Caught red pawed

On May 29, 2023May 24, 2023 By CarynIn Wildlife

Squirrel leaving the scene of the attempted heist

The squirrel feeder went empty, and I didn’t notice until I saw the squirrel at the window trying to get into the metal can where I keep the bag of food. It had chewed through the bungee cord securing the lid and was working on loosening the top. The freshly chewed end is visible in the picture above. When I went out to rectify the situation, the cord was still wet. I filled the feeder, retied the bungee cord, and snugged the lid down tight. Cheeky. This one is bold, which might explain his partial tail.

Try again

On May 28, 2023May 23, 2023 By CarynIn Cats, Life Hack

Izzy the cat’s favorite litter box is the one outside in her catio. When it rains, the litter gets wet (yuck), so awhile ago I put an old cookie sheet over the entrance and secured with with duck tape. It wasn’t elegant, but it worked, until the duct tape failed. Hm. I don’t know why I didn’t think of the scraps of metal roofing by the chicken coop then, but I did remember this time. A couple screws to attach the corrugated metal to the frame, tin snips to round the corners to reduce risk of injury, and tada, a outdoor resistant rain roof for the litter box. Faster and easier than duct tape. Please forgive the dirt, it will wash away with the next rain and it has been a very busy week.

Metal roof scrap repurposed into a litter rain shield

Finding

On May 27, 2023May 22, 2023 By CarynIn music

In cleaning out the office/music room, I found my grandmother’s old vocal method book. The striking thing about it is that my grandmother was a high soprano, while I sing in the tenor range, near opposite ends of the vocal spectrum, especially for females. Still, vocal method is vocal method; I can go through the exercises, just an octave (or two) lower.

Green

On May 26, 2023May 22, 2023 By CarynIn Garden, Wildlife

I like the composition of this photograph. At first there is just a field of green, then the Katydid picked out against the leaves, then the gap in leaves and the insect staring into the beyond, one antennae reaching down into the void. Is it going to jump? (Well, it is a Katydid.) Is it going to jump before I can snap the photo (luckily no).

Best kitten hide

On May 25, 2023 By CarynIn Cats

My folks gave me a formed cat tunnel house (we call it a cat donut). Izzy liked it once I put a cushion in, but then stopped using it for some feline reason. When the kitten showed up, we moved it upstairs and my eldest had the fantastic idea of unzipping it to make smaller hiding spaces. Thor decided it was the best hiding space, and when we moved his food down to the floor, he also stopped pitifully crying when we left the room. Phew.

It also makes a great exercise surface since Thor has developed a love of the red light game (RLG for short, aka cat laser toy). As he becomes more comfortable in his new space, he is also settling into the center well of the cat house instead of hiding all the time.