Nothing To It

What does one say, to arrive at a new colony, get out of the car to discuss with the cats' caretaker, how we will proceed, when she blurts out "I already caught 10"?

She's over 80 years old too.

I'm not used to this.  I'm used to 20 to 50 year old whiners who claim they can't trap their own, you have to do it, won't lift a finger.

This, that, any excuse.

I think my mouth dropped open when she said that.  I had delivered her a drop trap and a large live trap, a week ago, so she could prefeed in them, get the cats used to going in and out, to get their food.   People often don't actually do it however.   They just say they will.

I'd texted her "on way".  When I got there, 15 minutes or so later, she'd trapped 10.  She had seven under the drop trap, then covered the trap with a blue tarp.  And three were in my large trap.  I had it bungeed open for her to feed in, so the cats were hungry and three younger ones were in there eating.  She just slipped the bungee cord off the front.  

We rode out to the barn through the field in her electric golf cart with a trailer.  I'd loaded seven empty traps on it.   I transferred the seven under the drop trap to the seven empty traps and we drove them back to my car on the trailer behind the golf cart.   I loaded them up in my car, then loaded the other three empty traps onto the trailer and we went back out to the barn.   I transferred the three in my big trap to the small traps, set the large trap and off we went to my car through the field, with the cats.

I drove the ten cats home and unloaded them onto the cat shelves in the garage and by the time I did that, she texted me two were in the big trap.

I went and fetched them.  It was pitch dark by then and she had loaded the trap with the two cats in it onto the golf cart trailer and already brought them to the driveway.  I transferred them into two  traps, gave her four more empty ones and came home.  Since the cart has no headlights, she'll try today for the other four.

What could be easier on me than that?  I had envisioned hours out there, somehow checking traps repeatedly in a distant barn.  

They're beautiful cats.  I'll get better photos at some point. For now, I do have photos of all 12, although they don't do their beauty justice.

Gleaners was fine too.   A couple and another woman jumped in to help fill adoptee boxes.  I did not have to fill all 19 boxes alone.   Thank goodness.   I took Aleve before I went and afterwards had to also take some Tylenol but all good.    I hope she catches the last four cats today out at the colony.    If anyone can, that would be her.