ARRIVED UNINVITED

Runt

          They arrived uninvited around Halloween, and at first I ignore them;  hopeful they would not set  up camp, make their selves at home, just simply move on  as a band of nomad's to a better place, and I would forget about their passing through. They did not! Instead, the six black cats, three kittens and three adults set up residence at our home.

     Who could blame them. Clearly, they are as sharp as a tack when I come home from work and they would scatter in all four direction under our large front porch. They found the perfect home to suit them, their needs, desires and wants. With bird feeder and bird bath nearby just in our front yard and cover below our porch they found a home that offered food, water, and shelter. So during the first couple of weeks, I was so hoping they would move on to greener pasture in the neighborhood. Still, I observed them with interest; akin to that of being a zoologist. 

     Sally and I talked about our uninvited guests often and so she began her research. As an animal lover with allergies, she wanted to see what she could do to find them homes and who could blame her.  It soon became clear our front yard was not only their playground scaring all the birds away, it is their toilet as well. And this put a tremendous damper on Sally's plans to landscape our front yard and now spending more time cleaning up after them.     

     As in any clan, family, pack of animals there seems to always be a runt. And in this tribe of black cats they had theirs. One day I watched as two of the stronger kittens hopped up the bird bath to drink the water. The runt, skinny, slow, but trying, could not achieve what his siblings could do. It tugged at my heart strings and with Sally's blessing, I began to bring some water out to them and not long after hard cat food. I named the first of six cats. 'Runt'. 

     And so welcome to my blog where today I opened the 'Pets and Shadows Gallery' of photographs with our pets and the world of shadows, feral cats and maybe a stray dog or two at  http://chuckables.artistwebsites.com/   Please browse through my galleries , enjoy, and don't forget half the sales from “Pets and Shadows' I will donate to the Yavapai Humane Society and The Humane Society.

Thanks

Chuck