I've missed y'all! I am back in Kansas after 10 or so days in Illinois and Missouri for swim camp for the two oldest, catching up with old friends from when we lived in Illinois, then on to St. Louis for a few days of fun for 4th of July weekend with the family. My youngest son wasn't old enough for swim camp, so he and I had a really fun time at Turkey Run State Park in western Indiana. My youngest daughter stayed in Kansas for church camp. She and my husband, along with my sister 'n law and niece drove up and met the rest of us (plus one of my oldest daughter's friends we brought back to Kansas for a visit) in St. Louis for Fair St. Louis, the City Museum, and Six Flags. We had a blast. This week we have been frantically trying to finish up 4-H projects for the Sedgwick County Fair. Judging was today, and the kids did great. Notably, all of their poultry entries (posters this year instead of the live birds, due to bird flu restrictions) got purple ribbons.
There was some discussion about recycling and reusing materials, which got me to thinking about a really neat part of our time in St. Louis. We visited the City Museum while we were there. It is an building in downtown St. Louis that has been reclaimed as an awesome place for kids of all ages to explore. Local artists and designers have used recycled and reclaimed materials to sculpt and build a fantastically whimsical and practical place to get lost in. There are slides, mazes, ball pits, tunnels, stairs, and other features I can't describe that you'll have to see for yourself. It sounds like a kiddie place, but from my experience there and the volume of adults enjoying themselves, I stress that The City Museum is a place for kids of all ages. There are some parts of the museum that actually look KIND of like a museum. A few rooms of architectural elemental details, a room with entomology displays, and another room with museum-like displays. Mostly, though, the museum is very interactive...in that the art is to be used and played on, not just admired from afar. The artists' repurposing of everyday materials for art was inspiring.
Let's see. While we were gone we did lose one chicken. My father-in-law was taking care of the chickens, and one of our Spice Girls died. I am certain that she died from a prolapsed oviduct that I discovered and treated before we left for Illinois. I suspected some irreversible internal issues when I put everything back inside of her and back in place. My dear father-in-law felt awful, but I tried to reassure him that she was already not doing well, and that his care did not cause her death.
Little sweet 'n' sassy, Tina, our black Cochin Bantam has gone broody. The stinker sleeps in the nest bucket and throws a hissy fit when one of the other girls lays an egg in one of the other buckets. She wants all the eggs to be laid in her box, so she can sit on them, naturally.
Our 13-year-old chocolate lab, Dixie, had an over-$300 foot surgery yesterday to remove cheat grass that had imbedded itself into her foot due to her just roaming in the yard for potty breaks. Poor girl. She rarely goes outside much anymore, except to potty and for her brief dips in the river on very hot afternoons. She kept licking her foot, which was going on before we left for Illinois. When we got back from vacation, her foot was swollen and red between her toes. They had to put her under, open the wounds, and get every last little piece of the offending cheat grass out, before irrigating the wound and wrapping her up. She seems to be doing better now.
@CowboysAngel , welcome to Consolidated Kansas. I was born and raised in Ulysses, which is 30 minutes from Lakin and a little over 30 minutes to Manter. I loved growing up in Ulysses, but I have learned that the southwest Kansas landscape is an acquired taste for non-natives. By that, I mean I appreciate the wide-open spaces, seeing for miles and miles, tumbleweeds, yucca, and the beauty of an afternoon thunderstorm on the vast plains. Unlike some of Kansas, the western portion of the state is truly in The Great Plains. This means that there is generally very dry (almost arid) weather, lots of wind, hot summers, and cold winters. There is not much precipitation at all n western Kansas, generally. Cactus, sage, and yucca are common native plants that thrive in fields left to grow wild. The further east in Kansas you go, the more humid, rainy and green things get. There is noticeable greening once you hit Pratt, KS, then by the time you get to Wichita, it often seems like a completely different world. Manter is nearly in Colorado. I enjoyed the proximity to the Rockies while growing up in Ulysses. We had to travel about 4 hours west to see mountains. If you live in Manter, that's only 3 1/2 hours to see mountains! I'm guessing Manter doesn't even have any laws on the books regarding chicken keeping, and Manter is small enough that it may partner with Johnson regarding governance. In fact, Johnson, Manter and Big Bow (the 3 Stanton County towns) are small enough together, that they may both fall under Stanton County governance. If you have specific questions about Ulysses or western Kansas, please don't hesitate to ask me. My parents still live in Ulysses, and I still visit often.
