I went out to the back forty to open the big coop door (so the coop could air out) yesterday morning, and George and Gracie were out cold. I stood there and took pictures of them, and waited for them to sense my presence, but they didn’t. Finally, I got worried that perhaps they’d been poisoned and were laying there dead, so I said “Puppies!” and they jerked awake.
“I was restin’ my eyes, lady.”
So, in the guest bedroom (which also doubles as an extra foster room, as you probably know), we used to have a little set of stairs so that any little fosters could climb on them, and ultimately get up onto the bed in there. You can see them in the background of this picture:
As you can see, they were covered in carpet (or carpet-like material), and after they’d been vomited on a million times, I couldn’t stand the way they looked. I said to Fred “Can’t you make me a set of stairs out of wood that I could paint or polyurethane and so when they’re vomited upon, I can just wipe them off?”
He said that he could, and that was about six months ago.
The weekend before last, I finally got pushy about getting him to make the steps for me – I have no idea why, it’s not like any of the kittens aren’t big enough to climb up on the bed without the assistance of stairs, I just WANTED them – and he did.
The kittens approved! So I took them out to the garage and painted them with a stain/ polyurethane combo. Honestly, if I had it to do all over again, I’d have just used a clear polyurethane, because the combo ended up being so drippy (and I so uncoordinated) that there are parts of the stairs that look terrible. I complained to Fred about it, and he pointed out that he was pretty sure the kittens weren’t going to care, which is true, but I’m making a mental note not to do that again.
(Please note that I am NOT giving you a close-up view!)
I think they’ll work quite nicely.
AND, since we were going to the store to buy wood for the stairs, we bought more wood. See, in a corner of the computer room I put a carrier with a pad in it, and I called it the Spanky Cave (or the Sugarbutt Cave, or Whoever-was-in-it Cave) and the cats liked it quite a bit. But it sits under a chair, and the cats were using it to climb up onto the chair, which was making the top collapse downward permanently.
So we made a box about the same size of the carrier, from wood. I stain/ polyurethaned that as well, but since it was a simple box, there was less of the dripping problem that I had when I did the stairs.
Miz Poo approves.
Which is why, when I saw this over at Modern Cat, I said “Hey! Great minds think alike!”
When I was looking for the picture above that showed the old cat steps, I ran across these, and I think I might have fainted from the sheer stunning cute.
That’s Hydrox from the Cookies, by the way. He was such a little character!
Starsky and Tommy.
Hutch and Rhyme.
It’s too bad these little guys can’t seem to find anyone willing to snuggle with them, isn’t it? So sad.
Smug little monkey.
They’re getting so leggy.
Sooooo…. guess who’s going to their new home tomorrow?
“…ME?”
That’s right. But not just Starsky. Hutch, too. They’re both being adopted by the same family!!!
I won’t say anymore, though. I don’t want to jinx it! But I am very excited, to say the least!
The garbage can (which has never been used to hold garbage, by the way) in the back yard has become THE place to be. Sugarbutt gets it when it’s sunny – and when it’s raining out, Tommy hangs out in it (Tommy LOVES to be outside when it’s raining. I think he’s part otter – although, he doesn’t particularly care for getting wet). Sometimes the Bookworms sneak in and hang out there for a little while, but it’s usually the domain of Suggie or Tom.
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Previously
2009: He might not be paying attention to me, but he still doesn’t like it when I leave!
2008: If I could knit, I’d knit a duster-type coat with big pockets in it, so I could load a cat or kitten into each pocket and they could keep me warm all winter long!
2007: “I vant to be alone.”
2006: No entry.
2005: I think Mister Boogers thinks he’s Sugarbutt’s Momma. He’s always grooming him like crazy.