Yes, I suppose you could say I've been on vacation from this blog for quite a while now, but now I'm just making it official - No more updates between now and the New Year unless something really spectacular happens.
The screen door has been a great success, even though Little Grey Kitteh did figure out how to jump up on the screen section after about a week. A couple of shots from the squirt bottle seemed to clear that up, though. He's been enjoying having the run of the upstairs - whenever Big Acoustic Kitty is either behind closed doors or downstairs - and has reclaimed the guest room. He's always looked on that room as "his" room (it was the sanctuary room when we first brought LGK and Monster home) and hasn't ever been thrilled at being moved out of it.
LGK also had his yearly checkup a few days ago, and passed with flying colors. Well, there were a couple of comments about kitty pudge, but that was to be expected. The vet also commented on what an expressive face LGK has ... especially his "worried" look. She said if he kept that up, he'd be a kitty botox candidate pretty soon.
Big Yellow Hallway Monster and Electric Mayhem continue to get along pretty well, and they seem to have adjusted to BAK's increased presence downstairs. The sunroom continues to be neutral territory (knock wood) and the Christmas decorations have been met with some minor nibbling, but no peeing.
That about sums things up ... we'll hope things continue on this well.
So from all the kitties here, best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, and we'll be back with you in 2011!
Showing posts with label house mods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label house mods. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
The Door
Oh, the door. The wonderful, wonderful door.
The screen door has been installed at the top of the stairs for almost a full 48 hours now, and the improvement is noticeable. (Okay, so, aesthetically it's not an improvement at all ...) Since it's all screen with only some lightweight bracing at the bottom, we were a little concerned with how we would prevent kittehs from trying to climb the screen. After much discussion, we ended up pulling some 12 mil clear vinyl across the bottom and stapling it in place. So far, that half-assed solution seems to be working. ("Remember, this solution is only temporary - unless it works." --Red Green)
Our other concern was the roughly one-foot high gap between the top of the door/frame and the ceiling. However, so far nobody has seemed interested in scaling the screen door from either side. We're keeping our fingers crossed.
The Amazing Husbandini gets all the credit for managing the project and installing the door. I was next to no help at all. (I did carry the door through Lowe's, out into the parking lot and into the house, however. Just call me Schleppel.**)
Except for a couple of hours when I had to re-locate everyone while I was out of the house this morning, Little Grey Kitteh has been enjoying his increased territory and spending a lot of time sleeping on the foot of our bed. He seems considerably calmer as well. Big Yellow Hallway Monster has been very vocal in his confusion over why he can't let himself upstairs any more, but other than that, things have been going pretty well.
I have photos, but no USB cable for the camera. I think somebody ate it. As soon as I get my hands on another one, I'll share our newest home project.
**That's a Terry Pratchett/Discworld joke. If you're not a fan, you'll have to go look it up.
The screen door has been installed at the top of the stairs for almost a full 48 hours now, and the improvement is noticeable. (Okay, so, aesthetically it's not an improvement at all ...) Since it's all screen with only some lightweight bracing at the bottom, we were a little concerned with how we would prevent kittehs from trying to climb the screen. After much discussion, we ended up pulling some 12 mil clear vinyl across the bottom and stapling it in place. So far, that half-assed solution seems to be working. ("Remember, this solution is only temporary - unless it works." --Red Green)
Our other concern was the roughly one-foot high gap between the top of the door/frame and the ceiling. However, so far nobody has seemed interested in scaling the screen door from either side. We're keeping our fingers crossed.
The Amazing Husbandini gets all the credit for managing the project and installing the door. I was next to no help at all. (I did carry the door through Lowe's, out into the parking lot and into the house, however. Just call me Schleppel.**)
Except for a couple of hours when I had to re-locate everyone while I was out of the house this morning, Little Grey Kitteh has been enjoying his increased territory and spending a lot of time sleeping on the foot of our bed. He seems considerably calmer as well. Big Yellow Hallway Monster has been very vocal in his confusion over why he can't let himself upstairs any more, but other than that, things have been going pretty well.
I have photos, but no USB cable for the camera. I think somebody ate it. As soon as I get my hands on another one, I'll share our newest home project.
**That's a Terry Pratchett/Discworld joke. If you're not a fan, you'll have to go look it up.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Board
We have a new toy. It doesn't look like much, but it the mostest wonderfullest thing in the entire world!
