I'm running out of names

Yep, you guessed it. Looks like another feline is trying to make his/her way to Shadowood. Last night when Joe drove in at dusk, he spied a black animal crossing our "driveway" just before the actual property line of the farm. It disappeared into the woods before Joe could determine exactly what sort of animal it was, so he didn't even bother to tell me about it.

Then this morning Joe sends me an email after he gets to town with the subject, "KITTEN ALERT!"

As Joe was driving out this morning, he encountered the black creature again in essentially the same spot. This morning, however, he got close enough to identify it as a black kitten leaping after a butterfly. He stopped his car, got out, and called to the kitten (who had been too focused on the butterfly to notice Joe up to that point). Unfortunately, the kitten was startled by Joe's unexpected salutation and took off into the woods.

So, it's starting again. Not that I wasn't expecting it, mind you. I was just hoping for a few more months of relative peace in the household before the whole integration circus starts again. Heck, I haven't even managed to name the fourth Mouseketeer who showed up last fall yet! I kept waiting for him to tell me his name, in the meantime calling him Sweet Sweet. He never has told me his name, and I'm still not satisfied with Sweet as a permanent moniker.

There's always the possibility that the kitten won't make it up to the yard or that Joe won't be able to coax it into being caught on the driveway. I am not inclined to set a live trap on the "driveway" because the aroma of the bait will be likely to attract wild predators instead of the kitten and put it at much greater risk. Also, since I borrow the trap from the local federal wildlife services, I can't risk having it stolen from our roadway. I'll just have to wait and see if the kitten shows up here on the farm. If it does come up this far, Billy and Footsie will undoubtedly let me know. And I suppose it's already told us its name -- Butterfly ... or perhaps Flutter By.

Oh, Lordy.

Laurie