when I was young

[low_delta]

Here's a picture of me when I was very small.



I find it interesting for two reasons. One is that I don't remember that tricycle. I'm pretty sure it was mine because I see it in quite a few pictures, but I don't know what happened to it.

The other is the milk box. See it by the door? We had milk delivered to that box. That must have ended around 1970. There was an article in the paper about a milkman.

...owner Larry Westhoff of Beaver Dam, one of America's few remaining milkmen.

Even more amazing in 21st-century suburbia: 12 hours earlier, that milk was in a Wisconsin cow.

"I believe we sell the freshest milk in the country," declared Westhoff, a wiry 39-year-old former dairy farmer. Motioning toward stacks of red plastic milk crates strapped inside his truck, he noted, "This was picked up yesterday afternoon. Sometimes I have to wait for it to get bottled."

Westhoff delivers primarily milk, although some customers also request other dairy products, including cheese, eggs, yogurt and butter. "Once people start getting their milk fresh in glass bottles, they can't go back to drinking anything else. It's that good," he says.

He has delivered milk every weekday of that four years - except two days when the truck needed all-day repairs and once when sidewalks were so icy "that I fell on my butt on every stop. I did five houses, then called Maria and said, "Tell everyone we're down today and I'll be there tomorrow."

No sick days? No vacation days?

"It's just like the farm. You do the work until the work's done, and no excuses," he said. "Of course, I did take that day off because of ice, which I guess was an excuse. But I got a pair of boots that I put screws in, so now I can walk on ice. No more excuse there."

Comments

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

I remember the milkman. We'd put out the empties and mom would fill out a card of the things she wanted delivered the next day. And maybe he's the reason both of my sisters have light colored hair. *giggle*

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

We had milk delivered in a box just like that in Colorado.. in the 90's! Of course it was cool there in the evenings year round.. and it didn't come in nice glass bottles but regular plastic gallons like you would normally buy, but it WAS nice to get it twice a week, and to have the option of getting butter and cottage cheese with it.

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

Hey, there was no milkman hanging around when Melissa and I were born. If you remember a milkman and your hair is darker than ours...welllll. *ahem*

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

But how do you explain the fact that my hair matches mom's and dad's? Huh? Huh? huh?

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

They were both blond when they were little. You've always had brown hair.

[roadskoller.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God.
*runs off to ask...."are you my daddy?"*

[cynnerth.livejournal.com]

hahahahahahahaaaa!!
*makes one point in the air*

[serendipity.livejournal.com]

I remember the milkman, too. Actually, the dad of one of my friends who lived on the next block (and across the alley) was a milkman. We always made sure to visit their house on Halloween because he gave out small cartons of orange drink!

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

The nineties? Wow. Was it a small town?

[ravenfeather.livejournal.com]

Yep, Security Colorado. A small town right beside Colorado Springs.

[low-delta.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I wonder how widespread milk delivery is now.