There was some discussion about recycling and reusing materials, which got me to thinking about a really neat part of our time in St. Louis. We visited the City Museum while we were there. It is an building in downtown St. Louis that has been reclaimed as an awesome place for kids of all ages to explore. Local artists and designers have used recycled and reclaimed materials to sculpt and build a fantastically whimsical and practical place to get lost in. There are slides, mazes, ball pits, tunnels, stairs, and other features I can't describe that you'll have to see for yourself. It sounds like a kiddie place, but from my experience there and the volume of adults enjoying themselves, I stress that The City Museum is a place for kids of all ages. There are some parts of the museum that actually look KIND of like a museum. A few rooms of architectural elemental details, a room with entomology displays, and another room with museum-like displays. Mostly, though, the museum is very interactive...in that the art is to be used and played on, not just admired from afar. The artists' repurposing of everyday materials for art was inspiring.
Let's see. While we were gone we did lose one chicken. My father-in-law was taking care of the chickens, and one of our Spice Girls died. I am certain that she died from a prolapsed oviduct that I discovered and treated before we left for Illinois. I suspected some irreversible internal issues when I put everything back inside of her and back in place. My dear father-in-law felt awful, but I tried to reassure him that she was already not doing well, and that his care did not cause her death.
Little sweet 'n' sassy, Tina, our black Cochin Bantam has gone broody. The stinker sleeps in the nest bucket and throws a hissy fit when one of the other girls lays an egg in one of the other buckets. She wants all the eggs to be laid in her box, so she can sit on them, naturally.
Our 13-year-old chocolate lab, Dixie, had an over-$300 foot surgery yesterday to remove cheat grass that had imbedded itself into her foot due to her just roaming in the yard for potty breaks. Poor girl. She rarely goes outside much anymore, except to potty and for her brief dips in the river on very hot afternoons. She kept licking her foot, which was going on before we left for Illinois. When we got back from vacation, her foot was swollen and red between her toes. They had to put her under, open the wounds, and get every last little piece of the offending cheat grass out, before irrigating the wound and wrapping her up. She seems to be doing better now.
@CowboysAngel , welcome to Consolidated Kansas. I was born and raised in Ulysses, which is 30 minutes from Lakin and a little over 30 minutes to Manter. I loved growing up in Ulysses, but I have learned that the southwest Kansas landscape is an acquired taste for non-natives. By that, I mean I appreciate the wide-open spaces, seeing for miles and miles, tumbleweeds, yucca, and the beauty of an afternoon thunderstorm on the vast plains. Unlike some of Kansas, the western portion of the state is truly in The Great Plains. This means that there is generally very dry (almost arid) weather, lots of wind, hot summers, and cold winters. There is not much precipitation at all n western Kansas, generally. Cactus, sage, and yucca are common native plants that thrive in fields left to grow wild. The further east in Kansas you go, the more humid, rainy and green things get. There is noticeable greening once you hit Pratt, KS, then by the time you get to Wichita, it often seems like a completely different world. Manter is nearly in Colorado. I enjoyed the proximity to the Rockies while growing up in Ulysses. We had to travel about 4 hours west to see mountains. If you live in Manter, that's only 3 1/2 hours to see mountains! I'm guessing Manter doesn't even have any laws on the books regarding chicken keeping, and Manter is small enough that it may partner with Johnson regarding governance. In fact, Johnson, Manter and Big Bow (the 3 Stanton County towns) are small enough together, that they may both fall under Stanton County governance. If you have specific questions about Ulysses or western Kansas, please don't hesitate to ask me. My parents still live in Ulysses, and I still visit often.
