We have been working hard to socialize as many kittens as we can.

There is, however, a downside to that.

The more socialized the kitties, the more likely they are to hang around us, even when we are doing things that are potentially dangerous for them. It goes beyond deciding to run around our feet while we’re walking and accidentally getting themselves clocked in the head. I had a couple of examples, just this morning.

While doing my rounds, there was no wind at all, and the ground was covered in frost. I decided it was a good time to do a burn in the fire ring (the burn barrel is too old and damaged to use anymore). The fire ring is where we put the used stove pellet litter. It has time to dry before we do a burn, along with any paper garbage we have that can’t be composted so we don’t have to drag it to the dump, plus a few branches or whatever wood that’s around to keep the fire going stronger.

Do you have any idea how hard it is to tend a fire while kittens are trying to climb your legs, or even wanting to climb into the fire ring to find out what the noise is?

I managed to keep them safe and away. Here, Baby is sitting on the remains of the burn barrel that was here when we first moved in, staying warm. He, at least, wasn’t really trying to get any closer.

Most of the time.

After the fire was burned down enough that I could cover it and let it smolder (the litter sawdust doesn’t like to flame up, but it will smolder for days while covered), I worked on the cats’ house a bit, as they were done eating and it would no longer scare them away from food.

Here is an old picture of what it looks like while open.

As you can see, there are chains to keep it from opening too far and breaking, and the counterweight both helps open it smoothly, but also makes it less likely to drop unexpectedly. The cinder block alone wasn’t enough, though. We’ve added four more bricks into the openings to make it heavier. Even with that weight, though, that roof is heavy enough that if it started to drop, there wouldn’t be much to even slow it down, never mind stop it. As you can imagine, we’re pretty careful while working around it.

The problem?

While setting up the new cat bed and cleaning the windows, curious friendly kittens would jump up and walk around the top of the walls. Which is what the frame of the roof rests on. If that thing dropped for some reason…

*shudder*

So there I was, working in and around the cat out – and trying to chase away the kittens that are no longer scare of us, or anything we’re doing, anymore!

Today, we will continue working on the sun room. It’s going to be warm enough and dry enough for the next while that just about everything can be taken out, including a couple more shelves and the table saw, so give the concrete floor a more complete cleaning. My daughter has already cleaned up the worst of it, but it could use a good bleaching now!

Something else I’ll have to keep the friendly kittens out of while I’m working!

The Re-Farmer