Koshka

April, 1992 – July, 2004

Koshka means female cat in Russian, but she wasn’t always sure she wanted to be a cat. Her favorite active past-time was playing “fetch” with a crumpled wad of paper, and the only way she would go outside was riding on my shoulder.

She loved heights and I had to be careful when closing doors, as she might be on the top, asleep.

She was among a group of three feral kittens that were my first attempt at hand-feeding, having been orphaned at about one month of age. Her mother was a niece of Eve and was lost to traffic. At three months her brothers were adopted, but she decided to stay with me.

Her warm furry body tunneling under the quilt to curl up at my feet is missed as the nights grow colder, and when I wad up a sheet of paper to pitch into the waste basket I still expect to hear her running through the house for a game of “fetch”.

First let me say that I appreciate the thought. People taking time out of their limited store and devoting it to learning and practicing so that they can walk around town singing for those who can’t get around any more is really nice.

I know that a lot of work goes into something like this, and some people, like Andante, really worry that all of the vowels are fully formed and projected for a better performance than the intended audience can truly appreciate.

Further, I realize that people are doing it without the expectation of wassail [hot chocolate or sweet tea would be thoughtful] or alms, as was the custom in earlier times, they are simply trying to spread Christmas cheer for its own sake [or in local cases to fulfill community service hours].

I have one small quibble: please, either limit the number of carols so that everyone can remember the words, or use printed lyrics. I can assure you that I am unfamiliar with any carol with a second verse of “dah-di-dah-dahhh-dah-di-dah” [although Little Drummer Boy comes close]. Trust me on this: there are words and the people who remember the words generally do so by wasting no memory space on the music.

I’m trying to understand how, when looking for someone to be the Secretary of Homeland Security – the people who determine who is qualified to enter the United States, who is qualified to ride on airplanes, and what primary colors to scare people with – this administration failed to conduct a background investigation on its nominee and blindly accepted what was on his resumé.

They offer up someone who was a “dead-beat dad”, embroiled in debt-problems which resulted in an arrest warrant being issued, is a high school drop-out, was involved in unauthorized redirection of government funds at the NYC agency he headed, was involved in a stock transaction that looks suspicious, hired undocumented aliens, and failed to pay taxes. That’s what has appeared in less than a week from public sources.

I wouldn’t have expected a complete background security check to have been completed in a week, but couldn’t they have at least tried a Google search before nominating the guy. People buying shotguns go through a more rigorous process than this.

Do you feel safer now, knowing this is the level of attention this administration pays to Homeland Security?