Friday, March 20, 2026
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Free COVID-19 Tests Reordering Available for All Kansas Households

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Guest Columnist
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The Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation’s public charity, RF Catalytic Capital and Project Access to Covid Tests (Project ACT), is providing a second round of free at-home COVID-19 tests to households in all Kansas communities. All Kansas households can now visit AccessCovidTests.org to place an order for an additional five at-home COVID-19 test kits. Amazon will deliver the test kits directly to your house.

Testing before holiday gatherings is one way to prevent spreading COVID-19 to family and friends. Frequent testing is especially important for those with more exposure outside the home, such as kids in school or people who spend time in a group setting. By visiting AccessCovidTests.org, Kansans will be able enter their zip code to order free, rapid, at-home COVID-19 test kits.

Kansans who need more support in ordering can call 866-534-3463 (866-KDHEINF).

If you need additional testing, please visit KnowBeforeYouGoKS.com to find a free testing site in your community.

Multi-Year Flex Accounts Can Help Manage Water Use in Drought Years

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Guest Columnist
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Photo credit: K-State Research and Extension

MANHATTAN, Kansas — As the drought continues to intensify across Kansas, many farmers have struggled to keep their crops alive amid the scarce water supply. The Kansas Department of Agriculture’s Division of Water Resources encourages water right owners to be alert to their water use for 2022 and consider applying for a multi-year flex account (MYFA) if they believe they may exceed their annual water use allocation for this year.

Rather than operating on an annual basis with the quantity of water defined by the water right, a MYFA temporarily replaces the water right with a 5-year quantity to be used as needed in response to growing season conditions. This option has been available to water users since 2012, providing flexibility by allowing the water right holder to exceed their annual authorized quantity in any year but restricts total pumping over the 5-year period.

To sign up for a MYFA that will include the 2022 pumping season, water right owners should contact or go to their regional KDA-DWR field office before the end of the year. An application must be filed on or before December 31 of the first year of the MYFA term for which the application is being made.

A MYFA is just one of the tools that farmers can use in their efforts to best manage their water. In addition to the flexibility provided by the MYFA option, farmers are also encouraged to consider water conservation practices such as drought-tolerant crop varieties, cropping patterns, water conservation areas, and irrigation technologies such as soil moisture probes, mobile drip irrigation systems, remote monitoring systems and more. By implementing the water conservation tools available, producers can work together to extend the long-term viability of the Ogallala aquifer which supplies water to the western third of the state.

KDA-DWR oversees water appropriation, including annual water use affiliated with water rights. For more information about the benefits of a MYFA and how to apply, go to www.agriculture.ks.gov/MYFA or call your regional field office or the main KDA-DWR office at 785-564-6640.

Thanksgiving Safety

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Guest Columnist
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Photo courtesy: google images

FACT 

–Thanksgiving is the leading day of the year for home fires involving cooking equipment.

SAFETY TIPS 

–Stay in the kitchen when you are cooking on the stovetop so you can keep an eye on the food.

–Stay in the home when cooking your turkey and check on it frequently.

–Keep children away from the stove. The stove will be hot and kids should stay 3 feet back.

–Make sure kids stay away from hot food and liquids. The steam or splash from vegetables, gravy, or coffee could cause serious burns.

–Keep the floor clear so you don’t trip over kids, toys, pocketbooks, or bags.

–Keep knives out of the reach of children.

–Be sure electric cords from an electric knife, coffee maker, plate warmer, or mixer are not dangling off the counter within easy reach of a child.

–Keep matches and utility lighters out of the reach of children–up high in a locked cabinet.

–Make sure your smoke alarms are working. Test them by pushing the test button.

–Have activities that keep kids out of the kitchen during the busy time. Games, puzzles, or books can keep them busy.

–Kids can get involved in Thanksgiving preparations with recipes that can be done outside the kitchen.

All information has been referenced from the NFPA Public Education Division. To view this site go to www.nfpa.org/education or click above on Departments, then Fire Department, then Useful Links, and then National Fire Protection Agency.

