Now I'm in trouble

The abandoned kittens from next door have grown, except for Houdini, who remains quite petite. Now, he appears at our kitchen door every night after dinner, where he sits, looking very cute and sweet.

I want to rescue him or chase him away or something, but he's still a little skittish. He hisses a bit if I surprise him, but he's so little, it sounds more like a half-hearted whisper. He's not quite wild anymore, but certainly not quite tame, either.

His two siblings also appear occasionally. We've named the black-and-white cat "The Meanie," because he's much bigger, and refuses to share the handful of dry food we toss outside. (We haven't named the other one, because its mean, and rarely comes over.) So now, Houdini and the Meanie appear nightly, waiting for a free meal. And when they stare through the door with their big eyes, it's hard to refuse.

They're making a mess of my yard, and I worry they'll start having their own kittens soon. But every time I think of trapping them, Houdini appears at the door, and this is what I see:


Sigh. I don't like having stray cats living next door, but how can I be mean to that sweet little face???

Never a dull moment around our house

Edra came over to do laundry, and reminded me that the chaos of our house is always entertaining.

It started with the kittens from next door. (Still haven't trapped the little suckers--that Houdini is an elusive little kitty!) They were making a ruckus outside, so I opened the front door to check it out. I saw a repeat of the scene about a week ago at 1 in the morning--two kittens and a baby possum scurrying away.

That poor little possum. I don't know what the kittens are thinking. He's about their size but twice as solid, and I'm sure his teeth are much sharper. I know the kittens are curious, and maybe they think he's just a big rat or something, but they keep trapping and tormenting him, and sooner or later, they'll regret it.

Anyway, the door opening scared them all off. But the kittens didn't go far; they didn't want to give up their prey. I grabbed my giant Super Soaker squirt gun, and aimed toward the kittens. The possum ran by me, which freaked me out a little, but he ran toward the kitten's house, which freaked me out even more. I sent that little guy right into the lion's den!

I retrieved my giant blue Mag lite from inside. I scanned the deserted porch next door, searching for the possum. I couldn't see him anywhere, which was a good sign, since that meant he wasn't locked in any tiny kitten jaws. And it was at that exact moment that Edra walked outside and saw me on the front lawn--Super Soaker in one hand, Mag lite in the other, surveying the scene in the dark, in bare feet.

She took one look at me and asked, "What are you doing out here?" I explained about the kittens and the possum, but it sounded stupid, even to me. I realized it was pretty dark out there, I didn't have any shoes on, and there were fuzzy little animals running scared throughout the yard. I also thought that where there's a baby possum, there's probably a mama possum, and I didn't want to tangle with her.

"Guess my work here is done," I told Edra, and headed inside. As I walked back to the front door, a low-hanging palm frond grazed my head, and I jumped about 10 feet--I was still a little on edge. Edra just looked at me and shook her head.

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.