Names, finally

I know you've all been holding your collective breaths waiting to hear what we've decided to name Patches' kittens that were born... er... last May. Ha. It's hard to pin names on cats that are wild and rarely seen. However, now that winter's getting nearer and the cats have been hanging out in the machine shed most of the time, I think it's time. They're also getting tamer, and one of them I can pet easily while she eats, plus I've at least touched the other three. I talk to them, too, when I feed them, so it's nice to have something to call them.

Plus, we have a couple of newbies! Mama kitty had her last ones across the road at the neighbors', as usual, and she brought them over, as usual, for me to feed for the winter. First she brought three, but then the mean tom cat showed up and she took them away for a week or so. When she returned them, there were only two. They've tamed down pretty easily, and I can hold each one. They're both toms.

Courtney and I worked on naming them when she was here this week. I have to confess we borrowed heavily from Shopkins names. Shopkins (if you're not familiar with them, just google) are the rage right now, and Courtney has begun her collection. She also had a list of the names of all the Season 3 ones, so that's where we searched for kitten names. It was actually pretty helpful, and we found some good names.

So here's a not-so-great photo (because it's always dark in there) of my entire machine shed crew, minus Snuggles, the resident tom, who was still outside when I took the picture. Starting with the calico at the top and going clockwise, we have: Chelsea, Lizzy, Autumn, Jasper, Peachy, Casper, Patches, Kelly, and Mama.

Jasper and Casper are Mama's little guys. Casper's not all black - he's a tuxedo (much like Oreo but minus the skunky-striped nose). Jasper is adorable, the orange/white little one below. On his right is Autumn, who is looking quite huge in her long-haired winter coat!

Peachy, the all-orange one above (and is the one I can pet) is one of Patches', as are Chelsea, Lizzy and Kelly. Lizzy and Kelly look very much alike, mostly tabby-striped with bits of orange and white, but Lizzy is lighter, so I can tell the difference.

Snuggles:

Kind of a tough-looking dude, isn't he? He is tough. Defends his girls well. He's a good cat. And he lives up to his name, too - still likes to snuggle.

While I'm at it, I might as well show you the other crew. Here they all are, minus one who is a bit more shy. Starting with the calico and going clockwise, we have Cinnamon, Buffy, Smoke, Tuffy, Oreo, Mia, and Clementine.

Below is the missing one, Snowy. She has lovely orange seal point markings, meaning she is white with orange ears, tail and face.

Here's just a fun shot of most of them as they're patiently(?) waiting for me to feed them their breakfast instead of taking photos of them.

Anybody been counting? With Rainbow, who hates all other cats, including her own kids, and eats in the garage... I have a total of 19 (not to mention Josie and Annabelle in the house). Unless you count the other tom who comes to eat but that I don't claim as mine. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him lately. Wrong time of year for his "business", I guess, so maybe he went home for the winter. Wherever that is.

Yeah, that means lotsa cat food, especially when considering it's shared with raccoons and skunks. Well, one less skunk now.  Before and after:

Morning not-so-loveliness!

Looking out the bedroom window this morning, I saw these two little stinkers! (Click on the photo to enlarge for a better look.)

Sorry about the effects from taking the pics through a screen. I guess these are called "screen shots". Haha!

They were young ones, just having a great time running around and digging everywhere.

Or maybe they were very hungry and hurriedly looking for food.

Better not tell Courtney about this next photo!

Cuddles had noticed them, too, and she went on top of the sandbox shortly afterwards. If you look closely, you can see what she thought about the guests!

The skunks disappeared from sight, so I proceeded to get dressed and headed outside to feed my cats. Oops! Had to run back in to get the camera again!

I got braver and opened the door farther.

Hmmm.... not a good angle:

No, it wasn't aiming at me, thank goodness! It heard me and scurried off. Hopefully never to be seen again!

I wonder where their mama was. Maybe she decided they were old enough and sent them out to hunt for their own food. Or maybe she got hit by a car or something. I hope. Phew! At least these young'uns didn't leave any lingering odor.

Not such a mystery

I planted some new flowers this year... million bells. They're like little miniature petunias and are good for containers and hanging baskets. I put them in this little planter on the deck railing, not far from the birdbath. Although they come in many colors, I chose mainly red, to hopefully help attract hummingbirds. I think they're very pretty, and I look forward to seeing them trailing over the edge.

They've made nice progress since I potted them on Friday evening, despite a rough start. I'd planted them so carefully, then left them on the cement in front of the garage overnight. Here's what they looked like the next morning.

Grrrrr! Not much of a mystery to me who did it. I'm sure it was our "lovely" skunk. Every summer we have skunks that dig in the lawn during the night, looking for grubs or something to eat, I guess. I discovered this one still digging about 8:30 a.m. over by the lilac bushes. I grabbed the gun and tried to get a shot at him, but by the time he was far enough away from the house, he was on the run, so I couldn't get a good shot. I'm not giving up, though!

Uh oh!

What's this???

Yikes!

Go away!

Unfortunately, it did go away before Hubby finished chores last night and could get after it with the gun. Actually, I'd have shot it myself if it hadn't been so close to the house at the time. But I sure didn't want that smell around here. So, the camera was the next best thing. ;-)