Good news! and GREAT NEWS! and mediocre news...

All the pictures in this post are from this morning. :) And you click them to make them bigger.  (Also, I've recently updated the Flickr Set with about 60 photos.)


Mediocre News:
Let's start with the mediocre news because that way we can end with the great news.  The mediocre news is that when I came home this evening I saw that DNL had fed the cats.  This despite the note I put on her door.  DNL, as you may recall, doesn't approve of TNR because it's against Jesus's wishes.  I... am not happy.  But I don't want to say nasty things behind her back (although I will admit that a good 50% of why I asked a friend to help me tomorrow night was so that I'd have backup in dealing with DNL.  Not because she's dangerous, but because she's batty.)  I'm assuming she didn't get my note, or she got it and didn't read it, or she got it and didn't understand it.  (She didn't seem to understand, quite, two years ago the first time around...) I just have to hope that the other people who have been feeding the cats did not today and won't tomorrow, in and that DNL's actions don't ruin the trapping.

Hullo, Barnaby.  Um, I mean, Miley.

Good News:

Speaking of other people who feed the cats, I got a knock on my door last night and found a man and a woman, the latter of which was clutching the note I'd put on (I assume) her door.  She was very nice (the man didn't speak much), and just wanted to meet me, and to be sure she understood what was going on, and even offered to help tomorrow evening.  She told me all about her cat (and I gave her a cat toy to take to him).  Just like whenever I find a note on my door, she got scared upon seeing the one I put on hers.  Even though I was really careful to state many times in said note that we are bringing the cats back, that this is TNR, etc., she wanted to make sure, and that's cool.  (That's why I put contact information on the note!)

It turns out that this is the woman who has been putting collars on Tig(g)er.  (She calls him Tiger, I've been calling him Tigger, and a little girl in the complex calls him Garfield.)  She knew the previous owner.  She'd even tried to take Tig(g)er inside to live with her and her cat (and husband and possibly other family members), but Tig(g)er just refuses to stay only indoors.  He does, however, come inside every evening to eat dinner-- and now we know how he got handsome and filled out again!! She says that if she'd known Tig(g)er wasn't neutered she'd have taken him to get it done, so she's glad that I'm going to.

I love how sprawled Tuxie looks-- that back paw hanging out just makes the picture.

ALSO, she's apparently exceptionally fond of Barnaby and Pigpen-- although she calls them Miley and Hannah.  (Yes, you got the reference right.  Evidently it's her favorite show.)  So she is the one I have to thank for getting them so much less skittish-- she's been feeding them canned food every day!! She says that she's gotten Barnaby/Miley close enough to touch her nose  (and that Barnaby/Miley has put her head in the doorway and touched noses with her cat) but not close enough to really pet, yet.  She's been working on it for 6 months.  We both have high hopes of being able to catch them tomorrow evening.

It was great to be in touch with one of the other cat lovers in the neighborhood, and to have her support.  (She kept telling me how 'beautiful' it is what I'm doing and such.)  And like I said, she'll be out tomorrow night because she wants to see how it all works.

And now the Great News:
We did it! Actually, you did it.  Between donations and purchases in my Etsy shop we have raised (are you sitting down?) $504.50.  And that's not including the matching donations!!!

You guys make me cry with happiness.  Your generosity reminds me that there are good people out there.  (It's an easy thing to forget when you're dealing with abandoned cats, and hearing about ferals being poisoned and shot.)  You guys, from all over the world (well, okay, I think you're relatively confined to North America, but that's okay) know that these little feral cats just want to be allowed to live and do their thing, and you've made it possible.  I am so genuinely grateful and humbled by your generosity.  With this money not only have we enough to pay for the TNR via the Spay and Neuter Hotline (who, let me just say again, have been incredible and patient with me as I've tried to schedule all this), but also for me to feed the ferals for a year!  (And having TNRed the rest of the colony there shouldn't be any more kittens for me to care for, and therefore no more vet bills... knock on wood!)  I ... yeah... just... wow.

Thank you.  Thank you so very much.  No matter how much you contributed-- a few dollars, a link from your blog or your FB or Twitter-- I appreciate it more than I can properly express.

So now we just have to hope the cats go in the traps...

They're more excited about making the goal than they look.  Promise.