84-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 29, 1998
On Being a
Farm Wife
(and other
hazards)
Joyce Bupp
I confess. I haven’t paid much
attention to all the warnings.
Computer experts have
warned us for a couple of years
about the upcoming technologi
cal asteroid of the turn of the
century. The Year 2000 Cliche.
The Y2K problem.
Just in case you’ve been in
Outer Mongolia and out of reach
of satellite, digital or network
information, there’s this little
problem in the computer indus
try. Computers have been pro
grammed to read the last two
digits of the year, 60, 70, 80, 98,
99, etc.
But now, in the fast fading
months remaining in the decade
of the 90s, face-to-face with the
turn of the century and the real
ity of inputting 01/01/00 (boy,
that will take some getting used
to'), it has dawned on us that
computers have—in many
cases— not been smartened up
to read two zero numbers m the
year slot Instead, they’ll proba
bly either go into hard drive car
diac arrest or flash onto the
screen one of this highly-aggra
vating error messages, which in
turn prompt the operator to
threaten their hardware with a
two-by-four
Until last week, I just
assumed the wizards of Silicon
Valley will surely have figured
out a quick fix and would release
it with a bunch of hype just in
time to laugh all the way to the
bank before their statements
read the year 2000 The Y2K
issue would be somehow fixable
with upgrade software priced at
$99.99 and with a $25 rebate if
you ACT NOW
So simple So frighteningly
complex And, so potentially
dangerous
Reality is, the Y2K issue
might not just affect our bank or
credit card company’s ability to
handle figuring interest or cred
BUILDING THE FAMILY FARM FOR GENERATIONS
We watch over every step in the manufacture, assembly and
construction of your building Morton operates five manufacturing
facilities strategically located to serve you efficiently
Our high-volume buying power enables us to purchase the finest raw
mafena's at the lowest possible price Components for your structure
are manufactured, fabricated and assembled under the watchful eyes
of quality control experts
We maintain a fleet of company-owned and operated trucks,
enabling our drivers to unload your building materials quickly and
safely
From that point, a crew of company-trained, company-employed
and company-insured construction professionals takes over They are
trained to follow the most efficient and safe construction methods
possible, and are supplied with state-of-the-art equipment and quality
materials to make your facility something to be proud of for years to
iting payments or keeping track
of the charge or payment you
made to an account on
December 29, 1999 showing up
on your January 10, 2000 state
ment.
You know, until I began read
ing articles about the issue, I
never thought about that fact
that medical and hospital emer
gency systems operate off com
puterized dating. Some of which
has not yet been updated to the
Year 2000 issue. The possibility
that folks could be in an emer
gency situation at 11:59 p.m. on
December 31, 1999 and having
lifesaving equipment cut out
within the minute digitally
screaming “error!, error!, error!”
as our round baler monitor does,
came home to roost recently.
A payment gliche that
occurred within recent days to
area dairy producers really
underlined the reality of the
issue. Milk is paid under an
archaic, screwy system that
dates back decades and which
makes little sense, except that is
the way it is. Milk for different
uses is paid at different price
levels and those levels fluctuate
with supply and demand. But
they lag way behind—price if
often still dropping when milk
starts to be short. Dairymen
have learned to live with the
strange payment system, like it
or not.
Market and price gyrations
recently created and upside
down position for milk prices—
milk for drinking temporarily
valued at way less than milk
used for manufacturing purpos
es—and created a negative
deduction from many farmers’
settlement milk checks, espe
cially here m the middle Atlantic
area Producers were pleased
with their advance, first-of-the
month milk check, paid at one
pricing level, only to find large
MUMFORD, N.Y.
Nineteenth-century cuisine had
as many layers as a white
Portugal onion. It was practical,
and it was flavorful. It was rich,
and it was healthful. It relied
heavily on foods grown and
raised locally, but it liberally
borrowed specialties and tech
niques from many European cul
tures.
Genesee Country Village &
Museum will highlight all those
aspects during “A Taste of
History Theme Week,” August
25 through 30. The week will
highlight the museum’s working
kitchens and allow visitors to
experience, up close and in per
son, the cooking equipment,
methods and foods used in the
1800 s.
“Visitors will learn about
19th-century measurements
such as “butter the size of a hen’s
egg” and ‘brine strong enough to
deductions due from their sec
ond, settlement, monthly milk
check to balance the lesser com
bined value of milk resulting
when the price of all classes of
milk was factored together.
