I know what you’re thinking.
You’re thinking, Boy, that Vivian sure can wrap a hutch.
There was rain in the forecast for Sunday so even though I haven’t pinned up the sleeping bags yet, I got the hutch rain-proofed with three big-ass tarps wrapped around it (eight layers of tarp. Think that’s enough?) and then I put a big metal pan on top. I thought the cats might like to hear the sound of raindrops on the roof.
Thank you, my darling readers, for all the help with the diaper pins. I have not kept up with the nomenclature for fasteners — I hear they are called blanket pins these days ( in the best craft shops — a big thank you to the reader who is sending me a set of 6 all the way from Pennsylvania! ).
The rain started right on schedule, around 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon. At first, Taffy and Lickety thought that their hutch was just a fancy stationery umbrella.
But then Taffy figured it out (that’s the tip of his tail you see, there, disappearing through the hutch doorway).
And then Lickety got a clue.
After a while, the mama cat Candy wandered by, took a look at her boys up in the hutch, and decided to find her own perch out of the rain.
Yeah. She sat out the rain in the rhododendron tree. Sigh. When I checked up on her later, she’d left the tree and had gone to her cubbie in the garage, so I could stop worrying about her spending the afternoon in the rhododendron tree.
But that doesn’t mean that I don’t wake up in the middle of the night and hear the rain and worry. So at 3:22 this AM I went out into the backyard and counted noses:
That’s Taffy, Lickety, and Oscar from next door, high and dry.
But don’t worry; there’s still plenty of other things for me to worry about at 3:22 AM.
Le Road Trip — First Printing SOLD OUT, second printing now available!
When Wanderers Cease to Roam — Nancy Pearl says: "I cannot adequately convey how much I absolutely loved reading Vivian Swift's WHEN WANDERERS CEASE TO ROAM…It's charming, delightful, and captivating…A perfect gift."
Vivian, where is Butter?
Now THAT’S AN INTERESTED CAT LADY. Butterscotch? Butter? Carol; you remembered.hmmmmm….
I do not have feral kitties but like you I worry about my feline pals. They are allowed to go out to the garden during the day but by dusk I am rounding them up and making them come in for the night. We occasionally have a passing coon or stray cat pass through the garden after dark and I do not want my “babies” to get into a match with one of them. But as it is the way with 2 people living in the house, sometimes one of us will assume the other has gotten them in.
So I have become the designated person to do a head check every evening, making sure all are safe and sound.
I love what you are doing for these beautiful kitties and even though they are not “user friendly”, I am sure they appreciate all you are doing for them. Thanks so much for sharing.
Sallyann
It’s a kind of cat IQ test1 Or maybe a ferality meter….the more domesticated the cat genes, the more likely they’d be to get in the hutch? Or maybe neither. I had a very smart cat once who just liked the rain. He’d go out and sit under something, but he’s rather be out in it than cooped up. I love your engineering prowess and the funny photos.
Tigers love water — I’ve seen them swim at the zoo. It’s funny that the boys ran for cover while Mama cat wasn’t scared. Or maybe she doesn’t like the sound of rain on tin.
I’ve tried to keep feral cats cozy (not this elaborately) but they would never get into it and make themselves at home. This was, of course after I had already adopted and found homes for all that I could handle.
That’s a wonderful architectural marvel you’ve made for those guys.