Dairy Days

Our 4-H club gave away root beer floats this afternoon in front of our local grocery store.  The store donated the ice cream and we bought the root beer, cups etc.  The kids set up a little table outside because it was so nice out.  The bank sign said it was 77 degrees but it felt almost cool enough to have a jacket on.  As people walked by the kids would ask if they wanted a free root beer float and a lot, more than half, of people said no.   Who doesn't want a free root beer float?  An amazing number of them said they had just eaten.  Really?  At 4 o'clock in the afternoon?  Are we the only people who eat dinner after 5 o'clock or were they giving us a line?  We each had a one, Spark even had two.  They weren't that big though, 8 oz. Dixie cups.


There were a couple funny stories from the afternoon.  A truck pulled up and the other family we were with knew the older lady, probably about 75-80 years old, who got out on the passenger side.  The mom yelled hello to Florence who said she wanted a float but would get on her way back out and she would get one too for the person who was driving the truck.  She said his name but I didn't catch it.  While Florence was in the store the kids made the floats and the girl, who must not have known the family as well as the mom did, brought the float over to the drivers side of the truck and gave it to the driver saying that his wife said that he would want a float.  He told her, quite excitedly, that he wasn't her husband, he was her son!  Oops!

Another man came and wanted a float because it was his birthday.  Happy Birthday we all said and sorry we didn't have any cake to go with his float.  He said that he didn't live here but his brother did.  Well, his brother use to live here, he died in April and he was 10 years older than him.  Then he went on to tell us that another of his brothers, who also lived around here, died in November and he was two years younger than him.  Next he says, good thing I don't live around here or people might think I was knocking them off!  Then he laughs!  I leaned over to the mom next to me and said "Gee, he really seems upset over them."  She says yeah and that was my art teacher in high school over 30 years ago.  He drives out of the parking lot hanging out the window yelling good bye and waving at the same time as trying to eat his birthday root beer float.  His wife was in the passenger side waving just as vigorously.  The world is full of interesting people.