Molly came into our life during the late fall months of 2002. At first, we would see her only now and then, so we thought she belonged to someone nearby -- perhaps someone in the condo complex next to ours. But as the cold winter months grew more bitter, Molly became more visible day by day. She would hide under the cars or slip in and out of the fenced-in deck areas behind our (condo) units. She ate the bird seed w put out for our feathered friends and ran at the first sight of humans. It became obvious that this cat was either a stray or perhaps even feral; we realized she needed food and shelter so we tried desperately to befriend her: we put food and water out for her, called her very gently and named her Molly. At first, she ate only when no one was around; but, after a few weeks she started to eat as we looked on. Still, she would run as soon as we attempted to approach.

January dragged on and we drew weary of the cold and wind and were hopeful that signs of spring would soon appear. No such luck; the weather only grew colder and we worried that Molly would freeze. We had no idea where she put her little head at night or where she found warmth to sustain her. One day, however, with the help of :Nitro", the Basenji, we found her hiding place -- the bottom of a partly covered window well in one of our condo units. At least Molly had some shelter and, with the food and water we were providing, she would probably survive.

Then, out of the blue, two or three other cats started to appear and we knew we were in trouble. Who were these cats that started to make their rounds at dusk and then disappeared into the woods? Did we have a feral colony living nearby? Not us -- there aren't any feral cats around here, right? We started to look around and the very next day we found Ben (small black male) lying half dead in the gutter by the woods. We wrapped him in a blanket and took him to the humane society where he was put out of his misery. His little face was torn to shreds and his little ears and paws were frozen stiff. He was beyond repair and euthanasia was the only humane solution. With broken hearts, we returned home and decided to give the Zimmer Foundation a call.

With Kitty Zimmer's advice, we obtained a live trap in the hopes of catching these feral or stray cats so they could be vaccinated and neutered before even more homeless cats would appear. Within a month, Wendell walked in our trap and with the Zimmer Foundation's financial support, he was neutered and returned to the wild. (Wendall still comes around to feed each night and is actually contemplating taking up residence in a little house we place under a a Norway spruce nearby. He hasn't made up his mind yet, but we do see him sniffing it out every once in a while, and we think that before too long he'll decide that that little house may just be the "cat's meow".

With Wendell having been rendered "harmless" and the other ferals no longer frequenting the area, we turned our attention to befriending Molly. She was showing signs of acclimating to us humans and was beginning to "put on a little weight". By the end of March she was eating out of our hand and we were certain that before too long we would be able to bring her in and domesticate her completely. But then, on April 15th, Molly disappeared and we were frantic. What happened to our poor Molly? Did she just decide to leave us in search of better pickin's, or was she attacked by a wild animal and lying in some gutter either dead of injured? We gathered up a posse and started looking throughout the woods and neighborhood; but to our dismay we found neither Molly nor any other stray or feral cat. Then, on the fifth day, we noticed, from the corner of our eye, an orange shadow dashing into the patio area of one of our units which housed a water fountain that was covered by a large brown tarp. We stood in awe and silence by the fence where Molly had entered just seconds before. To our delight and dismay we heard two tiny little peeps -- oh my, Molly, what did you do?

For fear of having Molly move her babies if she suspected we were aware of their existence, we decided to wait a few days before entering her well chosen birthing place. After no longer being able to restrain ourselves and armed with a can of Molly's favorite cat food, we finally entered her "inner sanctum". There we discovered four beautiful babies, their eyes closed and ears flattened -- but a sight as beautiful as one could ever hope to behold. To our surprise, Molly seemed relieved we finally came to her rescue and let us hold her precious babies: two calicos, one tortoise shell and one orange and white identical copy of Molly herself. Since they were born just days before Easter, we named the calicos Iris and Lily, the little "tortie", Sammy Jo, and Molly's carbon copy, "baby Molly". Little did we know that baby Molly was the only male in the litter; he was later re-named "Mo".

Along with Molly, we all now had a great responsibility. Still afraid that Molly might move her precious cargo, we decided to lave them where Molly chose to birth them. After all, the weather was finally getting better and mother and kittens were well secluded and sheltered. So we set up six shifts daily to fee Molly and play with the babies. (The 4:00 pm feeding was usually the social gathering for the ladies of the neighborhood.) We dreaded the day when these precious babies would have to leave us.

When the kittens were about a month old we started looking for good adoptive homes. At the age of six and a half weeks, Iris (later named Ariel) was adopted by a lovely young lady from Canton, Michigan. She was looking for a little playmate for her kitty Ricky who was lonely while she worked. Sammy Jo went to the sister and nephew of a good friend, neighbor and avid animal lover. (Sammy Jo now has two older siblings and has been renamed "Sasha". Lily has joined another kitty named Molly and has been bestowed with a middle name of "Melamo" which means "treasure" in Greek. Our own Molly and her favorite, Mo, are now well ensconced in one of our condo units. Molly is adjusting well to "the life of Riley" and Mo is the most gorgeous kitty you could ever hope to see. (By the way all five have or are about to be neutered.)

We're still trapping and have since caught two more cats. One was a little black and white five month old kitten whom we named "Anon". Like Wendell, she's been neutered and comes around to feed. Although she's extremely wild, we hope that we have made her life better by having her spayed and vaccinated. Besides Anon, we also trapped a stray female, "Annabelle", who was already spayed and declawed. After unsuccessfully trying to reunite her with her previous family, we finally found he a new loving home. She's now known as "meow" and has a big brother (golden retriever), Chester.

With the help of the Zimmer Foundation we hope to catch all the ferals and/or strays that are still roaming the woods in our area. All animals deserve the love of someone who cares.