Angela Devore names Coordinator of Pastoral Care at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center

By

-

September 8, 2014

Hutchinson, KS – Angela DeVore, Lyons, has been named Coordinator of Pastoral Care at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center, effective August 11.

In her position, DeVore will provide pastoral care to Hutchinson Regional Medical Center patients and family members as well as hospital staff.

DeVore grew up in Beloit and received an undergraduate degree in Family Sciences from Fort Hays State University. Also, she received a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Arts in Emerging Church from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Shawnee, Kansas.

For the past 12 years, DeVore has served as a staff chaplain at Wesley Medical Center, Wichita. Simultaneously, during the past 18 months, she has served as a Chaplain at St. Rose Ambulatory and Surgery Center, Great Bend.

Devore is an ordained minister with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and is Board Certified with the Association of Professional Chaplains, a national organization headquartered in Schaumburg, IL.

Prior to her service as a hospital chaplain, DeVore spent three years (1998-2001) as the County Extension Agent in Family Sciences in Smith County and was headquartered in Smith Center.

DeVore said she is excited to join the Hutchinson Regional Medical Center team as Coordinator of Pastoral Care.

“I am impressed with the emphasis on quality of care and patient satisfaction at Hutchinson Regional Medical Center,” DeVore said. “It is a privilege to connect with patients and their families who are experiencing a medical crisis.”

“I hope this is my last ministry call and not just the next one,” DeVore continued.

Kevin Miller, F.A.C.H.E., President and CEO of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System, said DeVore, with her local connections and knowledge of the hospital’s service area, has hit the ground running.

“Angela brings a vast amount of experience that will be beneficial in performing the responsibilities in her new position,” Miller said. “Also, the selection committee was impressed with her credentials outside the healthcare industry including time spent as an extension agent.”

DeVore’s husband Ron is pastor of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Lyons and they are the parents of three children 18, 20 and 21. They are also host parents to high school student from Bangladesh who will be attending Lyons High this school year.

Hutchinson Regional Medical Center is a member of the Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System. Other members include Health-E-Quip, Horizons Mental Health Center, Hospice and HomeCare of Reno County, Ray E. Dillon Living Center and the Hutchinson Regional Medical Foundation.

Pilot projects to launch Kanstarter

By

Editor

-

September 8, 2014

0

Community projects in Burdett, Plains, Wilson, and Yates Center will kick off a crowd-funding site being rolled out by the We Kan Network, a branch of the Kansas Sampler Foundation.

Crowd-funding is an online mechanism that typically brings in small amounts of money from a large number of people. The site is being built by Reflective Group, a cloud-based technology company out of Baldwin City.

Kansas Sampler Foundation director Marci Penner said, “We’ve been working on this for years and now we’re ready to plug some pilot projects into the system. Thanks to the talents and expertise of Reflective Group CEO Mike Bosch and staff, by mid-October the site (kanstarter.com) will be live and projects will be posted. People can read about the projects, watch the videos and then choose to donate or, in some cases, volunteer.”

Project coordinators are asked to choose projects and shape them in a manner that will help sustain the community or give it an energy boost. Multi-generation involvement is also a requirement. Penner said, “We want to do things in a way that go beyond just funding a project but also help create a stronger community.”

Burdett is seeking support to renovate an old community (free) miniature golf course.

Plains is building a store that will provide many unique services, primarily convenient access to fresh healthy food items at affordable prices. Their Kanstarter project will be to obtain land for the store.

Wilson lost their 1901 opera house to a fire several years ago and will transform the remains into an amphitheatre.

Yates Center is working on a bicycle and hiking trail around their lake and golf course.

The pilot projects will each have a cap of $10,000 and will have a time limit for their fundraising campaign. If volunteers are needed, details may be added to the project site to help find people with required skills.

The process involves a preliminary submission process which will be reviewed by the We Kan Network board of Andrea Springer, Hutchinson; Liz Sosa, Garden City; and Luke Mahin, Courtland. If approved, the project coordinators are then asked to add a video and a few other requirements to their online showcase. When ready, their project goes live and anyone online is able to read about the project and donate if they wish. The site is boosted and shared through social media and traditional avenues.

Penner said, “This isn’t just about raising money. It’s about making communities better places to live and visit. We encourage committees to get feedback from all ages and put a twist on the projects. For instance, what can be done along the Yates Center trail using local themes or resources to make it more appealing, artistic, or unique in some way? Why build a standard trail when you can do something unique, like build an archway of used bicycle parts?”

