Warm Milk

     It was morning and evening that Blackie, the cow, was milked.  She furnished all the milk we needed to drink.  Some of the milk was left to sour.  The cream was used to churn butter.  Oh, what a simple life it was...being raised on a farm.  The things I got there have since changed to being bought at a grocery store, because I now live in the city.
     But my story doesn't end there.  Not only did the cow's milk feed my family; it managed to feed another family as well.
     Up in the hay loft in that same stable was a mother cat and her four kittens.  The kittens were being nursed by their mother.  The mother cat gave them her milk.  The mother cat fed on mice and other small prey in order to keep up her health and milk production for her babies.  Suprisingly, she also got milk into her diet also.
     As my mother milked Blackie to get milk for our family, the mother cat wanted Blackie's milk, too.  The cat would stand up on her back legs while my mother would spurt milk from Blackie's udder toward her.  When the cat got her fill, she would jump up into the hay loft to her kittens.
     This became a routine.  The cat was not exactly a pet.  She lived in the hay loft as a stray.  But she still came close enough to allow my mother to feed her Blackie's milk.
     I still laugh today as I remember the picture in my mind of a cat standing up on her hind legs to get fresh warm milk.