Ada Hub - Jan 15

JANUARY 2015 Vol. 5 Issue 6

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P.A.W.S. IN ADA

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JANUARY 2015

10

Sunnie Dawn Smith Scott Sullivan Adam Flanagan

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DEPARTMENTS

6 Open Mic Night with Lisa M. Pyre

in shape :: 5

10 P.A.W.S. in Ada

A PUBLICATION OF TWELVE MEDIA GROUP, INC. © COPYRIGHT 2014

recipe :: 4

12 Keeping Plants Safe in Winter

shop ada :: 8

14 Adoption, Teenagers & Success

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recipe INGREDIENTS • 2 Tilapia fillets • 2 tsp. salt • 2 tsp. pepper • 1 tsp. red chile powder • 1 tsp. garlic powder • 1 tsp. cumin • 1 Tbsp. of good olive oil

• 1 avocado • 2 Tbsp. chopped cilantro • 1 small onion–diced finely • ¼ cup of shredded cabbage (Napa Cabbage works great) • 2 limes • 2 tortillas–flour or corn

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees, place the Tilapia fillets on a sheet of aluminum big enough to wrap the fish. Pour 1 tbsp of olive oil over the filets and season with salt, pepper, chile powder, cumin and garlic powder.

Squeeze half a lime over the fillets and wrap them tightly. Place the wrapped fish on a sheet pan and bake in the oven for 7 min or until fish is light and flaky. For the slaw, place the cabbage, onion, chopped cilantro and the juice of one lime in a bowl. Once the fish is done heat your tortilla and begin building your tacos. I start with the fish on the bottom topped with the slaw and slices of avacado finished with a squeeze of lime and chile power.

INSTRUCTIONS

VINCENT WILLIAM // CHEF Oak Hills Country Club

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in shape

Pop Nutrition Quiz!

ANSWERS Star Edwards // Registered Dietitian

5.5-9 OUNCES OF MEAT & BEANS

Most of us don’t get enough at breakfast, and more than plenty at dinner, so concentrate on adding protein to breakfast and cutting back a little at dinner. Try a protein shake, a side of nitrate/nitrite free deli ham, a little peanut butter mixed with protein powder, or a couple of eggs.

ANY DESSERT AND/OR FRIED FOOD

I’m not against sweets or fried food completely, but consuming them every day is probably a little excessive. Calm a sweet tooth with an ounce of dark chocolate. If you usually have fried food every day, your body might not like you for a few days. Wean yourself off and I can promise in a few weeks, you will feel so much better!

0-2 TSP ADDED FAT

Butter, lard, bacon/bacon drippings, shortening, or corn oil. You will get plenty of these fats when you eat out. I encourage you to remove these fats from your home and replace with the fats listed below.

Last month you took our Pop Nutrition Quiz and checked statements that applied to you. Grab the quiz and read the tips below for the boxes you did not check to help you set nutrition goals for 2015 and plan your route to meeting your goals.

4-6 OUNCES OF GRAINS

Spread your grains evenly throughout the day (2 ounces at each meal, for example). If you find you over-indulge in grains, cut back on portion sizes. If you don’t eat enough, be sure to implement a specific pattern that is easy to follow every day. Try to make at least half of your grains whole grains.

AT LEAST 3 CUPS OF DAIRY OR DAIRY ALTERNATIVES

Again, if you find you overindulge, cut back on portion sizes instead of cutting diary from your diet completely and implement a specific pattern if you need to add more. Try low or non-fat options.

AT LEAST 5 CUPS OF FRUITS & VEGGIES

Overall, obtaining enough fruits and veggies is the most challenging for many of us. If you find that you consistently skip out, you are missing valuable nutrients. Find options that are most palatable to you. Do you find yourself liking raw fruits and veggies, blended in a shake, sautéed, or oven roasted? Each week, sketch out your meals and snacks and to prevent waste, only buy fresh fruits and veggies that you plan to use during that time. Frozen is a healthy alternative to fresh.

