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Sunflower Cluster of Dog Shows this weekend

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Guest Columnist
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HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hundreds of breeds of dogs will compete at the 2024 free Sunflower Cluster of Dog Shows at the Kansas State Fairgrounds June 6-9.

“The Sunflower Cluster of Dog Shows is a cooperative effort among the Hutchinson, Salina and Wichita Kennel Clubs and the Wichita Dog Training Club,” Ruth Lloyd, member of the Hutchinson Kennel Club, said. “We all work together on that, and they have competition. It’s sanctioned by the American Kennel Club and they have competition for conformation which is like what you see on Westminster show, except not quite as fancy. We don’t generally dress in evening wear.”

Other events at the shows include obedience and rally obedience, best in breed, best in show and dock diving. For conformation events, a dog must be a purebred.

“The dog has to be AKC registered and in order to go to all the trouble of that of seeking a championship, the owner has to believe that the dog is a good specimen of its breed standard,”  Lloyd said. “Every recognized breed has a breed standard that tells you what that dog is supposed to be both in terms of appearance and in terms of temperament and so forth.”

There are trophies for various levels throughout the competitions.

“What trophy is available depends on how many are in entered your breed and whether somebody in particular wanted to sponsor that trophy,” Lloyd said.

Seven different types of dog breeds are split into different categories that include, sporting, herding, working, hound, terrier, toy and non-sporting. Lloyd said usually the best in breed category trophy can be a dog related-item or cash for their win.

“Each of those win the best of breed winners and each of those groups compete against each other,”Lloyd said. “The judge will pick first through fourth out of each group and the first place winner in each group gets a trophy and then the big trophy of course is best in show and there are two best in show.”

The seven winners out of each breed group will compete for best in show.

“That’s the big trophy and then there is a reserve best in show. There also is an owner-handle best in show and reserve,” Lloyd said “Owner handle is strictly limited to those dogs who  actually are shown by their owners, no professional handlers in that event.”

Lloyd said children are encouraged to attend the shows but to make sure parents caution their child on approaching other dogs.

“We do ask parents, please don’t let your child run up to a strange dog unless you first check with the dog’s owner and make sure that’s okay,” Lloyd said. “That’s a good practice no matter whether you are at a dog show or at the park, you know.”

A cardiology, radiology and ophthalmology clinic will be on site. Some additional events at the shows include a 4-6 month old puppy beginner competition and a junior handler clinic with the professionals.

Lloyd said the AKC only allows kennel clubs to do two shows per year. The Hutchinson Kennel Club show will be on Thursday, June 6 and Sunday, June 9. The Salina Kennel Club show is on Friday, June 7 and the Wichita Kennel Club show is on Saturday, June 8.

Specific show times, entries, judge information and rules and regulations is available at this link.

Master Gardeners Garden Tour is Saturday June 8th

By
Guest Columnist
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The annual Master Gardeners Garden Tour is Saturday in Reno County.

“We’ve got Gardener’s Dream at 3007 Northwestern,” said Kay Deaver with the Master Gardeners. “Then we’ve got Natives Pathway at 3004 Cornell. Highlands Hidden Treasure at 10120 East Snokomo. Quilt and Iron Garden here in town at 119 West 9th. And then the HutchCC Demo Garden behind the Student Union where parking is.”

You can get advanced tickets from any Master Gardener for $10, or pay $12 at any of the gardens on Saturday. The event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“We have to put flowers in the garden,” Deaver said. “Those flowers are expensive. They’re getting more expensive every year. We do get some test flowers from Ball, but what we use the funds for is to buy the flowers. Then we also have some major projects. Then, of course, we fund the flowers and the plants in the demonstration gardens, both at the HutchCC campus and at the Reno County Extension Office. Then we have garden programs at the Hutchinson YMCA and the Garden for Good out at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility. Plus, we have a monthly educational booth at the Reno County Farmer’s Market every third Saturday. And then we have Lunch and Learn educational programs. And then we’re available for small groups anytime.”

There are also prizes and vendors at the Demo Garden Saturday.

