A day of Surprises....

four of them to be exact! (or "Look What the Cat Dragged In!")

Last Tuesday morning dawned bright and sunny and I had the day off from school, so out I went to plant some window boxes. Just after opening the overhead garage door to get some tools, I noticed one of our calico cats, Isabel, dragging something towards the garage. Guess what! Yes, a calico kitten! Cutest little thing imaginable!
We thought Isabel had miscarried weeks ago because she had never looked very pregnant, and then she wasn’t! Wrong!
So of course, I grabbed my camera :)

Isabel obviously had intentions of making a nest in the garage, which Ross has converted into his woodworking shop. I, and all my garden paraphernalia, have been banished to the big shed across the driveway from the house. Protests didn’t make an iota of difference.




I explained to Isabel that ‘dad’ wasn’t going to be impressed with her nesting in his shop, and pointed her towards the shade of the nearby wheelbarrow.
The temperature was already hot and the humidity was high when I finally got down to work at the picnic table outside the garage.



Around 11:00AM I looked over to the wheelbarrow and did a double take….I saw not one, but TWO kittens! Another calico! Well well, surprise number two. I got the camera out again :)




Big sister, Cleo volunteered to do some babysitting for Mom. Cleo is Isabel's kitten born last summer. She's so helpful :)



At 12:30 I'm back out again after lunch and what do you know, yet a THIRD calico kitten has shown up!! Cleo is still babysitting. Out comes the camera again.

Have to stop and play a while with these little beauties. This is cutting into my work time, don’t you know? And it’s hotter than Hades by now.



Where's Mom?

Can you guess?



At 1:30 I go inside to get a glass of cold water, and coming back outside I almost tread on surprise number FOUR! This one is a ginger (or orange) male…just for a change. I’m spending an awful lot of my work time taking pictures! (So what’s new?)



A mother's work is never done. What a diligent girl!



Fuzz balls.



Time for a rest!

The kittens are about 4 weeks old I’d guess. All four were tame right from the start, although the little guy was a bit of a scaredy-cat for just a little while (or maybe he was being macho and protecting his sisters). He did the little hissy spits at me at first, but got over it quickly when he realized I was friend and not foe. Usually, if the mother hides the kittens outside the barn we have to tame them when she finally brings them out into the open to meet us.
I found a nice comfy cardboard box and put an old towel in it for Isabel to make a nest in. She seemed to find it suitable. When evening came I put the box under a big planer in the shed across the driveway. She apparently found that acceptable too because she hasn’t moved them, except to bring them to the back door every morning where they alternately play and sleep on the patio all day long. I carry the box to the patio in the mornings and take it back to the shed at night.


I fear for my gardens!


Does anyone want a beautiful, charming and very cute kitten?? (or two)?