-Isms: Views on life in rural America

Our family gained six new members recently. They’re cute and cuddly, afraid of getting too close to anyone but their mom.

A momma cat - we call her Patches - invaded our deck early this spring. I told Scott she obviously is - or was - someone’s house cat. She’s kind of tame, kind of wild. Patches also brought several feral friends of the male persuasion with her, taking over our wrap-around porch and backyard, invading our neighbors’ homes, too.

Around the first of June, Patches delivered five babies beneath our deck. She moved them for a short time and, right before rodeo, drug each of them h...