Meet The Cats About Town

September 1, 7:29 PMSouth St. Paul ExaminerRob Shirk

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In any community across America there is the understanding that we are protected by the police, firefighters, emergency ambulance teams, and so on. On our block, just minutes away from the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, we have a version of Daktari mixed in with Russian Cossack in the forms of the mother/daughter patrol team of Emma and Dusty. They are not to be confused with John McCain and Sarah Palin. They are known as our the cats about town.

We don't see much of them during the winter although they are not completely house-bound and who could blame them? Dusty gave birth in Russia and both seem to have incorporated the acceptance of the dark and cold months. There are many times when we have found one or the other sitting on the warmth of the concrete steps to our house, minding the store, so to speak, by the bushes and hedges, waiting for a treat of some sort to show itself. As far as I know, their vodka consumption is minimal and they have given no indication of their political leanings.

It is during the warm months they shine. The car parked in back frequently has paw prints on the hood as they love to hop up to the warm radiance of the car hood with the sun shining down upon them. They sheepishly will admit that any car will do even though it lends itself to a democratic form of choice. Minutes become hours and the long lazy stretch of both of them give an air of contentment and relaxation. The thought of something so disruptive and chaotic as Hurricane Gustav is so far away it may as well be in...Russia, for instance. 

Emma and Dusty have the quirk of wandering into our garage if the door is open. They don't stay for very long and it's never a problem to get them out of there. After all, our garage decor doesn't change much and they get bored easily. I have seen both of them ranging through the neighborhood going here and there and I have also witnessed their near deaths on more than a few occasions as they cross a very busy 7th Avenue. Between the two of them they have, I would say, ten lives left, between them. The reaction time of both of the cats are amazing. They can stop on a dime and give you nine cents change.

The felines are not prone to being overly friendly and don't jump on laps or anything that intimate. It's probably just as well. You never really know where they've been. No doubt we are protected, somewhat, from the capitalist rabbits and squirrels that scheme daily on how to eat my flowers and lawn.