0-2 TSP ADDED FAT

Pasture-fed butter, olive oil, canola oil, or coconut oil. You do need healthy fat, just not too much. Cooking with these fats actually have health benefits like reduced heart disease.

BEVERAGES WITH ADDED SUGAR I have witnessed heavy soda drinkers drop weight and completely turn their health around by just cutting soda out of their diet. Replace sugar-containing beverages like soda and sweet tea with milk, water, or un-sweet tea.

ALCOHOL: 0-1 DRINKS (WOMEN) / 0-2 DRINKS (MEN)

A little wine has been shown to have health benefits, but too much alcohol from any source can be detrimental to health. Cut back to recommended amounts.

0-400 MG CAFFEINE

Caffeine can have health benefits like improved mental sharpness and sports performance. However, too much caffeine can be unhealthy. Some tolerate caffeine better than others and some individuals should not consume caffeine at all (like pregnant women with a history of miscarriage). Discuss caffeine intake with your health care provider. Cut back if you need to.

Use the information above to set three goals. Remember to make the goals SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant & Timely. For example: “Eat 5 ounces of Fruits & Vegetables every day” is a SMARTer goal than “Eat more fruits and vegetables.” Under each goal, plan how you will reach your goal.

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OPEN MIC NIGHT WITH LISA M. PYRE

When Lisa Ragsdale moved back to Ada, she noticed there was a void that needed to be filled. She had lived in many states, including California, Texas, Maryland, Florida, Kansas, and Virginia. One of the things that she saw there, but was missing in Ada, was a flourishing open mic night for the spoken word. While writers are welcome at the open mic that Aaron Oliver hosts at Vintage 22, it is mainly for musicians. Lisa Ragsdale, under her stage name Lisa M. Pyre, wanted to do the same thing in Ada, but with roles reversed for writers and musicians; everyone is welcome, but it is primarily for writers. This is how our new open mic night came to be.

The first open mic was in August, a few months after Ragsdale’s Conversation Emporium opened in the Ada Mini Mall. It is held in the atrium of the Ada Mini Mall at 119 N. Broadway and is sponsored by Ragsdale’s Conversation Emporium, a store containing unique clothing, books, jewelry, and much more. Open Mic Night with Lisa M. Pyre is always held on the last Monday of the month at 7:00 PM, sign up at 6:45. Lisa wanted to do Monday nights because there usually isn’t much happening on Mondays. She didn’t want to compete with anything else. The first open mic featured a local poet who is well respected outside of Ada as well—Ken Hada.

BY SUNNIE DAWN SMITH

Hada has published five books, was nominated for Oklahoma Poet Laureate, and directs the Scissortail Creative Writing Festival. While the other open mic nights haven’t had a featured poet, Lisa is always looking for someone who would make a good fit within this community of writers.

The community of writers who attend this open mic night are a diverse group, not only in style, but also in subject and purpose. People will read excerpts of their own poetry, short stories, or novels. People will also read things that inspire them.

At the first open mic, there were not only original works, one person read from Paradise Lost, and another read from the Bible. This diversity is a way to open up real discourse and debate within a safe environment. Lisa wants it to be a space where you can express whatever you want to express. She has participated in many open mic nights and the most successful ones opened up new thoughts and ideas—they weren’t all saying the same thing, preaching the same thing, or rallying around the same causes. They provided a space for people to dissent, even with each other.

It is important, especially if you are a writer, to be around other writers. There is a cathartic release in performing for other people, putting your ideas out there. But even if you aren’t a writer, it is still good to be around other writers and hear what they have to say. Surprisingly, they have had more audience than performers at these open mic nights. This isn’t the norm. Usually, everyone at one of these events is just there to be heard. This one is different. People come to listen and think critically about themselves and the world around them.

