It is remarkable when you’ve had a towel for at least 6 years and then find that the little plastic tags are still there. What? How did I miss this for so many years? They are scratchy irritating little things. Anyway, they are gone now. Here is a picture of Thor the cat trying to help (he loves fabric.)
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this, but Thor the Gray tabby is an awkward sleeper. He hasn’t quite figured out laps, and lays half on, half off. I often find him sleeping not quite within the confines of a space. The picture below is typical, draped over the arm of the couch and his leg doing weird things. The yarn snuggling is quite suspicious. How did it get there?
When we built the catio almost six years ago, we set up a window as the access point. To keep the flies out I cut a cat flap in the screen (because window screens are relatively easy to fix). Well, this is fantastic in the summer, but in the winter it gets a bit chilly in the living room. I had been using a scrap piece of clear plastic to block some of the incoming draft, but it was getting old and brittle so I ordered a larger piece. With a larger piece I was able to cover the whole screen and cut a new cat flap.
I cut the plastic to size and adhered it to the screen frame with glue dots. I then put it back into the window. It took the cats a couple days to really get used to it, but it makes a huge difference reducing the winter breeze through the room.
Both Mr Tom and his Shadow are in full glorious long winter coats. They still come over for brushes, and I caught a couple pictures of their rubbing ritual. This cat greeting behavior is how I convinced Shadow to get brushed, because he would rub on Mr Tom and I would sneak in a brush stroke. For the longest time I think he thought the brush was Mr Tom not me. He knows now though, and likes his coat groomed even more than Mr Tom.
Mama cat is also long haired and performs the greeting ritual. I actually managed one brush stroke along her back, but she is much more wary than even Shadow.
Yes, they are my neighbor’s cats.
We’ve had a small collapsible bench for several years. At one point I added cat flaps to give Sophie the cat a hiding place. Then it underwent a transition to a litter box hide, but the dogs dug at the door flaps trying to get to the sand treats (ew).
I have mentioned that Thor, our newest cat, is becoming a big boy, so I modified the bench yet again to allow him access, turning it back into a cat hide. Since the box was constructed to be collapsible, the side panels were split in two. It was an easy modification (much easier than the first flap I cut) to remove one side panel from each end.
I put a wool pad inside the box a d Thor’s rectangle bed on top. He is quite pleased with the offering.
The holes are on opposite sides of the bench to retain some rigidity.
Critters and Craft 