Oops, I Completely Forgot...

...to post about the storage/cat room.  I KNOW I wrote about it, so I must have deleted it somehow...  Or I transported to an almost-identical alternate universe AGAIN and in THIS one I didnt post about it (This seems to happen a few times a year - LOL!).  ;)

Anyway, at least I intended to (see here at  Feb 16th Item 4), and I DID do the project on March 9th.  So here is the missing post...

When my parents stopped traveling, I sold the guest room furniture to make it a storage room.  But when I got my 3rd cat (Marley), I decided they all needed a playroom.  So I decided to combine the two ideas.  The long sold wall of the room would become storage and the rest a cat play room (The "Mewsroom").

I checked for the depth I needed for boxes, vacuum cleaners, the carpet cleaner, etc; located the wall studs that would accept those things.  Naturally, the nearest stud was 2" too narrow, so I had to move out to the next one.  That was more space than I really needed to store stuff, but I will probably appreciate it in the future (if I'm IN this dimension in the future).

So, the concept was to take about 2' of the room and hang drapes to make a storage space and make the rest of it a cat playroom.  I tried to find drapery rods that could bear the weight (I have some old but nice drapes), but rods are not designed to float 2' out from the walls and I didn't want to go into the stipple ceiling for vertical support.  I checked out a few other ideas at home stores.  But what I ended up with was a 1" iron pipe.

Now, the iron pipe comes in 10' length and the walls were 10' 3" apart.  Pipe couplings only add 1/2".  So I thought about that.  The 2 ideas I came up with were"

1. Attach 1.5" boards to the walls (1.5 plus 1.5 makes up the 3"), or
2. Hang the pipe from 3" corner braces

If I had used the boards, I would have have to fancy them up.  Plane them to size, sand them, chamfer corners, stain and finish them, etc.  I just didn't feel like doing all that.  Maybe I will next year.  I went with just hanging the pipe on corner braces.  Hey, I had other things to do, and the gardening projects can't be delayed at this time of year!

So, there I was deciding to hang drapes from a 1" pipe.  I decided that wouldn't work.  Drapery hooks don't slide over pipes.  But shower curtain rings do!  Which gave me a further idea.  Why not get some nice light outer shower curtains?

I attached the corner braces to the stud.  The board was there to hold the other end of the pipe.  I couldn't be at both ends. 

When I maneuvered the pipe onto both braces, there was enough movement for the pipe to slip off one.

So I added wood blocks on both to keep the pipe from moving.  I'll screw the wood in place one of these days...

Here is a clear picture of the shower curtain pattern.  Not to plain, not too busy, not too cute.

And the closet is looking better.

The lamp will be hung up soon.

Games I love, using some freed-up space!

Here are a few pictures of what I wanted to hide behind the curtains...

Here are some of what it looked like afterwards...

 That cats loved the changes...

Isn't that a nice curtain to hide stuff behind?

Plans

I have my tomato seedlings started.  Plus peppers, celery, lettuces, and a bunch of flowers.  More to come fast on the schedule!

But it bothers me that my plant stand only has 2 bulbs over each shelf.  I use daylight and/or plant light bulbs in them, but it seems my seedlings are always "leggy" (long and thin).  So I decided to change to 4-bulb fixtures to increase the light the seedlings get.

The stand for the seedlings is an awkward size.  Prebuilt shelf systems are 4' long.  But the fixtures are a couple inches longer.  So I have to build one to suit the fixtures.  The important considerations were strength, cost, and ease of construction.  I'm fine with general carpentry, so I sketched and priced several designs...

1.  All plywood - I can make it all 1/2" or 3/4" plywood with a good sanded outside surface.  The "pro" is that it is all same size solid pieces.  Stainable.  Three easy 16" wide sides, top, bottom, and shelves per sheet.  And plywood is stable.  Cons:  Would need 1"x3" board attached to the shelves to resist bending under weight.  And lots of ugly (to a woodworker) plywood edges.

2.  1" board - 1" board frame and shelves.  Pro - Easy wood to handle and cut.  Stainable.  Easy to make dado cuts for solid shelves.  Cons - Have to join two 8" boards to get the 16" depth I need for the 4-bulb fixture on all pieces (sides, top, bottom and shelves).  I can do that and it would be strong, but that's a lot of extra work.  And dado cuts into 1" nominal boards have to be shallow.  Boards more likely to be "unperfectly straight" in all dimensions.

