Daily News - Feb '06

Feb 28, Tuesday

Tiger spends some quality thyme outdoors. (After sleeping inside all the day on the recliner.)

Spring was nice - while it lasted.

Today we tumbled into summer. Seventy-six degrees at

5 p.m. Joggers are out sweating, mommas are pushing baby strollers, people are walking dogs.

February 27, 2006  Monday

Yesterday gave us our first daffodil, but with the giddy air, today felt like spring.

This morning I watched John, our neighbor, put fishing poles and a tackle box into the bed of his truck. Off he went.

It was that kind of a day. Sweet spring. Birds twittered. If you were sitting in the warm sun, the light breeze still wasn't enough to chase you inside.

John returned a while ago and through our living room window I saw Tiger jump into the back of his truck. So, I'm thinking, if John drives off, there goes our cat.

I step outside to retrieve Tiger from the truck bed and she's got her nose working, sniffing at the fishing poles.

Tomorrow is supposed to be even warmer--like around 75 degrees.

February 26, 2006  Sunday

Spring is just outside our back door.

Wallpaper your computer screen with this daffodil (or is it a jonquil?)

February 25, 2006  Saturday

Dave's Sky of the Week:

I think Dave's pushing the season a bit. These look like Bradford Pear trees, which won't be blooming until April. But then again, as warm as it's been this winter...

* * *

Scott Rochat of The Emporia Gazette dropped by the house yesterday. He's working on a feature story about bloggers. And, because I happen to be a blogger, he came to talk with me.

Scott is absolutely one of my favorite writers and columnists. His columns are often poignant, sometimes humorous, and his writing has depth. Some of his more personal columns describe pain and suffering. Nevertheless, Scott pulls an ace out of the deck every time.

And heck, he can even make a news story about mill levies interesting.

Just in the first sentences of an article, even without looking at the byline, I can always tell if Scott wrote it. He adds clever hooks and twists--smart phrasing that makes me smile.

Then Hal Smith, Gazette photographer, stopped in. That was the scary part. Now Hal takes great pictures, but if your subject has perpetual goofy looks on her face, well, there's not much the photographer can do. Bless his Kentucky heart, Hal had his work cut out for him.

February 23, 2006  Thursday

International Pancake Day is next week. Stir up some batter, fire up the griddle and pancake the day away.

Pancakes, waffles, same batter. Waffles though, taste so much better because they have all that crispy surface area and those cute little square pockets that contain the syrup.

Pancake Day gets all the glory (in Kansas, anyway), but did you know there is an International Waffle Day (March 25) and a National Waffle Day (August 24)?

On Fat Tuesday, a/k/a Shrove Tueday, the folks out in Liberal celebrate the plain, the simple, the ordinary pancake.

Go ahead, support Pancake Day. Me, I'm having waffles. Waffles with peanut butter. And syrup.

February 22, 2006  Wednesday

The price of gas has been pinging around. Gasoline sold at $2.19 for a month or so. Last week it was down to $2.05. Then back up. Yesterday $2.19. Today $2.12, so I filled up.

And since it was a glorious 55 degrees this afternoon, I washed February's dust off my car.

February 21, 2006  Tuesday

Dave noticed this muffler man at Gene's Quik Lube at Sixth and Congress.

We had a couple days of c-c-c-cold temps, but we've busted out of the deep freeze and it warmed up a bit yesterday.

The daffodil shoots appear to have survived the cold. They stand about four inches above the ground.

Shouldn't crocuses be blooming about now? Their thin green stems seem pretty non-committal. Maybe it's too soon, or maybe it's because there's no moisture in the ground.

February 20, 2006  Monday

"I don't have anything for the Daily News today," I said.

"Tell them that you heard a rumor that Sugarland is breaking up," Dave suggested.

A bit earlier, we had watched a country music video by Sugarland on the GAC channel.

"They're breaking up," Dave said.

"Who?" I asked.

"Sugarland."

"Never heard of them. How can they break up if I've never heard of them?"

+++

In other news... the neighbor girls delivered the Girl Scout cookies I ordered from them last month.

I bought two boxes of All Abouts (shortbread cookies with a chocolate coating on the bottom) and two boxes of Do-Si-Dos. These oatmeal with peanut butter creme cookies were called Savannahs when I was a Girl Scout.

What was wrong with calling them Savannahs?

Savannah, Georgia, of course, was the birthplace of the founder of the Girl Scouts: Juliette Gordon Low.

February 19, 2006  Sunday

"This is my quest... to follow that star... no matter how hopeless, no matter how far."

Back in the basement of my childhood home, we had an old and ugly, upright piano. It was yellow - blonde wood. My parents bought the piano from the Christian Church, I believe, for $10.

To get the piano down the wooden steps to the basement, Dad removed the handrail and then tied a rope around the tree out the back door and eased it down that way.

