The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/815694
The Press-Dispatch Home Life Wednesday, April 26, 2017 D- 7 Sweet's Column by Barbara Sweet Hi stars and welcome to this big stage all lit up in col- orful lights and decorated to help celebrate with all our stars who will have a birth- day or anniversa- ry in the week of April 27 to May 3. Now don't be too awfully shy and come on up onto this big stage and take a bow. April 28 – Bill Nicholson turns 52 years, Maegan Ta- bor turns 27 years; Donna Gross turns 81 years; Jim Gatwood turns 46 years; Em- ber Joelane Ridenour turns 1 year. April 29 – Larry Platt; Ashley Ellenbaas turns 33 years; Kassie Traylor turns 21 years; Sarah Vinnedge. April 30 – Patty Ann Jones turns 90 years; Katy Al- dridge; Tim Glosser turns 46 years; Tommy Culbert- son turns 44 years; Taylor Gatwood turns 22 years. May 1 – Daniel Kuth;Cam- eron Michael Tooley turns 12 years; Jeremy Meier; Me- lenie Edmonds Ennis; Dale McKinney. May 2 – Jonathon Robert Faith turns 9 years; Jaclyn Mae Hall turns 8 years. May 3 – Tasha Meyer turns 29 years; Jessica Catt; Arbutus Eversoll turns 95 years; Josh and Becky Popp celebrate 9 years. May all our stars have a really great day and may all your wishes come true. Keep in your heart and in your prayers all our stars who need that card, vis- it, phone call and that dai- ly thought to know they will have a brighter day. Bren- da Gish is doing well, ma- ny stars still have the snif- fles from a cold or the pol- len allergies, many of us have those aches and pains brought on by spring clean- ing or just doing too much and not resting. Margie and Benny West, Annabel Rich- ardson, Larry Meyer, Mom, Janice, Teresa and Ted, Vir- ginia, Junior, Sylvia, Arvle. Events com- ing up in Winslow and the surrounding areas are: April 29 – Pe- tersburg Little League Parade at 10 a.m. and opening games at 11 a.m. Parade will march down Main St. The games will be played at the ball fields on Il- linois St. Have fun, kids. May 1 – May Day – Do you know about the May Pole? Ask! Winslow Girl Scout Troop 211 will meet at the House of Mercy Church basement at 6 p.m. May 4 – National Day of Prayer; Winslow Lions Club at 7 p.m. at the Trading Post; Pike Co. Moms Group at 10 a.m. at the Otwell United Methodist Church. May 4-6 – Pike Co. Spring Clean-up – Thursday and Friday 8 a.m.-4 p.m.; Satur- day 8 a.m.-noon. Pike Co. residents must show Pike Co. residency at entrance of Blackfoot Landfill. You can get rid of appliances, com- puters, T Vs, up to 4 tires, batteries, household paint, lightbulbs, furniture and oth- er bulky items, plus more, so call Pike Co. SWMD at 812- 354-2924. There is also a spot for items that are still in good working condition, free of charge, check it out. May 5 -6 – A zalea Blos- som Festival in Petersburg with music both days, Time- less Classics Car Show, Sil- ly Safaris, Little Miss A za- lea Blossom crowned, A za- lea Blossom Color Fun Run/ Walk at 9 a.m., lots of food vendors, artisans and busi- ness/organizational booths. May 6 – Poehlein Spring Bass Tourney from 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Poehlein cabin on Winslow Cato Road just east of Winslow. You can fish as a single or double up for more fishing fun; Winslow Masonic Lodge 620 will hold a pork chop dinner from 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. May 8 – Winslow Town Hall at 7 p.m. at the Snyder Community Center. May 9 – Winslow Beat- ification at 6:30 p.m. and Winslow Economic at 7:30 p.m. at the Snyder Commu- nity Center. May 14 – Mother's Day May 24 – Last Day of Pike County Schools. May 29 – Memorial Day – Winslow parade at 11 p.m. Winslow Learning Center on computers from noon-6 p.m. every Monday at the Snyder Community Center. Winslow Seniors meet on Monday and Tuesday at the Snyder Community Center. Petersburg Seniors meet on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday in the Courthouse basement. No postcards this week at Sweets Column, Winslow, Ind. 47598, and the mailbox is rusting away without the postcards and the birthday and anniversary lists needs to grow also, you don't al- ways have to give your age. Winslow has had some rain starting Thursday eve- ning into the night with some rain heavy. Friday was a full day of off and on showers in- to rain, then Saturday rain in the morning then some sun into the beautiful rainless sunny Sunday. The temps all week was cold enough to start a fire in the stove and the furnace turned up. We got 40s-50s during the day with cold 30s at night. Old man winter wants to say good-bye until next year, I really hope that is what he would like to say! But, I also saw snow in the Kansas ar- ea that could come our way. I