The Great Coon’ Bait Caper

By
Steve Gilliland
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When it comes to eating habits, raccoons are a lot like teenage boys; they’ll eat anything that smells good, and a lot of things that don’t. Common home-grown coon baits are marshmallows, jelly beans, peanut butter, barbeque sauce, maple syrup and cream corn. There are people raking in the dough selling custom baked pet treats, so this year after the Kansas Fur Harvesters convention, I opened the Gilliland Coon’ Bait Test Kitchen, intent on dazzling the trapping world with my coon bait creations.
First order of business was to put on my lab coat and hair & beard net. My brother once ran the R&D department at a brand name dog food plant and had to wear hair and beard nets to guard against getting hair in the dog food, so I thought it only right that I guard against hair in my raccoon bait! I needed some early success, so for my first creation I used a jar of product I bought at the convention. The jar contains all the flavors and smells the seller uses in his raccoon bait; you merely add the jar contents to one pound of dog or cat food. I marched into my woodworking shop turned test kitchen with a bag of Wal-Mart’s cheapest cat food under my arm. In a monstrous zip lock bag I mixed the cat food and the powder in the jar, which smelled sweet and yummy like butterscotch. The whole shop (I mean test kitchen) smelled like butterscotch for three days. It’s good I’m not a sleep walker; I probably would have awakened late that night and found myself eating a bowl of it with milk.
For my second creation I wanted to try a recipe I found on the all-wise, all-knowing internet. The base for this recipe was commercial pond fish food. I poured the commercial fish food into a one-gallon ice cream bucket which I placed on the step going into the garage. When I returned a while later, there sat an empty ice cream bucket on the step. It suddenly dawned on me that the bucket was exactly like the one that holds the dog food in the pantry for our two small dogs. My wife saw the bucket of fish food on the step, thought it was nice of me to refill it and promptly fed the dogs a bowl of commercial pond fish food! No harm done, the ingredients are probably not much different than those in dog food anyway, but now not only do the dogs love to get a bath, I have to chase them around the sink as they keep swimming away from me!
With a zip lock bag of the fish food and various other ingredients, I entered the SATELITE test kitchen, aka my wife’s real kitchen. This was still a test, so I used just a small amount of the fish pellets, then added mini-marshmallows, molasses and vanilla according to the recipe. I mixed it all together and sealed the bag. It promptly turned to a glob of goo and smelled like my grandmothers ginger cookies times ten, but looked like it had already been eaten once. In my defense, at least it was a palatable kitcheny’ smell and didn’t reek of rotten eggs or dirty gym socks like many trapping baits.
I let the concoction marinate for a few days, then decided it was not exactly what a finicky, man-of-the-world raccoon might want to smear all over his face, so I found a bulk food store and came home with butterscotch oil, peppermint oil and anise oil, all of which, by the way are oft-used ingredients in commercially made raccoon bait.
Anise oil smells like black licorice and I decided to play with it first. I opened the jar of the afore-mentioned gingerbread smelling goo and tore off a softball sized chunk, put it into its own container and began adding the anise. My drum beats to the tune that “More is always better,” so I dumped every last drop from the three tiny bottles into the goo and mixed it as best I could. It was soft and pliable all right but mixing it was like trying to stir something into a volley ball. When I finished, it smelled like an explosion at a black licorice factory, but looked like a bowl of cow brains.
Next was the butterscotch oil. I only had two little bottles of it, so again I ripped off a chunk of the gingerbread goo and added the oil. It actually smelled yummy like a combination of grandma’s cookies and Werthers candies, but looked no different than the first.
Last but not least was the peppermint oil. Again, I pried off a chunk of the goo and added the peppermint. I intentionally took a big whiff of the oils before adding them to the mix, and the peppermint was the sharpest of the three. It was sweet like peppermint, but almost overpowering. When finally mixed, this last attempt smelled like wonderful sweet wedding mints, but still looked like cow brains.
I’m embarrassed to say that the test kitchen experiments were the highlight of this project. The only catch made with my experimental offerings were a few possums; understandable I guess, using bait that looks like cow brains. Anyway, it all made for a good story and taught me a lesson………No it didn’t; I’m sure I’ll try it again some year! Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors!
Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

 

 

Waddle Like a Penquin (I bet lots of my readers had similar experiences)

