Made myself a workshop

Murrmurr

Murrmurr

SF VIP
Location
Sacramento, California
Part of our "new" house is now Daddy's Workshop. I bought a nice used work table and all the basic power tools. I'll get more tools over time.

I decided my first project (not counting stuff I already did for the house) will be homeless cat shelters. I'll build them here and then take them where there are cat colonies. The local Humane Society gave me a couple locations and said they'll email me a more extensive list after they see a finished product. Apparently many hundreds of people have been leaving tons of shelters made of cardboard, old ice-chests, plastic totes, and old wood pallets and other crap for years, and, though their hearts are in the right place, it's become a huge problem.

I had to email the lady at the Humane Society a rough diagram of my shelters and list of materials I'll be using, and she liked the design ok, but she told me what brand of wood sealer and calking I'm allowed to use, what type of screws, that nails aren't allowed, and I'm not allowed to use any type of insulating materials. I wasn't planning on insulating them anyway, and I know not to use nails, so no problems there.

So, if they're approved, building these little modular shelter homes will be my new hobby for a while.

Here's the diagram I sent her:
modular kitty hotel (2).jpg

They're totally stackable, but she said I'm not allowed to stack them. The front has an entry, and one side has an (escape) exit, and to keep out rain and wind, both those walls will angle inward toward the floor, plus the roof will over-hang them (needs to be extended several more inches, tho). This way I won't have to hang those heavy-duty plastic strips over the openings Turns out the Humane Society doesn't like those, either.

Anyway, I think this will be fun. And it's something me and Paxton can do together, too.
 

Murrmurr said:
BTW, I welcome any suggestions that could improve the design.

I'm considering a hinged roof so it's easy to clean. And since they won't allow stacking them, I'm also thinking about angling the roof just a bit so rain will run off.
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I have noticed with cats, especially nervous ones, that they like to find themselves a hidey hole which is closed on all sides except the front so they are protected back and side but have a good view to the front when they lie down. Have you considered a pyramid shape (as it doesn't need to be stackable)? A triangular shape occurs to me because I remember one very nervous cat who loved his pyramid shaped bed.

Great idea and a lovely project for Paxton to help you with. :)
 

Trish said:
I have noticed with cats, especially nervous ones, that they like to find themselves a hidey hole which is closed on all sides except the front so they are protected back and side but have a good view to the front when they lie down. Have you considered a pyramid shape (as it doesn't need to be stackable)? A triangular shape occurs to me because I remember one very nervous cat who loved his pyramid shaped bed.

Great idea and a lovely project for Paxton to help you with. :)
Click to expand...
The Humane Soc requires an "escape" opening in case a dog or racoon or some other aggressive animal tries to get at the cat nesting inside.

I did try a pyramid shape, something like a teepee. The problem is that body heat rises. In fact, the lady asked me to make the huts no more than 13" tall, but it's not a requirement.

Thank you, Trish. I appreciate the suggestions.
 
Murrmurr said:
The Humane Soc requires an "escape" opening in case a dog or racoon or some other aggressive animal tries to get at the cat nesting inside.

I did try a pyramid shape, something like a teepee. The problem is that body heat rises. In fact, the lady asked me to make the huts no more than 13" tall, but it's not a requirement.

Thank you, Trish. I appreciate the suggestions.
Click to expand...
No worries. Interesting about the escape route and the height. (y)
 
The Wife of a previous Canadian Prime Minister ran a program for the feral cats that live on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. She used her own money to do that. Not as jazzy as Michelle Obama's projects, but at least it was done in good faith with little media fan fare. JimB.
 
jimintoronto said:
The Wife of a previous Canadian Prime Minister ran a program for the feral cats that live on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. She used her own money to do that. Not as jazzy as Michelle Obama's projects, but at least it was done in good faith with little media fan fare. JimB.
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Humility is a rare virtue among political figures. Kudos to the former Mrs PM.

I was ired by the long list of Don't's for donated cat shelters, all indignant that something charitable has so many stupid rules. But they aren't stupid. They make total sense. They're for the health and safety of the cats first, and for the sake of the environment second. And now I'm looking forward to telling my little guy, Paxton, what the rules are and why we have them.
 
