In the morning light

I've always been a morning person. I suspect that all those years of getting up at 0 dark thirty to go into work in the kitchen may never leave me, no matter how long I am retired.
This time of year it is still full dark for my first stroll around the yard with the dogs. Our first stroll is never exercise but a leisurely examination of the scents left behind by last nights visitors through the yard. Which of course gives me lots of time to stargaze and mull things over.
It takes the first bit of snow to find out if you have a really shy stray kitty around. My friend Melissa, who runs Berwick Safe Haven Animal Rescue has been kind enough to lend me one of her traps. I'll pick up some stinky sardines or somesuch and try baiting the trap after lunch, as that is when I saw the little one trying his or her luck under my birdfeeder.
He or she doesn't seem to be very old - six months or so I would think. At a quick glance I think there is longish grey fur and a white bib and maybe a white paw or two. Judging by the footprints, I think he or she is holed up under the baby barn where I keep my recyclables.
We'll take this one step at a time.... and resist the urge to name the kitty before we even see if we can corral him or her with the trap. Happily the vet clinic where I take my 'kids' is the same one that does the support work for SHAR, so they are experienced with ferals. And with seven pets, I have a good enough relationship with them that I likely won't have to wait long to do the test/vaccine/etc bits.
I know that Melissa has neither the room nor the resources right now to help another kitty in need. Like every other one of the hardworking TNR groups in this province, she is caught on a treadmill of trying to get her vet bill down while still trying to keep on doing the very badly needed TNR work. ( People who expect her to take their cats in return for a twenty dollar donation is a rant for another day! )
And I definitely know that I wouldn't send this kitty off to AC .... that wonderful new statement of support for TNR on the society website isn't going to change everything overnight. Its an important first step that will make a difference, just not today for this cat.
So we'll take this one step at a time... there's certainly lots of room out in the greenhouse to build a snug shelter for a little feral if he or she is too shy to want to be touched by human hands.
However this plays..... I strongly suspect I'll be picking out names on the way home from Berwick.
PS - The last fundraiser for SHAR had to be postponed because of weather. They have a new one scheduled now for Saturday, December 13th, from 11 am to 5pm at their usual place, the Windermere Community Hall There will be Homemade Chicken Soup!, You can in a prize at the straw game! and there will be FREE Apple Cider, Tea and Coffee! AND there will be Ticket Sales on a Quilt, a Painting and Scrap booking basket!
PPS They would also really appreciate any donations of Canadian Tire Money, and of course cat food, litter, toys, cat beds and stinky kinds of fish for trapping.