The piano was never really in tune, but that didn't matter much to a tone-deaf kid like me.

For a few years I took piano lessons from Mrs. Stansbury who lived just outside of town. Was it fifty-cents a lesson? Maybe more. I don't remember.

We had songbooks of popular songs. Old-time favorites like "Mama's Little Baby Loves Shortnin' Bread." I didn't like that song, but I liked "Aura Lee," which is the tune to Elvis' "Love Me Tender." 

One song I loved to play was "The Impossible Dream." "To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause..."

OK, these "Impossible Dream" and piano memories returned to my thoughts because of one word: quest.

Here's an article by Denise Neil from the Wichita Eagle about questing in Kansas.

February 18, 2006  Saturday

Yup. Still cold. Thirteen degrees at noon. (Whine, whine, whine. After a mild winter, this freezing air comes as quite a shock.)

Towanda puts out the welcome barn to travelers along K-254. We visited Towanda last Sunday after our lunch in Wichita.

The doll museum and hospital in Towanda was closed on a Sunday so we didn't get the chance to visit with the proprietor/doctor/curator. I can only imagine the stories behind the headless and armless dolls she's repaired.

February 17, 2006  Friday

Yeow, it's cold out! It's like 14 degrees. Then add a dose of Kansas wind and suddenly you remember what winter is all about.

Dave's Sky of the Week:

February 16, 2006  Thursday

I was on the radio this morning...

The Sedgwick County Courthouse - Wichita Way up high in the center is Lady Justice, blindfolded, I assume. I couldn't tell from so far away. But I could see that her scale was blowing about in the cold Kansas wind on Sunday afternoon.

February 15, 2006  Wednesday

Proudly announcing: PawneeRock.org

Now at your fingertips... everything you always wanted to know about Pawnee Rock, Kansas. My big brother, Leon Unruh, has created a Web site about our hometown.

Pawnee Rock is where my brother and I and our friends played tackle football on Mead's extra lot, where we walked to the Vickers station and bought Monkee cards, where we put pennies on the railroad tracks and waited for trains to flatten them.

We dodged the semi-trucks barreling down the hill from the salt plant as they headed toward the railroad depot. In the spring and summer, we trimmed grass around tombstones at the Pawnee Rock cemetery. We bought ice cream and snow cones from the Midget Malt Shop.

The town has changed so much since the '70s, but my brother and I still remember the cottonwoods which shaded Centre Street, the aroma of popcorn that drifted from the concession stand at high school football games, and the combination to P.O. Box 7.

***

More pictures from Kechi...

Karg Art Glass - Kechi

the interior

I liked these jelly fish things.

February 14, 2006  Tuesday

Rollin Karg's Art Glass Kechi, Kansas On Sunday, Dave and I stopped in Karg's gallery in Kechi - a place full of beautiful glasswork.

February 13, 2006  Monday

Congressman Jerry Moran stopped at the Sauder Center in Madison tonight and visited with about 30 constituents. Moran represents the Big 1st District of Kansas in the United States Congress. He's on a listening tour in which he visits every county in his district (69 of them.) This was his 42nd town hall meeting.

This evening, Rep. Moran spent time in Greenwood County, which is a relatively new addition to his constituency. It is the southeastern-most county in the 1st District.

Moran grew up in Plainville (pop. 2,029) and lives in Hays with his wife and daughters (when he's not in Washington D.C.), but he has ties to this region. His mother graduated from Madison High School and his father from Hamilton High.

"This gives me an opportunity to get my marching orders, my instructions, my complaints," Moran said as he opened the meeting and asked for questions.

"As John (a member of the audience) indicated, I work for you; you pay my salary and that means I'll be paying attention to what you have to say.

"Sometimes I have a whole different voting record from some of my colleagues and the only thing I attribute it to is just the sense that I try never to get away from what Kansans think is important and pretty much their instructions about what I ought to be doing."

Moran told us what he was doing on specific issues and how he voted on them. He spoke about what he'd like to see happen and what he was working on, particularly with agricultural issues, but also with health care and the war in Iraq.

Rep. Moran visits with local residents before the meeting.

Tonight was the first time I'd met Jerry Moran.

This is Moran's tenth annual listening tour. You know, he doesn't have to do this--he doesn't have to drive around to every county and hear farmers tell about tough times and listen to seniors talk about troubles with health care and prescription drugs. But obviously, it's very important to him that he stay in contact with the people he represents.

He didn't come with a speech or an agenda or to ask for campaign contributions--he came to listen. And he gave his responses without once bashing another politician. I like this guy.

Rep. Jerry Moran's website

 ***

OK, this may not be a great photo--I took it while driving-- but the center of Wichita seems like an unlikely place for a grain elevator.

