Prison break

I've taken on a new profession--wild animal trapper. I'm not very good at it, but I made my first catch last night. (Don't worry, it wasn't cruel--it was actually more of a catch-and-release episode.)

Let me explain...my crazy neighbor almost burned her house down a few months ago, and moved out. She packed up everything but her cats--four adult cats and three adorable little kittens.

It really bugs me that she just up and left them to fend for themselves--who does that??? These aren't wild animals, they are domesticated cats she fed every day until she left them on their own.

Well, I tolerated those cats up until this weekend. Then, to my horror, I saw the mama cat get run over by a car. It was the most horrible thing I've seen. I can't get it out of my mind.

And now those three little kittens are orphans. They can't live on their own, and they are still young enough and cute enough that if I catch them now, they'll have a pretty good chance of being adopted.

So last night, I set up a cat trap in my garage. (They sneak in there a lot to eat the dry cat food Mark spills all over the place.) I baited it with wet cat food, opened the garage door a little bit, and I swear, within 20 minutes, the dang trap had been sprung.

But there was no cat inside. A little bit of fur, but no cat. I couldn't figure it out.

I re-set the trap, went to the movies and returned home to find not one but TWO kittens in the trap! They weren't at all scared, just relaxing. They were the cutest little things in the world. I couldn't believe my luck!

Well, my luck changed quickly. I turned my back on them for an instant, to get them some dry food and close the garage. I heard them rustling in the cage, and by the time I looked back at the cage, the garage door was closed and the cage was EMPTY!

I couldn't believe it! How'd they get out at all, let alone so quickly?? (And if they could get out in the first place, why had they stayed in there?) I went out onto the driveway and looked at the yard next door--where the kittens were lounging, peacefully. One of them was on his side, rolling around--not scared or traumatized in the least. He yawned lazily and stared at me, as if to say, "Hey, thanks for dinner!" He had a full stomach and no hard feelings whatsoever.

I went back and checked out the trap. There is the LITTLEST TINIEST gap ever between the trap door, which no one but a kitten could escape through. I still can't believe I was outsmarted by a couple of wild kittens.

So I guess I'll have to keep feeding them until they get big enough to NOT escape. And that little lounging kitty has earned himself a new name--Houdini.