Open Mic Night with Lisa M. Pyre gives people a chance to be heard and to promote themselves, a belief, an idea, a group, or many other things. It is a place to encourage culture and diversity within a safe space. The important thing is that it exists. If someone else were to set up a similar open mic night, Lisa wouldn’t mind at all. If anything, she would be exited that the spoken word has become such an important part of our community. If you come, you don’t have to read. You can simply listen. If you do decide to read, the limit is ten minutes or three pieces, whichever comes first. The next open mic night will be on January 26 at 7:00 PM, sign up at 6:45. For future open mics you can like Ada Mini Mall or Ragsdale’s Conversation Emporium on Facebook for coming events and you can also message Ragsdale’s Conversation Emporium for questions. Make sure to bring a chair because seating is limited and you can guarantee that there will be a good crowd.

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P.A.W.S. IN ADA

BY SUNNIE DAWN SMITH

10 • www.adahub.com

We’ve all seen dogs and cats walking down the side of the road, lost or abandoned by their owners. Perhaps they are hungry, sick, or in need of love. P.A.W.S. (Pontotoc Animals Welfare Society) is here for the sole purpose of helping these poor animals in need.

Established in 1982 as a private charitable organization, P.A.W.S. serves a necessary purpose in our community: getting these animals off the street, taking care of them, and finding them good, safe, forever homes.

Since P.A.W.S. is a private organization, they work under a contract with the city. The city’s Animal Control Officer will pick these dogs and cats up and bring them to the shelter so they can be taken care of. If they have room, they will take animals from outside of the city limits, but space is limited. Once there, they must be held for five days before they are assessed. The state requires a minimum of 72 hours, but the people at P.A.W.S. feel that more observation time is needed. After the five day waiting period, the animals are assessed for health and temperament. If they are adoptable, they become property of their organization.

In some cases, the animal is too sick to be adopted, but they try their best to make the dog or cat well. For instance, treatment for heartworm is very expensive. However, there are rescue organizations that take dogs in and treat them. If a rescue is not available, then they will try their best to raise the money needed to treat the dog.

One of their dogs, a boy named Mozart, shows the great compassion and care that they put into their charges. He had been caught in a trap around Byng. While this was out of their jurisdiction, they got the sheriff’s office to go get him and bring him in. He was badly wounded and they didn’t have the funds to take care of him. They felt that they owed it to him, though. They took him to the veterinarian and came home with a bill for over $700.

While they didn’t have the money to pay the bill, they did not lose hope. They started a fundraiser on gofundme.com and raised the money overnight. Now the sweet and loving Mozart lives at P.A.W.S. as he waits for the perfect family to give him a forever home when, at one point, he was very close to not even having a life.

Some of the dogs they see have almost starved to death, so they feed them. Some of the dogs have never felt love, so they pet them and treat them with kindness and respect. They teach the

“P.A.W.S. serves a necessary purpose in our community: getting these animals off the street, taking care of them, and finding them good, safe, forever homes.”

dogs things to make them more adoptable and try to find them good homes. They give the dogs peanut butter sandwiches. Their facility holds indoor dog pens, outdoor dog pens, indoor cat pens, outdoor cat pens, and even a “cat room” inside where cats can play, sleep, and bask in the sunshine. They also have a visiting room with toys and treats so prospective owners can play with

the animal they want to adopt.

Adoption is not guaranteed, though. The staff at P.A.W.S. want to make sure that the animals get a home where they will be taken care of and loved. You must fill out an extensive application in order to adopt one of their pets. It is $75 for dogs and $30 for cats. Usually people will look at the animals first and then fill out an application. However, it would actually be better to fill out the application first for two reasons. First, you would know whether or not you are approved for a pet, and, second, they can help you find the pet that best fits your lifestyle.

