Brooklyn is in the middle of our third heat wave. It's affecting everyone - Annie, Artie, me and most of all the strays.
We haven't seen many of them coming through the yard recently. I suspect they've been hiding out trying to avoid the sun. A few days ago one of the girls came through the backyard. She's lost some weight. Artie put out clean water and when he got her attention, he put out a packet of wet food. She finished it in no time flat then continued on her way.
Early this morning I let Annie out to take care of business in the back yard. She was crying and whining incessantly. The reason? Brother was in our neighbor's yard, resting in the shade. Brother is a grey tuxedo, the son of a feral who had two litters in our yard and the uncle of the girls, two females who look exactly like their mother.
Brother is very thin - so much so that Artie remarked about it. We put out fresh water but decided not to put any food out until the hottest part of the day was over. All day long Brother kept moving around the yards, resting in shady spots. No matter where he went or what he did I believe he wasn't really comfortable.
As I write this I feel terrible about not putting the food out earlier. There is wild weather going through our area now. Brother is nowhere to be seen. The sky is alternating between medium and dark grey, there is thunder, lighting and very strong winds but most of all a driving rain.
We need the rain. Perhaps it will break the heatwave. Now I can't help but wonder about Brother, is he safe? Did he eat? I've been doing research online concerning TNR and I'm going to take classes to manage a feral colony. One step at a time...
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