Clicker

On August 12, 2025 By CarynIn Cats

Thor the gray tabby is still afraid of the cat flap. I think it is the click of the magnets, so I had the idea to use a clicker with treats to desensitize him to the click noise. Could I find my dog clicker? Nope. So I used a canning jar lid.

Photo description: Gray tabby sniffing a Ball canning jar lid insert with “Thor’s Clicker” written in Sharpie

The lid insert is designed to pop. The intention is to show when a glass jar is properly sealed, but the action in the steel can be manually manipulated. I push the can lid in, it gives a small click, then I give Thor a small piece of chicken, and push the center of the lid the other way and it makes a louder click. It isn’t as loud as a store bought clicker, but with my scaredy cat, that is better.

House spider for the win

On August 11, 2025 By CarynIn Insects

My youngest told me there was a large bug in the bathroom, so I went to look. It was indeed a large bug, a bark scorpion, but it had been taken care of by our friendly neighborhood house spider. I have no idea how the scorpion became entangled in the web an inch off the floor, but the spider definitely had the advantage.

Photo description: house spider feeding on a bark scorpion vastly larger than the spider, day one

Photo description: same spider, same scorpion, day three, the scorpion is looking decidedly desiccated

The spider is certainly eating well, and we find it revisiting different parts of the scorpion as well as taking breaks from feeding. I’m going to leave the scorpion until there is nothing left, then clean up the web and let the spider rebuild. Go spider go.

Autowash

On August 10, 2025 By CarynIn chickens, Coop

In the summer I put out a chicken foot bath to help my hens cool off in the Texas heat. Yes, they tend to drink from the same water they stand in, but I haven’t yet lost a chicken to heat stroke. To keep the water relatively clean, I set up a hose on a timer to rinse the foot bath twice a day. I’ve hammered the hose end down to a slit to give the water spray some power, and it only takes a minute for the bath to do a water exchange. By putting the hose on the high side of the bath at an angle, the water swirls around the shallow dish, and floating materials, like pine shavings and feathers, spill out on the opposite side.

Photo description: chicken foot bath made from a large plant tray and a hose set up to autowash

Bag progress

On August 9, 2025 By CarynIn Craft

Photo description: loop and twist bag in progress next to flax fiber

After about 14 hours of riding in the car, I figure I have put about 12 hours into my loop and twist bag that I am twining from flax fiber as I go. I like the work because I can enjoy the scenery as we drive. I can both twine and loop mostly by feel (I do look when I join in new fiber.) I’m drawing my fiber from the center of the bundle, which I don’t think is the best way, because I’m getting tangles that have to be pulled out. I tried from one end, but the tangles were worse. I should lay out the fibers like flax spinners do, but space in the car is limited, and flax fibers can be over three feet long. The plan is to continue to twine until I run out of untangled fiber, then clean up the tangles and twine the string for the closure.

Moist extremes

On August 8, 2025 By CarynIn Craft

When working with flax or plant fibers in general, it helps to have a little moisture. When I first started twining my flax bag on a car trip, I was using saliva. Traveling and licking fingers didn’t seem like a prudent plan, so on the next trip I made a sponge ring by cutting off the end of an inexpensive curler and trimming the hole with scissors.

Photo description: sponge ring to use to wet fingertips as I twine flax, made from a hair curler

As I twined, I noticed the skin on my finger was turning white. Weird.

Photo description: white marks on my finger

I looked again at the small spray bottle I grabbed as I madly packed for the trip. It wasn’t labeled “H2O”, it was marked “H2O2”. I had been moistening my finger with hydrogen peroxide. At least it was sanitized. Sheesh.