By
Sandy Pugh
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When I was between 2 and 4 (in the early 50’s), we lived in the little house just off Main Street in Medicine Lodge. I can remember some snow storms that were pretty bad when we lived there. My Mom thought my dog Brownie and I should go outside at least a couple of times a day to play. She thought the fresh air would do us good.
She would bundle me up so I could go out with Brownie my Cocker Spaniel. He would wait patiently for Mom to get me ready. I am sure he was secretly glad that he didn’t have to undergo the nonsense I did just so I could outside.
First Mom would put a little undershirt and my socks on me and a soft shirt went over the undershirt. Then a second pair of socks that were a little heavier over the first pair. The next shirt and third layer was a long sleeve turtle neck shirt.
Now it was time for the pants. Over my thin silky underpants went a pair of skin tight pants, not the insulated they have now just a tight pair of corduroy pants. Over those was a pair of overalls with the straps that cross in the back.
I now have on three layers from top to bottom. You would think I am ready for the trip outside but NOOO that was not enough for Mom. It has now been about 10 minutes since mom started getting me into clothes as Brownie sits by the door tilting his head from side to side with each new layer of clothing.
When he’d tilt his head to the side and look at me I would give him a withering glare or stick my tongue out at him and he would just straighten his head up and open his mouth like he was smiling. I think this was funny to him and he thought it was pay back for all the times I dressed him up when we were playing.
Okay, now three layers of clothes are on my body and I weigh a couple of pounds more than I did. It is time for the snow suit. My snow suit was insulated and puffy. It had cuffs around the wrists to keep the snow and cold out. It also had lightweight feet, like a pair of bunny pajamas that covered the two pairs of socks.
Once it was on and it was zipped up the front to my chin, Mom would pull up the hood. It had a little tab and snap that held it in place that went around the neck under the chin. Now that the suit was on it was time for the final touches. We are now 15 minutes into the dressing game.
Out came the boots, not insulated like they are now but just rubber boots for rain or for snow. It was all Mom could do to stuff the snow suit and the two pairs of pants and two pairs of socks into them. But she would manage and my boots would be on.
I am surprised that Brownie wasn’t rolling on the floor with laughter by now with all the work she went through to get me dressed for a trip outside in the snow. Now came the wool scarf that she would wrap around my neck and up and over my nose so I didn’t breathe in the cold air. I hated the scarf because it made my face itch.
The last thing Mom put on me was my wool gloves and I hated the feel of them. But she put them on me and then pulled up the attached mittens of the pink snow suit over them. When she was content that I had enough clothes on I was ready for my trip out in the cold and snow.
Brownie seemed to know that we had arrived at the final stage of getting me ready when the mittens went over my hands, because he would jump to his feet and bounce up and down. He had been ready to go out for 20 minutes but had patiently waited on me.
Mom would open the door and Brownie would stick his nose out and sniff. I would look around the outside door and as soon as the cold air hit us both in the face we started to back up. He decided he didn’t have to go that bad and I certainly didn’t want to go out in it either.
But Mom had other ideas and she would push Brownie out with her foot and push me out the door with her right hand as she held the door open with her left. She was now set for some time alone to get something done while we were outside.
Once we were outside Brownie would start to run circles in the snow, I think he enjoyed a few minutes of running in the snow but as soon as he got his business done he was ready to go back in where it was warm. It would take me a few minutes to manage to get down the step of the porch in the snowsuit. It is hard to walk when your legs won’t bend. I am sure I looked like a penguin with black feet when I was out in the snow.
I could not put my arms down to my sides; they hung out at an angle from my body. There was enough room under my arms to carry a large loaf of bread. I would waddle around watching Brownie run in circles. I couldn’t even bend over if I had wanted to. If I had fallen down in the snow I would have been there until Mom heard me screaming.
I would keep my eye on Brownie and when he was done we would head back to the door. He would jump onto the porch and wait by the door as I waddled around. Since my knees could barely bend I would have to work at it to get my foot up on the step. Once I managed to get both feet on the porch, I would start pounding on the door.
It might take a few times of pounding on the door before Mom would come and let us in but I was not going to give up. Neither Brownie nor I wanted to be out in the cold and the snow a minute longer and I was determined to get back in the house.
We had spent a total of no more than 5 minutes out in the snow and cold but we were both ready for the warm house and to spend time in my bedroom with my toys. Mom must have been a glutton for punishment to spend 20 minutes getting me ready for only 5 minutes outside. But I am sure she had a laugh watching me waddle like a penguin. To contact Sandy: [email protected]

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