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| We stare at this screen waiting for kittens to show up. |
We've gotten these feral kittens accustomed to eating out of a food bowl and have gone one step further and put the bowl in the unset trap. As of this writing Sunday afternoon, one kitten found her way in to eat, and then out of the trap. We're waiting for the other two to join her. Roger reworked the trapping mechanism because we were not sure their little weight would set it off. And, if it could set it off, we didn't want to trap one without trapping all three. So, Roger rigged the trap with a string that he will pull when all three kittens are in the trap at the same time. Yes, we have absurdly high hopes about this. We set up the motion detector camera under the deck to watch the live action. When all of them are in there… bang goes the trap door. The plan requires us to be watching their activities pretty regularly.
So, it came at a very inopportune time last week for our very old, hardly ever used PC laptop that was still running Windows XP to die. It was the one machine we had that would run the motion detector camera and record. So, we went out and bought a new Gateway PC that runs Windows 8. Oy, what a crazy OS that is. But what's worse is that the new OS isn't compatible with the camera. The camera's compatibility only goes to Windows 7. So, we borrowed our neighbor's laptop (so kind of them to let us use their PC on Friday afternoon). That way we could at least determine that all three kittens were alive and eating. YES. This kitten trappin' business is complicated stuff.
On Saturday Roger put on his GENIUS HAT and spent the day turning the new computer into a Virtual Box that runs Windows XP. It wasn't easy, and he did spend the whole HOT (102 degrees) day working on it. But when he was done, that new computer lets us use the camera, so we can watch the kittens in preparation for pulling that trapdoor string. Our goal: Trap Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning.
Like I said, not much going on here at Chez Bums.
sounds like you guys are ready. i know you'll both be glad when this is finished. sending our wishes that monday is the day!
ReplyDeleteIt's tough to figure out what to do with feral cats. I hope this works well for them and you.
ReplyDeleteI hope the kittens cooperate. You know what they say about herding cats.
ReplyDeleteHigh drama in the foothills! oh man, what a time for the computer to go out. Good work, the both of you! I hope you can snag all the babies at once. Fingers crossed.
ReplyDeletefingers crossed for some good trapping!
ReplyDeleteBut are you losing track of what's going on with the Kardashians? Good luck with the kitty's.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you can get all three in the trap at the same time. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteYea, I missed the update and am so glad the kittens survived. Sounds like a viable trapping plan.
ReplyDeleteHow clever of Roger to adapt the PC. Hey, what is wrong with XP? I have a newer laptop with Windows 7 and prefer the old one.
I hope the babies are caught quickly! Good luck with this.
ReplyDeleteSo great that you tw0 care Robin! Feral cats are a huge and growing problem -neighbours down the way from us have a herd (?) of about 10 that they feed - but that's as far as they go -and I think that makes it worse in the long run. A difficult problem to wrestle with.
ReplyDeleteWe trap white-tailed deer to affix collars to them so that we can track their movements. You would not believe how similar your set-up is to ours...wait for the deer to go inside the trap, watch remotely from a computer screen, then spring the trap! Of course, then we have a 150-lb.+ animal in the trap, not three kittens!
ReplyDeleteWow! Clever indeed.
ReplyDelete