Before I begin this week’s rant, I have offer a big OOOPS pertaining to last week’s column about Tweety the Catbird. Not only did I get the man’s name wrong, (it’s JOHN Paulson, not Don) but I also got the name of his business wrong. It is Gravel & Concrete Inc., at Nickerson, KS.  This week’s column is a repeat from a couple years ago, but given the early and overly hot spring and summer we’ve had, it was just too apropos not to use again.

This week’s column is a repeat from a couple years ago, but given the early and overly hot spring and summer we’ve had, it was just too apropos not to use again.

The only reason I put up with summer in Kansas is… well, because I have to! My only alternatives are to move or die. The first takes too much energy, and the second, well, let’s just say I’ll put up with summer! (Although as I get older door number 2 looks less ominous all the time) I’ve spent the last few weeks trying to complete several outdoor projects, working early mornings and late evening to beat the heat, so I present to you a little trivia about the “dog days of summer.”

The term “Dog Days of Summer” has always intrigued me. This term was long ago given to the hottest and muggiest part of the summer, which someone has determined to be between July 3 and August 11.

Stars and constellations played a big part in the lives of the ancients. Two such constellations, Canis Major and Canis Minor, were said to resemble dogs. The brightest star in Canis Major is named Sirius, “the dog star,” and also happens to be the brightest star in the night sky. It is in fact so bright, that ancient Romans believed the earth received heat from it. During our summer, there is a period when Sirius rises and sets with the sun, and it was believed that during this period, the Dog Star actually added its heat to the sun, creating a period of extra hot and muggy weather now known as “the dog days.”

So what can we “dog days haters,” who think it’s even too hot to fish, do to scratch our “outdoor sportsman’s itch” during this time? Frog season started here in KS July 1st and is a great nighttime sport. We hunted frogs a lot when I was a kid and thought nothing of walking a couple hundred yards across someone’s pasture in the middle of the night just to get to a pond full of frogs. Now days it’s not quite so much fun sloggin’ around a pond in pitch black darkness in soaking wet jeans and old sneakers, but the sweet taste of fried frog legs is still the same!

Now’s also a fine time to browse the Cabela’s, Bass Pro, and in my case, trapping supply catalogs to get a jump on your fall hunting and trapping wish list. This begins by going over your equipment and clothing, looking for equipment needing repaired or replaced. You know how clothing seems to “shrink” a little each season! Also order that new equipment you want to experiment with this year. Mail ordered merchandise can take considerable time to receive, and ordering early also gives you time to make returns and exchanges if needed. The large trapping supply dealers are busy with conventions in late summer and when trapping seasons start in the fall, so now is a prime time to get trapping supplies mail-ordered. So carry the catalogs from the bathroom to the easy chair and get started!

I guess when it’s 105 degrees in the shade, it’s hard to think about deer hunting, but the dog days are also a good time to begin garnering hunting and trapping permission. Unless you already have a standing agreement in place with landlords, hunting and trapping permission is often first come-first served. This can be done over the phone, but I prefer a more personal touch and like to drive to the owner’s home and talk to them in person. Remember, the early bird gets the worm (or the pheasant, the deer or the coyote.)

Also this is a great time to start gathering unwanted apples from under people’s trees to feed to the deer by dumping them on the ground in front of your corn feeders. A friend at church tells me his apples are falling very prematurely this year (maybe because of the early heat) and rotting almost immediately.

Now is a great time to brush up on your hunting and trapping skills or learn new ones by reading “how to” books and magazine articles. Think back about the things that didn’t go as planned last season and search out the resources to correct them, be that books, magazine articles, tapes & DVD’s or fellow sportsmen.
So pour a glass of iced tea, settle into your recliner, surround yourself with all your wish books, magazines, DVD’s and the TV remote, and for these next few “dog-day” weeks, continue to Explore Kansas Outdoors, even if it’s from your living room!

Steve Gilliland, Inman, can be contacted by email at [email protected].

Recent heavy rains have done more than make grass grow. Bugs like this moisture, and they’re reproducing at record rates and sponsoring insect gatherings in town and out. Not only are humans swatting and smacking at bugs torturing fleshy landing pads on arms, legs, foreheads, and more, beasts are busy dodging biting and stinging creatures as well.

During a visit to Mom’s in Wakeeney, we decided to drive about to see what effect these downpours have had on roads, streams, pastures, and fields. We didn’t need to look long before we saw washed out rural routes and fields, brush hanging off highest fence lines or dangling from tree branches bordering creeks and streams, shallow ponds drowning once thriving wheat, and cow herds massed tightly into fence corners.

