We were taking it easy on Saturday... we'd had a nice breakfast of french toast and bacon and eggs. Then the phone rang... it was Miss J. from next door. She wanted to tell me that one of the neighbors across the street was having a garage sale... lots and lots of cars had already stopped. So... we got things cleaned up and headed over. We cut across Miss J.'s yard to cross the street. As we got to the edge of the road... a lady was crossing back over to our side, and she told us that she had seen a very tiny kitten go running across our yard. She said she was going to go find it... and with that, she was off.
We went to the garage sale... and DH found a Dell Computer System... (it had the hard drive removed) but it had a 17 inch flat screen monitor, sound card and speakers, keyboard, mouse and an all in one printer... for $30. (The monitor alone is worth $30!) I found a cute little white soup tureen... I've always wanted one... for $1.25. With that... we came home and DH brought all of our treasures into the house. Since it was such a nice day... we were in and out with the dogs, enjoying the sunshine and the yard... doing some laundry in between. As the day wore on, I got tired and went inside to read and rest.
Later... I came out to walk the dogs... (I'm still working with Punky... and I take her out after she's been in her crate to avoid any accidents) and as we came back down the driveway... she found half of an eaten mouse. (Yuck!) I called DH... but he was nowhere around. I even tried his phone... but no answer. So, I put the dogs into the stairwell... just as I saw DH climbing the stairs to the deck next door at Miss J.'s. He was wearing gloves... and had the little kitten in his hands.
He told me that as he was outside working, Miss J. came over to ask him to help her... she could hear the kitten crying under her windows on the North side of the house and had put food and water out... but the kitten wouldn't stop crying. He donned his gloves and went to help her... and as they set out to get the kitten... the kitten ran toward Miss J., who picked her up... and the kitten proceeded to scratch and bite her hand. (oooowwww!) DH took the kitten and held on to it until Miss J could get her cat carrier. We then encouraged Miss J to go to the ER for a tetanus shot. She called her sister who is an ICU nurse and her sister told her that yes, she did need a shot and antibiotics.
We took over care of the kitten while she went to the ER. This little, tiny, cute kitten is about 4 weeks old. But she is wild... and she hisses and spits and wales a pretty good punch for a little kitty. We ended up lending out Punky's crate, it's bigger than Miss J's cat carrier... and we fashioned a disposable litter box out of something DH had in the garage. Miss J is keeping her in one of the rooms in her cellar, off the garage. We thought we had things under control when Miss J called around 8:30 that night, and the little kitty managed to escape the crate from the bottom. DH went back over to catch her and put her back in... and they fashioned a cover from some insulation board to go around the bottom 2/3's of the crate.
Punky is using an old dog crate that is much smaller than she's used to... she doesn't like it one bit! Today... Miss J called to say that she is going to have to keep the kitten for the 10-day observation for rabies... the county animal shelters won't do it. (I've never heard of that... I figured if an animal bit you... it was surrendered and observed by the county.) She's hoping that the shelter would lend her a large cage so that Punky could have her crate back. Punky is currently on a leash and sleeping near by... it could work out to be a good training experience for her and help her get used to be a member of the family!
We aren't sure where this kitten came from... and it also looks like she was attacked at some point because she had dried blood on her side. Miss J says that the kitty hasn't groomed herself at all... which is probably because she's so young. Yesterday... I discovered the other half of the dead mouse... we do have a couple of hawks and some owls that live near by... and our big tree is a favorite roost while they feed. When DH picked up the first part of the mouse on Saturday, a hawk flew out of the tree... screeching the entire time... upset that we threw dinner away, I'm sure. Miss J told us that before we moved in, they would often see bones and fur lying in the driveway under the tree.
We also saw the deer up in the clearing late on Saturday. They have changed color... gotten much darker for Fall and Winter. We haven't decided if we are going to do deer crunch this year. Once you start to feed them, you can't stop during the Winter. It's a rather good expense... I think we'll just put out mineral salt licks for them. I know there are other people that live up the hill in the village that do put out feed... it's probably more than enough.
Thanks for reading... be blessed.
~Suzanne
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