interior cat door

it rained all day last saturday so i stayed inside and installed a cat door through the wall between benji's room at the back of the house and the large room in the center of the house that encompasses the wood stove/dining/kitchen area.  it wasn't a big job but it was a lot of futzing and fitting and figuring so it took a while.

went something like this...

the wall in benji's room (formerly jack and billy's room) was originally an exterior wall that got closed in at some point before we bought the place so i had to remove some stucco on that side.

drilled some holes around the perimeter with a masonry bit for starters

played connect the dots with hammer and chisel

snipped out the wire

removed tar paper and shoved insulation out of the way

a dusty, cruddy job calls for the respirator...there were also safety glasses involved as needed

 

the drywall near the wood stove was much easier/faster to remove

benji found it all very curious

inspector benji

inspector zane

very blurry shot of the framing for the pass through

trim on the interior wall for cat door to attach to

looking through from benji's room before trim

looking through from benji's room after trim

added a hinged door on benji's side so he can still be contained in his room if necessary (to the right is his little nest under a ceramic heat lamp)

needs a ramp (currently using a cardboard box as a step up) and maybe a little paint

this gives benji access from the main interior of the house to his room and from his room out to the catio.  when he figured out he can now get himself in and out without having to rely on a human to open doors for him he seemed pretty excited and spent a full half hour one afternoon racing from the far end of the house, through the new cat door into his room, out the exterior cat door into the catio, and back again, over and over.
just a little thing but it makes life nicer for all of us.

neuter complete

we dropped off benji at the vet yesterday morning for his neuter and some blood work.  dr. wise greeted us and gave the run down of what the surgery could entail depending on where they located the testicles.   she hadn't been able to feel anything at an earlier exam a few weeks ago so it was inconclusive as to whether the testicles were still deep in the abdomen or closer to the surface tissues.  when we went to pick benji up in the afternoon one of the techs talked to us a little about how things went.  she said benji was very good about being handled while he was there and the blood work all looked normal.  they located the testicles in the inguinal canal (groin area) so the surgery was much less invasive than if they'd been in the abdomen and his recovery will be a lot quicker.

he was a bit off last night while still working the drugs out of his system but he is doing very well today.  the surgical site looks good and he is moving around without any sign of discomfort.  he is pretty tired but with his restless/superactive temperament we're having to really help him settle and get the rest his body needs to repair itself.  we did a short, easy walk earlier today after the worst of the morning chill had gone.  he was looking pretty tired in his eyes when we came back in.  i got him to settle in my lap a couple times but only very briefly so i put him out in his room where he will be less distracted and can snuggle up and snooze in his nest under the heat lamp.

zane and benji in the orchard garden this morning engaging in one of their regular cooperative mouse hunts

happy the surgery is done and benji is well and grateful for the excellent care from everyone at all creatures veterinary hospital.  now we'll see how long it takes for all his belly fur to grow back.

catio (trim and door latch)

got the trim and door latch on the catio before the storm rolled in on thanksgiving and had its way with the trees around here.  the catio is in a pretty protected area and didn't suffer any damage in the storm.  haven't done any work on it since it snowed.  i've been spending time cleaning up tree branches and catching up on a few other chores between rains.

for the trim i used scraps of boards and battens that staal took off the mill office.  as usual i sort of just let the materials and utility (decided creative utilitarianism sort of sums up my "artistic style" and general modus operandi) guide me as to how things should go together.

here are some pictures i took of the catio when i finished putting the trim up a couple weeks ago...

with the door latch on the catio is now usable but i still need to put in some fun perches and climbs so benji will have something to do out there other than just sit on a paver and breathe fresh air.

 that's the latest catio news.  perches and climbs coming soon.

