Nothing quite wakes you up in the mornings, when at 4:00 a.m. you are walking across your pasture towards the feral feeders and a bat flashes your face. I had my flashlight at a downward angle. It has such a strong beam that the one neighbor complains it wakes her up in the morning. She is living on her brother’s property in a small trailer next to my fence line.

Suddenly, over the songs of the frogs who appeared yesterday after a quick rain, I heard this soft whooshing noise. It came low and at an angle. As it veered down and in front of me, I felt the tips of its wings brush my cheek. Then it was gone.

Unlike most people, bats do not freak me out, at least not here in Oregon. If I lived in Transylvania, I might have a different opinion. They started appearing by the dozens after the takedown of my carport which started Monday. The roof is completely flat and it was so saturated with water and rot. There were so many mosquitos that took flight during that demo.

I was happy to see the return of the bats here. They haven’t been around much since the Holiday Farm Fire. When Mike and I first bought this place, because there is a creek on it, Mike built bat boxes and climbed the tallest trees to set them in place. The boxes have remained, but in the last two years, they haven’t been occupied. I would bet, after this morning’s encounter, if I walked back to the creek, the boxes would read No Vacancy.

The morning crew was there to meet me. Goblin has been making herself known more and more. She no longer runs when I am outside feeding and her and Twist (my outside Alpha) have finally stopped challenging one another. There is a new kitty who has arrived recently. He is very young 5-6 months, I am guessing? He is very cheeky and there have been altercations in the last few weeks taking place well after midnight. But, by the time I get out there, the aggressor has vanished.

I saw him two days ago. He has the start of the full cheeks of a Tom. He is a tuxedo kitty with striking markings. He is pure black except the tip of his tail is white, his feet are white and he has some sort of a checkerboard pattern on his chest. Really beautiful. But he is scared of his own shadow, so he is either a neglected pet, or he is from a feral litter. I have put my traps out, and caught a possum (who hissed at me). A skunk who almost sprayed me. But I am well-versed by now when a skunk is in my trap as to what to do to release them without much trauma or actually getting sprayed.

So my traps have been set aside for now. I am feeding Bristle by the creek and will try to gain his trust and go from there. If he gets close to the house, he and Twist tangle. It sounds quite uglly but there has been no wounds or injuries spotted on either cat.

When the tore the edge of the carport down, it was discovered that the wood underneath was very rotten. Not surprising to me anyway, during the bad storms I couldn’t even walk out of the carport gate because of the waterfall factor. Today, their plan is to powerwash the eaves on the side where the carport was attached to the house. I am nervous because that leads to my outer living room wall. I asked the contractor what happens if it leaks through? He said he would fix it. I am to stand by in the living room with my cell phone and if I see anything happening, I am to call him immediately.

Ashley and Magoo are not happy with all the pounding, jack hammering and the workers around. They don’t even know where it is safe for them in the house because everything is taking place around the rooms they normally feel safe in. This build is being government funded so there were a lot of hoops to jump through (and some to come.) But it is looking so much, this contractor is a far cry from the last one who turned out not be all that when it came to quality of work. The crew is friendly, efficient, and fast even in triple digit heat!

At night the inside kitties calm down and Magoo has taken to lying in his favorite spot, right next to my leg in my armchair. Ash will let me pet her, but we are still are on her terms and I do get my hand boxed if I over-reach on petting her. It is still quite the challenge to find bags of dry food that are 30 pounds that I can afford. I do online orders, but most of the time the larger bags of Purina aren’t available either. Smaller bags no issue, but we go through 3 – 30 pound bags a month here still with all the remaining rescues.

Here are more recent picture of the fire kitties: