Two week update.

Well, the kittens are still in place on the bottom level of one of the feral condos.

I opened and snapped a quick photo on Thursday because I saw the momma on the other side of the studio and knew ahead of time she wasn’t close enough to see me. But I didn’t risk her getting back there knowing I was out there.

Today I went out several times while doing laundry, but the momma isn’t going far today. They are now two weeks old and maybe she needs to be feeding them more. I don’t really know.

But she has been in there a lot or laying in the gravel right outside the condo.

Mid April

What a week. Work was very busy, the food bank was very busy, and the usual life things were very busy.

I didn’t go to yoga on Tuesday, the morning class on that day is a gentle class and instead I put in several hours of work in the yard to fill both yard waste bins and got half of the front yard cut back. It is easier to see backing out of the driveway, but still half to go.

The goal this rainy weekend was to fill them again to be picked up this week. That has not happened.

On Wednesday I worked my check in shift at the yoga studio then had a private session to work on a couple of things that need fine tuning.

Besides having to be at work a couple hours early on Monday the shifts all week until Friday were non stop. But there seems to be the dullest of lights at the end of the peak tunnel.

On Thursday I was really hoping for a light day at the food bank so I could get more done at home but instead it was extremely busy. They have also changed the days for handing out food so were expecting a lot of people later in the day.

After I put everything away they had me bag up food for 12 families. This was three bags apiece. One was full of cans (blue bags) then a bag of dried goods like oatmeal, beans, applesauce, pasta, nuts, milk, peanut butter, ect. And then a third bag of frozen food, protien, strawberries and tortillas. By the time I finished I had just enough time to get home and walk before work.

Friday after yoga, dropping off dry cleaning, doing laundry and my walk before work it was nice to have a slower night.

I also took about 20 of these pictures, sticking my phone into the Portulacaria trying to get a glimpse of Ethel and her kittens, with no luck. But at one point something growled at me so I figured I was close and walked away.

Today while on the phone I walked out back to lower the umbrella because the wind was picking up. I had seen Ethel go into one of the feral cat condos yesterday. She had gone in but came right back out.

But while walking past it and she was across the yard I opened up the lid to see four week old kittens.

I did not stick around or try and touch them. From what I have read you should wait about two weeks before touching.

I also don’t want her to abandon them. I was happy to see her hanging out in the rain on the top floor looking out the door, knowing her kits were dry and warm inside.

Lori thinks she has homes for all four, of course assuming we catch and tame them. So very many pieces of advice on that today as the pictures were shared.

One friend who has captured kittens that young guaranteed us the momma would follow if we moved them. She did it and put them all in her spare bathroom. I said fine I’ll bring them all to her place because we don’t have a spare bathroom. 🤣

I do know that if Ethel abandons them we will have to bottle feed as the pound euthanizes bottle babies for lack of staff and we do not have the time or energy for that!

Blogging from yoga

Technically I am at yoga this morning. My first solo shift opening up and checking people in. I set up my mat to be able to join class after everyone is checked in and after I wait ten minutes for any late comers. I then lock the door and join the class.

But one minute into class two brand new people came in and everyone else was set up and started. I had to get one of the new people a mat, so I quickly pulled my set up out of the way giving them room to set up next to each other in the back.

Now I am just sitting on the floor in back and figured I would blog.

Yesterday morning we got home from yoga to this really weird sound and one of the cats in a stalking stance.

I turned the corner to find a momma opossum walking over the cat bridge covered in babies.

We brought the cat inside and I went around back to “shoo” her back over the bridge to pick up the lost baby.

But I was stressing her out and her babies were dropping off. So I left her there, headed out for my walk and there was no sign of them when I got back.

This got me motivated after my walk to clean out the ivy growing over the wall behind our shed. That is were we think they nest and we do not need that. We feed enough cats as it is.

I got the entire area cleared out and straightened up and the whelping box all cleaned out.

Yes whelping box AGAIN. It was a year ago, April 9th. That Floor had her kittens. We rehomed three of them, they by the way are living their best lives.

We had two left and in January one left and we haven’t seen her since. But the other comes and goes and is very pregnant.

I don’t know if she will have her kittens in our yard as she spends a lot of time elsewhere, we think in the yard on the street behind us.

But if she does I am determined to start handling them about a week in so they are easier to catch and rehome at eight weeks.

I am sure I was able to catch the other three last year because I really did it at six weeks or so. We were under a deadline and by the time we got back from travel these last two were far too feral.

In other cat updates, we have also lost two other cats this winter. The injured cat who only came to eat, we called him Church has not been around in two months.

Then Farquhar, he has been here living in our yard since 2019 when he was a kitten. Several weeks ago he stopped eating but was drinking lots of water. He slinked off into the portulacaria and never came back out. I went looking for him a few days later and pulled out his poor body. We think maybe he ate a poisoned rat that went into someone’s bait station.

Now Rufus has taken up a more permanent residence in the back since he is the only male out there.

Done and Done (now what)

It has been a while. We have been so very busy at work and so very busy finishing up Yoga Teacher Training. I also started “working” at the studio on Wednesdays. It is the perfect situation where I get to help out, feel involved and included and my pay is unlimited yoga! Win win win.

Work still has a month of being super busy, this next week being the craziest. I thought I would get in here tonight and get an update posted.

Yesterday we had our final exam for Yoga Teacher Training, as of today there are 10 newly certified yoga teacher in the area. The written went pretty quick about 30 minutes or so. Then the 10 of us each taught our self created sequence to the other nine. After being in yoga class for an hour and then the tests made for a very long day of yoga.

Today was the last day. After yoga class we had the graduation ceremony along with a vegan potluck. We got to meet husbands, parents, children and friends of our cohorts. Also other members from the studio came to celebrate.

It is an amazing group of people whom I genuinely calls friends. We went out yesterday to celebrate after the full day yesterday, it was a wonderful time. We have a tentative dinner date with one new friend and her husband. I am excited to support these new teachers as they branch out.

There has not been a spare moment of the last two weeks that I wasn’t studying. Including voice recording my sequence so I could play it on repeat in my daily walks. Today after the potluck when I was putting all my study stuff away there was a freeing feeling and a 4.5 mile walk just listening to music.