Spring in the Garden; Cats [gardening, cats]

[rebeccmeister]

At long last, there are legitimate signs of life in the garden. Here's the mini-daffodil and tulip bed:



Always cute.




The Useless Rhubarbs are getting down to business.


The structures down at the base of those stalks are flower stalks. Useless, useless rhubarb, I tell you! I still don't know how to persuade the rhubarb that juicy, tart vegetative growth is the way to go.

Brandi the apricot tree has finally stopped trying to kill me flowering, and is now concentrating on leafing out:


The raspberries are beginning now, too:


George finally showed me his main catio escape hole. In this photo, he is clearly trying to distract me from showing it to you. It's that gap between the pole and the house siding:


This brick probably won't last forever, but it's working for now.



This led George to start looking elsewhere for weaknesses in the structure.


He loves a good challenge, apparently.

The quality time outside wore out the cats to the point where they briefly snuggled together on the heated mat!



So cute. Martha's giving me the side eye for taking her photo, though.

Comments

[yarnandglue]

Aww, I love the cuddling picture!

[soemand]

Yay, cat escape trendline improving!

Ideas!

[ranunculus]

Ok: take two small pieces of lumber, like the inner piece of what looks like plywood, drill several holes along the vertical edge. Assuming that the PVC is 1" diameter, drill a second set of holes about 1 1/2 inch in from the edge. Put one piece of lumber on the outside of the PVC, one on the inside and lace them together vertically around the PVC with string or lightweight wire. Stack a couple of bricks up on the outside or drive a small stake into the ground on either side (tent stake? bamboo?), to keep pushy cats from moving the plywood out of the way.

Also you may want to make a brace for the upright. You need: 2 PVC T's, 1 elbow and 2 - 45 degree fittings and some additional pipe. Assuming the uprights go into the ground. Cut the upright at the ground and insert a T with the open end facing down the side of the cattio. Put about a 3' section of pipe in the fitting along the ground. Install a 90 at the end with a 45 above that. Dry fit the second T with the second 45 and figure out where to cut the upright so it can form a nice "leg" Once it is installed it should help your upright stay right along the house. Drop a sand bag near the end of the leg for additional stability.

Re: Ideas!

[rebeccmeister]

Thank you for these ideas! The pipe for this structure is metal tubing that's approx. 2" in diameter, so, fairly sturdy. I think your suggestion for making a more permanent wood barricade will do the trick for this spot. Now I just have to track down the wood and the time to assemble it all...

Re: Ideas!

[ranunculus]

Time management. It doesn't get any better when you retire!
The bit about the brace. It isn't about the pipe not being sturdy, it is about physics. In my rigging class with the Stagehands Union (I.A.T.S.E. local 16) they had a wonderful diagram that has left a lasting impression. The first diagram is of a rope hanging straight down with a 1# bag on the end. At this point the stress on the rope is, well, 1#. Lift the rope a bit (with a second rope, so you have a V shape) and the weight progressively creates more tension on the rope until, if it is straight across horizontally, the 1# weight now effectively "weighs" 1,000#. In other words the end posts that the rope is tied to have to be able to resist a force of 1,000#. Your tent frame does a pretty good job of this, since it has solid cross bars high up, but the act of pulling the fabric across the frame can distort it. Tent fabric usually has the stress vertical, not horizontal for a reason (and it probably wrapped around the back, effectively helping brace it). It appears that this frame has no horizontal bracing, which is why I suggested a leg. The leg could be anything, even a stick taped to the upright and poked into the top of the ground if you decide you would like to straighten up that post! Or, for that matter a bit of light rope tied to the top of the front and ending at ground level at the back. So if George ever starts squeezing past the pole higher up you can thwart him!

[mallorys_camera]

Go garden! Don't go, cats! 😀

[cmcmck]

And meanwhile our rosemary is flowering like crazy! :o)

[ranunculus]

And ours just finished after blooming for months.