3.  2" board - 2" board frame and shelves.  Larger "glue and screw" edges.  More solid in appearance and actuality.  Little support needed.  No concern about shelves bending under weight. Dadoes can be deeper, so more solid.   2" Boards are usually straight.  Cons - Heavier and inelegant.  Wider dadoes needed.  Bulky-looking.

I considered combinations of 1", 2", and plywood cases and shelves, but didn't see any advantage, and the imagined results were practical but ugly.  The cost of all the above ideas turned out to be from $105 to $128 so the cost is not a concern.

I have decided to go with a solid 2" frame and shelf design.  True, I will have to join 8" boards at the edges, but I have a joiner edger machine and biscuits to attach them flush.  Not as easy as plywood or 1" boards, but stronger.  And something I will be happiest with in the long range.  Those 2" boards will never sag under the weight of the 4 fluorescent bulb fixtures!  I built a plant shelf once; I don't want to have to build another!

The shelves will be of graduated heights.  Shelf #1 is 3" below the lights, shelf #2 is 7", shelf #3 is 10", shelf #4 is 13", and shelf #5 is 16".  That lets me move the seedlings to only a couple inches away from the lamps as they grow.  And with 4 bulbs, much sturdier seedlings anyway!

Oh, and the existing 2 bulb fixture plant stand?    I bought 2 new 4 bulb fixtures.  That will take care of 2 shelves.  The 2 bulb fixtures on the old stand will be removed and doubled under the other shelves so there are 4 bulbs under each one.

The old stand is destined to be moved to the Mews Room to become a cat exploration area with cat-sized holed cut out randomly in the shelves...

Pictures to follow as I build the new plant shelves this week!

Eyeglass Fun, Part 3

Writing yesterday's post reminded me that I had had 2 pairs of the previous prescription and ruined one.  The frames had a tendency toward loose screws.  I brought the previous back to For Eyes several times for that (after searching the office carpet for lost screws at least twice).  They simply re-installed screws (Duh, I can do that).

I finally decided to epoxy the lenses to the frame and end the problem.  Now, I'm a reasonably "ept" repair person.  But I sure chose the wrong way to do it!  With my slightly shaky hands, attempting to apply epoxy inside the frame rims and then getting the lenses back in while also trying to tighten the frame scres, I botched it big time!  I had epoxy smears all over the lenses...

I contemplated the disaster.  It wasn't the frame, it was the simple little screw.  On the OTHER pair of glasses, I dabbed the tiniest bit of epoxy into the screw hole with a toothpick, tightened the screw and the problem was solved forever! 

Man, I can be stupid sometimes!!!

I will do that with the new frames as a pre-emptive measure...

Eyeglass Fun, Part 2

Well, better news about the new eyeglasses today!  Previously, I mentioned how I had 3 botched appointments with the Dr at For Eyes.  I had exams there before and they were excellent.  But they seemed to have lost the ability to manage the appointment schedule (an estimated minimum 1.5 hour extra wait each time), so I went right around the corner ta another place.

THAT exam went just fine, but their frame selection was AWFUL!  All the frames were expensive designer types at ridiculous prices ($200+ for one frame, and I wanted two)  And being "designer frames", they were the size of postage stamps.  Sorry, I don't want to even SEE the frames when I wear them.

And I told them that when I went in for the exam.  It's why I didn't go there first to begin with!  So I got done with the exam, paid for it, and they wanted to say "bye-bye".  Wait, I need the prescription!

"Oh gosh, the Dr is with another patient now and you'll have to wait..  Um, wasn't it obvious I would want the prescription?  Probably, but they wouldn't get paid for that.

Revenge time:  I spent 10 minutes pacing rapidly around the waiting room.  That disturbed them.  Finally, a clerk came over and said they would have the prescription faxed to where ever I wanted.  Good!

So I went back to For Eyes, with the great selection, walked in, and said I want your 2-for-1 deal on these (showing them my current frame).  They had them at 2 for $109, great.  They got the prescription faxed, I paid and left.

