Thursday, February 5, 2026
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Rattlesnake Relocation Project

By
Steve Gilliland
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I’ve seen several articles lately both in print and on the TV evening news reminding Kansans that it’s snake season. It reminded me of a small story years ago on the back page of the Hutchinson News entitled “Rattlesnake Relocation Project comes to an End.” It seems that in the spring of 2007, Lenexa, Kansas residents began spotting an ever-increasing number of rattlesnakes in some neighborhoods. While checking on the construction site for a never-built Target store, the city construction inspector discovered numerous rattlesnakes lying around the site. It was determined that a large rattlesnake den existed somewhere under a big pile of construction rubble there. A biology professor at a major out-of-state university, saw it as the perfect opportunity to test a new conservation model; the attempted relocation of as many snakes as possible from a single population in hopes they would establish their same population somewhere else. Around-the-clock “snake watches” were established at the den, and over the next 2 or 3 weeks the professor and a host of her students and other volunteers caught 35 Timber Rattlesnakes, implanted them with radio transmitters, (I’d like to have watched that) to permit their being tracked and deposited them at another suitable den site some miles away at a “top-secret” location.

The professors reasoning for relocating the snakes and not “whacking” them was two-fold; first of all, it seemed at that time, extreme eastern Kansas was probably the western most boundary of the Timber Rattlesnake in the U.S. and since their numbers were sparse, the Kansas Dept of Wildlife and Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) had made them a SINC species, which stands for Species in Need of Conservation. Because of this, Timber rattlesnakes can legally be killed in Kansas ONLY if they directly threaten your safety, not just because they happen to have rattles on their tail. She called them “the puppy dogs of the rattlesnake world,” and said a timber rattler’s first line of defense is to blend-in rather than to coil or strike, as they opt to save that energy for hunting. Secondly, she said that those snakes were likely there for years, possibly even before the area was built-up, meaning that we humans had encroached on their territory.

Now I’m more snake friendly than most, and because of the free, natural rodent control they provide I’ve been known to relocate a bull snake or two rather than to kill them, so don’t get me wrong here, I see rattlesnakes place in Nature. You rescue Lassie or Timmy if they fall into the well, you rescue a kitten with its head stuck in a salmon can, heck one guy on YouTube even rescued a prairie dog from his swimming pool, but I have a tough time seeing any sane Kansan rescuing a rattlesnake. It all reminds me of the prairie dogs “recued” years ago from around the mall in Hutchinson. The group went to great lengths to have them “sucked” from their dens into a big, padded truck, and taken to Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, only to discover later that the Quivira badgers were eating them like fast food.

So, I feel kinda’ sorry for the poor snakes, as the worst they probably ever encountered around their old home were little old ladies with garden hoses or hoes, but their new “secret” home was probably somewhere in the country where the resident farmers and ranchers would remove their heads and care less what species they were. The “puppy dog” of the rattlesnake world really doesn’t work for me either, as I refuse to give that nickname to anything that won’t curl up in my lap to have its ears scratched. And as far as killing Timber Rattlers in Kansas only if they threaten your safety, I have to ask you when you last saw a rattlesnake and DID NOT fear for your safety.

I’ve never been able to find the final outcome of the experiment / project in terms of whether it was deemed successful or not. The article did go on to say that a few litters of young Timber Rattlers were

born during the project, and that the students went so far as to name several of the adult snakes; the largest being a male about 4 ½ feet long that weighed 2 pounds. He was named Abuelo, Spanish for grandfather. And by the way, the Timber Rattlesnake is still on the SINC list (Species in Need of Conservation) in Kansas. So, if confronted by a rattlesnake or any snake, give them a chance to retreat IF AT ALL POSSIBLE and live another day, before you remove their heads…Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

Steve can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Cucumber Sandwiches

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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Our trip to Nashville to enjoy the Grand Ole Opry was wonderful. We had a couple of nice meals out, but we also enjoyed these cucumber sandwiches on the way down. I thought Ervin, my spouse, might say no thank you, but he truly enjoyed them! Even though I was eating bread with the spread and the cucumbers it felt like a healthy meal. I know one thing the day we left it was around 98 degrees and this certainly tasted refreshing.

