A gripping book that is based on the actual events that unfolded in 1959, in the small town of Holcomb, Kansas.  It is about the murder of the Clutter family, for the small sum of about $50 dollars.  It is excitingly written by Truman Capote as he goes through the events that led up to, through and after the murders.

Obviously Dick Hickock and  Perry Smith could not have understood the implications of the horrible crimes that they committed; not only for themselves, but for the whole of America.  The book delves into the story of the family and Dick and Perry, but it also documents the hysteria, nervousness and worry that the small town residents began to feel after the murders.  Thankfully both of the killers were caught and paid with their lives for the crimes, but America would never be the same.

One of the great works of all time; a definite must read.

I know I mention how lucky I am all the time.  But I truly am.  And how wonderful that the day after Thanksgiving I am blessed with getting to photograph these two adorable little babies.  I & J and their parents came into town from CO and I was able to sneak over and get some time with them before they were baptized the next day.  Just want to say thanks to mom and dad for being so patient with me!!  Also, you both are wonderful parents and J & I are lucky to have both of you!!  Hope to see you again soon!

This past weekend found us traveling south to Kansas to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with my family.  Looking for a way to enjoy the unseasonably warm and sunny weather, we ventured west from the Kansas City area to Manhattan, Kansas.  After driving into the Flint Hills we came upon the Konza Prairie, a preserve of The Nature Conservancy that is managed as a biological station by Kansas State University.  The late fall colors were golden across the 8600 acres of the prairie.    It was a joy to hike through this area surrounded by a sea of grasses blowing in the wind, as they must have done when the early settlers came through this same land hundreds of years ago.

Welcome back!

I hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday festivities as much as I did and got a little break from work and such. My travels consisted of a visit to Kansas to see my family. There was much eating to be had and unfortunately I don’t have a photo of the delicious spiced pumpkin cheesecake with caramel-bourbon sauce that I made. BUT, I do have photos of one of my favorite places to go there, called The Plaza. It’s a great outdoor shopping area and during the holidays it’s all lit up with lights on all of the buildings. I went there in the evening on Thanksgiving Day as the lights were officially turned on:

Fountain @ Cheesecake Factory

Kansas City is known as the “city of fountains” and believe me, there are many.

Fireworks

After the lighting ceremony takes place there is a celebratory fireworks display as well.

Sky On Fire

City Lights

I heard later that a crowd of about 500,000 people attended. Though I’m not so sure that’s accurate, the streets were quite crowded.

Red Light District?

Just kidding. So festive.

Statue and Light

Now that I’m back in NY and the sidewalks are finally lined with pine trees for sale I need to break out my decorations, and I can listen to non-stop Christmas tunes without judgement. Haha.

By the way, all of these photos were taken without flash, and I believe at f2.8. I hadn’t really tried taking any photos late at night in such dark conditions so it was interesting to test it out and see what the outcome would be.

-B

Agriculture advocates are working hard to educate Americans about farms and food. Twitter has the #thankafarmer initiative, with nearly 4,000 tweets using the hashtag so far. Kansas Governor Mark Parkinson declared Nov. 20 “Thank a Farmer” Day. USDA rolled out its “Know Your Farmer, Know your Food” campaign, saying ”Today, there is too much distance between the average American and their farmer.” One advocate, Gene Hall, PR director for the Texas Farm Bureau (@TxAgPRGuy) summed it up in a recent tweet, “With city folks 3 generations from farm, we have a disconnect. That’s why web and soc med are so important.”

As a relative newcomer, farming is a culture to me. Agriculture influences where we live (10 miles from the nearest town), what we eat (homemade wheat bread), what we talk about (fertilizer, planting conditions, yields), the slang we use (cutting wheat, working ground), even when we take vacation (between wheat harvest and wheat planting). Agriculture also provides the wonderful opportunity to integrate work with family. My kids tag along with field work. They spend hours jumping in and out of hay bales and chatting with V. and their Grandpa at the machine shed.

