I tried to remember the names I gave each of them and talk to them calling them by their name in the cage room. I do call Thunder, Arrow and Javi by their names. That I can do. They are the blacks and I can tell them apart easily.
Thunder is large and laid back as a California surfer boy or a dominant jungle jaguar, self confident and sleek, as he lays out relaxed full length, legs dangling over the edge, of the garage room shelf. Arrow is not as confident, being just a teen boy, but gaining some in that department. Javi was smallest of all, skinny and needy. The only girl of the blacks here and seriously underfed when I trapped her. She's not gotten a fair share out there. There were two other blacks I caught at the colony--Thumper and Jamaica. Both escaped the garage room up in Lacomb.
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| Thunder! |
The muted tortis are easy too. There's Huckleberry, who wants badly to be a tame girl and comes within inches of me when I'm in the cage room with them. There's the shyer Mona Lisa who was fixed at the FCCO, but they somehow forget to give her their trademark "I am fixed" right ear tip.
Then there is the young girl Rosy, a muted torti with much more white, barely a teenager. There's the bright calico Patches too, who loves Thunder and Gracie, one of the gray long hair girls. Storm, a young short hair gray male, also cuddles next to Patches much of the time.
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| Patches with Storm, the young male. |
The grays are a hazy daze to me, as far as telling them apart. I know Flopsy well, as she was here with me, then went to Lacomb, with young Honey Booboo. She and Ace were the only two of seven cats in that garage room there, who did not leave it, when one of them knocked the piece of wood out that kept the window from fully opening. At that point, when that piece of wood was out of the window slide track, the cats simply pushed through the opening. She had it open a few inches, but only secured with the wood in the track. The cats were gone. Except for Flopsy and Ace, who did not escape.
Flopsy returned here then and has been here ever since. She's a curious sleek and gorgeous large gray female with short hair. I know Storm, the young male, one of the last caught, but not the last. He was caught the same day 17 others were fixed up in Portland at the FCCO, so he was fixed at Willamette Humane. He had banged the bridge of his nose up on the trap. So he's easy to tell apart.
I know there are two short hair gray males besides Storm, Vino and Willy, formerly known as Hold Out. I know there are three long hair females at least, Hawkeye, Gracie and Bluebell and one long hair gray male, and a 9th gray in the garage room is a young medium hair female with an odd shaped head. Who is the tenth? I'm trying to figure that out, boy or girl, long or short hair gray. But when they are all together, milling, wanting food, or attention or me to use the laser pointer, think I can tell who is who? I can't. Bad me!
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| Which gray short hair is this? Here are the choices: Vino, Storm, Willy or Flopsy. |
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| Hint: This is Flopsy. Note that well ringed tail! |
My own cats are doing just fine, too, don't worry, despite all the attention I give the garage cats. I am spoiling the colony cats rotten, to be sure, but I don't forget to still spoil my own cats rotten. Miss Daisy has been abusing me and I don't know what agency deals with cats who take advantage of their caretakers/slaves. What agency would that be?
I try to sleep in, just a bit, cold outside, bed is warm and cozy, but no, am not allowed. Miss Daisy is atop me. She pats my face with her paws. I roll over and object loudly. She leaps nimbly across me to the side I'm facing and this time "The Claw" comes out. It's just so wrong. Then the yowling begins, and I roll over again. Ohhhhhhh, the trials and tribulations I endure. She wants Temptation cat treats. She has become addicted. Fortunately my Australian blogger friend sent me a box of something healthier--cat greenies. She is now addicted to those too.
In the entire cat herd here, I have but one overweight cat---Oci, the girl abandoned with others in Millersburg, same time Sam was abandoned there. Since I have to free feed, being one person and sometimes gone, I have decided exercising Oci is the only way I can try to help her out. She's already lost some weight too with at least twice daily serious play time.
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| Button looks something like Chessie. Both girls are torbies. |
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| Dramatic Sassy. Sassy is always dramatic. |
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| Shady in the dark. |
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| Shaulin Watching |
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| Not a Morning Cat Slurpy |
So it's not a safe life for any cat, tame or feral, allowed to roam outside in most of Oregon. Sooner or later, most likely, you're going to get eaten alive by something, unless luck is with you and your rural owner has a gun. Or an angry emu. Those emus in the fields are scary! To everything big with teeth! Hence, I love them! Big birds with issues. What's not to love? I love to see them free roaming. Makes me smile their way.
I hope to visit them at their new home now and then. I'll grow some spectacular catweed to take them. We'll roll around some then sit in the sun and remember the good old days, in my garage, when we sprawled on soft blankets, ate too much and played with string.
In the guess who the gray short hair photo contest, if you guessed Vino, you would be correct. Vino is bigger and older than Willy, but slightly darker gray than Storm, who also has slightly fuzzier fur, but also still has the trap bang bridge of nose scar. You can easily tell the cat is a male from the wider nose. Check out Flopsy's girl nose, for comparison.
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