Around the first of the year, the site will be open to all eligible non-profit community projects. To find out more about Kanstarter, go to www.kansassampler.org.

Source: Kansas Sampler Foundation

Beef animal welfare views: U.S. public vs. cattle producers

By

K-State

-

September 8, 2014

0

Preliminary results from a study led by Kansas State University researchers show how U.S. cow-calf producers and the public view animal welfare in the beef sector.

MANHATTAN, Kan. – A main goal of research in any area is to address a knowledge or information gap. Although prior research has addressed the issue of animal welfare in certain areas—the swine and egg industries as examples—limited research currently exists comparing producer and consumer views of beef and dairy animal welfare, said Glynn Tonsor, livestock economist for Kansas State University.

Tonsor, along with Melissa McKendree, a doctoral agricultural economics student at K-State and a team of veterinarians and animal scientists, have taken the lead in finding out more about the similarities and differences in U.S. beef producer and public views on animal welfare practices in the cattle industry.

The researchers note that all livestock industries, beef included, are faced with mounting pressure to adjust animal welfare practices in response to societal concerns. The intent of this project is to take information learned regarding animal welfare in the beef industry to pinpoint where producers in the industry might improve, identify areas for possible consumer engagement, and highlight existing points of agreement between producers and consumers.

In national surveys, cow-calf producers and consumers in the general public answered questions about their views of cattle animal welfare. Preliminary results indicated similarities in views between producers and the public, as well as knowledge gaps and differing views.

Public concerns

McKendree said a key finding in the study showed 65 percent of U.S. consumers reported they were concerned about the welfare of beef cattle in the United States. And while most beef producers strongly disagreed that a tradeoff exists between profitability and animal welfare, consumers tended to believe that being more profitable means sacrificing on animal welfare.

“Producers believe there is a connection between profitability and animal welfare,” she said. “So, a healthy animal is going to be more profitable.”

Another major difference between the two groups was their views on providing overall care to cattle. While 73 percent of cow-calf producers believed that U.S. farms and ranches provide appropriate overall care to their cattle, only 39 percent of the public believed this to be true.

“We don’t exactly know the reason for this gap and what the views are, but one hypothesis is that there’s a difference in what consumers think appropriate overall care means,” McKendree said. “Appropriate overall care to consumers, for instance, might be related to using or not using antibiotics or hormones. Conversely, producers might think that overall appropriate care is making sure that (the cattle) are not sick, giving them appropriate feed and water, and protecting them from the elements.”

McKendree said these preliminary results show opportunities for cow-calf producers and the general beef industry to communicate with the public about practices on farms and ranches. Having a discussion about items such as appropriate care would help more clearly define it with expectations of both producers and consumers.

Common ground

While differences in views did exist, the study also showed producers and consumers are on the same page on some items. Both groups (72 percent of producers and 57 percent of consumers) overall did not agree with statements indicating that low beef prices are more important than the well-being of cattle.

Both producers and consumers picked the same top three most effective and practical actions to improve animal welfare based on nine total options. Those top three selected include: provide access to fresh, clean feed and water appropriate for the animal’s physiological state; provide adequate comfort through the use of shade, windbreaks and ventilation assuring clean, dry, sanitary environmental conditions for cattle; and promptly treat or euthanize all injured or sick animals.

The survey showed 80 to 90 percent of producers said they have already implemented these top three selected practical applications on their operations.

“Out of all of the practices we investigated, those are probably the least hands-on that would need to be changed on the farm or ranch within in the industry today,” McKendree said, while noting that requiring employees to complete a consistent training program, castrating and dehorning with pain control, requiring third-party verification that appropriate animal care is being provided on the farm, and developing a herd health plan with a veterinarian are examples of more hands-on changes that were listed and did not rank as high.

Futuristic look

Tonsor said one of the “take homes” from the study is that the issue of animal welfare is in the eye of the beholder and includes many different practices: providing pain control, using antibiotics, and providing adequate feed and shade as some examples.

“There’s a growing list of third-party verifications that are available to verify that proper animal welfare is in place at different stages in the cattle industry,” Tonsor said.