I hope I’m doing my part to spread the word about agriculture. I’m proud to teach wheat science classes for the Extension service. This year, I’ll bring along our own wheat seeds to show the kids. And, I was very pleased when my “tweet cloud“ showed that  “Kansas,” “wheat,” and “thanks” were my top three words.

I pledge to do more, helping connect others to the way of life I love.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, we did! We had our Thanksgiving meal with a few families from church, it was delicious and we had a wonderful time! I took just a few pictures, they follow. Also this was the first time we were in charge of the turkey! Dum-duh-dum-dum-dummmmm! You can read about our first turkey-bake here. But here is a picture of how it came out… nice a brown, it turned out really yummy. I also made pies and rolls. We were also in charge of the gravy, but unfortunately that was not really a success story… let’s not talk about that.

Apple-Raspberry pie. It turned out really good, a little tart. I think I’d put in a little more sugar next time. Recipe here.

Making Gravy.

This is our friend’s little boy. He was in love with my baby belly. He kept rubbing it and telling me there were TWO babies in there! If he’s right that means one less pregnancy for me!

Snowbirds are flocking … and have been for about 2 months now. Oh my, these folks are truly special to me.

Sign welcoming snowbirds (next to the chief of security)

High Plains Camping works diligently to know its customers. We host approximately 10,000 people per year so we can’t possibly remember everything about all of them, but with special care and special tools we try our darnedest!

Snowbirds are the folks who tend to live up north during the summer and live down south for the winter (smart people, eh!). Those who choose to travel by RV tend to stay at the same overnight RV parks each direction every each year.

They differ greatly from the vacationing campers we cater to during the summer. They tend to:

• be empty-nesters (only 1 or 2 people per site), 
• not shop the store (they brought what they need to get them to their destination down south),
• arrive just before dusk and depart about the time the rooster crows (no, we don’t really have a rooster),
• not do laundry (they just left home 1 – 3 days ago),
• not desire amenities (no hot tubs or mini-golf for them).

In other words, they are looking for a safe and quiet place to pull in, hook up (sometimes not even that), eat, and sleep. Nothing more. They also already know about the park itself, needing to know just what’s new since their last visit.

They also differ in that their faces are somewhat familiar. They are about as close to ”regulars” as we get at this overnight facility.

As of Jan. 2009, High Plains Camping uses a front-office computer program (Hercules). It’s now my “memory.” The  registration information was recorded on each snowbird when the Spring flock headed north earlier this year, and they were tagged as VIPs. The Notes section now clues me in to the unique things about them. As Fall unfolded, I began jotting notes to help jar my memory. For example, a record might show:

• the dog’s name,
• that they sent me a Christmas card
• when a spouse passed away, or
• that the guest tends to drive this way only in the Spring (so I can say something thoughtful like, “I hope to see you again next Spring” rather than sounding foolish by suggesting I’ll see them again in a few months).

The regular snowbirds at High Plains Camping  stay here at a special rate. How do we know if they’re snowbirds. It’s part of our customary chit chat we strive to create during the welcoming process. Why else would I record such notes? I want them to feel welcomed and appreciated. Afterall, they are staying at my home. This RV park is my home too, and where they hook up is essentially my yard. If you had guests coming to stay where you live, wouldn’t you like to share some friendly dialog?

If these snowbirds can choose to put us in their plans over and over again, I can choose to let them know they are special!

By Craig Thomas

You already know Missouri beat Kansas yesterday 41-39. Hopefully you got a chance to be there or watch the game on television. Here are some notes from the athletic department and elsewhere:

- Grant Ressel’s memorable field goal was MU’s first last-second field goal while down to win a game since 1972. The Tigers trailed by one until Ressel knocked it through with no time on the clock.

- Danario Alexander is the No. 1 statistical receiver in the country right now. He is averaging 137 yards receiving per game. As Robert points out in his story this morning, Alexander has broken all of Jeremy Maclin’s single-season records from last year.