P.A.W.S. desperately needs to expand, though. They currently have 80 pens and they want to build 40 more and renovate their facility. They do so much for our community, from taking care of abandoned animals to providing low cost spaying and neutering with DHS approval. For everything they do, they need our support. There are many ways that you can help this organization. You can make a tax deductible donation through a check or PayPal on their website. You can donate items as well. Some of the items they need the most are dry cat and kitten food, nonclumping cat litter, paper towels, laundry detergent, dish soap, bleach, heavy duty trash bags, Pine Sol, and disinfecting and deodorizing spray. You can also attend their gala at the Oak Hills Country Club on January 24th. They will have a live band and a silent auction. If you want to donate items or make reservations, contact Nancy Shew at (580) 332-0053. Another fun way to help is by volunteering. These dogs and cats need people to play with them, wash them, and walk them. And don’t forget to check there first if you have lost a pet. You can call them at (580) 332-5233 or visit at 1200 Sandy Creek Drive. You can find P.A.W.S. on PetFinder.com, AdoptAPet.com, their website www.PawsNAda. org, or on Facebook by searching for Paws N Ada. Help make an animal’s day better; help them have a better life.

www.adahub.com • 11

Keeping Your Plants Safe in the Winter

by Sunnie Dawn Smith

Even though the temperatures have been staying relatively nice, we know one thing—winter is coming.

With winter, we have new challenges, especially if you like to plant vegetables, flowers, or trees. Justin McDaniel, the Agricultural Extension Educator at the OSU Extension in Ada, has some good tips for keeping your plants safe during the winter. His jobs lets him use the information from the research at OSU and disseminate it to the public. While he does work with large scale agriculture producers and cattlemen, he also has some good advice for keeping the average person’s lawn and garden in good shape during the coldest part of our year.

According to McDaniel, now is a good time to do soil testing. Most people think that soil tests are just good for big agriculture producers, but they are also very important for home owners. People tend to over-fertilize soil. They get a big bag and use all of it, when they really only need a small amount. Soil tests at the OSU Extension are only ten dollars and then they will know the ph levels of their soil, giving them the tools to make sure they fertilize their soil properly. You should also apply phosphorus and potassium which will help winterize the root system and prevent a lot of nitrogen. This is good because nitrogen can make a lot of top growth which you don’t want during the winter. This is also the 12 • www.adahub.com

time to fertilize trees because you don’t have as much competition from the grass. If you do it when the grass is dormant, you get a lot more fertilizer to the roots.

Tilling is also important in the winter. Every time you think it is about to freeze, till your garden. This will bring the Bermuda grass roots to the surface and kill them. If you have any asparagus, strawberries, or tender bulbs, you need to cover them up with mulch or leaves in order to prevent damage. But if you mulch around trees, make sure you don’t push it up too high because this can promote insects and rodents which could damage your trees. You should also remove tall growth around fence rows, like grass or weeds, to help eliminate the insect population. The more you remove, the fewer insects you will have the next year.

Later in February you can start pruning fruit trees and roses, but January is a good time to start pruning some of the ornamentals, depending on their type.

Check the type of ornamental to see if it should be pruned in January or even later. It a good time to prune things that are dormant this season. This is even the optimal time to prune evergreen trees because they won’t lose as much sap through the wounds. Apply dormant oil to trees to help prevent peach leaf curl and insects.

Some trees with thin bark, like maple and fruit trees, are susceptible to sun scorch; when it is warm during the day and cold at night, it will scorch the bark and do damage. In order to prevent this from happening, you should put something around the tree to insulate it. Also, make sure to water your plants if we aren’t getting any moisture every three weeks to a month. This is especially important for trees and shrubs less than a year old.

In addition to taking care of your plants, you can also take care of somemaintenance that will help make your life easier once spring comes around again. Put a trickle charger on small batteries that are used in lawnmowers and ATVs. The trickle charger will slightly charge the batteries to stop them from going bad. Also, be sure you drain the gas out of them and put some treatment in them. You can also clean, oil, and sharpen your hand tools so they will be ready to use once the time is right.

