On Being a (and other L m hazards) IwmM ■ ' liUiwltiVl * tMCwlßti] Joyce Bupp Few things are more commonp- two, few have only a cat or two, lace, necessary and underfoot Cats being cats tend to per- on a farm than cats. petuate themselves with reliable While most farms have a dog or regularity. Our populaton over the !!! GREAT CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAI!!^. DO YOU HAVE A FARMER WHO HAS EVERYTHING... AND YOU DON’T HAVE A CLUE AS TO THAT SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT? LET PENNSYLVANIA FARMERS UNION HELP YOU! WE OFFER A GIFT MEMBERSHIP IN A NATIONAL & STATE FAMILY FARM ORGANIZATION. ! A VOICE IN AGRICULTURE LEGISLATION & REGULATION AT A STATE AND NATIONAL AGENCY ! ACCESS TO A VARIETY OF ORGANIZATIONAL BENEFITS ! RECEIVE A WASHINGTON NEWS LETTER & STATE NEWS & VIEW VIA COUNTY FOLKS SURPRISE THEM! IT’S SIMPLE & EASY WITH HASSLE FREE SHOPPING. PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW AND REMIT THE APPROPRIATE DUES. WE WILL SEND THE MEMBERSHIP TO YOU OR THE RECIPIENT AT YOUR REQUEST. ONE YEAR $4O TWO YEARS $7O FIVE YEARS $l5O NAME: i ADDRESS: CITY ! STATE: ZIP COUNTY ! PLEASE CHECK IF YOU WANT MEMBERSHIP SENT TO RECIPIENT FOR ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS OR INFORMATION PLEASE CALL OR WRITE: PENNSYLVANIA FARMERS UNION 1337 NORTH FRONT STREET KJIARRISBURG, PA 17102 PHONE; (717) 234-431 U !!! HAPPY HOLIDAYS 'VW (CANTU)) FIONTCUHO ““ 1 w -j Coupon! • I** PINB FINISH ilHpl CHditv finish CEDAR i i nit AWITK fitIFJCT ■! BRASS A, idp : SIS EmERTAimiEI!T jHI-5 BiaJih.lv.. HOPE CHEST , 4 p!^!^' 01 ?!?* “TOUCH** //(vv j J pH} pffl =^-f|o , I vMnu jj LAMP j 5 Volume Buy II ... J "TSoS 1- || Shad “ 0 I 5 $229.95 m R«g. Ret. $559,95 WBBk J& HS"“ 03 # ou» special , ~ J ,MM !i ~.iS43k ! db- CMM OUT MCE $99.04 J ' T 1 I— —• White Supplies last ——J TILE TOP DINETTE IgUDER ROCKER l T'i* 7 *®]“ Ca/pon/ ’if"^^MtoCwpon!- n & DISTRIBUTOR OVER STOCK -ARC LAMP /—v A I FWX SIZE r~X i! - SECLIWER j3r Features Green Tile Top Available in /A 1 I RECUNER f'&&<.. I *HhB Rea Ret Smock IJ& wd Choirs wWh Natural B l "orße, 9*M| J j Stoto.l [ jMSout OSH PRICE j | °*ir . C ** h I OUR CASH PRICE *549*95 T j OUR CASH PRICE , { rrvmnu ! jif / rWR Tm Price I *OO.OO MgtM * ! * ‘ T/ !! - coupon I rp I*iio.4S JL. ▼▼ ▼» * j 139.95 jj ! £ ■ fT 1 mi i*l —I Oar Cash Price A-——— ——— ——— -J L-"«----- ——-) # ■dHHai.Ullll.Mltf *W.M T I KHLirgfSpM ? vhtibwim epeciai | i-4 , j l "* IJK 3L llttMlfl QUEEN... *889.95 OUR CASH PRICE *249.95 * L fUISU L - °oN_ IW_ _j gf M KING.. Reg. Ret *1129.95.... OUR CASH PRICE >299.95J 1 * N DELCO MATTRESS AND FOUNDATION | m* ■m Prices include both piecesr Kina Reg. Ret. *649.95 Sole Price *189.88 ey Queen Reg. Ret. $599.95 - Sale Price *129.88 && mmm. _ • Doublet. Reg. Ret. *319 95 Sale Price *99.88 # Milk tart«t 5 PC. TRADITIONAL 5 Pc. DINETTE « 1... j £ /Sljj ||m TABLE BEDROOM Drop Leaf Table N fw LAMPS OeK firustt. Chest, 9jl A Wt MS four Mm chan not (Wilted win any oiwr Mow $ mfil Only 500 to sell fS w^dS 1 ■ T SBfe | J £ Styles vary from shown; wood. 5j%/2o ii 3B c * w ** c ** n ’ j | Reg, reteril from *79 00-SlO9 00 OUR CASH PRICE IW*CO FH«« S 3019 Hempland Rood e Lancaster e 717-397-6241 years has ranged from lows of three or four to