814-Lancasler Farming, Saturday, July 27, 1991
On being
a farm wife
-And other
hazards
Joyce Bnpp
In that semi-conscious state be
tween deep sleep and barely
awake, one’s mind is fuzzy and
distorted, kind of like an out-of
focus camera lens. For a moment,
the fuzziness of disrupted slumber
nearly won out over the tiny cor
ner of my brain awake and trying
to focus.
The sound took a moment to re
cognize. Rain. Rain? RAIN! Fall
ing gently, pitter-pattering on the
trees .. . and the hay, and the
beans, and the com, hopefully all
over the neighborhood.
A mental offering of gratitude
for the moisture brought a new
peacefulness to a fast-returning
state of slumber. Until a new
sound rudely jerked me wide
awake.
“Mmm wwwwaaaaaaaaahhh! ”
Loud. Very loud. And right under
the open bedroom window.
Digital red numbers on the
alarm clock read at a few minutes
after 1 a.m. Maybe the calf would
go back to sleep.
Sure. Right. When snails fly.
“Mmmmwwaaaaahhhhhh!”
The baby bull calf hadn’t been
too impressed with a bottle of
warm milk as a replacement for
his own mama. Earlier in the eve-
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ning, he’d knocked down the
moveable front of his pen and
gone high-tailing off through the
knee-high com, disappeared and
apparently curled up to take a nap.
And we had not found him before
dark.
Awakened probably by the
brief shower, the little guy was
hungry - and bawling it to the
world. At 1 a.m. Right under the
open bedroom window.
I crawled out of bed, looked out
the window and, in the faint glow
from the bam light, the calf’s
white coat shone in the darkness.
That little guy standing there had
no intention of going back to
sleep.
By this time the Farmer was
awake, too. The front door banged
as he headed out to retrieve the es
capee - then silence. And more si
lence. Had the calf run off? Hid
den again? A sudden and very up
set tone of “Mmmmwwwaaaaa
hhhh!” confirmed that the mid
night wanderings of one very irate
and loud baby bull calf had ended,
for the moment at least.
Morning calf feeding chores
brought evidence that the baby
had not been the only overnight
escapee. A bag of heifer feed in
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Cherry Tree, PA 15724
(814) 743-6334
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the alley lay tom and scattered.
Bales of hay and straw were up
ended and ripped and splatteret
with fresh manure.
And the culprit was still there
at the alleyway’s dead end.
I managed to get ahead of the
big, bred heifer, turn her in the
cramped space and send her mov
ing back to the open door. Chasing
her back out (with me admittedly
in a rather bad mood by now), my
bald-soled sneaker connected with
a patch of her fresh manure - and I
crashed.
Hard. Onto the concrete floor.
And, solidly smacked the back of
my head against the cement block
wall on the way. The world went
white, bright, turning like those
cartoon characters with stars cir
cling their heads.
The bruise was already swelling
and painfully sensitive by the time
the dizziness finally began to fade.
Hair would cover the bruised
head, but bleeding gashes on hand
and arm couldn’t be so easily hid
den.
Planning next to deliver prom
ised items for the afternoon’s Sun
day School picnic, fate intervened
again. A large, tom, V-belL The
Farmer-mechanic temporarily
elsewhere, could I go search for a
replacement, since feeding the
dairy herd hinged on the opera
tions of that particular belt?
One hour and three parts-place
pleadings later, the (hopefully)
proper-length belt and I emerged
victorious from the local, hard
ware store - surely a branch of
Heaven on this particular mom-
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Triumphantly presenting the
belt, I was informed that an old
one had been located in the shop,
he feeder repaired, and the cows
tlready eating.
In haste and absolute frustra
tion, I fled to the picnic prepara-
Cumberland Pageant
CARLISLE (Cumberland Co.)
Melanie Dietrich wears the
Cumberland County Dairy Prin
cess banner and crown with pride.
Crowned the 24th county prin
cess at the pageant held on June 21,
at Embers Convention Center, Car
lisle, Melanie will be assisted by
Alternate Dairy Princess Jennifer
Baum of Shippensburg.
Melanie is the daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. William Dietrich of New
burg. Her assistant is the daughter
jntyv Jry,
and AHemato Jennifer Baum are eager to promote the dairy
industry.
tanon
SHUEY’S SALES & SERVICE
Oxford
OXFORD GREENLINE, INC.
WAKEFIELD SAW SHOP
A & B SALES & SERVICE
370 Newport Road
2 Mlea South of Rt. 23 Along 772
BUIE MOUNTAIN
ENTERPRISES, INC.
Rt. 72 South
717-MB-2M4
Mverstown
EBLING LAWN &
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•M E. Lincoln Avo.
717-885-8720
Ono
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717404-4011
1100 Llmaetone Rd.
215.032*2573
Peach Bottom
742 Nottingham Rd
Ronks
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tions. And the laughter and caring
of dear friends at church instantly
turned around that off-on-the
wrong-foot day.
Thank God for friends - and for
no long-term damage from the
crack on the head to remind me of
that.
of Mr. and Mrs. Richard Baum.
Junior representatives. Heather
Glennon, Laura Deitch Christine
Deitch, and Mandy Naugle will
also assist the dairy industry in
promotional activities.
Danielle Gutshall crowned the
new princess after giving a
farewell speech.
Judges for the event were Barb
Wilson, Peg Adams, and Dwight
M. Hawbaker.
SEILER’S REPAIR
1 ML W. of TurbotvlM
On RL 44
RD 2, Box 84
West Chester
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110-120 E Morkot SL
215-898-2990
Chestertown. MD
PARDOE’S LAWN & TREE
SERVICE, INC.
001-777-2010
Oakland Md.
VALLEY VIEW
COUNTRY STORE
RD 2
301-334-4381
Whlteford Md.
ENFIELD EQUIPMENT INC
720 Wheeler School Rd.
301-879-5090
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