February: Time to Think About Your Heart By Johanna Hicks
February: Time to Think about Your Heart
Throughout the month of February, we are swarmed with decorations and candy that remind us of Cupid, love, and February 14th. While the hearts that cover Valentine’s Day merchandise are meant to represent love, they should also serve as a simple reminder for us to take care of our hearts. The next time you see one of these hearts, think about your own heart, and ask yourself if you are living a heart-healthy lifestyle.
Many risk factors of cardiovascular disease can be controlled by a living a healthy lifestyle and making wise choices every day. A pro-active approach to heart health also involves visiting your doctor to find out about your cholesterol and blood pressure.
While some risk factors of heart disease are out of our control, such as age and genetics, there are many things we can control through our everyday choices. Everyday choices include what you eat and how much you exercise. A heart-healthy diet is nutrient rich and includes lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low fat dairy products. It limits foods that are high in calories and low in nutrients, and also limits saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, and sodium.
It is recommended that healthy people ages 18 to 65 exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week. The exercise you do can be whatever you enjoy the most—swimming, jogging, gardening, walking, biking, or playing a sport—the important thing is that you are engaging in physical activity.
Finally, as part of a heart-healthy lifestyle, you should make the pledge to quit smoking or better yet, vow to never start. While many people associate smoking with lung cancer, which is true, it is also a major risk factor for heart disease. One added bonus to living a heart-healthy lifestyle is that it is also a cancer-preventative lifestyle. By exercising regularly, eating healthfully, and not smoking you will help reduce your risks of developing certain types of cancers along with greatly benefiting your heart-health.
Seeing one of cupid’s hearts should also remind you to visit your doctor and find out how your own heart may be doing. You should have your blood pressure measured to know if you have pre-hypertension or hypertension, which is high blood pressure. It is estimated that one in three U.S. adults has high blood pressure. Having hypertension or pre-hypertension can increase your risk of stroke, heart attack, heart failure, and kidney failure. While at the doctor’s office, you should also have a blood test to determine your cholesterol levels. Having high cholesterol levels may also put you at increased risk for heart disease. Knowing you have high cholesterol or blood pressure can help you and your doctor make decisions about changes you can make to help lower or decrease these numbers and lower other risk factors.
Have a happy, healthy Valentine’s Day and remember the most important heart of all!
4-H Exchange Trip
Think about your most memorable trip. What made it special? Was it the people with you, the places you visited, the road trip, or things that happened? Several of our Hopkins County 4-H members are gearing up for a 4-H Exchange Trip to Montana. Many of them have participated in previous Exchange trips to Wisconsin and Virginia. For some, this will be a trip of a lifetime.
Our former Hopkins County 4-H agent, Juli Hutchins Thurston, is employed with Montana Extension and has issued the invitation for our 4-H’ers to visit her county. The ball is rolling and the dates have been set for July 22-30, 2017. While in Montana, our group will stay in host 4-H homes. We have a good group (15) who have applied to participate, and a planning meeting has been scheduled for Monday, February 20, 5:00 p.m., at the Extension Office. Fundraisers, travel routes, lodging, and sites to see along the way will be discussed. We are open to suggestions, and gladly welcome financial support for these kids and chaperones!
Closing Thought
Today’s mighty oak is just yesterday’s nut that held its ground – unknown
Johanna Hicks
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension
Family & Consumer Sciences
1200-B W. Houston
P.O.Box 518
Sulphur springs, TX 75483
903-885-3443 – phone
903-439-4909 – Fax
[email protected]
Henbit By Mario Villarino
This winter season has reality become a challenge for everyone. With temperature oscillations of close to 40 degrees in the same week, the winter really looks like spring at times. Even the royal empress tree at the park is responding to the warm temperatures by beginning to bud. One of the real questions becomes to when the spring really starts and when those springs weeds will germinate? If we have another cold spell before too long, then those triggered buds will suffer and the impact will be seen all year long. My suggestion is to not consider these warms spells and consider it still a winter season, and do not prune heavily, since those tender tissues will become even more stressed. A common weed over lawns an pastures this week is Henbit. When referring to henbit, R. L. Duble, for aggie horticulture wrote: “Henbit (Lamium amplexicaule) is a cool season, annual broadleaf weed. Seedlings begin to emerge in early fall and grow throughout the fall, winter and spring. Henbit can dominate turfgrass in the spring throughout the southern region. Although henbit is not known for any herbal or medicinal purposes, this plant is used in flower arrangements because of its unusual leaf shape and arrangement. Henbit, a member of the mint family, has characteristic square stems. Stems are slender, ascending or prostrate, and freely branched at the base. Stems may root at the lower nodes. Leaves are opposite, nearly circular, deeply veined, hairy and petioled. Upper leaves clasp the stem and the lower leaves are distinctly petioled. Roots are shallow and fibrous. Flowers, conspicuous in early spring, are tubular, pink to purple, and borne in the leaf axile. Seeds are borne in a pod. Henbit is most effectively controlled with herbicides in the fall while plants are small and immature. Products containing dicamba, MCPP and 2,4-D have demonstrated effective control in the fall and early spring. In dormant bermudagrass, glyphosate, diquat or metribuzin will control henbit. If applied prior to germination, products such as surflan, bensulide, pendimethalin and simazine also provide good control of henbit. Follow label directions on all products recommended for henbit to obtain the best control”.
