Yeah, not that kind o' wood. A firewood pile, specifically a holz hauzen (German for 'round house'). It is a way of staking firewood in a round shape; the outer ring is splits facing end- out, and the inner splits are just thrown in there. It ends up with a lot of holes and voids inside, this helps the wood dry or season for burning but also provides a great shelter for the a lot of the planets' smaller creatures. We have found all kinds of nests inside them, I assume rodent nests, along with a surprising number of snake skins. All of which is fine with me as long as we do not get bit and so far, that has not been a problem because everything takes off before we get to the nest when taking them apart to burn them.

This is what they look like: (ignore the debris, that is from rebuilding the porch)



Closer on the one in the middle:



Even closer:



Zoomed WAY in.... :



Hey, a kitten!



Nope, three kittens!  Like I said, the stuff one finds in a pile of wood.

:-)

Brian

Meow!!!

Do you think they just wandered in there, or do you suspect a birthing den down below?

Aaawwwww......what cuties.

Probably have an endless supply of mices to dine on.

...and no snakes in that woodpile.    (unless there was once 4 kittens)

No, they were living, and I assume born, in some hollow ground (actually some rock / dirt overhang) on the edge of my property. In looking for them, about as subtly as a brass band, we drove them off and when they regrouped, they picked one of my holz hauzens.

My neighbor feeds them outside 24/7 and so gets more and more cats. And raccoons, and opossum and skunks and..... everything else. And then wonders why all the cats 'come to her'. Kinda' funny.

Brian

Do you think they just wandered in there, or do you suspect a birthing den down below?

Aw, what cute little fluffy balls of theft!

We had 3, now 2 ... but they will steal the cash right outta your wallet, without even trying! AND! without you necessarily realizing it ... until you're 80 and still working!

The one of ours that's gone now cost me ~$2,200 in surgery which got a few more years out of him before he was gone.

I'm mostly kidding ... pets are great ... but expensive as #$^&.   (not that these are your pets, BDF ... yet!)

Yeah, well it is not as though 'they' (the neighbors and my wife) did not try. My wife brought the black kitten into my living room and asked me to 'hold it' until someone else was going to take it. Of course the objective was for me to become attached and the rest would have been history. But with the house in the condition it is in, I do not believe I could keep any non- caged pet safe or maybe even alive. And of course I knew that my neighbor could not let the kitten go so I refused it.... and now it lives next door :-)  I did make what I though was a helpful suggestion and offer that Chloe might be a nice name and I cannot print what my neighbor said in response to that.    I would have taken that kitten if the choice was living here or death but I knew my neighbor would take her and add it to the collection.

I like cats and dogs though I favor dogs and could be a sap for a stray- hey, it has worked before; my last dog was here overnight before I took him to the pound and that night ended up being 15 years (I used to threaten him: "there is still time....."). But I am confident those kittens will survive just fine now and we are just not in a place to bring pets into this house or our lives. I believe at this point it would be about impossible to catch them in any event so 'that train has sailed'.

And I am absolutely on the no- feeding wild animals side; I believe doing that just breeds more of that animal until they are at the same level of misery but there are now a LOT more of them. So no feeding of cats or other small livestock at my house.

Brian

Aw, what cute little fluffy balls of theft!

We had 3, now 2 ... but they will steal the cash right outta your wallet, without even trying! AND! without you necessarily realizing it ... until you're 80 and still working!

The one of ours that's gone now cost me ~$2,200 in surgery which got a few more years out of him before he was gone.

I'm mostly kidding ... pets are great ... but expensive as #$^&.   (not that these are your pets, BDF ... yet!)

And I am absolutely on the no- feeding wild animals side; I believe doing that just breeds more of that animal until they are at the same level of misery but there are now a LOT more of them. So no feeding of cats or other small livestock at my house.

It is very sad that so many domestic pets aren't neutered.  It is usually just irresponsible owners.  This is the #1 reason for so much suffering- the creation of "strays" who are also not neutered thus procreate and spread the suffering and misery.  Once feral and not young, strays (cats in particular) can be difficult to place in homes- they often have behavior and health problems that can't be solved.  In some areas, they have "trap-neuter-release" that can help, but it is often far to rare.  In my city, Animal Control won't even catch strays, it is up to property owners.  And when they are turned over to Animal Control, they are almost always euthanized.