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Look who I saw peaking out this morning.
Callie ran out immediately on seeing me at the back door but when I put food in her dish, she looked at me with a morning face that begged for breakfast in bed. Not the most fun time to be a feral cat, I guess.
Though there was a little ice in the garden, the water dish hadn't frozen over so that's a good sign. I'll stuff a little more hay in the shelter when we warm back up to the 70's on Thursday. That's Austin winters for you. One day, high is 33 and the next day, high is 70. I wonder if cats know the difference between Austin winters and Springtime proper....
With the first hard freeze coming to Austin, I decided that I needed to take care of my adopted garden-mates, Callie and Eb.
Callie and Eb are a couple of feral cats that decided to make my back porch a permanent station in their daily rounds. In fact, I think Callie knows my truck now because I've seen her run from a neighbors yard when I pull into the driveway.
Anyways, I caught Callie this summer for the Austin Human Society's Trap/Neuter/Return program. (A story for another post!) And despite the nipped ear, she was back at my door within a couple hours and daily since then.
She loves to follow me as I go back into the house, but as soon as I turn around she runs away again. I really wish I could let her in the house, but she freaked out when I had her in the garage after the procedure. I've read that feral cats get really stressed when trapped in human surroundings. So I had to find another option.
Turns out, building winter shelter cats is a pretty common thing to do. (Hah! Crazy Cat Lady, indeed.) Since Austin winters aren't too bad, I built a simple one out of a Rubbermaid tub based on this idea. I couldn't find sheets of styrofoam so I used styrofoam plates. Then I went down to Callahan's General Store (same one Ann likes to stop by at when she comes to visit) and bought some honest-to-goodness hay. For good measure, I sprinkled some catnip in there, too.
Well, she checked it out immediately and walked right in. About 2 seconds later she jumped right out. I guess she still remembers the last time I trapped her in a box near my back porch.
I did my best. Do I feel guilty? Just a little...
This morning I was digging up one of the squares in my garden box and building up the determination to yank out the pumpkin plant that, sadly, didn't manage to produce this season.
Trying to untangle the scratchy vines from the netting , I yelped when I suddenly noticed this guy staring at me. 
He was pretty patient while I clumsily dug within inches of his face. He didn't move. I don't think he blinked. I'm so glad I saw him before plunging my trowel into his little bit of home (or worse). Now that he's uncovered, I'll give him some time to move on his own. Otherwise, I'll try relocating him to another shady part of the yard.
Hopefully a part of the yard unnoticed by the cats.
