While I was enjoying my coffee early Friday morning I heard the crunching of cat food at the front porch. I have been feeding and working on gaining the trust of a young, stray black and white cat that has been living in the barn next door. But it was not the b/w cat on the porch, instead it was an orange tabby. The first thought I had was oh boy I am in trouble when the hubby learns that another cat is eating on the porch. I watched it eat very quick and nervously, then I notice it was carrying it's front left leg oddly. When it moved back down the steps I noticed it was missing it's foot. The leg appears to be healed over and it can run and walk well. Now I am extra concerned about new cat that I have never seen in the couple of months I've been watching the b/w cat. To make a long story short I bought a havaheart trap to catch the orange cat and bring it to the local shelter. Around 8:30 Friday night I checked the trap and I heard something carrying on in it. I had caught the little b/w cat, the orange one was sitting next to the trap. I was a little disappointed at first because I wanted to catch the orange one. But I set up a large dog kennel up for the rescued cat until I could have the vet check it out.
In the mean time I reset the trap Saturday evening as it had rained all day saturday, I figured I would not see the orange one again until Sunday. Sunday morning I got up and went to peek out at the trap and saw some cream colored fur. I was so excited and squealed to my husband, "I caught another cat!" I put my garden clogs on and ran out in my pjs to check it out. I came right back in to tell my husband that I caught a critter but it was not a cat. I had caught one of the OTHER residents from the barn, a skunk. So the dilemma was how do I let it go without getting skunked. I put on my rain coat and grabbed the polo mallet I had in the garage(a find from my old house) and went to free Pepe le pew.
The only way to open the door on the cage is to release the catch with one hand and lift the door with the other. The skunk was quite antsy but kept in the back corner. Once I had the door slightly ajar I placed the mallet under the door to lift it all the way open from a distance. I stood on the other side of the shrub I placed the trap behind, so the skunk could not see me. It took almost ten minutes before it finally came out. As soon as it cleared the door I took off in the opposite direction. No harm, no foul - odor! It never sprayed!!
We took the b/w fella to the vet and he passed all tests with flying colors. The vet estimates he is around 12 months old, when they put the health info in the computer it calculated 12 months and 2 days. So my girlfriend suggested that his birthday be the day we caught him (6/24).
We have not put the trap out yet for "orange juice". We just saw him again tonight, so I put some food out for it. "OJ" kept a short distance and did meow when I shook the bowl of food. It was up on the porch eating as soon as I went in. I plan to set up the trap during the day time this weekend, as I do not want to catch the skunk again. I got lucky once.
I have made good progress on the wedding spots, but not sure I like the colors. The photo on the cover of the pattern looks more neutral with browns, creams and grays. It calls for tin bucket and tin roof but they seem too much on the teal side. May need to edit some of the colors. Other wise I am loving working on this project.
Will update the cat happenings. I think we have settled on the name Opus for the b/w and slowly getting him adjusted to his new environment indoors. He's doing well so far. The Bassett hound is excited but well mannered with him.
Off to bed, need to get up for work.
Keep on stitching. :-)
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