"They were part of a promotion circa 1985 or 86. What you received was a Cow Bowl and a Spoon Friend. A Cow Bowl was a white plastic cereal bowl with cow spots on it. We still have 1, maybe 2 of those left, but one fell to a shattering death a few years ago, and the other(s) have disappeared.

"But Cow Bowls were not nearly as much fun as the Spoon Friends, Purina's name for the little cows. You were supposed to wrap around your breakfast spoon, or hang off the edge of the Cow Bowl, or in our case, hide them in the refrigerator, or the sugar bowl, or tie them them together with dental floss and hang them over the shower head for Cow-On-A-Rope.

"The other amusing story I have about them is how we got them. We have never been folks who sent off for stuff, but we saw the promo on the box and thought they were just a riot (and it beat studying for exams) So we ate lots of Chex and got the first pair of CB/SF and just plotzed, they were so great. So we ate still more Chex and made mounds of party mix till we had enough proofs of purchase to get another pair and have complete service for 4. Well, Dumdum here addresses the envelope, sticks in the proofs of purchase, the redemption form, and sends it off, FORGETTING OUR CHECK FOR $2.00 SHIPPING AND HANDLING. Gack. I was devastated. I blew it, I thought to myself.

"But lo and behold, 6 to 8 weeks later, there arrives in the mail a small package from Ralston Purina with our Spoon Friends, despite our omission. It restored my faith in big business... we figured they thought we were a couple of stupid 8 year olds who forgot to ask Mom for a check instead of people old enough to know better."