Some how, some way in our "stuff" we have a milk stool, different from any milk stool I have ever seen. For those of you who may not be familiar with a milk stool -- that was the stool that a milker would sit on when milking a cow. I was always told that the milk stool was Len's.

Len was Dad's brother and died four years before I was born at the age of 18. As result I never had the opportunity to know my uncle.

This milk stool was built by Len, according to what they told me, most likely during the 1920s.

This approximately 80 year old stool has a platform that extended under the cow to place the bucket on. Because it was so different, I wanted to keep it.

My grandpa had a Grade A dairy with Jerseys north of the Bates County poor farm. The barn had 20 stanchions. It was a large dairy barn. This compares to the one we had on our farm, which had only five stanchions.

Many cows have been milked by the milkers using a one-legged stool. These were made by nailing a piece of board on the end of a short 2-by-4 to sit on.

This was common for people having to milk or only a few cows. I am sure that many of the readers have experienced using a stool of this type.

The museum at Butler, known as the Pioneer Museum, is located downtown. They are developing an annex at what at one time was the Bates County Poor Farm.

It seems appropriate that the milk stool should be given to their museum if they will accept it.

With grandpa's property joining the property that the poor farm had, it appears that this will be a good location for this unusual milk stool that my uncle used. At least I want to find a proper place for it.

The metal milk stool that I used when a kid is also in our stuff. I am planning to re-paint it and hang it in the garage. We always milked the cows with a milking machine after I got big enough to milk. Prior to that the folks milked the cows by hand. Often mom had that responsibility. We "stripped" the cows after taking the milking machine off, to finish milking the cow or to make sure the cow was completely milked. Not everyone stripped their cows after taking the machines off, but we did. In addition to the milk stool, I plan to hang hay hooks that I made in high school and other items in the garage.

I think about the milk stools and how dairy operations used to be about 60 years ago and the vast difference in farming now. At one time, every farm had at least one milk cow. Perhaps they had enough to sell cream or some Grade C milk.

Now I wonder how many kids may be growing up on farms, never having milked a cow. Most farm families now buy their milk, instead of having a cow around to milk.

We are more specialized.

In our stuff that is in storage is a potato bunker, built by my grandpa.

Several years ago, my dad asked me if I would like to have it. At that time, I was growing some potatoes. I never did have the proper place to put the bunker. Instead we used it in the garage we had. That no longer can be done and it must come out of its storage place. Since the bunker was built by my grandpa, I want to find a home for it. I may have to burn it, but I do not want to destroy it. Hopefully, the museum at Butler will have a place for it.

It is interesting that many items may not have any special value or usage, but still mean something to a person.

The old milk stool that I used is an example. I have used it through the years, when I needed something to sit on -- not for milking.

As we think about the past, we realize that things are different, there have been many changes in many ways. These things did not all change at once, although it seems that way. The circumstances and methods only evolved, and such changes are continuing to happen.

It is good to look at the things that people used in the past. It is also good to learn about the past -- it helps us to know where we came from and have a greater appreciation of the present. The Bushwhacker Days gave us some opportunities to learn some of the things of the past. One of the things for example was the blacksmith, which was common 60 years ago, but does not exist in our society now.

A milk stool is not much, but it does remind us of our dairy history and to see a stool of a different style.

Perhaps it will end up in a location that others can see, instead as another item in our stuff.