hope not! Well, everyone, the mow- ing season has begun and now you have to watch the sky for rain and if clear it's time to get out that mower or if your lawn can wait until it stops raining again, then, you get that mower out. It's all the weather and the tim- ing of that front to watch out for. Oh, have fun! Did you all get your Feder- al and State taxes in before the deadline? We did. Then Norm checked the ole mail- box Monday and what did we get, with a lot of other Pike Co. Stars, we got our Person- al Property Taxes in so on Monday we went to the Pike Co. Courthouse and paid our taxes for another 6 months. As we were there we rant in- to Lena Fredericks and she couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Kyana and how she has grown up. We also saw Kevin Bolin, Stacy Russell and Terry Strobel. Before we left, the 4-H room was right there so we stopped in. Kyana got some info so she can participate in the animal division. She got a book and the info for the next meeting. At the Thurs- day meeting Kyana and Lau- ra took Sam, her rabbit, to get tattooed, and Kyana de- cided to only get one letter because it hurt Sam. Sam is alright now. Wednesday I went to the ATM at the former bank in Winslow when we all read the heading – as of April 28, 2017, the ATM Machine will be closed. I thought I heard that the ATM would be in Winslow for a year, so, my question is – has it been a year since January 1, 2017? I believe that adds up to four months if I calculated right. So to everyone who depend- ed on this ATM we are out of luck again. More walking into Petersburg or Oakland City. We in Winslow are very sad about this, but Winslow needs that ATM machine for Winslow stars who use it ev- ery week. Easter was the Sunday before last and it rained so Monday I hid some 24 eggs in two lots for Kyana to find. She did so well to find some that were hidden in tough places. I had Kyana, Laura, and Norm out looking for the last five eggs and the words of you're cold, warm, hot and you're burning up, came from me as they tried to find them. Kyana got candy and money and she had fun. On Easter afternoon Ted and Teresa came down and we exchanged Easter bas- kets. Mom had a swing that Dad got when the swings were replaced in a St. Louis playground, so Norm and I fi- nally got some chain and we hung it on a tree limb in our back 40. The seat is heavy stiff material, so when you swing too much your bot- tom will hurt a little, but the swing is so relaxing and it could be changed over to the bench swing later on. Kya- na swings on it sometimes. Thank you Norm for putting the swing up for me. A fter my solar firefly was put up we glanced over that night and saw in the purple bulb tail there are five little purple, blue and white fire- flies. That's so, so cool. Fire- flies all year round. The flowers are blooming all over Winslow and other areas. Mom's white flag in the front yard is in bloom, Daniel's light pink flag is in bloom in the side yard. The roses and the peonies are in buds, the tulips are lovely in their many colors. The but- terfly vine of blue flowers are ready for the butterflies. Behind the Corner Book Shoppe is a purple flower- ing tree in bloom. Have you seen Janie's bronze frog sit- ting on a tree stump, it's big. In the yards is a green frog on a green tricycle, a color- ful peacock, and a large and small rooster with many col- ors. She has more but these are the newest. Norm and I are travel- ing with Vernon and Rhon- da to Evansville Saturday to see the play Titanic, which we will see Dixie playing Ida Strauss and it seems to be quite a production. The seating for all three nights are limited to about 100 in this small theater seating. This is also a musical. Laura got one of those ear piercings that help get rid of a migraine. She has had a mi- graine almost every week but when she got this proce- dure done Laura hasn't had a migraine for at least one month. This has helped Lau- ra and it does hurt for a time. I'm glad she got some relief. The lights are about to dim on this week's ram- blings and I hope you keep an eye on family and friends, slow down and see the beau- ty all around you then as al- ways smile, wave, and say Hi to everyone you see this week. We're almost clear: What's the probability of a frost? By Hans Schmitz Extension Educator Gibson County Purdue Extension Winter jacket weather is over, although a sweater may still be useful for a while. Gib- son County is now well beyond wor- rying about a freeze event, but the potential for frost continues for a couple of weeks. Good news for farmers who are progress- ing with planting very well com- pared to our neighbors out in Io- wa where wetter weather has pre- vailed this