I picked up the new glasses today.  They fitted them perfectly in 5 minutes and I was out of there!  They work great; I can read small print again, and the newspaper and computer are easy to see.

Too bad the good appointment scheduler at one place didn't work at the place with the good frame selection.  They'd all be rich.

But all's well that ends well (to coin a phrase, LOL) and I can now laugh about it.  Until next time...

Seedstarting Fun

Is there a rule in life that nothing can ever just go smoothly?  I ask because I went to start my garden seedlings a couple of days ago and it was harder than it should have been.

Now, maybe I am fussy about my seed-starting, but I have 40 years experience at it and I know what works best.  You start seeds indoors, and you want sterile, unfertilized non-crusting soil. That means something called "seed starting soil".  It is finely sifted, loose, and no fertilizer that encourages fungal growth to kill the seeds.

It was time to start my tomatoes, peppers, etc.  The home stores did not have seed-starting soil available!  What???

 They said the demand wasn't high at this time of year.  But THIS is the time to start seeds!  The garden-department guy just looked at me weirdly, like maybe I was a communist.  After visiting 2 other home stores, I went home defeated.

But I checked my supplies.  Seed-starting soil is milled moss, vermiculite (or perlite), and sand.  I had the first two, but no sand.  And I found a bag of potting soil with almost no fertilizer (0.07%).  I made my own!

The potting soil and the sphagnum moss had chunks of stuff in it.  I tried using a kitchen sieve, but it was too fine.  The kitty litter scoop on the other hand worked GREAT (cleaned and dried).  3 parts sifted potting soil, 1 part sifted sphagnum moss, and 1 part vermiculite, well stirred, and I was in business! 

The sifted-out stuff will go in the regular potting mix for houseplants and outdoors containers.  They won't mind the extra material at all.

So I have my heirloom tomatoes, hybrid bell peppers, broccoli, and various annual flowers going just fine now.   The tomatoes, etc are upstairs where it is warm to germinate best.  The flowers are in the basement where THEY germinate best, and the petunias (that need light to germinate are under artificial "daylight" lights. 

At least the new season is started!

I guess that, in the future, I will have to buy my seed-starting soil later this year for next year!  Glad I have a storage shed...

Eyeglass Fun

Well, the old eyeglasses have gotten weaker and scratched, so it was time to get replacements.  It started last Fall.  I went to the place that gave good service previously and arranged an exam appointment.  When I arrived, the Dr was three (30 minute) appointments behind.  So I cancelled and went home.  I'm not one to sit and wait.

In January, I made another appointment.  The Dr was again behind by three appointments.

Last week, I made an appointment for the first appointment of the day.  He can't be behind schedule then, right?  Wrong!  Some twit in the office made earlier appointments KNOWING he would be behind schedule from the start!

I walked out, went to the nearest other eye Dr and scheduled a new first appointment on condition that there COULD NOT BE earlier ones.  I was assured there would be no earlier ones.

And there weren't!  I had a thorough exam and even was shown pictures of my retina and blood vessels on a computer.  Mine are (fortunately) GREAT/PERFECT/YOUNG-LOOKING. 

I should mention I am farsighted and need only reading glasses for the computer and newspaper.  To those of you who need glasses all day, I AM truly grateful for my otherwise good vision.  Not like it is something I accomplished myself; I have to say I had good parental genes.

The Dr said I had no serious eye problems, but I AM getting older and "chit happens"...

I looked at the frame selection and was seriously disappointed.  All were small frames (the new fashion?) and ridiculously expensive celebrity-name brands costing $200 and up.  PFFT!  I told them I would have to take the prescription elsewhere.  So they knew that.

So it came time to pay.  No problem there, except they gave me a receipt for the eye exam and said, "well that's it".  Um, prescription please?  Stunned silence at the desk.  "You need a prescription?  Well the Dr is with a patient and it will be about 30 minutes".  Man, once they had all the money they were GOING to get from me, I ceased to exist.  After pacing around the small shop for 20 minutes, though, I guess I got annoying.  a clerk offerred that they could fax the prescription to where ever I choose a frame.  How kind of them...

