so i was reminded today that i have not updated my website for a while. this is partly because i have been sick and partly because i don't have anything positive to say at the moment. however, now might be as good a time as any to get some feedback on my newest project - a new cat-condo for the babies. well, it's not really a condo anymore - but a cat's cradle, i guess. it's not a sexy project, like say, small engine repair, but at least it will make the cats happy and give me a chance to lose a finger or two.

the main guiding principle is that cats love cardboard. my boy-cat hans loves cardboard especially. he loves to shred it and grab at it and roll around on it and sleep in it. so i want to make this pedestal out of cardboard and a basic wooden frame so that they can get up off of the ground, and have a sort of scratching post as well.

the design is pretty straightforward - but making it will be a challenge. i plan to use 160 separately cut circles of cardboard to form a shallow basin and base that will be vaguely hourglass shaped. i will need to make a little frame for it out of wood (since cardboard will be too flimsy to support the weight of two fighting cats, and it will need a brick or a flagstone or something at the bottom to provide ballast.

i figure once this project is done, i can remove most of the extraneous cardboard boxes that i have lying around the living room, distracting hans from the leather loveseat. and gretel loved the old cat condo with its safe and comfortable height. and i have like 100 flattened boxes in my storage room waiting to find a purpose, now that they are no longer used for bedding.

- g