood flooring to redo our kitchen floor and after looking at samples for 30 minutes we finally decided on one we both liked. Then the salesman informed us it was out of stock and he didn’t know when it would be available, if ever. It reminded me of buying a can of nuts with a bright label that showed what we could expect once we opened the can. The label showed numerous cashews, (my favorite) but it had one half of one cashew in the entire can! The pizza joint in our town advertises that they are ‘the home of the $8 pizza’ but that’s just for the crust and the sauce. If you want pepperoni, cheese and olives they’re two dollars each so their $8 pizza is really $14!

Sometimes we’re outright lied to. As a child I wanted a coonskin cap because Daniel Boone supposedly wore one only to find out as an adult that he never did. Asthma Cigarettes did not cure cancer, Dr Koch’s Cure All was little more than distilled water, one size does not fit all, wearing sneakers doesn’t make you look skinny and you can’t ‘wash and wear’ clothes without looking like a homeless person. And why is every item in the grocery store ‘New and Improved?’ I don’t want new and improved, I want ‘old and reliable’.

And whatever happened to ‘truth in advertising?’

I am reminded of an incident where telling the truth almost got me sued. I was working ring at the all-breed bull sale at San Francisco’s Cow Palace which always attracted a big crowd. For some reason I’ll never understand the Cow Palace didn’t require their consignors to semen test their bulls ahead of the sale. I’ve never heard of another bull sale that didn’t semen test their bulls.

The Limousin bulls always seemed to have the highest breed average because two good cattlemen always got in a bidding war over them. They were both my friends and always sat in my section where I was taking bids. One of the men told me ahead of time, “You let me know if a bull isn’t semen tested because I don’t want one!” And the other bidder was a dear friend of mine. In fact, I gave the eulogy at his funeral. He’d never speak to me again if I sold him a bull that wasn’t semen tested. So whenever an untested Limousin bull came through the ring I said in a normal voice, “Not semen tested.”

When I got home a week later there was a letter waiting for me from a LImousin breeder who sold his untested bulls at the Cow Palace and said he was going to sue me if I didn’t pay him the difference between what his untested bulls brought and the average of the tested bulls. He also threatened to sue me for defamation of character. And all I had done was tell the truth because I thought that buying a bull that wasn’t semen tested was like buying a toilet without a seat.

U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. inducts Cunningham man to Hall fo Fame

By
Guest Columnist
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0

U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. inducted their 2023 Hall of Fame nominees at their convention in Omaha, Nebraska. Their 40th anniversary 3-day convention was held the first week of February 2023.
The organization is proud to have inducted Larry Preisser as one of their Hall of Fame
recipients. Larry was nominated by fellow harvester, Perry Hoffman, of Bowdle, South Dakota. Larry began custom harvesting in the summer of 1969, then worked for a farmer in western Kansas in the off season. He bought his first piece of land near Cunningham, Kansas, in 1976 while continuing to harvest wheat from Texas to North Dakota every year. Larry now stays close to home near Cunningham, harvesting and farming. You can view Larry’s Hall of Fame video at US Custom Harvester’s YouTube site.
The USCHI Harvester Hall of Fame was established in 1999 as an effort to properly recognize the pioneers of the United States custom harvesting industry.
To be inducted into the U.S. Custom Harvesters Hall of Fame, the nominee is evaluated by the board of directors. The board selects only those candidates they feel honor the organization and are held in high esteem by the membership at large. Candidates are recognized by their service to the organization, numbers of years in the harvesting business, and support to the harvesting industry.
U.S. Custom Harvesters, Inc. is an association of professional custom harvesters serving the needs of the American farmer. Established and chartered in 1983 in the State of Texas,
USCHI serves as a link between the harvesters and the many groups of people they work with, such as farmers, businesses, State and Federal Government. This organization also works to educate its membership concerning safety, quality of workmanship, and information on equipment updates and exists to represent and promote the harvesting industry from its’ current Kansas headquarters.
For 40 years, USCHI has hosted a private annual event to convene members and partners to learn about new equipment, harvesting techniques and to network. The annual convention features AGCO, Case IH, CLAAS, John Deere, and Pipe Ag and more to showcase and demonstrate the newest equipment and technology to over 1,000 attendees.