neuter postponed

at benji's last visit to the vet she had him scheduled to be neutered today but we received a call from the vet's office yesterday telling us that dr. wise (best name for a doctor!) is ill and won't be able to do any major surgeries for a while. 
*** while i was typing up this post i got a call from one of the techs at dr. wise's office telling us that the doctor is having a vet she knows come over from oakhurst to help out and that they can do the neuter monday.   we'll drop benji off monday morning and pick him up later in the afternoon when they feel he is recovered enough to come home. ***
ordinarily a neuter is a very simple and minimally invasive procedure that only takes a few minutes to perform but because benji is cryptorchid (his testicles are still in his abdomen because his body didn't produce the hormonal signal to trigger their descent to the scrotum) his neuter will involve locating the testicles and removing them through a small incision in the abdomen which makes it much more like doing a spay on a female cat and qualifies it as a "major" surgery.  
i'll probably worry about him monday but i know he'll be in capable and caring hands doing the best for him and i'm happy for that.
dr. wise is a great doctor (i wish she was my doctor) and a very neat human.  i'm grateful for the excellent care she and her staff have given benji (and zane) and wishing her a full and speedy recovery. 

the neut-to-be...still a little guy but looking more cat than kitten these days

follow by email

been thinking for a while that i'm going to stop sending out links every time i do a new blog post.  there is a lot going on and a lot i would like to record here for myself that probably won't interest most people (i suspect much of what i post doesn't interest most people).  just been feeling like i'm spamming people and i don't like that.  this blog is public and you all have the option to follow by email if you want to continue getting notifications of new posts. 
here's what you do: 
on the right hand side below the blog archive list and just under the little square profile picture you will see an option to follow by email.  just type your email address into the box and click submit and blogger will send you an automated email when new posts are published.  you will not be able to reply directly to me from the automated email so if you want to make a comment or ask a question you will have to send an email to my address or comment directly on the blog in the comments section at the bottom of the post.
if for some reason you can't get this to work and really would like to receive future notifications let me know and i'll make sure to keep doing the manual email notifications for you.

more snow

we got several inches of snowfall overnight.  this time it was much drier and lighter.  did a walk around with my guys this morning and didn't find any new catastrophes...happy for that.

today's snow is deeper and not as solid as the last...benji wasn't so sure he wanted to dive in

even the figs were caught off guard by this storm---still holding some leaves in late november

handsome snow creature

another handsome snow creature

giving benji a shoulder ride so he wouldn't have to fight his way through the deep snow

home and a snowy, misty buckingham mountain

a little sun peeking through just now so i'm off to enjoy it...tomorrow the rains begin.

giving thanks

grateful for the successes and comforts, for the challenges and hardships, and for all of those who share in them with me.

this one has many challenging lessons for me...may i learn them well

love and gratitude to all.

heavy snow

been fairly warm and very dry this fall...until last night.  we have been preparing as best we could for this storm---getting firewood in order etc.

it started raining lightly last night but quickly turned into snow and it snowed most of the night and was still coming down this morning.  because it is pretty early in the season the oaks haven't lost there leaves yet so they're holding far more snow than they usually would and the weight is out at the ends of the branches instead of being distributed more evenly along the length.  the result is a lot of very large broken limbs coming down.  we were hearing (and seeing) a pretty steady cracking and crashing about an hour or so ago.

it isn't pretty out there...

couple limbs down on top of the duck yard and shed addition.  there's a fair amount of damage to the supports for the wire on the top but the main shed where the ducks sleep is undamaged and the shed addition from what i could see doesn't seem damaged either.  the duckies are spooked but unharmed.

the orchard garden and its fence have taken quite a hit.  i haven't done a thorough survey yet because when i was out the trees were actively breaking and dropping large limbs so i stayed clear.  there's a 4x4 fence post down and at least 20ft of fence pretty much smashed.  i think several of the fruit trees are probably damaged or crushed.

the driveway and west side of the property had quite a few branches come down.

this one just missed the support cable for our power pole and transformer

more storming to come.



and then i suspect we'll be pretty busy with clean up and repairs.  it's all okay.