6 Panel Art Project – Part 1

6 panel art painting project - acrylic on 11X14" canvas board

I woke up this morning at 7:00 with a pounding headache [could have been from the 3 Mike’s Hard Lemonade’s I had last night, but I’m thinking it was more the changing weather]. Hubby brought me some aspirin and about an hour later I leaped out of bed and announced “I’m creating art today!” and hubby was like “um… OK?”

Site Optimization & Speed!

sunset over the ipswich river, waterfall, and ebsco

My website STILL doesn’t work from home. Although, at the moment, I can access it from Firefox, but not from Chrome. Tell me that makes sense… [usually I can’t access it from either]. I’ve been doing a lot of research lately about site optimization. Hence all my craziness regarding Alt Text. Which has helped! I’m starting to get more random traffic. And today I found a site that tests the load speed of your website & suggests ways to improve it – sweet!

Backyard Catio – Part 14

building the door for the outdoor cat enclosure / catio, adding a handle

Friday after work I began working on the door for the cat enclosure. I took measurements, then cut 4 of the 6′ 1×4’s I’d bought a few weeks ago into two 69½” pieces & three 36″ pieces, using my new WorkMate table and a handsaw. Then took them to the back yard and stained them.

OMG There’s So Much Going On!

lucy reeder, abbie's dog

I have been doing some tidying up behind-the-scenes here at ninedarkmoons.com. I have broken the RIVER page into 3 sections and cleaned up the PROJECTS pages. I hung out with Abbie & her adorable babies. I crossed the 2k mark on my motorcycle odometer. The garden is blooming beautifully! I c**k-blocked Bonkers. I set up my new WorkMate table. I began work on the catio DOOR! AND we got our permit for replacement windows!!!

Backyard Catio – Part 13

me sitting inside the outdoor cat enclosure / catio, installing ramps!

This afternoon I finally attached the ramps I finished building last Thursday. It required that I climb into the enclosure to get the appropriate leverage necessary to secure the interior shelf! I also worked on cutting, staining, and attaching the slats to cover the chicken wire staples on front of the enclosure.

Backyard Catio – Part 12

making ramps for bonkers for the outdoor cat enclosure / catio

Poor Bonkers. So rickety, so muppet-y, so topple-y! The poor guy has loose joints, especially in his hips, so he can’t really jump very high or far. I’ve been carrying him out to the enclosure and letting him walk and sit on the top shelf, but he’s too rickety to jump down to the middle shelf, even though he REALLY wants to.

Backyard Catio – Part 11

view of ipswich river, waterfall / dam, and riverwalk through the outdoor cat enclosure / catio

So last week I installed the roof on the cat enclosure. I also began the task of stapling chicken wire to the outside of the enclosure. It was very labor intensive and the hours of stapling aggravated my carpal tunnels. All told, it took 90 square feet of chicken wire and 1,400 staples to get the majority of the enclosure chicken’d. I still need to chicken the door, but that requires I actually build the door first, which is next on the list.

Backyard Catio – Part 10

outdoor cat enclosure / catio clear tuftex plastic polycarbonate roofing tiles

The cat enclosure has a roof! And what an ordeal THAT was! Not an ordeal, really, just… well, OK, it was an ordeal. But it was all worth it because I have a roof! A beautiful crystal clear polycarbonate roof! One I can sprinkle birdseed on and watch the cats go nuts 🙂

I Disco Ball’d The Upstairs Hall

12" disco ball

I was home from work yesterday on a much needed vacation day. Unfortunately it was POURING rain all morning, so I was stuck inside and couldn’t work on my outdoor “catio” cat enclosure. In the process of decluttering the house I re-discovered the large disco ball I’d bought a while back but never hung up.