He added that these verifications could allow for broader marketing claims on animal welfare, such as certified labels on retail meat products. “I envision our work, once it’s analyzed and out for full public dissemination and absorption, to be useful as supplemental input in guiding the prioritization of those protocols and third-party efforts.”

The items of agreement between the public and producers would be comparatively easy to add to those third-party verifications, Tonsor said. A bigger challenge, but just as important, is incorporating and addressing those areas of disagreement between the public and producers today.

“That’s where our work comes in, highlighting some of those issues or on-farm practices that might be either a threat to the industry with no action required or an opportunity to get the public up to speed with producers,” he said.

The study was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The preliminary findings were presented at the 2014 K-State Risk and Profit Conference in Manhattan Aug. 21-22. View details of the presentation at K-State’s Ag Manager website (http://www.agmanager.info/events/risk_profit/2014/Papers/8_McKendree-Tonsor_AnimalWelfare.pdf).

Story by: Katie Allen

Two coaches, and success in college football

By

Editor

-

September 8, 2014

0

Bill Snyder, the Ted Kessinger of big-time college

football, has offered a priceless advertisement

for small college football.

Snyder is the coach who transformed football at

Kansas State University from Big 8 door mat to

Big XII powerhouse. On August 7, as the Wildcats

opened fall camp, Snyder lectured reporters with a

dim (to be kind) critique of major college football:

The game has been disgraced, deeply corrupted by

the celebrity of television, the money of powerful

broadcast interests, and the conniving influence

of sponsors, boosters and advertisers. The result,

Snyder said, is that the values of young athletes are

routinely distorted in the name of money, prestige

and corporate profiteering.

“I think we’ve sold out,” Snyder said. “We’re

all about dollars and cents. The concept of college

football no longer has any bearing on the quality

of the person, the quality of students. Universities

are selling themselves out.”

*

BEFORE Bill Snyder began to accumulate

a reputation as a student’s coach, there was

Ted Kessinger, head football coach at Bethany

College, a patron, guardian and advocate for the

student athlete. Kessinger believed that college

students (in his particular realm, student-athletes)

were searching for deeper meaning in their lives,

and that rising to the top, being the best, did not

mean being consumed by the system. The challenge

was a moral one; the finest institutions, the

best coaches, sought to develop in their students

character and intellect, and instill devotion to the

benefit of others.

Kessinger was inducted into the national

College Football Hall of Fame four years ago

with a 28-season record of 219-57-1; his Bethany

Swedes finished in the NAIA top 25 poll 20

separate times and won 16 conference titles and

13 National Championship playoff appearances.

Kessinger never had a losing season. His coaching

accomplishments include 11 conference coach of

the year awards, inductions into the NAIA Hall of

Fame (2003), Kansas Sports Hall of Fame (2005),

and the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference

Character of Champions Award is in Kessinger’s

name. When he retired in 2003, Kessinger was

the NAIA’s most successful active coach in both

percentage of victories (.792) and total wins.

Kessinger’s teams comprised successful athletes

and scholars – nearly 400 All-KCAC players, 43

NAIA All-Americans and 49 NAIA All-America

Scholar-Athletes.

Ask the man how it all feels, and he takes the

conversation to the players he coached, what kind

of lives they sought, how the spirit and character

of a young athlete is crucial to the development of

the person he will become. The lives of these players,

their ultimate goals, their growth as decent,

unselfish and honorable human beings is as important

– perhaps more so – as their performance on

the football field.

*

IN A CONNIVING, even sinister system, colleges

recruit athletes for institutional prestige and

financial gain, leaving them with little “education”

beyond the rote schedule of life as an athlete.

There is little said, or taught, about life as a high

achiever, no examination of their passion, their

intellectual curiosity, their purpose and depth.

There is little or no consideration that college offer

students an understanding of the conflicts, debates

and issues that shape the culture they live in.

Nothing adds up for the student because, any

more, nothing is designed to add up.

“It (collegiate football) is no longer about education,”

Snyder said. “…Everybody is building Taj

Mahals and I think it sends a message – and young

people today I think are more susceptible to the

downside of that message, and that it’s not about

education. We’re saying it is, but it’s really about

the glitz and the glitter, and I think sometimes

values get distorted… I hate to think a young guy

would make a decision about where he’s going to

get an education based on what a building looks

like.”

