Upgraded Sits-ing

Some things I have had for a long time. Take this footstool and cushion. I think both are in the neighborhood of 15 years old, but they could be older. All the cats who have ever lived in this house have used this as a place to rest, groom, sit and throw up. I used to be able to clean it, but, in early March, Pilchard left a whopper of a hair ball on it during the day while I was at work. When I got home and discovered the item, the whole cushion smelled. Over the years, I'd thought about replacing the cushion but never got around to it. Although I cleaned it off, there was a residual sour smell in the living room. Yeah, got to deal with this.

The footstool was part of a set which included a papasan chair which I bought from Pier 1. I still have the papasan chair but it has cracked and broken joints and currently holds stuff. I also doubt I'd be able to easily get into or out of something like that anymore; might be amusing to see, but incredibly frustrating for me. The footstool is in perfect shape. The only thing needing replacement was the cushion. Off to Pier 1 I went.

In the store, they had a small selection. Most of them were a fuzzy, velour fabric which is NOT suitable for cats. Oh they would probably lay on it, but I was concerned they would also try to groom the cushion. And if someone were to upchuck, I'd be replacing the cushion too soon. I brought the cushion along, looking for a sturdy fabric in a reasonable color. Orange! Teal! Ivory! No. No. And absolutely not. But you can order online and have it delivered to the store and the warehouse had 8 different colors. I settled on this.

This is my favorite color. The cushion is a tad small for the footstool but I'm thinking the old cushion may have spread after decades of use. It went right into the garbage. There are some things you just don't give away.

Her royal highness likes it.

It took her a couple of weeks to get used to the newness of it but I've already combed quite a bit of black hair off the cushion. Mija hasn't used it like she used the old one, but that will come.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Your Objections Are Irrelevant

I know I have not posted in what amounts to an epoch in blogging terms. I'm working on a post about the whys of my absence. It's a bit convoluted to explain in a post that deals with unicorns.

Yes, unicorns.

Work is back to being phenomenally busy. There was a break in February and March, but, since March 18th, it's been a steady stream. That's good for bottom lines, but not good for observational blog posting. I am, however, posting tonight because this makes me smile.

We are involved in a very large redevelopment in the city. Part of the project was inspections; 52 of them to be exact. I wasn't involved in the bulk of the project. I picked up the slack for smaller, far-flung jobs, but I did do 8 of them.

My last day of inspections involved a condo building used by DePaul University to house graduate students. In the first apartment, there was this piece on the wall.

I was struck by the coolness factor. The gal from the management company said as long as I took a photo just of the head, she didn't see any harm in my photographing it so I could find something like it later.

How does one find a golden unicorn head? Well, one types "golden unicorn head" into Google and up pops an etsy shop belonging to White Faux Taxidermy. Now, you go to that shop and tell me you aren't amazed and excited. Unicorn heads come in two sizes. Did I want a large size or a small size? I looked around my house. I guess I should decide where to put the thing, if I was going to buy one. I'm still tidying. It's an ongoing process, but part of that extends to the art I have on my walls. Some things mean a great deal to me. Other things have passed their excitement. I found a piece I got from someone who no longer is a friend. I never found out why she quit talking to me. That spot would be perfect for a small unicorn head.

The box came today.

When UPS pulled up outside, I knew what they were delivering. It's a rather large box. For a moment, I wondered if it would be too big for the allotted space.

It comes "unassembled", meaning the horn is in the styrofoam packaging with the head. You simply have to insert it into the hole in the top.

You can see this is not all that big. The mini-unicorn is 10 inches tall while the regular size is 16.25 inches tall.

Now to hang it. I removed the piece of art, a rectangular item 8.5 by 11 inches, and put the unicorn in its place.

The bigger head would not have fit in the space. I would have had to rearrange the photos above and below it. As it is, my photos are sorely in need of a removal and dusting behind and around them.

My next purchase is going to be a shark's head for the bathroom. It is only one size, but I can get it in a whole bunch of colors. Step 1 is to paint the room. Step 2 is to hang the whale shelf. Only then can I save up for a shark head.

Look! I have a golden unicorn head on my living room wall! Is this not the coolest thing? Any objections to life that you have for the next week are irrelevant.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast Tea (which I left on the counter as I went to work. /sigh)

Deb

Sleeping Arrangements

There's a draft along the floor in the house and I can't seem to find where it's coming from. It's quite annoying and I'm seeing the results of it.

It's not just my feet that feel it. Lately, Mija's been sleeping on my bed on one of the pillows. She's always been the one to lie by my face so that I awaken to a purring cat. This cements that position. She doesn't move, either, when it comes time for bed. I don't mind accommodating her. After all, that's what those of us who share our lives with cats do.

