Cat Walks and Catios Part 2

On the third occasion of Cinders opening the fly screen and letting herself outside, I knew we had to think of another option to allow the cats some limited freedom.  The daily walks were fine, but as it got warmer and warmer, inevitably Ash seemed to prefer lying out in the cool grass rather than walking anywhere, which got a little boring for the "walker".

So we needed somewhere they could sit / lay outside, get some sunshine and some fresh air, with good views of the wildlife, but still be confined and safe.  It had to be a catio.

The research started.   A catio is basically a screened-in outdoor area for cats.  They vary considerably in size and shape, and unsurprisingly, there are some extremes out there.  Just google "catio" and see all the different options that pop up.  I started on Pinterest: from the basic wooden frame and chicken-wire rustic structures, to multi-level home-made spaces, to beautiful works of architecture, they're all there.  Whilst I liked the idea of being able to make our own custom catio to fit the space we had (and also aware that, whatever we did it had to be "temporary" for our rented house), I wasn't entirely convinced of our respective wood-working skills (between us: zero). 

On to commercial options - and unsurprisingly, they come with some hefty price tags, too - anything from $400 to $2000.  Noticing that the word "cat" seemed to bump up the price (much like the word "wedding"), I even tried to get creative and look up chicken runs and rabbit runs, but nothing quite fit the bill.  Could we find a local carpenter to put a basic frame together for us?

And then I came across this pin from CatandCaboodle.com:

 

Ingeniously, it's a sturdy cat-proof structure made from those wire-frame storage cubes.  And it's completely customisable to whatever shape you need / want.  The website gives lots of information and examples about how to set about building your own catio space, so I drew up a rough plan of a simple rectangular cage design, and worked out what I'd need.  I found the storage cubes online at K-mart for just over $20 each, and bought 3 packs, with free shipping - they arrived 2 days later.  A quick trip to the local DIY store for cable ties (3 packs of 100) and some wire cutters, and I was ready to start.

 

Putting the wire panels together was straightforward, although my fingers got sore after a while, and a hammer was useful for the odd difficult panel that wouldn't click into place properly.  Within half an hour I'd put the first end together, complete with cable ties, quickly followed by the second.

Obviously I'm not capable of working without supervision, and Cinders ensured that I kept up the hard work:

Once the first long end was complete, I moved it all outside and started to put them all together, along with the roof.  I also added a couple of "shelves" for the cats to hang out on and get a better bird-watch viewpoint:

Finally, in just over 2 1/2 hours, I'd completed the structure and added cable ties at all the joints, including extras in the doorway.  I also attached some cardboard to the shelf "perches" for them to sit on - I'll replace this with plastic or wood of some sort soon so that it's more weather-proof.

 

(look carefully in the background and you can just see Cinders coming to check on progress)

 

The doorway took a little figuring out with the connector points, but it works for now. We may change the design slightly in future weeks so that we can give them free access to the catio via the patio doors (somehow), but for now we have to physically move them in and out.  I'm not sure we'd leave them in there unsupervised, but I can at least work downstairs and keep an eye on them through the fly screen.  The best thing about the structure is that, whilst it's very sturdy and stable, you can easily cut the cable ties and take it apart to tweak the design or add extra panels as needed.

 

Cinders wasn't sure what to make of it at first, but soon started rolling around on the concrete (her favourite activity when outside) and eating copious amounts of lemongrass (I'm sure we'll pay for that later), whilst Ash just laid out and chilled...

 

 

A successful catio so far!  We might even invest in some more storage cubes and make another one for the top patio... 

 

 

 

 

Cat Walks and Catios Part 1

Ever since the weather has improved, our two cats, particularly Ash, have suddenly "woken up" to the fact that there is a whole world outside the window, after nearly 8 months of hibernating in the house.  All of a sudden, Ash started to cry at windows and doors, clearly desperate to get more than a sniff of fresh air through the fly screen.

 

Feeling sorry for him, (especially when the crying at the door was getting a little tedious), I ordered a harness and lead.  (With a bit of research, I found these for a reasonable price online). 

 

 

It wasn't straightforward at first - even now with the harness on, sometimes perplexingly he seems to lose all ability to be "cat", and actually falls off things without attempting to save himself; he also walks like a robot. 