It's not a grain elevator, merely a camouflaged St. Francis Hospital.

February 12, 2006  Sunday

It was time for a road trip.

Dave and I had planned on going somewhere yesterday, but the gray skies were just not all that inviting.

Today, the February air was still cold, still windy (30 mph winds, I'd guess), but a blue sky seems to add 10 degrees to the temperature.

About 10 a.m., I asked, "Do you wanna go today?" Dave said, "If you do." Within five minutes we were out the door, in the car, and headed southwest.

Wichita used to be a cowtown. And, there's still a cow or two around the place. But I liked this one in particular:

Hiland Dairy is smack-dab in the middle of Wichita.

We ate an early Valentine's Day dinner at Uptown Bistro in Old Town. Can you say Creme Brulee? Mmmm.

Downtown Wichita has a lot of heavy old churches. Large, thundering buildings that look as if they've been there a hundred years.

On the way home, we stopped at Karg Art Glass in Kechi, then cruised through Benton and Towanda. Stay tuned for more photos.

OK, look at the blue sky in today's cow photo, then scroll down to yesterday's skies. A blue sky makes a happy world.

February 11, 2006  Saturday

Commercial Street - looking south from the 800 block. If you call the Emporia Chamber of Commerce, I think they'll answer the phone with the phrase, "It's a great day in Emporia." Well, today, it's a gray day in Emporia. Mile-thick clouds. Big white snowflakes. Dreary and cold.

Lowther North Intermediate School at Sixth and Constitution (two blocks west of Commercial Street - the main drag.) Built in 1923, this structure was the old high school, but the bell is from the 1880 school. The newest Emporia High School building is in northwest Emporia. The Commerce Bank sign read 28 degrees at about 2 p.m., which doesn't sound too bad, until you feel the wind. I took this photo because the flags seemed to capture the feeling of wind-chill better than anything else.

These are swings for 6th graders. The seats are about waist-high on me. In these swings, you'd have to have really long legs to be able to reach the ground and push yourself backward to start the swinging process. OK, it has been awhile since I swung in a swing (it was too cold to try it today.) And who knows, maybe that's not the way kids start a swing swinging these days.

February 10, 2006  Friday

Today's late afternoon sunlight caused a rainbow effect as it refracted in the lining of the clouds.

 * * *

Had he lived to be the oldest man on earth, William Allen White would be 138 today. The famous newspaper editor was born

Feb. 10, 1868 and died Jan. 29 (Kansas Day), 1944.

In honor of White's birthday anniversary, the William Allen White House State Historical Site will waive entrance fees tomorrow.

The White Dining Room I took this photo during the May 14 dedication/open house at the William Allen White home. The Whites hosted many famous people at their home including President Teddy Roosevelt.

February 9, 2006  Thursday

The price of gas finally dropped a bit. It's been at $2.29, then fell to 2.25. Today it was $2.19 in some places.

A couple miles west of town, just off Hwy 50, earthwork has begun for the new (John) Deere Trail Implement business. The road is to be widened in that area and surveyors were out in the ditch doing their thing.

February 8, 2006  Wednesday

Hey - Emporia, Kansas is pictured in Rolling Stone! Well, actually, downtown Emporia is the background in a photo of Sam Brownback.

Perhaps you've heard about the controversial interview with the Republican senator from Kansas.

Here's the article by Jeff Sharlet: "God's Senator. Who would Jesus vote for? Meet Sam Brownback."

Carry on My Wayward Son. (OK, believe it or not, that song is mentioned in the article.)

February 7, 2006 Tuesday

Steve Beylon of KSNT-TV in Topeka gives the forecast this morning. February has brought cooler weather, replacing the warmth of January. Today's column: "The Winter that Wasn't"

February 6, 2006 Monday

Only God can make a sky.... but Dave can take a pretty good photo of it. Look at that rich blue in the upper left corner. Now that's the prettiest shade of blue there is.

This is Sky of the Week #13 which is available as computer wallpaper. It's on my computer this week.

It's kinda cold today. In the 30s. And cloudy. Coat weather again. Sigh. I guess what we need more than cold is moisture. Significant moisture. The earth is dry. We've only had two shallow snows this winter.

As one might expect, it's a different story in Alaska. My brother wrote this afternoon: "We're having lots of rain/snow today, and the roads are a mess. Sometimes a warm, dry road doesn't sound like too much to ask for."

February 5, 2006 Sunday

Got your tickets yet?

Symphony in the Flint Hills

June 10, 2006

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve

Only 5,000 tickets are being sold.

February 4, 2006 Saturday

Planning Eastside Memorial Park

Members of the park committee of the Emporia Eastside Community Group met at the Emporia Recreation Center today - during one of their fundraising events - the Soulful Taco Dinner.

