Mom's Cats

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO TO ENLARGE IT.

This is Blackie 1 - you can just make out where his left ear was "tipped" to indicate that he is a feral cat that has been neutered.

This the last feral female that needs to be spayed. Her name has become "ITS HER" by default because we so rarely get a good look at her.

This is Patches the last of the garage cat trio. She has a little califlower ear that just makes her even cuter. All three of the garage cats are "fixed"

This is Sonny - the first of the "chosen ones" who have garage access.

This is Tiger - the queen of the garage cats.

This is Smudge who acts as a liaison between the garage cats and barn cats. Smudge has been neutered although we didn't have his ear tipped because he is so tame he may still be able to become someone's pet.

This is Momma, the first truely feral cat that we were able to catch and have spayed.

This is Jack, as in One Eyed Jack, who lost his eye when he was a kitten. Jack is ear tipped and neutered.


This is Little Stripe, from Momma's last litter. Named for the small strip from his nose up his face. Sex unknown.

This is Spookie, also from Momma's last litter. Sex unknown.

This is Big Stripe (go ahead and compare the size of the stripe to Little Stripe above), the last of Momma's last litter. Sex unknown.

Edited - Finally got a picture of Stripe, Smudge's litter mate. Stripe has been ear tipped and neutered.

There is also one or two more black cats not pictured that need to be trapped and fixed. We believe it is either one or two males. Just not sure if it is the same cat we are seeing from time to time or if it is actually two different cats. Hopefully it isn't Three cats!

July 3 - Last Day at Yellowstone

Took a last drive through the park down to Old Faithful area. Spent the rest of the day packing up and getting ready to leave tomorrow.

July 2 - Bunsen Peak Hike - Mammoth - Jr Ranger

We hiked up Bunsen Peak just south of Mammoth on the north west corner of the park. It was just over 2.2 miles up to the peak at 8,585 feet in elevation. That was a 1,300 feet climb from the trailhead. The view was great and we had sandwiches at the top. We were very cautious because there was a bear with 4 cubs spotted at Swan Lake that week. Swan Lake is about 5 miles south of Bunsen Peak. We didn’t see the bears but we did see a really nice fox on the way down. I wasn’t able to get the camera going in time but everyone got a really good look at it so I guess you had to be there.

Then we drove up to Mammoth Hot Springs to have ice cream and look at the terraces. The terraces were a little disappointing because the water level was pretty low so they weren’t able to see them glisten in the sun like they normally do. Then it was back down to Madison to be sworn in as Junior Rangers by our friends, Jay & Sandi Mengal. They are the same naturalists that they boys met at Tuckahoe State Park two years ago. Jay & Sandi are going to be back at Tuckahoe next summer. Hopefully we’ll be able to get the boys down there again then. We saw a coyote on the drive home and I was able to get a photo of it.
Back to the motorhome, showers and then we all met Jay & Sandi for pizza in West Yellowstone.

That is the peak that we hiked up.

You can just make out our minivan in the parking lot next to the road below.

July 1 - West Yellowstone Museum Day

We went to the Wolf & Bear Discovery Center and the West Yellowstone Museum. Basically Thursday was our day in West Yellowstone looking and reading, and watching short movies about bears, Yellowstone and the fires from 1988 when 45 percent of the park burned. Learned alot but didn't take many pictures.

June 29 & 30th- Yellowstone Canyon - Old Faithful

We had planned to take a hike up Bunsen Peak but MomMom decided to let us sleep in since the weather didn’t look good enough. We had breakfast at McDonalds and it was a lot of money. Then we drove into the Canyon area of the park. We walked out to Artist Point on the South Rim of the Canyon. PopPop and MomMom really wanted to see that because it was closed when they were here before. We hiked Uncle Tom’s Trail which is more than 300 steps down to the bottom of the Lower Falls. Then we hiked down the Red Rock Point on the North Rim which takes you down to another view of the Lower Falls. Then we took our pictures pushing on the Glacier Rock. We drove down to Fishing Bridge and had lunch. Then we drove around the bottom of the lower loop to show Mommy where we hiked up Elephant Back Trail before she got here but it was CLOSED. We don’t know why but think someone may have seen a bear there.

Then we stopped at the Madison Junior Ranger station to attend a Ranger Talk about horns and antlers. Here is what we learned:

In Yellowstone four animals have antlers and 4 animals have horns.
Antlers are White tail deer, elk, moose and mule deer
Horns are Pronghorns, big horn sheep, bison and mountain goats.
Antlers are bone and Horns are made out of fingernail material.
Only the boys have antlers but boys and girls have horns
Antlers fall off every winter. Horns don’t fall off except for the pronghorns.