While the kitties were out and about yesterday, they were not about to turn down the comforts of a mom!
Beep Beep lay down and was immediately accosted. :-D
One of the aunties came by for food and was thoroughly confused by the mass of kittens, everywhere.
She kept going back and forth, moving away from one group of kittens, only to be blocked by another, and another. It was so funny to see!
This morning, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern were slightly more relaxed about it. :-D
Now, it’s time to paint gate posts again, before it gets too hot. I decided to give them 24 hours to cure before a second coat, instead of doing it last night, just to be on the safe side!
The barrier in the sun room door could no longer keep the kittens in.
Once a couple of kittens discovered they could not get past the box flaps that had been in their way when we used them to increase the height of the barricade, there was no stopping them.
So we took out the box and moved the barricade enough for them to leave without having to jump (and potentially hurt themselves).
Soon, they were all over the place in the area in front of, and around, the sun room.
Butterscotch even started calling some of them to follow her! The ones that started to, soon doubled back to the house.
After a while, I took Dave and Keith over to the little bowls where I have been leaving food for their mom and sibling. She and her baby were in the old barrel planter, half hidden in the bushes. I saw her baby disappear, but she was watching me closely.
It took a little while, but she came to check things out, skirting around the other side of the lilacs from me, and soon she was reunited with her babies.
She eventually lead them to the barrel planter (she loves to lounge in there) and the last I saw, they were still together, and very excited to be reunited. I expect their sibling to join them, too.
I’m not sure how this will work out at night. Dave and Keith love their people attention, have two other moms they’ve gotten used to, and 8 cousins to play with. I’m hoping their comfort around us will help us to socialize their sibling and their mom.
We still plan to bring Dave indoors permanently, and will continue to wash his eyes regularly, but I’m glad they’ll get to spend time with their mom and sibling again. I had hoped she would come into the sun room to see them, but she is just too shy, and had another baby to care for.
Letting the kittens out is a risk for them, but the sun room has been their home for so long, with toys, food, water and soft beds to sleep on, so I do expect them to keep coming back. We will just have to be more careful about counting them when we close things up at night.
I went out earlier than usual to feed the critters, making a point of opening the outside door to the sun room, first. This is what I found!
All 10 kittens, in one big sleepy pile!
That creamsicle one at the top left looks so displeased. :-D
Yesterday evening, I spent some time sitting in the sun room with them.
When they realized I was going to stay on the swing bench for a while, I got attacked by the wild beasts! This is about the only decent picture I was able to get, they were moving so much. They would climb up onto my lap and viciously attack each other, the draw string on my waist band, my thumbs, my knee, race up and over my shoulders… It was insane!
In the middle of it all, Doom Guy decided he wanted cuddles and kept trying to lie across my chest, but kittens kept running over him. Meanwhile, Dave wanted that spot, but ended up stuck in my hand, with a whirlwind of kittens and Doom Guy around him. He finally gave up and joined the fray. His brother, however, made his way up to my shoulder and just stayed there, looking out the window behind my head. :-D
What a wild bunch they are!
Before bed, I had to wash all the bleeding scratches they left on my legs, then slather the wounds with antibiotic ointment.
That is one down side of all these active little buggers! :-D
When we decided to move out here and take care of the farm for my mother, we had some ideas of what to expect, and what we might do in the future.
We were not naive about it, though, and knew that things would have to change with circumstances.
One thing I did not even think of at all.
That we might become a cat sanctuary.
Now, this isn’t all that unusual. Every now and then, I’ll read something in one of the local papers, or see a news clip someone shared on Facebook, about farmers and the 40 or so barn cats that they take care of. Along with their cows and goats and chickens or whatever.
We don’t have barn cats. The house came with yard cats. My dad loved them, and taking care of them was just a given.
I headed out with my daughter to drop her off for work earlier than usual. She was very kind enough to be willing to be stuck outside until someone with a key showed up (which, thankfully, did not turn out to be long) so that I could head over to another town almost an hour’s drive from her work. It was a court date for our vandal, this time in a town closer to us – though not with the extra driving this morning! *L*
Today, I finally had both the time and the weather conditions to work on the south fence line of the spruce grove (there there aren’t actually any spruces left…).
So, while waiting for the freshly washed gates to dry, I brought out the weed trimmer, my new reciprocating saw, and a whole lot of extension cord!
It’s been quite interesting, as I work around the yard, in areas I worked on last year, and seeing the differences.
One of the differences is, I am seeing all sorts of things popping up, in areas that used to be choked with years of dead grass, fallen branches and garbage, or hidden away by low hanging branches.
While mowing past the north side of the spruce grove, where I am now able to mow right up to the tree line, I was observing some of the wild roses I’d pruned down, but didn’t pull their roots, coming back up. For the most part, I will be leaving those. I also passed what looked for all the world like carrots, growing in the moss!
This is the largest of several I could see. I came back later and poked around the base, just to be sure.
The Re-Farmer 