Welcome to a potpourri of fun! On this page you’ll find the latest comics by Jari Thymian, a motivational quote, a crossword puzzle contest, and whatever else we decide to throw in here. Be sure to check back for the latest!
- Crossword Puzzle
- Earth Corner – With Pat Walsh
- Every Day Should be Earth Day – Editorial by Laura Brewer
- Madi’s Kitchen
- Mixed Bag – Comics by Jari
- Fun with Vixie
- Quotes & Riddles
Quotes & Riddles
Crossword Puzzle
Classic Cars
Raton loves its classic cars and there are a lot of cool ones cruising our town! This crossword includes some of the more notable classics dating back to the 1930s!
Prior week’s completed crossword puzzle
Mixed Bag – This week’s Comic by Jari
To see all of the previous comics by Jari visit the Mixed Bag – Comics by Jari page.
May 5, 2024 – Until the Cows Come Home
Earth Corner – With Pat Walsh
Where are the Bees?
Posted May 5, 2024
When she talks about her apple tree loaded with fragrant blossoms this spring, master gardener Joelyn Pafford looks sad. Pafford, a retired Raton school teacher, keeps asking herself this question: where are the bees?
Indeed.
When I checked out our backyard plum tree, I found pretty pink blooms posing for their pollinating partners, like invitations to a party. The flowers were vacant.
Unless bees, wasps and other insects start showing up, my friend Joelyn may have no apples, and I may have no plums. Fruit tree flowers offer nectar to insects in exchange for the critters moving pollen from the male flower parts to the female.
Aside from possibly no fruit, I just miss these tiny creatures. Years ago, I stood mesmerized under my singing Granny Smith apple tree in Longmont, Colorado. The tree “sang” to me via a choir of hundreds (thousands?) of honey bees foraging and buzzing in the flowers.
Honey bees are non-native insects brought to North America by settlers eager to harvest honey and wax. We have beekeepers in the Raton area. There are also nearly 4,000 different native bees, including bumble bees, who handled pollinator chores long before the honey bees arrived.
Neither Joelyn nor I are seeing bees of either variety.
More and more people are aware of the critical role played by pollinators, which help produce much of our food. Meanwhile, scientists report that insect populations are shrinking worldwide—what some call the Insect Apocalypse.
“… insect surveys suggest that 40 percent or more of insect species may be under threat of extinction … due to habitat loss, increased use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and the changing climate,” writes entomologist Jason Cryan, head of the Utah Natural History Museum.
In the 1950s and 1960s, I sat in the backseat of our black Chevy as my Army officer father drove Mom and I to his next assignment. Like others of my generation, I remember bug-splattered windshields that required frequent cleaning stops. On my road trips now, the bug-windshield encounters are much fewer.
Also, missing insects are bad news for birds. Parent birds need to catch thousands of insects to feed their baby birds in the spring. Audubon cites reports that estimate it takes between 6,000 to 9,000 insect caterpillars to raise a brood of five chickadees.
I don’t know what’s happening locally. Are Raton-area beekeepers seeing a die-off? Did warmer weather cause trees to flower before native bugs could hatch out? Have drier conditions made it harder for insects to reproduce?
Meanwhile, here are a few suggestions. We can:
- plant drought-tolerant native plants that support native bees
- call Raton city hall and “opt out” of pesticide spraying to mitigate mosquitoes
- put out simple habitats for native, non-stinging bees like mason bees (i.e. open-ended tin cans with sticks—see patterns online)
While some of us dislike bugs, the truth is that if insects disappeared tomorrow, our lives would be hugely impacted. They are the bees’ knees!
Madi’s Kitchen
Madi’s Kitchen is a delightful addition to our Potpourri page. Each week our young chef will provide a recipe that she has developed that has been tested on her friends and family. Read Madi’s Bio on the About Us page.
