We're in the process of buying a farm about twenty miles away from where we live now.
I know. This is quite sudden. That's just how we are. We do things quite suddenly.
Our new-to-us farm (100+ year old farm) is about five miles outside of a little town where, apparently, everyone and her uncle must belong to some sort of coôperative.
We're getting our farm loan through the farm loan/ bank coôperative. (This will make us members of a coôp, immediately, so we can fit in.) Our loan officer told us that the best playground for Little Z was on the other side of town, "across from the coôp".
Today, in a spirit of exploration, we drove out to the little town we will soon be a part of, and looked for the park. We passed a giant coôp store and a coôp gas station.
"I don't understand," said Brian. "There's the coôp. Where's the park?"
Just then there were sirens everywhere. The sheriff went by and a small fire truck, then a police car. Brian rounded a corner and we found the park. As we were pulling in, a police car was actually driving through the park, not exactly on a road. Brian and I both had the same thought at the same time,
"Watch, there'll be a dead body."
It's a great park. We forgot temporarily about all of the hoopla of emergency vehicles, and played. They had the greatest teeter-totter there. It seated four. Some other kids came with their parents. They seemed nice. After about twenty minutes, Brian said,
"There is a dead body, after all!"
Sure enough, across the street, five guys were moving a stretcher with a big red tarp over it, loading it into a van. It was clearly the body of a large man.
"What is that, over there? Is that a nursing home?"
"The sign says, 'Homestead Coôp'."
"Huh."
"Huh."
"Poor guy must have just gone for a walk and had a heart attack or something."
"Huh."
____
"So, the park actually IS across from the coôp. Not the bank coôp, not the hardware store coôp, and not the gas station coôp, but the homestead coôp."
"Right."
I'd like to point out here that this is a really small town. It's probably even smaller than Joplin, Missouri.
____
"Well, it's a really nice park. I like it."
"Yeah, and at least we didn't meet any freaks here. That's good."
"Just a dead body."
"Well, people die everywhere. It's not his fault he died here."
I love it! Good luck on the purchase!
ReplyDeleteIf you decide to raise chickens, you'll need a chicken coôp.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that funny little tent over the second 'o', anyway? Is it Norwegian?
Joplin's actually a mid-sized city, about as big as Petaluma, I think. I haven't been back there since they cut my hair.
Best of luck with your purchase! By the way, what's with the "^"?
ReplyDeleteJust curious!
Adam (mrelife.blogspot.com)
I think I saw the ô somewhere once to indicate when the second vowel sound is still short, even when there are two vowels in a row, which would usually mean that it would be a long vowel sound. So, basically, I thought it was correct to put that over the second /o/ so you didn't think I was talking about little fenced in areas.
ReplyDeleteIt looks wrong, though, but there must be some correct way of doing it.
I also just liked figuring out my character palate.
Yeah, about Joplin, that guy I dated was really offended that I thought it was a small town. I just thought that because they had such small town ideas, you know. The closest town to our prospective farm, the town of coôps, (or maybe it's coöps, or coŏps,) is less than 7,000.
Brian was on the Skype with his mom today, and said to her, "Yeah, the park was really nice, except for the dead body." I thought that would have been a better title for this entry, but now you've all read it already, so oh, well. Too late to edit!
P.S. Thank you for all your good wishes! It still isn't a done deal, but we're pretty well on our way to getting it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds very cool. Best of luck-lots of room for visiting relatives!
ReplyDeleteWhat are you going to be farming? This is Jerry by the way!
ReplyDeleteI think it's supposed to be hyphenated, like the International Co-operative Alliance.
ReplyDeleteJerry, I think we'll be raising sheep, come next spring.
ReplyDeletePoor guy... but glad you enjoyed the park.
ReplyDeleteLotta work, raising sheep.
ReplyDeleteyou ALWAYS make me laugh. like not a lol. but a REAL laugh.
ReplyDeletehilarious.
except about the dead guy. sorry for him of course.
I am completely in awe of your farm purchase. I'm dying to move to a farm. but the shear about of work is daunting.
Aha! I was intrigued by bOb's use of Petaluma as an example of a mid-sized city. It wasn't so big when I was growing up in ... Santa Rosa! And I see you're from Cloverdale--no wonder!
ReplyDeleteI think we're going to be hearing about lot's of adventures from you, CD. Looking forward to it! There were lot's of co-ops when we were living in Ames, Iowa ...
Hi, Rose! I was a kid in Petaluma, myself, and then we moved to Sebastopol when I was eleven.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm thinking this experience will give me a lot to blog about. It's a lot of work, though, everyone agrees. My dad should know. After all, steel guitar players are notorious for their sheep husbandry.
I'm glad I make you laugh, CailinMarie. :)
Whoa. Skip reading the blog for a couple of days and you buy a farm.
ReplyDeleteI grew up closer to Sebastopol than Santa Rosa, on Hall Road. Went to H.S. at El Molino, which wasn't close to where I lived at all. Nice country, hmmmm?
ReplyDelete