On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards) , Joyce Bupp A shaft of sunlight streams through the opened back door, splashing its glow across the kitchen floor, highlighting the dust and barn dirt which gath ers, even as I sweep similar debris out the front door. Stretched to her length in the sunshine-spot is Monk, our senior-citizen housecat, snooz ing the morning away in the warmth. Usually the closed doors prevent Monk from enjoy ing one of her favorite comfort zones. But when the weather is mild, the sun floods the back porch, and the woodstove is well stoked, I prop open the inside back door so the sunshine can beam in through the storm door glass. s peqs3T®ilB * SffIESISS ~LY UPHOLSTERED ' i W LOFA SOFA r# —■ |K «JQ v . „ SECTIONAL 1 MC{ I 1 SLEEPER iQ < ir , '\ iI V - r ' I Featuring a Loveseat 1 w/Slde-By-Slde f7Tp37 I I ‘ Recllners and Center I [ , ! v i 4 DRAWER CHEST "w Pine Finish and Brass Hardware 1 Reg. Ret. $149.95 Eg||||fl| \*W . CASH PRICE feg|l \J§ $69.95 S 39 M ,I^l (CANTED) FRONT CURIO Oak or Chany Finish - Your Choice - 5 Glass Shelves - Two Doors - Lighted Interior -Mirrored Back Reg. Retail $599.95 Wild Coupon S I69 M (FA &TLOVESEAT - CLOSEOUT n • Fairvlew Arbor Green leg. Retell $2100.00 Our Cash Price $749.95 Special Closeout 5 59ti 95 BUNK BEDS \ Choose From Sculptured or i I w/Bookease Headboard. -('Hfcl I Includes Ladder and safety , rtCJJ | rails. Bedding Sold Separately, Breaks Down To (&_ - .jv-j i I Reg. RatalfsS99.dS 1 Cash Price *2O9 95 1 5 PIECE Dl CLOSI 30”X60” Solid 0»kl Reg. Price $8*9.95 OUR SOA PRICE AFT' Available in Green/Natr White/Natural That shaft of sunlight is not only welcomed for this cheerful ness, but also because Monk is enticed to snooze somewhere other than whatever chair I'm trying to use. If I have paper work strewn across the kitchen table, she wants the cushioned kitchen chair. If I’m working at the computer, she wants the cushioned office chairs. We wage this chair-ownership power struggle endlessly, this cat and I. But she’ll abandon all soft, cushioned furniture to sprawl across the sun-warned floor when the wintry sumbeams pour in. Of course, then I trip over her. On the other hand, if the Volume Buy lETAL FUTON \ Whtta/Green/Black ■ rith 8" Futon Mattress Reg. Retail $639.95 | Cash Price . $ 259 98 1 „«pon s ls9 9B | #2^ Clo • Almor •Glat • 30"x6C leg. Retal >ur Lot *l3 I I I I #2.' GLIDER ROCKER Available In Blue, Beige, Green Reg. Retail $149.95 With Coupon *98 M With Coui stove is burning low and the house chilly, old Monk will lay claim to one of the floor vents directing the heat upstairs front the woodstove. While that maneuver keeps her toasty, it effectively blocks the warm air from its intended purpose. Of all domestic critters, cats are about the most clever and creative in finding select crea ture comfort zones. The barn cats are equally adept with this instinct. Midnight, the black stray who adopted us and now owns the back porch, wisely found warmer quarters when the tem peratures dropped toward the single digits, he snagged squat ter’s rights to the concrete walled understory of the heifer’s feed trough, a proverbial snug as-a-bug-in-a-rug spot for cats. Numerous mother cats over the years have used this spa cious, warm, hidden quarters as a nursery. Fat mice sometimes visit the feed and hay inches away, and fresh milk and cat food supplies are provided regu larly. A couple of conveniently poked holes made to repair water leaks offer Midnight limit ed entrance, and make it easy to keep potential, but unwanted, cat roommates at bay. Meanwhile, our native feline barn felines favor the haymow overhead, with plentiful nooks and crannies in which to curl up m secluded darkness. At feeding time, they appear from all direc tions, yawning and stretching like they’ve been snoozing since the last feeding. Which they probably have. Except for Diamond (a love able calico with a black dia mond-shaped marking) who makes herself at home in any and all of these places, on con stant alert to what’s happening. Every morning she leaps up to the four-feet-high windowsill at the calf barn sink while I’m fill ing calf bottles, to peer through the glass and deliver an eye level guilt trip that I still haven’t fed her. For half-pint-cat Miss Calico and her sidekick, Pest, nothing beats the dairy barn utility room for comfort on a cold morn ing. Motors from the milking system and milk cooling com pressors keep the small room warm on even bitter days. Snagging the top of the hot water heat for a nap is an addi tional plus for these two While Lancaster Farming ✓ Check Out Our Web site www.lancasterfarming.com Lancaster Farming, Saturday. February 6, 1999-B5 Miss Calico is one of our pre mier mousers and can do just about whatever she wants, her affinity for leaving muddy foot prints on the barn desk records sometimes earns her a trip back up to the calf barn. Some of the cows, likewise, are skilled at snagging the cushiest bedding areas They seek out the thickest straw or sawdust of fodder, though differ ences might not be discernible to us. In fact, some of the girls always manage to keep them selves relatively neat and their udders reasonably clean and dry, while a few in the herd inevitably look like (hog farm ers, forgive me) pigs. Newborn baby calves in the boxstalls instinctively know to curl up in the softest, driest cor ner. And often their older cousins will stand in their indi vidual pens, patiently waiting for fresh bedding, then flop down almost before it hits the bedding pack. All critters need, and seek out, certain comforts. Like people, though, some are just better at it than others.