A new home with a new smell

I've officially made the move northbound to my new home, Pulaski, Wisconsin. I wrestled with the choice of moving to Pulaski, which is where I'll be teaching, or Green Bay, the closest and largest city (I wanted to use the word metropolis, but just can't) in proximity to Pulaski. Ultimately, Pulaski won out, with the rationale that I'd rather drive to Green Bay twice on the weekends to hang out as opposed to driving to Pulaski five days per week to commute to work.

Pulaski is small. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. You can count the town's dining options on two hands. You've got McDonald's, Dairy Queen (good for ice cream but I'm not sure I've ever tried actual "food" from DQ), Subway, Cousins, two small Mom-n-Pop diners (one of which definitely used to be a Hardee's), and a Chinese place that is called China Wok or Panda Garden or Emperor's Buffet or something like that. I've found through the years that small Chinese places like this are either decently good or really bad. I'm obviously hoping for the former. Either way, I foresee myself eating at Cousins and Subway. A lot. Anthony Bourdain will not be shooting any episodes for No Reservations in Pulaski, or even Green Bay.

There are two gas stations. A few bars. And a lot of farming and machinery type cooperatives, which brings me to the point of this post. The farm smell is strong. Much stronger than I've ever experienced. I have memories of driving through the country as a youngster and burying my face in my pillow while my mom took deep breaths of cow-soaked air, "Ahhhh that fresh country is great!" I always thought, "How can you like that smell?" I guess that's the difference between someone who grew up on a farm and myself, who grew up in a city. I prefer the smell of dead bodies and feral cats over cows.

I went for an exploratory walk tonight and passed two farm machine-type co-ops that were dispensing grain, or loading trucks with fertilizer, or doing whatever it is that they do at those places. The odor was strong. I'm not saying that Pulaski smells like...well, you know. But my biggest adjustment in moving to Pulaski won't necessarily be adjusting to the small size of the town; it'll be adjusting to the crazy, overwhelming scent of farm and cow.

I do believe that Pulaski will grow on me, especially as the schoolyear draws closer. But I really hope that I get used to that cow and farmy smell pretty soon.