Fathers’ Day Surprise

[Michael D Hankinson]

I grew up on a little dairy farm in West Michigan in the 40s and 50s. Milked those cows by hand till I joined the Army in 1961. My first shotgun was a single shot 20Ga Savage Hammerless. I would be milking a cow, watch a Ring Neck fly into our pasture the creek flowed through. Finish that cowm grab the shotgun and go after the Phesant. We had both 5 and 10 Gallon cans which we put in a cooling tnk. Best of all a few times each summer we might get a watermelon and cool it down in the milk tank. Nothing better after hauling hay than a slice of cold melon. No RST shells then, Blue Peters were my go to #5s.

[Jeff K.]

They look to me to be milk cans.

[stumpstalker]

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(ditto)

[Romac]

Great Cover!

[TARNATION !!!]

Milk cans. Maybe one used for cream after separation. Either that or pistons for the old John Deere 😵*💫
Stan guessing you must be a youngster compared to some of us.
Here’s a milk can story. Think I might’ve been about 8 years old. Somehow I had come into possession of a one dollar bill. Had it all balled up in my hand and wasn’t about to let go of it. Then came lunch. My uncle did up his own bacon and that was served. I had never tasted bacon like it. Figured something was off so I shook a bunch of salt on it. Even worse. Got told it didn’t need salt because it was already heavily salted bacon. So I reached behind me to pass the bacon to an eager dog but in the process that balled up dollar left my hand. Dog didn’t get it. It dropped into a full milk can with no lid on it. I’m desperately trying to figure out how to retrieve my prize. While others were in the midst of lunch conversation I slid my hand into the can and stirred around a bit. No dollar. I went deeper up to my elbow and felt the balled up dollar. Retrieved it with no one the wiser. Wiped my arm on my pants and tucked the dollar in a pocket. I may not have washed my hands before lunch and I may have gathered some eggs and shovelled some manure before as well. I decided I wouldn’t bother with a glass of milk from that can.

Just realized that national Sportsman magazine will be 100 years old in a few weeks.

[charlie cleveland]

great storey about that dollar bill...I don t think many of us worried about washing our hands in those days....in high school we went to a milk factory...first thing we saw was a man pulling the lids off the milk cans as they came into this room he smelled each can...I asked our guide what was the purpose of him smelling the milk can he said to see if the milk was still ok or not....I asked him what if he had a cold and his nose might be stopped up he replied lots of bad milk would get bottled up for us to drink....this was how the milk company tested their good or bad milk each day back then...true storey....I think about this some times as I drink some milk...charlie

[OH Osthaus]

he tried a breach loader a few years later, sans beard

[todd allen]

Reminds me of my days living on a farm in the country. Any hawk that came near a chicken coop was called a chicken hawk, no matter the actual species, and was shot on sight.
I watched an elderly uncle blast a circling hawk outta the sky with his ancient Auto-5, yelling "Dang chicken hawk!"
Back in those days, the survivors of the great depression did not debate with varmints that messed with the family food resources.

[Stan Hillis]

Originally Posted by Jack Kronkhite

Stan guessing you must be a youngster compared to some of us.

May be, Jack. I'm only 70. Raised on a farm, have farmed all my adult life, but never saw milk delivered, or kept, in a big can like that. Thanks for the explanation. He must have had several milk cows, eh?

[Mark Britton]

On my farm where three springs come out of the ground together, you can still see the channel that was dug out to store the milk cans. The Pillows had a dairy farm. Mr Pillow who I never knew was a veteran for the south in the civil war. His daughter Mary was like a grandmother to me.I can still see and hear her in my mind playing the piano and singing Dixie to the top of her lungs. I'm only 61