Mike's Corner

Let me begin by telling everyone that I am a dog person. I always have been, and I always will be. But lately, I have been surrounded by cats. Shannon has two cats: Gus and Savannah. Gus (short for Augustus) was named after Robert Duvall's character in Lonesome Dove, and Savannah was named after Melinda Dillon's charcter in The Prince of Tides. Of course, I can appreciate this, being a huge movie buff. Gus is 20 lbs. of lovin', while Savannah is 8 lbs. of attitude. I just called Shannon to make sure she made it back to Atlanta in one piece, because I was worried about Cindy (the storm, not Brady). Shannon remarked that upon her return, Gus wouldn't leave her alone, starved for attention. Savannah, on the other hand, simply looked at her as if to say, "Oh, you've been gone for 3 days? I didn't notice." Let me back up a little bit. Sunday evening, Shannon and I went over to my brother's house in Dothan. Turns out, the neighborhood stray decided to have kittens underneath my brother's back porch. Well, Ben has two daughters, Baylee and Audrey, who love cats (as does any 8- and 6-year-old). Needless to say, Ben and Laurie were forced to unofficially adopt these kittens. Well, Shannon's heart just melted when she met Trouble Maker, Scaredycat, and Ashley (these are the names given to them by my aforementioned nieces). Ashley was the sweetest one of the bunch, and Shannon fell in love immediately. It took every bit of will power for her not to take that little kitten home with her. Moving on to Tuesday evening, Shannon and I are back in Auburn watching Coach Carter (great movie by the way), and in walks Jay holding a 10-week-old kitten that he found wandering around Outback (parking lot, not dining room). For the second time in 3 days, I got to witness Shannon's inner-child come out as she romped on the floor with this adorable little furball. Again, I am a dog person, but it's hard not to appreciate cats when you see how much joy they can bring to someone.