planting season. Let's take a look at springtime temper- atures in the field and at home. The median date for the last freeze in our area is the first week of April, although we still have a 10 percent chance of freeze on April 21. The probability dwin- dles quickly afterward. This year, Mt. Carmel airport showed a last freeze date of April 8, where we bottomed out right at 32 degrees, which is right at our 1988 -2017 average. If we expand our hori- zons to look at frost potential, 36 degrees is a good threshold for standard two meter air tempera- tures. Using Princeton station da- ta, 20 percent of the last 36 de- gree temperatures occur after April 27, at least for the last 30 years. We are not confidently out of the frost season until closer to mid-May. What this means for farmers is very little at this point. Growing points on corn plants do not leave the soil and become exposed to air temperatures until the five leaf collar stage, or V5. With the crop beginning to emerge now, sus- ceptibility will be low until well after the period of possibility. Soybeans, meanwhile, are much more susceptible. The growing point on soybeans emerges with the cotyledons and multiplies with each axillary bud that forms. Partially for this reason, corn is planted before soybean on most farms in the area. The other rea- son involves the rush to get corn planted before May 10, when op- timum potential yield for corn be- gins to decrease. Soybeans, be- ing more dependent on day length than growing degree days, have more wiggle room. Of late, the ar- gument has also arisen that early corn planting gives greater poten- tial for avoiding heat stress dur- ing the critical pollination time for that crop, which usually seems to correspond to Gibson County Fair week, in my limited experi- ence. With the Gibson County Fair running from July 9 to July 15 this year, we may be able to get some corn pollinating in prior to fair. Soybean pollination is a rath- er longer period of time, which alleviates much of the worry for that crop. Day length also plays a big role in triggering soybean flowering, which explains why I routinely had soybeans flower at the three leaf stage ( V3) in Janu- ary at the greenhouse in West La- fayette during grad school. Moseying back toward freeze and frost, comparisons of the last 30 years to the entire length of the record at the Princeton sta- tion yields interesting results. In- cluding all dates back to 1893 in- corporates quite a few more later freeze years than earlier freeze years. Looking at those 32 and 36 degree temperature occurrences, including the entire record alters the probabilities by 5 -7 days later in the season. The date where a 10 percent chance of a 32 degree low exists advances to April 27, while the 10 percent chance of 36 degree extends out to the 11th of May. Add in changes in first freeze dates in the fall, and our growing season has a 90 per cent chance of being greater than 187 days from 32 degrees in spring to 32 degrees in fall when look- ing at the last 30 years. Looking at the entire temperature record, that 90 percent chance falls to 171 days. In short, our growing season is getting longer. Since both records of this meteorolog- ical variable are being measured in greater than 30 year periods, this also meets the definition of climate change. For more information on corn planting dates, the article "The Planting Date Conundrum for Corn" by Purdue specialist Bob Nielsen supplies a lot of re- search-based information. For more information on freezes and frosts, contact Hans Schmitz at the Purdue Extension office via hschmitz@purdue.edu or 812- 385 -3491. Figure 2: Freeze probabilities from 1893-2017. Photo and data courtesy Midwest Regional Climate Center. Figure 1: Freeze probabilities from 1988-2017. Photo and data courtesy Midwest Regional Climate Center. Adam Scales (812) 354-8488 adam.scales@infarmbureau.com e Pike County Health Department will be closed May 1-5 while the office is moving to their new location. e Health Department will reopen on Monday, May 8 and will be located in the Old Petersburg Gym (former School Corporation Offices) at 907 E. Walnut Street, Petersburg. MOVING Health Department Pike County HALF PRICE ONE YEAR WARRANTY ON FRAMES AND LENSES! Purchase a complete set of glasses, and get the second pair Corner of 6th and Main, Petersburg 812-354-3331 We accept most insurances! DR. RAMSEY'S VISION CENTER Evening and Saturday Appointments available. and Children's Frames 2501 Newton St (HWY 231 N) Jasper, IN 47546 www.obcycle.com 866-yamaha-6 Obermeyer H O N D A - YA M A H A - S U Z U K I 2501 Newton St (HWY 231 N) Jasper, IN 47546 www.obcycle.com 866-yamaha-6 Great SelectiOn! Great SelectiOn!