*

THE NCAA, pillar of big-time collegiate sports,

recently changed its rules to allow the five largest

and wealthiest conferences to make their own

rules. The rules are mostly about money, how

much amateur student-athletes may be paid, and

how much they are no longer required to learn

while they attend, or at least enrolled in, school,

how much money schools no longer must share.

Bethany College and the nine other members

of the KCAC are among the smallest in college

athletics, but among the highest in attaining a true

measure of the student-athlete. These schools set

the complete example of what Bill Snyder was

talking about, of what Ted Kessinger devoted

decades to achieve.

In the truest collegiate sports, players actually

attend class, take the tests, and earn their scholarships.

Their fans gladly pay a reasonable price for

their own seats. They see young men and women

compete for the fun of the game, for its lessons, its

challenges, its opportunities for higher learning.

Here is sport supported by people who believe

there is far more to a game than trading flesh

and money for more flesh, more graft and more

This is what Bill Snyder was talking about. It

is what coaches like Ted Kessinger believed and

***

The bitcoin;

a bitscam?

Not long ago federal regulators began warning

consumers about the risks of using “virtual currencies”

– in particular, the bitcoin.

This development falls in the category of things

mother always warned us about. Among them,

The Internet is a wonderful thing, but like all

wonderful things, it can have its un-wonderful

moments. Fraud is one of them. Cyberworld is

loaded with fun and imaginary pursuits such as

fantasy football, avatars, parallel universes, dream

worlds and so on. We can escape reality, live in

another skin, enjoy the sweet fruit of imagination.

We can also take leave of our senses, bite the

huckster’s sour apple.

In some of these dream worlds, citizens buy

things. They exchange real money (credit cards)

for dream currencies. Until recently this seemed

all fun and above board. Then, that fine line

between real and not-real got fuzzy, and the bitcoin

emerged in the mists, a wildly popular currency

traded on-line to buy real things. People

began to believe, oddly, that if a bitcoin could buy

something real, it, too, must be real.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

warns that bitcoins may be real in another world,

but they are not in the real world; bitcoins are

not backed by the government, they have volatile

exchange rates, and they are easy pickings for

hackers and scammers. Unlike real accounts in

real banks, bitcoin deposits in bit-world banks are

not federally insured.

In other words, a bitcoin is a bitrisky. Ever seen

one? Held one? Ever bit a bitcoin?

Likely it would be wooden, like the nickels carnies

traded at the fair.

***

The Internet,

a procrastinator’s heaven

In a recent interview for The New York Times

Book Review, Garrison Keillor was asked about

procrastinating, what he might read while putting

off things that shouldn’t be put off. This led, of

course, to the Internet.

“Procrastination is available at your fingertips,

the whole vast www world,” Keillor said. “Cat

videos, vicious gossip about pop stars, survivalist

blogs, right-wing paranoia, it’s all there. The

Internet brought the barroom, the porn shop, the

fleabag hotel lobby and the men’s locker room into

every American home, and you can now hang out

with ne’er-do-wells to your heart’s content without

anybody knowing about it.”

And have a bitcoin, too.

– JOHN MARSHALL

Regulation overreach

By

Editor

-

September 7, 2014

0

By John Schlageck, Kansas Farm Bureau

If the EPA’s proposed rule to redefine waters of the United States becomes law, farming and ranching as we know it today may end.

“This is one of the most egregious oversteps of Congressional intent that has happened in modern times,” says Ryan Flickner, Kansas Farm Bureau public policy senior director. “Certainly since the Clean Water Act of 1972.”

Under the proposed rule, the Environmental Protection Agency intends to wield much more authority than Congress wrote into this law.

EPA published its proposal in the Federal Register April 21. It contends the new rule clarifies the scope of the Clean Water Act. In reality it provides more confusion and less clarity for farm and ranch families and could classify most water and some land features as waters of the United States.

Ordinary field work and everyday chores like moving cattle across a wet pasture, planting crops and even harvest may one day require a federal permit if this proposal becomes final.

Clean water is important to all of us, but this issue is not about water quality – it’s about federal agencies attempting to gain regulatory control over land use.

Throughout this republic’s history, Congress, not federal agencies, has written the laws of the land. Two Supreme Court rulings have affirmed the federal government is limited to regulating navigable waters. EPA’s recent proposal sends conflicting messages and would extend the agency’s reach.

Also at stake here are the roles of state and federal government, Flickner says – where that line is drawn and where it may be crossed.

