My step-mother had a sister named Lyle. A real free spirit (maybe more about her later) she came to visit us I guess every 2 or 3 years and everyone looked forward to her visits.

She had a dog, a Boston terrier named Mitzi that accompanied her on every visit. We had on the farm a couple of rat terriers, Pat and Mike. My fathers coon dogs and a great many barn cats. We always had grain stored in the barn for the large animals, so, we quite naturally had a rodent problem. The cat patrol was in charge of rodent eradication and they did a good job. We almost never saw a mouse or even evidence of a mouse. and, once in a whiie the cats would leave a gift of a dead rat on the mat either at the front or back door. I'm getting way off of what I started to post but, I guess there is a tie in.. Our cats were always given a large trough of warm milk right after we finished milking and very little else. They seemed to thrive sister Mary and I did a cat inventory a couple of times and I swear there were over 30 each time. The dogs got table scraps plus some dry dog food, I didn't even know that they made food for pets, all of mine before I went to live with my father and step-mother got table scraps, period.

When Lyle came to visit. , she always brought along a lot of cans of dog food, I even remember the brand I must have been impressed. The brand was Ideal Have no idea if there even is such a brand anymore. Mitzi always got 1/3 of a can in the morning and 1/3 later in the day. the other third was in wax paper in the refrigerator for the following day.

everyone happened to be away from the house and father came in in late afternoon tired and hungry. You already see where I'm going with this. Well he found what the thought was lunch meat and made himself a sandwich from Ideal dog food. Lyle thought that she must have miscalculated when she fed Mitzi the evening before but the mystery was solved when father asked my step-mother not to buy that kind of lunch meat anymore, it had a funny taste and texture. Lyle had to scold him for using Mitzi's food. He almost never swore but he let loose an expletive and said for God's sake don't read the ingredients to me.

Proofread by L