I've been trying to contact my neighbor Barb .... the feral cat lady. Everytime I have gone over to her home there has been no answer and I am always worried about her health and well being. She has been weighing heavy on my mind because I have promised to help her with her kitties and the last time I had spoken to her was when we took the kittens out of her yard (or was it when we took three of her cats to get TNR'd?) back in May. Anyway ...... I just spoke to her and plan on stopping by on Wednesday (my only day off this week). She still has five kittens that one of her ferals decided to surprise her with by sneaking into her house and giving birth under her sofa along with her many other kitties taking up residency in her home (plus her outdoor kitties). I am hoping to find homes for them or at least a shelter that can help us out ... kittens are usually fairly easy to place. We are going to set some dates to set out traps and take as many of her kitties to get fixed that we can. Sadly, she said her colony seems to be shrinking ..... although after chatting with some of my neighbors at my annual garage sale, there may just be more people feeding them .... we will never know. Garage sales are really wonderful at getting rid of stuff but also meeting interesting people and catching up with neighbors that I seem to only see once a year at my sales. I had a few cat items out and a very nice lady bought them and told me she rescued cats ....... well ...... of course I had to tell her my story about the ferals and Connor's project. She then related her story of how the police now watch her because she was caught with eighty-five cats in her home. The police told her she had forty eight hours to get rid of the cats or they would all be euthanized. She made lots of phone calls and found a shelter in Chicago Ridge that had just opened up a new cat wing, had no cats and took all eighty five of them...... funny how some things just seem to work out for people trying to do the right thing in the wrong way. I had a small little kittie sign that I had just bought in Arizona that said "that is Ms. Crazy Cat Lady to you" ..... it was the perfect size for a small spot in my mud room but before she left ..... I took it off the wall and gave it to her saying "this is really meant for you" ..... she left with a smile (and some really great stuff from the garage sale) ..... and a new friend that said she would help me out with the "neighborhood kitties". OK ... so now you are all thinking that I am becoming this crazy cat lady .... but crazy ... NO ... I have been an animal lover my entire life and see how a pet can change a person's life. I just got a phone call from a girl who was interested in adopting one of my kittens ..... she had come over to see them and I told her "you have to take at least two" ...... especially with kittens, two are so much easier because when you are gone, they have each other to keep occupied and are not sooooo needy. She took two that night and had borrowed my carrier ..... so when she called me about returning my carrier, she told me how those kittens saved her life ... she had just gone through a nasty divorce, etc......... and was very lonely. Now when she gets home .... those two little kitties are there for her and absolutely changed her life. So I think ... my two little feral kittens .... who had no chance for any decent life ..... brought this girl so much happiness ..... OK .... I am feeling pretty good about this :-)