“We have not only the Garden Tour, but we have a fair, so you can come shop at HutchCC,” Deaver said. “All of those vendors and some of the local nurseries have given prizes. So you’ll be able to sign up, and there’s a contest, and there’s entry forms at the gardens. You can sign up at every single garden. Plus, we’ve brought back from 2019, we’re having the scavenger hunt. So you can pick up a piece of paper, and every garden, there’s things to find. And every garden has little, oh, things like maybe there might be a rabbit, a statue of a rabbit, or a thing, a metal flower, and if you find those things, you write down the, you know, what garden you found it in. When you’re done, you turn it in and put your name and a phone number, and you could win a prize.

Vendors at the Garden Fair on the HutchCC Campus include:

•Bloom Inc
•Hidden River Prairie Nursery
•Hutchinson Horticulture Club
•Hutchinson Iris Club
•Inland Ocean Woodworking
•Owl’s Lavender Patch
•Teardrop Farm Daylily Patch
•Three Doors North

Reno County warns against ticks

By
Guest Columnist
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Tick season is here.

Ticks can spread a variety of bacteria, viruses, and parasites. Protect yourself from tick bites by being aware, making sure to wear long pants and sleeves and applying EPA-approved tick repellent when outdoors.

Each year, Reno County has a few cases of tickborne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, and tularemia.

Symptoms generally include fever and chills, aches and pains or rashes, and can be fatal if not treated properly.

Also, check your pets for ticks to reduce potential exposures. For more information visit https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/index.html.

My favorite Coleslaw

By
Debbie Dance Uhrig
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Well; it certainly takes a while to catch up on needed rest these days. After my big weekend up north I’ve been taking things pretty ‘easy’. I’ve found when you’re still working full-time you have a hard time keeping things done on the home-front. This past weekend I found myself resting at every opportunity. A great deal of things did not get done, but I decided my health was calling, so downtime it was. In the long run of things pushing ourselves can certainly have repercussions. Don’t get me wrong I ‘did’ things, but on Sunday I called a halt and rested, and I’m glad I did!

This week I wanted to share my simplest Cole slaw recipe, the one I go to 90% of the time. Actually; with enough compliments on a recipe all of us tend to stick to what gets good feedback.

When I’m asked to make coleslaw for 30, 50 or 100, this is my go-to. There will be plenty of space for added ingredients, anywhere from meat, vegetables or fruit.

These days when our family takes a road-trip I do as many things as possible to keep from eating processed or ‘fast’ food meals. This frequently means a good deal of planning before departure. Cole slaw is an easy side dish, with the addition of pre-cooked chicken pieces it can turn to a main entrée. I’ve given 3 main ingredients for my standard fav., but I would enjoy the cooked meats, raisins, nuts or sunflowers too. The biggest tip is to put the salad together when you are at the table. If it’s a picnic take along a large gallon Ziploc and put all the pre-prepared ingredients in the bag, with the dressing and shake. Zip up any extras for later, and there’s no bowl to wash. I’ve also done the Asian Cole Slaw recipe with the ramen noodle mix, in the same way, added chicken made It a one dish meal. You might take along a few fresh muffins to go with either salad format.

Another salad that makes a great travel meal is the cauliflower, broccoli, green onion, bacon cream salad. If this is a chosen travel salad purchase 4 oz. containers with lids and pre-pack it for the trip. A quick trip to a large grocery store can also yield potato & macaroni salads versus French fries and onion rings. If I’m traveling solo hard-boiled eggs are one of my favorite tag-a-longs. Should you be staying in a condo or camping, versus a hotel stay, make breakfast burritos and breakfast sandwiches before departure allowing the family to have a healthy breakfast while you sleep in, drink coffee or go for a morning walk.

The dressing for the Cole slaw is predominantly a poppy seed dressing. You can certainly make it fresh, but often a bottled version is handier. I have not commented on which label, because I feel that’s more of a personal decision. So here we go, Simply Yours, The Covered Dish.

