And, unusually glorious it is! Highs in the low 80s, lows at night in the high 50s. Sigh. Such a nice reprieve before the 8-month summer hits here in south central Texas …
Unfortunately, the annual Kitten Explosion has ... exploded. In this part of the country you can count on a breeding female cat having 4-5 litters a year, but there seems to be a special peak in Spring. All the shelters are full, as are rescue organizations; and I’m one of many people frantically looking for someone to give some kittens a home.
Saturday afternoon I looked out my front window to casually note a truck pull up across the street to the vacant lot/easement – heavily overgrown with weeds and grass – that leads by way of a dirt path through brush and scrubby woodlands down to the Leon Creek Greenway. The Greenway is eight miles or more of a concrete trail built alongside Leon Creek (usually dry) with city parks interspersed along the way.
A young woman literally scampered away from the truck and down the path out of my sight, brandishing overhead a white plastic laundry basket, swinging it to and fro. Soon she returned to the truck – by which time, I was outside and trying to get a shot at the license plates (none on the front and I missed the back). I knew this wasn’t a good sign and, sure enough, down the path a ways were three little kittens who not only had lost their mittens, but their mother, a home, and a chance at life.
They’re in my spare bathroom now and I’m trying to figure out what to do. Feeding them, of course, as best I can, and I gave them baths with baby shampoo as they were flea-ridden and filthy. Skin and bones.
Takes a little bit of the spring out of Spring, doesn’t it?
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