Digital Edition 02.15.2023

By
tammiehoeme
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0
digital edition

Digital Edition 02.15.2023

A Day in the Life with Lovina and Her Family

By
tammiehoeme
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0

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen
Lovina Eitcher,
Old Order Amish
Cook, Wife &
Mother of Eight

 

Diary of February 7th
4:00 a.m. The alarm rings, and it’s time to start another day.
Dustin, Loretta, and Denzel, seven months, come over. Loretta and Denzel lay on the recliner to take a nap since it’s still so early. Dustin leaves for work. Loretta has another appointment with the doctor tomorrow. They want to see if the clots are still dissolving with the blood thinner. She says the pain is gone, and it’s feeling much better. We’re so thankful to get good results.
4:15 a.m. I make breakfast for my husband Joe, pack his lunch, and fill his water jug with ice and water. Joe goes down to the basement to refuel our coal stove. Our coal stove in the basement has a jacket around it. It heats all three floors of our house. We have a big vent on top of the stove in the floor that brings the heat up, and our open staircase is right close by, so that sends heat up to the bedrooms up there. We have cold air return vents along the sides of the floor to help circulate the air. In the 15 years we have lived in this new house, it has worked great. On really cold or windy days, we have propane lights to light, which also throws a lot of heat.
Son Joseph, 20, goes out to the pole barn to refuel that stove. We have heat in there to keep the solar batteries from getting too cold, and it’s also where our phone is. We have a bathroom and kitchen sink, and cabinets out there, so it helps keep the water lines from freezing.
4:45 a.m. Joe leaves for work at the Metal Shop. I make Joseph’s breakfast and pack his lunch and water jug. Son Benjamin, 23, goes out to do the chores in the barn.
5 a.m. Joseph leaves for his construction job. They build mostly pole barns. Benjamin doesn’t want breakfast and doesn’t take his lunch to work.
5:25 a.m. Benjamin leaves, and I sit on my recliner with a cup of coffee. Loretta and Denzel are sound asleep. I always feel like I need a little rest after the morning rush.
8 a.m. Daughter Verena has been here for several days, and I’m always glad she’s here. Everyone is awake, and of course, Denzel needs our attention. We have a lot of fun with him.
I work on answering reader mail. I have been behind since the middle of December. The girls wash dishes and clean up the house.
11:30 a.m. Daughter Susan brings her three boys here Isaiah, four; Ryan, three; and Curtis, three. Today is Ervin’s first day back to work at the factory since the six-week layoff. Verena goes with Susan to take Jennifer, five, to the doctor. Kaitlyn is in school.
No one is hungry for breakfast, so we make lunch for the boys and us. Denzel is so happy to have the attention of his little cousins.
Noon. Egg Dutch, bacon, cheese, and toast are on the menu. Curtis loves the Egg Dutch and wants seconds. He says, “Grandma, it’s really good.” Ryan stands beside him, nodding his head “yes” that he thinks so too. So precious!
We spend the afternoon entertaining the boys. We put puzzles together and read books. They enjoy that.
3:15 p.m. Joe comes home, and the boys have fun with Grandpa. Then Benjamin comes home, and there’s no more quietness. He plays tag with them, chasing them around the house. They enjoy it, though.
Dustin is also back from work, and he, Loretta, and Denzel leave for home.
4 p.m. Susan and Verena are back to get the boys.
4:30 p.m. Joseph is home from work. He showers and leaves because he’s taking his special friend Grace out to eat for her birthday. Her birthday was February 6. Last Friday, our family gathered here in honor of her birthday. Joseph got her a decorated cake. We had baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, buttered beets, cheese, peppers, and cake, ice cream, and jello for dessert.
Daughter Lovina and I fold the laundry from yesterday that was drying in the basement.
Benjamin does chores, and Joe refuels the stoves.
6:30 p.m. Lovina makes supper. It’s grilled cheese sandwiches, sausage patties, and eggs.
9 p.m. Joseph is back from town. It’s time to call it a day. Good night and God’s blessings to all!
I will share the recipe for Egg Dutch. This has always been a favorite for us. I remember my mother making it often.

Egg Dutch

5 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
pepper to taste
1 heaping tablespoon flour
1 cup milk

Beat together eggs, salt, pepper, flour, and milk in a medium bowl. Pour into a heated, greased skillet and cover with a tight lid. Cook over medium-low heat until eggs are mostly set. Cut into pieces and flip each one over. Then cover again to finish cooking. Add shredded cheese on top when almost done, if desired. Bacon bits are also good.

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