For more information on this or any other agricultural topic please contact the Hopkins County Extension Office at 903-885-3443.
Mario Villarino DVM, Ph.D.
Hopkins County Extension Agent for Ag and NR
1200B Houston Street
Sulphur Springs, Texas 75482
903-885-3443
Flynn Named Chair of House Pensions Commission for 85th Texas Legislative Session
AUSTIN- Representative Dan Flynn named Chairman of the House Pensions Committee for the 85th Legislative Session.Adult Learning Series at the Library: Couponing, Cooking, and More
Through out the next two months the Sulphur Springs Public Library will be hosting several Adult Learning Programs. Couponing, cooking tips, and legal advice is being offered for free by local professionals. See the above flyer for dates and times for all events. Each attendee will have a chance to win a family 4 pack of tickets to the 2017 Season of the Scarborough Renaissance Festival.
Free Lunch and Food Pantry Open February 11th at the Church of Christ
A free lunch and food pantry will open February 11th, 2017 at the Church of Christ at 154 MLK Jr Dr. in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The food pantry is scheduled to open the 2nd Saturday of each month from 11 AM to 1 PM.
PJC Adult Education Program
A new program at the Paris Junior College – Sulphur Springs Center targets individuals with a high school diploma or GED who are looking to start college to pursue a career.
The Adult Education and Family Literacy program is offering the Life Skills Education Advancing People (LEAP) Academy to equip potential students for success beginning Thursday, Feb. 16.
The free LEAP Academy will provide information about college and career services and give tips to make everyday life easier. Topics will include finances, time management, study and test-taking strategies, and college and career advising.
Texas Certificate of High School Equivalency/Texas Success Initiative scholarships will be available for qualified participants upon successful completion.
Classes will be offered at the PJC – Sulphur Springs Center from 6-9 p.m. on Thursdays. For more information please contact Felicia Cleburn, Career Navigator, at 903-782-0423 or [email protected].
The Pirates Are Coming to the Northeast Texas Children’s Museum
(February 8, 2017, Commerce, Texas) Shiver me timbers! The pirates are coming to the Children’s Museum on Saturday, February 25 from 6:30 to 8:30 PM. Now that the Daddy-Daughter dance is history for this year, it is time to turn attention to the Mother-Son Pirate Night, a time for mothers and sons. Moms and young boys will have the opportunity to look like pirates and the “mates” will receive pirate training during the evening. Learning to walk with “sea” legs, escape a sinking pirate ship, and attack a sea monster will be part of the evening. Detective skills will be used as the Museum Pirates search for Blackbeard’s treasure.
“It is important to the Children’s Museum that we recognize the special relationship between moms and their sons, “said Donna Tavener, Board President.
“We have a great group of volunteers working on this event,” Sharline Freeman, Executive Director of the Children’s Museum, stated. “Kathy Erwin, a former caterer, is coordinating the pirate food with help from Brenda Estess. Lonnie Plunkett will assist with the decorations. And the balloon lady will be back again.”
The pirate food will include Pirate’s Trash, Peg Legs, and Cannon Balls. Face painting and balloon entertainment will also be part of the evening. And, of course, the Children’s Museum will be open for play in the many play areas.
“When I was creating the event poster, I wanted to capture the excitement for this event. It is a special time for moms and sons, “said Elana Barton, Director of Development.
Tickets for the evening are $30 per couple. Purchase them by calling the Northeast Texas Children’s Museum at 903-886-6055.
Meal A Day Menu Change for February 13th-17th
It’s Official: Lady Cats Basketball Face North Forney at Rockwall Heath Gym Monday; Game Broadcast on KSST
We now have solid information on the Lady Cats’ basketball team’s bi-district playoff game with North Forney. The game will take place Monday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Rockwall Heath Gym. The Lady Cats will not be playing a warm up game. They wrapped up their second straight district championship Tuesday night with a 49-34 win over Mt. Pleasant in Wildcats Gym.
The Lady Cats were unbeaten in district play at 12-0. Mt. Pleasant finished second with a 10-2 record with both of their losses to the Lady Cats. North Forney was a fourth place finisher in their district, which includes Wylie East, Highland Park, Lovejoy, Mesquite Poteet, West Mesquite, Forney and Royse City.
The game will be broadcast live on KSST and ksstradio.com with video replayed on Suddenlink Cable Channel 18 at a later time.
