Bison Bison…Buffalo’s Real Name 

•June 5, 2024•

by Janet Roney

As my grandmother unfolded the dark hairy blanket trimmed in red and black she had pulled down from the shelf in her cedar closet, bits and tufts of loose hair swirled in the sunlight coming through her window.  

“Take a good look at it,” she said. “Someday soon, robes like this may be all that’s left of buffalo. Your great uncle Clem sent me this from Oklahoma Territory back in the 1890s.”    

I don’t know what happened to that old buffalo robe, but we all do know what happened to the vast herds of American bison, a.k.a. buffalo, out west. Their slaughter and near extermination from the Great Plains west of the Mississippi is a sad chapter in American history.   Read More

•June 5, 2024•

The Village of Lovington will hold their JuneFest event on June 8 at Thomas L. Conn Park from 4-7 p.m. Free kids entertainment will be provided including a bounce house, face painting, obstacle house, dry slide, rock wall, extreme air and nichols power wheel derby and races. The Lovington Community Club will hold its annual Fish Fry starting at 4:30 p.m. in the pavillion. Cost is $10 for adults, $4 children five and up, $2 children four and under. As always, Veterans eat free. From 6 to 9 p.m. there will also be several food trucks on the grounds of the Lovington Grade School, a DJ and at dusk fireworks will take place.

•June 5, 2024•

By Cheri Burcham

Family Life Educator

I do not enjoy cooking. I CAN cook – I just don’t like to. So, my husband and I have been fortunate to be able to eat out at restaurants quite often – when he also chose not to cook. When we had our son, I tried to cook more at home, but we slipped back into that same routine of going out to eat several days of the week – and our son was right there with us. I felt like it was good for him socially but would give him the opportunity to try a variety of foods, and to this day, there is not too many things he won’t eat! But it can be a challenge at times to take young children outside of the home for meals. The Illinois Early Learning Project (IELP) has a tip sheet on this very topic that I would like to share with you.  According to IELP, young children eat some meals outside of their home, including locations like: other homes, schools, parks, food courts, cafeterias, hotels, and restaurants. Supporting young children as they learn to enjoy meals in new places takes some effort, but the outcome is rewarding.   Read More

•June 5, 2024•

Ignoring a chronic condition will not make it go away, and suffering is simply a poor management technique. So, if you live with a long-term health condition, why not learn how to more effectively manage it and live an active and fulfilling life? Believe it or not, although the specifics of managing each condition vary, the skills for managing most chronic conditions are actually quite similar. Take Charge of Your Health is a program designed to help you become a better health manager. Cheri Burcham of University of Illinois Extension and Kara Brown of Community Care Systems have teamed up to provide this program weekly on Wednesday afternoons starting July 3 and ending August 14 (skipping August 7), from 1:30 – 4:00 p.m.  Read More