LIFE IS SIMPLE
We are pleased to offer Jerry Crownover’s
“Life is Simple” column. Jerry is a graduate
of the University of Missouri. He and his
wife, Judy, own and operate a ranch west of
Springfield and are FCS Financial members.
We hope you enjoy Jerry’s Ozark humor
and wisdom.
“Life is Simple” Copyright 2015, Jerry Crownover
know the right word (especially
my hay customers who wanted to
relating to farm terminology), so
come over and purchase a pickup
he will occasionally use the Italian
load of small, square bales. I told
word(s) if he doesn’t know the proper
her I would meet her at the barn in
English translation. This was evident
a few minutes and I’d get her loaded.
on our trip home from the airport
I asked Riccardo if he wanted to
when, as we passed farm after farm,
go along with me and help load
he kept saying, “Balle di fieno!”
hay bales. He was eager to go, but
Trying to be the good host parent, I
I could tell that he might not have
would simply nod and smile.
understood what we were going to
I was amused because it reminded
do, because he smiled and nodded
me of my one and only visit to a real
much like I had those many years
Italian restaurant a few years ago,
ago at the Italian restaurant.
in a large American city. Reading
When we arrived at the barn on
from a menu written in Italian, and
the UTV (Riccardo loves to drive the
speaking to a waiter who seemed to
vehicle, since he is not old enough
be Italian, I ordered an item that
to drive in his native country), the
I’m pretty sure sounded like, “Blah,
hay customer was backing up to
blah, blah,” to him.
the barn. When we stepped inside,
We have a teenager living in our
The patient and courteous waiter
he looked at the stack of hay and
house once again as, two weeks
wrote down my order on his pad, as
pointed to a bale and said, “Ah, Balle
ago, through CIEE, we welcomed
he smiled and nodded. Sometime
di fieno!” Now, both he and I knew
a foreign exchange student into our
later, he returned with a dish that
what he had been saying on the trip
home for the school year and it is
looked like glorified macaroni and
home.
proving to be an adventure for both
cheese and said, “Signore, here is
When the lady’s truck was even
him and us.
your blah, blah, blah. Enjoy!” It was
with the stack of hay and ready to
delicious.
load, I looked at Riccardo and said,
Riccardo is from Italy and will
be attending the local high school;
On day two of Riccardo’s time
graduating next May. Being from a
here, I received a call from one of
“Balle di fieno, times thirty, on the
truck. Enjoy!”
large city, this is his first experience
with living in a rural area, not to
mention the fact that, until now, he
had never set foot on a farm. Luckily,
the young man speaks pretty good
English, since I only know two
words in Italian. And I say two very
loosely, because ciao translates as
both hello and goodbye.
Even though Riccardo’s English
is very good, he sometimes doesn’t
HEARTBEAT | FALL 2015 11