Lily
It's a familiar story: a kitten of mysterious origin suddenly appears at a random house, gradually works its way into the heart and home, and becomes a lifelong member of the family. In this particular case, the kitten is a tortie, now named Lily, who appeared at Brittany's rural workplace in Picayune, Mississippi. Lily likes Brittany best, but she has become accepted and well-loved by everyone there, and Lily, who is now about 12 weeks old, already has a spay appointment with the veterinarian in a few days. In the meantime, another familiar story played out: kitten goes missing and is found stuck in a tree. Yes, Lily was found about 35 feet high in a skinny tree just inside the wooded area behind the house after she had spent the night there. Brittany contacted me that day, but bad weather would prevent a rescue until the following morning.
Lily was in a tree with two stems, one larger than the other, and, of course, Lily climbed the skinny one. The skinny stem was too small for me to climb, so I climbed the larger stem (to the left in the picture) until I was level with Lily. In spite of the terrified cries she let out while I was preparing to climb, Lily appeared unafraid and comfortable with me. I put a rope around her stem to pull her closer to me, and I leaned nearly horizontal to reach her. Had I been in a position to make a lap for her, I suspect she would have voluntarily stepped on my lap, but that was not an option this time. I knew she was already comfortable with a carrier, so I opened the carrier and held it in front of her. Lily was happy to get off those uncomfortable, skinny limbs, so she stepped inside the carrier without any hesitation.
The ride back down to the ground was a bit bumpy, but she is safe and happy at home again, and discussions are now being held about limiting her time outside in the future. After all, no one wants this familiar story to become familiar once again.