The Local COOP

It was a nice day. OK, maybe 38F and windy, but still I felt the urge to get out and sketch. The local COOP was here when I was a kid fifty years ago and it looked old then. It's seen a long life and is still kicking. However, times have changed it. The scales are accessed via satellite and the office isn't manned, at least in the off-season like right now. But the buildings are all as I remember them as a kid. They needed to be sketched.

The mood was different now. This was a happening place, especially at harvest time. The scale building also had a small retail sales space to sell rabbit food, dog food and other miscellaneous items that don't need to be bulk loaded into a pickup or grain truck. The smell of grain was everywhere, and you needed to watch out for huge trucks driving to the scales and then driving to unload. It was exciting!

The elevator is still in use, and maybe it is still hopping at harvest time, but I doubt it. The scale building appears empty of all furnishings. I think all the weighing is done remotely through the satellite antenna. Times have changed. I suppose they need to keep up with the economics of the grain markets and cut costs. However, today's youth won't have the same experiences that I did at harvest time.