Slow ideas

On November 11, 2023November 8, 2023 By CarynIn chickens, Coop, Life Hack

Each summer I put up a sunscreen in the coop runs to keep the afternoon sun off the feeder and the side of the coop. Each winter I take it down so the sun can warm the coop. Both operations are a pain, wrestling with the large triangle of fabric. Until this year, when one of those slow ideas finally bubbled to the surface and I thought to just roll up the sunscreen. It took a few moments to secure the roll, but should only take a few moments again in the summer to deploy the screen.

Photo description: View inside the chicken runs, under an awning, with a roll of fabric stretched across the upright posts.

I do believe that there are many ways to accomplish any task, and find it interesting how often the thought “why didn’t I think of that earlier” happens.

Cat basket

On November 1, 2023October 29, 2023 By CarynIn Cats, Craft, Life Hack

Although it would be nice to crochet a custom lining for each round basket I find, sometimes I just fold an old towel in half and toss it over. This works great for Izzy, but for seven-month-old Thor, it is too tempting.

Photo description: Gray tabby behind an upturned round basket with a towel spilled out.

To keep the towel in place and not subject to kitten wiles, I sewed together the ends of a piece of wide elastic to make a stretchy band that goes around the towel and basket.

Photo description: Same basket, same towel, but with a two inch elastic strap around the circumference, holding the towel in the basket.

The securing of the towel meets with both cat’s approval.

Photo description: Gray tabby cat filling up the towel lined basket, looking at the camera

Photo description: Calico cat sitting in the same basket, later.

In my opinion the basket is a little small, but the cats like it cozy. Yes, they are about the same size now, and Thor is still growing.

New sling bed

On October 20, 2023October 20, 2023 By CarynIn Cats, Craft, Life Hack

One of the sling beds in the catio gave up under the weight of the kitten and popped its grommet. I removed the rest, it has lasted awhile, and puzzled over a replacement. The two sections of 1 x4” wood that I screwed to the catio supports seemed about the size of a pillow case. It turned out it was a little wider, but with a quick seam and a couple of snipped holes, I converted an old pillow case into a cat sling bed that slides over two parallel boards.

Photo description: Gray tabby sitting in the hammock made with a repurposed green cotton pillowcase suspended by two boards

Cotton does degrade in the sun, but this might be a better design idea than grommets in the corners screwed to the board. I’ll see of the cats use this setup, and if they do, replace the cotton with outdoor resistant fabric.

Broom storage

On October 12, 2023October 9, 2023 By CarynIn Life Hack

We store our broom and swiffer in our laundry closet and they are constantly falling over or getting in the way. I had a spare curtain rod, so decided to try installing it on the wall at an angle to corral the long handles. Works great!

Custom packaging

On October 9, 2023October 6, 2023 By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

As much as I love cloth bags, sometimes you need packaging you can see through that is inexpensive. For my spinning starter kits I needed a long narrow plastic bag. I have a whole bundle of large clear plastic bags, but they are twice as wide as I needed for this application. I found that if I ran my quilting mini iron, set to high, down the center of the bags, it was enough to melt and separate the bag into two, with a well sealed seam. The iron does come with a blade attachment, but the blade cut the plastic too fast and didn’t heat the plastic up enough to melt it.