Upcoming Artist’s Spotlight: Chad Burnham
Chad Burnham will be demonstrating his process on using pan pastels as he recreates his wonderful wildlife and spectacular sci-fi art pieces on Thursday, October 13 from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
This event is free to attend. Refreshments will be provided. Invite your family and friends!
Chad is an artist based out of Michigan. He has a passion for art and has years of experience in creating custom pet portraits. Wildlife & pets are his main focus but he has begun to expand into more custom portraits and subjects.
Remember When – Kiwanis Club makes gift to new RAVE program in 2010
Kiwanis awarded Director Rhoda Hacker a grant for $500.00. Presenting the award were Kiwanis Community co-chairs Joyce Crosby, left, and Brenda Terpening, right.
The title of “Hero” was conferred on the St. Johns Kiwanis club for its hero level support of a new RAVE program entitled “Weaving the Vision.” The program, as explained by RAVE Director Rhoda Hacker, is a community awareness plan to bring visibility to the varied programs of assistance RAVE provides.
RAVE, which is an acronym for Relief After Violent Encounter, offers diverse forms of support to women. The new effort is to broaden public attention to the availability of relief and how the community can lend support to the general program.
Kiwanis’ honorary title of Hero was earned through a grant of $500.00 to RAVE and along with the club’s recognition, treasurer Jim Gunther received a special reward. RAVE will be hosting a “Weaving the Vision” dinner April 17 at the Wrought Iron Grill. Ms Hacker presented Kiwanis with two tickets to that event and Gunther was the winner of a drawing held among Kiwanis members.
The gift to RAVE is but another example of where proceeds from numerous Kiwanis civic projects are directed.
Letters – Reader looks at old home town
Not sure if my story is worth sharing but I’d like to voice my thoughts on a recent interaction with my home town it’s people and how saddened I am by it.
I’ve been gone from my home town of St. Johns now over 20 years. I remember a thriving downtown where my friends and I could go to the movies get our candy from the drug store and hang out on Main Street on the warm summer nights. See people running their hot rods back and forth around town and the never ending “up north” traffic every weekend!
The town … MY town was on the rise. Everywhere you looked and everyone you knew seemed to be heading in one direction. Up!
I remember me and my mischievous friends doing all we could to slow down the progress on the bypass when it came through . And my wife and I was there the day that seemly small excavator rolled up to the old courthouse. I remember joking saying now what’s that small thing going to do to that building. But I was quickly in aw when it started swiping its arm back and forth doing a incredible amount of damage with each swipe.
Soon after that my wife and I left the state. Right around the time the new courthouse was built. I remember thinking good lord! Well if that doesn’t dwarf the entire town! I remember leaving telling myself well with so much on the rise I guess that’s what their gonna need.
For the next 20 plus years I moved all around the country. Suffering wins and losses but seeing and experiencing all that this life had to offer me. But then one day I started talking to a girl from my hometown . Her and I seemed to be a perfect match in every way . We dated long distance for nearly a year. Every weekend me back home and her down here in Virginia . Till one time she flew down here, got off the plane and whispered in my ear that she had decided she wanted my name, my kids and a life with me.
That was it for me. I had a well established business down here in Virginia but the idea of having not only a woman that loved me but having that and all my family back in my daily life. I started packing immediately. It took 5 absolutely exhausting trips back up to Michigan to get it all moved. The entire ordeal almost ended me.
But I’m back in my hometown. Back where people are normal. Back where a hand shake and a man’s word meant more then any piece of paper ever would. I had my lady, my family and landed my absolute dream job within my first week of being back! I remember thinking YES!! I’m home.
The first week was absolutely a dream. Unfortunately all dreams come to a end, and the second week I was about to be taught what my hometown has turned into. Truth is I was lured back home by a woman who never had any intentions on starting a life with me. She has made a life of luring men into her life just to manipulate the court to do her dirty work.
I had been back home 2 weeks and had been kicked out and my replacement moved in already. Then I quickly found myself in all kinds of trouble and that’s when I noticed the saddest thing about my home town that I could have ever imagined. As I’m sitting in court I’m watching a mile long of people – farmers, teachers, people from all walks of life standing in line to pay their fines to the court. I had been gone over 20 years and didn’t notice it at first. But my home town of St. Johns seems to be frozen in time now between the bypass and the court system sucking every dollar it possibly can from all the residents.