5 minutes later, I was back at the original place, showed them my current eyeglasses (large enough so that I can't see the annoying frame), found the identical ones (two for $99), and told them to get a faxed prescription.   They did and I was out of there in 10 minutes.  The glasses won't be ready for a week, but that's is OK.

So one eyeglass place cant manage a schedule in three attempts but has great frame selection and is good about taking a prescription order, and the other is good about managing a scheduled appointment but has limited and expensive frames. 


A pox on all their houses!  Or maybe they should merge.

Various Stuff...

I help the cats blog so much I start to lose track of my own stuff at times.  So it is time to catch up a bit.

It is time to start my garden veggie seeds.  The basement is, quite frankly, a mess!  All Winter long, I just kept "doing things" and never mind the clutter.  There was always time to arrange things for the early seed plantings.  LOL, guess what time passed?  Yeah, it is time to plant seeds and I am SO unready for it.

Grandiose plans for better seed/light planting shelves are now forgotten and I have to make do with the old structures.  I have almost no southern light to help the plants, so I depend on fluorescent bulbs.  Even the best ones are inherently weaker than real sunlight.  I had thought to widen the shelves to increase the 2 bulbs to 4.  I had thought I might add mirrors behind the shelves and in front to increase the reflected light.  But I didn't.

So, what I did today was the best I could.  I cleaned and reorganized enough space in the basement to collect all my gardening seed-starting materials into one place.  I was actually leased with the results, though it is not worth a picture.  If you want to picture it, just imagine a workbench with 10 sq ft empty space where there was none yesterday.  :)

Well, at least I have THAT!  And I sorted through my various bags of soil amendments to see what I had for a good seed starter blend.  The local garden centers don't even have sterile soil-less mixes available yet.  I am thrilled to see that I do have vermiculite, milled peat moss, fine sand, and some sterilized loam left over from last year.  At least that will get me started!


On other news, Marley the cat is getting used to the new home.  He is the fastest adapter I have had in decades.  The others hid for several days, but Marley was ready to come out and find his place in the house after the first day. 

He plays  with Iza mostly.  Iza outweighs him 12 lbs to 6 pounds, but he is fearless.  It was a shock to Iza at first because she was "Top Cat" mostly by virtue of weight.  Marley pounces from anywhere!  At first, Iza was quite upset and poofed her tail and whapped him hard, but lately it has become more cooperative play with them taking turns chasing and then curling up together.

Ayla is the "odd cat out".  As a small cat (yet the oldest) she never has been one for aggressive play.  I think she is getting used to it though.  She isn't doing the "chase and wrassle" that Iza and Marley do, but she does a certain kind of "you can't catch me" game with Marley.  She hisses mildly, then provocatively hops OVER him several times then runs off.  I think she is showing him that he really can't pounce her because she is just SO much more agile than he is.

That doesn't stop him from trying, of course.  He's only 6 months old and braver than he is experienced.  Marley chasing Ayla is like Marley chasing a shadow.  When when she lets him get close, suddenly she is up on the top of the closet door and he is looking around for her on the floor.

The crocuses are starting to bloom!  Yay!  Spring is coming. 

I made a hamburger yesterday.  That may seem bland.  But I ground up the meat (short ribs) myself.  I sauteed mushrooms, red and green bell peppers, and some onion.  Then I made a mayo/mustard mix with some minced garlic.  What a great topping!  I've had worse (good) steaks!

Tomorrow, it is back to cleaning the basement.  There is so much more to do!

Some Mid-Winter Garden Clean Up

There were a few days of warm weather here recently, and I took advantage of it to do some garden cleanup!  Most of the perennial flower stems get left up deliberately, as the finches really love getting at the seeds.  But most of those have been all eaten or broken off and on the ground.  And I keep a nyjer seed feeder filled for them all year, so they are fine. 

The other stuff (old tomato, pepper, asparagus, and corn) could have been cleaned up at any time, but I was too slow for the first hard freeze.  So when I realized the ground had thawed enough to pull them, I did so.

"BEFORE" PICTURES: 

Peppers...

Asparagus...

Tomatoes...

 Monarda...

 Herbs...

"AFTER" PICTURES: 

Peppers...

 Asparagus...

Tomatoes...

 Monarda...