Congress initially said the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers could only regulate “navigable” waters.

Farmers and ranchers are straight-forward people who believe words mean something. Agricultural producers believe the authors (Congress) of the Clean Water Act included the term navigable for a reason.

Is a small ditch navigable?

Is a stock pond navigable?

Ever see any maritime barges trying to navigate a southwestern Kansas gully during a cloud burst?

Because a farmer’s field, a homeowner’s lawn, a golf course or a playground collects water after a rain does not mean they should be regulated under waters of the United States. The new regulatory proposals could do exactly that.

What about the EPA claims that agricultural exemptions currently provided under the federal Clean Water Act should relieve farmer and ranchers of any need to worry about the proposed rule?

Exemptions provided in the act are mostly limited to plowing and earth moving activities. They do not apply to farm and ranch tasks like building a fence across a ditch, applying fertilizers or other forms of pest and weed control. Nor do they offer protection from land that has entered agricultural production since the 1970s.

If EPA’s proposed rule becomes law, many farming practices would require government approval through a complex process of federal permitting.

EPA’s so-called exemptions will not protect farmers and ranchers from the proposed waters rule. If farmlands are regulated as waters, farming and ranching will be difficult, if not impossible.

Public comment will be accepted until Oct. 20. Contact the EPA and Corps and let them know your opinion on this critical issue.

“Enough is enough,” Flickner says. “Kansas farmers and ranchers have worked with our state agencies including the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, Kansas Department of Agriculture and our elected officials. Let’s continue to work with these people who are more knowledgeable about our state.”

John Schlageck is a leading commentator on agriculture and rural Kansas. Born and raised on a diversified farm in northwestern Kansas, his writing reflects a lifetime of experience, knowledge and passion.

– See more at: http://www.kfb.org/news/insight/index.html#sthash.rTNKBzNR.dpuf

Least Lovable Livestock

By

Editor

-

September 7, 2014

0

Let me state right up front that I’m quite positive this column will be offensive to the folks who raise llamas, yaks, cats or ostriches, but please remember this is just one person’s opinion and I was wrong one time and could be again. Please keep that in mind as I present Lovable Lee’s Least Loved Livestock.

First we must define what falls under the umbrella when we speak of livestock. One of the definitions of livestock are those living things that can be raised profitably, which automatically eliminates chickens, camels, goldfish, cats and most of the time, cattle. I’ve never liked chickens as they are nothing more than tasteless walking soybeans. Camels aren’t a big hit with me because I rode one once and found the ride far inferior to horseback riding. I can’t imagine roping calves off a camel or turning back a wild cow on the loose. I have also heard that cattle will stampede at the sight of a camel, which is reason enough not to own one. I can’t envision a goldfish enterprise being profitable because I once raised them in stock water tanks but the cows and horses kept swallowing up all the profit. As for cats, I’d have to say they come the closest to being an animal that I really don’t care for.

We can eliminate many species from competition simply because I’ve never had any experience raising them, such as water buffalo, yaks, reindeer, Guinea pigs, deer and donkeys. One of the biggest regrets I have in life is that I’ve never raised donkeys, race horses or asses because I know we’d really get along. I too can be obstinate, hard to get along with, and I’m not very pretty either. I feel the same way about goats. Although I’ve never raised one I’ve always been impressed by goats and I think they have a great future cleaning up the messes left behind by the Inferior Department.

I’ve raised several species of poultry and the birds I liked the best were ducks. Ducklings are like lambs and are cuter than a covey of California cowgirls. I also find ducks decidedly delectable. Not so turkeys. They are dumber than a congress of politicians. I’ve been afraid of geese ever since one chased me around when I was a toddler. Ostriches were a real hot livestock species there for about 30 minutes but ostrich breeders went from selling them for $35,000 for a breeding pair to turning them loose on the highway hoping to collect on the insurance. The reason I don’t love ostriches is because they’ll peck at shiny objects. One time at a sale I was standing in the alley talking to someone when behind my back an ostrich reached over the fence and tried to take a big bite out of the top of my head, being the biggest shiny object around. Later on one did the same thing to the diamond ring on the auctioneer’s finger while he was selling and it spooked him so bad he let go with a string of expletives that ruined his one-sale-career as an ostrich auctioneer.

