DISASTER!

The kitties have disappeared! I hope that they were taken by someone friendly related to the folks next door. Maybe they'll reappear?
Ugh, I'm so frustrated and anxious.

Possible daddy?

Here's the black cat that I sometimes see in the backyard sniffing around the kittens. Daddy?
Today was so gorgeous that I had to go and sit outside in the backyard for a bit. While I was there, the mama came and hung out with me. The kittens peered out at me from their little hole and determined that I wasn't a threat since Mommy was letting me pet her. They were so cute--curious, but not curious enough to come near me, so they sat by the wall and stared at me from behind some foliage. I was so boring that after a few minutes they both dozed off. ADORABLE.

Who wants a friendly feral?!

My neuter date with the ASPCA isn't until June 12th, and I don't want Miss Mama to get preggers again--I'd like to get her spayed ASAP. I borrowed a trap from a co-worker who does this sort of thing all the time, so that's not an issue--I just need to figure out where to get her fixed. I really can't afford to pay $40 out of pocket for it, it would be really crazy cat lady of me to be fiscally irresponsible like that. It would be different if someone wanted her...
She and the kids seemed to enjoy the 3/$1 "sardine cat food" (it was a can packed with nothing but aspic and lots of real smelly sardines! yummers!) I put out. They had a nice family dinner together except for the one baby who was more interested in this little hole he was digging than in the meal.

Progress

I went to Neighborhood Cats' TNR workshop this weekend. I and about 20 other people gave up 4 hours of our Saturday to learn about trapping, neutering, and maintaining a feral cat colony. It was TOTALLY AWESOME. Seriously, though, I learned a lot, and felt some reassurance that there were other young, well-groomed, seemingly-sane people who wanted to dedicate their time to doing this.
Today I went out to start establishing a regular feeding time for the kitties. I scared off one of the kittens who was hanging out in the mystery cat-structure, but not before I took a very blurry shot of him:


He ran off, but mommy came out after I put down my can of cat food. She ate for a while and let me to get really really close to her, even while she ate:


I walked around the backyard a bit while she ate (check out the huge mutant plants all over the backyard!) and to my surprise she left her food and started following me around. (I'd had evidence to prove she was friendly--not only did she sit at my windowsills, but she actually entered the apartment of the guy across the hall.)
She looked like a kitty who wanted to be pet, so I pet her.

AND THEN SHE BIT OFF THE INDEX FINGER OF MY RIGHT HAND.

Just kidding, of course. Still, I really went against my better judgement. My mother raised me better than to touch strange animals. Actually, she was a really good sport with me constantly bringing home parasite-laden injured pigeons as a child--but I digress.
She seemed happy and eager for attention and continued following me around when I tried to leave. It made me feel really terrible that someone threw out this sweet little kitty to get knocked up and have to fend for herself and her babies in freakin' new york city of all places. Ugh.
I'm such a softie, next thing you know Mack's going to be sharing his food AND his space with this girlie.

A Backyard view

Let's play "Find the Kitten!"
I have no idea who put out the cat structure. This is a mystery that I wish were solved.
I spoke to the guy next door who has the garage, my neighbor across the hall, and our building quasi-manager, and no one knows.
On the plus side, none of the above-named people so far objects to my trying to TNR these little guys.

Finally! Something other than knitting!

So here's the long story:
There have always been feral cats running in and out of the backyard of my apartment building. I didn't ever really pay them any attention--my domestic feline hellion keps my hands pretty full.
One night about a month ago, my cat started hissing up a storm on the windowsill. I run over to find a cat sitting calmly on the other side of the screen staring in (with a trace of longing, perhaps?) Throughout the night the cat goes from one window to another, just staring in at me with these big green eyes. It goes without saying that I'm a sucker for animals. (Shh--Don't tell anyone else, it's a sign of weakness!)
Anyway, the cat stopped sitting on my windowsills, but a little while later, I saw her sitting with a little furball at her side. Holy crap! A kitten! Kittens are my kryptonite. They are just too damn cute and remove all logical thought from my head.
Over the next few days, I saw two others.
So basically, I wanted to do something about helping these kittens. After speaking to some people, I decided Trap-Neuter-Release (see Neighborhood Cats for more info on TNR) might be the best thing for the kitties and their adult compatriots.
And yes, I realize that most people (such as my SO) and even my cat probably think I'm completely insane for wanting take all this time an effort just to trap me some feral cats, fix 'em up, and throw 'em back out there. Even my logical half thinks so. Maybe I just want to make a little difference. *Cue cheesy music and fade*