Potted Kittens

Two of the kittens were nestled into a flowerpot this morning when I checked on them before letting the dogs out. I have only seen these two since Wednesday after momma brought the rabbit to them. The other may be further back in the den or may be gone. Momma must have been off hunting this morning as the kittens were alone.

I feed momma last night. I had to discard the remains of the rabbit as she had dragged it out of the den into the yard and I did not want the dogs to get it even if there was not much left. So I opened a can of tuna and put it on a tray. I thought she might have the kittens come out and share it but momma ate every bit of it herself. Later in the evening Momma climbed into my lap as I sat on the porch steps and allowed a lengthy ear rubbing session. She has also allowed me to pick her up and snuggles and purrs.

The dogs are becoming accustomed to the cats. Myste has been nose-to-nose with momma with no problems on either side. Sassy is still excited by them but the more she sees me with them the less grabby she seems to be. I have heard from two sources who may know someone who will take a kitten. I hope to hear back this weekend.

EDIT: There are still three kittens. I was just outside with the dogs @ 7 am and all three were snuggled into the flowerpot and momma was back, too.

Momma is a hunter

... not only did she bring home the chipmunk yesterday morning, when I came home after work she had also brought a rabbit to the kittens. They will be eating well for a day or two.

This is the dark calico I held the other night. Last night I got to hold the light calico and took it over to show Mom and Dad. Still can't intice the smokey kitten to me though. That is the one Sassy had her mouth around so it is more skittish.

Momma and at least two kittens this morning while the dogs were in the yard. I am herding dogs, now. Every time they go out, I go out.

Kittens

This is momma cat. She is very young herself and not really a calico as I thought. She came out from under the porch tonight and let me pet and scratch her but said "No, thank you" to being picked up. Below is the calico baby I first mistook for momma in the dark under the porch.

And here are Momma and two of the kittens. I have held the dark calico at her side. The light calico pictured above is under Momma's tail here. The third kitten has escaped being photographed as yet. It is a smokey gray-black a little darker than the dark calico but with no white or other colors I have seen so far.

All three kittens are getting bolder and coming out further. The black kitten has explored as far as my flower pot storage and was sleeping in an unused pot earlier this evening (of course I did not have the camera at that time). Below the calico kitten is sitting on top of one of the cement blocks I used to narrow the opening under the porch in an effort to keep the dogs from trying to climb under.

They are not wild and are quickly becoming accustomed to me. Unfortunately, that makes them more vulnerable to the dogs also as they may come to me when I am trying to guard them from the dogs. I miss having cats but there is no way I can have an indoor cat at this time and want these to go to good homes. If there are no offers I will have to catch them soon and take them to the animal shelter - a last resort for me.

Here, Kitty Kitty ...

This weekend we discovered that what I thought was a strange rabbit (I only saw something moving) was actually a feral cat living under our back porch ... in the same yard that my dogs frequent. I took a large flashlight to look underneath and see if I could block her (calico equals female) from going back under the porch and discovered ...

... she is not alone. She has at least two kittens (also calicos). I have not been able to get good pictures because of where she has chosen to bed down but you can see one kitten to the left with its eys shining in the flash, momma in the middle with her eyes closed, and a kitten to the right with its head turned away. I have only seen the two kittens and hope there are not more.

My dogs are ecstatic everytime they go outside. I make them let me go out first (not an easy thing) and I stamp on the porch floor to let momma know we are coming out. Then I stand back behind the door as I open it and the dog flood pours out with noses already to the ground and follow every step momma has taken on the porch and walk and yard. I try to get to the under-porch access before the dogs do but didn't make it once this weekend and Sassy got her nose boxed. She has a nice little slash down the center of the top of her nose. It bled quite a bit as she would not stop running and sniffing cat trails and I had to catch her to clean her up and put a little pressure on the wound. No trouble with it since and it does not seem to be sore.

Sassy has never been gentle with little things. And once the hunting instinct kicks in it is next to impossible to stop her from going after something. When we had a cat, Sassy could barely let it walk on the floor without knocking it around until it hit back. Myste, on the other hand, is friendly with most things. But I don't think these kittens would survive either dog very long and the kittens are now at an age where they want to explore. It is going to be interesting in the yard for a while until I can either catch the cats or they move on. Before I catch them I have to find something to put them in ...

Sunrise on Saturday ...

after a tough week. I have had a sore throat since sitting in the hospital all day last Thursday while sister Beth had her surgery. Obviously, I have not had as tough a week as she has had but I have still had some misery. She is feeling some better and is in rehab now.

I love pictures of sunrises ... and spiderwebs. Both of the above were taken this past week. The spiderweb above was taken today. The rayed sunrise was earlier in the week.

The moon and clouds were taken one evening this week. I had to overexpose the moon to get the clouds which were what I really wanted.

The neigbors a few doors up are tearing down the old shack that sits on the back of their property. I will miss it for the picturesque scenery ... and wonder what may migrate my way after the loss of habitat.

Long Day

It was a long day today. We started with a beautiful sunrise this morning. The rays of light streaming through the clouds before the sun topped the hills to the east were lovely so of course I was out with my camera and tripod.

Then we went to the hospital for sister Beth's knee surgery. Eleven hours later everyone but Beth left the hospital. Her daughter Jen has posted about the long day, too. I took the day off work to be there today and tomorrow will help Dad with things Beth normally helps him with as well as other stuff on the computer and around the house.

Jen and I talked about cameras and photography during the long wait for word about Beth. We have decided that we have to take night photos together as she gets wonderful shots of the moon but can't do stars and I am the opposite. So after I got home tonight I tried shooting the moon again. This is the best I have been able to do so far. Better than what I have done in the past but no where near what Jen can do. Still, I am satisfied . . . for now.

Keep Beth in your prayers, please. She is in pain right now but we all believe she will improve and be back on her feet quickly.

Are you looking at me?

Sunday was full of winged creatures taking advantage of the last of the flowers.