A lot of times, people don’t think about the damage that winter can do to our plants, but the effects will last well after winter is gone. Some of the lasting damage won’t even show up for a year or two. So this winter, take the time to take care of your plants and when spring comes back you will have a happy healthy garden. For more information, contact Justin McDaniel at the OSU Extension, (580) 332-2153. You can also find their website at http://oces.okstate.edu/pontotoc.

Happy gardening!

BA KED

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Keeping It...

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ADOPTION, TEENAGERS & SUCCESS : THE NEED FOR PERMANENCY FOR OUR STATE’S TEENAGE POPULATION

BY SCO T T SULLIVA N

Currently there are approximately 12,000 children who are in the custody of the Department of Human Services otherwise known as OKDHS. Of these children several hundred of them are children above the age of 12 who are available for adoption. These children face significant challenges in their path to permanency one of the major hurdles is simply their age. With many families stepping up to meet the needs of our state’s children, the number of potential adoptive families who are willing to adopt teenage children are very low in comparison with families who want to adopt younger aged children.

This should be no surprise; teenagers present several challenges to adoptive families often due to their stage of life. Teenagers can be hard to deal with! In the face of this reality there are brave families who having entered in the fray of adopting a teenager and found the rich reward of investing in their young lives.

A few facts about teenagers who age out of the foster care system.

They have a one and four chance of spending at least one night of being homeless within two years of aging out. They have higher rates of incarceration, early and unplanned pregnancy, family violence, substance abuse, and victimization. They also have a higher rate of parents of children who are involved with child services. These facts represent a viscous cycle, but the fact is this cycle can be interrupted when the children find permanency. When permanency is achieved our kids they often feel like they have someone on their side, they experience higher rates of educational, employment, and relational success. Through achieving permanency the cycle of abuse and ne-

glect, which brought them into custody, is interrupted and in most cases broken.

Here is a story of initial stages of hope for one our teenage children; the name has been changed to protect confidentiality however the story is true. Bob was a sixteen-year boy who had been in OKDHS custody for several years. Bob had attended several of the departments matching parties with no success, a matching party is an event where potential adoptive families play and interact with children who are available for adoption. While in attendance of one the matching parties Bob’s adoption worker noticed no one was talking to Bob. She asked one of her families who were also in attendance to visit with Bob so he would not feel left out or discouraged. This particular family had a specifically requested to adopt girls around the age of seven. Bob hit it off with the family they ended up talking for two hours at the adoption event. As a result the family felt like they wanted to spend some more time with Bob, so the worker the arrangements. One month later Bob was placed in the family’s home and six month’s later they finalized their adoption with Bob. Thanks to the attentiveness of an adoption worker and the willingness of an adoptive family to at least have a conversation permanency was achieved for Bob. This is one story out of hundreds where ordinary Oklahomans have accepted the call to bring a teenager into their home and make them a part of their family. The reality is hundreds more are needed. For more information see www.okbridgefamilies.com or call the Bridge Resource Center at 1-800-376-9729.

MEE T BR ANDON Brandon is 17 year old young man who has brown hair and brown eyes. Brandon is 5’7” tall and weighs 121 pounds. Brandon has been described as curious, emotional, kind, and nice.

Brandon has started his sophomore year of high school this fall. Brandon’s favorite hobbies are collecting cars, listening to music, and playing video games. Brandon is a big fan of cars and trucks and enjoys discussing them often. Some of his favorite foods are chicken strips, chimichangas, and cereal.

Brandon is physically healthy child. He does not have any current medical or dental conditions that require follow-up care. He has been diagnosed with mild autism; however, he is highly functional.

Brandon has no adoptive preferences other than to be adopted by a family who will accept him for who he is. Brandon is comfortable with a single parent family, a married/non-married couple and a same sex couple. Brandon is open to any location rural or urban. Brandon has been reported to get along very well with other children in his group home and usually keeps to himself. Brandon needs an understanding family who will provide a structured environment to help him develop his social skills.

14 • www.adahub.com

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