It struck me over the weekend that a year ago, we were working through some hissing and growling issues. Again this year, February started with angry voices and growling, yeowling and hissing at each other. I don't know what causes it and it distresses me so. But, yesterday, there was this.

I wish I knew what happens to break the intolerance. They were so very happy all afternoon.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb

Maintenance?

The girls have settled into use of the cat tree. Pilchard loves to race around the house and then jump onto the middle rung to exercise her claws. Lately, however, she'd look at it, think about jumping up but then change her mind. It was odd. Over the weekend, I was cleaning the living room and took a good hard look at the tree.

Hair. It was just everywhere.

I guess that is to be expected. I swept up about half a cat it seemed, of black fur. I almost never see fur from Mija but it's got to be there. It's just that it's so short and it's brown, the color of the floors, that I don't see it.

So, I got out the comb and spent 20 minutes combing the cat tree.

It's not the clearest since it was gray dust on a gray carpet, but there's a mass in the corner of that level. No wonder Pilchard didn't want to sit on the tree. Who knew that part of caring for the cats involves combing their cat tree. Guess that will be part of my cleaning the living room.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

We Love Jon and Becky

I have these friends, Jon and Becky, who love dogs. They have 3, all of them rescues. In sending me Christmas presents, they did not forget that I am a cat lady.

This is hilarious; catnip in tea bag shaped toys. The girls have been argumentative with each other for almost a month now. I'm not sure what happened but I came home after work and found the small shelf unit in the office tipped over. They have nearly come to blows since the incident and it frustrates me so to hear growling and hissing.

I put these up, after fishing them out of the big box of wow back in December. Thoughtfully considering that the girls might need more stimulation, I got them out last night. They were a huge, huge success.

I dangled a bag each, over their heads. Mija knocked hers down and proceeded to roll on it.

Pilchard grabbed it and stood on it.

Both were excited to have something new to play with and the catnip contained therein was very potent.

They tossed their bags into the air and chased them around the living room. The couple of times they came in proximity to each other, they stopped, looked at each other and went back to playing with the toys. To further promote that they can be in the same room peacefully, I tossed Pilchard's bag into the box she currently adores. She followed and promptly laid down on it. I tried to get the toy so I could dangle it over her head but she wasn't moving.

After about 10 minutes of chasing, Mija decided that simply being near the bag was sufficient.

They spent the next 5 minutes just lying on or near their bags. Then they wandered away to sleep off whatever effects the catnip might have produced. They don't seem to have long term effects as some cats do. They like the raw stuff. I only give them organic catnip. They don't spend hours rolling on their scratchers when I add new catnip and, once I handed each of them a tea toy, played for about 10 minutes before stopping and just resting. Later, Pilchard pulled hers out of her box and dropped it on the floor. I heard them, much later that night (grumble), each take a turn chasing a bag around the living room.

It remains to be seen if this helps with the antagonistic behavior. I'm hopeful because it's just as stressful to me to have them fighting as it is for them to be fighting. They had a lot of fun last night. Fun helps.

Beverage:  Scottish Breakfast Tea

Deb

Home With A Gift

The people who had Tobey also had a cat tree for him. But because of the dog, Tobey couldn't always get down to use the litter box. . When Carole said she and Larry would take Tobey, the original owners agreed to give them the cat tree. Unfortunately, then they smelled it. But, a deal is a deal so they bought another cat tree for Tobey.

This tree, however, wasn't the sturdiest. It's smaller than the original and, given the size of both Tobey and Faux, it wobbles when either of them tries to climb it or even sit on it. So, when I was there, they offered to give it to me. My girls are smaller in size and I've often wanted to get a cat tree for them.  We had to take it apart to put it in the trunk of the rental car.

After sitting in pieces on the living room floor for a couple of weeks, I finally assembled it. I felt the girls needed to completely sniff it, give them some time to smell for both Tobey and Faux. I discovered I was missing a nut which holds one of the main posts to the bottom, but, because I tend to save everything, I actually had the right size nut in the basement.

It's a nice size when assembled.

I set it on the floor. They looked at me like, "Yeah, so, now what?" So I picked each one up and put them on the tree.

We're going on a month of this sitting in the living room. They still sniff it. Mija has to be picked up and put on the tree. It's a bit wobbly even for my girls. I need to move some stuff around in the living room to put this up against a window. I think they would use it if there was something to view. I will give them treats on the levels and have found Pilchard lying on it.

She saw, right away, the value of a space on which to lie down and drape one's paw over the edge. I put them on the top pad and the whole thing moves just a bit too much for my tastes but it's okay where she's lying. She's also discovered the posts are covered with sisal and that's fantastic for stretching and scratching. Of course, she won't scratch when I have the camera handy. Neither one really cares about the dangling ball, even when I make it move. Maybe that will be discovered, in time. 