Murrmurr said:
Humility is a rare virtue among political figures. Kudos to the former Mrs PM.

I was ired by the long list of Don't's for donated cat shelters, all indignant that something charitable has so many stupid rules. But they aren't stupid. They make total sense. They're for the health and safety of the cats first, and for the sake of the environment second. And now I'm looking forward to telling my little guy, Paxton, what the rules are and why we have them.
Click to expand...
In Canada, the Wife of the Prime Minister has NO political power or standing, unlike the Wife of a American President. The Wife of the PM may support a charity of her choosing, but official Government funds are not used.

The Toronto Humane also has a lot of rules in place to do with adoptions and donations. JImB.
 
Murrmurr said:
Part of our "new" house is now Daddy's Workshop. I bought a nice used work table and all the basic power tools. I'll get more tools over time.

I decided my first project (not counting stuff I already did for the house) will be homeless cat shelters. I'll build them here and then take them where there are cat colonies. The local Humane Society gave me a couple locations and said they'll email me a more extensive list after they see a finished product. Apparently many hundreds of people have been leaving tons of shelters made of cardboard, old ice-chests, plastic totes, and old wood pallets and other crap for years, and, though their hearts are in the right place, it's become a huge problem.

I had to email the lady at the Humane Society a rough diagram of my shelters and list of materials I'll be using, and she liked the design ok, but she told me what brand of wood sealer and calking I'm allowed to use, what type of screws, that nails aren't allowed, and I'm not allowed to use any type of insulating materials. I wasn't planning on insulating them anyway, and I know not to use nails, so no problems there.

So, if they're approved, building these little modular shelter homes will be my new hobby for a while.

Here's the diagram I sent her:
View attachment 266381

They're totally stackable, but she said I'm not allowed to stack them. The front has an entry, and one side has an (escape) exit, and to keep out rain and wind, both those walls will angle inward toward the floor, plus the roof will over-hang them (needs to be extended several more inches, tho). This way I won't have to hang those heavy-duty plastic strips over the openings Turns out the Humane Society doesn't like those, either.

Anyway, I think this will be fun. And it's something me and Paxton can do together, too.
Click to expand...
You are the best, a very talented and passionate human being.....much respect for you Frank. 💙
 
SeaBreeze said:
You are the best, a very talented and passionate human being.....much respect for you Frank. 💙
Click to expand...
Thank you, Seabreeze.

I had an interesting conversation with Michelle and her 17yr-old nephew, DeVon, yesterday about wasted talent - not mine, but people's in general. DeVon checked out this little table-shelf I made for our DVD player. The legs are empty catfood cans, the small size ones that Fancy Feast comes in, that I painted gold, and it has these tiny Gear-Head style embellishments on each corner that I cut out of a piece of that hard plastic packaging we all hate, and painted some parts of it gold and some parts silver.

A pretty insignificant thing, right? But DeVon was really taken with it, and he asked Meesh if I was a "genius," and that started this conversation. DeVon insisted that there's likely millions of old people who wasted their talent, or whose "genius" was overlooked by society. "You could sell millions of those shelves. Think of the low overhead (of old catfood cans and plastic clams); you could get rich!"

Anyway, I pointed out the differences between enjoyable hobbies and serious enterprises....

And I'm rambling, but I thought it was pretty funny. Funny what this enthusiastic 17yr-old kid viewed as genius.
 
jimintoronto said:
In Canada, the Wife of the Prime Minister has NO political power or standing, unlike the Wife of a American President. The Wife of the PM may support a charity of her choosing, but official Government funds are not used.

The Toronto Humane also has a lot of rules in place to do with adoptions and donations. JImB.
Click to expand...
Our Humane Society does as well, which impedes adoptions that are actually reasonable.

Whether a Mrs Leader has any political power or not, being an example of good moral character and humble goodness is powerful.
 
@Murrmurr.. Saw this and thought you'd like..

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.🤗
 

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