The CatGenie's in the closet

A while back I wrote about how we'd converted a closet into a cat bathroom. Did I forget to mention that the closet was the only substantial storage area in the house, other than the attic? Yes, we (all right, who am I kidding, it's just me) must truly be insane to put cats before storage. In addition to the CatGenie, I ended up caving in to the oldest cat, Cleo (reflected in the mirror). Either she's not keen on using the CatGenie, or doesn't like to share, or decides she needs to go just when the CatGenie starts a cycle. For any of these reasons, she will then proceed to use the bed as her toilet. Thus the Return of the Old Litter Box.

The closet also provides access to the attic for our wild girl Frida, who loves to play up there (we call it "Attica"). I designed the "ladder", and Jim built it with some leftover 3/4" MDF. The 9.5" x 16" shelves were attached by nail gun and wood glue, staggered and set at about 30 deg. angles, to a back panel of MDF. I later de-angled the lowest shelf and Frida seems to like that better as she can pause before for heading up (also, as you can see, the old litter box fits better underneath it). The shelves are topped with a cheap, rubber-backed coir doormat that was sliced up. It took Frida about 30 seconds to figure out the new way to get up into the attic. The coir provides good traction as she leaps up the shelves and through the cutout in the ceiling, and she loves to stretch and scratch it.

The unit only cost about $10, which was for the doormat, and perhaps 2 hours to cut the pieces and assemble it. The sheet of MDF had been purchased for another project, a flip-down notebook computer holder/bookcase that's now installed in front of the treadmill. It's been very rewarding to make these small custom projects. Not only does it give me an opportunity to design something, usually as simply as possible, but the price can't be beat!

Busy summer!

Went to Florida in July for Jim's mom's 80th birthday, i.e. the perfect combination of heat, humidity and family members. So, we got what you usually get with these ingredients. Meanwhile, we found out Jim's mother just recently fractured her hip and the dementia is getting bad. At least she seemed to have a good time with practically the entire Harman clan around during her birthday week.

Then we celebrated Jim's 50th birthday right after getting back from Florida, with a dinner at Georgia's Greek Deli & Restaurant in Greenwood. He made out well giftwise, with a treadmill, a multimedia projector, a family tree DNA kit, T-shirts, and a watch exactly like the one he received from his father and had lost years ago.

Other summer activities: Around the house we finally moved the furnace up into the attic, freeing up a big walk-in closet. Freeing it up to be an awesome cat bathroom, that is! Jim put in plumbing and electrical so the CatGenie is there, as well as a bathroom fan and light that are triggered by a motion detector. Yesterday he installed a neat cat door (Catwalk) that looks like a porthole in one of the closet doors. The walls still need to be finished somehow, and I'm making a sisal-wrapped pole so the cats can climb up into the attic if they want. Pictures to come... Jim thinks we (or maybe just me) are nuts. We're still looking for a dog pal for our dog. Kira has settled in but occasionally enjoys spraying Jim and his stuff. Frida's still a whore cat, but she's actually been coming in when called and at not-too-unreasonable hours. Cleo now allows Jim to pet her twice before trying to rip his hand off.

Meet the new cat... (almost the) same as the old cat

Yes, that's right. Another calico has come to live with me. The night before I was to fly down to SoCal to visit my mom, she told me that my high school sweetheart's father had been killed in a hit-and-run. This cat was his beloved pet, who I've named Kira (as close as I could get to Kirk for a girl's name). Amidst the chaos and grief, my friend could not find someone to give her a good home. Well, it was a DUH for me. We picked her up on my way back to the airport.

I think Kira, amongst other things, was the reason for my visit. I am a devout atheist, but the situation had a distinct cosmological/destiny kind of vibe. I don't know what to make of it. Is that just life being quirky? It is so human to want to make sense out of what we don't understand. All I know is Kira is a great cat and hope I can honor the previous owner by taking good care of her... just in case he IS looking down.

Frida's no contender

After getting home around 8:00pm last night, I was shocked to see our cat huddled on the bed, as we usually attempt to corral her from the wild kingdom around midnight (or later). I went to pet her and, for the first time ever, she hissed at me. I knew something was wrong, which was confirmed by a small blood stain on the blanket nearby.

Thanks to a couple Humane Society brats that are on the loose, there have been some new whiskers in the 'hood. Frida's small and cute, but outdoors she can be a wild punk, a cold blooded killer. I believe Frida finally got her ass-whoopin' comeuppance yesterday afternoon. There were several small puncture wounds all over her, but the TKO was a deep chomp on one of her legs.

We took her to our new favorite 24/7 vet, Five Corners Animal Hospital in Burien to get fixed up. Verily, I cannot heap enough praise upon this vet, emergency or not. They were really great when we had to bring our aging, diabetic, blind cockapoo with broken leg here for testing. And they were kind and compassionate when we decided to euthanize.

Although Frida's outdoor days might be numbered, like her tough cookie namesake she'll be all right, especially with our regular vet, Four Paws, following up. I've been thinking about keeping the pets indoors anyway, since we have a regular coon visitor and coyote sightings have been made in nearby Beacon Hill and Leschi areas. The fact is, one of us - me or Frida - is going to go nuts.