Yes, It is Too Late to Plant Grass

I am now officially one week into the new job. I spent the first day doing training at the KSU, learning about benefits, "professional scheduling," and signing paperwork. The rest of the week I spent in my home office, getting to know some of the ropes.

The biggest challenge so far, and I think in general for the next several months, will be adjusting to a different climate zone. I have learned that it is generally too late to plant grass seed, but sod is still okay. It is also fine to plant peonies, trees, and shrubs yet. To my northern Wisconsin mind, you don't plant anything in November, except maybe snowmen. It was 65 here the day that it was snowing up there, this past week.

Anyway, I'm starting to get the feel of the office, and I mostly know my way around. I know the people on the Ag end of the building, and I'm getting a start on the FACS (Family and Consumer Sciences) end. Tuesday I got to/had to sit in on 9 hours of Pesticide Recertification Training for Ornamentals and Turfgrass professionals. Several of the speakers were really good, others weren't. I got to meet the state turfgrass specialist, who is also an ISU alum. The last speaker of the day gave a really interesting talk about an injection procedure he helped develop to protect Scotch Pine trees from Pine Wilt.

I've also gotten my start in answering phone calls from various people. So far it hasn't been too bad, although one guy calling with a lawn issue gave me a bit of a work out last week. But that is a story for another post.

My next couple weeks are going to be kind of crazy, since I'll be in a county 3 hours away from Wichita for mentoring all of next week. Then I'll be back in Wichita for 3 days before Thanksgiving. Then I'll be back at KSU for more training the week after Thanksgiving. I'll be home for another week at that point, then at KSU for another week of training/mentoring.