living

So many more people seem to be interested in learning about cottage foods and how to be a part of making and selling their own products under the Cottage Foods Act. If you are one of the people reading this article still asking yourself what a cottage food is, let me help you define that. A "Cottage Food Operation" is a business operated by a person who produces or packages non-potentially hazardous food in a kitchen located in the person's primary domestic residence or another appropriately equipped residential or commercial-style kitchen on that property.

A meeting of the Lower Arkansas Valley Area Agency on Aging Advisory Council will be held on Tuesday, July 17, Technical Review Committee 10:00 a.m., at the La Junta Senior Center, 102 East 2nd, La Junta CO.

Agenda items will include LAVAAA Provider Budget Update, Older Americans Act Reauthorization Update, and State Unit on Aging and Colorado Association of Area Agencies on Aging. Also, update on 42nd Annual Age Well Eastern Colorado Conference.

The meeting is open to the public, and citizen participation is encouraged.

Powerful Tools for Caregivers is an educational series designed to provide you with the tools you need to take care of yourself. 

This program helps family caregivers reduce stress, improve self-confidence, communicate feelings better, balance their lives, increase their ability to make tough decisions and locate helpful resources. 

Starting Monday, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), Colorado State Patrol (CSP) and local law enforcement agencies across the state will conduct a seven-day high-visibility Click It or Ticketenforcement period targeting rural areas of Colorado. These areas tend to have the lowest seat belt use rates in the state. Currently, Colorado's statewide seat belt use rate is 84 percent, ranking Colorado in the bottom third in the nation.

Extension Agent Laura Krause of CSU Extension-Pueblo County will hold a hands-on food preservation workshop on Jams and Jellies, Thursday, August 2, 2018

1:00 pm to 4:00 p.m. or 6:00 pm to 9:00 p.m. Learn the role of pectin in gelling and get hints and tips to get the right consistency. Receive recipes for canned jams and jellies as well as freezer/refrigerator jellies.  Registration is required by July 26. Space is limited, and a $10 fee will be charged.

Now is the time to prepare for the high temperatures that kill hundreds of people every year. Extreme heat causes more than 600 deaths each year. Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable, yet many people still die from extreme heat every year.

Take measures to stay cool, remain hydrated, and keep informed. Getting too hot can make you sick. You can become ill from the heat if your body can't compensate for it and properly cool you off. The main things affecting your body's ability to cool itself during extremely hot weather are:

Dear EarthTalk: As a member of Joe Public, is it possible to monitor pesticide levels when my neighboring farmer sprays his fields? I have wild bees and am concerned that they are being affected. -- Mickey Proctor, Ames, IA

Morten Wendelbo, Texas A&M University

During the 2017 disaster season, three severe hurricanes devastated large parts of the U.S.

The quick succession of major disasters made it obvious that such large-scale emergencies can be a strain, even in one of the world's richest countries.

We all watched as the flag came by. It was the first thing in the parade, of course. Great big one, carried by two of the kids from the ROTC at the high school. The bands followed, along with the mounted patrol, the ski patrol in their summer-weight jackets, the float with the princesses on it, and the local kids leading dogs and cats - some rather reluctantly - on leashes.