 

However, after a few indoor practices, we ventured outside.  That was it - the devil was unleashed, and it became my evening ritual to be shouted at as soon as I came home from work until I put his harness on (he jumped onto the cat tree in readiness) and took him outside. 

 

Over the next week or so, we explored the big back yard and the patio, munched tasty patches of grass, and met a couple of rabbits and a chipmunk (he didn't know what to do with himself), and even though we had a couple of initial escapes from the harness (luckily he didn't go too far), he seemed eventually to get the hang of things and liked his daily walk.

 

 

 

 

 

Then Cinders realised what was going on and also started to demand to join in the fun.  So I ordered her a (much smaller) harness.  I'd been wary of taking her out, as she's always very skittish and scares easily, but we gave it a go.  The first time, she lasted all of 5 minutes before she got sensory overload and just sat there amongst the birdsong, quivering...    But she too eventually got the hang of things (still walking like a robot), and didn't venture far, but seemed to enjoy this new version of freedom. 

 

Goodness knows what the neighbours thought of us as Hubby and I paraded slowly round the backyard, each with a cat on a lead...  (yes, I am slowly turning into my Grandmother, who used to take her cats camping with her).

 

Things got tricky when Hubby was away, and taking them both out together wasn't an option (have you heard of herding cats?), so I had to take them out one at a time.  Cinders did not think this was fair, and spent the entire time crying loudly  and pawing at the patio doors until it was her turn.  Then one evening she clearly got fed up with waiting, and worked out how to open the fly screen herself. 

 

I was in the middle of the back yard with Ash, and suddenly became aware that she had stopped crying - I looked behind me, and there she was, pottering about on the patio!  Cue much under-breath swearing, shoving a bewildered Ash back in the house, and legging it back out to the patio with cat treats to entice her back in...  She was more interested in rolling around on the concrete, so luckily was recaptured quickly. 

 

 

 

However, after she'd opened the cat screen twice more, I knew we had to think about something different...

 

A Trip to Washington DC

 

At the end of May we took a long-weekend trip to Washington DC.  Somewhere I've always been intrigued by from the movies and TV.  It's about 2 1/2 hours drive from home, so not too far at all for a weekend visit.  Driving on the 6 lane motorways on the outskirts of the city, and then in the one-way streets in the centre to get to our hotel was "interesting" (especially when the SatNav had a small meltdown) but we got there in one piece with only one slight detour.

Having dumped our bags and acquired a map, we had a quick lunch at the hotel restaurant before heading out into the sunshine.

We hit the obligatory sights first - from the White House (for me, a little underwhelming) and then over to the Washington Monument and then down to the Reflecting Pool.  Even in that short time, we walked several miles, and were happy to return to the hotel for a brief rest before dinner.  Hubby had booked a wonderful 10 course taster meal at Rogue24, and we had a ring-side seat next to the kitchen area.  Beautiful food, and we splashed out on the drinks taster menu to go with it...  Good job it wasn't far from the hotel!

 

The next day, we took a Hop-On-Hop-Off bus tour around the city, enjoying the top deck views and commentary in the (rather hot) sunshine. 

 

During the tour, we passed the gathering area for Rolling Thunder - where hundreds (if not thousands) of motorbikes were starting to gather for the Rolling Thunder Run on the Sunday.  Quite a sight to see, including this biker with his helmeted handbag (should that be panier?) dog! 

 

After enough sunshine, we jumped off the bus at the Lincoln Memorial to stretch our legs and to see the famous Lincoln monument.  By this time, things were really starting to get busy for the holiday weekend, and there were people everywhere, so we slowly headed home by foot.

 

 

On the Sunday, as the weather was forecast to be even hotter, we decided to take in some of the museums. There are lots of Smithsonian museums, and all are free entry, which is amazing, although unsurprisingly there were long queues for the most popular ones.  We picked out 3 that we were interested in, and headed off into the heat...

We started at the Air and Space Museum, seeing exhibits from the Wilbur Brothers' early flights, to Amelia Earheart's exploits (I hadn't realised she'd gone MIA), to fighter planes in the world wars and then on to space travel.

Next was the National Museum of the American Indian, which included indigenous groups from throughout the western hemisphere, with exhibits on their history and lifestyles.  There were also exhibits of their artwork - of particular interest to me were all the beautifully beaded items - so detailed and precisely geometric.

