Play time

Mama's pregnancy advanced.  At six or seven months old, the four kittens were on their own.  Mama's appetite seemed to be increasing and she would drop by several times a day to be fed.  The kittens' routine seemed to be one that Mama had instilled into them.  In the morning, I would find them on the porch waiting for breakfast.  During the day they would wander off for parts unknown.  And every afternoon, as precisely as if they were all wearing watches, they would return at five to hang around the rest of the night.

After they had been fed supper, they would hunt and play for a while.  When it got dark and I heard them crashing around on the little porch, I knew it was rumble time.  I would go out and battle them with Wolf's fish or one of the remaining pussy willow branches. The little cats' crazy antics were so funny, I enjoyed the games as much as they did.

Emily started the ground games.  One night I was smoking on the other porch, the screened one.  I heard a strange noise and discovered Emily trying to get in at me through a screen.  I opened the door to let her in but she was scared of the door and just wouldn't come in the easy way.  Instead, she kept working her way back and forth along the front of the porch, trying to push her way through the screen.  Tiggie decided Emily's strange new game looked fun and joined her.  So now there were two of them trying to push their way through the screens.  To entice them in through the door, I had to drag a stick around for them to pounce at.  But every time they heard a little noise, the pair would panic and bolt out the door.  And then the little screwballs would go back to pushing on the screens.  Rather than have them destroy the screens, I went out with them to continue the game on the ground.  Tired of the stick game, I began throwing acorns for them to chase and before long, Wolf and Blue had joined in.
 
The games continued throughout the fall but the sibling rivalry seemed to be getting more intense.  Tiggie was very alpha and Emily seemed to fear her.  This was understandable.  Unpredictable Tiggie seemed to be missing quite a few marbles.  And Wolf wasn't taking any crap from any of them, not even Tiggie.  He began to take over the games.  I had observed the kittens descending the steep stairs with their little tails in the air long enough to know that Wolf was the only male. 

A pregnant mother cat and three half grown female felines.  A saner wiser person would have been getting nervous.  Not me.  I was worried about Emily.  Winter was coming.  And I kept trying to entice Emily into the house.  My big mistake was thinking I had time to convince her gently.