I had such a great time I’m planning on going back for another concert that is 100% Vince Gill. The hotel location couldn’t have been more perfect, and we took time to rest and enjoy. That in itself made for a good trip.

Let’s chat cucumbers for just a bit. The only cucumber I can eat without repercussions is the English cucumber, the ones packaged in saran. Sometimes I can also eat the small cukes that come in the sealed bags, these are about pickling size. The unpleasant burping that comes with a regular cucumber just doesn’t work for me. Not to mention in the grocery store the cucumbers are ‘way’ to big!

Cucumber sandwiches in the past were served at luncheons and teas with the crust removed, cut into small pieces. There’s only been one cucumber sandwich from my past that’s ever held much worth. This time I think I’ve hit upon a keeper, a sandwich that will be more utilitarian.

The best bread for this sandwich would be a marble, rye or pumpernickel bread. Mine was marble, and it was very fresh and soft. The cucumber was an English cuke. You can easily make 4 sandwiches from 1 large English. Now this is the place where I have to come clean. The first time I made this sandwich I used the vegetable cream cheese, from the grocery store. You may need to set it out to soften before spreading. I was generous with the spread, then I layered on the cukes and the skins were left on. Before I put the top slice down, which also had spread on it, I put a light sprinkling of salt. I don’t recommend putting salt on too early as it will make the cucumbers weep. What would be good to sprinkle on the cucumbers is a bit of dill. The sandwich will cut in half nicely, since we were traveling, I did not cut ours. I wouldn’t be a very good cook if I wasn’t ready to

present you with my homemade vegetable cream cheese. I have to be honest I cannot remember if I wrote this recipe or my assistant, Bonnie, wrote the recipe!

As usual there is plenty of ability to switch the ingredients around, for example I would omit the cucumber in the spread. You will notice there is not additional salt in the spread. We never felt a need for it, but you may. The spread will work nicely on crackers, celery or as a dip if adapted slightly.

While we were enjoying our sandwiches, we discussed other things that might be nice to add. Thinly sliced tomatoes would be a good addition, but not if you are driving. Greens and herbs could also be considered. You don’t need any cheese because that’s the spread. OH, what about a grilled cheese with American plus the vegetable spread?

I hope you’ll give this recipe a go because it will truly surprise you, especially during the hot summer months. Simply yours, The Covered Dish.

Vegetable/Herb Spread

2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons mayonnaise

1/4 cup sour cream

1 tablespoon lime juice

1/4 cup minced green onion

1/3 cup grated/shredded carrots, chopped fine

1/4 cup minced red pepper

1/4 cup minced cucumber, skin on, seeds removed

1/4 cup minced celery

2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 teaspoon dried basil leaves

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

All vegetables were measured after they were finely minced.

Soften cream cheese, stir in mayonnaise, sour cream and lime juice.

Prepare all vegetables and spices and turn them into the cream cheese mixture. If at all possible, leave the spread set overnight, allowing vegetables and spices to permeate the spread.

Recipe may easily be cut in half. Goes well with specialty breads, crackers or vegetables. With the vegetables I would use a bit less cream cheese and more sour cream.

Rural Soap Box Opinion

By
Milo Yield
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0
Thayne Cozart
Milo Yield

These days a person can’t escape getting involved in the global warming/climate change discussion. And the “conviction-that-I’m-right rate” is high for folks on both sides of the global warming discussion. Recently, a good friend asked how I felt about global warming. After ruminating on his question for a bit, here’s my opinion.

