My First Entry - A little about myself and my many cats

No, I'm not a crazy cat lady. I just happen to love cats, and have found myself - not by conscious choice - caring for a multitude of the little darlings that had set up residence in the barn behind our house that we moved into a couple of years ago. I guess the cats came with the house, but I don't recall seeing that clause in the mortgage agreement! In addition to the 25 or so outside, I have four indoor cats who also keep me busy. Cats are mysterious, elusive, enigmatic and fascinating creatures. Each and every one of them has a distinct personality. The only time I did not live with a cat in all of my 49 years was as a college student living in the dorm. And I missed my cat horribly, who was still living at home with my parents. His name was Spike. My dad used to write me letters "from Spike" when I was in college. I still have those letters.

My dad is a retired veterinarian, so animals have always been a part of my life. I am a genuine lover of creatures of every species, but it's the cat species that has me so consumed these days. We do have a dog, whom we love, but boy, do we have cats!

My ongoing project over the last several months and in the months ahead has been and continues to be getting each of my outside cats spayed or neutered, along with their immunizations to keep them healthy to continue living outside. What a project it has been! I have two categories of outside cats:

A. The docile and friendly cats who enjoy human interaction, including being petted and held.
B. The rest of the bunch who would rather I just disappear, as long as they have enough food and water. In other words, they don't wish to be touched.

As you can imagine, Group B has been the most challenging in capturing so that I can bring them to the vet for their "sexual alteration". But my goal is to have this project completed this spring before I hear the tiny little mews of brand new babies.

I've had a lot of joys and also some sadness with my brood, and for anyone who for whatever reason finds this interesting, or is reading out of sheer boredom, I'd like to share some of it. First of all, names:

My inside cats/household pets:

Lola - long haired gray female
Wilbur - short hair cream male
Lucy - short hair tan female
Priscilla - short hair calico/gray tabby female

Group A:

Rose - the matriarch
Fred - the patriarch
Ethyl - the maternal caregiver
Wendy - dainty and petite
Della - the mischief maker
Bonnie - the lover
Betty - the wanderer

Group B:

A myriad of others who won't let me close enough to determine their gender, but who are always around and know they can depend on me to take care of their needs. I've named some of them based solely upon whether they look like a boy or a girl to me, but I've been wrong before.

That's all for now!