This is fun for them. Once I figure out where to put it, I predict many long and useful days spent lazing on the cat tree. 

Beverage:  Rooibos Tea

Deb

The First One, Photo 19

It was time to replace the bathroom rug. How often do you do that? Really? I don't believe you. (wink, wink) I think you're a lot like me in that it gets replaced every other month, maybe. I sweep the floor but put the rug back. It's a rug. It's supposed to be heavy duty.

I have 6 different bathroom rugs. Washing rugs is not a fun job. With cats in the house, the inside of the washing machine can get these balls of cat hair. Plus, my rugs are so old that the backing is coming off and I have to fish pieces of rubberized material out of the tub before the next wash. So, I usually wait to do a full load of bathroom rugs which means one needs to have more than a couple rugs to have a clean one.

I learned to cross-stitch and embroider when I was 8. (I still have my first project. Some day, I should get it framed.) I learned to crochet when I was 13. But I didn't pick up latch hook until I was out of college. I had just wed and we needed a bathroom rug. In one of the many craft catalogs I received was the above kit. We liked the design and colors so we got it. I'd never done latch hook before. This was a lot of fun to do.

The rug is approximately 35 years old. That's right, 35 years old. The rubberized backing has long been gone and when I brought this up from the basement, I finally ripped off rest of the edging material. Compared to other rugs I have, this has worn extremely well. The backing kind of creaks when I unfolded it and dropped it on the floor. My friend, Meredith, said I should get those non-skid rug mats to put under my rugs. I think that would be a good idea for this.

I haven't done a latch hook project in some time. They were seen as chintzy, as a fad, much in the same vein as macrame. I did that, too, for a time, but you can only make so many plant hangers before there's nothing left to make. Yet crafting, of any sort, really doesn't go "out of style". It can be adapted to new tastes and new styles. The explosion of Etsy and Pinterest Internet sites prove that crafty people can find buyers for their wares as well as inspiration for future crafts. I look at crafts and think, "I can make that". But, as we all know, just because we can make it doesn't mean we'll find the time to make it.

In the vein of rugs, here is a living room rug three weeks after a washing.

It's cat hair that you see. We really haven't had the moisture to create copious amounts of mud in my back yard. It's quite interesting that, after a winter that took us .4 of an inch from the 2nd snowiest of all time, it melted slowly so there wasn't flooding and we've not had rain to speak of. I will give this a wash in a couple weeks to start May off with clean rugs. Pilchard has been attacking them so I know she likes them clean.

Beverage:  Water

Deb

Tracking the Dirt

In the post below this, I mentioned I washed the living room rugs. Pilchard made a "deposit" of a hairball on each. There was also winter grit and dirt and this stuff called black hair all over the rugs. I'm kind of interested to see how long they stay reasonably clean. With the thaw occurring, I'm starting to track in some mud. It will be much worse in the next couple of weeks. But, let's conduct an experiment and see, shall we.

This is the rug that sits in front of the recliner. It's a floral design on cream.

This rug used to be cream color but I put it in the wash with a blue bath rug. Yeah, you'd think I'd know better. Pilchard loves this rug. I put it down on the floor and, 3 hours later, heard this commotion in the living room. When I came into the living room, she had it all balled up from attacking it and looked happy as a clam. I know I have asked this before what it is about this rug that cats in my household love to attack it.

The rugs were down on the floor on Saturday and they still look as clean as they did on Saturday. I have taken my shoes off in the kitchen if I suspect they are muddy. So far, they haven't been. Four days and counting.

Beverage:  Hot Cocoa

Deb

Stuck in Time

I've had this clock for years, decades even. This was handmade by a guy who lived in my hometown. It was a Christmas present years ago to us from my parents.

I have it in the living room and, when the power goes out, I always know the time because it runs on a single AA battery. Two weeks ago, I came home from work and it was 2:25. Well, that wasn't right so I replaced the battery and fixed the time. Monday I came home and it was stopped at 1:55. I replaced the battery again, although I thought I'd put in a fresh battery, but you know how that goes, and fixed the time to what you see above. Nothing happened. The second hand didn't move. Now this battery I know is fresh because I got it at Christmas. So, I have to think something has broken within the clock mechanism itself.

There are some things you'll fix forever and this is one of them. I looked at the mechanism and I know I can get these at JoAnn or Michaels craft stores. I wonder how simple it would be to replace the mechanism. I need to go to JoAnn anyway if I'm going to make valentines for the valentine exchange. I can look at clock mechanisms at the same time. Has anyone ever replaced a mechanism? Is it easy to do? It seems kind of silly but I sort of feel lost without this clock keeping time in the living room.

Beverage:  Rooibos tea

Deb