The focus of my last two weeks has been on cats and kittens.  If you read my last three posts, then you know about my synchronicities and wondering how tigers would appear  – and then having a stray cat bring four kittens to my door step.

The coincidences took on a prophetic nature last weekend.

I keep two journals.  One is the short version.  It’s really a planner where I write down my activities, dream titles, synchronicities, and the like.  The other is the expanded version of the same thing.  I learned to title my dreams from Robert Moss in one (or probably several) of his books on dreamwork.  Having the titles in a calendar format helps me to recognize patterns in my dreams, see things I wouldn’t notice otherwise.  My other journal is where I muse more.  There I write down my dreams in detail.  I ponder this and that, wander here and there.

So last weekend, I was looking for something specific in my journal from last summer.  What I accidentally discovered was that I had dreamed my tiger kittens last August.  The title of one of my dreams then was “Finding Tiger Kittens.”  I hadn’t written much, but I wrote about what I called “tiger kittens (but not tigers, they’re domestic cats)” that I found on a porch.  What are the odds that I’d have this dream and then about 10 months later I’d find kittens on the step of my deck and wonder if they’re “tigers”??  That just ties even moreso into the synchronous nature of the week before, I think.

On the more mundane level, my update on the kittens is that I took the last one of them to its new home last night.  I had posted photos of them on Facebook when I found them, and different friends offered to take them.

The trick was catching the little boogers!  They’d never been handled by humans and sure didn’t trust us. Luckily, my next door neighbor kids are great kitten wranglers, and they did most of the catching.  The kittens had a favorite hiding spot under my deck up against the step, and the kids would lie down on their stomachs and reach waaayyyy back, and voila! pull out a kitten.  If the kittens weren’t hiding there, then the catching became more complicated.

Yesterday I got obsessed with catching the last kitten and getting her to her new home.  I crashed around behind my pine trees and looked through my other neighbor’s woodpile and his son sprayed the woodpile with water to flush out the kitten. I chased the kitten several times, but my lumbering around never even got me close to getting my hands on it.  This went on for two hours.  I got tired and frustrated.

I finally gave up and mowed the back yard.  But my two hours of pursuit had scared that kitten enough that she went to her favorite hiding place and stayed put so that later the neighbor kid came over and pulled her out.  Finally, the last one placed in a good home!

Next I’ll trap the mother and have her spayed.  Then we’ll see if she wants to join my old cat and the newer still-pretty-stray one.  I bet she does.  After all, this is where the food is!

In just two weeks, those kittens taught me a lot.  Here are some of the lessons:

Mama knows best.

Follow your gut instincts.

Be relaxed but alert.

Play and plenty of sleep are really important.

When you get caught, you might want to put up a fight, but giving in is the best option.  You might manage to escape at some point.  And you might not.  Sometimes, contrary to all of your fears, giving in brings you snuggles and a new home where you’re loved and taken care of – in ways that you could only imagine.

I’m grateful to these tigers that showed up on my doorstep.  I’ve learned a lot from them.  They’ve made me see in new ways and have reaffirmed old lessons.  And they have been mighty cute in the teaching.

But please, please, let these be the last ones!!

“Tiger” kittens and mama cat. The flash reacted interestingly with their eyes.