Monday

Neither of us wanted to get up and get going today. But, you can't always do what you want and so early in the day, before the cheepers are let loose, Ed and I are outside, setting up the Have-a-Heart trap and, too, a pet carrier, baiting it with the cats' morning meal, and waiting at the sidelines to pull a string. We want to get those barn cats (or more accurately, garage cats) to the vet.

Well, let me not glorify my role in this: Ed set up the mechanisms, and he did the string pulling. I just shouted "now!" when a couple of the kitties entered the wired cage.

It wasn't a fun project.

After closing the door on the cage (with Dance and two kittens screaming inside), we weren't sure we could get anyone into the pet carrier, but one did enter it and so now we have a total of three kittens and one Dance ready to be taken to the vet.

Again, Ed does the drive and delivery. I stay behind and try to talk calmly to the remaining three kittens (they are more used to me than they are to Ed), but honestly, they're not dumb: they smell danger. They're keeping to the sidelines for now.

Did I snip flowers? Oh, a little bit. Here and there.






(so pretty ...)






The garden is still lovely, but honestly, our preoccupation today is with getting these cats clipped, snipped and vaccinated.

Still, just a few flowers...






I set up our breakfast on the porch...






But by the time Ed is back from delivering the cats to the vet, I have only a few minutes left (I have morning appointments) and so we eat a very hurried meal.

Our challenge now is to catch the three kittens without getting the soon-to-be fixed kittens into the mix. We try this evening to set up their food inside borrowed pet carriers. But all this happens later, much later. After a quick trip to the disc golf fields to take our minds off of cats...

(sandhills... so stately, so serene...)


 


... and after I have my lovely play time with Snowdrop.

(school flowers...)






(farmette flowers...)






(she asks if she can nibble on a petal... I tell her she can try an edible plant, like the nasturtium; she tastes it. Verdict? Too spicy!)






And what result with the remaining three kitties? Well, the pet carrier was set up with food inside. But only one kitten went in at a time and so Ed closed the door on her/him and gave up on the remaining two, at least for today. There was some urgency in getting this one kitten to the vet because the clinic was soon to close and, too, s/he managed to wrap string around her neck in the struggle to get out.

What's the bottom line? Dance and three kittens are spayed and vaccinated, one more kitten is waiting for treatment tomorrow, two are still running around chasing each other, and of course there's the grand mama of them all -- Stop Sign, who hasn't been around for a while and so is not currently in our reach.

(the two kittens left behind, wondering where everyone went...)






(The three little ones that returned were promptly placed for the night in the sheep shed bathroom.)

We let Dance out by the garage, just in case she is still nursing her babes (the vet couldn't be sure). She immediately came to me and rubbed her cheek against my legs. I was touched.

It's been quite a day.