Donkey

"The trick is in the hand movements," Sam Matthews explains as my 8-year-old daughter, Grace, grabs hold of Kenzie's teat and gives it a good squeeze. Nothing. She squeezes again, a little harder. Still nothing. Once again, this time using a sequential closing motion of her fingers, from top to bottom, as Farmer Matthews has instructed. Success! A warm, milky white stream of liquid shoots out, wetting Grace's hand, which she proceeds to lick. "It's delicious!" she exclaims over the milk, which contains 3.6 percent butterfat.

Editor's Note: This column is sponsored by TD Bank. The opinions and analysis expressed here reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of TD Bank, N.A. or its affiliates. Bryn Davis ate his way to entrepreneurship. Davis, who lives in Horsham, says he entered college a "lean-as-you-can-imagine" 170 pounds. By his junior year, he was stressing the scales at 240. A doctor scared him into committing to a healthier lifestyle. Davis took it one step further: He started a business featuring only healthy fast food.

Cory, get up. Cory! Sit up straight. Be still!" Turquoise Erving has just introduced her children, and they are sitting politely in the den, making small talk with a visitor. "Cory, stop that! Get your hands off that wall! Be still!!!" All except Cory. Cory, 5, the youngest of Julius and Turquoise Erving's four children, is jiving on the couch, eyes flashing, head bobbing in rhythm, ignoring the scowl of his mother. He is not interested in the house tour that is about to get under way, but he is willing to give a performance if anybody cares to watch.

THANK YOU for appropriately rubbing Republicans' faces in their massive Nov. 7 losses (the same way they did back in 1994). But I would like to express dismay to the Daily News for subjecting that poor donkey to having his picture next to Bush's mug. Hee-haw, indeed! Donna Di Giacomo, Philadelphia

Barack Obama vows he shall return and sample a cheesesteak. Just one? Yesterday, sports talker Glen Macnow of WIP (610 AM) posted his nearly final rankings of 45 cheesesteaks sampled between West Chester to Atlantic City. Only the order of the top six could change, pending a final on-air showdown at noon on Saturday, April 19. Interestingly, ranked No. 1 was also the place that finished first with Inquirer restaurant critic Craig LaBan after his 2002 whirlwind tour of 23 eateries: John's Roast Pork on East Snyder Avenue in South Philadelphia.

Produced by Aron Warner, directed by Chris Miller with Raman Hui, written by Jeffrey Price, Peter S. Seaman, Chris Miller and Aron Warner, distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount. Shrek. . . Voice of Mike Myers Fiona. . . Voice of Cameron Diaz Donkey. . . Voice of Eddie Murphy Artie. . . Voice of Justin Timberlake Prince Charming. . . Voice of Rupert Everett

Sun Refinery marketing employees Mary Ann Stritzinger and Sue Campbell chow down behind a donkey during Wednesday's Center City Western Hoedown, marking the sesquicentennial of the first wagon to leave for California. More than 5,000 office workers ate lunch among replicas of prairie schooners, 9-foot cactuses, a split-rail corral and life-sized cutouts of horses and cowboys. Radnor Corp. staged the event at 11 Penn Center as a tenant appreciation party.

There will be a lot of weeks this summer when a lot of great movies will be released on video. This isn't one of them. A pair of obscure and dubious- sounding films are about the best this off-week has to offer. BROTHERS IN ARMS (1988) (Republic) $79.95. 95 minutes. Todd Allen, Dedee Pfeiffer, Charles Grant, Jack Starret. Two brothers, searching the remote Colorado wilderness for a missing friend, become the quarry of a deranged backwoods family that performs human sacrifices. PICASSO TRIGGER (1988)

ASCENT PROVIDED COURTESY OF DONKEY Abu Mashhour uses his imagination - and his donkey - to give guests a lift to his rooftop restaurant in southeastern Lebanon. Abu Mashhour seats his guests on a wooden bench and hoists them - three at a time - using a rope, a pulley, and his donkey, to the flat roof of his house, which he has converted into an open-air restaurant. "It was pure necessity," Abu Mashhour said. "I couldn't afford to build an outside stairway . . . or install an electric elevator.

The Philadelphia Zoo's highly successful endangered-species breeding program shows no sign of tapering off, with the birth yesterday of a Malayan tapir. "Patrick the tapir looks like a black and white watermelon, all stripes and squiggles. " said zoo spokeswoman Arlene Kut. "He's a study in dappled sunlight. " Malayan tapirs are an endangered species in the wild, native to the rain forests of Burma, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula and Sumatra. "They're shy pachyderms, preferring to hide in the jungle shadows.