The ironic thing about this photo is that I have seen both Missy the dog and Thor the cat jump higher than that gate in other situations. Our other two cats can jump over, but Thor doesn’t even try. The gate is there to keep our dogs out of the kitty litter and cat food. Now it also serves as a place for the female cats to have some time away from the playfully annoying young male cat.
I was out brushing Mr Tom the long-haired white cat, when I looked up to see his colony mate, who we call Garfield’s brother, with some very unusual coloring. I thought maybe he somehow tipped a dye pot somewhere, but no, he was sitting in the shadow of my wire deer. The iridescent plastic in the deer’s antlers cast a teal-colored shadow.
The picture is terrible, but was all I could manage. This cat is very skittish.
Our front window at our house gets the most sunlight, enough that cactus are happy. This would be a great place to start seedlings, so I ordered some hanging acrylic shelves to put in the window.
I received two sets of three shelves, and installed them centered in the right and left window panels. The idea is that it gives me more space for sunlight loving plants, and raises the plants above the windowsill so the cats too can enjoy the sunshine.
The shelves consist of formed acrylic trays, twisted-steel polymer-coated flexible cable, and tubes threaded for screws that act as stoppers. The assembly wasn’t difficult, but did take some time. Could I have made a wood and rope version? Absolutely. I like that the acrylic lets light through.
The jute rope wrapped around one of the scratching posts was really getting worn. I ordered some new 1/4” rope, then cut off the top of the old rope. The bottom portion was still in decent shape, so I stapled the old end to the back of the post (which is actually two 2×4 boards.) I then stapled the new rope on and wrapped it tightly around the wood. I cut off some of the carpet so I could take the rope higher, because I have a couple long cats. I used a heavy duty stapler designed for furniture, with 1/2” staples.
I was down to two hair combs and a few pins. Where are all my hair ties? They usually end up on my side table after a long day, but there weren’t any where I usually leave them. At least, they weren’t on the surface. They were all in the side pocket. It appears Thor the cat (really a kitten since he isn’t a year old yet) has the “let’s push it and see where it goes” feline tendency. At least that is my theory on why all my bits and bobs were at the bottom of the pocket. It is a good thing he is cute.
I haven’t checked under the couches yet. Hm.
Critters and Craft 