Every time I say whoever is gone and gone for good – having not seen them for such a long time – they show up! A few evenings ago Bob was doing the horses’ water early and was at Irish’s pasture when he called to me. When I got out there her pointed to the fence and asked what cat that was. There along the outer fence was a black cat. Was it Magic? I called to her and the sound of my voice must have told her it was ok as she came forward. I had not brought out food yet so I jammed into the house to get some for her.
Magic was waiting for me by the shed…and her kittens were congregated around her. The kittens were surely hungry, being close to their regular meal time, but they did not even attempt to eat anything! When mom was here with them in the beginning, she wouldn’t eat until they ate first. Now, she eats and they don’t. Interesting how they communicate.
Magic was here again the next day in the late morning. I fed her and decided to follow her to see where she goes. Yeah, she’s quite p.g., sadly. I didn’t want to be too close but got out to the corner of the pasture moments after she gone under the fence. Once out, I got onto the dirt road that runs behind us, giving me a good view to the surface road. She was nowhere to be seen! She isn’t moving fast with that tummy and I should have been able to see her if she were heading back across the surface road. The distance from our property corner along our neighbor’s to the blacktop is at least 500 yards. Alas, saw her not. She must have another place closer – probably across the dirt road I was on. More pasture there and lots of places to nest, including some clumps of blackberry bushes. Down side to that is coyotes tend to live in blackberry bushes – though not so close to homes, I suspect.
[Sigh]