a one-time high of 30-plus, which was absolutely too many. Mostly, we hover in the range of 10 to a dozen, scattered among the bams and bales. And underfoot. Over the years, we have been rather discriminating about the color of our cats. Partial to black, black and white and gray-black tigers (perhaps because of the heavy Holstein-color influence in our lives), we have long-standing bloodlines of “Holstein” felines. What we have not had over the years are the orange “Morris The Cat” types. As a youngster. The Farmer lost a batch of 4-H baby chicks to a big, orange tomcat. Lancastar Farming, Saturday, Dtcambar 2, 1995-B7 which skewed his appreciation for Morris clones. But inbreeding of our black and white cats eventually resulted in a generation that was more frail than their ancestors, with apparent reproductive problems. Down to one mother cat about two years ago, we found our cat numbers diminishing. Then we began seeing a robust, orange-furred visitor streaking out of distant comers of the bam when we entered. And, sure enough, the next kittens bom were multi-hued calicos. Another line with golden tint arrived with the donation from a friend of a striped gray tiger with sunny undertones and orange siblings. This spring’s kitten litter brought us a mottled assortment, including a handsome orange and white male and a gentle, cream colored female I dubbed Creme. Soon after, an apparently homelcss but friendly, dark yellow fellow moved in off the street Plus, we adopted a chubby, beautifully-marked dark tiger named Zebo. (Short for Zebra.) Zebo snuggled up against my neck, purred with a passion and turned up at every comer while I did bam chores. He’s identical to a tiger-striped Butch the kids loved years ago, so it was natural to just call him Butch. Once again we have a plentiful supply of cats. Underfoot There were about six dancing 'round my feet for milk just this morning cats of all colors. Kit- 0 AMERICAN DAIRY ASSOCIATION’ tens scamper back into the hay mow when you enter the bank bam including a long-haired yellow and a long-haired gray. A dormant, long-haired bloodline has apparently resurfaced in our cat genetics. Pest, the overly-friendly gray and white male, has taken to sleeping in the barrel of sawdust in the calf nursery. Foxy, our old, long-haired, dairy-barn cat, spends most of his time curled up in the utility room, wanned by the motors and compressors of our milking/cooling systems. Butch is everywhere. With his head stuck in a bucket of fresh milk. In the calves’ feed trough, sharing their sweet feed. Curled up in hayracks in cozy nests of dry grass and alfalfa. We And cat prints on papers on the bam office desk and cats per ched atop the feed racks in the heifer pens. Cats curled in tight balls in the haymow of calf alfalfa. Cats basking in the morning sun shine that floods into the south facing, outside calf condos. And a cat rattling the back storm door. I put the housecat out side and forgot to let her back in immediately. Her outside maxi mum time in cold weather is under two minutes. So she rattles the door with her paw and grumbles indignantly when I finally respond. So with all these cats underfoot, why do we have the putrefying smell of dead mouse reeking from the basement ceiling?