Rice Cat

Mel in Florida made a rice box for her son instead of a sandbox. Brilliance on her part! Last month, Rita visited and brought 100 lbs of jasmine rice straight from Hoppe farm for us to enjoy. We have already put down about 15 lbs! Such good rice, but I digress...
I was left with about 25 pounds of medium grain that we weren't too fond of eating-too sticky for our/my palates. It was put to great use in our rice box along with some wild grains for fun. Here is that ricebox being put to full use by the girls and Baby Cat.

Cat door done!

We have been project central around here for the past few weeks. You name it, we have been doing it or thinking about doing it.

One such project that has loomed on the To Do List is the installation of a cat door. The bathroom off of the kitchen shares an outer wall with the garage. This location was where the litter box was housed, along with a cat bowl for water. I hated it there! Horrible location in a house for a cat potty, but it was a bathroom. We finally finished that project and now I wish we would have done it before we even moved in.

All of the food bowls are in there now. No more kicking a cat bowl and food scattering everywhere because our big feet didn't realize a cat had scooted it all over trying to get that last crumb out.

This is the garage side of the door. Mike made some little cat steps for ease. These cats are so spoiled! The nice thing is that we were able to use steel shelves we bought a Costco for the enclosure. Some 1X2" wood for frames, some 1x1" metal mesh screen and a few bolts and we were good to go. We had a pretty detailed idea of how the screws would fit into the holes on the shelving unit for access. Those plans weren't needed as the threads on the bolts functioned perfectly to keep the frame in place and swing out to remove the litter box.

One aspect that I am pleased as punch about it that we can go on vacation, remove the front panel, and close the bathroom door. Friends can come and check on them, but we won't have roving cats all over the house being mad for being left alone. If you have had cats, you know what vicious things they do when you leave.

Josie oversees baby care

Phoebe is doing a great job as a big sister. The cat is doing a great job as a nanny to both.

Great Escape, Feline style

The cats enjoy their romps around the back yard. Vern and Josie go out the back door and return in through the back door. Vern scares so easily that she doesn't even really go near the fence (the unknown is beyond)!
One of our fence boards had warped and offered Josie an easy out to roam to the front door. Upon repair, she was always at the back door.
Baby Cat (obviously named by Phoebe when she was 3) is another story. She is an escape artist! She waits on our front porch for Phoebe to get home from school. I have gone around the fence line and discovered 3 places she could be getting out from and fixed them.
Well, I just watched Josie & Baby Cat conspire to slide bricks, dig holes, and burrow under our fence to the great dry creek beyond. ARGH! Cats!