Now what....

This morning I'm short one little black female kitten - Sweet Pea.

Mamma cat took all but Garf, who was taking a nap with me on the bed, outside yesterday, and outside the yard.  At dusk, when only Garf was home, we went out calling to them, but no one came.

I got in my car and drove around this little hamlet (of about 40 people, with half of those over the age of 60) and thought all was lost, until I saw Mamma cat coming from the direction of our house toward me.  I stopped the car, turned around and turned off the lights to follow her and see where she was headed, knowing the kittens were wherever "there" was.

About a half a block from where I live is very large garage... she had left them there in the overgrown grass surrounding the garage.  She called them out and I walked up trying to get them caught and into the car to go home... no such luck. 

So I came home, and left the window open overnight hoping that she would bring them back to eat when the night got cold...she did, but Sweet Pea was not with them.  I think she did this because the night before I'd managed to bring Tucker in and closed the window to keep him in for the night.  He and Mamma don't get along and after the trauma Tucker suffered from territorial Charlie, I guess he figured enough was enough.  She doesn't go after him in the manner that Charlie did, but I did see her really smack him down once and apparently that was enough for Tuck.

So now I sit and wait in the wee hours of the morning for dawn to break so I can go and look for her to make sure that she eats this morning.  I'm so tempted to just close the window once I have them all inside.  My older cats know how to come to the door to be let in and winter is close.  I anguish over the thought of having these little ones out in the cold of winter and not yet spayed or neutered.

Right now, we sit and wait for dawn, and see what the day brings.