The committee will meet present their plans to Emporia City Manager, Steve Commons, on Feb. 16. Today they discussed placement of the proposed shelterhouse, playground equipment and the memorial feature.

The group has been raising funds for a couple of years. Additional money will come from the Jones Trust and from the city of Emporia. Groundbreaking is expected to take place in early March.

Members of the park committee live in the area and they're excited about creating a safe and beautiful space for children to play and for family and community gatherings.

Stay tuned. We'll provide photos of the park as it develops. See a current photo of the park, on the Feb. 2 entry.

Al Slappy, Art Lorick and Jeff Hutcherson discuss placement of the memorial feature for the park located at Ninth and East Streets.

Dr. Carol Marshall, Sharon Lorick and Marsha Ferrell look through a catalog of playground equipment.

Art Lorick, Earl Williams and Al Slappy.

This beautiful girl will enjoy playing in the park.   The Soulful Taco Dinner included: a taco, an enchilada, refried beans, Spanish rice or sopa and a drink.

Here's the city's page for the Eastside Memorial Park.

February 3, 2006 Friday

Roger Heineken, an active community volunteer, sent me the following progress report about the Eastside Park (yesterday's photo):

Thanks for the Eastside Memorial Park picture, Cheryl. I attended the regular monthly meeting of the Emporia Eastside Community Group (EECG) Wednesday night and heard the report of the Park Committee meeting with the city manager on Monday.

Work is expected to begin in March on Phase One. Phase One will include:

Tray parking along East and Ninth Streets
The large shelter structure
Restrooms
The Eastside Memorial Park memorial
Child play structure - partially ADA, for younger and older children
Walkways

Phase Two or more will include (though still in flux):

A smaller family-style shelter
A basketball/ court
A graded play field
A fence along the rail spur
Lighting (most of Phase One is lighted by existing lights)
Maybe more

Many elements for a very small tract of land. City Manager Steve Commons is bringing in a park consultant to advise on final placement decisions and other input. Another meeting with Steve is planned soon to make final decisions on which play structure to order, colors, etc. so these can be ordered and available to install at the right times.

Steve is getting excited about this project because he realized that this is the first park for many years in Emporia history to be a comprehensive design and install; most evolved over time in recent decades. Jones Park in the early '70s was maybe the last one, but it has evolved. The tight space of Eastside Memorial Park may not change much over time because of this. Good decisions are needed in this initial plan.

It is hoped that all of this will be finished by the Memorial Day BBQ which is hosted free to the neighborhood by the EECG. I am dubious because of weather delays. There should be a groundbreaking in early March.

This Saturday, the EECG is holding its Soulful Taco Fundraising event at the Emporia Recreation Center. This helps pay for the big event on Memorial Day and other activities of the group like the Easter Egg Hunt and the back to school playday.

On March 3rd, The EECG and WAW Elementary School is holding its fundraiser for Red Rocks and the PTO, the second year.

February 2, 2006 Thursday

The site of good things to come. Eastside Memorial Park - Ninth and East Streets (Bunge elevators in the background.) Only one swingset stands today. Plans are for a shelterhouse, restrooms and more stuff to play on.

February 1, 2006 Wednesday

Forty-one degrees.

This morning, Steve Beylon, KSNT meteorologist, announced the average temperature for January in Topeka: 41.0 degrees.

Average daily temperatures are calculated by adding the high and the low temp and then dividing by two.

With normal average January temps in the mid- to upper 20s, we flew past the 20s last month and ended up with that pleasant 41 degree average.

January was the second-warmest on record, not far behind the 41.3 degrees set in 1933 (one of those dust-bowlish years. Yes, warm weather has its pitfalls.)

It's been a La Nina kind-of-a year, according to Beylon. But, winter is not over yet. February is not likely to be as balmy as January.

* * *

I felt so disgusted as I listened to the news this morning. Because certain Kansas residents have shown up at the funerals of coal miners (carrying signs that say "Thank God for dead miners"), West Virginia legislators (like legistatures in a handful of states) are considering laws which limit protestors at funerals. (Now, just the idea of protestors at funerals is ludicrous.)

A "church" in Topeka (I'm sure you know which one I'm talking about) has taken it upon themselves to protest at funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq and now of the miners who perished in recent mining disasters.

They claim that God is punishing America and is killing us off because America promotes homosexuality. So, this "church" celebrates every death as proof that they are right, that God hates gays and, therefore, that God hates America.

Oh, whatever.

They are just attention-seekers to the nth degree. (Which is why I won't name them and give them the satisfaction of one more Google hit.) They have found that protesting at funerals is the best way to draw ire and get publicity.

Apparently these folks never found ways to get noticed in a positive way, so they glow in every bit of negative press they get. By protesting at funerals, by pouring salt into the wounds of the grieving, which is so contrary to any concept of decency, they have succeeded in their mission: attention.

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