Lattice House

Well, spring really seemed to creep up on us here.  The minute the weather broke and warmed up we were all outside working feverishly on the projects our winter crazed minds dreamed up.  Our first priority was to convert a previously standing structure on the property to a cat pen.  My lady cat having gone into heat in the late winter which resulted in spraying from the male cats.  SO both orange kitties are locked up constantly.  Unfortunately… both orange cats are the highest energy animals.  So now they have their very own pen to go crazy in so they don’t keep me up at night.

The new pen started off life as a two level play house for my sister and I when we were small.  My sister saw a spider in there and never went in again.  In it’s second reincarnation it became a cat house in which our cats could be boarded while we went on vacation.  One of our cats escaped while we were in Florida, and we never used it as a cat pen again.  Since that time it’s been a potting shed and became known as the Lattice House.

Modifying the Lattice House took very little time and effort.  The overall structure was already there.  We just needed to set up a frame work for an “outdoor” play yard on each side.  The play yard has shelves for the cats to walk on.   Cats love to use vertical spaces, so the entire pen is utilized not just the ground.  We COMPLETELY encased the Lattice House in chicken wire.  Ginny is an excellent escape artist and I rather enjoy her being safely secured.  Finally we needed to put a new roof on.  This project took remarkably little time, money and effort!  Well worth the effort spent.  The cats just love their outdoor space.

Let it Snow!

The first snow storm of the season was spectacular!  Just in time to hit AFTER Christmas.  Kinda snuck up out of nowhere.  The dog frolicked about wearing her jacket.  The kitties were experiencing the snow on their own for the first time, my cats were anyway.  As I expected, my two orange cats were loving the snow!  My family from Germany. who spent a snowed in period of time in the Netherlands trying to arrive here, ended up getting snowed in AGAIN.  At least this time, they were in the comfort of a house, instead of an airport.  All in all it was a great bunch of fun!  I love the snow!  I even love shoveling it!  I don’t have a bad thing to say about snow!

Baking Maniac!

Yesterday I spent the entire day baking goodies to send to my Husband in Iraq for Christmas. I made my Swedish lace granola (which is dark chocolate, coconut and caramel) and my experimental apple pie granola. I attempted to make the puffy peanut brittle, which turned out fantastic actually, BUT I used slightly stale party peanuts… which the candy didn’t stick to, the peanuts removed easily and now I have sponge candy! My second attempt at the puffy peanut brittle was a success, dry roasted peanuts were used this time. Today I am making mice cookies (from Martha Stewart) and peanut butter blossom cookies with dark chocolate kisses… because I like dark chocolate better. However, they do take forever to set.

Cat Pen

Late this summer, my parents, my husband and I built our kitties their very own pen adjacent to the house with a tunnel leading indoors.  I was actually surprised how quickly it went up.  It was mainly built by my husband and my combined efforts.  I would like to announce… it is FANTASTIC not to have a litter box in the house.  It took about 2 weeks before it was completely enclosed.  Over all it took about a month to complete, including cat tunnel, fixing any holes my kitten was so kind to discover and creating a kitty bathroom area which, still has to be emptied, but not quite so often.  I also would like to say that i had no hand in the beautiful door.  It was all my mother’s creation!  This project turned out to be such a great idea.  My husband and I hope to build one at our own home, only… include a doggy door as well.