CANNED

A ten gallon steel milk can is about two feet tall.  The neck is about seven inches across.

Long ago on our dairy farm we always had several empties waiting to be filled with fresh milk.  The filled cans were picked up daily by our milk hauler and more empties left.  The lids were not tightened down until the cans were filled.  It wasn't difficult for a little girl to remove a lid so a can could be used as a place to stash a captured red hen.

The hen went in with some difficulty.  Then while the lid was being recovered the hen escaped.  So…the child wonders, would I fit in that can?

The answer is:  a four year old girl will fit nicely in a ten gallon milk can with nothing but a little blonde head sticking out. Then, when she tries to escape, she can’t because she pushes down with her feet and jams her shoulders against the opening.   This results in anger and screaming and kicking and the can falls over.  The can then rolls across the farm yard.  The screaming mouth gathers dirt and debris.  All the ruckus brings big brother.  He tries in vain to free his sister from the milk can.  He finally goes for help.  Mom comes.  She convinces the little girl to squat down in the can and brings out one arm at a time.  But the mom can’t keep from smiling.  And maybe there is laughing from both the mom and the brother during the extraction process.  Freedom is finally gained although all dignity is totally lost.  And a memory is forever imprinted in the little girl’s instant recall.

A photo of my younger brother and sister playing by the evil milk cans a few years after my bad experience.

NOW THAT'S A SIDE TRIP

Two guys, three maps, a GPS and an odometer:  this sounded like an impending side trip.  Youngest Son was preparing for a one hundred mile bicycle ride and he wanted to explore the route.  DH was just excited for an excuse to use his GPS for a real expedition.  They gathered their gear and climbed in the front of the car.  I got in the back with my camera.

The course purposefully followed back roads as much as possible so the riders would be able to avoid heavy traffic.  (Around here heavy traffic is two pickup trucks backed up behind a large tractor pulling some kind of heavy farm equipment while a huge motor home is coming from the other direction.)

While I did drive by shootings of horses

and cows.  The guys carried on about missing the bridge and turning left at mile twenty-eight.  And was that 600 or 800 north?

I took pictures out the window of the Idaho side of the Grand Teton mountains.

As the afternoon progressed big storm clouds materialized. 

Rain came to settle the dust.  Youngest Son was glad this wasn’t the day of the ride.  He’s done bad weather before.

The guys were able to find their way to the half-way point of the route.  It was Upper Mesa Falls along the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River.   There the water takes a spectacular tumble over a ridge of volcanic rock.  We drove into the parking lot.  The guys checked their maps and position and congratulated themselves—mission accomplished. 

There was a five dollar entrance fee per carload to go down the path to the viewing area.  DH said something about how we’d been there several times and not having that much in cash.  And besides it was raining.  He started to drive back to the highway.

WAIT A MINUTE!  I didn’t ride this far to miss the main attraction!  I pulled out five dollars.  We went back.

I was busy shooting pictures so the guys got ahead of me.

Upper Mesa Falls is one of the last large undisturbed waterfalls in the western United States.  Lower Mesa Falls is the other one.

 

The mist from the falling water can rise higher than an eleven story building.

The water drops 110 feet.

Those are my toes.  This photo was taken while standing behind the safety of a sturdy metal rail barrier.

We took the highway home.

TEN THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT ME

1.  I listen to Abba.  (I know, I know)

2.  When I’m alone in the laundry room I dance to the music of the washing machine.

3.  I LOVE those little blue and white York Peppermint Dark Chocolate Pieces.

4.  When I weigh myself on my bathroom scales I even take off my watch and rings.

5.  I never drink adult beverages

6.  My “Daisy on My Toe” post receives more visitors than any other.  I think there are a lot more people out there with foot fetishes than we imagine.

7.  I learned to drive a tractor with manual shift and two brake pedals before I learned to drive a car.

8.  When I eat cookies in bed I brush the crumbs over to the side where DH sleeps.

 9.  When I’m alone in my car I like to sing really loud to “Dream a Little Dream of Me” with Mama Cass or, “Bohemian Rhapsody” with Queen.

 10.  My favorite actress is Miss Piggy. “Nothing really matters…but MEEEEE!”

11. I have a lot of trouble with numbers.