While the entire world out there is full of people being able to live their lives and endless development. The town of St. Johns has literally not changed a bit. And when I talk to all the people that have been there every day since I left, they don’t seem to notice how much that courthouse and that Walmart has killed the spirit of my hometown. It’s on all of the residents faces to it used to be a fun town where everybody had endless amount of potential and now when you look around the grim look on everyone’s faces a sad reality of what those couple things that I mention have done to the spirit of the people of Saint Johns. It’s something only a person that was raised there and left for 20 plus years can see.
Nobody cruises Main Street anymore because it’s illegal. Downtown feels more like a twilight zone episode. And the people running around look tired .. and ready for the day to be over so they can crawl back home and hope they don’t get ticketed along the way!
Todd Desper
Maralyn’s Pet Corner – Do Dogs Have Taste Buds?
Our canine companions use their sense of taste in combination with their other senses to explore the world around them. Sometimes it seems like dogs will eat anything, from garbage and fecal matter to undigestible items like toys and fabric. And other times dogs may be very picky about their food.
So how do they determine what tastes good to them? Do dogs have taste buds like we do? Why do dogs want to eat things that we would never eat?
Do Dogs Have Taste Buds?
Yes, dogs have taste buds that give them the ability to taste things. Taste buds are found on papillae—small, visible bumps on the tongue. Dogs have about 1700 taste buds, while human mouths have approximately 9000.
Puppies develop their ability to taste after a few weeks of life. This is one of the earlier senses that develops, even before hearing and vision. As dogs mature in age, their number of taste buds decreases, along with a decreased sense of smell, which may play a role in picky eating or decreased appetite.
Each taste bud has an ability to sense all tastes if the flavor is strong enough. Taste buds in different areas on the tongue are slightly more sensitive to certain flavors in comparison to others. Bitter and sour taste buds are located toward the back of the tongue. Salty and sweet taste buds are found toward the front of the tongue.
Dogs have specific taste receptors that are fine-tuned to meats, fats, and meat-related chemicals due to their ancestral diet being primarily comprised of meat. The reduced number of taste buds in dogs as compared to humans may explain their decreased ability to distinguish between subtle flavors, like the differences between types of meat (chicken, pork, or beef) or different berries (strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries).
Dogs also have taste buds that are fine-tuned to water. This ability is also seen in cats and other carnivores, but not in humans. Special taste buds on the tip of a dog’s tongue react to water as they drink and become more sensitive when thirsty or after eating a meal, which encourages them to drink more water.
Dogs’ Taste Buds vs. Their Sense of Smell
Taste is directly linked to smell, and an item’s scent can enhance its taste. The smell of a food item plays a much larger role in how dogs experience the flavor of their food.
Dogs also have a special scent organ along their palate that helps them “taste” through smell. When a dog smells something, they capture molecules that tell them how a food will taste. Dogs can taste without smelling, but not as well as people, due to fewer taste buds. However, their sense of smell is much more defined. They intuitively know when food isn’t safe for consumption by combining their senses of smell and taste.
Can Dogs Taste Spicy, Sweet, Sour, and Salty Food?
Dogs have receptors for the same taste types as humans, including spicy, sweet, sour, bitter, and salty foods. However, dogs never developed the highly tuned salt receptors that humans have. This is a result of their heavily meat-based ancestral diet being naturally high in salt. This meant they did not need to seek additional salt sources in their diet and have less of an affinity for salty foods.
Sweet flavors are especially preferred by dogs, which likely stems from their ancestral diet including wild fruits and vegetables. However, this does not mean that they should overindulge in pet-safe fruits and veggies. Too much sugar is detrimental for dogs, so sweet produce should be offered in moderation. Dogs should not have other sugary human foods.
What Tastes Bad to Dogs?
Dogs generally avoid salty, spicy, sour, or bitter tastes. Many of these may be unsafe to eat. The presence of toxins or spoilage from bacterial contamination will cause food to taste bad to dogs.
This is why many chew-deterrent sprays for dogs include bitter ingredients. Dogs may also reject many medications due to their bitter tastes.
The burning heat from spicy foods is caused by a compound called capsaicin and can cause physical reactions in dogs despite an inability to detect much of the flavor.