Holiday weekend starts

The dash out of New York City apparently has begun.

For those of you not from the Poughkeepsie area, we are about a two-hour train ride from Manhattan.

And people are taking their dogs with them, according to this news item from Gannett News Service, with additional reporting by Capo's Sarah.

I e-mailed my friend Gretchen who has traveled up here with cat in tow — well, not so much a tow as a carrier — about the wisdom of allowing cats on trains without the safety of a carrier of some sort.

She said at the very least the cat should be on a leash, in case it decides to jump out of your arms and make for a hiding spot on the train.

But then again, we all remember Torpedo, so I think that a carrier is definitely in order, if not for the safety of the kitty, but for the safety of the owner. Nobody likes to commute on blood stains.