In June 1998, Sherry our Hoomin was planting plants and when she went to get a pot to plant a plant, she saw…babycats! By our backporch! In our Out!

She didn't know where the babycats were living, and she didn't know who their mamacat was, but she soon found out that Mamacat was a sleek black kitty who was keeping her babies under our (rattlebangfallingapart) Toolshed. Our hoomin called her Xena thuh Feral Princess, but she learned that Xena was really MissStar, and MissStar lived across the street from us and wasn't feral at all. There were lots of hoomin kittens and grownup hoomins going in and out of their house, though, so MissStar must have wanted a quiet place for her kittens. So first she had them under the toolshed that belongs to the church next door, and afterwards she moved them to under our toolshed. And their papa, a big brown tabbycat, sometimes stayed in there with them, cuz MissStar and Brown Tabby were real troo winkwinks.
 

Here is MissStar on the left. And on the right you can see, way inna back, MissStar onna rite an her brown tabby winkwink onna left.

So Sherry our Hoomin and MissStar's hoomin Sheryl started sitting out by our toolshed every day with Pounces and treets, so the kittens would get used to seeing hoomins around. And they would come out and play and sometimes one or two of them would let themselves be petted and held just a liddle. Here is a pikchur of Braveheart and Beau, playing beside thuh toolshed:

There were four kittens: Liddle Dark One, a dark tabby boykitten wif white feets, Silver Braveheart, a silver mackeral tabby boykitten, Beau, a silver striped tabby tuxedo boykitten wif white feets; and Gabrielle, a torbie girlkitten wif white feets. It wuz Silver Braveheart, and, once, Liddle Dark One, who wud let themselves be petted. Gabrielle, whu wuz bigger than enny uv her bruthers, wuz the shyest an thuh smartest too. (Well, uv course. She wuz thuh gurl, rite?) Below are pikchurs of Bravehart (onna left), Gabrielle (inna middle), an Liddle Dark One (onn rite).
 

After a week, since no hoomin could get under the toolshed to get the kittens to help find their OneTrooHomes, Sherry our Hoomin borrowed kitten traps from Friends of Campus Cats (who help thuh feral cats on the campus of the Unifursity uv Washington thuh State) and spent all of one whole weekend trying to catch those kittens. And it was awful hard work, but she did it. And then she put those kittens in a carrier and brought them into our In! And each day she'd take the kittens with her to her office and then she'd bring them back home to our In! (Below are pikchurs uv Gabrielle, Braveheart an Beau playing onna table inna office, an onna rite there's our hoomin smurglin wif liddle Gabrielle! Thuh nurve!)
 

And here's some pikchurs of Beau (wif the white face an pink nose) an Braveheart (wif the gray face an black nose) asleep on hoomin laps at thuh offiss:
 

But in only a few days, those kittens each found their OneTrooHome. Liddle Dark One is now called Matty. And Gabrielle is living with Aunti Jan, HC, and her OneTrooName is Sugar Magnolia. Beau and Braveheart found a OneTrooHome together, living with a hoomin named Pamela. Aunti Jan is thuh meowmie onna left holding Sugar Magnolia (don't pay no tenshun to thuh camera strap down thuh middle that our dumhoomin forgot to move!). And Pamela is onna rite in thuh other pikchur -- she's holding liddle Beau and her frend Wendy is holding Braveheart.
 

We're glad the BallardBabycats found their OneTrooHomes. We're especially glad those OneTrooHomes aren't at our house. MissStar's hoomin Sheryl decided that MissStar should get fixed (even though she definitely wasn't broke), and Sherry our Hoomin drove her to TED so that could happen and we won't have more babycats under our toolshed. So efurrything ended happily efur after. And that's the saga of the BallardBabycats.