When Troy went in search of the cats, he entered the yard through the back gate behind the barn and look what he found--a hornets nest, a gigantic one.  He used an entire can of spray on it and it didn't phase them.  We called the exterminators and they made short work of it.  So here's a pic of it after he sprayed it and then a couple a few days after the exterminators exterminated it!

Oh, and about the cats... we found one badly decomposed by the barn under a trailer.  We never did find the other one.  We put out  lost cat fliers in neighborhood mailboxes.  Did you know you're not suppose to do that?  I got a lovely call from a very nice postal worker letting me know and wishing me luck on finding our cats.