Herbs.  Well, I only had to take the dead parsley plant out.  Actually, I think I will plant something else in that spot.  I hardly ever use parsley.  The others are perennial (sage, thyme, oregano, chives)...

There are still other parts to clean up, but it was getting dark and the ground will be frozen again for at least a week.  The sedum and baptisia need cutting razing, and I'll need to cut the butterfly bushes back soon. 

But I may replace the butterfly bushes.  They are 15 years old and seem to grow weakly the past 2 years.  Thinner branches come from the trunks.  I think there are better varieties available recently.  More compact, but with steadier repeat blooms.  And as my selection of other plants has changed over the years, the purple butterfly bush flowers don't stand out as well as they used to.  I think red would be better!

Also, you can see in some of the pictures that the soil level has dropped as organic amendments have been used up and some washout has occurred.  Fortunately, I have a good pile of mulch that have been composting for 2 years and is now friable "soil".  Time to add all that into the beds.

It's not that I haven't added good organic fertilizer to the beds the past years, but bulk counts too.  And nothing beats good compost for THAT!

Busy, Busy

I'm glad to see the weather getting a bit better and the days longer.  I am finally becoming more active again!  The warmer weather is a bit of an anomaly (will have gotten above 60 three days this week if the forecast is accurate); the normal is 45 and we have been below that all month!  I can't wait for daylight savings time to start in under 4 weeks.  I don't schedule my day by sunlight, I schedule it by TV.  Hey, I LIKE late-night TV, so it staying lighter by the clock helps me get more done.

I've gotten more done this week so far than most whole weeks in darker Winter.  I can't really say "Seasonally Affected Disorder" because I have never sought a medical diagnosis, but I know the symptoms and they fit me.  I just assume I have a moderate case of it.

So, it is Wed night.  What did I accomplish the past 3 days?  (This isn't a competition, just a personal list)

1.  5 loads of laundry.
2.  Make a quart of spaghetti sauce from scratch.  Well, OK, I didn't grow the vegetables.  If you really want to say "from scratch", you have to start with "1. Created The Universe".  You know what I mean.
3.  Found 3 bags of unused Spring Bulbs (crocus, daffodil, and tulips) and potted them up.  I used all the pots of various soils leftover from last Fall.  They are stashed outside covered against squirrel attack.  There aren't enough "chill days" left this Winter, so I will have to make room in the basement refrigerator in late March to make up for the delay in planting.
4.  Bought hardware to hang drapes across the Mews Room wall to hide vacuum cleaners, carpet cleaner, boxes of surplus linens, cases of cat food, boxes of old magazines I want to keep, my telescope-on-tripod, and "other stuff".  That doesn't mean just attaching a curtain rod.  I'll explain that when I actually install it in a few days.
5.  Cleaned up part of the basement.  Much more to go, but I made a good dent in it.
6.  Collected boxes to bring to the recycle center. 
7.  Tied up 5 bundles of newspapers to bring to the recycle center.
8.  Read a week's worth of newspapers (I get behind sometimes).
9.  Stacked 15 tubs of used kitty litter behind the car so that I can load it Thursday to bring to the landfill.  That's not as bad as it seems.  The kitty litter is tied in plastic bags in the tubs the new litter came in.  In the cold garage, in the tightly-lidded tubs, there is no smell at all. 
10. Took, uploaded, processed, cropped and resized about 300 cat pictures.
11.  Reorganized all my garden seeds in my "numbered vial system" to add the new ones and get all the scatterred types together.  Now all my tomatoes are together, my lettuces together, etc.  Retyped the entire list and printed it out in triplicate so there cannot be any confusion.
12.  Spent AT LEAST 1 full hour each night with 1 or more cats napping on my lap.  Equal amount of time tossing cat toys around and playing with the cats too.
13.  Wrote a long letter to Dad.
14.  Contacted 14 catalog companies to arrange for them to stop killing trees in order to send me paper catalogs I don't want.
15.  Visited home store to get prices and available materials for several projects:
- A.  Computer paper storage rack.  I have letter paper, copy paper, card stock, photo stock, color paper, small paper, lamination sheets, etc.  Currently all just in one big stack.
- B.  Pressure-treated plywood for making new sides for the hauling trailer.  It has an open metal frame, but to haul topsoil, mulch, etc, it needs solid sides and bottom.  I used exterior plywood 5 years ago, but it is about rotted.
- C.  Hardboard/masonite for topping my workbench and radial saw top.
- D.  PVC for making a cat hammock frame.

