I'd love to catch dear old mom cat and get her snip-snipped, but I've never even seen her. All I know is that she's obviously around. Shame I can't just leave out a trap while I'm at work, but in this neighborhood, someone would probably up and walk away with it. Hence the "sit out with the cat carrier that has a string tied to the door" approach that I used with Mowg (and am still amazed that it actually worked). This is an odd little neighborhood - just woodsy enough to not really be the "streets" but a little too developed to be the woods, with the dumpsters set up right next to a bit of woods where I'm betting mom cat lives and where the kittens run to.

But I almost thought I'd be able to grab the little calico. I was heading out to throw some stuff away and she was just crouched in front of the dumpster. I was able to get right up on her for as long as she thought I hadn't seen her. But once she realized she was spotted, off she ran.