84-Lancastar Farming, Saturday, April 18. 1998 On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) Joyce Bupp It's a war zone out here, Guerrillas spy out in the bushes. Attacks wait outside the front door. And it's hardly safe to walk around the old barn. But, then, that is the perfect spot for battle maneuvers. Lots of nooks and crannies for fox hole-type hideouts. Rugged attack sites among straw mow fortifications. Temporary battle shelters behind sandbags....er, feedbags. Luckily, despite the continu ing confrontations, there have been no casualties. But the fur does fly on occasion. That, I suppose, is only to be expected during the annual ter ritorial battles among the farm's cats. Cat squabbles have been rel atively low key around here the last few years, due to a -very small number of cats on the property. Two new additions - a couple of regular visitors - have escalated the squirmishes this year. One probable reason is our out-of-whack ratio of three male cats to the one female residing around in the old bam. Long-time resident Pest, the old gray-and-white tomcat, is senior of our feline set. Though he once was always underfoot hence his name-Pest now most ly just hangs out around the calf bam waiting for the morning and evenings fills of the milk bowl. Despite his laid-back per sonality, Pest does get territorial when it comes to competitors moving in, Which is part of the reason Midnight, more recent addition to the cat residency, cowers under the heifers' feed trough most of the time. Midnight turned up one Sunday evening last fall, injured and half-starved, surrendering to the enticements of bologna and cautious petting. Several weeks of TLC (catfood, milk, a topical antibiotic and human attention) plumped and healed the beautiful shiny-black cat, but his checkered past and apparent abandonment left deep psy-cat-logical scars. Although Midnight loves being petted, he prefers it on his terms, and no cuddling, please. He's extreme ly ware of other cats, especially Pest in one of his more aggres sive moods. Though Midnight finally did settle into being a bam cat, he's generally in hid ing. And, the wild calls him back for occasional several-day forays to the woods and mead ows. Even more recent arrival is Butch, the charcoal-and-beige tabby donated by friends. Like Tigger of Winnie-the-Pooh fame, Butch bounces around the farm with great exuberance, turning up under my feet regardless of where I am or what I'm doing y / jj CLOSED SUNDAYS, NEW YEAR, EASTER MONDAY, ASCENSION DAY, WHIT MONDAY, OCT. 11,THANKSGIVING, F VIK7m t CHRISTMAS & DECEMBER 26TH FISHER’S FURNITURE, INC. NEW AND USED FURNITURE USED COAL & WOOD HEATERS COUNTRY FURNITURE & ANTIQUES BUS. HRS. BOX 57 MON.-THURS. 8-5 1129 GEORGETOWN RD. FRI, 8-8, SAT. 8-12 BART, PA 17503 Strong. Compact. Maneuverable. Quarryville, PA GRUMELLI’s FARM SERV. 717-786-7318 Lebanon, PA EVERGREEN TRACTOR CO. 717-866-2585 1-800-441-4450 Mifflinburg, PA BS & B REPAIR 717-966-3756 outside. His bad habit of using one's jeans legs as a climbing tree is under treatment. Few things intimidate Butch, save for housecat Monk, who despises all other cats and hisses Butch off "her" porch. Into this array, plunk one hulking, aggressive, stray orange cat who skulks around the bam, zips through the back yard and occasionally scares the daylights out of me when I stumble across him snoozing in the straw mow. The upstart of all this is that one never knows which feline will come streaking around a Attend Berks Pageant LEESPORT (Bales Co.) Attend the Berks County Dairy Princess Pageant to be held May 9, at the Berks County Agriculture Center in Leesport The pageant reception begins at 6:15 p.m. with dinner served at 7 p.ra. Tickets are See One Of T Harrisburg, PA HIGHWAY EQUIPMENT 717-564-3031 Lititz, PA 717-625-2800 Muncy, PA BEST LINE LEASING, INC. 717-546-8422 800-321 -2378 m BUILD! Local Dealers Reading, PA CSI ENTERPRISES INC. 610-926-4400 Bethlehem, PA 610-868-1481 Martinsburg, PA BURCHFIELDS, INC. 814-793-2194 corner in pursuit of an interlop er, or s how long the growling, yowling and/or howling will per sist. Blissfully unaware of this is Calico, the young multi-colored female nonchalant about her role in keeping the cat pecking order in disarray. Mostly she just snoozes, curled up in the hay of one of the weaned heifer pens. I picked her up this morning. And noticed that she seems to be gaining weight. We may have an interesting looking litter of kittens upcom ing. $lO for adults, children 6-12 years are $B, and children S years and under are $l. Reservations must be made by April 25. Send a check to Barbara Grimes, P.O. Box 21S. 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