The saga of Tommy the feral cat

Here's Tommy, the feral cat who's been visiting for a couple of months. As you can see he's certainly gotten to the point of making himself at home on the front porch during feeding times, and he's fattened up quite a bit. Initially he'd run away when we approached, then he graduated to only running a few feet away while I put down the food. Eventually he sat on the top of the porch steps and that quickly accelerated to him coming right up to me and the food.

Well, this week I decided to put my hand out for him to smell, which he did, and the next day I touched the top of his head. He recoiled a bit; but didn't run away. Well, yesterday we made great strides. He not only let me touch his head and rub it, but it was as though he had memory of this being a good thing. I'm now thinking that he was at one time someone's pet, who was dumped and went feral.

He's a massage junkie! I'm now giving him head and back rubs every time I see him. I think he wants a tummy rub too, since he rolls over on his back, but I think I'll stick with the head and back for a while. Trust takes time to develop!

Yesterday I delivered a couple of small boxes of pots to the Energy Exchange. Mark Peters pallet wood kiln is most impressive. I peeked into the clay hut but didn't check more of the site. It was pouring rain and Jim and Bodhi were waiting in car. I'll try to get back there during the maiden firing on Friday and check out the rest of the facility.

Today I'll be cleaning out the reclaimed clay in the mixer and  dumping it down the hill off the back side yard where there's some erosion. Some of this clay must have had a piece of sponge or something similar that got broken up in the clay mixer and didn't show up until some of the pots were bisqued. I wound up with a few ruined pots where this stuff burned out and let gaping holes - not fun.