I feel like the house now belongs strictly to the cats. All the kittens are upstairs in one room, Onions is in the room across from them. I am waiting for her milk to dry up so I can get her spayed (thank you Kim!) and then return her back to her owner. After three litters, this almost 2 year old girl deserves the rest coming!

Lazarus and his ringworm are now under control. The kittens all play together now and Mudslide and Perch seem to get the brunt of all the rough play as they are the two weakest in the bunch. Even as kittens, the group knows who is most vulnerable.

The older cats suddenly being denied access to the upstairs have their noses clearly out of joint and there are skirmishes nearly every day. Baker and Trump seem to be the most put out by this sudden denial of the upstairs and they race down the tunnels chasing each other out into the enclosure at least 4 times daily. I have Toots in the hall closet- not to worry folks, we cut holes in our canning closets on the stairs so the cats can have access and air. He likes to hide in the dark, so he has that spot, Onions is in the cat room and the kits are in the room across from the cat room.

Mike says he gets vertigo every time he walks into the kitchen because all the other cats follow him and he swears the floor is moving. The cable guy came by the other day and he had to contend with Charlie stealing his screwdriver, Matuse swatting his behind as he crouched under my computer following the cable lines. Perch climbed up on his back and I think he was really glad to leave this place, although he was a good sport about it all.

Mike and I talked about it and there will be no tree this year. We have had problems in the past with the cats climbing the tree and Lord knows the kittens aren’t going to let a wonderful opportunity of tree climbing pass them by. I just wish we still lived out in the middle of nowhere, but progress has advanced on us and the road has widened so the cats have to stay in the house or the enclosure instead of having the run of our acreage and being able to climb their own trees.

This morning Ripley our barn cat raced by me on the way to the barn, scampered up the walnut tree and leapt from branch to branch having the time of his life. I noticed McKinley and Mercedes watching from the enclosure and I could just hear their thoughts about why they don’t get to come outside too. Cats need to be outside, to play in the grass, chase prey and run up trees, but people around here would hurt them or even kill them if I dared just open up the enclosure and told them all to go play.

There has been no signs of Madison. I am sure she just found a dark place and went to sleep. I feel like I failed her and I hope someday to meet with her and tell her so.

I haven’t been very faithful in writing in this lately because even after the big speech at work that my boss was cutting back our hours, my hours have increased. Tonight was the 5th night in a row that I closed and I am bone tired. I need to sign off, go feed the horses, feed the kittens and the cats and then drag my tired self to bed. I am sure I will have plenty of company once I find my pillow- and I hope to be able to sleep in tomorrow. I am supposed to have two days off and I need it to put this house right.