Well, okay, thanks to his most marvelous sponsor, Splotch is now called Barnaby which is, I think, the most perfect name for him. Anyway, I hadn't seen him in a while, but he's fairly transient, so I didn't worry too much about it.On the way home from the grocery store (in 109 degree weather, omg) I saw Downstairs-Neighbor-Lady fussing with the food dishes. Afraid that she was doing something to the traps (given that I can scarcely tell how she feels about Project-Cat from one moment to the next), I asked if there was a problem. Nope, it turns out she was just refilling the water dish with fresh water. (And a little later I saw her adding ice cubes!) This is a very good thing-- see above re: 109 degree weather. Also, I dislike trotting up and down the steps (especially in 109 degree weather) to refill the water dish, and DNL lives on the first floor. Woot.
So she and I got to chatting about lots of stuff, while I surreptitiously watched the green area over her shoulder (I'm short, but she's shorter) and while my groceries melted. I saw Daisy, Barnaby and Walsingham. 'Til I got the groceries away and new batteries in my camera and got back outside (to the 109 degrees) Daisy had wandered off, but Crooked poked her nose out from a tunnel. I also saw the back flank of one of the oranges, but since I didn't see his face I'm not sure if it was Gandolf or Pastel. Finally, when I went to leave, Daisy had returned and was eating.
The cats seem to prefer the upstairs food dish. I thought, given the options, they'd eat downstairs where it's less likely that they'll be cornered. But no, they seem to prefer the relative quiet of upstairs, and that dish always empty fast.
Anyway, I'm just glad I got some pictures of Barnaby! Before this I only had one! He's very handsome.
Today's (and yesterday's) pictures: Barnaby, Crooked, Walsingham, Amaranth, and Daphne hiding under a bush.