The Barncats

Last year we had those two litters of kittens show up around the property, and we still have a few of them around.  Not counting the cat Mary kept, or the other two that were adopted, I think we still have the two moms and two of the boys from the other litter.  Also, the tomcat responsible for many of them died during the winter and we buried him back in the wood lot behind Hawksbill Cabin.

Mary took care of getting pretty much all of the cats that had survived at that time fixed last October, availing herself of Cats Cradle's services for this purpose.  By the way, a link to them is here:  http://www.catscradleva.org/

After that she kept one, and then fixed up an area under the barn for the others to shelter during the winter.

This had the effect of giving them a home out there, so that's why I call them the barn cats.  Despite their feral nature they do seem to have gotten to know us and the neighbors, and "Momcat" - the gray stiped cat in the photo - likes to hang around whenever Tessie is around outside.  This one is actually the parent of Mary's cat, and they socialize with each other through the window.

Also visible in the photo is one of the two male kittens that survived, whom I like to call Patch.  He's mostly white with one big yellow patch straddling his back, and then the markings on his face.  He's gotten braver since he knows Mary will feed him at some point.

Patch's brother also hangs out, but he's much more timid and only makes an appearance for meals.  We don't see him enough to assign a moniker.  But he's definitely there to freeload with the rest of them.