Something Feathered This Way Comes

Our kitten population has been taking a beating. One was hit by a car. One vanished. Smeagol was found in the farm lane way, way up on the hill. Looked as if she had been dropped from up high. The boss used to spend a few minutes every morning sitting on a bucket outside the milk house petting her and gentling her down. I am sure he misses her.

There was discussion that maybe it was a hawk, but we have never had kitties taken by hawks before. My vote was great horned owl, though we haven't seen one in years.

Then, this morning when I took little Miss Daisy out for her constitutional at just barely past dawn, a huge black shape lifted out of the honey locust right next to the kitchen. It was gone too quickly for me to get a fix on it, and it DID make some noise...owls are largely silent.

However, the noise was big wings hitting branches, not feather sounds in flight. I'll bet it was an owl, hunting Chainsaw who was right there waiting for me to come out. Chainsaw is one tough old fellow. If it grabs him it is in for a surprise!

Or maybe it is after the skunk that has been hanging around. It is certainly welcome to that, but I miss the little kitties. Only Smog is left....plus the old cats. We used to have a lot of barn cats, but it seems now, with all the varmints moving in, we are lucky to keep a handful, even though we feed them and vaccinate all we can catch.