I'm Still Here!

Sorry I haven't posted here very much lately!  Many causes... 

1.  I've been focussing on the cat blog most days trying to post every day AND visiting all my cat blogging friends.  That has become important to me; I really like seeing what other people's cats are doing.  And I have learned that MOST cat bloggers are really clever and creative writers. 

2.  I just tend to stop doing anything interesting in Winter.  The temp outside is 30 and I just think "I don't wanna go OUT there.  That's kind of shameful; I grew up in Massachusetts and (as kids), we used to make tunnels UNDER the snow!  I have become a WIMP...

3.  You would think that Winter would be the perfect time for wood-working activities.  But the basement is 58.  I just try to avoid it in Winter.  Besides, who wants to wear a coat and gloves while building stuff?

4.  Daylight matters, too.  Doing projects is easier during the daytime.  But in Winter, I tend to stay up late at night and get up at Noon.  By the time I feed the cats, make lunch, and read the newspaper, it is 4 pm and getting dark. 

5.  I have discovered MSNBC!  Progressive talk TV to counter Glenn Beck, Hannity,  and Fox Channel in general!  On weekdays (they don't have the talk shows on weekends), I am locked to the TV from 6pm to 10 pm.  I DO some stuff because I listen more than I watch (and as a consequence, the house is actually cleaner than it used to be and I prepare food better).

6.  And I like to watch both Daily and Colbert on The Comedy Channel.  I have a deep and abiding love of intelligent sarcasm.  Its the Johnny Carson opening monologue on steroids!

7.  I have a good list of projects for this year once the weather improves.  Nesting end tables, sturdy TV trays, a dictionary stand, enclosing the patio below the deck with 2"x3" mesh fencing so the cats can go out without danger, replacing the 4x4 posts under the deck with 6x6 posts, relining the pond and regrading it so the rain flows around it rather that into it, and building a boat shelter so the damn boat doesn't fill up with rain and falling leaves.

OUCHIES

I'm the kind of person who is always mildly injured.  It's not that I'm clumsy (I'm not), but also not because I plays rough sports.  I just push myself or engage in risky actions.  And even then, I don't mean that I go rock-climbing or parachuting.

It's the small daily events that get me.  I got annoyed at a squirrel once and tossed a rock at it and messed up my rotator cuff for 6 months.  I ordered some large stones (small boulders?) and hurt my back moving them around a small pond I built.  Once I was cutting a branch off of an apple tree and didn't realize the branch was torqued.  When cut through, it sprang up against my hand pushing against the saw blade.  I cut the the finger to the bone.  These things happen.  I'm active and live alone. so I always have to do things that should really take 2 people.  There is always some strained muscle or sore joint...

So today I am am humorously writing about a fingertip.  "A fingertip"?  Yes.

On New Year's Eve, I set a small fire in the basement fireplace.  Nothing big.  I don't have any good fireplace wood.  I used some clean wood scraps and some newspaper.  I just felt a fire was traditional.  Well, in the course of feeding newspaper to the fire, I brushed the hot grate with a finger.  OUCH!

But that sort of thing is common.  I work in the garden, sometimes I get a blister.  I work in the yard, sometimes I strain a muscle.  BFD.  I pretty much ignored it.  2 days later, I noticed the tip on a finger was numb and hard.  I remembered the grate incident.  But it didn't swell up like burns usually do.

It just sat there.

Today, 17 days later, it suddenly fell apart!  17 days???

It went apart like sunburned skin.  All of a sudden and nothing first, the skin was flaking off.  I've had burns before.  I managed to drop a pot of spaghetti water once and burned both legs badly.  And having a fireplace, I've had my share of minor burns.  But not delayed like this!

It isn't painful yesterday.  I was able to rub the old skin off and the new skin isn't sensitive.  But it sure was weird!

If a blister had formed the day after and it hurt and swelled like such things usually do, I wouldn't have bothered to mention it.  But the delay and lack of the normal irritations of a burn made this very strange.