When I first saw those bovines grouped like junior high girls at their first dance, I thought about the old saying that cattle gathering in corners predicted impending storms. I was puzzled because I’d checked the weather channel that morning, and, while it’s not always accurate, it had forecast clear days ahead. Why, then, were these girls and their calves snuggled tight enough you couldn’t count them on a hot day?

I couldn’t imagine that they wanted to be positioned nose to tail or side to side so close that nothing could make its way through that herd without major rearranging. Then a fly bit me at the same time a mosquito announced its irritating presence with an obnoxious whine. Aha, those cows had united to protect themselves and one another from noisy, hungry, flying hordes.

While humans use hands to swat, flatten, or wave away these aggravations, cows don’t have that option. All they have is a tail—a nice switchy device with a knot of hair at the end, but it’s hardly adequate to address swarms of starving bugs. Their problem-solving strategy impressed me. No dumb animals here; these girls did not intend to be passive victims.

Such close proximity might have forced less than hygienic cattle to not only smell but absorb body odors emerging from various, slimy orifices. However, I doubt that’s a real concern for creatures that start life nursing directly underneath their mother’s tails. Nope, these gals and their babes got up close and personal, leaving tails free to swipe and slap each other’s pests.

While making sure I observed at a distance far enough away to avoid inviting their six-legged tormentors to land on me, I noted that mamas and babies chewed cuds, stomped feet, and swished perfectly designed fly swatters in such a rhythm that it kept those blood suckers from landing on them or any nearby bovine. An army of agitated insects hovered overhead in a hangry cloud. I’m sure if I’d been closer, I’d have heard audible complaints.

I enjoyed cruising the countryside to view Mother Nature’s recent activity. Even more, I appreciated watching the wrastling match between cattle and insects. It’s good to know that bovines can deal effectively with airborne forces possessing nasty stingers and sharp chompers. I’m definitely pleased that I come with hands that can use a flyswatter.

Native Kansan Karen Madorin is a local writer and retired teacher who loves sharing stories about places, people, critters, plants, food, and history of the High Plains.

The majority of Americans are supportive of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment, but are also unaware of exactly what those rights are, according to the recently released 2018 State of the First Amendment survey by the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum Institute.

When asked if the First Amendment goes too far in the rights that it protects, more than three-fourths of Americans disagree. That’s fairly good news, but it’s somewhat tempered by the fact that a third of Americans cannot name a single freedom guaranteed by the First Amendment. Another third can only name one. Only one survey respondent out of a sample of 1,009 could name all five. And 9 percent of Americans think that the First Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms. (For the record, that’s the Second Amendment.)

But does it really matter that Americans don’t know exactly what the First Amendment says? After all, while no one’s done a survey on the state of the Third Amendment, I’d wager that most Americans have no clue what rights that one guarantees and I’m not losing any sleep over that. (In case you’re curious, the Third Amendment says that no one can force you to quarter British soldiers inside your home. The issue doesn’t come up much these days.)

But First Amendment issues do come up a lot (just look at the number of First Amendment-related decisions the Supreme Court made this term). And the fact that Americans are generally aware that the First Amendment gives them the right to express themselves but are pretty fuzzy on its actual details is problematic. As any teacher can tell you, a little knowledge can be more dangerous than no knowledge at all. In this case, it leads to people passionately invoking the First Amendment in some circumstances and ignoring its existence in others.

So, for a quick review, the First Amendment grants us five freedoms: religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. All of these freedoms are interconnected. The freedom of religion prevents the government from establishing its own religion, and from favoring one religion over another. It also keeps the government from interfering with the way people practice their religious beliefs. Religious freedom is a powerful thing, even if you yourself are not religious. It essentially grants each individual the freedom to develop their own conscience and their own values. The government doesn’t get to tell you what your values should be — that’s for you to decide.

Freedom of speech protects your right to express those values, even if that expression is critical of the government. Freedom of the press guarantees your right to uncensored information about the world around you and especially information about what your government is doing. And if you don’t like what the government is doing — if its actions contradict the values you cherish — you have the freedom of petition, which is the freedom to ask for the laws you want, and the freedom to assemble a group of like-minded people to give that request some political heft. We need all five of these freedoms to have a democracy that ensures comprehensive protection of the American citizenry.

As a country, we’ll probably always disagree about what the precise limits of the First Amendment should be. People will certainly always invoke the First Amendment in a self-serving manner, championing some of these freedoms while discounting others — think of Milo Yiannopoulos presenting himself as a defender of free speech but calling for vigilante squads to target journalists. Yes, it’s his First Amendment right to make tasteless comments. But hopefully one day Americans will understand the First Amendment well enough to recognize how disingenuous it is to treat it like an a la carte menu.

Lata Nott is executive director of the First Amendment Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. Contact her via email at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @LataNott.