From Farm to You Week!

How are we halfway through April?! This month is flying by! I’ve been watching more sportsball than normal this month, and the weather is being really crazy. In other words, April in Kansas.

One fun thing that happens this time of year is my office’s From Farm to You program. Minus a few COVID years, I have enjoyed seeing second graders come in every year and learn about agriculture since 2010. With the help of a lot of awesome volunteers, we set up 10 learning stations where the kids learn about crops, livestock, soil, and weather. New this year, we had a milking demonstration where most of the kids saw a cow milked for the very first time!

Helping kids make this connection is one of my favorite parts of my job. The fact that my entire office helps pull this off is another favorite part. It’s a long day, but it’s worth it. And I got 12,000 steps this year!

Another fun thing this week is that I got one step closer to creating multiple “cozy” spots in our house. When we moved in, we set up a nice space on the enclosed porch, it’s great on a breezy day. This year, I created a cozy spot on the front porch too. I found some awesome rocking chairs at the store, but they only had them in white. Luckily, they come in a ton of colors, so I ordered this awesome shade of blue and got a little gray table to go with them. It’s the perfect shady spot to read after work. I finished a book out there this week and love how it all turned out!

Most of the 50 pictures I took at FFY were of this precious baby!

Cutie! 

First of three groups getting ready to see the milking demonstration

Tippy was such a good girl!

Ready for front porch rocking!

Including this picture to document how tall Daryl is getting!

Checking Another State off of the List

 Work took me to my 38th state on my quest to visit all 50. I attended the Extension Leadership Conference in Savannah, Georgia. It is a quick conference, only two days long but it had some great sessions. It was a little chilly in Georgia, but nothing compared to the negative temperatures this week in Kansas! 

Conference days were 7:30am to 5:15pm so there was not a lot of sightseeing going on. I did make it out after lunch one day and walked to Forsyth Park. It was very close to our conference and had a beautiful fountain, gardens and Spanish moss-covered trees. After that I felt like I saw something unique to Savannah. 

Jeff came along to handle the Uber responsibilities; he received five stars! The company with the other Kansas Agents was also top notch. You were lovely Georgia, maybe next time I come back it will be warmer.

Big move coming up for the Bergles family. Stay tuned! 

Book store cat, just for him I bought a couple of souvenirs here!

Leaving this picture in to remind myself we almost didn't get there. 
Flight was delayed in KC for over an hour then we had to run 
through the Chicago airport to make our connection. We did it, coming back home was 
smooth sailing! 

Basketball!

 This week started the Junior High basketball season for Daryl. He had his first game Monday and unfortunately I had to miss it. I did get to his game yesterday and saw him make a 3-point shot! Yay Daryl! he also made another basket so he ended the game with 5 points. He played a minute or so of varsity and played almost the entire JV game. The JV team lost by 4 points but it was a fun game to watch with the lead going back and forth. 

I hope he has a great season! It is only six weeks long and I think I only have to miss one other game for work. 

Usually I'm disappointed when I have to miss kids stuff for work. However, Monday was a pretty special day as the Director of Extension and the President of K-State spent the entire day in Topeka on a community visit. I got to facilitate a panel at the Greater Topeka Partnership and host them both at the office for our Joint PDC meeting. It was a long and very fulfilling day sharing what our office does with the community! 

So much improvement from last year!

If education doesn't work out for us, we will 
still have hosting/comedy to fall back on! 

Final NELD Session- Washington DC

I got home Friday from my Extension Leadership conference that involved many central states. I still struggle to find the words to wrap up my experience. It was way more than I expected and the colleagues I met from across extension were outstanding. The other members of my NELD co-hort will be a valuable resource to me as I try to do the very best I can for Shawnee County and Kansas. I hope I can be the same help to them. And if board games are being played in this group, count me in! I haven't laughed that much in years! 

Does research change, yes. Does science change, yes. Will our work be constantly changing so we can inform our communities with the best information, yes. This is great news and exhausting all at the same time. 

The backdrop of Washington DC to discovering leadership all around us was perfect. Most leaders are not in front of the microphones, and I ascribe to the KLC motto, "Anyone can lead, anytime, and anywhere." 

Now the bigger challenge, taking the time to incorporate what I have learned into my position. I have a self addressed letter coming to me in one year to see how I'm doing, I won't let future me down by not doing the work now. 

This last week was hard because for the first time in three sessions I was missing stuff at home. Daryl had a doctor appointment with an allergist. Many thanks to his dad for the detailed notes on that. Alex got his school trumpet. He did blow into it for me when I got home. And Daryl had his 2nd 8th grade football game. Most thanks to Alex who stopped playing under the bleachers and went to tell me the score when I called him. Alex also asked and found out if they were home or away so the score would mean something to me. They won! 

The MVP of the week was Grandma Rosie, who stood in for me and mostly cooked the food I bought and didn't take them out to eat every night for a week! Love you Mom! 

OMG they let the KSU folks graduate!

Did the first lady wave at us while we were waiting for our dinner reservation?
Yes, she did!!! 

Am I an extension geek and took a picture of the arch as well, yes I am. 

Look at Jessica and I riding the metro like big kids!

Did I cry at the Holocaust museum, yes. Did I 
cry at the African American History and Culture museum, yes.
Do I think these two museums are must sees for every human, yes!

Work Trip, What's That?

 For the first time since 2016 I had an out of state work conference. This was also the first time I've flown since our  2019 family trip to Yellowstone and Grand Tetons! First thing I forgot was to check my e-mail before leaving the house. 

I decided to opt for the smaller Manhattan Airport over Kansas City. I don't regret that, however my flight was delayed by hours, this was sent to me by e-mail at 2:30am. So I arrived for my 6am takeoff  at 5am only to realize my new flight time was 10am. Boooo!

Thankfully, the leadership training I attended was excellent! My co-hort is awesome and I'm making so many new friends. And I speak from experience, Extension friends are some of the best. 

The training was intense, I only left the hotel twice once I got there. And both times it was classmates that got me out, and I am forever thankful. Lisa took me for a nice walk to the bean that was only a mile away, and Byron talked me into a traditional Chicago lunch. He had the hot dog and I opted for the beef and peppers sandwich. 

So much fun and I can't wait to see them all again in June in Kansas City. Our last session will be in Washington DC and I'm looking forward to that too. Yay NELD 2022! We are figuring some stuff out! 

PS-The Kansas delegation is the cutest, we didn't take a vote, because we knew we didn't have to ;-) 

Aren't we so cute?!

Today was so nice, let Spring Break begin! 

Us in the Bean! 

I can wait five hours....I brought a book....