Talking to the Animals

Typically, when you live atop a steep hill amid ponderosa pines and unruly manzanita bushes, pets are a disposable commodity. There are a hundred ways to quickly knock out nine lives -- the teeming interstate 80 that runs below, the reckless, rifle-wielding ruffians that live in nearby trailers, coyotes and the occasional bear ....

Most cats don't live past the first winter. Which is why it is especially surprising that my grandma has a pack of three cats, each approaching 14 years old.

They're incurably wild. I usually see them in the form of a black streak across the yard as I approach. But my grandma has a special relationship with these cats. Though they fear every other human being the way I fear a Mack truck, my grandma will return from her daybreak feeding excursion telling me how Prieto, Lucy and Junior looked, act and felt that morning. She pets them, she feeds them faithfully, she dotes on them in Spanish.

When she fractured her back and couldn't venture out to the distant woodshed -- a special cat hideaway she's fixed up with comfortable couch cushions and pilly blankets -- she voiced her concern that she wouldn't see her bashful feline friends again.

What a surprise it was when those three gun-shy cats emerged from their perpetual hiding and actually came up to her house to watch her as she worked inside. She now feeds them at her doorstep.

And the neighbor dogs noticed, too. Since her beloved pet Bingo died a few years ago (presumably because she had spoiled him to the point of illness with what she called "his favorite" -- ice cream), she's "adopted" the rowdy mutts from surrounding homes. She knows the exact ages, breeds and personalities of about 5 different neighbor dogs. I asked her about one of the neighbors this weekend -- and she was able to give me a full history of which dogs and cats that family has owned since they moved in years ago.

I like to compare my grandma to St. Francis of Assisi, the saint you see surrounded by woodland creatures and songbirds. She knows how to earn the trust of those around her -- be they humans or animals -- and has the most gentle, generous spirit of anyone I've ever met. She has a tenderness that can tame the wildest animals and warm up the most timid creatures.

It's quite a sight to see.