The Mysterious Kitten

Here she is, the kitten that has been keeping me up all hours worrying about her safety. Please excuse the very poor quality photos, all taken from the web cam, but I thought I would share a sneak peak, even if they are not all that clear.

I am getting very discouraged. She is getting older, and the type of behavior she is exhibiting, she is already very feral. I have not seen her leave the shelter. She uses the litter box in there, and eats and drinks in there. I often see her chasing crickets. I have never seen her climb on the houses, and most times she is inside them.

She is very close to the Siamese, and he is very patient with her. I am worried my other ferals are going to hurt her. If they see her out, they chase her back into the houses, swatting at her through the entry ways. Last night one of my ferals had her cornered in another part of the shelter, I had to get the squirt bottle and chase my other feral away. I then got a really good look at the kitten. She has a cute little squished face, with a round apple head shape, just like my Mac, in my cat room. She does have orange tabby stripes on her face, but the rest of her is gray and white. She is really a cute little thing.

I have been keeping the trap set all the time, re baiting, but she is terrified of it. She hasn't gone near the trap. I can see her sneak out of the houses to eat, keeping her distance from the trap. The Siamese went halfway in the trap last night as I was watching, he got spooked, backed out and set it off. He and the kitten ran back into the houses. The kitten watched from a distance when the Siamese approached the trap. I do not want to trap the Siamese yet, as he seems to bring the kitten out of the houses, and she feels safe with him. But darn, I am at a loss.

Time is of the essence now, as she has already passed the age of easily taming. I have a cage in my garage all set up for her, so WHEN I catch her, hopefully I can spend some time working with her, only time will tell if she is workable.

This is a Tomcat that has been coming around peaking down at her. Not good.

This is her and the Siamese eating together.

I need a lot of luck to catch her. I just don't have any other ideas. She is by far, the hardest kitten I have ever tried to trap.

Crazy 80's

Just like the title says, except it isn't just the crazy 80's, it is in fact a Crazy 80's Christmas!
You read that right. My hubby's company Christmas Party is going to be an 80's theme.

Now, I am such a party pooper. I told him I was not going to dress up for the 80's. No way, no how. Not to mention I have no clue what to wear, although I did attend high school in the 80's, but I really don't want to go back there. Hubby told me we have to go, and I told him that is fine, but I am wearing *NORMAL* clothes.

Well, I have known about this for a month, and the party is coming up in just a few weeks. Hubby mentioned this Crazy 80's party again this morning. I guess I have put this off long enough. I have to go. I have to dress for the 80's. Hubby is the boss, I am the boss's wife, so it IS a must. I am not going to win this fight. So, on top of dealing with all the craziness, and ups and downs of my household lately. I am now on a mission, to find that perfect 80's outfit. What to wear, what to wear. So many decisions.


Hubby will make a PERFECT Don Johnson from the Miami Vice days, oh yeah, I could create that look for him. No problems there. Just have to go find a white suit. Hmmm, I wonder if I can get away with another color? Probably not.
I can just picture me, the boss's wife, showing up like this. YIKES What the reputation I might get, the talk of the party for sure. No, not me. No way, no how!

Oh, this is me, all the way, casual with a little sex appeal. I WANT to go casual.

I think I had this exact outfit in high school, and I hate to admit this, but I like it! Too casual, I know.
Well, back to searching for ideas for this Crazy 80's Christmas Party. Maybe I can pretend I am really sick on the day of the party?

Another Cat Angel In Heaven

You showed up a year and half ago. Just like all the rest, searching for food, shelter, a safe place to stay. It took almost a year before you decided it was ok to come into the yard off the cat walk. I remember the first time I walked out the back door and found you sleeping so peacefully on the patio swing, your eyes barely open, hoping I wouldn't notice, or make you leave.

Then I was finally able to pet your head, often times getting scratched in the process. I wouldn't give up though. I wanted you to know not all humans were bad. You were one of the easiest cats I have ever trapped. Really, I didn't actually trap you. I just put the trap out, baited it with food, and held the opening, and let you walk in, and I shut it behind you, so it wouldn't startle you when it shut. What a trooper you were. Everyone at the vets office during the spay-a-thon said you were the biggest cat there, and so quiet, among the 190 cats there that day for their spay/neuter, you my dear BT, received so many compliments for being so big and handsome.

Yes, you were a stray, turned feral. I believe you had a home at one time, what it was like, I have no idea. I have lots of guesses, as something has caused you to not trust the human hands.

You quickly became very possessive over me, not wanting other cats near me. You often sat by the back door, waiting for me to come out. You would follow me around the yard, never fearing the dogs, you knew you were safe here.

It is my nature to care for all animals, but I am attracted to the misunderstood, the unwanted, the sick and the needy, I suppose we can call those the special needs. You were misunderstood by many, but I understood you perfectly.

You were already old when you found your way to me. Your teeth were brown, the ones you had, you were missing many.

Just two months ago, you finally allowed me to pet you more. This last month I had been blessed with being able to hold you, and rub you behind the ears. Thank you for giving me that gift, a gift I will remember always. I never gave up on you BT. You were a good boy. A special boy. I miss you sitting at the door waiting for me. I miss you following me around the yard. I miss you talking to me in that husky tomcat meow, when I am bringing you wet food.

