Rainy Day / Windy Night
Monday, August 8th, 2022 11:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioThis is not an easy entry to write... because I have one kitten in my lap, and another on my right shoulder. It's difficult to reach the keys, because I can't scoot in under the desk, or slouch!
Last night they kinda kept their distance from me. They did a little exploring and a little playing, but stayed clear of me.
Today I had my work cut out for me, so I started with making a Vet appointment for Thursday at 2:30PM.
After that, I had to address the issue with all the junk I had laying around up here that was in their way.
I started by lugging a broken air conditioner, that had been sitting on the floor, down to the parking outside... then I threw away a bunch of other random crap that was piling up.
Above, Snoop & Prowly are pictured taking a nap on top of two laundry baskets full of Christmas lights, old towels, and paper bags.
I left them that way, napping on the towel together, and set out to Ace Hardware to get the stuff I needed to properly mount the canopy hoist crank. That was a simple task, and only cost $8.00.
But then I went in search of kitty stuff, and good lord!... Walgreens had nothing on the shelves, thanks to supply chain issues, so I drove way north to a Pet Supplies Plus, and everything they had was way the hell over priced!
So I drove another town north to the nearest WalMart, but they didn't have any cat toys in stock, and don't sell cheapo cat climbers anymore!
Still having not spent a dime, I found a PetSmart on the way back and there, finally bought a second litter box, some litter, a few cat toys, and four doses of flea & tick topical medicine. Total: $90.00! YOWCH!
There I was, two days ago, making a crank out of a wooden spool and old scraps because I couldn't afford to spend any money... and here I was today droping ninety bucks on some basic kitty stuff... after driving 15 miles out of my way, when gas is still $4.60 a gallon!
--<>--
But then at the local bodega to get smokes, the guy gave me a huge cardboard box, which I took home and cut holes into, to make a makeshift cat playhouse type thing.
Amazon has some real cat climbers for about a third what they're going for at the pet stores... and I'm gonna get one, but it won't come until next Monday.
Also, by the time I got home, that broken air conditioner on the parking was gone! A scrapper came and yanked it!
I couldn't set up the second litter box right away because I still had a huge crate full of tape cassettes on the floor... remember that from last week?
And I'm not sure it's safe to give them the flea & tick medication, because it says it's for cats above six pounds, and they're only like two pounds. But the more acclimated they've become today, the less and less they've been scratching.
They were doing a lot of scratching and grooming last night and this morning, but now I think it was just out of nervousness?
Because in the late afternoon they finally started letting me pet them. Snoop was receptive to it first, and Prowly was still avoiding me, but I finally caught him and put him on my lap for some forced petting and... that did the trick!
At first he jumped off my lap, but then... he changed his mind and jumped back on. And after petting him a while more, he became my best friend and climbed up onto my shoulder, just like a Pokemon buddy!
--<>--
I still had a lot to do with my rainy Monday. I packed all the tape cassettes back into the crate... and while I was doing that, they played in the cardboard box house a while.
After taking out a bunch more junk, I finally got around to lugging the crate... which was almost as heavy as the air conditioner... back down to the basement shop.
And once I was down there, I tested out he crank hardware I'd bought...
Above you see that the long bolt is mostly smooth, with only some machine threads on the very tip. I got pleny of washers and nuts for it and now I know that, in the general configuration you see pictured, I can mount it to the SCOP and it will function properly to take up and feed out the line for the canopy hoist.
Also pictured, are two old pulleys, and the newly purchased wood-threaded hooks that will mount the pulleys to the SCOP. With two pulleys I can guide the line coming down from the tree on in to the crank location so that it feeds onto and off of the spool uniformly.
--<>--
With some luck, I may be able to install the canopy hoist tomorrow, but tomorrow, I also need to mow the lawn first.
It's been hellishly hot the past several days, and the last two have been very drizzly and rainy. So that's made the grass grow like crazy. But we're finally getting a break, and tomorrow, at 77F, is the best day to mow.
If I get an early enough start, I can both mow, then install the canopy hoist after I've cooled down and hung out with the kitties for a while.
If so, I'll do a canopy recording test at dusk.
------------{=0=}------------
As for tonight, there was no point in trying to record. It did cool down, but then the wind kicked up to 6MPH, which is no good.
I really shouldn't be grappling with wind in August, but here we are.