It’s undeniable that Earth is experiencing warmer temperatures. Thermometers don’t lie. To my way of thinking, it’s still an open question that humans are the cause of the global warm up. One thing is certain: No one knows the future with 100% certainty. The globe and humanity may indeed be on an ecological path to destruction. Or they may not be. The physical Earth has been in constant change for billions of years. Yet it has survived astronomical collisions, mass extinctions, plate tectonics and continental upheavals, global erosion, unimaginable droughts and floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions that caused global winters, ice ages and thaws, magnetic reversals, coronal mass ejections from the sun, epidemics, plagues, nuclear disasters, World Wars, the rise and fall of powerful empires, etc.

I’ve read that during the dinosaur era, the earth was warmer and a wide assortment of life proliferated. It was cut short by an asteroid collision with Earth. How did the proliferation of life during the dinosaur age correspond to the massive human life on earth today in terms of the carbon dioxide/oxygen equation? Who knows with certainty?

Carbon dioxide is the crucial element for life and for producing the nutrients that sustain life. It may be heating the Earth. Or it may trigger a sizable “pop” in green foliage and a corresponding surge in life-giving oxygen. The “food production zones” may gradually migrate closer to the Earth’s poles.

To my view, it’s folly to destroy the economy to achieve carbon dioxide reduction. Poverty stricken nations will not solve the problem. I’ve seen no attempts to achieve honest carbon audits for alternate energy sources. Call me a cynic, but my common sense instinct is to always follow the money to lead to the truth. The money trail for global warming/climate change, to me, suggests professional opportunism and greed, as much as response to an emergency. Are the current warmer temperatures really all that different than the sizzling temps during the Great Depression or as I remember the mid-1950s?

In short, ways of preservation, conservation and wiser use of all natural resources should be one major global research goal. The second is economic reform — which takes astute political action — to properly monetize the Earth’s natural resources to the opportunistic benefit of all, not just self-serving elites.

My opinion may be right, or it may be wrong. But, everyone is entitled to an opinion on the subject. I’m hopping down off my soap box now!

***

Kindly readers have responded to recent columns with column-worthy responses. From ol’ K. Boomer in Missouri came this response about unique and dangerous ways rural folks used in the past to celebrate the Fourth of July. Here goes;

“Milo, when we were kids on the 4th of July, me and my buddy used dynamite, not firecrackers. It was a lot cheaper — three sticks of TNT for 50-cents, ten-feet of fuse for 20-cents. We’d cut the dynamite into small pieces, wrap the dynamite around a corn cob with waxed paper, see a bunch of our friends standing around, light the fuse and toss the bundle among them and watch them scatter.

The TNT bundles wuz good for fishing, too. We cooked the big fish in a pressure cooker for 15-20 minutes to soften the bones. Good cheap eating back in those days.

Looking back, we were lucky no one ever got killed, hurt, or caught by the law. If we had, we’d probably still be behind bars.”

***

I got a second firecracker response from ol’ Rocky Krick at Bazaar. Kan. He wrote:

“Milo, as to firecrackers, here’s fun I learned as a farm kid. Put couple inches of water in a shallow pan. Then take a regular empty tin can, put a hole just big enough to stick a firecracker fuse in the closed end and set the open end of the can in the water. Then light the fuse and get back. When the firecracker goes off, the can flies way up — maybe 50-feet. We kids had contests to see whose can would fly the highest. If there was no water in the pan, the can would only jump maybe two-feet. We wore out a lot of tin cans that way. Back in those days, fun was cheap.”

***

And, from ol’ Buzz Pfinder at Altamont, Kan., comes this response to my recent note about a good friend getting bitten by an eastern massasauga rattlesnake. He wrote:

“We live down on Hwy 101 a mile north of the old Edna airport. I read your article a few weeks ago about the lady bitten by a massasauga rattlesnake. I have killed three of these vipers in our yard since 2014. The last one had three rattles and was about 16 inches long.

Just thought you and your readers might be interested and remind them to keep their eyes open.”

