Kittens

      This afternoon, I found five or six kittens huddled together in a nest, in a hard-to-get-at spot south of my garage.   Four or five dark ones and one yellow and white.  I was clearing serious weeds and bushes and they started to cry when I was six feet away.   Their eyes aren't open yet.

      The location made me pretty sure it was another litter from the feral munchkin calico known as "Copper."  She's had a kitten nest in that corner before.

      I got a ladder, hoping to reach over and open the gate (this is before I found the nest, only heard it), but the old lock is stuck.  When I put the ladder up and started carefully working my way back to the nest, Copper came dashing out past me.

      After a quick look and a phone conversation with my neighbor, we decided they're too tiny to hand-raise yet.  I worked on the tomato patch, and fifteen or twenty minutes later, Copper climbed over the fence and froze when she saw me.  I moved slowly away with my back to her and used my phone camera to watch over my shoulder.  She crept along the fence top until she had put a hanging plant between us and watched for a long time before sneaking out of sight towards the kittens.

      She'll probably move them as soon as she feels safe doing so.  We may be able to get them once they're older.   Copper herself has been too wild and wily to be caught for several years now.