- The 80 total points were the most scored since KU beat MU 53-29 in November 1991 in Lawrence.

- KU wore helmets with the Jayhawk logo on them for the first time since 1991. Meanwhile, one MU player said he liked the light feel of the Nike Pro Combat uniforms. Players will now keep that equipment for themselves.

- KU fans sound off on Mangino. Of course, Sam talked to fans BEFORE the loss.

- Oklahoma State lost to OU yesterday, which probably didn’t help Missouri’s bowl outlook. The Cowboys will surely not be picked by a BCS bowl and would therefore slip into the regular Big 12 list.

- Props to the KC Star copy editor or whoever gave Mike DeArmond’s game story the title “Ressel Mania”. Good stuff.

This is the fourth year for the calendar, and the 2010 edition features the following Kansas courthouses:  Osborne,  Logan, Cloud, Kingman, Pratt, Edwards, Graham, Sherman, Crawford, Franklin, McPherson and Barber.

To see all the featured courthouses, please click this link:  2010 Calendar.

Calendar dimensions are 11 X 17 (when fully opened).  Full-color photographs are printed on 100# white gloss paper, and the calendar is bound with a white o-type wire binding with a hole punched at the top, ready to hang on your wall!

Popdose Report:

Click here to go to Popdose to check a batch of Kansas, and Kerry Livgren solo projects…Dw. Dunphy does a great job with a musical tribute to the great guitarist/member of Kansas Kerry Livgren who has recently suffered a stroke in September. 

The tunes in the tribute:  Kansas “Dust In The Wind”, “Play The Game”, “Fight Fire With Fire”, “Chasing Shadows”, and “Distant Vision”…AD “Exiles”, “Heartland”, “Life of Crime”, “One More Song”, “Beyond The Pale”…Solo Kerry Livgren “Seeds of Change (with Ronnie James Dio)”…Proto Caw “Leaven”

By Craig Thomas

SCORE: Kansas 21, Missouri 13

Courtesy: The Helmet Project

Kansas is wearing this helmet for the first time since 1991. Anything you can do … mentality?

Kansas’ offense has been unbalanced but successful. QB Todd Reesing has completed 24 of his 32 passes. The Jayhawks have rushed just six times.

Blaine Gabbert has accounted for almost all of Missouri’s ground game. He has nine carries for 92 yards. Derrick Washington has 16 yards on seven carries and Danario Alexander has rushed once.

Gabbert fumbled as he threw for Missouri’s only turnover. Kansas’ Dezmon Briscoe fumbled after a catch leading to a Mizzou touchdown, and Reesing threw an interception.

The states impacted are as follows:  AK, AL, AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, HI, IA, ID, IL, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, MS, MT, NC, ND, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, RI, SD, TX, WI, WV and WY.

To find the rate adjustments, go to our Resource Center (Log in Required):

• Company = AARP
• State = (Pick your State)
• Product = Medicare Supplement
• Resource = Rates

watch Missouri Tigers vs Kansas Jayhawks – NCAA Football online live stream TV sport 11/28, 28 Nov 2009. This Sport Games Starting time will be at 15:30 ET (US) or 21:30 CET (Europe). We will update the link several hours/minutes before the scheduled starting time. The live stream feed provided from free video tv hosting sites like ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. You can watch online Sport Live TV stream channel on November, 28 2009. The sport tv we cover here is NHL, NBA, KHL, NFL, AHL, NCAA, MLB, AHL, MLS, Soccer, EPL, Champion, UEFA, FIFA, U20, U17,  Football, Hockey, Basketball, SERIE A, NASCAR, F1, GP and others. If there is any of free tv hosting that airs these sport tv channel, we will update the link for you. Dont Miss to watch live sport tv between Missouri Tigers vs Kansas Jayhawks – NCAA Football online . Please click on below link to watch, online, free, live, stream, sport, tv, at 11/28 2009, Missouri Tigers vs Kansas Jayhawks – NCAA Football.