Simple Cole Slaw

1 bag of Cole slaw blend

Chopped radishes

Halved grape tomatoes

Green Onion, chopped fine with tops

Chopped Celery or peppers, optional

Poppy Seed Dressing

Purchase ingredient amounts based upon the number of persons being served. AND consider if you’re using the recipe as a main entrée or as a side. As a side expect 1 bag of Cole slaw to feed 4-5 persons.

Spring Wrens…Sometimes

By
Steve Gilliland
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Years ago, we had a wren house hung under the eaves just outside my office window. We watched a pair of wrens raise a family there for a couple years, then they never returned. I took the old tattered house down and didn’t have a wren house for a while. Two years ago, I got a pattern from a friend who is a very avid back-yard birder. I build two new houses, hung one at the same place outside my office window, and the other under the eaves of our workshop. We had no renters last year, and this spring, I guess a robin decided the house on the shop would make a nice two-story condo, and built a nest on the roof. She raised 3 chicks up there, but still no wrens. I’m suspicious they might not like the location any more because of the plethora of Baltimore Orioles we now feed nearby.

House wrens are cocky, brownish little birds with long pointy beaks that can easily be recognized by the way their tails point upward at a jaunty little angle. Next to Purple Martins, House Wrens seem to be the second most popular backyard songbird home owners like to provide with housing. Having wintered in the south, male wrens arrive here several days before the females, around mid-April, intent upon staking out their territories early and having a nice selection of summer homes for the ladies to choose from when they arrive. They take very well to the homes we provide for them, but wrens have been seen nesting in many places other than those nifty houses we build. Their nests have been found in overturned flower pots in garden sheds, in the small hole in the center of a ball of twine, in a large abandoned hornet’s nest, in old shoes, boots and hats, and in the pocket of a scare crow’s coat. The style of the house doesn’t seem to be important, as long as the interior is kept fairly small, as wrens are cavity nesters and feel secure in small tight places. I found directions showing entrance holes anywhere from 7/8 to 1 1/8 inches in diameter. Smaller holes keep out starlings, sparrows and other bigger birds. I found results of a study suggesting that slotted holes seem to work well and are evidently appreciated by the males, as slots allow them easier access into the house with nesting materials in their mouths.

When the male arrives (often to the same general nesting area each year,) he chooses more than one nesting site and immediately sets about stuffing them all full of sticks and twigs. After he has successfully wooed a female, she makes her choice from the options he’s provided and adds a lining of feathers, hair or wool to his bachelor pad and moves in. Male wrens are known to literally stuff these chosen sites so full of material that the female has to remove some just to get inside. One writer had watched a male wren in her backyard as he crammed a house so full of sticks they stuck out the hole. When the female arrived, she threw most of it back out into a pile on the ground below. While she was gone to hunt for suitable lining material, the male put one of his precious twigs back inside, and when the female arrived back, she again threw the stick out into the pile. I guess it’s that “When mammas happy everyone’s happy” thing.

Wrens often raise 2 broods a year. Five to eight tiny ½ inch eggs are laid, 13 to 15 days later, the hungry youngsters hatch, and 12 to 18 days after hatching are ready to fly from the nest. A wren’s diet is primarily insects and for those 12 to 18 days the parents’ life is put on hold as they strive to keep a house full of ravenous little insect guzzlers fed. One observer (who had way too much time on their hands and obviously a worse social life

than even I) counted over 1000 feeding trips made by a pair of wrens in one day! Just one of many good reasons to place wren houses near your garden.

A friend recently told me there seems to be a little controversy whether to clean wren houses or not. All my research shows that wren houses SHOULD be cleaned out each fall after the birds are done with them for the year. Cleaning helps rid them of any parasites, and removes any old nesting debris and anything else leftover after raising a couple families of hungry chicks.

I used to scoff at back-yard birders, but now I spend time on our deck most mornings with binoculars and a Kansas bird book handy, listening and learning to identify all the finches, orioles and other songbirds that frequent our seed and jelly feeders. Beautiful, colorful back-yard songbirds, yet more reminders of God’s marvelous Creation…Continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors.

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

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