April 28, 2024 – Chinese Fried Rice
- 2 cups cooked rice, cooled/refrigerated
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 oz fresh shrimp, peeled
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 1/2 cup sausage
- 1/4 cup frozen peas
- salt to taste
- sugar to taste
- shaoxing wine or white wine vinegar
- oyster sauce
- 1 green onion
- pinch pepper
Step one: In a pan, cook the meat and onions, and any other veggies, except peas.
Set aside in a bowl.
Step two: In the same pan, pour olive oil in and turn to medium heat, add rice and cook for about minute while stirring, crack the egg in, and add the cooked veggies, meat and peas.
Step three: When all that is cooked through nice together, turn off heat and add your seasonings.
Enjoy this best really hot (in temperature) I think.
There is an online cooking program known as Cultured Kids Cusine, a nonprofit who’s mission is to teach kids about cultures all over the world by exploring their food. I love their free classes! One of my favorite recipes that I have learned from them is fried rice.
Not only is it absolutely delicious, it’s simple too. And fried rice is perfect anytime of year, but it’s best with fresh veggies, like green onions, scallions, peas etc. The veggies may be best fresh, but I have a trick question for you!
What type of rice do you think is best for fried rice?
- A. Freshly made rice
- B. Rice that’s been sitting in the fridge overnight
- C. Raw rice
Believe it or not, leftover rice is the best rice for the job! Leftover rice that has sat overnight has dried out some and has less moisture. That means it soaks up the seasonings without getting soggy! Fresh rice just doesn’t work the same; it works, but it’s not as good. And raw rice? That was just a joke–I really wouldn’t suggest it.
Fried rice is a good food for beginner cooks because one, it’s easy and two. It’s very flexible. You can add basically any veggie and meats you want into it. Feel free to mix up the vegetables and proteins–spring garlic instead of green onion, tofu instead of sausage or shrimp, or throw in some bell pepper or carrots!
No matter how good you are–or are not!–at cooking, you can probably make fried rice. It’s simple and delicious.
Fun with Vixie
Published April 14, 2024
My Experiences with Film Prize Jr.
By Vixie Zorra
Last 4th of July, I learned about El Raton Media Works’ Film Prize Jr., which is an annual competition where kids in middle and high school across the state write, storyboard, and direct their own films. On April 5, 6, and 7, there was be a Red Carpet in Albuquerque where all of the students’ films was be showcased and shown live on YouTube. There were a variety of film mediums, including live-action, stop-motion, and animation. The films are usually about 5-10 minutes with a full character and story arc.
Wanting to become a filmmaker someday, I was ecstatic to join what was, I thought, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It took some trial and error before I decided what film I wanted to make. It switched between doing a film about a girl going through domestic abuse to a futuristic, cyberpunk film before settling on a storyline I loved about a boy (who was secretly the Phoenix reincarnated) who was chased out of his Utah home and found by the United States military. Looking back, I am SOOO glad I didn’t go through with it. We were all exhausted when we filmed a much simpler film in one day, that we couldn’t even imagine what War of the Phoenix would’ve been like. That, and the fact that Phoenix was becoming less and less like the storyline that I had loved so much.
Out of the whole thing, I would say that the hardest part for me was the storyboarding. I never realized until I was trying to do it that I couldn’t figure out what I wanted. I feel that I was too indecisive when it came to how I wanted the camera shots, where I wanted the characters to look, and how I could do it well without showing any violence or stunts. Other than that, I had a blast being in front of the camera and filming Doubt Defiers, a simpler film that shows two young girls trying to make their dreams come true despite no one believing in them. I would highly recommend the Film Prize to any young person out there interested in filmmaking.
The Doubt Defiers film was entered into the 2024 NM Film Prize Junior Film Festival held Friday, April 6, 2024. The awards ceremony was held Saturday, April 7, 2024. I’ll provide more information on my experience in future editions of Fun with Vixie!
Photos courtesy Ann Theis, El Raton Media Works
Riddle Answer – A Candle
Completed Scramble from March 24, 2024 And Down the Stretch They Come!
