Meadow is Joey‘s mother. She was named by the woman from the feral cat group who helped us trap and spay her, and it stuck.

She has been living in our neighborhood longer than we have. We have been feeding her for over six years, and she has made our yard her home.

She can often be seen passed out in compromising positions. These photos were taken two years apart!

It is also very common to see her little face peering into our kitchen through the sliding glass doors. She and Posey play through the glass sometimes (though, Posey used to hiss at her. They’ve made up. Now, if only Posey and Joey could work it out …).

It took a little while for her to warm up to us, but we can pet her and she’ll rub against our legs when we go outside to feed her. She’s still a wild cat, though. She’s very jumpy, and is not really comfortable if we’re in the yard or on the deck. She’ll go sit under a tree and watch us from a safe distance.

Even though she doesn’t live under our roof, we care about her just the same. Last month we went for days without seeing her after a long weekend away. She usually hangs out in the yard during the day, and waits for us in the morning and after work.

I tried to be optimistic. We did have a friend feeding her while we were gone, but his schedule would be different than ours. She usually takes a day or so to get back on schedule. But as the days passed, we worried more.

And then one day, she was sitting on the deck peeking into the kitchen as usual!