Now we are ten.

Well, it's been about 7 months now. Bubba Meow and Freckle Meow came to live with us before winter started. Of course they got their medical care right away, but, since I was hoping desperately to find them homes, I kept them out of the "general population" and they lived in our heated porch. I have asked everyone I know, but, alas, most of them have already broken down and taken in a kitty or two from me/us, and weren't very anxious to add to their families.

The story actually starts with Ninja kitty. One day, DH, who claims that I am the one who is a "stray cat magnet", came home from an appointment and said, "There's a cat sitting on the side of the road. I've never seen it before. It was there when I left for the appointment, and it's still there in the exact same place. I'm wondering if it's ok." I said something like "well, that is kind of strange, isn't it?" (We have two neighbors. One neighbor owns exactly two cats. This one wasn't one of those. The other neighbor shoots cats, so we are pretty sure it wasn't his either.) I made no effort to investigate said cat (I was hoping it would go back to wherever it came from) but DH said, "I'm really worried. Maybe you should go down and just check on it." So, I did. A long-haired bag of bones, the kitty dove into the can of cat food I had brought, and was so adamant about eating it, he hissed at me when I tried to take it away....so I picked up cat, still eating the food, and brought them both home (cat and food, that is). Since DH's mother had just lost her cat, I was sure she would want this one. But then she started having health problems and still hasn't decided if she wants a cat or not. So there was Ninja kitty, joining the household. Apparently someone had dropped him off on our road.

But wait!! There's more!!! Because apparently, whoever dropped off Ninja, also dropped off his twin brother, who found his way to our place a couple of weeks later. He is a big cat, he looks like a bruiser, so we named him Bubba. Around that same time, DH found a tiny kitten in our driveway. Freckle.

After Ninja arrived, though, I had decided that enough was enough. Bubba and Freckle were going to have to find homes. A "friend" of mine at work, who volunteers for a no-klll shelter said that her shelter would be happy to take them in about a week or two. During that time I opted to get them shots and fixed just to make them even more marketable....and then my "friend" kind of started to avoid me when I tried to find out the "lowdown" on the kitty situation. I tried a bunch of other people. I put an ad up on the bulletin board in town, and nothing. Cats are a dime a dozen where we live, and not valuable. So Bubba and Freckle spent the winter in the heated porch, hoping that someone would stop by our house and ask if we had any kitties for them to love....nobody came :-(

Every once in a while it would strike me that despite my best efforts to stop the insanity at eight cats, we now had ten. Even if two of them lived in the porch, I was still buying the cat food and litter for them and cleaning up after them, too. It started to become obvious, it had to be done. And this week Bubba and Freckle joined the family as full-fledged members. Both of them have done nothing but purr since then, and on occasion, they look kind of surprised when one of the long-time feline owners of the house don't seem so happy. But all in all, I guess the transition went fine. I love them all. And I am thinking that since this past winter was much colder than the previous two, that maybe there won't be so many kittens (it's my understanding that kittens don't get conceived when it's super cold out) that turn into cats that end up in my yard needing a place to stay.

I'll keep you posted. Pictures may come soon, if I remember....
Meow.