What I did this summer

Hi again~

Remember when you were in school one of the first assignments teachers would give every fall was to write about "What I did this summer"? I guess we never get too old for that because I was talking to my sister the other day and she was telling me that every year on Memorial Day she prepares a list of projects she wants to complete before Labor Day. Then on Labor Day she reviews the list to see how many she can check off. It's kind of an grown-up version of "what I did this summer." We were laughing about how sometimes the summer goes so fast it's easier to just mark through the year and save the list for the following year. Been there, done that! This year I had quite a few things I wanted to accomplish and luckily I got the most urgent one done!

As many of you know I've been feeding feral cats who have established residence in our neighborhood. My plan was to trap, neuter, and release (TNR). With the TNR the plan is to trap the cats and then to return them to their home area after the neutering has taken place. I had hoped to do that last fall but it didn't happen. Then it was going to be in the winter. Life got in the way of that plan too. As tends to happen, two of the five cats got pregnant and instead of having 5 that needed to be neutered I had 11 ~ yikes! Two of the adults, Punkin & Tigger, have been friendly enough for me to pet. Punkin had three kittens and she brought her three around but the kittens would scatter any time I went onto the porch.

Here's Tigger! He's been a mush ball since birth. Even when he was a tiny kitten he would roll over on his back and let me rub his belly!

Here's a sleepy Punkin! Her picture has appeared on the blog several times before, if you want to see her awake!

I was so very fortunate to find an organization to help with the TNR. Forgotten Cats is an organization in Pennsylvania & Delaware. They provide trapping assistance (they lend the traps and offer instruction on proper use), they then spay/neuter the cats, keep them until they have had a chance to recover and then return them home. They also vaccinate them for rabies and distemper and give them a flea treatment. They do all of this for a very reasonable fee. With their help I was able to complete the TNR of 11 cats in less than one week! Amazing. I know they would appreciate you checking out their Web site. If you happen to be participating in United Way you can allocate your contribution to go to their organization.

So back to the story...now that the 11 cats have been returned Punkin's three have become much more approachable. For the first time I've been able to pet them. Today two of the three were actually rubbing against me. I'm sharing their pictures - the first I've been able to take from the same side of the door (I've often snapped their pictures through the sliding door).

Aren't they adorable?

The yellow guy sitting is Dandy (short for Dandelione), his twin is Daisy (although now that we've discovered "Daisy" is male, I guess he needs a new name). The little gray one in the back is Gigi!

Here are Gigi & Daisy checking me out!

You can see where Gigi's left ear was "tipped" to indicate that she's been fixed. For some reason Daisy's wasn't done.

The other six are much more "feral" and won't pose for pictures. Yet! LOL

So, that's what I did this summer. How about you? Did you have a good summer? Do anything special? Do you have a project list and if so, did you get a lot marked off of it?

Take care! And thanks again for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed your visit.