Standoff

On By CarynIn Cats, Uncategorized, Wildlife

It has been while since I checked trail cams. Mostly the SD cards were full of cats, raccoons, and opossums, but there was a series of photos where an opossum was investigating the cat food when a cat came along.

Photo description: night vision view of a back step off the coop with a young opossum, back to the camera, and a black short haired cat, facing the camera

The result was a no-contest. The cat went straight to the bowl of the food on the cat box, away from the opossum, and when the cat settled in to eat and not attack, the opossum left. I’m pretty sure the cat is the one we call Greebo, who has scars from fighting and his fur is thinned with some kind of mange. He actually looks healthier since he joined the neighborhood colony. The last couple years he and Fang show up in the Fall and then head out again in Spring or Summer.

I was wrong

On By CarynIn Life Hack

I thought I would be fine with a living room chair that swiveled, but didn’t rock. I was wrong. To make the chair rock, I cut a 1.25 inch dowel in half and put it under the base to make it unstable. Just behind the center line gives me an easily obtained balance point when I sit in the chair, allowing a small rocking motion.

Photo description: half dowel placed under the base of a swivel chair

Even this small amount of movement helps to keep my muscles from setting up when I sit too long.

Crossvine blooms

On By CarynIn Garden
Photo description: crossvine with a few open blooms and many flower buds

The crossvine (Bignonia capreolata) on our front fence is happy to greet the Spring. This Texas native does well in sun or shade, is evergreen during mild winters, and blooms repeatedly throughout Spring, Summer, and Fall.

This sounds like a plug for the crossvine, but it is not a paid promotion. This is honestly one of my favorite plants in our yard. It is a superstar.

Pitch Pipe Solution

On By CarynIn Life Hack, music

My Barbershop chorus has an electric pitch pipe that is quite versatile, and quite large. It doesn’t fit in a pocket very well and although it comes with a stand, it doesn’t have a way to carry it hands free. We did have a lanyard loop stuck on the back with double sided tape for a long time, but then the tape gave out and the pitch pipe fell to the floor. So I came up with a mechanical connection.

Photo description: the back of the pitch pipe removed from the body, and a small hole drilled at the top
Photo description: round head pin inserted through the hole then bent into a loop and the end wrapped back around the stem for security
Photo description: pitch pipe reassembled and a key chain ring attached to the new wire loop, with a cross-should strap clipped to the ring

The back of this kind of pitch pipe removes with a single screw. Use the smallest drill bit possible to drill the hole through the thick section of the plastic. Head pins are available in the jewelry section of most hobby stores, as are split rings. I used a clip-on strap from a small purse.

I wear the pitch pipe over one shoulder, which puts the device in easy reach of one hand and keeps it off to the side. One of the benefits of this method is that the pitch pipe hangs straight down and easily rotates, which makes dialing in the pitch and pushing the button easier.

Shed box

On By CarynIn snake

My eldest noticed an anomaly on her snake’s lip and took him into the vet for a look. It turns out it was just a loose scale, not mouth rot or any other number of horrid things, but the vet did suggest keeping his container at 50% humidity and making him a shed box full of damp sphagnum moss.

Photo description: transparent plastic box with a large hole cut into one end then sanded smooth and filled with sphagnum moss
Photo description: Malt the corn snake in the shed box and my hand keeping the door shut while I took the picture

When I put the shed box in his container, I put a black piece of material around it to make it more inviting. He still didn’t like it and found his way back to his other hole with the wet wash cloth.

Photo description: corn snake head coming out from the shed box, with his normal box on the right, washcloth visible from the opening

At least he now has choices, and I’ll keep replacing the washcloth with freshly damp ones, and misting the container. His eyes are currently cloudy, a sign that he is getting ready to shed. Eventually his eyes will go clear, then he’ll shed within a few days.