Then finally, we took a trip to the  Natural History Museum, which by this stage was crowded with people.  However, we'd seen a sign for a Live Butterfly exhibition, which we thought might be fun.  We entered a small butterfly pavilion where lots of different butterflies flew around our heads (and feet - you had to watch where you trod!) - beautiful colours, some almost looked like they'd been painted - you can't help but smile at butterflies!

 

Then, as we dipped in and out of the museums, we happened to catch some of the Rolling Thunder Run - an impressive site, and a constant roar of motorbikes for a few hours!

 

 

A fab weekend in Washington, with beautiful weather.  With hindsight, booking for a holiday weekend perhaps wasn't the best idea given the crowds, but I'm sure we'll be back with so many more sights to see. 

Home Grown Veg

Back a few months ago, I posted that I wanted to get back into gardening, and perhaps attempt to grow some veggies in this new climate.  No telling how things would fare - would it be too hot / too cold for the veg we're used to growing?  Would our plethora of backyard critters (so far: rabbits, groundhog, possums, racoons, chipmunks, deer, squirrels, mice etc) take a liking to potatoes and herbs ('erbs)?  Nothing for it but to give it a go!

So I invested in a few large pots and lots of bags of soil, and after various visits to the local markets and garden centres, I had a bunch of seeds and seedlings ready to start a fledgling veggie garden.

The potatoes and peas / sugar snaps went in first, and they were off like a shot.  Within a few weeks, the potato plants have grown like Jack's beanstalk and are now huge and flowering, and the pea pods are plumping up nicely.

We also have a herb ('erb) tub, a once-tiny-now-huge-pot of mint, 2 tubs of strawberries (a little slow to get started but just starting to show some flowers now), some carrots (never been able to grown them in the past, so will be interested to see how they fare here), as well as onions, rocket, and lots of catmint and lemongrass (a new favourite for the cats), and some sunflowers and lavender (for cheeriness).  I'm also taking advantage of the warmer climes and trying a couple of bell pepper plants and some chillis as well.

 

So far, so good.  They were all planted towards the end of April (a little early, I was told, as there's still a chance of a late frost), but so far the weather has only got warmer and more humid, with temperatures in the 70s and 80s, and fairly regular thunderstorms.  And so far, no critters have taken a chomp at anything...

I'm hoping we'll be able to enjoy some home-grown veg along with our regular BBQ'd feasts during the summer months!

No Rest for the Wicked...

At the beginning of May I started work again.  My first paid employment in the USA!  I'm working part-time, a few days a week, doing web-based research.  Although it's only been a couple of weeks so far, it seems to be going well.  Each research subject is different, which keeps it interesting, and I'm enjoying the fact-finding and "digging" side of things, which seems to appeal to my natural nosiness and annoying need to find out everything possible about a subject.

The tax situation for my pay took a little figuring out - it's a good job that hubby is an accountant and has access to overseas tax advisors because it sounds really complicated.  But I'm still earning a bit of pocket money, doing something useful, and experiencing the workplace in a different culture. 

So far, so good - very relaxed and friendly, "summer casual" dress-code (although I still can't bring myself to wear shorts and flip-flops to the office yet, which is de rigeur for almost everyone else), earphones for music, and being able to go home at the end of the day with no stresses.

The only downside is being 100% deskbound, and I can already feel the tell-tale aches in my shoulders and neck, and tired eyes from the constant air-conditioning and screen-work.  Just need to take more care to take regular stretch breaks and keep up the yoga practise!

But all-in-all, I think I've found a nice gentle introduction to working life in the USA :-)

Ephrata Cloister

 

Last weekend we took advantage of another lovely spring day to visit Ephrata Cloister.  The sun was shining, the blossom on the trees was beautiful, the bees were buzzing, and everything seemed to be green and finally coming "alive" after a long winter.

 

The cloister was one of America's earliest religious communities, founded in 1732 by German settlers, led by Conrad Beissel, seeking to take advantage of the "religious freedom" that was newly available in America.  The community consisted of celibate Brothers and Sisters, and a group of married families ("householders") who helped to support the cloister life.  At its peak, the cloister was home to almost 300 members working and worshipping there.

