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a farm
-And
Joyce Bupp
People often quote the time
proven philosophy that ‘‘the more
things change, the more they stay
the same.”
Upon these dependable
changes, our lives find measures of
stability.
Wars, of some sort, will forever
be waged. New lives enter the
world and old ones move on. The
sun rises in the East and sets
behind the opposite horizon. Some
years will be wet and others dry.
Stock markets will rise and fall.
New frontiers will forever beckon,
be they ocean, prairie or outer
space. Medicine will conquer old
COME WITH
fmA US TO
SCANDINAVIA
t-i \ V J,
NORWAY * SWEDEN * DENMARK
Rural Route Tours
August 17 - September 1, 1988
A FEW OF THE HIGHLIGHTS
* Tivoli Gardena In Copenhagen
* Tour Stockholm and Oslo
* Tour Lake District of Southern Sweden
* Cross The Magnificent Sogne Fjord
* Visit With Scandinavian Farm Families
* First Class Hotel Accomodations
* Services Of Full-Time, Professional
Tour Manner
Call (717) 743-6911
Or Send For Free Itinerary
Mr. & Mrs. Russell Hummel
R.D. #5, Box 154, Selinsgrove, PA 17870
FACTORY REP. - DISTRIBUTOR
P.V.C. "VINYL" PRODUCTS
All Weather - Garden & Yard Fence - Privacy Fence
Florse Rail Fence - Square Post - 2-3-4 Rail
W.E.B. SYSTEMS
P.O. Box 771
Souderton, PA 18964
215/723-3500
ailments and new ones will be dis
covered or at least labeled.
And cows, will be cows.
■ Over the millenia, the domestic
bovine has changed her outward
physical appearance.
Her legs are longer and neck
more sleek. Her udder is wider and
mote securely attached. Her body
has become more deeply ribbed
and shows more depth. And, her
capacity for producing one of
nature’s most wholesome foods
continues to increase.
It’s in her head that everything
has stayed the same.
Today’s improved-genetics.
gJg
G&G INDUSTRIES
242 Buchanan Drive
Ephrata, PA 17522
(717)733-9396
Authorized Dealers
AMITY FENCE CO.
9th & Amity Streets
P.O Box 8665
Reading, PA 19603
215/372-3441
KEN CLUGSTON VERNON SEIBEL
(717) 665-6775 (717) 665-2782
CRAFT-BILT
CONSTRUCTION INC.
FARM-HOME BUILDING
R.D. #2 MANHEIM, PA.
PH: (717) 665-4372
BUILDING & REMODELING FOR
DAIRY
SWINE POLE BUILDINGS
BEEF STORAGE
B.F. FENCE CO.
2550 Paxton St.
Harrisburg, PA 17111
USA - 800/255-8397
PA Only - 800/248-6175
-Local -7.17/564-1972
computer-coded, transponder
tracked, twentieth-century cow
still has the brain of her ancestors.
And, it continues to send the same
message that, wherever she is, the
living somewhere else is better.
Consider the following
evidence.
A movement past a living room
window just barely caught the cor
ner of my vision. In the split sec
ond that followed, the thought
whizzed through my subconscious
that a horse was outside, but that
the only resident horse ever on the
place was sold last fall, because of
owner conflict with a busy college
schedule.
By the time this thought process
had evolved, the “horse” was
clearly visible through the window
of the front door.
“There’s a cow standing out
front!” I groaned to the other two
family members still finishing
Sunday dinner dessert.
“There are cows all over the
place,” corrected the farmer, rac
ing down the basement steps after
a glance outside.
All over the place, indeed.
Dessert was abandoned as the
RESIDENTIAL
three of us shoved our feet into
boots and took off in hot pursuit in
different directions. After years of
practice, we have these anti
stampede maneuvers down pat.
Now, the first members of our
dairy herd are near ancient history,
replaced with great-great
granddaughter offspring and occa
sional purchased outcross blood
lines. Though dozens of individual
cows have come and gone, the
herd behaves exactly as it did two
decades ago.
They charge through the mud
diest part of the back yard after
the morning ice has thawed off.
Slip. Slide. Leave long, deep skid
tracks in the grass. And at the same
spots.
They still hide in the alleyway of
the old barn. Rip up hay bales.
Mess up straw hales. Woof down
half a bag of calf starter. Knock
over forks, shovels and feed
scoops. Stomp on ’em going in.
Stomp on ’em going back out, just
in case any were missed first time
through.
Take cover behind the trailer,
then mosey on out and down the
linitial
Implfession§
651 Wyoming Ave.
Kingston, PA 18704 (717) 283-0229
WE CAN EMBROIDER AND/OR SUPPLY:
• Caps • Sweats • Coveralls
• Jackets • T-Shirts
Have Your Name, Company, Farm,
Or Stables Embroidered!!!
DESIGNS & LOGOS TOO - WE SHIP UPS
Lancaattt hffmhfl; Katt/hUry. 'lUarch 1 % ft&feV '*■*'
road after the less clever of the
“girls” have been chased, corralled
and chewed out.
True, their names, their physical
appearance an? their gigantic
potential has changed. But,
escaped cows still leave the same
giant pockmarks in muddy, wet
grass as did their ancestors when
they hot-footed it out of the
swamps ahead of meat-eating
dinosaurs.
Tumed out that an ancient fiber
baler-twine hinge on a gate had let
go under the shoving and rubbing
of this bunch of boisterous
bovines. And, where the living
looked better was on the freedom
side of the sawdust storage area,
accessible after the assault on a
■rotten-twine fastened gate.
We may be stuck with the same
mentality of cows. And I doubt
we’ll ever get away from the ten- ■
dency to fasten “temporary” gates
with twine.
But I hope they tied the gate fast
with that new, improved, plastic
stuff this time.
Sometimes, a little change is
better than none