I wasn't able to trap Orange Kitty #3.  However, I'm going to leave the trap out during the day because we saw him lounging about (or rather staring at me like I was a psychopath) in the middle of the day so maybe he'll be out and about today and get in the trap and we can find out if he's Sunkist.  I didn't last very long at Operation Stake-Out.  It was frigid in my car and my boobies almost fell off.  I was wrapping every piece of cloth I could find around my head and finally had to go back home to warm up.  I returned every 3 hours.  On one such return I couldn't find the trap so I spent almost half an hour wandering around their property searching for it.  I think that time spent in the cold probably froze a few brain cells, causing bizarre behavior later in the night.

I may actually be losing sanity faster than I can swallow pills to keep it.  On one trip behind our house to check the other trap I heard a strange screeching noise (turned out to be a deranged bird) and suddenly I was running through the sagebrush towards the sound.  Somewhere along the way I realized that the sound was echoing off the mountains, I had no idea where it was actually coming from, and WTF was I doing anyway?

Then, I was standing near our propane tank calling his name and something made a very loud noise.  I have no idea what it was.  I searched all over with the flashlight but found nothing.  Awhile later, or maybe during another check—I'm losing all sense of time—I really thought I heard him.  Very close to me.  But the sound was near the house and so was I.  If he'd been there I'd have caught sight of him with the flashlight.   

As if that isn't enough right?  After I checked the trap at the other house for the last time and the sun was just beginning to rise I happened upon a small orange-ish animal.  I slammed on the brakes, tore across a ditch, and ran full speed after this animal.  Not the brightest idea.  But the creature stopped running.  It was the right size.  It was alert and interested in me.  And it was also a fox.  A poor baby fox who couldn't comprehend the insane lady calling him Sunkist, waving a flashlight and charging towards him.  Even after I realized he was a fox I continued to call him and stare at him.  Maybe he was a shape-shifter.  Who the hell knows?

It was a long night and it promises to be a long day and then again a long night.  Perhaps I will never again sleep.

It's been 20 days.