Despite the lovely weather on the day we visited, the cloister wasn't at all busy, and we took an organised tour of the key buildings with a very knowledgeable guide who explained a little more about the life of the Brothers and Sisters.  They lived and worshipped in some of the buildings that exist today.  The largest was the Saron (Sister's House) - a half-timbered building constructed in 1743 over 4 floors. The Saal next door was the householders' worship place.  The Brothers' House unfortunately no longer exists. 

The life of the brothers and sisters was highly regimented, with only 6 hours of sleep each night, broken by midnight prayers, (and sleeping on wooden boards with a nice wooden "pillow").  They were allowed one small (vegetarian) meal per day, and long hours of physical work (farming, candle making, baking, paper making, printing etc) were combined with 5 or 6 periods of prayer as well as time for "private contemplation" which included musical composition, singing, weaving, and beautiful calligraphy work called Frakturschriften (creating hand-illuminated books and inscriptions, copies of which can be found in the Museum Store).  These past-times were considered to be a discipline for both the body and soul.

We were free to explore the large grounds of the cloister, which backed onto the Cocalico river. The river was part of the reason that Beissel settled in this area, and once the community grew, it was the location of local baptisms. Today, a mother duck and all her little ducklings (lots of them!) were going for a paddle. 

Nearby in the, as yet empty, vegetable garden, another duck was guarding her cosy looking, but well-camouflaged, nest.

We continued to explore some of the outbuildings, including the bakery, physician's house, printing office and carpenter's house. 

The cloister community eventually began to decline with the death of the founder, Conrad Beissel in 1768.  The last celibate member died in 1813, but the remaining householders formed the German Seventh Day Baptism Church and continued to live and worship at the cloister until the 1930s.  The village outside the cloister gradually grew, becoming a regional centre of commerce, until the borough of Ephrata was created in the late 1890s.  The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania acquired the cloister site in 1941 and restored and renovated some of the buildings that are seen today. 

Driving Me Potty - The Test

So I finally took my Pennsylvania driving test last week.  I'd booked it online about 6 weeks ago, and then promptly tried to forget all about it until a few days beforehand.

Hubby tried to calm my nerves by telling me it was really easy (he did his before Christmas) and all I needed to worry about was the parallel parking (which was allegedly in a huge space big enough for pick-ups anyway) and stopping properly at all the stop signs...


So the night before the test, I spent half an hour with varying degrees of success trying to parallel park round his car in the driveway.  I can probably count on one hand the number of times I've actually parallel-parked a car since taking my driving test over 20 years ago.  (I prefer to drive around until I can find a space I can park in easily.)  My posh rear-view parking camera confused things, so I stopped looking at it.  Eventually I gave up trying to over-think things, and hoped that things would just go alright "on the night".

So at my allotted time I drove down to PennDot's local Driving Licence Center / Centre. I registered nervously at the front desk with all my paperwork, and was given instructions to drive myself round the back of the building and to wait in the parking bay marked for driving tests.  I'd got there early (as advised to), so I had a good 15 minutes to really wind up the nerves, particularly whilst looking at a coned off area in front of me that appeared to be set up for parallel parking...

Eventually a lady exited the building and sauntered on over to the car with her computer tablet.  She checked my paperwork again, and then asked me to demonstrate my lights, hazards, indicators, windscreen wipers and brakes...  That done, she got in the car and pointed at the coned area ahead, explaining that the parallel park would be first, and then we'd go for a little drive afterwards.  Under the terms of the test, I would have 3 attempts at the parallel park.  Close-up, the coned area looked teeny tiny, and not at all as large or as long as hubby had made out...  Nerves nearly got the better of me, but on the third attempt I parked successfully, and with a sigh of relief (me), and some jottings on the tablet (her), she asked me to drive ahead to the junction.  (Me remembering to stop properly at the stop sign).

Then to turn left. 

Then to turn right. 

Then to turn right again. 

And again.

Then left. 

Wait.  What?  We're back where we started?!  That was barely 4 minutes driving!  I think I passed one other car, and no traffic lights - just side roads in an estate of offices.

She advised me that I had passed the test (one slight caution for not using my indicators whilst parallel parking) and would I please now return to the desk for my photo licence.  And out she got and sauntered away again.

So that was my driving test in Pennsylvania.  Quite scary when you think about it - not exactly thorough, is it, especially compared to a UK driving test?  But I've passed.  Which means Hubby can stop nagging me about the insurance discounts we're missing out on, and I can stop worrying about having to take my driving test again!