Llamas were even hotter than ostriches before they cooled off but I’ve never been a big llama fan. That’s because I tried to shear a couple when I was in high school and they darn near killed me. Then there was the time at a llama auction when a llama spit at me. I ducked so that most of it hit the lady behind me but enough got on me that I had to pay the cleaning fee for the tuxedo I’d rented for the sale. I also think of llamas as imports to this country and I tend to like my livestock made in America.

I hate to admit this but I really enjoyed raising hogs and if you don’t like pork chops, ham and pork sausage you are missing a taste bud or two. But wild hogs are another matter. If pigs are the comedians of the barnyard then wild hogs are the big bullies. More than any other species, I think, domestication has sure improved hogs.

Of course, cattle and horses are the most lovable on my list but there is one kind of cattle I don’t care for: dairy bulls. Talk about dangerous! But then I suppose I’d be in a bad mood too all the time if I never got to enjoy the pleasure of real sex and instead was “collected” by an A.I. technician. No wonder they hate people!

wwwLeePittsbooks.com

Statewide Writer’s Convention

By

Editor

-

September 7, 2014

0

By Doris Schroeder

The Kansas Authors Club (KAC) is holding their yearly convention Oct. 10-12 at the Hutchinson Ramada Convention Center, 1400 N. Lorraine in Hutchinson.

All interested writers are invited to attend.

It is one of the longest running writer’s group in the United States, having begun in 1904 in Topeka, it has had such illustrious members as George P. Morehouse, Arthur Capper and William Allen White. It is a statewide group divided into seven districts. Each district takes a turn in running the convention.

The convention begins at 7 p.m. on Friday night with the awards for the young people from 1st grade through high school.

On Saturday, the first workshop begins at 9:45-10:45 and is repeated at 1:45-2:45. They are as follows: Technical writing: Roy Beckemeyer, Song writing: Allen Krehbiel, and Stories with a twist: Tom Mach.

The second workshops are from 11-12 and is repeated from 3-4. The classes are as follows: Stand up poetry: Ronda Miller, Telling true stories: Roy Wenzl, and The Basics of writing: Nancy Julien Kopp.

The evening banquet will begin at 6 p.m. Various honor awards will be given to the different members. Keynote speaker will be Roger Cornish who will portray “Television: Changing more than just the Channel.” Roger is a native of Hutchinson.

The Sunday schedule begins with general business meeting from 8-9 a.m. From 9:15- 10:30 a.m. is an inter-denominational worship service preceded by the remembrance of this year’s past deceased members. This will be followed by a service by Pastor Wayne Pittman talking on the Biblical “Salt of the Earth.”

One workshop on Sunday from 10:45-11:45 on Writing & Illustrating a book for Children will be given by Marilyn Lake.

At the noon luncheon, the contest awards will be given out by the contest Chairmen.

You may attend all or part of the convention.

For reservation information: www.kansasauthors.org or call Sharon Kidwell, 620 663-2620 or Doris Schroeder 620-662-0197

or call Sharon Kidwell, 620 663-2620 or Doris Schroeder 620-662-0197

Chronicles of The Farm Woman: Bestest

By

Editor

-

September 7, 2014

0

Sunday was Mother’s Day. A national institution in these United States. Sermons were delivered on the theme of motherhood. Radio programs were dedicated to the mothers of the land. Sons and daughters traveled long distances, as is possible in this day of speed, to spend a few hours with mother. Showers of gifts were bestowed. Flowers, candy, negligee or household gadgets, things which mother would not buy for herself.

All the gifts are lovely. They illustrate thoughtfulness and devotion. But no material gift, however costly, can rival in a mother’s heart the sparkling eyes and the sweet childish voice which says, “I think you’re the bestest mother in the whole world.” Households may have their ups and downs. Storm clouds may gather and economic troubles beset them. It is such expressions as this that give mother strength and courage to carry on.

What day be dull when the song in a mother’s heart echoes over and over again – “You’re the bestest mother in the whole world?”

Goose banding 101

By

Steve Gilliland

-

September 7, 2014

0

In the real estate business it’s all about location, location, location. The same holds true with Kansas’ Canada geese. Resident Canada geese have found everything they need around the golf courses and housing developments of our bigger cities in the eastern half of Kansas. There they have all the water and green forage they could ever need and for the most part protection from predators, including man, and people seem to enjoy them until they become too plentiful. In some states, nuisance geese like that are killed, but here the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) tries to capture and relocate nuisance geese whenever possible.