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There are thousands collections of Live internet TV hosting sites and video feeds. You can Watch Live streaming TV Stations or channels from many source. But to search and point your intended channels sometimes is very difficult since one site can offer thousand of free TV sport channel in just one day.  So Here, we provide summary of links that will provide free live streaming TV sports. In this site We focus on the  Baseball, Basketball, Hockey, soccer and other more spesific segment. Most watch free TV stations we cover for  Sport here are from, USA & Canada and some other popular sports in Europe and arround the world. Check out our featured free tv sport online live stream today 28 November 2009 (11/28) for Missouri Tigers vs Kansas Jayhawks – NCAA Football.  We will find the links from ustream, justin tv, p2p, sopcast, tvu, tvants, uusee, etc. So don’t need to worry about miss one of our favorite TV sport game match, we can now catch them online, usually just 24 hours later it will be stored in the hosting site, it depends on their policy. You can easily select and click to watch Missouri Tige

• The most famous adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s Oz stories is the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz”, starring Judy Garland.
• The 16 to 17-year-old Garland was playing a 12-year-old Dorothy.
• Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as the Tin Man – however, he had a near-fatal allergic reaction to the aluminium dust used as part of the costume. While he was recovering in hospital, his part was taken by Jack Haley, wearing a costume using aluminium paste rather than dust.
• The ending credits for the film only show the Kansas characters played by each actor, and not the Oz characters – for example, even though Bert Lahr is famous for playing the Cowardly Lion, he is only credited as playing Zeke.

so, coming back to manhap’ (manhattan,ks) is always hit or miss. no matter what, i hate being in manhattan. it’s a very sensory place for me, and i feel too much, i see too many, and i hate too much when being there. it’s like a constant flashback of every place in that town, and what that means, and mostly what i wish it didn’t mean. however, going home can also mean friction between family/seeing people i never want to see.

this time was different. good food (ie, not traditional tgives affairs), good times, good people. if every time i went home was like this time, things would be okay (though i doubt i’d go home any more frequently). back to school time on monday. i could not will this semester to end any sooner.

 I went to a meeting this past Monday, a meeting of volunteers who are all animal lovers. This group needs help, and lot’s of it!

 The group had only seventeed people there, and two of them were from the news media. Colleen Surridge from the Parsons Sun and Annette Tucker from KLKC. As such, you may have already read or heard what is going on to this point.

 I went to try to help anyway I can. Since I’m a poor man, I can’t give them what they need most right now. They (we) need about another $400 in the next week. We already have $800 plus in donations, but another $400 should cover all the fees needed to establish a non-profit group.

 Once we get a non-profit group, it will be called PALS, an acronym for Proud Animal Lovers Shelter.

If you cannot give right away, there will be another chance during the upcoming Parsons Christmas Parade. There will be a flat-bed float with shelter animals on it and also a couple of volunteers “working the crowd” with donation buckets. PLEASE HELP!

 If you wish to donate by mail, you can send money to The Parsons Area Community Foundation, P.O. Box 894 Parsons Kansas 67357. Your donations must be accompanied by a note stating that you intend the funds to be used for the animal shelter.

 Anyone concerned about the future of our only shelter in the area, you can attend the next meeting. Monday evening at the Parsons Public Library, 5:30 pm in the north meeting room.

By Craig Thomas

It’s the question Tiger fans are probably the most curious about right now (except maybe “what the heck is wrong with KU?”). In any case, details on Mizzou’s postseason play will be determined by what happens in the next two weeks.

It can only help to beat Kansas tomorrow, and it would probably help if a second Big 12 team, after the league champion, were picked for a BCS bowl game. (We’re looking at you, Oklahoma State.)

Sam’s been on the phone with representatives from a variety of bowl games, and has some notes and quotes from those who will choose a Big 12 team:

It appears here in the Columbia Missourian.

Masquerading as a man with a reason
My charade is the event of the season
And if I claim to be a wise man, well
It surely means that I don’t know…