***

A farmer drove his old beater of a pickup truck into town. When he parked it downtown and got out of the truck, a down-and-out vagrant came up behind him, stuck a pistol in his ribs, and growled, “Stick ‘um up, Mister, and give me all your money.”
The startled farmer replied, “You’re out of luck, buddy. Things are so tough on my farm now that I don’t have any bills in my wallet or even change in my pocket.”

The holdup man shot back, “That’s nuthin’. It’s so tough out here on the streets that I haven’t been able to afford bullets for my gun for the last two months.”

***

Wise words for the week: “A lawyer will read a 10,000-word document and call it a brief. A politician with ‘a few words to say’ will talk for an hour.” Have a good ‘un.

 

Gas taxes

By
John Marshall
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john marshal

When it comes to car travel, Europe isn’t like us in at least two ways ‒ size and expense. Vehicles there are small and stingy on fuel because driving them is expensive. Fuel prices there are double or more the price in America.

The cost there may be softened by announcing fuel prices by liter, but converted to gallons ‒ 3.785 liters per gallon ‒ the price is an eye-opener. In Germany the recent price converted from the Euro (€) was $2.02 per liter. By the gallon, $7.65.

Trading Economics, which reports and analyzes economic data from nearly 200 countries, shows European gasoline prices in dollars. A liter in Denmark at $2.27 means a gallon for $8.59.

In Sweden, $6.55 per gallon. Among other prices: Switzerland, $7.87; France, $8.02; Norway, $8.10; United Kingdom, $7.19.

Think on it: In Paris, a 20- gallon fill ‒ not uncommon here ‒ would cost $160. In Copenhagen, $172. Stockholm, $131.

And taxes: The EU minimum tax is $1.36 per gallon (36 cents per liter) but in most countries it’s much higher. The Netherlands currently has the highest per-gallon tax at $3.10. Next are Italy ($2.76), Finland ($2.73), Greece ($2.65), France ($2.57) and Sweden ($2.54).

This is why Europeans drive small, if at all, and why ground transportation by rail or bus is common. Electric vehicles there are increasingly popular.

*

The American discussion of switching from internal combustion to battery-powered vehicles has been vague on how to pay for the monstrous number of charging stations needed to refuel them. The $1.2 trillion American infrastructure program takes in a lot ‒ highways, bridges, airports, railroads, locks and dams, tech, telecommunications. It includes $550 billion for new programs and ought to kick in for technical training to repair and service electric vehicles.

Meanwhile the federal tax on gasoline lies dormant. Tying higher gas taxes to infrastructure programs is logical, but in today’s Congress it’s a non-starter. There are notions that the federal gasoline tax could provide at least partial funding for improvements. Each time the idea is floated it is quickly stifled in Congress and a White House scrambles to reassure us that it did not plan to ask for a federal gas tax increase to pay for a president’s idea.

In recent decades, inflation has severely weakened the purchasing power of the fuel tax. Construction and maintenance costs are up, vehicles are more fuel-efficient. A tax tied to inflation would rise with the cost of doing business. It would likely prompt the matter of state tax increases to share the costs.

*

The current federal gasoline tax is 18.4 cents per gallon; the federal tax on diesel fuel is 24.4 cents. The federal taxes have not been increased since 1993.

The Kansas tax on gasoline is 24.03 cents and 26.03 on diesel – last raised a penny each, in 2004. (Total state-federal tax on gasoline in Kansas is 42.8 cents per gallon, and 50.4 cents for diesel).

In 1990, when the Kansas tax was raised from 11 to 15 cents, the state began a series of further increases. Each year it increased a penny until 1993 (18 cents for gas, 20 cents for diesel). This was to help finance two massive highway improvements projects ($11 billion and $14 billion) in Kansas enacted in the late 1980s and mid-1990s. Federal money also was involved.

Kansas gas and diesel taxes raise roughly $900 million per year – $90 million for every nickel in taxes – for the state highway fund.

Federal fuel taxes raise $62 billion, which goes to the federal highway trust fund and is allocated to states.

Since 1993 the federal tax has stayed still; Kansas fuel taxes increased 33 percent between 1993 and 2004.

