Close to Home...Interrupted by Orange Kitty

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I think I've written 9 blog posts about my show, Close to Home. There are more to go but I have to interrupt the series briefly. About five days ago the dogs were barking at something in the yard. Well, Maggie is always barking at the squirrels outside the yard but this time it was an orange cat who had it's back up and was hissing. I got the dogs in the house but the cat was gone when I went back outside.

Monday I was teaching a weaving class and Maggie wouldn't stop with the barking. I brought her in the shop with us but she started to bark when I let her out again. Rusty was no where to be seen which is unusual. I found him in the garden area staring (as only a Border Collie does) under the house. It was evident that the dogs had been digging there and that someone (my guess is Maggie) had been chewing at the wood beam that holds up the house. I blocked off the area so that at least our house would remain intact. Tuesday before the weaving class started up for the day the dogs were at it again but this time in the cellar access. I went down there (with all the cobwebs and other creepy things) and found the orange cat. I donned leather gloves and caught it. The class was going to start so I put it in a crate in the barn for the day. When I went out later I discovered that it was a "he" and he was a young very grateful-to-be-petted kitty.IMG_0127 I didn't want to leave him in the small crate in the barn all night so I thought I'd put him in a larger crate in my shop.IMG_0135 That didn't last long. IMG_0140 After I got back from a Board meeting at the Artery I brought the crate in the house and the kitty spent most of the evening in my lap while I sat at the computer. Note Ozzie who blends into the darkness on the windowsill.I

IMG_0142 IMG_0166 This morning I put up a fence and let the kitty on the back porch where there is a litter-box.  (Did you know that Wordpress corrects cat box to read hatbox?) Everyone watched.

IMG_0168 Ozzie could come and go but remained skeptical. I spent longer than I should have, not watching kitten videos, but taking kitten videos. Later I put the kitten back in the crate while I was outside. Tonight I let him out on the back porch again with the fence to keep him contained.IMG_0180I guess that was a short-lived solution to keeping him in a safe area.