Slowly this week, I'll get the cats settled in, the lawn tamed, the hoist installed, and with any luck... the first full length cricket recordings.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Last night they kinda kept their distance from me. They did a little exploring and a little playing, but stayed clear of me.
Today I had my work cut out for me, so I started with making a Vet appointment for Thursday at 2:30PM.
After that, I had to address the issue with all the junk I had laying around up here that was in their way.
I started by lugging a broken air conditioner, that had been sitting on the floor, down to the parking outside... then I threw away a bunch of other random crap that was piling up.
Above, Snoop & Prowly are pictured taking a nap on top of two laundry baskets full of Christmas lights, old towels, and paper bags.
I left them that way, napping on the towel together, and set out to Ace Hardware to get the stuff I needed to properly mount the canopy hoist crank. That was a simple task, and only cost $8.00.
But then I went in search of kitty stuff, and good lord!... Walgreens had nothing on the shelves, thanks to supply chain issues, so I drove way north to a Pet Supplies Plus, and everything they had was way the hell over priced!
So I drove another town north to the nearest WalMart, but they didn't have any cat toys in stock, and don't sell cheapo cat climbers anymore!
Still having not spent a dime, I found a PetSmart on the way back and there, finally bought a second litter box, some litter, a few cat toys, and four doses of flea & tick topical medicine. Total: $90.00! YOWCH!
There I was, two days ago, making a crank out of a wooden spool and old scraps because I couldn't afford to spend any money... and here I was today droping ninety bucks on some basic kitty stuff... after driving 15 miles out of my way, when gas is still $4.60 a gallon!
But then at the local bodega to get smokes, the guy gave me a huge cardboard box, which I took home and cut holes into, to make a makeshift cat playhouse type thing.
Amazon has some real cat climbers for about a third what they're going for at the pet stores... and I'm gonna get one, but it won't come until next Monday.
Also, by the time I got home, that broken air conditioner on the parking was gone! A scrapper came and yanked it!
I couldn't set up the second litter box right away because I still had a huge crate full of tape cassettes on the floor... remember that from last week?
And I'm not sure it's safe to give them the flea & tick medication, because it says it's for cats above six pounds, and they're only like two pounds. But the more acclimated they've become today, the less and less they've been scratching.
They were doing a lot of scratching and grooming last night and this morning, but now I think it was just out of nervousness?
Because in the late afternoon they finally started letting me pet them. Snoop was receptive to it first, and Prowly was still avoiding me, but I finally caught him and put him on my lap for some forced petting and... that did the trick!
At first he jumped off my lap, but then... he changed his mind and jumped back on. And after petting him a while more, he became my best friend and climbed up onto my shoulder, just like a Pokemon buddy!
I still had a lot to do with my rainy Monday. I packed all the tape cassettes back into the crate... and while I was doing that, they played in the cardboard box house a while.
After taking out a bunch more junk, I finally got around to lugging the crate... which was almost as heavy as the air conditioner... back down to the basement shop.
And once I was down there, I tested out he crank hardware I'd bought...
Above you see that the long bolt is mostly smooth, with only some machine threads on the very tip. I got pleny of washers and nuts for it and now I know that, in the general configuration you see pictured, I can mount it to the SCOP and it will function properly to take up and feed out the line for the canopy hoist.
Also pictured, are two old pulleys, and the newly purchased wood-threaded hooks that will mount the pulleys to the SCOP. With two pulleys I can guide the line coming down from the tree on in to the crank location so that it feeds onto and off of the spool uniformly.
With some luck, I may be able to install the canopy hoist tomorrow, but tomorrow, I also need to mow the lawn first.
It's been hellishly hot the past several days, and the last two have been very drizzly and rainy. So that's made the grass grow like crazy. But we're finally getting a break, and tomorrow, at 77F, is the best day to mow.
If I get an early enough start, I can both mow, then install the canopy hoist after I've cooled down and hung out with the kitties for a while.
If so, I'll do a canopy recording test at dusk.
As for tonight, there was no point in trying to record. It did cool down, but then the wind kicked up to 6MPH, which is no good.
I really shouldn't be grappling with wind in August, but here we are.
Slowly this week, I'll get the cats settled in, the lawn tamed, the hoist installed, and with any luck... the first full length cricket recordings.
°¦}
