On Being a Farm Wife (and other hazards Joyce Bupp ’Bout halfway, we are. And closin’ in. Time flies fast enough, without wishing—outwardly or inward ly—for it to go any faster. Still, a brief thought pops up increasing ly through conversations with folks: “I’m ready for spring!” Given the layers and pounds of outer gear necessary to tackle barn work as the temperatures flirted with zero in recent weeks, daydreaming about warm, sunny days and soft breezes comes pret ty easily. Thoughts of shorts, t shirts and a wave-washed beach offer mental allure while piling on thermal coveralls, turtleneck sweaters, hooded sweatshirts, wear) and a ski cap guaranteed to style an incurable case of “hat hair.” We have the breezes, albeit far from balmy. They rattle the maple limbs overhead, shake the big doors on the old bank bam, whistle through the fans at the calf nursery and poke through cracks around the windows of our old farmhouse, assuring that we never suffer with indoor stale air problems. But the sunshine has been pretty sparse, probably off wintering somewhere in the sunny Carribean. Looking beyond the repeated blankets —thick and thin—of snow cover, and assorted build ups of ice, diminished last week end by foggy drips, offers cause for hope. There are some signs of spring out there. First, of course, came the seed catalogs, the initial offering in the mail arriving barely after Thanksgiving. Poor timing, all you garden catalog mailers. Who has time to think seeds in those hectic weeks just before the holi days? Those catalogs just get buried in the deluge holiday and pre-tax-time mail. Fortunately, they get dug out of the paper work piles just about the time that springtime longing starts to peak. And what better way to spend a minus-10-degree-wind-chill wintry evening than curled up under a snuggly afghan with popcorn, hot chocolate and a couple of springtime wishbooks? No weeds, no worms, no wasps. Just a perfect garden with per fectly straight rows of picture perfect produce. Dandelions already greening up under the damp leaf cover oner a reality check to that. Bloomiqg on the window sill behind the kitchen sink is some thing closer to the real thing. A pot of tall paperwhite narcissus, their clusters of white blossoms wafting out a wonderful fra grance. The coolness of the win dowsill has extended the duration of the dainty flowers, flanked by a perky geranium sporting soft pink flower heads and white cy clamen blossoms poking up from crisp, heart-shaped foliage. On another windowsfi, pussy willow branches have pushed out pale green shoots of foliage above stems covered with kitten-soft, gray flower buds. For years, the nicest stems on the old pussywil low eluded cutting, taunting us bouquet-cutters from some 20 feet overhead. Until December’s first nasty ice storm. Stretched out in the yard on its side, rotten-hollow trunk ex posed, the pussywillow’s bud laden top branches were easy prey for the pruning shears. Now they hint of the growing season, forming white roots and green tops. Even in death, this old tree which harbored annual nests of VMT Vacations ... 1-800-888-8204 Om - ( hci ,i million t uslohuts our backyard birds has given up new life to replace its former self. Two large cardboard boxes wintered on the basement porch until late last month, when plum meting temperatures sent me hustling to move them to the ground cellar. Buried inside their stuffing of leaf-insulation are pots filled with tulip, daffodil and hyacinth bulbs, growing roots and shoots for forcing. As signs of growth begin to show, they’ll be moved to the cool floor of the greenhouse in a couple of weeks. With a late-April Easter date, a few of the pots may need stalling longer than usual in the cool darkness. Glancing out the kitchen win dow a few days ago, I spied a strange cat pussyfooting around the yard. From its size and build, the stocky, fuzzy-gray feline was obviously a male. Recent epi sodes of screaming, screeching and yowling, sometimes setting Derra Dog off into a frenzy of barking and a chase of the insti gators, signals yet another sign of the sliding by of the season—tom cat territorial squabblings. Take heart. When the catfights start, spring is truly not very far away. Hawaii Farm Tours The Best Escorted Vacations You'll Ever Find 15 days AQO 4 islands <»«... Add $llO for some departure cities Departs January Blh8 lh through 29 ,h , 2004 Departs Mondays and Thursdays, January B,h8 ,h through the 29 th , 2004. Includes airfare. Hawaiian owned hotels, transfers, baggage handling, Escort flying with you from island to island, staying in OAHU, HAWAII (Kona & Hilo), MAUI & KAUAI. 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