Last Saturday, “Greenwings,” the youth arm of Ducks Unlimited sponsored a goose banding event at the 5000 acre Jamestown Wildlife Area northwest of Concordia, KS. Officially called a Greenwing Banding Event, it was geared toward youth up to seventeen years old. At 7 AM Saturday morning we rolled into a parking lot already filled with kids of all ages, their parents and a big trailer holding one-hundred fifteen Canada geese in cages awaiting identification bands and their freedom.

There is way more to banding geese than meets the eye, and there were already scores of man hours invested in getting those geese that far. Geese “molt” or lose their flight feathers a couple times a year, the first time being late June or early July. At that time, the flightless geese can be captured. Our “victims” Saturday were removed from golf courses and housing editions around Wichita and Kansas City and taken to a large holding facility the KDWPT maintains at Cedar Bluff Reservoir. Flight feathers were kept trimmed until just prior to Saturday’s event when the quills of those flight feathers were actually pulled completely out, forcing them to grow back faster and allowing the geese to regain flight within a month.

Tom Bidrowski, KDWPT biologist and waterfowl coordinator for all of Kansas took a seat a ways away from the trailer where he would be “sexing” the geese before their release. Bidrowski told the crowd “You tell the boys from the girls just like you would a puppy, you just have to ruffle a few more feathers.” Volunteers began wrangling geese from the cages and handing them to the kids, showing each youth how to properly hold them between the wings and around the legs while KDWPT personnel clamped a metal number tag around the leg of each goose. Then it was over to Bidrowski where he identified the sex and approximate age of each goose as a volunteer documented the information. Bidrowski kept things light, as his way of asking for another goose each time was to call out “OK, someone goose me!” The final stop was a short walk down the adjacent boat ramp where each goose was given its freedom and swam happily away toward the lake as each kid went back for more. The sea of kids, parents and KDWPT personnel banded and released all one-hundred-fifteen Canada geese in just a couple hours.

Sixteen year old Hanna Tracy from Valley Center, whose dad Jeff was one of the “wranglers “ retrieving geese from the cages, has been hunting geese with her dad since she was ten from a blind he made under a big pine tree on the back of their property. He puts out the decoy spread and does the calling, but she shoots her share of geese. Hanna told me “On one hunt last year there were four of us hunting, we shot eleven geese and I got five of them.” Hanna said she feels events like this are important to help conserve our great hunting here in Kansas.

Ten year old Nathan Brown from Concordia was there with his dad Bill. Nathan was a little less enthusiastic than Hanna, but still helped band and release several geese. His first one was an older female that now wears tag number #69 around her leg. Nathan said his favorite part of hunting and fishing is getting to eat the donuts his dad always has in the blind and in the boat.

After all geese were banded and released, and all the feathers had settled so to speak, Bidrowski explained to us how very important banding is to waterfowl management. “Banding is our basic tool for waterfowl management, like a tractor to a farmer or a hammer to a carpenter” he explained. Each leg band has a 1-800 phone number and a website address on it and Bidrowski stressed how important it is for every hunter that harvests a banded bird to call that number or go to the website and answer a few simple questions that also help with waterfowl tracking and management. Each hunter that does that will be mailed a certificate of appreciation stating when and where the goose was banded & released and thanking them for their help.

About 30,000 Canada geese reside in KS year round, and 93% of all geese banded and released in KS are harvested in KS. Canada geese make up 80% of the Kansas goose harvest; about 80,000 are shot here each year. Most Canada geese harvested in Kansas are from three to six years old, but the oldest recorded goose ever shot was thirty-three. Because of its location on the flyway, its myriads of sandpits and other water impoundments and its abundance of forage for migrating geese, Reno County records the largest goose harvest in the state most years.

Ducks Unlimited and our Kansas Dept. of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism do an amazing job of conserving habitat, managing Kansas waterfowl and getting youth involved in the outdoors. Ducks Unlimited Regional Director (and once a KDWPT employee himself) Josh Williams told me “They can teach all the outdoors curriculum in the classroom they want, but if you want an appreciation of the outdoors to stick with these kids, you gotta’ get em’ out and get um’ dirty!”