I missed you tonight when I brought out five bowls of wet food, and realized I made a mistake, I only needed four.
You are at Rainbow Bridge now, with all the others that had gone before you. You are free, safe, healthy and young once again.

I miss you BT, I hope when you left this earthly world, you knew how much you were loved. You deserved better. Your time with me was too short.

Rest in Peace Sweet Boy.

Cats and Feathers

Cats are so entertaining. Just playing with the feathers and watching their prey drive come out is so hilarious. Poor Mac, with his crossed eyes, he really had a hard time focusing, but isn't he cute? LG was completely out of breath and panting, I had to put the feathers away, just so he could catch his breath.

Daycare

This picture cracks me up. Her shirt says "It's My Brother's Fault". His says "It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time". They are 2 of the children in my daycare, and I will just say, this describes them PERFECTLY!

Our future Artists.

Oh what fun we have with Shaving Cream!

At last, Nap time!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I didn't realize it has been almost two weeks since I have posted on my blog. Geez, where does time go? Life has kept me very busy, and away from the computer lately, but hope to get back to my daily blogs and visiting with all my blog friends. So, in the mean time, some updates, and what has been keeping me away.

My daycare has been keeping me quite busy. I had to attend a childcare seminar last weekend, oh what fun, (saying that sarcastically). I dread going to them, but they are mandatory for me to earn my childcare credits and keep my license active. My biggest pet peeve are the other guests attending. Why is it the people all around me are always so busy jabbering their mouths away with each other, that they don't even hear what the speaker is saying? How rude! Not only is it disrespectful to the speaker, but what about the other guests (me, for instance) who actually would really like to hear what the speaker has to say? A long 6 hours, but I got through it, without a hitch. Oh yes, they had fun educational things to buy. I found the cutest Duck and Frog puppets to help during circle time with the children. I just had to get them, they even quack and croak, and take batteries, how awesome!!
So, one class down, three more to go, within the next four weeks. Hooray for me, Blah!!

Jarie isn't doing well. I am quite worried about her. She has another vet appointment soon. We can't get a handle on her allergies. She is done with her meds, and I was thinking she might have been improving, but she isn't. She could have other issues going on, most likely she does, more tests and meds coming up, and hoping we can get her better again. She always has us worrying.

On the bright side, Jake is doing quite well. I think the cooler weather has helped him. He has that happy little gallop he once had again. When hubby comes home, he greets him at the door with a toy, and gallops around hubby's legs, rolls on his back, and gives kisses, talking and wiggling the entire time. Then he settles with his tennis ball, chomping away, playing, enjoying the anticipation of the pop of the ball. Ah, it is so nice to see him happy and more energetic again.
He still stumbles some, but I will take what I can get.

I have another kitten in my shelter. HELP!! I can't get her. Oh, have I tried. I only see her on the web cam. Buttons, one of my ferals chases her into the shelter houses when he sees her. So sad, bad bad Buttons. I have never seen him mean before. So, Yesterday, I lifted the roof of the house I thought she might be in. BINGO! There she was, it was dark, but I was able to see her looking back at me, wide eyed and scared. I closed the roof quickly, so as not to scare her. She is grey, with some tabby markings, white feet, white on her face around her nose and mouth, and I think, an orange stripe on her face, couldn't tell for sure.

So, put a piece of cardboard in front of one of the openings to the shelter house, then I set the trap by the other opening. The bad part is, she could still escape without going into the trap, because the way the trap is made, there is space between the front of the trap and the opening of the house.

I was constantly chasing all my other ferals away from the trap, darn it, they wouldn't leave it alone, for the longest time, and kept setting it off.

I watched from the web cam for hours and hours, the kitten never came out. I decided to go check and see if perhaps she had left, because I can't keep the trap out all night. I open the roof again, and startled her, she jumped out, ran right passed the trap and under the gate and out of the shelter. I was so upset with myself. She ran so fast I couldn't get a really good look, but I am concerned that she may be a diluted calico, diluted tortishell, or a torbi. If her coloring is any of those three, then that pretty much confirms she is a SHE! This makes it even more important that I get her trapped before she ends up pregnant. It would be so much easier if I didn't have to keep my other ferals away from the trap. She won't come out if they are out there.

She is out there now, my trap is set, and here I wait.

Now, some very sad news. My feral BT is not doing well. He isn't eating as much as he use to, and he is dropping weight very quickly. He has always been so big and strong, but that isn't the case any longer. He has some other things going on and I am talking it over with the vet, but I think I will have to make a very sad decision soon. A decision I don't want to have to make, always hard, and it always breaks my heart. I've been holding on to a little bit of hope, but that hope is now starting to fade.

So, then My washing machine broke, oh yeah, that was no fun. It took two weeks before I could get the repairman to come fix it. They made three trips here before finally fixing it. I have to say, it must not have been working all that well for quite some time, because frankly, it is doing a super job, and I am actually enjoying doing laundry again.

So, I will end this blog on a good note. I found $134.00 today. Guess where? Loose change. Ok, so I really didn't find it. Hubby throws all his loose change in a jar on his night stand and keeps mentioning to me that we need to roll it. So, I decided I will sit here this afternoon and count it and roll it all. $134.00 in loose change, and yes, since I did all the work, (counting and rolling), I get to keep it. Hooray for me!