Long story short, I spent my first full day of Thanksgiving break doing some long-overdue things around the house ... cleaning the kitchen, putting all my canning stuff away for the season, and cleaning the master closet. A previous owner had built his/her own shoe shelves out of some 1" x 8" boards covered with these truly lovely, olive green, cut pile carpet scraps - I'm guessing this was the original carpet in the house. These things were next to useless, so I yanked them out and propped them up at an angle against the bedroom wall while I dealt with the rest of the closet cleaning.
Little Grey Kitty, who had been lounging on the bed watching this whole operation, decided to come and investigate. First, a few sniffs ... then, a tentative stretch and a little clawing ... then some more serious claw sharpening ... then it was Woo-hoo, Katie bar the door!
He ran up the board!
He ran down the board!
He jumped from the board onto the bed!
And back again!
He levitated from the far side of the bed onto the very top of the board!
He climbed up the back side of the board and then swung himself around to the front!
Lather, rinse, repeat!
"Mom, Mom! Look at meeeeee!"
So now, of course, we must find a spot for these two boards and their hideous carpeting somewhere upstairs where the fun can continue. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning out the studio closet so that we can figure out some sort of permanent configuration in what promises to be a rather impressive kitty jungle gym by the time we're finished.
Photos to come.
Long story short, I spent my first full day of Thanksgiving break doing some long-overdue things around the house ... cleaning the kitchen, putting all my canning stuff away for the season, and cleaning the master closet. A previous owner had built his/her own shoe shelves out of some 1" x 8" boards covered with these truly lovely, olive green, cut pile carpet scraps - I'm guessing this was the original carpet in the house. These things were next to useless, so I yanked them out and propped them up at an angle against the bedroom wall while I dealt with the rest of the closet cleaning.
Little Grey Kitty, who had been lounging on the bed watching this whole operation, decided to come and investigate. First, a few sniffs ... then, a tentative stretch and a little clawing ... then some more serious claw sharpening ... then it was Woo-hoo, Katie bar the door!
He ran up the board!
He ran down the board!
He jumped from the board onto the bed!
And back again!
He levitated from the far side of the bed onto the very top of the board!
He climbed up the back side of the board and then swung himself around to the front!
Lather, rinse, repeat!
"Mom, Mom! Look at meeeeee!"
So now, of course, we must find a spot for these two boards and their hideous carpeting somewhere upstairs where the fun can continue. Tomorrow, I will be cleaning out the studio closet so that we can figure out some sort of permanent configuration in what promises to be a rather impressive kitty jungle gym by the time we're finished.
Photos to come.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A New Wrinkle
Remember the baby gate I've mentioned? And how it worked well for keeping Electric Mayhem and Big Acoustic Kitty apart back in the day, but how Big Yellow Hallway Monster hurdles it quite nicely? Well, now Little Grey Kitty can hurdle it quite nicely, too.
For the longest time, LGK would go tearing through the house and just come to a screeching halt when he hit the gate. We think he did try to jump it once, way back when, but he came down wrong and injured one of his legs. Until recently, he hadn't tried it again. But lately he's been getting more and more frustrated with his space limitations and he apparently decided it was worth trying to hurdle the gate one more time. We've had 3 successful escapes in the past two days.
One the one hand ... Oy! This, I do not need. On the other hand, while there has been hissing and growling and much puffing of tails and back fur, there has been no actual contact between cats or bloodshed. Not that we're willing to just let LGK roam around down there and let the chips fall where they may, but at least he's not instantly attacking the first cat he sees.
Did I mention the screen door previously? And how the plan is to use it as a replacement for the baby gate? Originally it was so that BYHM would stop invading the upstairs, but now it will be just as much so that LGK won't invade the downstairs.
Frustrating.
For the longest time, LGK would go tearing through the house and just come to a screeching halt when he hit the gate. We think he did try to jump it once, way back when, but he came down wrong and injured one of his legs. Until recently, he hadn't tried it again. But lately he's been getting more and more frustrated with his space limitations and he apparently decided it was worth trying to hurdle the gate one more time. We've had 3 successful escapes in the past two days.
One the one hand ... Oy! This, I do not need. On the other hand, while there has been hissing and growling and much puffing of tails and back fur, there has been no actual contact between cats or bloodshed. Not that we're willing to just let LGK roam around down there and let the chips fall where they may, but at least he's not instantly attacking the first cat he sees.
Did I mention the screen door previously? And how the plan is to use it as a replacement for the baby gate? Originally it was so that BYHM would stop invading the upstairs, but now it will be just as much so that LGK won't invade the downstairs.
Frustrating.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)