The Covered Dish: Cherry Pineapple Dump Cake

By

Editor

-

September 7, 2014

0

It was not until 1983 when I moved to Kansas City and began teaching for Platte County RIII Schools that I became acquainted with this ‘dump cake’. When the teachers at the East Platte School would have a carry-in meal this dessert was frequently present.

As many of you know there are tons and I means ‘tons’ of different types of dump cakes. If you don’t believe me just do a search and you’ll find an overwhelming response. The recipe I’m sharing today is the dump cake I am the most familiar with. First, it was hard to believe that something this good was just ‘dumped’ together in a pan and baked for an hour. It was one of those recipes that a teacher could put together late at night while they were busy grading papers.

This week I’m making (3) 9 x 13 pans of this cake/cobbler to serve for an outdoor back porch event at the city. A yummy way to wrap up this dessert is vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. For those of us who grew up on the farm it was always fresh cream over our cobblers.

Everyone always wants to know what I’ve been up to. This week has been a type of recovery week for me as I regrouped from about two weeks of very long hours and Southern Gospel at the park. On the downside today we found out that our precious corgi, Jilly, had ingested ‘something’ that virtually shut down her kidney and liver. Tonight just before I started to write the column the vet called with an update. She is holding her own and on Monday we are praying to see vast changes. Tonight I took our son, Phillip, (who didn’t know Jilly was this sick) down to see his girl. The family decided that I needed to put one of my pillowcases in with her so she would have my scent nearby. It’s been a tough day, I hope when I write all of you next week that she is back home and on her way to a full recovery.

Let’s see what else happened this week? The air conditioner went out! Yes, it was a very warm day when it decided to belly up. The good news is it was a simple repair of about $180.00. We are cool again and so very thankful for this wonderful invention called air conditioning. (Today was 98!)

We start into all new recipes at the park tomorrow and I’m looking forward to the change. I’m also anxious to resume more regular work hours, whoopee.

I played around with a Reuben breakfast casserole, but wasn’t tickled pink with the outcome just yet. Ervin, my husband, enjoyed it, but I thought it was lacking.

I was planning on working in the downstairs ‘pantry’, but I haven’t gotten that far. I’ve been too busy catching up on basic items on the home-front. I found out last weekend what it means to be too busy. My mom called to see if everything was going well down our way. I told her everything was fine. That’s when she told me I had missed my dad’s 83^rd birthday! I feel like a toad, an absolute toad. I cannot remember EVER forgetting one of my parent’s birthdays. Next week I have a package headed their way, but I still am beating myself up over this mistake. To make matters worse my own mom didn’t buy dad a card! He felt totally forgotten, what a lousy deal.

After a few hours away I’m back to conclude my column with a Jilly update. She ate food today and went outdoors. I’m trying not to get to excited, but she is improving. When I realize how close we came to losing her, well let’s not talk about it!

As the temperatures cool I’m hoping more folks will consider joining me on my Caribbean culinary cruise next March. I hear lots of comments from folks who are ‘thinking about it’. Go to my website and check it out. www.thecovereddish.com. Two years ago when we cruised we were amazed that the cruise cost covered EVERYTHING except our excursions, drinks and shopping. So when you look at the cost keep in mind all tipping is included along with transfers and a one night hotel stay. Not to mention we have lots and I mean lots of extras for our guests like bon voyage parties, culinary classes, wine tasting etc.

Its 68 degrees here in Branson West tonight, wow what a change. Simply yours, The Covered Dish.

Cherry-Pineapple Dump Cake

1 standard yellow cake mix

1 (20 ounce) can crushed pineapple, juice included

1 (20 ounce) can cherry pie filling

1/2 cup chopped English Walnuts or Pecans

1/2 cup coconut, (optional)

1/2 cup (one stick) butter cut into pieces

1 greased 9 x 13 baking pan

Spray the baking dish with vegetable spray. Pour the crushed pineapple in the bottom and spread evenly in the pan. Place dollops of the cherry pie filling over the pineapple. ‘Try’ to spread it evenly so there are cherries in every serving.

Sprinkle the cake mix across the top of the pineapple and cherries, distributing evenly. Now scatter the chopped nuts and coconut. Cut the stick of butter into small pieces and evenly distribute over the dish. Place in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for approximately one hour. The mixture is usually bubbly when done and the coconut takes on a golden hue. Serve warm with ice cream, cream or whipped cream.