A wildfire preparedness meeting is planned for Monday, Jan. 31, at the Hemphill County Exhibition Center in Canadian. This multicounty sponsored AgriLife Extension event includes Hemphill, Ochiltree, Lipscomb, Roberts, and Wheeler counties. Its purpose is to assist with educational information preparation for stakeholders in the event of a wildfire situation, similar to the one in March of 2017. Registration begins at 9 am, to be followed by a 9:30 am presentation on “Wildfire Preparedness: What Can I Do?” by Brandon Boughen, AgriLife disaster assessment and recovery coordinator. At 10:45 am, Tim Steffens, AgriLife rangeland resource specialist, will talk about preparing a “Wildfire Ready Checklist,” and after lunch, author John Erickson will lead a rancher panel discussion at 1 pm. Canadian VFD Fire Chief Scott Brewster will follow with a panel discussion by fire department chiefs at 2:15 pm, and the meeting will adjourn at 3 pm. This event will be a face-to-face meeting in the Sand Sage Room of the Hemphill County Exhibition Center, located at 10965 Exhibition Center Lane in Canadian, with lunch sponsored by North Plains Electric Cooperative and catered by Alexander’s. Additional sponsorship has been provided by Silveus Financial. A Teams link will be provided to members of the public who wish to join the online meeting for a cost of $10/person. Registration is required for both the live and online events by calling the Hemphill County AgriLife Extension office at 806.323.9114.

Hemphill County AgriLife Extension Agent Andy Holloway was honored last Friday, Jan. 14, with the Texas A&M Vice Chancellor’s Award in Excellence, in a presentation made at the TAMU AgriLife Center in College Station.

To celebrate their 50th anniversary, Fred and Sheila Pankratz had planned on going to Canada to the Calgary Stampede, but because of COVID travel restrictions, their plans were canceled. They were determined to do something special to celebrate this momentous occasion, and scrambled to find a substitute. They were able to get the last two seats on a bus tour to Savannah, Georgia, and the surrounding area.

Small towns have their own unwritten rules known only to the natives. New people who move in can wear out their welcome by crossing the invisible lines of the small-town social code.