When you think about the most important skills that children need to learn before they go to school, many adults often think these include the ability to count, recite the alphabet, or recognize their name in print.

“Multitasking” is a term that may have started in the workplace, but it has made its way to the kitchen — where more and more Americans say their busy lives require them to juggle too many things at once while eating and preparing food.

Located in Pawnee County, Burdett, Kansas, is home to 232 souls. It’s approximately 43 miles northeast of Dodge City as the crow flies.
 

Like so many small towns in western Kansas, Burdett reached it’s peak years ago – maybe a century ago. During the last couple years the John Deere dealership folded on the south side of Highway 156. A farm supply service now operates from the same building.

Wheat planting is rapidly approaching and farmers are now in the process of preparing for that event.

I didn’t go to church Sunday, but you might say I spent a little time Sunday morning closer to God than anyone in this whole county, especially if heaven is indeed located high above the clouds. I do go to church, something I have done since I was young and had no choice in the matter. But I have spent many Sunday mornings out in the woods somewhere or off on the river, where I feel closer to God than anywhere else I have ever been. When you are an outdoorsman, it is that way. I don’t like to be around a lot of people, I like being outdoors alone as often as possible. But I am not at all anti-social.  In the last few years I have spent a great deal of time speaking to folks in churches around the Ozarks, and I enjoy that.  I have the same weakness, I suppose, as many of the old timers I grew up around, in the pool hall back in my hometown. I do a lot better at talking than listening.

Stark, Kansas, population 107, is small town tucked quietly inside the Neosho County line just north and west of Crawford County.

Wheat planting is just around the corner and I know farmers are looking for seed to plant this fall.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is advising consumers that jalapeño and Serrano peppers grown in the United States are not connected with the current Salmonella St. Paul outbreak and consumers may feel free to eat them without concern of contamination.

It has been eight years since I traveled to Jamaica for my wedding honeymoon.

This school is scheduled for Thursday, August 21 and it will be held at the Southeast Ag. Research center in Parsons.