Cheap fuel is no incentive to go green in America. In this era of strident political divide, necessity has little to do with the value of a federal program, or plans to shore up a frayed infrastructure. Or have electric vehicles.

Beef Grades 101: Select, Choice or Prime?

By
Guest Columnist
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Texas A&M Meat science expert provides tips to pick out the perfect steak.

Choosing the perfect cut of meat for backyard grilling and barbecue needs is no small task.

When selecting beef at the grocery store, shoppers often face decision fatigue from refrigerated shelves stocked top to bottom with different cuts of meat, all classified by varying beef grades.

Beef grades explained

There are eight beef grades, also known as quality grades, and five yield grades. Understanding at least three of these grades is important because they are related to quality traits as well as tenderness, juiciness and flavor that affect a consumer’s eating experience, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, USDA.

The most common grades of beef sold in your local grocery store or restaurants include USDA Select, Choice or Prime. Ray Riley, Rosenthal Meat Science and Technology Center manager in the Texas A&M Department of Animal Science, shares tips about what consumers can expect when selecting these common grades.

Beef quality grades are based on maturity or age of the animal, as well as the amount of intramuscular fat or marbling. Basically, as you go from Select to Choice to Prime, consumers should expect satisfaction with their eating experience to increase with each grade.

Beef grades are heavily used to market a product and determine the price of the meat.

“Beef grades help consumers decide what product they want to buy based on the selection between higher and lower quality grades, serving consumers across the board,” Riley said.

Select grade

After going through a USDA grader, beef that is identified as having a slight amount of marbling in the rib-eye is identified as Select grade beef.

This selection can be a good lean option for consumers, but it also has the potential for much more variation in quality and overall flavor. According to Riley, some select grades eat like Prime or eat like Choice, but that expectation or the probability of that happening is less.

Choice grade

As grades transition up to Choice, consumers can expect to see three different marbling classifications: moderate, modest and small.

Choice beef grades are the primary grade available at supermarkets, Riley said.

“Today’s feedlot cattle are about 11% Prime beef, 72% are Choice, and 13% are Select, so most of the beef that is being fed and going to harvest will fall into the Choice grade,” Riley said.

When it comes to consumers looking to stock up on steaks for their weekend cookout, Choice will often be the go-to because it represents the most options in stores.

Roasts and steaks like filets and rib-eyes are cuts of meat that consumers might buy within this grade for both the amount of marbling and increased taste and juiciness when compared to Select grade.

Prime grade

For consumers looking for the highest amount of marbling, flavor and tenderness, the Prime grade provides a higher probability of getting a quality cut of meat overall.

This grade is classified as having abundant, moderately abundant or slightly abundant amounts of marbling.

Some grocers place Prime cuts on shelves, but many shoppers will need to visit the specialty counter if they want Prime-grade meat. Rib-eye, T-bone and porterhouse steaks are popular and commonly known Prime-graded beef choices that one may eat or order when looking for higher quality.

Watch out when buying wagyu

Wagyu, or Japanese beef, is another selection of meat rising in popularity because of its superior marbling deposits, but consumers should know that wagyu doesn’t always have equal quality. Buying wagyu beef based on name alone does not mean consumers are getting beef that is better than Prime to Select grades.

“Don’t let the connotation of wagyu beef throw you off,” Riley said. “Consumers need to be careful when opting for wagyu beef. Its ability to marble doesn’t mean it may not have the same amount of marbling or lack thereof as Select at times.”

What to look for when choosing your next brisket or steak

While the Select, Choice and Prime options can all be compared based on their flavor, marbling and tenderness, Riley suggests people buy based on their own preference and pocketbook. As beef grade quality increases from Select to Prime, the expectation is that the consumer’s eating experience will improve but it can all depend on a consumer’s personal preference.

So, whether you’re grilling out as a family for the Fourth of July or cooking Prime-grade steaks for a celebratory dinner this summer, the choice of meat grade is entirely up to you.

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