Milkstands!...and memories

I find it interesting how often we have to explain words and expressions that we use, to folk who are 30 and under. The world is changing so quickly that words just fall out of use. We of a certain age take it for granted that younger folk will always need to be explaining words to us - the fields of technology and entertainment are full of terminology that I will never comprehend, much less use.

My antidote to that fossil feeling? Milk-stand! There, that's got them! How many folk know what one is? Or what it is used for? I can remember that our milk-stand stood just inside the farm yard, and that weeds grew up beneath it to create a shelter where one summer I had a playhouse. I recall when I was about 10 that milkman Ken Henry would come to pick up the milk that had been placed in massive straight sided cans (cream was in curvy little cans with handles and lids like hats) and wrestled up onto the milkstand. I remember the circular roadway that curved around it, in front of the dairy barn. It seemed such a long walk then.

Today I found what is purported to be one of Sidney township's few remaining milk stands. It is very well maintained, as is the solid red barn with the stone foundation behind it, and the other farm buildings. It was great to see an old friend.