Even worse, computers in
some cases were unable to read
the negative number and turned
it into a positive, resulting in
producers initially being paid
twice the amount that should
have been deducted in the first
place Meaning that a lot of
money that was already mental
ly—if not physically—earmarked
to pay off feed, fertilizer, vets,
etc., had to or will have to be
taken off a succeeding check.
This was probably the first
time ever that this price contor
tion of such large proportions
occurred to us dairymen around
here. Thus, some payroll sys
tems weren’t programmed to
recognize it, Result: a bunch of
very angry, upset, frustrated,
even panicked*, farm families.
It’s hard to have to pay back
amounts ranging from a few
hundred to, in some cases, sev
eral thousand, dollars, simply
because of computer systems’
gliches
If this can happen to us dair
producers on such a relatively
small scale, what does the gen
eral population have to look for
ward to on January 1, 2000?
Believe me, I have a whole
new respect for the Y2K issue
Mb. MORTON
W BUILDINGS
717/624-3331
3368 York Rd.
Gettysburg, PA 17325
800-447-7436
Taste Of History
float an egg,” says Marguerite
Sharp, lead interpreter of food
ways.
The featured dishes will
highlight not only the eras and
economic conditions of the hous
es that hold the museum’s work
ing kitchens, but will also focus
on foods available in August and
September, particularly the sea
sonal crops. All the kitchens will
use fruits and vegetables from
the museum’s heirloom gardens.
The museum will also spot
light popular 19th-century
desserts including grunts and
cobblers.
Genesee Country Village &
Museum maintains the third
largest collection of historic
buildings in the nation. Each of
the 57 19th-century buildings
has been moved to the site,
restored to its original condition
and furnished with period
antiques. Costumed villagers
and craftspeople interpret 1800 s
Hearts And Hands
(Continued from page B 2)
people are needed to fill the fol
lowing positions:
• Experienced sewers to guide,
supervise, and sew when
necessary.
• Sewing machine operators for
zipper installation and pullover
construction.
• Serger machine operators for
pullover construction.
• Runners to transport items
from station to station.
• Quality inspectors to check
quality of the pullover.
• Embroidery machine opera
tors to embroider Hearts and
Hands labels.
* Pressers to press seams and
hems.
• Pinners to pin in zippers and
hems.
During each two-hour session,
the assembly-line process will
require 11 machine operators,
three pressers, two floor persons,
five inspectors, one foreperson,
one mechanic, and two rippers.
“We did a dry run,” Julie said of
the process designed to make it as
908/454-7900
P.O. Box 126,
Phillipsburg, NJ 08865
Illinois only, call
1-800-426-6686
Genesee River Valley life for vis
itors. The museum also includes
a Gallery of Sporting Art. with
one of the largest collections of
sporting and wildlife art in the
country, and the 175-acre
Genesee Country Nature
Center, with plant, animal and
geology exhibits and five miles
of hiking trails through wood
lands, wetlands and meadows.
Genesee Country Village &
Museum is located in Mumford,
N.Y., 20 miles southwest of
Rochester and 45 miles east of
Buffalo, near New York State
Thruway exits 47 (Leßoy) and
46 (Rochester). Museum admis
sion is $ll for adults, $9,50 for
seniors or students with ID,
$6.50 for children 4 to 16, and
free for children 3 and under
Parking is free. The museum’s
summer hours, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m
Tuesday through Sunday and
holidays, are in effect through
Labor Day.
easy as possible for volunteers. In
addition, participants will receive
light refreshments to fortify help
ing hands.
The pullovers will be given to
the Salvation Army. They will
coordinate efforts with other agen
cies to distribute the fleece pullov
ers to those in need.
In addition to helping others,
Julie said the event will help
spread the fun of sewing in a
friendly atmosphere. It’s a great
time for people of all ages to work
together.
A home economics class from a
local high school will bus students
who wish to participate in the
project.
Donations are needed to help
pay for the purchased fabric.
To learn more about this project,
to volunteer for a specific time, or
to make a donation, contact Julie
Wcgelin’s Sewing Cellar at 945 N.
Fourth St., Reading, PA 19601.
Phone number is (610) 376-3490.
E-mail JWSewingCellar@ju
no.com or at www.sewnet com/
Sewing Cellar.
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