a farm Joyce Bnpp -And other hazards We’ve long had a love affair with the “beasts of the field.” Actually, we prefer that they be “beasts of the pasture,” remaining on the inside of the grazing areas fences. Cows being cows, our bo vine girls periodically become beasts of the field, in search of the proverbial greener grass on the wrong side of the fence. This time of year, the greener grass is in the form of lush, succu lent, young com stalks, beloved by ornery heifers for munching on and flattening down as they split the pasture in pursuit of forbidden tastes of fresh field forage. Sum mertime thunderstorm showers and lightning strikes which short out electric fences considerably YOUR POST FRAME BIHLDiK HEADQUARTERS Wiokes Lumber is the place to turn for all your packaged building needs. We offer a wide selection of sizes and styles of buildings, perfect for a variety of needs. We also carry a complete assort ment of steel for siding and roofing, quality lumber, treated posts, heavy-duty hardware and all the extras. Add delivery and credit plus attentive, knowledgeable Matching Skylights Available For Natural Lighting Pi Ft Wi W Wickes Lumber Allentown, PA Ephrata, PA Exton, PA 681 State Road 82 Garden Spot Rd. 145 S. Whitford Rd (215)967-3181 (717)733-6521 (215)363-9550 Harrisburg, PA Phillipsburg, NJ Reading, PA /61 Amp-Wick Dr. 199 Strykers Rd. 2591 Centre Ave. (717)564-4453 (908)859-3600 (215)921-0606 add to the problem. And, in recent years, we’ve de veloped a real affinity for the “birds of the air.” One rather tame cardinal pair now hangs around the farm year-roung. The gor geous, scarlet male has gotten about letting me know, loudly, when the sunflower seed stock has run out in the birdfeeder. Even the “fish of the sea,” - well, the pond, anyway - get regu lar attention, especially The Farm er’s prized, finned “pets” that con gregate near the pier for handouts. He wouldn't think of letting a worm-laced hook near these ba bies. But what I’ve never gotten nearly as tolerant of, or find enjoy- EVERYTHING YOUU KED! 2x4 Continuous Truss Ties salespeople and you’ve got it all! Computer Aided Customizing! Any of our package designs can be tailored to suit your needs with our Computer Aided Design capabilities. Ask a Wickes Lumber associate for details! Fradarick, MD Graensburg. PA 5219 Urbana Pike Route 136 (301)662-4107 (412)527-3531 Succasunna, NJ Swedesboro, NJ 39 Route 10 (201)584-6630 (609)467-0846 menl from, are the “bugs of the season.” They just... well, bug me. And some worse than others. Like hornets and wasps, for in stance. Picking raspberries one day last week, by the time I realized what the buzzing near my left ear was, it was too late. The hornet vented its anger in defense of its nest, leaving the bite site on my ear with a searing, stinging sensation. Wet mud is a wonderful anti dote to insect stings. With no mud in sight, I quickly manufactured some. A little saliva and dry dirt rubbed together on the ear render ed the same effect as Mother Na ture’s own mud. Within a minute or two, the stinging disappeared and left only a faint amount of swelling as a lingering effect for a few hours. It was my own careless fault. I had seen the papery, six-inch-or so-diameter nest, hidden there near the end of the row of thorny stalks, during the prior picking of the patch. And forgotten about it. Less painful but far more pre dominant are the continuing ivy-Outy mg Door icks & rdware < r -i Rt. 322 batches of common flics which hatch out in the hot, humidity of the season. Though we do almost daily battle with fly sprays, we on ly win a few squirmishes and ex pect a war of several months dura tion. Japanese beetles have also be gun putting in their chew-up everything appearance, although they’ve never been a real serious problem here. Perhaps some of the feathered distant cousins of our sunflower-seed-feeders prefer the shiny, tough-bodied beetles for lunch. Far more prominent are those ugly, prehistoric-looking bugs that suddenly arrive in early summer. Earwigs. With those wiry, wiggly bodies and nasty-looking rear-end pincers, their appearance is an re pulsive as their behavior. Take down the laundry and there’ll be earwigs crawling around in the MHK.IT DOES A BODY GOOD; Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 16, 1994-B5 washbasket and the clothespin bag. Leave the bam sneakers out on the back porch overnight and they’ll camp out in them. They hide under dog dishes and flower pots, porch rugs and lawn furni ture cushions. Where did these bugs come from? And when? Neither The Farmer nor I recall having earwigs around when we were kids. Are they imports? Hybrids? Or some mutation gone bad? A least they don’t carry devastating diseases, like an even uglier and infinitely more dangerous bug, the tick. Ultimate cure for all these crit ters is not spray, not sticky fly pa per, not scent traps, not even bug eating birds and bats. Ultimate cure will be a good, hard frost. Which we don’t want now. Wouldn’t it be pleasant if the bugs of the season would just. . . bug off ’til then?
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