New Kittens

Hello October.

Sitting comfortably in my favorite worn brown leather chair with the sun slowly making it's ascent over the houserizon, I have the essentials. With hot black coffee in hand and Chico curled on my lap it's almost time to move my position. The Sun, currently shaded and filtered by trees will soon flood my home with it's blinding light.

I enjoy this scenario every day.

A new twist is the addition of baby kittens that were born and living under our deck. They areonly about a week old. This is not the first litter of kitties to call our backyard home. It happens a few times a year.

One day I walk out of the basement door and there is mommy cat laying under one of our rose bushes letting the little ones nurse. There were four kittens but now there are only three. I had afeeling something was wrong with one of them.

His eyes were not open like the others. He was smaller too. One day I look out towards the deck from my chair and there he is on the deck. How did he get up here? He is so tiny. I kept my eye on him. I don't like to interfer with nature. He wanted his mom. He would pace back and forth. I was so worried he would go to the edge of the deck and fall 10 feet to the ground.

I could not take it anymore. I got a towel, went out there and picked him up and delivered him back with the others.

The next day the same thing happened. My thought was that the mother was separating him from the others because something was wrong. She wanted to keep the other three kittens protected and healthy.

Again, I kept my eye on him. This was tough. He would go right to the edge of the deck and somehow knew to stop. Whew, that was close. Then he would wander to another edge, stop. Whew. I again could not take it. I went out there and re-delivered the errant kitty.

Next I blocked the stairs so he could not climb them, if that's what he was doing. Maybe the mom was carrying him up here.

Well, I have not seen him since. I also only see three healthy little ones now. Perhaps nature took it's course.

I love watching them grow up and have enjoyed watching many kittens grow up over the years. Soon they will venture to the top of our deck and play. This is entertainment for Barclay and Chico.

I consider them all my friends. One of the previous kittens was one I named Callico because of his colors. He showed up the other day on our deck. It was so good to see him. Being only a few months old he's looking good.

Yesterday, I went for a nice relaxing 8 miler.

Split Time Moving Time Distance Elevation Gain Elevation Loss Avg Pace Avg Moving Pace Best Pace Avg HR Max HR Steps Calories
1 0:09:30 0:08:59 1 0 6 9:30 8:59 1:36 113 125 0 60
2 0:08:27 0:08:24 1 11 0 8:28 8:24 6:42 126 133 0 62
3 0:08:30 0:08:25 1 3 0 8:30 8:25 6:39 127 132 0 59
4 0:08:31 0:08:28 1 0 13 8:31 8:28 7:01 125 128 0 53
5 0:08:32 0:08:30 1 14 0 8:32 8:30 5:27 128 134 0 57
6 0:08:30 0:08:29 1 0 2 8:30 8:29 7:15 131 135 0 58
7 0:08:28 0:08:29 1 0 4 8:28 8:29 7:05 132 137 0 56
8 0:08:28 0:08:26 1 0 6 8:28 8:26 7:31 133 142 0 55
9 0:00:20 0:00:19 0.04 0 0 9:01 8:29 8:31 132 133 0 1
Summary 1:09:19 1:08:29 8.04 27 32 8:37 8:31 1:36 126 142 0 461





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" Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own, sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."

* It takes courage to push yourself to places that you have never been before... to test your limits... to break through barriers. And the day came when the risk it took to remain tight inside the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” - Anais Nin