82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 6, 1991
On being
a farm wife
-And other
hazards
Joyce Bupp
Another gorgeous sunset is
playing against the backdrop of
the western sky.
Another panorama of blue sky
awash with spreading patches of
pink, colors changing even as we
watch. Bright fuschia pales to a
soft rose. That gentle pink softens
still more as blue deepens, and
gives way to jutting fingers of
purple and gray.
Sunsets are lovely, at any sea
son. Their evening beauty ushers
in a winding down of daily farm
chores, a slower, more peaceful
time of day, a gentle tranquility.
I have always loved sunsets,
their glorious, vibrant colors
glowing in a last hurrah at the end
of day. Lately, though, glowing
sunsets have become a source of
considerable frustration.
Instead, we’d like a couple of
really bright, really glowing, real
ly RED sunrises. Red sunrises,
like in the rhyme: Red sky at
night, sailors’ delight; red sky at
morning, sailors take warning.”
And you know, most of the
time, that little weather ditty is
RIGIDPLY RAFTERS’
“GLU-LAM COLUMN”
SPECIFICATIONS
All columns shall be Rigidply Raf
ters’ "Glu-Lam Columns," manufac
tured of foundation grade #2 south
ern yellow pine. The laminations
shall be glued together at 12% mois
ture content with waterproof phenol
resorcmal glue. They shall be as
sembled and clamped under pres
sure in a controlled environment
until the glue is cured.
The columns shall be CCA pressure
treated to a .60 retention factor, a
minimum of 12” above the ground
line on the ground contact end. The
columns shall meet the following
test procedures: Block Shear Test.
Cyclic Delammation Test, Finger
Joint Test and A.S.T M. D 905-49.
We Use
Pressure-Treated Lumber
hltfc*
pretty doggone reliable.
Red sunsets promise fair weath
er to follow. Clear, sunny, bright
days. The lovely array of sunsets
of recent weeks have brought just
that - clear, bright, sunny, hot-hot
and dry-dry days.
Red sunrises are a prelude to
“bad” weather: clouds, storms,
wind, rain. Boy, could we ever use
a stretch of that “bad” weather.
(One of the reddest sunrises I
remember preceded a hurricane...)
“Bad” weather would be good.
“Bad” weather would be great.
“Bad” weather would be welcome
across much of the region.
By comparison, areas of the
midwest and the south have been
practicing “man overboard” drills
from their back porches. Well,
they’re almost that wet. Inches of
rain, week after week. Two mil
lion acres of flat, Mississippi
Delta farmland underwater, just a
few weeks ago, according to a
friend from there.
R-A-I-N. A “four-letter” word.
Here, because we don’t have near
ly enough. Elsewhere, because
Tested and Approved (or use in the post frame construction industry by engineers
at The Pennsylvania State University and Wood Mechanics Personnel.
they’re swamped (so to speak)
with it
The benevolent, warm, dry
spring which got fanners happily
into their fields on an early sche
dule has quickly turned into a tem
peramental tyrant. Always sky
scanners, farmers are getting stiff
necks of late peering for long
stretches toward the heavens.
Searching for the slightest hints of
precious moisture to save millions
of dollars of seed and plant nutri
ents already tucked into the soil.
Never in my lifetime memory
has it been so hot, so dry, so long,
so early in the season.
Never before, in my memory
time, has young com curled into
tight-tipped, “pineapple” foliage
- by Flag Day.
Never have we planted soy
beans to have them lay for three
weeks in powder-dry soil, unre
sponsive, ungerminated.
Never have the pastures been so
dry, so brown, so crispy - so void
of nutritious grass for the heifers -
by mid-June. The meadow hillside
is so reminiscent of the dry,
sagebrush-infested, semi-desert
grazing areas of the West that The
Farmer claims he’s begun watch
ing for antelope.
Never has the alfalfa turned so
quickly from a lush green, kissed
with the purple of opening
blooms, to stretches of pale, grey
ish, sickly, give-up-the-ghost
foliage - so early in the season.
Never have we been feeding the
hay that we should be storing up
for the winter - by the first day of
summer.
Never has the sound of rain
drops spattering on the roof and
the maples outside the house been
any more welcome than in the
early-morning darkness of a
recent Sunday morning after more
The
Glu-Lam
Post
The Only REAL
Laminated Post
fi^|
RIGIDPLY RAFTERS, Inc.
701 E. Linden St.,
Richland, PA 17087
Telephone: 717-866-6581
Fax: 717-866-7237
than a month with no measurable
rainfall.
Never have I been mo - e ready
to trade those peaceful, pastel
sunsets for a couple of ominously
red sunrises promising “bad”
Washington-Greene
Names Dairy Princess
Dianne Bissett wears the Washington-Green Dairy Prin
cess crown. She was crowned at the pageant held on June
15 at the Washinton County Fair Grounds, Washington.
weather.
If you have a couple you’d like
to swap, call. Immediately.
Collect
We’ll pay the freight.
DISCOVER THE LABOR
SAVING ADVANTAGES:
• Glued laminated with
waterproof glue
* Lighter, straighter and stronger
than solid sawn or nailed
laminated posts
•CCA. treated laminations are used
on the ground contact end
•CCA. penetration is greater than
solid sawn posts
• Untreated wood above ground
eliminates the need for
galvanized fasteners
• Finger jointed to form one piece
laminations
• Eliminate cracking, splitting and
checking.
STANDARD SIZES
6x6 Equivalent
3 ply 2x6, 4 1/16' x s’/."
6xB Equivalent
3 ply 2xB, 4 1/16” x 7”
BxB Equivalent
Other sizes available upon request
6'o” minimum standard treatment
Available in lengths to 60'0'
4 ply 2xB, s'/j " x 7”