Columns

Out of Box

There are days we run across a recipe that puts you on the fence. It sounds intriguing, but at the same time, you question whether it will really be good or not. Do you make it? Or keep searching for something else for dinner? What about when you are invited over to a friend’s house for dinner, and you are served a dish you have never tried, but it looks amazing. So you put a small spoonful on your plate, taste it, and immediately ask for the recipe – it is just that delicious. I am always looking for something different to serve for the holidays. When searching for something last year, I remembered going to a friend’s house one Sunday after church. Her mom was pulling a dish out of the oven that looked amazing, and I couldn’t wait to try it. After I had the first bite, I knew I wanted the recipe.

It has been said, “Don’t ask a question that you don’t know the answer to”. Historical buffs who follow this article like to read history that they know but certain parts of it had slipped their mind – especially dates. Mansfield’s history is one of the writer’s favorite things to reminisce about.

The Birdfeeder Campaign

You may know that Great Battles are made up of different “Campaigns” or attempts to get a victory over the other side. WWII had D-Day and the Battle of the Bulge, Vietnam had the Ten Offensive; even the Civil War had the Red River Campaign that was snuffed out by our own Confederate Troops in the Battle of Mansfield. Today I offer you the Birdfeeder Campaign following right on the heels of the Attic Campaign that are both victories by me in The Squirrel Wars of Laura Street. Before we break down the tactics by both sides let me give you an update on my improved version of the Baja Shrimp recipe I told you about last week.

DeSoto Extension Agent

‘It is really tragic’: Wildres wipe out income for Louisiana forest landowners”

In west-central Louisiana, where wildfires have ravaged thousands of acres of drought-stricken forests in recent weeks, more has been lost than just trees.

For many people, the towering pines that define the landscape of this rural region represent family inheritances, years of investment and hopes for the future. Growing trees takes a long time, but the cash they bring in when cut is worth the wait.

This summer’s fires have dimmed those prospects for some — adding insult to injury in an area still dealing with storm damage from three years ago.

All my life I’ve looked at people with multiple dogs and thought, why? Why would anyone want twice the shedding, twice the vet costs, twice the mess? Then I bought my first dog, and I discovered just how needy dogs are.

John says dogs have owners and cats have staff. He’s not wrong. Cats live their own lives, granting their owners—uh, excuse me, staff—access during certain windows. No one knows when these windows open, including the cats. But at those magical times the cats allow humans to shower them with attention. But not too much attention.

(Webster’s Dictionary) Caper: to skip or dance around in a playful manner; OR those awful Dog Tick looking lumps in alot of Mediterranean Dishes.

Many of you may remember some older columns of mine where I eliminated Capers or subbed them with olives saying that “I hated them”. Well, I now know that was na ve and ignorant on my part. Shades of when I as a picky eating kid and used to turn my nose up at anything that didn’t look right: Kiwis – nope; Cauliflower – no way; even Strawberry Jam (What?!) – my Aunt had to threaten to spank me if I didn’t at least try a taste.

Labor Day has evolved into backyard cookouts, long weekend getaways and saying goodbye to summer ... But what is the true meaning of Labor Day?

Back in Sept. 5, 1882 the first Labor Day Parade in New York City was a time for workers to call attention to 10-hour workdays, sweatshops where people were working for pennies an hour, children were working for excessive hours under poor conditions. Samuel Gompers, the first President of the American Federation of Labor, who insisted on better pay and better working conditions, insisted that a laborer was more than a mere producing machine. Gompers was a Jewish immigrant who simply wanted a better life for the American worker.

Our dog Sadie found us over eight years ago. We didn’t know we needed a dog until she came along and set us straight. She moved with us to Grand Cane, settling into the small town life more easily than I did. She loved the trips to the farm and all the small town gatherings at our house. Then she met Ruger.

Let me back up a bit. John has never had a puppy. As a kid, Billy and Sue brought home several dogs, but they weren’t puppies. John’s parents had compromised his childhood because they’d never given him the experience of raising a puppy. I assured him he hadn’t missed much—just cleaning up messes, drooling, training the animal to relieve himself in the proper place.

“Honestly, honey, if you’ve raised a child, you’ve done all the things you would have done if you’d raised a puppy.” He wasn’t convinced.

DeSoto Extension Agent

Dos and Don’ts in the Garden During Droughts

It’s beginning to look like fall all around us as plants go into survival mode during this heat wave. Temperatures continue to soar, and the rain is nowhere to be found. Plants have several strategies to survive during droughts and cope with heat stress, both of which are conditions of water scarcity and high temperatures.

You will notice many trees right now with yellowing and browning leaves. Some trees have dropped their leaves altogether. This is survival mode. In addition, heat stress can lead to the browning or scorching of leaf edges and surfaces. This is often due to the disruption of regular cellular processes caused by extreme temperatures.