Four small surprises

I can't remember if I shared this picture on the blog already. This is a stray cat that's been hanging around our house for close to a year now.

During the coldest parts of winter, we put out food now and again for the handful of strays that live around here. This one showed up the most often and would sometimes meow at us when we were bringing out the food. Now that summer's here, we've started making sure there's always fresh water available, too. The cat isn't around every day, but does come through regularly to get a bite or a sip.

A couple of weeks ago, the cat came around one afternoon and brought a surprise.

She's a mama! These are three of her four kittens (the one not pictured is a tuxedo).  We think they're living under the porch of the empty house that's for sale behind ours. The four kittens are wild and will run when they see us coming, but the mama just goes still and watches us. She obviously trusts us but is wary of the dogs, as she should be.

And speaking of the dogs!! The other day Poppy saw them and ran up to the fence, barking and jumping around and acting fierce. The kittens ran away, but the mama...get this....ran straight up to the fence and got right up in Poppy's face, nose to nose between the chain links, and stared her down! Poppy was so taken aback she immediately stopped barking. Ha! The cat continued to stare until Poppy turned and went back in the house. Can you believe that? 

Anyway, as soon as Poppy was safely inside, Gregg took out a fresh cup of cat food. Mama cat watched him calmly from her spot beside the fence, meowed at him, and then went and gathered her kittens and brought them back for their evening meal. Even though she's half wild herself, I think she'd like to be adopted. 

Gregg and I have to keep reminding ourselves that we don't need (and can't afford) another pet. Also, our dogs would never accept it. Also, I'm allergic to cats. Etc. Etc. 

But we sure do like her.